mg85

It is usually VVT rattle changing the oil more often is the key for prevention of this problem. Cant see thicker oil helping.

Did you check the service history on this vehicle and verify it? These motors NEED to be serviced regularly.

Parking brake shoe drag I reckon

Bit of mucking around with the Aurion to do the Rear struts, I did mine a while back and entails taking the rear seat (base & back) out to get to the top mounts. Most other cars I have done the top mounts can be accessed through the boot. I would disagree that all struts are generic you get what you pay for generally, im sure you could get real cheapies from Repco. The only thing that can leak is the Damper part of the strut it has oil & gas inside it, the rest is all steel and rubber mounts.

Can only be the struts. If your springs are not sagging you dont need to replace them. You will need another 4 wheel alignment on strut replacement. You can get Monroe GT gas struts on ebay for $300 a pair, in my view they are better than the pedders. Ive always found Pedders expensive

You would probably have to get the park brake shoes adjusted (inside the rear rotor drums) rather than just adjust the cable tension. It certainly will hold the car from going backwards on a slope if is adjusted correctly. They wear a bit on the shoes and no amount of cable tension (under dash) will help if the shoe clearance is to big.

What is the service history on your vehicle? Could be VVT Variable Valve Timing which are know for noise at start up if the engine is not serviced correctly. Most on this forum would agree this engine requires a shorter service interval than the is specified in the service manual, to be on the safe side say very 10,000km or six months (whichever comes first)

The level should be checked with transmission temp between 40-45c after putting in drive then reverse a few times to get the oil distributed.

Good decision me thinks sorry it did not work out.

I think you are really looking at the wrong vehicle if you want to get a substantial power increase at of of stock Aurion's It is not in my opinion a suitable vehicle to do this too, when there are numerous others imports Skyline ,Soarer, Silvia, even some local stuff XR6 etc. which are the ducks guts for this type of mods. Substantial power increase in a std 3.5L = bang! in my book Transmission= similar Chassis=could not see it handling great some guys have put large dia sway bars on the rear only to have mountings pull off the body Mate it is basically a family car

The TCS light is telling you there is a fault, to turn TCS off is quite a long sequence of actions, it is very unlikely you accidentally did this, also it resets to TCS on every time the ignition is turned off. Go with Trent's recommendation and have the computer fault code read, you have to start somewhere ay.

If you are concerned I would measure the distance from the bottom mounting bolt center of the strut to the base of the the spring seat on the new strut and compare it to the old one. Replaced mine a few months ago with Monroe GT gas there is some gas pressure in the damper but not enough to make the car ride 1" higher the difference may be in the strut.

Looks like you are in for trouble, I probably would not be blaming "bad oil" when you have not serviced it regularly. The 3.5 Lt engine is prone to sludging as it is. I predict you will be having ongoing issues with this engine forever due to lack of regular servicing it is up to you how much money you want to throw at it. Options are as I see them: Get 2nd hand engine (could be just as much trouble if it has not been looked after) Sell the car Rebuild the engine/reco (expensive but will fix the problem) Spend money on mechanics trying to clean up a worn sludged engine (could go on indefinitely)

Hi Keefy, Tread depth is measured across the tyre if one side is down to the wear indicators the tyre is deemed unroadworthy even if the other side is OK. Your tyre look a little worn on the outside which is not uncommon for a front LH due to U turns, roundabouts and such, therefore it is well worth rotating tyres every 10K using the method described in the owners manual. I find you can get a pretty good picture on how the car is driven by looking at the wear on tyres. As mentioned in the fuel consumption thread by other experienced users roadcraft has a hell of a bearing fuel consumption and of course tyre wear.

Hi Ben, Have look through this thread