has anyone got any info on how to fit a white towing socket to my 2013 astra j 5 door hatch.
iv got the black plug,which is working ok. i just want it to run a fridge and charge a battery on a caravan
and what is required to do it 
thanks in advance

I recently purchased a 2010 Astra J 1.4 Turbo.
 Despite the vehicle being purchased from a dealership owned by my cousin, I have had nothing but trouble since.
The latest of a long list is that I had the front discs and pads replaced last weekend (despite later finding out they didn’t need doing in the first place). In any case, all was fine for about 10 minutes after leaving the workshop 4 days ago. Since this point I have been hearing an awful squealing noise coming from the front driver’s side wheel.  I was told that the brakes needed “wearing in” which I fully get, however I am concerned that as time goes on the noise is getting louder (to the point I can’t have my window down and people stare in the street) and on top of this the squeak is only audible when not braking. When I depress the brake pedal just slightly, the noise stops but returns immediately on release of the brake pedal.
Is this really a “wearing in” issue or am I the victim of incompetent fitting? I am not convinced that the “mechanic” who replaced them is entirely talented. He was the person who said they needed replacing in the first place when they actually didn’t as it turned out. There was smoke pouring from the wheel for another reason, not a faulty disc brake.
I am really running out of patience but as the dealership is owned by family it is incredibly awkward.  I paid for a 6 month warranty but I really feel like giving up and paying for another mechanic to sort the seemingly endless list of issues.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

morning

could someone please confirm if you need a different DAB unit to go with the navi950 unit , I have the ubt unit fitted but I see if im correct it needs a U4D unit that I can see from parts catalogue

any help appreciated

thanks
John

Hi all

Want to show you before pictures and see how I get on.

Will post shortly as have loads of questions!

Nigel Mansell

Hello, does any one know where the climate control sensor for Astra J sports tourer 2011 is located? Something strange is going on with my climate control. I have to set it up to 26 to start having some slightly heated air inside. No errors on the computer. Thank you in advance for the help.

Hi, I thought you'd be interested in this even if your car insurance isn't due just yet but especially if it is! There's some bad news but there's also some relief at the end...

The bad news
According to an industry report last week, Comprehensive car insurance premiums are now at their highest levels since 2010.

The report reveals that the average premium rose to £847 during Q2 of 2017. That's an increase of £66 or 8.4% across the last quarter and £132 or 18.5% across the last 12 months.

The report cites 4 main reasons:

1) the increase in Insurance Premium Tax (IPT), which has been going up since July 2015 and now sits at 12%,

2) the marked reduction in the Ogden discount rate for personal injury awards,

3) good old Brexit - insurers are seeing increases in the cost of vehicle repairs, fuelled by Brexit’s impact on car part prices, and

4) greater repair complexity as the level of expensive technology in vehicles increases.

The report claims there's no evidence to suggest the increases are going to abate.  A £1,000 average premium is still on the horizon but is getting closer.

There's some good news though...
Chris Knott's average new policy premium is just £405 - less than half the national average according to the report. This is also a much shallower increase across the last year - only £14 (3.6%) and still bucking the trend.

As a happy client recently said "This is my third year with @ChrisKnottIns and every year they beat all my other quotes for both cars that are modded. Many thanks again and keep up the good work and the prices down!" carcall, Audi-Sport forum

Please give us a call for a quote to access these lower average rates for club members. You'll need to mention this forum to gain access to our 'Clubs & Enthusiasts scheme'.

QUOTELINE: 0800 917 2274

ONLINE: Visit https://www.chrisknott.co.uk/CarQuote to request a call back.

*****************
Feedback about our clubs and enthusiasts offering:

"Well Chris Knott's has come good again - this is my 3rd year with them now this year. They beat all other quotes I was getting without even trying." Rusty2009, Astra J/GTC OC

"Another customer today. Not entirely new as insured a few Alfas with you many years ago. Good price, friendly chat with Ian. Not convinced about the need to supply driving licence check code as never had to do that before, nothing to hide but guess it's to flush out some that have." gavp, BabyBMW forum

"Hi Guys, just purchased my first policy from you - beat my renewal with AXA of £845, now I'm paying £760. Happy motoring. Easy, quick and competitive ." Vrs_Maj, VWAudi Forum

I had installed my audio amplifier using a high/low-converter because the standard radio doesn't come with low-level RCA/tulp outputs. Disappointed by the signal quality I decided to see whether we could just grab the low-level inputs before they hit the amplifier in the headunit.

Bad news for me was that the unit is really hard to disassemble beyond a certain point. I couldn't get a view of the amplifier circuit until I removed the metal shield/frame on the backside of the unit. This was soldered to the ground plane on multiple spots and was overall a very tight fit, but eventually I got it out. The allowed me to remove some more shielding, eventually revealing that the amplifier in question is a TDA7564B. This is a simple amplifier with an easily found datasheet including clear pinning information:




Now there's some good news for anyone else wanting to carry this out on the same radio. Knowing what amp you have there's no need to disassemble much at all. The unit comes apart with 8 clearly visible screws on the side, revealing the navigation (top) and radio (bottom) assemblies. All you need to do is temporarily remove two capacitors on the radio assembly to get some working room for your hands and iron. Then connect RCA cables to pins 11 and 12 for front-left and front-right respectively, and pin 13 for the ground. Reassemble and done

Hi Guys,

Looking for some advice.

I currently drive a 1.8 Civic Type-s. Its been a good work horse for the last four years but is now showing its age as it approaches 115k on the clock.

I tend to keep my cars for around 4-5 years and do around 18K a year, so need something reliable.

Two cars have caught my eye. the first is a 2013 1.6T sri with 24k on the clock. The other is a 2.0 CDTi sport with 23K on the clock.

I'm leaning towards the 1.6T as I mainly drive b roads and when I owned a Corolla diesel I found the heavier engine made the car wallow a bit in the corners. I also had issues with it towards the end going into limp mode but not throwing any codes up. So I'm wary of diesels.

When looking at the GTC is there any common faults I should look for such as areas where paint in know to wear or rust locations (the Type-s would rust under the door seal at the corner of the window).

Any trim know to come loose?

Finally I've read on this site about the M32 gearbox and to be honest nearly decided not to touch a GTC. Is the M32 really a big issue. I read on one site that it was revised in mid 2012. Are 2013+ cars fairing any better with the gearbox?

How reliable are the turbo's?

Thanks for any and all advice

Hi,

I'm Patrick from Scotland
Not an owner yet but looking at a couple of GTC's so could be in a couple of weeks

Before I hit the forecourts I thought I'd ask some advice here.

What component causes the annoying beep when opening door while key is still in ignition, the annoying beep when driving without seat belt etc.?
I think it must be either something in the driver side door because I recently removed that.
Or it could be the front speakers, because I lost the beep (good riddance.. kinda) after attaching an amplifier with hi-lo converter to the rear speakers. So the front signal is unused at the moment.