I blew the head gasket on the old Commodore the other day (the day before picking up our new baby from the hospital!), and had to very quickly find a new car that afternoon as it was not going to be economical to repair and we couldn't really go without a car in the interim anyway.

So...I found a pretty reasonable 1994 3.0L TS Magna (manual) for $2500, which has no problems that I can tell so far. It has 340,000km on the clock though, and I was wondering what service precautions might help reduce the likelihood of any problems cropping up, and what things in particular might be worth inspecting now. Should I be doing anything special re oil, or is the good old 20W50 still good enough? Anything else I should look at?

oh, and what about costs related to replacing items like belts, etc? The belts look pretty good and should last a while, but if they're not too expensive then I wouldn't mind just replacing them anyway just for peace of mind. CV joints look pretty good for now.

This forum has already proved a great source of info, especially for the workshop manual, so thanks to everyone who has helped make it what it is. Hopefully I might be able to contribute something myself from time to time, as I learn more about Magna's and what makes them tick. Very happy with my new purchase, just want to see what I can do to keep it happy too! :-)

You sound as thou you have everything covered, have a look under the car check the gearbox for leaks (oil), if anyoil around check to see where its comin from, 20w50 would be the right oil with that amount of K's on her. Timing belt (I think they are a belt in 2nd gens), check to see when that was done, I would say it should be on its 3rd by now. CV's would most likely be its third set, then again all depends on how hard it was driven.

As for costs on belts, I coudnt even give ya a close price usually the prices out here are nothing like what the cities seem to get.

Good luck with her :D

Congrats on the baby.

V6 uses belt, only the 4cyl AstronII is chain.


So...I found a pretty reasonable 1994 3.0L TS Magna (manual) for $2500, which has no problems that I can tell so far. It has 340,000km on the clock though, and I was wondering what service precautions might help reduce the likelihood of any problems cropping up, and what things in particular might be worth inspecting now. Should I be doing anything special re oil, or is the good old 20W50 still good enough? Anything else I should look at?
Check your oil levels regularly, if you're burning 500ml every 1000km then yeah
using something thicker like 25W60 could help. Or add Stop Smoke "honey" to your oil.

For all you know, engine could have been overhauled/replaced before... any signs of reco?

Other than that, assuming you're keeping your car for a while, I'd:-

- check plugs
- flush & renew coolant
- change all filters (air, fuel etc)
- check brake pads & discs
- flush & renew brake fluid
- service the transmission (oil/filter)
- check & rotate tyres

- check engine mounts, renew if cracked
- accessory belts... well, no harm to wait till they show wear. Put a spare in the boot.

- check all bulbs in dash work properly
- renew headlamp lowbeam bulbs


But if you're a first time daddy... you'll probably have no spare time for next 6 mths! :badgrin:

Congrats on the baby.

V6 uses belt, only the 4cyl AstronII is chain.


Check your oil levels regularly, if you're burning 500ml every 1000km then yeah
using something thicker like 25W60 could help. Or add Stop Smoke "honey" to your oil.

For all you know, engine could have been overhauled/replaced before... any signs of reco?

Other than that, assuming you're keeping your car for a while, I'd:-

- check plugs
- flush & renew coolant
- change all filters (air, fuel etc)
- check brake pads & discs
- flush & renew brake fluid
- service the transmission (oil/filter)
- check & rotate tyres

- check engine mounts, renew if cracked
- accessory belts... well, no harm to wait till they show wear. Put a spare in the boot.

- check all bulbs in dash work properly
- renew headlamp lowbeam bulbs


But if you're a first time daddy... you'll probably have no spare time for next 6 mths! :badgrin:

I'm hoping we'll be keeping this one for quite some time!

I have no idea what oil it is currently running, but it certainly looked fine when I checked it. I will keep an eye on the level over the next few weeks, and see what sort of movement there is, if any. I'm not sure either if the engine has been reco'd at all, but it does look very clean - so either someone has put in a LOT of effort, or some work of some sort has been done at some stage. :-) There is a sticker under the hood with a reminder re the timing belt, but they didn't write on it so I don't know when it might have been changed. It does look good though. Is replacing the timing belt as much of a mongrel job as it looks from the workshop manual? Accessory belts seem pretty straightforward, and from past experience it is a VERY good idea to keep spares on hand!

I was thinking maybe I'd put in some 15W50 oil when I change it, but maybe it is better to just go with the 20W50 that I have already. The coolant is fine for now, it looks like it was only very recently replaced anyway. Brakes are pretty good (nice and firm, responsive, no noises), I think they can wait for now, and I always bleed them fully when changing pads so they'll get the full treatment when needed.

Tyres are also in very good condition, I think an alignment and balance is about all they really need for now. As for the transmission, it feels pretty solid - is there a filter in the manuals, or is that just autos? I suppose it couldn't hurt to replace the fluid anyway.

Air and fuel filters are a good idea, they'd slipped my mind but should help.

So a good summary is that if I just take care of all the basic general maintenance stuff that you would do at any other time for any other car, I should be pretty right? It doesn't really seem like there are any really serious things to be aware of - or are people just not telling me? :-)

Anyway, that makes for quite a good checklist, so thankyou!

I'm hoping we'll be keeping this one for quite some time!

I have no idea what oil it is currently running, but it certainly looked fine when I checked it. I will keep an eye on the level over the next few weeks, and see what sort of movement there is, if any. I'm not sure either if the engine has been reco'd at all, but it does look very clean - so either someone has put in a LOT of effort, or some work of some sort has been done at some stage. :-)
who didja buy it off, dealer or private sale - was it known to you beforehand?

Clean engines can be dodgy, unless P-O was a fanatic maniac like me.
(in degreaser we trust; buy spraycans in bulk pallets) :badgrin:


There is a sticker under the hood with a reminder re the timing belt, but they didn't write on it so I don't know when it might have been changed. It does look good though. Is replacing the timing belt as much of a mongrel job as it looks from the workshop manual?
V6 belt should be 'ok' but you'll probably want to swap in a new water pump at
the same time - it comes off when you do the belt, so save some labour.
Should be done every 100,000 or 5y they say.


So a good summary is that if I just take care of all the basic general maintenance stuff that you would do at any other time for any other car, I should be pretty right? It doesn't really seem like there are any really serious things to be aware of - or are people just not telling me? :-)
nah Maggies aren't too high-tech, average joe can fix 'em with a hammer.

And if that don't work, get a bigger hammer! lol


20W50 works fine for V6 especially a high-miler.

Was experimenting with Valvoline XLD Plus in my 3.5 with 150,000... didn't make
any noticeable difference to fuel economy after I switched back to 10W40 synthetics.
I oilchange ever 5000.

If your engine is burning oil but compression is still pretty good, its generally the
valve stem seals that wear out first... not a huge job to replace, worth it.

who didja buy it off, dealer or private sale - was it known to you beforehand?

Clean engines can be dodgy, unless P-O was a fanatic maniac like me.
(in degreaser we trust; buy spraycans in bulk pallets) :badgrin:


It was a dealer, but with indirect personal connections - probably wouldn't look good for him if he'd sold me a lemon! Every used car has secrets, but this one doesn't seem to have any really bad ones. I'll probably do the timing belt sooner rather than later just so I know when it was done, so the water pump idea is a very good one - I hate doing two jobs where I need only have done one.



If your engine is burning oil but compression is still pretty good, its generally the
valve stem seals that wear out first... not a huge job to replace, worth it.

Valve stem seals wouldn't be too bad a job anyway. When you've worked on motorcycle engines, jobs like this type aren't anywhere near as scary! Car heads are MUCH easier to work on! We'll how it goes on that score anyway.

With the timing belt on V6, should be pretty same as the later V6s... isn't there a
plastic cover on the side you can take off to expose some part of the belt to inspect?
Not the best indicator of condition, but you'll spot any fraying etc.


I like working on bikes, heaps more access! lol Cars are a pain to work on.
And with my little ones don't need a crane to drop the engine.

Valve stem seals wouldn't be too bad a job anyway. When you've worked on motorcycle engines, jobs like this type aren't anywhere near as scary! Car heads are MUCH easier to work on! We'll how it goes on that score anyway.

You got that right, especially when setting up valve timing gear trains on a V - Twin!