Hey all,

I just had my first service done since I bought the magna back in December. I had it done by Skippers Mitsubishi and they seemed to have done an alright job, although I have not yet driven the car.

Anyway, apart from replacing the oil filter/engine oil, he also changed the tranny oil as the gearbox has been really crunchy lately (suspected rebuild required :( ). On top of all that he found a number of things wrong with the car.

I was just wondering if anyone could give me any indication as to what I should expect to pay for the following:
-Needs Wheel Alignment (Rear left tyre had 10 psi... thought they were looking flat. I only pumped them up like 3 weeks ago.)
-Rear brake pads getting thin. (Had 2-3 mm's)
-Timing belt needs replacing (Car at 188000 kms)

Do you think that I should get anything else done while I am at it (Like water pump)?

Thanks!

Firstly I'd recommend getting a wheel alignment (probably need rotating and balancing as well) and brakes done by a wheel & tyre place - you'll pay a fraction of the price mitsubishi will charge you, and they aren't exactly specialised pieces of machinery which only mitsubishi trained mechanics can work on (infact changing brake pads really is so easy - most people I know do them themselves.

With regards to the timing belt...... First check the service logbook of the car - pretty sure they're not due til 105K and 210K - but I could be wrong, might be 90K and 180K. If it had the timing belt done around 100K and it's not due again til 210, I wouldn't rush into it as it's a costly job. I'd expect to get a bit of change from $1000 getting that sort of work done at a non dealership workshop, and no change from $1200 from a mitsubishi service centre - but these are just off the top of my head.

Not a bad idea getting the water pump replaced while they're in there, it'll cost you alot more in labour if they have do the water pump seperately at a later date. Having said that I haven't heard many complaints regarding reliability of magna waterpumps.

PS - when you drive the car, you'll probably find the transmission flush and renew has done a world of good. These cars like to let you know when they want new tranny fluid!!


Hey all,

I just had my first service done since I bought the magna back in December. I had it done by Skippers Mitsubishi and they seemed to have done an alright job, although I have not yet driven the car.

Anyway, apart from replacing the oil filter/engine oil, he also changed the tranny oil as the gearbox has been really crunchy lately (suspected rebuild required :( ). On top of all that he found a number of things wrong with the car.

I was just wondering if anyone could give me any indication as to what I should expect to pay for the following:
-Needs Wheel Alignment (Rear left tyre had 10 psi... thought they were looking flat. I only pumped them up like 3 weeks ago.)
-Rear brake pads getting thin. (Had 2-3 mm's)
-Timing belt needs replacing (Car at 188000 kms)

Do you think that I should get anything else done while I am at it (Like water pump)?

Thanks!

Thanks for that feedback BlackBeard. It looks like I will be saving up for a while to get my car running optimally :(.

I just got back from taking it for a drive and I am dissappointed to say that the (manual) gearbox is still crunchy as ever. It definitely sounds although the previous owner has killed the synchros. But I think that will have to wait for a while because I can't really afford $1600 for gearbox rebuild and all of the above listed problems.

Also, on the way back from taking my car for a drive I managed to scrape some paint off my side view mirror when trying to get back into the company's very small car park! Just one of those days I guess.

I just got back from taking it for a drive and I am dissappointed to say that the (manual) gearbox is still crunchy as ever. It definitely sounds although the previous owner has killed the synchros. But I think that will have to wait for a while because I can't really afford $1600 for gearbox rebuild and all of the above listed problems.

My mistake - I thought you were referring to an auto box.