Hi Jaffa cake sorry to hear of your drama I think as usual with a Croma that when you involve a garage it always leads to a huge bill!. Fortunately as a mechanical fitter I am able to sort things out myself and avoid hassle. The stubby inner shaft is almost certainly to one for the f40 box and has different splines where it fits to the box, the m32 fitted to both vectra and croma is the same diameter along its length to the intermediate bearing which is bolted to a different face the holes are tapped ready to use, a splined shaft sticks out from this bearing onto this fits the outer shaft c/v joint the wheel end c/v joint is the same whatever gm related car.
This issue is so specialised I doubt there is a garage anywhere that would understand! And land you with a big bill! If you can get your garage to use a correct m32 shaft it will save loads and end up with permanent fix.

Hi, thanks for the info but im out of my depth. The previous garage tried to offload the problem onto me but I only know what I've read on here. I hate paying silly prices for anything and try to do most things myself but cars I cannot sort out. It was on the garage ramp this afternoon and they are going to get back to me with a price I suppose from Fiat. They are looking at the full driveshaft so must be hundreds

oh i forgot to mention, there is a time issue involved so need to be done asap

Telegraph said:

Hi Jaffacake I have nursed our cromas drive shaft along for some time but this summer I hope to change it for a vectra one.I thought I had settled on the correct
one for our 150 there are some wrongly identified I think on ebay just to confuse things but am pretty shure the photos illustrate .

Click to expand...

Hi ,
Can you identify which photo is the correct (M32) shaft and which is wrong? I think the one with lighter, yellowish background to the photo is the wrong one.

Robert G8RPI.

Hi H2500 has covered this issue at some length earlier on this thread and others have illustrated which shaft fits, there are a number of entries where at huge expence and trouble have fitted Fiat original shafts and experienced shake trouble!.
A gasp at the cost when the car is newish but now to spend £100s and £100s of pounds and not fix it! Unthinkable. Unfortunately Fiat got this shaft wrong the best thing to do is to remove the shaft and leave it out for the scrap man! then replace it with the vectra c m32 shaft even if it means putting the thing in the hands of the mechanic and tell him to fit it and don not take any notice of the telling you it is not compatible. The Croma elearn identifies the gearbox as m32 and the Croma is almost entirely a Vectra pity that we didn't get the m40 gear box and shafts it would be a lot stronger and cheaper!. I am tempted to replace the front brake callipers and discs for 312mm diameter next time my car eats them and any hassle with the gear box and it will get the m40 and shafts.

Hi, the picture that you attached looks the same as the Vectra shaft i purchased but it was different to the Croma shaft that is on my car. I saw them both side by side on the garage floor.

Hi, the pictures you have loaded up look to me like : top left, this looks like the Vectra shaft i purchased and sold as a M32 shaft but was different to mine. The bottom left left looks like a Vectra auto as seen on ebay, the right hand picture looks like my Croma shaft but as all are similar from a distance , i cannot be certain

Its ok you saying that but i did order a M32 shaft and i did see both the Croma and Vectra shafts and they were definititely different.

Hi Jaffa cake just found time to reply on holiday in Devon (car had mild shake)
the Vectra shaft is different it has conventional c/v joints at both ends and the inner shaft is thinner and shorter have spent some time sorting this on the web and checked this useful thread I will order one whe I get home. The Alfa 159 has the same tulip shaft one piece and the same complaints the astra and zafira have tulip c/v joints. I have looked at my 150's gearbox and it is the same as that fitted to the 120 an M32.I hope you are able to get yours fixed asap. Three photos are the business end of a croma shaft(ebay £30 low mileage) an astra m32 inner shaft end which fits into the gearbox and the shaft assembly fitted by Chris earlier on this thread. I am as sure as I can be that both cromas use the m32 gearbox.

Hi, thanks for the information, i was quoted an astonishing £700 today for a reconditioned spider end bearing shaft and a new tulip type outer that had to be shipped from overseas with a 5 day wait. Obviously i find that kind of money obscene to pay but i know that the garage quote is accurate. I have found a Croma driveshaft from a breakers yard and have bought that for now. I just hope it is in a fit state to use. Like you i have noticed that the Tulip is not exclusive to the Croma and is/was used in Saab and Vauxhall. The Vectra shaft i purchased was advertised as a M32 gearbox one and on the support sump bracket was a GM part No , it was supposed to be from a 07-08 model but i have checked on my Croma shaft bracket and it has a code of FGP 55814... dont know all the part number as its in the garage. On ebay there is a Vectra / Saab driveshaft that looks like my Croma and has the part No of FGP 55184553, so im in the thinking that the Vectra shaft i purchased is the wrong part and i ought to buy one with the FGP 55184... No but at the moment the priority is to get the car back on the road ASAP

Sorry My Croma has the part No beginning with FGP 55184... and not FGP 55814.. as written previously

The 120bhp & 150bhp Croma have the same part number on their original driveshafts which must confirm what you said for a replacement Vectra part fitting both the 120 & 150 models

Hi after spending hours of research into alternative driveshaft’s to fit our jtd 150 I have taken the plunge and ordered the shafts Inc. the inner. Gm p/nos o/s 13166589 and 13166588 o/s the inner shaft to suit the m32 gearbox. The gearbox in our car is an m32. Although there are no markings on the box it looks the twin of all the gear boxes listed as m32 the gear change lever is identical earne says m32. Helpfully on ebay is an f40 box with with an o/s shaft fitted with its gear lever visible. What gearbox and shafts you get with a vectra seems random 150 are fitted with either m32 or f40 all Cromas get the m32 all saabs get the f40! . I have checked the front sub frame gm and croma look the same (not 5 cylinder) so hopefully length should not be an issue the diff seals will need changing a pair for £12. If this works out I will report the result with photos and procedure . We visited our son in Falmouth yesterday and climbing hills with power caused a lot of shake! I will put the old tulips shafts out for the any old irON van asap!.

Hi, let me know how you get on with the installation of the driveshafts, I would like the info if possible

Hi I have made a start on changing the driveshaft’s on our jtd 150 it definitely has the m32 gearbox and the vectra shafts length is the same so all being well should be able to sort it tomorrow morning. I have bought some gl5 synthetic gear oil so hopefully I will not get any gearbox hassle.

Hi earlier I fitted vectra m32 driveshafts to our JTD 150 with no problems quite straght forward and no more tulips!.

Thanks to chris & all responders to wheel wobble probs,mine is fine now after fitting GM shaft.

Hi guys. What about the driveshafts for automatic transmition - 150hp 16v?Is it possible to replace the original driveshaft with one of Vectra C or Signum, they are with the same automatic transmition and engine.

Hi I would think Vectra shafts would fit fine but it might be difficult to track down a good pair with plunge type cv joints. Vectra shafts are plentiful and cheap
even if you have to make do with the tulip type.

Hey guys, would this GM driveshaft work on a Bravo 1.4 T-Jet 150?
We, the Bravo people have the same driveshaft problems