Hey Guys, went to the auctions a month or so ago and got myself a Verada, didn't really go there with a particular model in mind, saw the Verada, loved it and bid on it. It was advertised as a KH 1999 model, but I've had a look around the forum a bit and, from what I've read, it would have a tiptronic auto if it was a KH....so maybe I've been misinformed. Either way I'm not too fussed, I got it for $3700, it only has 140,000kms on it and it seems to be a really nice car!!

I've always owned Holdens and was just after a cheap car to get to me by, but this thing has everything. It's great. I'm not really the type of guy to modify or muck around with cars, as far as I can tell this one is just standard, although it has really low suspension so it scrapes speed-humps and stuff, but otherwise its fine. I've got no intentions of making any sort of modifications to it, I just had a couple of little things I wanted to try and fix, a few questions if anyone can help:

1) If it a KH or a KF? Can anyone tell just from the photos or is there another way to tell?

2) For some reason the climate control only aims at the windscreen, when you change the mode to face or floor it stays on screen. There is a thumb-wheel on the drivers side of the centre vents that seems to be stuck, so I thought maybe this was something to do with it, or the other thought I had was a vacuumn leak of some kind. Any help would be appreciated.

3) There is a minor leak into the passenger footwell but it isn't the heater core because it's clean water and only happens when it's raining (In Melbourne thats often!!) or if you put it through the carwash. I was told maybe windscreen seal but I was wondering if anyone had other ideas before I call a windscreen guy?

I have attached photo's of the car in case anyone can tell me what model it is, my mate reckons it looks unpainted and calls it "Gloss Primer" but I don't mind the sand/grey color, I think I'm a Verada convert, it dumps all over my Calais as far as value for money!!

Thanks guys/girls!! :P

KH by the t/lights

3) There is a minor leak into the passenger footwell but it isn't the heater core because it's clean water and only happens when it's raining (In Melbourne thats often!!) or if you put it through the carwash. I was told maybe windscreen seal but I was wondering if anyone had other ideas before I call a windscreen guy?


theres a good chance that it is the black garnish under the windscreen wipers and the glass i had a similar problem in my th until i replaced it was about 35 bucks a side from memory straight from mitsubishi

100% KH
Tail lights, and lit up dash are the two big ones.

Edit:

Also RIPPER of a price!! Congrats mate, providing it's not a lemon, you got one hell of an awesome deal.

Be careful with the paint, mine also looked shiney-ish when i bought it, after two years that has faded off, and now i'm left with a crappy paint job, what i wasn't told when i bought it, was that it has been fixed up from a crash. not a lot you can really do, apart from getting it re-sprayed.

And welcome to AMC :)

Ei or Xi though? I'm not a Verada expert, but didn't that grille only come on the Xi's?

Yeah stupid crazy price... well done

1.You can check the VIN number in the engine bay. Should have a KF or KH in it somewhere if you really want to make sure.

2.Does it have electric climate control? I cant remember on KH but if it does you can stick your head under the drivers side dash and check if the mechanism on the side of the heater box is working properly when you work the controller.

3. Pour some water on it and try and see where the waters getting in. There is a grommet on the left hand side under the glovebox. Make sure thats in there.

Ei or Xi though? I'm not a Verada expert, but didn't that grille only come on the Xi's?
Going by the lack of sunroof, steering wheel audio controls and leather i would say it's an Ei.

BTW, welcome to the loony bin Lorlorpy :D

Yeah thanks Righty I was rapt with the price of the thing. It drives perfectly, obviously it had no rego or RWC, but I had it to the mechanic for a Roadworthy and he picked 2 tyres and a minor oil leak, cost a couple hundred bucks and then the rego. I asked him to have a look over it and he reckons it's in good nick.

I will get it to Mitsubishi in the new year and get a major service and should find out then.

Thanks for the info (Squeaker too!!) at least I know what I've got now. I insured it as a KH, but thought I'd better make sure in case anything happened and they told me I'd given them wrong info.

VeradaBeast, it's an Ei, or at least it says so on the bootlid, but thats about as much as I can tell you, lol. It doesn't have leather (from what I've worked out from the forum, Xi's have leather) or a sunroof. But its got traction control, electric windows and mirrors, climate control (that works sort-of) 6-stacker, some kind of self-tinting mirror (??) etc.

