Well it had to happen sooner or later, Iv'e got the dredded oil cooler breakdown and gunge in the cooling system of my V6 Omega. Could one of you lads tell me what size of torx sockets and torx keys I need to carry out this repair?
I'm one of the old school still messing about with spanners and box sets. I need to buy these tools as my toolbox just doesnt have any.

Welcome johnny.dee :)

Fortunately not a job I've had to do (yet) so don't know the answers, but many of the people here have had to endure it, so hopefully one of them will be along at some point today to answer :)

personally i would recommend buying a pack of Torx sockets, Halfords sell them or a bar, they aren't that badly priced either.

Most common ones you will use will be E10 E12 E14, but a torx set will cover all bases

I get a sneaking suspiscion that this job needs an odd spanner...

It does require a few sockets.....27mm amd 30mm ring a bell (its been a few months and having the sizes to hand you dont tend to remember them).

The rest is E10/12 etc torx.

Not to hard a job to be honest, I would strongly recommend removing the oil filter/fiter housing and undoing the bottom oil cooler pipe unions.

Dont foregt that you will get water in the oil to so it will need changing.

next problem, I have the inlet trumpets loose but cant seem to get them out between the two camshaft housings! is there a knack that i'm missing? ive followed the haynes manual and info gleaned from this site but there just isnt the room to manouvre the trumpets out without taking one of the cylinder heads off.

You need to lean them over to the right by about 20-30deg and wiggle them, if still stuck slide them back and forth until they base of the trumpets line up with some cut outs in the head casting and they pop out....

Already tried that as I noticed the indents in the left hand head. still will not come out.

Jay w wrote on 11. Aug 2006 at 10:48:

personally i would recommend buying a pack of Torx sockets, Halfords sell them or a bar, they aren't that badly priced either. Most common ones you will use will be E10 E12 E14, but a torx set will cover all bases

Halfords 3/8" set doesn't cover the crank shaft pulley bolt!   :-? I found this on a Sunday afternoon when everywhere else was shut!   :(

E20 I believe for the crank...

TheBoy wrote on 11. Aug 2006 at 15:36:

E20 I believe for the crank...

Can't remember but it was bigger than the Astra G's. I did the same thing doing the cam belt on that, so had to & borrow a Torx set from the same bloke ... again!

and the next problem, the large nuts that hold the oil cooler to its plate will not shift, even with a 1 mtre long break bar. No wonder the garage wanted £600 to do it!.
thats enough for the day, time to put my feet up. Who said when you retire at 65 youll have loads of time on your hands? I'm busier now than when I was at work.

You could just remove the oil cooler still attached to the plate, the new oil cooler kits come with new plates.

johnny.dee wrote on 11. Aug 2006 at 17:19:

Who said when you retire at 65 youll have loads of time on your hands? I'm busier now than when I was at work.

Know the feeling, I don't know how I found the time to goto work ::)

As a bit of a tip.....the oil cooler kit code is:

93176626

It might not appear on EPC but is a recognised Vaux code so can be ordered and costs 81+Vat retail. It includes the cooler, plate and rubber O rings.

You will then also need the coolant bridge seals and grey selalent (fits into a mastic gun)

Marks DTM Calib wrote on 11. Aug 2006 at 18:04:

You could just remove the oil cooler still attached to the plate, the new oil cooler kits come with new plates.

I have already had to lightly grind the indented bits in  the lefthand camshaft housing to remove the trumpets. (see previous reply)

tried that but the plate is far wider than the gap between the camshaft housings, even with tilting the unit. My omega is a 96 model and I have found certain differences between what is installed, what the book says and what vectrolys shows in his writeup of the subject.

Also where the oil feed pipes come from the oil filter on my motor they are installed with fork shaped metal washers with packing behind them and are held in with torx bolts not union nuts.

Ive had this car for 8 years with no trouble whatsoever, just routine servicing so I cant complain.

Blimey, I have never seen them secured like that before....soudns much easier to remove actualy.

well finally got everything out and cleaned, the oil cooler nuts onto plate was a pig. New parts Monday and re-install everything. Just hope I remember where it all went!. Whats the betting I end up with more bolts than I started with?

The parts didnt turn up Monday as promised, they turned up today. So set to work reinstalling everthing, It has a darn sight easier installing than it was stripping down. Just when I thought it would be finished today sods law kicked in, just the trottle cable and EGR to install and the gasket for the EGR broke. Have to wait till Wednesday to get a new gasket. I'm suprised how easy it all was, not as hard as I ivisaged.

Its not a difficult job.

Dont forget the oil change and coolant flush through.

The story is ongoing, phoned 4 Vauxhall dealers and suppliers in Essex and none had an egr gasket. The story I have been told is that the gasket will come from Belgium via post and will be here Friday. As a stop gap I've made up a gasket from thick gasket paper, but dont know how long this will last as the broken one is made from fibre and it the EGR pipe does get very hot.