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Hi, Well the new cam cover seems to have done the trick, not had a puff of smoke at all, but at a RRP of £220, I am glad I only paid £114 for it. Yes still a rip off for what was probably a faulty diaphragm and maybe spring though!

Thanks for the advice. I have bitten the bullet and fitted a genuine Vauxhall cam cover. Can't say I am overly confident as it looks pretty much exactly the same. It let out a little bit of smoke after it was fitted but that may just be what had accumulated. I took the breather apart on the cam cover I took off to try and see how it works but it isn't quite as simple a set up as I first thought, so I have put that theory on hold for now! I haven't used my car much in the last couple of days but will see over the next few of days as I'm back at work. Will let you know what happens.

HI, Managed to do a leak down test but not to sure about the results. The compressor would only manage 20 PSI whereas the youtube vids use 100 PSI. Cylinders 3 and 4 were perfect while 1 and 2 were letting air out. The hissing was loudest through the spark plug ports so I thought that the hose might not be seated properly but after trying a couple of times it made no difference. The hissing could be heard through the air intake and slightly through the cam cover oil filler, loudest when checking cylinder one. When the pipe was connected we got a drop in pressure which sent the needle into the green on the pressure gauge. I turned the pressure back up to 20 PSI which put the pressure gauge needle on the edge of the yellow area on the gauge so relatively happy with that but not to sure how much difference the extra pressure would make if it was done at 100 PSI. Managed to do a bit of a compression test but the gauge had a bit of a dodgy pipe, this put cylinders 1 and 2 at 90 PSI and 3 and 4 at just over 100 PSI, so there does seem to be a bit of wear on 1 and 2. The plugs were a bit blackish and the pistons had a coating of soot on them, all 4 cylinders seemed about the same. Again not to sure just how this affects the smoke problem but I think I am going to get a genuine Vauxhall cam cover first and see what happens. Will let you know how I get on.

Hi, I guess it may be a faulty switch. It is possible the contacts have become worn or it may be bad wire connections. I would pull the door card far enough to get your hand behind and see if you can reach the connections. Try and wiggle them a bit, sometimes they can corrode and not work properly. If that doesn't work you may have to take it out and check the contacts. There may be a spring inside so watch it doesn't pop out. Check the contacts and use a bit of wet and dry to clean them if they look pitted. My previous Astra had faulty rear door electrics which was due to the wires becoming work hardened after the door being opened and closed lots of times. I don't know if yours has central locking but if that and the door speaker are working you could probably rule that out. Try giving the wire a wiggle where it goes into the door while holding the switch. You never know! If you take the switch out you can check it first using an electric meter to check the resistance, that should tell you if it is the switch is ok or not. If your not very DIY I'm sure someone you know will have an electric meter and be able to check it for you and at the same time you can check power is getting to the switch through the wires. The only other thing I can suggest is check the fuse. I would think that would stop both front switches from working so I would probably rule this out. This is what I would do but if you find the fault is the switch then you could just buy another rather than pull it to bits. Good luck and let us know how you go on.

Hi, it may have an auto volume control to account for higher engine noise etc. It may give you more info in the audio manual if you have it. Looking at my audio manual it is called SDVC, check the settings, it doesn't say you can switch it off but maybe it will in the settings.

Hi, it's a bit hard to tell from the bottom picture but is the area at the bottom of the picture solid or is there an opening into the body work. With there being leaves in there and quite a lot of water I would guess somehow it is getting in through the wheel arches. I would have a look to make sure that the shields are properly fixed in place and are not loose around the edges.

Hi, and thanks for the warm welcome :)

If it was a cylinder fault, would it not be a continuous problem? It was the clicking noise that is confusing me. It is like something is opening and letting the oil through which initially led to me thinking it may be an EGR valve, until I read the Z18XER engine does't have one. The purge valve is supposed to let fuel fumes which accumulate in the charcoal filter out into the inlet manifold. If the oil is continuously passing through the system without having any effect, could this injection of fuel vapor when the purge valve opens, cause this problem? I will look into your suggestion and thanks for the advice regards Keith

Hi thanks for the response. The smoke appears usually when I accelerate quickly but it will do it eventually even when I don't. I would say it seems to build up over about 5 days then releases it in one go and I can hear a kind of clicking noise as it does it. I am only doing about 20 miles a day, 10 to and from work and only really drive steady anyway. I have attached a link to a video that I managed to take (nearly braking my phone when it fell!) Sorry I gave up trying to rotate the vid! This is the worst it gets but you can see how bad it can be. I am not sure if the breather is supposed to stop any oil getting into the inlet manifold or if it is just the way to divert the crankcase pressure. My previous 2 cars were the 2 previous models of what I have now. The F model I had no problems with apart from head gaskets, I think the breather was open to the atmosphere if I remember correctly.. The G model never seemed to get hot enough and the engine breather and cam cover used to choke up with whitish gunge. That went into the inlet manifold but had no problems other than the gunge. I was going to keep the original cover when I changed it so I could examine the breather to see how it works but I ended up not doing unfortunately https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Iw6jEqFG54QEl4XBFmDW1rss-UECX3Ng

Hi, may not be any help but on my old Astra there was a rubber bung in the bottom of the wheel well which let water in. Is the carpet wet anywhere?

Hi, I'm after some advice on my 2008 Astra H 1.8 estate. I have been getting puffs of smoke every 3 to 4 days of use. There is a clicking noise which I assumed was an EGR valve but after reading the Haynes manual, my particular engine (Z18XER) does not have one.There is a purge valve which connects to a charcoal canister for fuel vapers and if I understand it properly is separate to the engine breather. I had been told it was the cam cover breather that was faulty and I have replaced it with an after market part. This seemed to be better for a while but is now doing the same. The breather hose has oil in it and when I disconnected it with the engine running there is a lot of pressure blowing through it. I blew through the breather on the new part before I fitted it and the passed all the way through. I was also told there is a diaphragm in the breather which tends to whistle when it fails which mine never has done so I don't know if that refers to a different model or not. I would be grateful if someone could explain how this system is supposed to work exactly so I can get it sorted. Thanks Keith

Hello all, Managed to get my hands on a 2008 1.8 Astra H Estate in very good condition. A few niggles with it but should last me for quite a few years, hopefully!