Hey guys,

The name's Mike. I bought a 2003 TJII AWD Sports in Sierra Red in June. It was unregistered with some panel damage along the LHS of the car, but very drivable - $1500!

After having it sit in the visitor's car port for about 6 weeks, I finally got round to getting it checked out from head to toe, serviced, Blue Slipped and registered. Yay!

This is my first AWD car, and my first 5 speed auto. I'm loving the car's sure-footedness, and I'm especially loving the bark from the exaust when I start her up. The SOHC 3.5 definitely puts out a lovely note.

But all is not a perfect! The lifters can be noisy on a cold start, and I do get a little shudder in the auto in 2nd and 3rd. There's also an annoying squeak coming from the rear suspension over big bumps. My mechanic reckons the lifters could be a bit exxy, and the auto may or may not need an overhaul. Will get all these investigated soon.

It's been lowered on King Springs but aside from that, it's stock. I've already got some interior mods ready to go - Verada sun visors, electrochromatic mirror and chrome door handles.

I'll be upgrading the stereo (touch screen double DIN, speakers, amp & sub), grabbing some floor mats and giving the one-piece headlight assemblies a freshen up with some wet 2000 grit and some clear coat.

Oh, and more than likely, a lovely set of 5-spoke 18"s... :-D

Hey guys,

The name's Mike. I bought a 2003 TJII AWD Sports in Sierra Red in June. It was unregistered with some panel damage along the LHS of the car, but very drivable - $1500!

After having it sit in the visitor's car port for about 6 weeks, I finally got round to getting it checked out from head to toe, serviced, Blue Slipped and registered. Yay!

This is my first AWD car, and my first 5 speed auto. I'm loving the car's sure-footedness, and I'm especially loving the bark from the exaust when I start her up. The SOHC 3.5 definitely puts out a lovely note.

But all is not a perfect! The lifters can be noisy on a cold start, and I do get a little shudder in the auto in 2nd and 3rd. There's also an annoying squeak coming from the rear suspension over big bumps. My mechanic reckons the lifters could be a bit exxy, and the auto may or may not need an overhaul. Will get all these investigated soon.


It's been lowered on King Springs but aside from that, it's stock. I've already got some interior mods ready to go - Verada sun visors, electrochromatic mirror and chrome door handles.

I'll be upgrading the stereo (touch screen double DIN, speakers, amp & sub), grabbing some floor mats and giving the one-piece headlight assemblies a freshen up with some wet 2000 grit and some clear coat.

Oh, and more than likely, a lovely set of 5-spoke 18"s... :-D

For the noise on start up, research on here about hydraulic tensioner for the timing belt. It could be the cause of your noise. As for the gearbox, get a dealer to flush the box, not simply drop the oil and top it up again, and you should find the box rights itself.

For the 18's, keep in mind people have had issues with suspension clearance with certain offsets etc, for the awd, something to do with a suspension arm.

Mike

Yep, try 18x8 with +38 offset. +35 will cause the front tyres to protrude the guard if using 235 wide tyres. Ok for 225 wide tyres. Tyre choices for 18x8 would either be 225/45R18 or 235/45R18.

Also see if you can source a set of HM Headers for the AWD (same design as used in the ralliart magna) which will give you back the robbed power/torque and plus a little more due to the very restricted joiner section between the front and rear banks. It will also reduce the drone from the exhaust at cruise.

Hi and welcome to the magna AWD drive Club!!
Lifter chatter is a common thing on 6G74's and doesn't affect reliability or longivety. On the next oil & filter change, use some wynns engine flush & add some premium synthetic oil like mobil1, shell helix ultra or Penrite HPR5 fully synthetic.

+1 as previously mentioned by mcs_xi to get the transmission power flushed & make sure to use only the genuine Mitsubishi SPIII auto trans fluid. Then it's a good idea to do a regular flush every <40,000 kms. Search the forum as there is a thread with the auto learning procedure that helps the transmission regain smooth shifting (it eventually learns it through it's fuzzy logic anyway). Check for worn/broken engine/transmission mounts as they can be a source of transmission/driveline shudder in the AWD's. Driveline refinement & NVH levels have never been a strong point on the AWD magnas compared to their FWD counterparts. When I bought my AWD verada, it only had 35000kms on the clock and it was quite appanent the driveline wasn't as refined as my old TJ magna exec with 115,000 on the clock.
I don't mean to scare you with this, but check also for any bits of curved metal in the transmission fluid as that will indicate a broken wavespring washer which will need repacing ASAP and is quite expensive as the transmission has to be removed & opened up to do this in order to avoid rebuild due to catastrophic damage.

