Worth Reparing? 09 Astra XE
 

My astra has 130k kms (80k miles) and is in need of some repairs:

1. Timing belt due (how far can I push it?)
2. New struts <- my mechanic might be over exaggerating the need to fix this
3. Rear shocks leaking <- my mechanic might be over exaggerating the need to fix this
4. Front breaks and rotors
5. Set of summer tires

I was quoted $3200 CAD to fix all this from a mechanic.

From what I can tell, a 2009 Astra goes for ~$2000 CAD on the high end with the millage I have on it so far.

I'm at a loss as to what to do as I can't really afford a $3200 repair. I'm considering driving into the ground but with the low KM, it seems like a waste if my belt were to go.

If I were to keep up repairs on the Astra, how many miles/km could I expect, generally speaking, to get out of it?

The car feels solid otherwise, just normal maintenance items that have come up.

I'd like to try fix some of this myself this summer. I am not a mechanic by any means and would be learning. I do my own oil changes, replaced spark plugs, change my own tires, changed the coil pack and have replaced an axel on a Toyota. I'd be at the mercy of youtube tutorials and help from fine people like you. I'm a seasoned professional computer tech and have an eye to troubleshooting and fixing things. I generally trust myself, though I would consider myself an amateur when it comes to fixing vehicles.

What would you do in my situation? Looking for honest feedback!

What would I do?

1) get a divorce from your mechanic who wants to charge you $3,500 in repairs supposedly on a $2,000 vehicle. The only explanation for it would be an absurd amount of labor hours to do the timing belt. You could replace the engine for $800. With used low mileage one.

2) you can do your own brakes, especially disc brakes. Easy peasy.

3) do you have any friends that work on their own cars? Struts and associated springs can be dangerous if you are not tuned in to what not to do. I think you could still do it with some guidance, human or electronic.

If the frame is not rusted out, seems like you could take on everything besides the timing belt. Walk into a few independent mechanic shops frequented by your friends and get a quote for the job.

Find a different shop.

I poorly communicated that this mechanic also sells tires and that would include the tires. He was either going to charge me $800 for the timing belt (just the belt) or $1200 for the kit install, which seems way off. Why is a kit $400 more?

I watched some videos online and changing a timing belt doesn't seem that difficult. Am I being naive here?

Literally $800 for the belt? I don't think that's what he meant. He meant $800 to change the belt only, and $1,200 to install the belt and the other recommended replacement parts that you change out when you do a timing belt replacement (tensioner, etc)....So both quotes are for parts and labor. 800 is for fewer parts and less labor. 1200 is for the job presumably done right away.

You should be shopping around for the full timing replacement kit install.. 1200 seems high to me. Get some other estimates from reputable mechanics

Tires for that vehicle shouldn't be more than $140 each, and I don't think the vehicle itself justifies having summer and winter tires unless it is really a nightmare in the winter. Just buy all seasons that get good reviews.

Just keep in mind the scarcity of Astra parts in the US, as well as the scarcity of knowledge regarding repairing them. You can purchase opel parts from across the pond.

It's your vehicle. If you are willing to go all in on the timing set change, that's your call. Just be advised that you will cause irreparable damage to the valves if you do not get it right. If you are one tooth off, you might have a second chance. In general, no.

Man, you can drive the car down to me in east Texas. We can do all that. And the trip would work out cheaper. I'd find a different shop.

Morning AstralSeer,

I bought my daughter a 2008 XR 3-door in 2021 out of Toronto with 121,000km as her first car; she now has 146,000km. She loves the car and its uniqueness. I paid $2,700 and drove it back to Ottawa for some basic work to meet the safety certificate and a few proactive maintenance items. We did drop links, brakes, pcv/valve cover, transmission mount, flex pipe, battery, camshaft cover gasket, steering rack, winter tires and a new head unit for Bluetooth connectivity. Some parts were a pain to find given the Astra is a bit of an orphan in North America with only 2 model years sold but the Astra H is plentiful in Europe sold under Opel/Vauxhall brands and using eBay to find parts made it easy. I also had good success at my local scrap yard for super cheap parts like replacement antenna, side mirror, vent grill, rubber trim, alloy rims, car mats, roof rail trim etc. Also, I found upgraded parts on Kijiji as well as specialized accessories like the block heater cord. Once you get used to the German origins of the car, they are easy to work on and pretty straight forward for DIY. Everyone in the Astra community has been terrific! One member, AstraFasta, was particularly helpful and knowledgeable to me. He had additional advice that I pasted below that may be helpful to you;

“The timing belt interval recommendations are all over the place. I think the longest I have seen is 10 years/100k miles. But if you have no documentation, replace that as the z18xer is an interference engine. Get the timing belt kit to replace the idler and tensioner as some idlers don't fare so well. Rear brakes tend to wear rather quickly. There are a few cam wear issues to search for in the forums. If cold engine sounds a bit like a diesel for a few seconds at start you may have some new parts in your future. The exhaust flexpipe needs to be replaced frequently. Get a welder to weld in a new section as the GM replacement is expensive. Need to change spark plugs say every 25k miles else coil pack fails. Horn CIM at steering wheel poorly engineered. There is a $1 clip from GM that sometimes solves the problem for some cars. Else this is a problem.”

Good luck with your decision.

Over $3000 is crazy for the age of the car. I have an 08 astra and you'd be surprised on how far you can go.

Only fix what needs to be done, not what's due. Mechanic will give u a $10,000 estimate if you play along lol

Astra have issues with rear springs, wouldnt doubt one of yours is broken. As for the shocks, check if leaking or bottoms or too much bounce.

Other thing is the ignition coil goes every couple years, i hear its because spark plugs need changing often.

Good luck

I read your reply, pretty much everythjng ive been through. Great little car, did uber with it maybe 8 years ago, people loved it, 4 door xr with moon roof or panoramic top, nifty little car. Some parts were a pain, since it's European. I also ordered some parts from UK, when was not found local. Not sure what the horn thing is you mentioned. But a few years back, gm wrote me a letter about a recall, brought it in and they changed the whole air bag assembly on the steering wheel .

Have a good one!

Thanks for the feedback. Fun little car to drive for sure. Its uniqueness is both a charm and a curse! Astrafasta mentioned the CIM fault which has not happened to my daughters car (yet) but is well explained in the following YouTube if interested: