hey guys,
my bro is looking at buying a TS V6 sedan, we saw one today and wondered what to offer the guy. its advertised at 4k ono. normally 4-5k around here.
it is white, with colour coded bumpers. (my bro's preferred combo).
has grey interior. (my bro's preferred colour)
has tinting, working AC.
and auto V6 engine. (auto not preferred, but V6 is)

what we noticed under 'testing' is that it overheats, owner admitted to overheating on at least one occasion, radiator recently reversed flushed. fans work but noticed that while we had it stopped and it was bubbling coolant violently through the overflow tank that the fans only turned on for 10secs whilst in ACC ignition mode. the temp guage was reading 60% at this stage. faulty switch/sensor for fan perhaps? partially blocked radiator perhaps?
budget a couple of hundred bucks to fix on average sound average/reasonable? i think a proper flush/rodding for a radiator is about $120.

the other problem is that 1st gear seemed to slip or be very indesicive when at 5k+ (ie trans in power mode). is this a sign of bad things to come?? just driving normally or even normal punting its great, shifts are good- just at the top end it behaves strange. should we steer clear -or offer him say 3 or 3.5k?

[QUOTE=ddt]hey guys,
my bro is looking at buying a TS V6 sedan, we saw one today and wondered what to offer the guy. its advertised at 4k ono. normally 4-5k around here.


Offer him 3 or 3.5k,or get someone like RACQ to look at it.

Sounds like a rare care, color coded, grey with V6, but definatly get your local motor authoriy to check it out, no idea what it could be with the tranny, but with the radiator it could be something as simple as a thermostat.

sounds like a winner, + all these cars have something wrong them now, i would offer $3,500 depending on how bad the report comes back.

Then pimp the f**ker out!

It could be something as basic as an intermittent water pump. Still needs checking out though. Sounds good from the outset

Not to hijack the thread, but my missus has seen a TS being sold at the moment for $8000...
Now, this TS has only got 65,000 on the clock, I was wondering if it was time to upgrade from the TR and hop in the shiny new TS?

Pretty much it's the same car, but this new one has the mags, got the partition cage, but I've gotta swap my stereo over *sob*

It's tempting...

65000 sounds like a gem, do try and tell them that it is an car over 10 years old....so maybe you can get it a bit cheaper.

but 65K!! snap that up!

I'd probably like to, it's just the cash at the moment ;)

I _just_ _just_ finished paying off a previous personal loan, the thought of getting another one daunts me. However, I am on slightly better pay now, so I suppose it's all good

No more than 4k for a 2nd gen.

Keep in mind no problem just "goes away" they will get worse, be it in a short time or in a few years. So these problems will cost you money.

3k would be the highest

$8,000 for a TS :shock: I wouldn't touch it cuase for that you got a 3rd gen.

Yeah, that's what her Dad said to me too... For 8k I could get a 3rd gen, but with more k's on the clock... it's kind of conflicting
Seeing it tonight -- gonna take it for a spin (I won't expect much performance difference, still the 2.6l 4 cyl)

But engine shifting should be smoother having done less k's, I assume

With a car with as low k's as that should be wisper quite not one sound out of it.


I won't expect much performance difference, still the 2.6l 4 cyl

And it's not even a V6 that's even worse it's the biggest rip off of the centry. :shock:

Be careful of the AUTO TRANSMISSION, they are not built the best! If this car has between 100,000K to 150,000K it should still be ok.

Anything over that that hasnt been reconditioned I would not purchase.

...what we noticed under 'testing' is that it overheats, owner admitted to overheating on at least one occasion, radiator recently reversed flushed. fans work but noticed that while we had it stopped and it was bubbling coolant violently through the overflow tank that the fans only turned on for 10secs whilst in ACC ignition mode. the temp guage was reading 60% at this stage. faulty switch/sensor for fan perhaps? partially blocked radiator perhaps?
budget a couple of hundred bucks to fix on average sound average/reasonable? i think a proper flush/rodding for a radiator is about $120...
Almost definetly a water pump. I have a '94 KS Verada with the exact same drivetrain (3.0L V6, 4sp auto). The water pump is designed in such a way that, when worn, it has a weak spot that wears through enough for it to leak - hence overheating. Though if it overheats significantly the owner may have something to answer for there - poor maintenance most likely.

When I had my problem I had to fill the radiator up every single morning - bloody nuisance.

hey guys,
my bro is looking at buying a TS V6 sedan, we saw one today and wondered what to offer the guy. its advertised at 4k ono. normally 4-5k around here.
it is white, with colour coded bumpers. (my bro's preferred combo).
has grey interior. (my bro's preferred colour)
has tinting, working AC.
and auto V6 engine. (auto not preferred, but V6 is)

what we noticed under 'testing' is that it overheats, owner admitted to overheating on at least one occasion, radiator recently reversed flushed. fans work but noticed that while we had it stopped and it was bubbling coolant violently through the overflow tank that the fans only turned on for 10secs whilst in ACC ignition mode. the temp guage was reading 60% at this stage. faulty switch/sensor for fan perhaps? partially blocked radiator perhaps?
budget a couple of hundred bucks to fix on average sound average/reasonable? i think a proper flush/rodding for a radiator is about $120.

the other problem is that 1st gear seemed to slip or be very indesicive when at 5k+ (ie trans in power mode). is this a sign of bad things to come?? just driving normally or even normal punting its great, shifts are good- just at the top end it behaves strange. should we steer clear -or offer him say 3 or 3.5k?

Overheating and bubbling could also be due to a warped/cracked/corroded head, although the fans should be turning on. I'd still do a compression check anyhow, especially since the guy has said that it has previously overheated as this makes the head a lot more prone to damage. A buggered head will definately not be cheap to fix, it cost me $500ish for a new astron head(I found that new one is cheaper than getting the old one machined btw), doing all the work myself. A V6 would prolly be a bit more

Km's are not the be-all and end-all indicator of a car's condition.

Don't pay heaps higher just because of the kms. It could've been thrashed for those small km's and it's just been cleaned up nicely.

You'd be better off going a newer car with a good service history with more kms.

If the car is overflowing, with bubbling radiator coolant, you'll have to get it flushed. When I bought my TR I had to get it flushed just to stop it (this was due to poor maintainence) $120 was the cost to get it flushed, it doesn't do it anymore, and my temp gauge always sits at 50, but my coolant has gone yellow due to the condition of the radiator, keep an eye on that.

$4-5k is a bit much $3500 or less sounds reasonable.

This one has had one owner

I had a look at it today, very tidy... power windows which is cool, I should have taken it for a test-drive...