HI all,

I have finally given up the Toyota logo and taken up the Mitsu. I have picked up a nice little VS wagon with 160k's on the clock for a reasonable price and i have the following concerns. Your experience and expertise would be appreciated in helping me sort out these gremlins. Once sorted out, time to dress up!

OK The interior lights are intermittantly working on the opening of a door. They work every time if activated by the roof switch.

When driving i get the charge/alternator light come on randomly for a short period of time. Often 3 short bursts but then disappears. The car exhibits no loss pf power, no dimming of lights and loss of volume on the stereo (standard). I have pulled over on all occassions to check battery terminals and various plugs but they all seem as tight as a nuns nasty!

A/T button. I understand from reading the useless car owners manual that this is a transaxle selector. What in the hell does it do? I currently am driving with the button active.

My dash lights are strange. On the left panel you have Fuel, temp and gear indicator lights under that you have POwer, O/D and something else (cant remember). None of the bottom row of lights work! When a gear is enagged all lights except for the "D" work.

On a more serious note. I am having some exhaust smoke issues. When i stop at a set of lights and then take off i have decent amount of smoke (cant tell if it is fuel or oil) puffing out of the pipe. Obviously i cannot see the smoke whilst i am driving however upon testing the vehicle i could see no smoke in either a accelerated or stationery position (hopew this makes sense) Could this possible be valve stem seals allowing a little oil down into and throught the exhaust? any other suggestion.

And last but no least, fuel efficiency. I travell 120km each way to work.(240k's a day) This involves 70k's on the freeway(F3) and 50k in bumper to bumper from Normanhurst all the way to Liverpool. my first fuel reading is 57Ltrs / 530km (approx 11L/100k) how does this sound for fuel efficiency. I was hoping to nail 600km but would have settled for 550km per tank. Could someone also please confirm that i am carrying a 60L tank.

Many thanks in advance. Hopefully the electrical faults a re just a fuse or something cheap to fix.

She sounds like a lemon I would take it to a mechanic for a full check to find what needs doing.

Id say the smoke was valve stem seals, should be a bluish smoke if it is. Also the AT button is a "power" mode for the transmission. Ie it changes gears so as to increase performance. For economy drivingi would leave it in the off position.

RE: smokey seals, try adding a seal conditioner, I think Wynn's Stop Leak is one, check the bottle. It's a cheap option, and you may find that it softens the seals up a bit and reduces or stops the smoke. Mine seems to have fixed itself up after using this stuff every few months.

sure its not a TS? or are we talking about a commodore here?

if its a 4cyl magna, the fuel economy is always going to be shocking. t-rust me. if its a v6, look into it.

Thanks for the replies guys,

TS is the model V6. Will get use to the model numbers soon :)

thought so :P

also, a $12 bottle of supercheap injector cleaner goes a long way too :P it brought my magna back from the dead!

HI all,

I have finally given up the Toyota logo and taken up the Mitsu. I have picked up a nice little VS wagon with 160k's on the clock for a reasonable price and i have the following concerns. Your experience and expertise would be appreciated in helping me sort out these gremlins. Once sorted out, time to dress up!



OK The interior lights are intermittantly working on the opening of a door. They work every time if activated by the roof switch.

on the bottom of the pillars you'll see the light swtches
you should be able to swap the drivers one with the rear one
or kust could be a loose wire


When driving i get the charge/alternator light come on randomly for a short period of time. Often 3 short bursts but then disappears. The car exhibits no loss pf power, no dimming of lights and loss of volume on the stereo (standard). I have pulled over on all occassions to check battery terminals and various plugs but they all seem as tight as a nuns nasty!
might be a loos fan belt or need replacing
or the altnator need's new brushes


A/T button. I understand from reading the useless car owners manual that this is a transaxle selector. What in the hell does it do? I currently am driving with the button active.
you'll only need that if towing
otherwise leave it off
it just changes gears at a higher rev range


My dash lights are strange. On the left panel you have Fuel, temp and gear indicator lights under that you have POwer, O/D and something else (cant remember). None of the bottom row of lights work! When a gear is enagged all lights except for the "D" work.
the something else light is "HOLD" usa only
holds the gear if something is wrong with the tranny
rest are just blown globes
replace then if you want
find en at a wreakers


On a more serious note. I am having some exhaust smoke issues. When i stop at a set of lights and then take off i have decent amount of smoke (cant tell if it is fuel or oil) puffing out of the pipe. Obviously i cannot see the smoke whilst i am driving however upon testing the vehicle i could see no smoke in either a accelerated or stationery position (hopew this makes sense) Could this possible be valve stem seals allowing a little oil down into and throught the exhaust? any other suggestion.
yup vale stem seals
they go after 100,000-150,000 k's
try penrite 30
or get em replaced


And last but no least, fuel efficiency. I travell 120km each way to work.(240k's a day) This involves 70k's on the freeway(F3) and 50k in bumper to bumper from Normanhurst all the way to Liverpool. my first fuel reading is 57Ltrs / 530km (approx 11L/100k) how does this sound for fuel efficiency. I was hoping to nail 600km but would have settled for 550km per tank. Could someone also please confirm that i am carrying a 60L tank.
thats not too bad
try ron95
or 1/2 a tank of optimaxand 1/2 of ron 91 to get a bit better mileage


Many thanks in advance. Hopefully the electrical faults a re just a fuse or something cheap to fix.
and read this thread
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33251

Many thanks for your time taken to reply guys. It seems pretty positive lets hope a few globes and new stem seals work. I will try some injector clean stuff as well. I forgot to mention that i only used standard unleaded petrol for those results.

Many thanks to ABBO i actually ftp'd the manuals last night.

PS : MAgnaAUssie you turned me into an emotional mess after reading your post :P

Welcome to the V6 TS Wagon club :D
Hope she turns out alright. If she's only done 160K - should have heaps of life left in the old girl. (mine's done twice that!). Valve Stems are common on these engines - just did mine and now no more smoke.
Do you know if the Timing Belt has been replaced - should have been done around the 100K to 120K mark. Maybe ask the previous owner if not in any log book or receipts.

Thanks for the welcome. Unfortunatley i do not know if the belts have been done. I will probably throw a whole new set at it anyways to be sure.

GRDPuck - How have y-ou found the car, relativley trouble free or have you been into your wallet a fair bit keeping it on the road.

Thanks again guys.

...GRDPuck - How have y-ou found the car, relativley trouble free or have you been into your wallet a fair bit keeping it on the road. Thanks again guys.To give you some idea of cost (unless your doing the work yourself) - The Timing Belts & Valve Seals cost me around $650 by a mechanic. But that seems to have been a good price based on others on AMC.

As for the rest of the car. Seems to be okay given the age & KMs. Mine was a car that's been well looked after in the past (and present). I've owned the car for around 3years and do approx. 25,000kms a year. Apart from the normal expenses such as servicing & tyres, etc. - I've had to fix the gearbox, rebuild the clutch (twice :doubt: ), valve seals, timing belt, alternator and my radiator will need attention soon. Other than that, she's been a good car.

My mechanic's, advise for a long lasting engine was to get her serviced every 10,000kms and change the oil every 5,000kms.

What colour is your wagon? Pics?

Thanks for the info...

The wagon is a dark gery colour almost black. I can put some pics up tonight/tomorrow however she is standard issue (ATM!!)

FYI : this car will be travelling at least 5,000km per month! So i need to be aware of any "big" spends that may be on the way :)

Any pics of your wagon?

...The wagon is a dark gery colour almost black. I can put some pics up tonight/tomorrow however she is standard issue (ATM!!)...Any pics of your wagon?Dark grey - I like that colour in the 2nd gen wagon - should look nice lowered with tinted windows :badgrin: - Mine's burgundy, I still like my colour but it's quite common for Magna's.

Pics of mine? look at my profile:
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/member.php?u=329

...also lots posted around from time to time.

Thanks for all the input guys. All electrical issues have been worked out........replacement bulbs work great!:D