Thanks Magna00, I will try Mitsubishi for the replacement garnish's, I just went out to the garage and the rubber strips on the top of them have more or less disintegrated, so you may be onto something!! Thanks for the tips, you guys know your stuff!!

some kind of self-tinting mirror

This will come in quite handy when some clown behind you has his high beams on. It's made of photochromatic glass, which tints when a current passes through it. If you look in the hole in the mirror near the on/off button, you'll see a little light sensitive diode that'll respond to pretty much any light from beside or behind the car. Or the sun on a bright day lol

I'll be buggered! I wondered what that thing did, the mirror seems to go blue at times, that must be in response to a outside light. Well there you go. I repeat, heaps better than the Calais, never seen a Holden with an anti-glare mirror!

Thanks for all the help already, it's only been half an hour and already I know 100% more than I did when I joined. No Name, I will check for that grommet and the climate control actuator when Christmas is over and I get time to play around with it a bit, thanks for both suggestions.

Thanks for the welcome messages too......

the drivers side mirror will be photochromatic too. its a KH EI. had all options except the sunroof, leather and the multistack stereo with controls on the wheel.

nice car - good find!

its a KH EI. had all options except the sunroof, leather and the multistack stereo with controls on the wheel.

Mine came with a factory 6-stacker under the seat, was it optional? Lorlorpy has the same headunit that came in mine.

Be careful with the paint, mine also looked shiney-ish when i bought it, after two years that has faded off, and now i'm left with a crappy paint job, what i wasn't told when i bought it, was that it has been fixed up from a crash. not a lot you can really do, apart from getting it re-sprayed.
Know how you feel mate, just discovered my car had been previously repaired, the rear left quater panel has turned an orangey colour under unnatural light :(.

Anywho couldn't see anyone who answered your tiptronic question, no the tippy didn't start in the veradas until the KJ (model after yours).

Welcome to AMC.

Hey buddy

What auction did you find this car at again? hehe.

So much car for the money. Congrats. :)

Haha, yeah found it at Manheim's in the West of Melbourne on a quiet weekday, saw that nobody was bidding on it and, although that should normally be a warning, I bid on it, :D .

Nup you're right, obviously the Ei had the 6-stack as well MitchellO, mines got an under-the-seat jobby, maybe it was just the steering wheel controls that were an Xi option?? Hey your white one has a boot spoiler......maybe I'll make just a couple small mod's, the wing is nice!! hehe

Yeah Kmakaz it does have something weird with the drivers mirror, it's a gold colour (which is a bit bizarre when you drive at night and the rear-view mirror turns blue and the door mirror turns gold, lol), I'm guessing mine is not working properly because it's gold all the time. This would also be some kind of glare reduction I'm guessing?

Uh Oh, the 1 hour window between Christmas Lunch (In-Laws) and Christmas Dinner (Out-Laws) is over, better go and play the good host.

Thanks again guys!! lol

Nup you're right, obviously the Ei had the 6-stack as well MitchellO, mines got an under-the-seat jobby, maybe it was just the steering wheel controls that were an Xi option?? Hey your white one has a boot spoiler......maybe I'll make just a couple small mod's, the wing is nice!! hehe

Yeah alas we didn't get the steering controls, but I'll be removing the stock HU/CD stacker in January anyway.

I really like the spoiler on mine. I'm not a fan of tall spoilers, so I was very pleased with the one that came installed.

Damn I should go and set camp outside Manheim's from now on. Your purchase has made all of us look like fools, esp me who paid $6k to repair a car worth $5.5 :bowrofl:

Dunno about that Zed, I've lost money on cars in the past, just a case of "right place right time" I think, hehe.

If other people had been there wanting the car it would have easily gone for much more. Fords and Holdens the same age were going for much more money with less options and no where near the same level of refinement. I had no idea what I was looking at really (I know a minimal amount about Holdens, having owned a VX Calais, but Mitsubishi's are new to me) and obviously I was lucky that nobody else at the auction did either.

Just gotta make sure you go to ex-fleet auctions, everyone going to them wants a Commodore or a Falcon so anything else is hardly even looked at. Mine was a reposession I think, some poor bugger lost his car so I could get it cheap.....a bit mercinary but unfortunately thats life. If you're willing to take the risk that it may need a bit of work for roadworthy then you can't really go wrong buying from auctions. No warranty or cooling-off period though, thats the trade-off for paying less......oh and check for forklift damage to the rails under the car if you're thinking about buying from auctions, they move the cars with a forklift and once the rails are damaged it's impossible to get a roadworthy without expensive panel-beating work to the floor. Made that mistake once before.

