Help again please

[Alchamist]

And if I (with plenty of help of course ) can do a head gasket change .... then nothing is as impossible as it first seems

[alex]

I bring my own Ste. Have you met my rubber sledge ommer?

[Frontycustoms]

Me n Dan are good for sunday

[Drift]

No Ive not met the kinky rubber ommer

[Road Hog]

Did the alarm man come today ???

[john boy]

Let's scrap the midlands meet and go over and sort it out

[jmc]

I had knocking noises on my 2.3td lwb when I was just starting to go around a corner. It was the bushes on the rear leaf springs. I bought two new springs with new bushes and hangers etc for £80.00 for the pair from Milner Off Road(they advertise on this site somewhere).Vauxhall wanted £50.00 just for the bushes but my leaf springs were worn out and sagged badly which I didnt know when I bought the Frontera so they needed renewing anyway.I did have to cut with an small angle grinder a little bit off the spring mounting brackets on the Frontera itself as the ends of the new springs were not quite the same as the old ones and would not fit into the brackets. I posted a warning about this about two yrs ago and rang Milners and I think after others had pointed this out they realised what was wrong but it may be worth checking with them again.The springs I replaced in a day and it stopped the knocking. When the bushes wear away there is left a gap between the metal parts and when you go round a corner the whole Frontera slides slightly from side to side on the spring mountings banging the bare metal to metal parts. Mechanically it is still sound and it would probably have gone on for months and still been ok but I hated the knocking noise. If all these generous chaps are going to turn up, have you enough room on your drive? Make sure someone brings a trolley jack and axle stands or small tree stumps if someone does the springs.
Oh,one more thing, three of the shock absorbers needed new bushes on the bottom end.One at the front and both rear ones. The bushes were £3.00 for four or something very cheap from Vauxhall but I had to go in with cash and get them ordered as it was not a stock item.The rear ones were especially very easy to fit.I was on the verge of buying new shock absorbers and was glad I didnt as it was only the bushes. Good luck.

[Drift]

[jmc]

Milk's hard to come by in his neck of the woods.

[Sir-Doris]

Dash bulbs easy to sort out, several screws and the steering wheel needs to come off but shouldnt take more then 15/20 mins.

Shocks and bushes allow couple of hours all round. Again easy if you know what you are doing and have a few hands.

Water loss is a concern as Alex said. But fill it up and see if it stays in. If it loses water overnight then could be a leaky hose somewhere.
If head gasket then it might be hard to turn over in the morning and after a bit of usage there may be a mayonnaise like substance on the oil filler cap. Also check the dipstick, water can show up as bubbles on the stick.

Rough idle could be spark plugs/leads but more then likely distributor and or rotor arm or all 4. Cheap enough and easy to fix.
Could also be idle control valve sticking but that usually revs the engine a bit, then drops the idle speed, sometimes almost as if its going to stall then revs up again, or "hunts" for a steady idle.

Suspension ball joints, top ones are easy and with a couple of hands can be changed fairly quickly, bottom ones can be difficult but easier with extra paws to assist.

go round the car and spray a joint/bush liberally with wd40, take the car for a drive and check if noise is still present, repeat process with all joints you can see/find until it stops. This wont work if a bush/joint is very badly worn in which case a pry bar on all the joints will show up any excess play.

And as Alex say, glueable CV joint boots work quite well and dont take long to fit compared to the regular boots and will pass an MOT no problem if fitted correctly.

As previously mentioned gauges could be loose connector or broken wire, or sender unit. But if more then one gauge isnt working then Im inclined to think dodgy connector. Its possible that the instrument cluster has been taken out and the connector at the back isnt fitting properly. Not uncommon as the cable is quite short and can be a pain to fit back in with big hands.

[MuddyFairy]

Alarm man been and gone. Car runs but there are lots of little and big jobs that I need to do on the car and the MOT is the end of the month.

The more I read the posts on here the more I become dismayed.
I think but not confirmed the main probs are suspension front and back CV Joint Gaiter, but also I feel I need to check everything as this is a car that will take my two precious children out and about and I need them to be safe, and I dont have a clue where to start. Maybe I need a vehicle inspection to tell me what is desperately needing work and what I can safely leave for a month or so.

I need to check the brakes I havent checked the auto hubs except for engaging and disengaging 4WD. It does seem to work although there are a few creaks, groans and bangs. I know its a big big car and no way could i ever afford a new 4x4. I know it will all work out with time. I am just petrified that I will spend lots of £££ on it and then something like the head gasket or the drivechain or something big that wrecks the engine will happen. Then I will be yet again without transport. I need reliability and I am not so sure I will get it with 'Monty' as he is 14 years old and has been mistreated. I wouldnt even know how to change a tyre on this thing!
I am sorry I am so needy but hubby is at work and only has weekends to look. I perhaps should just bite the bullet and get vauxhall to look at it but then I face a big bill.
Rust is a big prob. Need to really get it up on a ramp to see the extent of it but I feel I am fighting a battle I cant win. He cost me £400 so I realise to get him in a good condition I need to spend about £1000. But hey hopefully if I can do a bit at a time then 'Monty' can stay.

[Alchamist]

Head gasket cost me under £100 to do on the sport thanks to the help and assistance here. Brakes are relatively easy to do - again, I did front pads and discs on the sport for under £100. Auto hubs are not a problem unless you are planning to do some serious off-roading, but they are not normally prone to failing. Rust is a way of life, and filler can be a wonderful thing!

As for the other stuff, we'll organise a mini meet there to check it all over for you Don't worry about feeling "needy" - if we can help, we will - simple as.

[Drift]

I bet you spend a darn sigt less than £1000 when these guys help you.
Cv gaiter is about £9 get a splitty
Budjet £300 for parts, but it may be less, and another £300 for bournvilles and rich tea.

The timing chain is very very unlikely to cause any problems on the 2.4

[MuddyFairy]

[jellybaby]

my little frontera j reg 2.0 is a second car and is run and maintained on a small ammount that would not be possible without all the help from this site. when thing go wrong there have always been offers of help yes it costs tea anb biscuits but in time you will be able to put your experiences on here to help others. don't panic we can rebuild.

[Fronty81]

[Drift]

Use zip ties on the gaiters, I do, a lot easier

[Fronty81]

[Drift]

[jellybaby]

quite afew of the gaters i've seen have the zip ties on easer to replace mine will when the shafts are serviced