Hiro

Leads are superficially fine (could well be originals too, I haven't changed them, but I've got some spares just in case), haven't had too close a look at them though since everything runs fine when off idle. If leads or plugs were crapped you'd expect misfires at all RPMs. ISCV is top of my list, first thing to check come lunch time.

Just do what the dealership is probably doing and just spray the sides with CRC/WD40/other squeak-stopper :P Taking a dash apart to diagnose little rattles or squeaks is a major major task for minimal benefit, and we all know dealerships are lazy :P

Well, yet another problem has surfaced, at least this one is relatively minor (but still annoying), I swear this car knows that I've got a full time job now and hence have money.......barely a thing goes wrong in 11 years of ownership, and now it seems there's a new problem every month. Car has an extreme reluctance to idle, when it's cold it will crank and fire but stall just about immediately unless some throttle is applied, once it's warm it will JUST hold an idle without any assistance. Turning the air-con on helps it a bit (extra air from the idle-up valve you see), but it's still not normal. Ever since I got back from the cruise the idle has been erratic, initially was a cold idle about 600rpm and a warm idle of 1100rpm, when it should be the other way around, then it degenerated on the drive down to Sydney on the weekend to it's current struggle-street status, but at least the warm idle is lower..... My bet is on the ISC valve, but won't be able to check it until lunch-time.

Maybe because it's bogged any they've gone to get help...? no way! are you serious... Yes, I'm serious..... Isn't the internet just a wonderful medium for sarcasm...

Maybe because it's bogged any they've gone to get help...?

Correct, but false. You don't shift into first before reverse to line the synchros up because reverse doesn't have synchromesh. You do it because unlike the forward gears, which are helical cut, reverse is straight-cut, and thus if the teeth don't line up exactly the gears won't mesh. You shift into first or second to use their helical cut teeth to rotate the input shaft (which is disconnected from the engine by the clutch) slightly so that the teeth have a better chance of lining up.

Considering also it's a V6, with two heads, and two extra cylinders, no wonder it takes more oil than a 2.2L 4cylinder....

Trust something like this to happen when I didn't have any credit, but at the same time didn't have any reception and was out in the middle of the ocean...

They did.

Mine's a tick under 300,000km, completely un-opened, and apart from a slow oil burn (5000km oil changes avoid that problem) it's still as fresh as a daisy, because it was run in properly and lead a charmed life on the open road for the first 7-8 years of it's life, not city traffic. On the other hand, my mate's 102 was burning oil like nothing else, and had significantly less power (mine stock was just about better than his with full intake and exhaust mods), simply because it was treated poorly early in it's life.

Bingo. First thing I thought was slipping clutch, but then saw it was auto. Equivalent to a slipping clutch in an auto is a fubared torque converter (not locking up properly)

I've been there, done that, and the gains would be negligible at best. You might get a slightly better sound, but any gains are most likely going to be offset by that second helping of pasta you had the night before. The supposed real benefit of a K&N filter is that it doesn't have to be replaced anywhere near as often as a normal paper filter, so if you intend on keeping it there for a _loooooong_ time then maybe it's worth it. $99 sounds about right for the price, although you'll get better value and gains out of a proper CAI setup and pod like I have (but your fuel consumption will probably rise too). Doing the exhaust by itself will probably net you between 5 and 10kw at the wheels, and will be a lot more noticable.

I almost always drive bare-foot, even on long trips. Yes, my feet do get sore after a while, but so do my legs, arms and back, so they all get a rest at the same time. Probrem solvered.

Or just use a tennis ball....

A lot of cars these days have effectively been run in before they even hand the keys over to you....so any "running-in" is irrelevant. However, it obviously does apply to freshly rebuilt engines.

Yeah he has better than average driving skills, and is a half-decent rally driver, but you can easily see (and has been proven) that it's not one take, and with a _lot_ of practice. Although, obviously not enough practice, as he hits the wall at 2:20....

But why bother seeing your feet at all though? If it was a race car and you were taking footage of your gear changes etc that can be tied back to data tracks or the like, then maybe. But apart from that any time spend admiring your shoes and pedals is time not spent looking out the windscreen, even if it's just peripheral vision. The only time your eyes should be off the windscreen is the standard mirror checks, and to look at the speedo. Everything else _has_ to be automatic, and blind. And trust me, you mightn't find it distracting, but cops won't necessarily see the same way as you. Goes the same for DVD screens etc which have to automatically turn off when the car is running if they are within line of site of the driver.

Of course, it's absolutely necessary to have lighting down there, so you can see where the pedals are in case someone's stolen them.... Since they are there for vanity and/or bling, and serve no real performance-enhancing purpose, I class them as rice. Or at least ****. The only way I'd install them would be if they were hooked up to the interior light, and turned off when the engine was started. In all other circumstances they'd be too distracting (any light that doesn't come from the road is deemed distracting, which is the whole point of HUDs and dimming dash clusters at night-time, so you can concentrate on looking straight ahead.

Although you should always check that the drain holes aren't clogged with dirt or leaves, which leads to water building up in the door cavity, which leads to rust. This is why you see sooo many old cars with the bottom of the door rusted out.

Good, that narrows down the options somewhat. Does the plate say 1S-LLU or 1S-iLU? If it's iLU then it's a single point fuel injection (pretty similar to a carby). Regardless, it is _not_ a common engine in Australia, however just about any S-series engine should bolt into it's place (3SGE, 3SFE, 5SFE etc) with little or no mechanical modifications. The problem would be that just about any engine that you'd replace it with would be EFi, and thus you'd most likely need an ECU and an auto electrician to do all the wiring for you (not something you want to do yourself, especially if you have no experience).

I'll be Hiro, because I'm......well, actually I'm not Asian...

It makes sense to progressively release colours onto the market. At launch, if you give the customer too many colour options, it becomes very expensive for the factory to provide all those options, especially if some colours are going to be low-volume sellers. But if you release a base group which will sell well, you can then determine if an extra colour is worth it and release it mid-life (or at a facelift). The risk you run is if you market it as a premium colour for up-market or special models, then everyone gets a hold of it and puts it on base models, destroying any sense of premium or exclusiveness. Holden Tiger Orange and Phantom Purple, I'm looking at you

AE111 Levin worth about 10 grand here (but easy to get). AE101 FX-GT bar worth about $300, but hard to get. Bit of a gap :P

And I also hate him, so I take every chance I can to raz on him. Here here. Sure when he plays well he can be hot, just like Brent Tate. But also like Brent Tate he gives away as much as he gives. But good on NZ for out playing us, there is only 1 game that counts. I call Brent Tate "The Crab", because he seems to spend more time going sideways than forwards. That, and "horse-face".

Try putting the trim off around the boot lock (not the tailgate) and see if you can see a cable running to the lock. Not every car has a remote release for the tailgate (my parent's Mazda2 doesn't, for instance), because wagons tend to have handles in the gate, whereas sedans don't.