Eh, no point comparing costs, I'm sure your car was worth whatever you paid for it, otherwise you wouldn't have paid it. Money is no good to you unless you spend it.....then it's fun!! Can't take it with you, may as well spend it on good fun stuff, cars for example, lol.

Thoughtful remarks mate, well taken.

I'll start nosing around auctions when I need to replace mine, but it still has plenty of life left in it :D

Sounds like you've paid the dues to now rip in the goods :cool:

Enjoy the car too and merry Xmas. I LOVE the colour there. Veradas are the best roomy sedans for the money anywhere in the world, in my humble opinion.

Just one tip, make sure to factory service the transmission when you get the chance (~$190), as it's been sitting around for a while and not really moved much, couldn't hurt.

Out of curiosity what happened to your VX if you don't mind me asking. Car heaven? :redface:

Ei or Xi though? I'm not a Verada expert, but didn't that grille only come on the Xi's?
It is an Xi grill, however it is missing leather seats, leather wheel, woodgrain around the gear stick, and it has Ei rims.
So i'd say it's an Ei

Dunno about that Zed, I've lost money on cars in the past, just a case of "right place right time" I think, hehe.

Eh, no point comparing costs, I'm sure your car was worth whatever you paid for it, otherwise you wouldn't have paid it.

Exactly, I paid $7500 for mine and I couldn't be happier.


It is an Xi grill, however it is missing leather seats, leather wheel, woodgrain around the gear stick, and it has Ei rims.
So i'd say it's an Ei

Nah mate that's the Ei grill, the KH had a body colour surround for the Ei grill, and all chrome for the Xi.

Aren't the alloys on it from a later model? I thought they were on the KJ?

Same as the ones on my KH Ei.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1403/DSCF4899.jpg

Righty, the grille is body colour on the surround (still not sure what it's called so my mates description of "Gloss Primer Grey" will do) with chrome fins, not sure if this makes a difference. I'm fairly certain the Ei badge on the boot is right, I don't think the car has been modified much except for the lowered suspension all round (yellow struts, not sure what brand, will check when I get a chance to have a good look at it). The wheels are definately the same as the ones on MitchellO's white beast, had a couple of Pirelli's fitted to the front for Roadworthy, the back has Turanza's on it. I like the wheels and they are MMC brand so I'm assuming they are standard equipment.

Zed, in answer to the question about the Calais, refer to the following photo. It met a truck at an intersection and hit that hard it cracked both front rims and pushed the motor and trans back far enough to rip the trans tunnel open and shift the centre console and dash back 3 inches (air bags EVERYWHERE!!).....the photo shows the K-Frame being rebuilt, yes you heard me right, they fixed the bloody thing!! Cut it at the windscreen and rebuilt it forward, new suspension towers, new steering mount points, the total cost of this rebuild was $15,500. $200 under total write-off price because the repairer wanted the job. I begged the insurance company to write it off, but no joy. What I ended up with is a Calais that crabs and floats at speeds 80 and above, shudders like nobody's business braking from any speed, and is gone from being a nice smooth, luxury drive to being a generally awful car to drive (seriously, it's like driving a banana, let go of the steering wheel and it will do a u-turn). The panel alignment is excellent, the paint job is great.....as far as good work goes, thats about the extent of it. Had it back 4 times under the insurance company's "Lifetime Guarantee on Repairs"......pfft, what a waste of time. Their response is "Can't fix it any better than that". Tried to refuse to take it back, insisting that the insurance company get it repaired, they will not play ball. So, rather than cut my losses and sell the thing to some unsuspecting bugger (to look at you wouldn't know it had been repaired, if you drive it at less than 80kms you may not notice anythign untoward), I'm gonna fight the insurance company through VCAT and make them pay me out or fix the car properly. Putting the car back on the open market is dangerous and a bas**rd act to the person who buys it, so I'm stuck with it til something happens. But I've got my Verada now, so I'm happy :-)

So when I say I've lost money on cars in the past......perfect example, lol. I will definitely get a major Mitsubishi service for the engine and trans early in the new year, thanks for the tip.

