Dave May

Hi Tony I had a few days with problems getting into drive and eventually had to hold gear lever tight in D position as it would jump to N. I could see the broken plastic joint by looking under the battery box with a good torch. Have you looked to see if this plastic ball joint is missing like I had. Dave

My basic boat trailer board does not have any fog lights. Just side + brake + indicators. Connecting the 2 rear indicators was easy enough but I could not find the correct indicator wires on the loom near where I positioned the relay. I ran a wire for each indicator from the rear lights.The left hand side was a short run but with right hand side I ran the wire forwards and then turned left behind rear seats up to the new relay, tie-wrapped to cars wiring loom. Hope this info helps. Dave

We live inside the ULEZ that’s inside the M25 and my Insignia is NOT compliant so only use it for towing my boat a few times a year paying £12:50 per day. I have never had any problems with the towbar or electrics and the car battery still holds its charge. Hopefully on 2nd May Mr Khan will be voted out and Susan Hall will be Mayor of London and she will BAN THE ULEZ on day one. We can then drive the Insignia as usual. Please all vote for SUSAN HALL to be mayor of London. Cheers Dave

Sounds like previous owner had a habit of selecting neutral at the lights causing BRAKE BAND wear inside auto gearbox. With all normal Torque Converter automatics it is better to use handbrake and keep in D ( drive ) if your right foot cannot hold brake pedal long enough. Read more automatic info on my posts. Dave

Hi Andy All Insignia automatic gearboxes have a Torque Converter fitted between the engine and gearbox and when engine is on very low revs at the lights the TC output shaft is not rotating at all so is not straining the automatic gearbox. The BRAKE BAND inside the gearbox remain tight and you will not get the sudden jerk when lights change. A Torque Converter is a brilliant invention, Utube explains how they work. They are excellent if you tow a caravan or boat as there is no clutch to wear out. Be careful when buying automatic cars as some car companies use a dual clutch transmission ( DCT ) which is a MANUAL GEARBOX with TWO clutches which have plenty of expensive problems. There is NO TORQUE CONVERTER on DCT cars. Read on Utube about the DCT nightmare. That’s the reason I have two Vauxhall Insignia’s, I like the TC gearboxes. Regards Dave I

Best to not get in the habit of selecting neutral at the lights as a BRAKE BAND inside the gearbox could wear and when selecting D again you could get a noticeable jerk,as gearbox takes up the slack. Seems like bump from car behind. Dave

The usual cause of ( bump from car behind ) fault is worn brake band inside auto gearbox. A brake band stops a drum from rotating and should stay tight to reduce wear. If you get in the habit of selecting neutral at the lights this fault will eventually happen. Better to use the electric hand brake it’s cheaper to repair. Too many traffic jams these days maybe that’s the reason right leg knees are the first knee to be replaced.

The tailgate opens and closes OK from the drivers door switch but when up there is a small switch to press on the INSIDE edge of tailgate and normally the tailgate closes, but found switch is faulty. Contacted Vauxhall for spare switch found priced at £34 and 2 month wait for it. Ordered it anyway but was then told it’s not stocked anymore because my car IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. Not happy with Vauxhall so found excellent SPARE PART WEB SITE vauxhallsuperstore.co.uk Switch was easily found priced at only £11.04 and was delivered for extra £2.95 Brilliant place for all Vauxhall spares

Have a look at the pictures in my post on 27th August ( AUTOMATIC GEARBOX LOSS OF DRIVE FIXED FREE ) maybe a new gear change knob is needed as the press button at the back of the knob might not be operating the rod downwards to engage Park. The knob will have to be broken to get it off. ( see pics ) There are electric contacts in Park position that touch to allow ignition key to be removed. Also remember the brake pedal must be pressed to move lever out of Park. ( look at way to do that without battery ). Dave

Thanks for your comments. I must repeat the very important APPLY THE ELECTRONIC BRAKE BEFORE REMOVING THE BATTERY because I DID forget to do that and the result was PANIC. My front garden has a slight incline down towards my house, back of car was facing house. I was unbolting the gear change bracket and gear changed to neutral and car started to move backwards. I had NO CONTROL to stop it and no time to switch back to Park and result luckily was only dent in garage door. But just think what could have happened. Suggest also chock a couple of wheels with bricks. Do you have any useful contacts at Vauxhall so we can get those cheapo plastic parts FREE. Regards Dave

