I have just bought a TH magna Altera, late '99 with 108K on the clock. I bought it cheap so I knew I'd have some money to spend to get it fixed up, but it was the best i could afford so dont knock me for buying it :) I think its had a hard life to date, though the interior and the body are fine and all the features work. My plan is to: 1. fix all current problems. 2. look after it from now on, and once everything is sorted, start a few mods. I've booked it in to the mitsi dealer next week but Im not an expert so thought I'd list the problems I've noticed in driving it for a week or so and would appreciate ur opinions on what these problems might be, which are the expensive problems, and which arent really problems at all! thanks for your help.

1. Power steering - sometimes hear a 'scratching' sound through the column when turning wheel at low speeds, as well as other sounds. When accelerating hard, I get a knocking feedback through the steering wheel when i first plant the accelerator, and get weird feeling feedback through the wheel over some bumps. Also when driving at highway speeds, I get a pulsating/vibration through the wheel when braking.

2. Brakes - seem to pull up fine. When pumping the pedal can hear a sound like air escaping. Hard to explain, but when relasing brake pedal or braking on and off get that groaning sound like they are gripping/sticking. Bit of a grinding/scraping sound if doing an emergency brake.

3. Transmission- dunno of it is the magna or what but the auto transmission feels a bit weird. The gear changes are not as smooth as I expected, a bit jerky. Ive driven a TF before and from what i can remeber the gear changes were really smooth and hard to notice, but not so in this car. Also seems to "change gears too often", as in a slight increase in pedal pressure, where i would expect it to hold the gear, it changes gears.

4. Stock audio system- cd player doesnt seem to work. when i got the car it had a CD just sticking out the edge, now pressing the CD button on the strero does nothing, doesnt change the display, and when i try to put in a CD it doesnt "grab", the cd just sits there. The radio and power antenna work fine.

5. There's a strange humming sound when starting from stop in low revs, a different sound to the normal motor noise.

6. There is slight damage to one of the rear taillights, so Im going to buy new taillights. I was going to get some clear ones, but dunno if they would look good on my colour. (its a blue colour, not really dark, not real light, if you know the one I mean..). Should I get clear or stock? Anyone got any photos of clear tailights in this colour?

Sorry bout all the questions and stuff, would love to hear your opinions on those problems. Thanks, Adam.

Its too late for me to read all this now. My eyes are barely open. HAHAHA

Anyways, congrats on your purchase on the TH. They rock!!!! :D

Welcome Munya.

I can answer I few Q's of yours, I'm sure the others can answer the rest


3. Transmission- dunno of it is the magna or what but the auto transmission feels a bit weird. The gear changes are not as smooth as I expected, a bit jerky. Ive driven a TF before and from what i can remeber the gear changes were really smooth and hard to notice, but not so in this car. Also seems to "change gears too often", as in a slight increase in pedal pressure, where i would expect it to hold the gear, it changes gears.

When was the trans oil last changed, did it come with a service book, It might pay to look at that.


There is slight damage to one of the rear taillights, so Im going to buy new taillights. I was going to get some clear ones, but dunno if they would look good on my colour. (its a blue colour, not really dark, not real light, if you know the one I mean..). Should I get clear or stock? Anyone got any photos of clear tailights in this colour?

The clear or "Frosted" lights do not really suit the darker colours, mainly the whites and silvers. They are also illegal FYI.

1. Power steering - sometimes hear a 'scratching' sound through the column when turning wheel at low speeds, as well as other sounds. When accelerating hard, I get a knocking feedback through the steering wheel when i first plant the accelerator, and get weird feeling feedback through the wheel over some bumps. Also when driving at highway speeds, I get a pulsating/vibration through the wheel when braking.

I think the pulsating/vibration you are getting through the wheel could be caused by a "warped" rotor i.e when you have a wheel ballance (or similar where they remove the wheel) they have a tendancy at these tyre places to overtighten the wheel nuts with their ****ty rattle guns, and i'm told as is the case with most cars today, the rotors are fairly soft. This causes a warp and even a slight warp will cause the pulsation/vibration through the wheel (obviously the more severe the warp the worse the pulsation/vibration). If your wheels are unbalanced you will also get a vibration through the car at highway speeds....and lower if really bad.

It may be worth you getting a wheel allingment and ballance, as this may not have been done for a while (given the condition you desribe the car to be in) and just ask the guy to not overtighten the wheels when refitting.

Find the security code for your radio.

Remove the RED battery lead and let sit for 20minutes.

Reconnect the lead - CAREFULLY.

You may need to select the 3.5L and FWD option in you trip computer screen (if equipped)

Enter radio code.

Drive normally and the gearbox will relearn how you want it to respond.

Lots of cars that are only driven short distances esp Oldies that go to church on sunday and the dontors on thursday never get out of 3rd gear and never plant the throttle so the gearbox has no idea how to hunt for the right gear when in 6years it's never needed to.

when u take the battery lead off u will need to program what the Car is. EZ said 3.5 and FWD but it is actually capacity and sedan or wagon