As for suspension, it is not uncommon for lowered setups to be alittle noisy from the coils in the springs rubbing against each other, especialy in the upper part of the coil. Other suspension culprits for squeaking are ball joints and suspension arm swivel points.

welcome and another +1 to what everyone else said.

Guys,

Thank you so much for the welcome and the advice! I will look into all of these things closely, to be sure.

If you guys are right, and I don't doubt that you know your Magnas, then you have just saved me a world of heartache.

Looking forward to meeting some of you at the next NSW gathering.

Mike :-)

+ 1 for the hydraulic pre tensioner giving you that loud clatter noise for the first 10 odd seconds on cold starts very common. Not too bad a fix.
+1 for full transmission flush and the re-learn procedure will fix rough shifts. As for the wave spring possibly found in the tranny oil when draining it, mine has 230,000 on it and still no spring parts found.
My brother has found parts in his but saying that he's done over 100,000 j's since then and it still runs like new. My point is, even if you find some spring parts in oil, as long as its still running fine then don't stress.

When I had my transmission serviced they found a piece of wave spring and they matched it to the rest of the spring which luckily meant no other bits would be somewhere else in the box. Was a scary experience though, getting told I might be in a gearbox overhaul.

I've got the car booked in at Vince's Advanced Automatics at Blacktown for next Thursday. He's done work on autos for me before and he seems to do good work. I'll get him to do a full diagnostic, flush and service. My first ever car was a 1986 TM Magna Elite which had no end of tranny & engine trouble. After Vince did a full reco on the tranny, I never had another problem, right up until I sold it 2 years later.

Also got the car booked in at Pedders at Blacktown on Saturday for their full suspension check, the one they're advertising on TV at the moment. I know there's some mixed feelings on the forum about Pedders, but Cameron at Blacktown is a nice guy and he did some good work on my fiance's '94 Integra last year (if a little expensive).

I've also got the car scheduled for it's next service in about 2000kms. I'll get him to check the hydraulic pretensioner.

Thanks again guys. I'll post again after I've had these done and let you know how I go.

..... I know there's some mixed feelings on the forum about Pedders, but .....

nothing mixed about my feelings on Pedders, they're exactly the same as my feelings on Midas, exactly the same as I shared with Fair Trading about both.

Mcada, I wouldn't bother with pedders suspension for the magnas for 2 reasons.
1. Pedders charge you like a wounded bull for what you get.
2. The quality is crap ie. The reports from many magna owners are they are prone to sagging quite badly, coils tend to rub against each other causing irritating squeak, spring rate too soft etc.

These are specific complaints related to what pedders makes available for the magnas. I've heard from drivers of other vehicles & 4WD's give a big thums up for pedders in their application. So make of that what you will.

I've got king springs with KYB shocks on mine lowered 30mm rear & 45mm front, not the best set up I admit as front spring rates are too soft for the travel.
However the general consesus in this forum for cost/performance seems to be the Dobinsons VRX springs with Boge shocks. I've heard nothing but good reports about this combo for magnas be it FWD or AWD.
Also front strut brace (Whiteline make a very good one for the magna) an essential handling upgrade. Which I can attest to as I've one fitted on mine.
Other members also rave on about going larger in the rear sway bar department. From memory, the AWD TJ/KJ models have a 16mm rear sway bar unit. Shelby Swaybars makes swaybars to suit magnas upto 24mm and possibly larger. Members on this forum seem to favour either the 20mm or 22mm sizes (larger rear sway bar helps to offset understeer). Whiteline do an adjustable swaybar butv there have been alot of reported problems with these excerting enough pressure on the rear subframe to crack & even break it. Also poor fitment & movement throught the bushes is a common complaint of the adustable rears.

I've got the car booked in at Vince's Advanced Automatics at Blacktown for next Thursday. He's done work on autos for me before and he seems to do good work. I'll get him to do a full diagnostic, flush and service. My first ever car was a 1986 TM Magna Elite which had no end of tranny & engine trouble. After Vince did a full reco on the tranny, I never had another problem, right up until I sold it 2 years later.

INVECSII 5 speed auto on AWD magnas are generally very reliable and trouble free as long as the transmission is flushed every <40000kms and preferably if you can install a transmission cooler in-line (external oil filter is optional but desired), and Mitsubishi does a revised wavespring washer that doesn't fail like the original.

nothing mixed about my feelings on Pedders, they're exactly the same as my feelings on Midas, exactly the same as I shared with Fair Trading about both.

For my TL AWD Pedders quoted me $890! for a set of lowered springs only (no shocks!) fitted and a strut brace. That was with free wheel alignment lol. Absolute robbery!