Last week on a long drive home my car suddenly lost all drive. ( imagine that on a smart motorway ). I then realised car had slipped into neutral on its own. Managed to get home by tightly holding gear lever into Drive position but car trying to get in neutral all the time. When home looked under bonnet and could just see where gear change cable connects to gearbox. It was disconnected due to a plastic BALL JOINT that was broken and completely missing. The cable end with the missing ball joint had just a 10mm hole left. ( photo 1 ) Purchased new cable and found the missing ball connecter was just a small piece of plastic ( photo 2 and 3 ). This part could easily be removed and fitted in original cable. To fit the new cable the centre console inside the car has to be removed. This would be a very long job and would probably cause damage to the unmarked interior of my car so decided NOT TO FIT NEW CABLE. This so called ball joint is a very weak Micky Mouse connection so decided to make a simple stronger modification ( photo 4 ). Note : The nut on photo 4 must be NYLOC type and adjusted so joint can move, use a bit of grease. To do this modification APPLY ELECTRONIC BRAKE, DO NOT FORGET TO DO THIS. Then remove battery and battery box. The cars engine management computer can be lifted up by releasing ONE clip ( photo 9 ) with a screwdriver. No need to pull hard on this it’s very easy after you have found the clip see photos. Also note 4 sliders to hold computer when refitting. DO NOT unplug any computer plugs. Follow photos ( 5 to 8 ). Unbolt bracket and cut off metal ball using angle grinder ( this ball is very hard so CANNOT USE DRILL ). Once back of ball has been ground off just hammer out with punch. The bracket can then be drilled out 10mm dia. Useful knowledge learnt . Photo 10- To remove gear lever cover just pull from this position. Photo 11- To unlock parking lock ( P ) with dead battery press down with nail or screwdriver then move gear lever. Photo 12- Gear lever knob has to be broken to remove holding pin clip. Just break silver plastic at bottom of knob and pull out clip. New lever just pushes on. Photo 13- Put gear lever in P park position and use 6.5 inch long metal rod or wood to avoid damage to gearbox selector switch when tightening bracket nut. Maybe not necessary but don’t know how switch end stop works inside gearbox. When refitting battery box fit longest screw in position first before dropping box in place. Don’t forget to fit the strap to the positive terminal of the battery. This just stops the battery flying out if you hit someone head on. Maybe vauxhall should be informed of this BALL JOINT FAULT and supply just the small plastic micky mouse part free to avoid fitting the complete cable and will then get good reviews from owners.

Easiest way to see if CANBUS is working is to turn on the lights and check the rear lights. If back lights are working get someone to press the brake pedal and check red brake lights work. You will see the two side lights just get much brighter ( single filament bulbs ). This is with ignition ON and any trailer board disconnected. If CANBUS is not working I don’t think the engine would start. Try disconnecting all lighting units ( thats rear lights and headlights) to eliminate any short circuit caused by water damage. Engine might then start. The Haynes manual has good circuit diagrams and fuse locations. Dave

Easiest way to see if CANBUS is working is to turn on the lights and check the rear lights. If back lights are working get someone to press the brake pedal and check red brake lights work. You will see the two side lights just get much brighter ( single filament bulbs ). This is with ignition ON and any trailer board disconnected. If CANBUS is not working I don’t think the engine would start. The Haynes manual has good circuit diagrams and fuse locations. Dave

Hi Eric Cars that have CANBUS wiring DO NOT need to connect the LH tail and RH tail wires ( that’s Black and Brown wires ) to the INPUT of the universal relay. The Red brake wire is all that is needed to connect to the input of the relay to get the brake and both tail lights to work on the trailer board. Just connect 12volts and earth to power the universal relay. Then just connect the red brake light to the relay Input. Then check the trailer board by just switching on the lights, both side lights will work, then press the brake pedal and see the red brake lights working and the side lights will still be on. Best Regards Dave

Hi Eric I don’t really understand why you think the brown wire is not connected. If you zoom into the relay ( on photo 2 at the bottom ) you should see the brown wire is connected to pin 5 ( RH side light ), This brown wire is part of the 7 way multi-core that feeds the tow bar electric socket. Note: The PIN numbers are 1-2 -4-5-6-7 pin 3 is not shown. Dave

Tried a number of Vauxhall dealers for supply of a TRAILER OUTPUT PLUG so that the 12 supply could be connected to the tow bar universal relay, but nobody in Vauxhall had ever seen this plug and had NO IDEA where to pick up 12volts. I then decided carry out the usual method of cutting a chunk of insulation from the 12 volt wire to the rear fuse box and soldering on a wire ( see photo ). The 12 volt supply wire is very thick and to do a good solder joint the soldering iron must be very hot, I used a 48 watt iron which was just right for soldering to this thick wire. Also spoke to the designer of the universal relay, he told me it is perfectly safe to leave the relay permanently connected to 12volts. I was going to fit a switch to switch off the 12 volts when not towing but now didn’t bother to do that. Tested all working OK.

Hello Everyone. This is my first post. Just purchased a new towbar and electrics on eBay from Towtrust with total cost £212.76. Fitting the bar was no problem. Checked how CANBUS worked and found the brake and tail lights all work on Single filament bulb ( usually a double filament bulb without canbus ). Measured volts on the bulb with tail lights on found 4 volts then measured with foot brake on found 12 volts on same bulb. The universal wiring kit can see the different voltage and light the correct bulbs on my trailer lighting board. This universal wiring kit is JUST FOR 7 PIN TRAILER BOARD not complete caravan kit. Only had to connect 12v and earth to power the universal RELAY and then only 3 wires to get all lights to work on the board. The Red brake light wire was connected first and both tail lights and the brake light worked, then both direction light wires were connected to finish the job all VERY EASY. My problem to ask is WHERE TO PERMANENTLY CONNECT THE 12 VOLT SUPPLY TO THE RELAY. I just jammed a 12v feed into the plug ( red circle on photo) including the 15amp fuse. The instructions say to run a wire directly from the battery to the new relay in the boot. I DO NOT want to do this as the fuse box in the boot has 2 large 12 volt supply cables already. I know I could cut a chunk of insulation from this thick wire and just solder a wire to it but this would not look good and damages car wiring. The boot fuse box should have A TRAILER OUT PLUG but I do not have this. So has anyone managed to get a 12v feed from this fuse box. The 2 large 12v cables are live all the time even with ignition key removed. I will be fitting an on / off switch so that power to the relay is OFF when not towing. Here are a few photo’s of the rear fusebox. PS: The FIXED FLANGE towbar DID NOT affect the reversing sensors, they still work perfectly. Best Regards Dave