94 1.7 astra diesel just died, any ideas?
Answers:
the ignition switch has burnt out and held the starter engaged while u were driving hence the grating noise (as the engine drags the starter round) and the burning smell. Change the ignition switch and starter motor.
When did you last have the cambelt changed i wonder.
Good luck with it.
sorry, i have no suggestions but you have my sympathy as my 93 1.4 Astra has just given up on me & it had only done 49k
good luck
Sounds terminal to me. Smell, continued running and burned out idiot lights are all clues. The fizzing battery helps also. Mechanical and electrical problems that would be cost prohibitive on a 94 Astra.
Drive it down a quite lane somwhere and set fire to it and then run!! oh btw you may want to make sure you have insurance first.
or you could take it to the garage and pay a fortune to have all your wiring looms replaced etc.
Bad Luck :-(
Sounds like you've just destroyed all your piston rings and overheated the engine. Overheating combined with burning oil will keep the engine running even after turning off the ignition, as a diesel engine has no throttle body to control intake air flow (like a petrol engine has).
Battery fizzing sounds like a short circuit, but it would have to be somewhere that isn't protected by a fuse, say on the starter motor wiring. Plasticy burning smell was probably your wiring melting.
Scrap the car, no matter how fond you are of it with a car that old and such terminal problems it's far far easier to simply replace it.
The ignition switches were weak on 90s Vauxhalls. It affected nearly all Vauxhalls, but Astra and Cavalier the most. The electrical contacts over heat and burn-out. Check if this is the cause, it will be the white nylon stuff at the end of the metal ignition barrel.
To get 12 years out of an Astra is not too bad.
R.I.P whens the funeral ?
Move away from it its a wiring fault major short on a non fuse protected item maybe a short between the battery and the starter motor try to get the battery disconected but be very carefull they can blow when hot and hot acid is a bad start to the day
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