BTW the strut brace was around $190

Well boys,

I've had the transmission serviced and flushed. Officially given a clean bill of health, which I was pleased to hear. The advice I received from Vince at Advanced Autos was the same - flush every 40,000kms and she'll be fine. Thanks for the advice guys.

Whether I didn't persist enough or not, I couldn't find another reputable suspension specialist in the Blacktown/Mt Druitt area. I ended up taking the car to Pedders in the end, where they replaced a series of bushes front and back with Nolathanes, and installed Sportsryder Springs and shocks at the back. Not sure if I will have problems in the future or not, but it seems to be riding and handling a whole lot better than before. And it's no longer sagging at the back. It did cost quite a bit though. Apparently some of the wrong bushes were installed in the car's recent history. Wouldn't surprise me - some other things I've found in the car were wrong too.

I now have two problems: My sway bar "D" bushes front and back still need replacing, and I still get a bit of a shudder in 2nd and 3rd.

Re the "D" bushes: It seems no one makes them for the rear swaybar in the AWD anymore, not in OEM spec anyway. Been searching for a while but can't find them. Plenty of front sway bar "D" bushes around though, as they're the same as the ones in the FWD. Booked back in to Pedders next Thursday for some new Nolathane "D"s for the front.

Re the shudder: the Auto guy is convinced it's not the tranny. He seems to think it could be the CV joints? One of the CV boots is definitely torn....

While I was at Pedders I got the guy to show me the underside, yep ADM, the rear OEM sway bar is 16mm. He measured it while I was there. However, Whiteline don't seem to make a sway bar for the AWDs anymore. I got the guy to check with them while I was there.

Thanks again. You guys are the sh*t. I will look into Shelby sway bars. If I can't find any "D" bushes to fit the OEM sway bar I will definitely upgrade the while thing...

Well boys,

I've had the transmission serviced and flushed. Officially given a clean bill of health, which I was pleased to hear. The advice I received from Vince at Advanced Autos was the same - flush every 40,000kms and she'll be fine. Thanks for the advice guys.

Whether I didn't persist enough or not, I couldn't find another reputable suspension specialist in the Blacktown/Mt Druitt area. I ended up taking the car to Pedders in the end, where they replaced a series of bushes front and back with Nolathanes, and installed Sportsryder Springs and shocks at the back. Not sure if I will have problems in the future or not, but it seems to be riding and handling a whole lot better than before. And it's no longer sagging at the back. It did cost quite a bit though. Apparently some of the wrong bushes were installed in the car's recent history. Wouldn't surprise me - some other things I've found in the car were wrong too.

I now have two problems: My sway bar "D" bushes front and back still need replacing, and I still get a bit of a shudder in 2nd and 3rd.

Re the "D" bushes: It seems no one makes them for the rear swaybar in the AWD anymore, not in OEM spec anyway. Been searching for a while but can't find them. Plenty of front sway bar "D" bushes around though, as they're the same as the ones in the FWD. Booked back in to Pedders next Thursday for some new Nolathane "D"s for the front.

Re the shudder: the Auto guy is convinced it's not the tranny. He seems to think it could be the CV joints? One of the CV boots is definitely torn....

While I was at Pedders I got the guy to show me the underside, yep ADM, the rear OEM sway bar is 16mm. He measured it while I was there. However, Whiteline don't seem to make a sway bar for the AWDs anymore. I got the guy to check with them while I was there.

Thanks again. You guys are the sh*t. I will look into Shelby sway bars. If I can't find any "D" bushes to fit the OEM sway bar I will definitely upgrade the whole thing...

Might be a bit late, but feel free to check out Jim Hunter suspension - 3rd Avenue Blacktown I think.

Might be a bit late, but feel free to check out Jim Hunter suspension - 3rd Avenue Blacktown I think.

Thanks Oggy, I'll check them out.

The advice I received from Vince at Advanced Autos was the same - flush every 40,000kms and she'll be fine.

If you don't have an external cooler fitted, I would flush the ATF at least every 30000km - any longer is problematic without additional cooling in the AWDs. At the very least, check the ATF colour very regularly once you get over 30000km.

If you don't have an external cooler fitted, I would flush the ATF at least every 30000km - any longer is problematic without additional cooling in the AWDs. At the very least, check the ATF colour very regularly once you get over 30000km.

Wytwun, does that apply even if you don't take the car on the track?

Wytwun, does that apply even if you don't take the car on the track?

Yess. Definately.

Ok thanks :-)

Just ordered some Dr. Tranny Shudder Fix from eBay. Online research tells me it should resolve the shudder. If it doesn't, I'd certainly be willing to entertain suggestions...