Mine came with a factory 6-stacker under the seat, was it optional? Lorlorpy has the same headunit that came in mine.


the 6 stacker under the seat was a factory new option - i know this cos my uncle bought my rada brand spankers! i boughtit off him. he didnt get the cd stacker option - as he didnt own any cds at the time. i went to price a factory stacker when i bought the car off him - (well over $600 installed for the OEM unit so i said **** it and bought a full ipod control mo3/wma pioneer unit.

also the reason why there is no wheel mounted controls.the XI wheel is a leather one that had it standard.

Haha, yeah found it at Manheim's in the West of Melbourne on a quiet weekday, saw that nobody was bidding on it and, although that should normally be a warning, I bid on it, :D .

Nup you're right, obviously the Ei had the 6-stack as well MitchellO, mines got an under-the-seat jobby, maybe it was just the steering wheel controls that were an Xi option?? Hey your white one has a boot spoiler......maybe I'll make just a couple small mod's, the wing is nice!! hehe

Yeah Kmakaz it does have something weird with the drivers mirror, it's a gold colour (which is a bit bizarre when you drive at night and the rear-view mirror turns blue and the door mirror turns gold, lol), I'm guessing mine is not working properly because it's gold all the time. This would also be some kind of glare reduction I'm guessing?

Uh Oh, the 1 hour window between Christmas Lunch (In-Laws) and Christmas Dinner (Out-Laws) is over, better go and play the good host.

Thanks again guys!! lol


gold colour? nah mate it should be blue too. probably need to be checked by an auto electrician. i know a good one if you ever need one.

This off-white colour is called Coccoon White, and is like a darker white/milky coloured metallic. I love it

It was introduced very late in 1998 for the last few TF/KF's, and was continued through the TH/KH and earlier TJ/KJ's. It was discontinued in early 2003 to make way for Starlight Pearl that was used on TL/KL and TW/KW

Okay, had a bit of a look over the Verada today with the following (very limited) results:

1) Magna00, champion, took all the garnishes off around the screen and under the wipers, turns out that the left side windscreen garnish was hiding a lack of windscreen sealant. Obviously the last windscreen replacement was done badly and the sealant has either shrunk or just not enough was in to begin with. Black windscreen silicone, a coat of black plastic paint to the garnishes, and some new plastic studs and Bobs your Aunties Live-in shag......Poured some water on and no leaks. The real test will be once the silicone sets completely and I take it through the carwash. But it seems to have done the trick!! Thanks.

2) No Name, I had a look for the controller on the side of the heater box you mentioned, I couldn't find it. Do I have to remove the under-dash shroud to see it? This sounds like it could be the problem.

3) Kmakaz, the drivers mirror is definitely gold, hehe, maybe something has fried, I will get it checked when I drop it off for a service.

One more issue for everyone: Can anyone tell me how to set the clock in the trip computer? It's been wrong since the day I bought it, I thought maybe holding the mode key would get it to "set mode" but this doesn't work. I have to get a glovebox manual because it was missing when I got the car, but in the meanwhile if anyone can help......

JZT, that sounds like the colour, its actually really nice especially in the sun. It does look grey in the shadows, but once it has light on it it tends to have a really deep metallic look to it. I love the colour but I've had a couple people comment that it looks like primer, hehe. No complaints from me :D

If your having trouble seeing it then maybe you do have to remove the shroud. I'm pretty sure its on the drivers side but I may be thinking of a different model.

To set the clock just turn the key to acc and use the arrow buttons under mode.

Haha, yep had to take the shroud off, only 3 screws then I had perfect view of what you were talking about No Name......as with all the other people on this forum who know their stuff, you are no different!! What a Legend. The actuator rod had dropped out of the clip that was designed to hold it in (the threaded end of the rod seems to just press into a clip on the gear arrangement). I re-attached the rod and pushed the clip back together and, hey presto, the climate control works on all settings now.

The clock is also set.....can't believe I had to ask about that one lol what a doofus!!

Thanks heaps for your help, I'm a happy man!!

clocks easy - when the key is in the acc position use the 3 button behind the wheel on the left side to change it (the toggle and the up and down arrows)

Righty, the grille is body colour on the surround
Ah, my bad, my screen is shocking, it looked chrome to me, haha.
Yeah, i'm 100% certain it's an Ei

2) For some reason the climate control only aims at the windscreen, when you change the mode to face or floor it stays on screen. There is a thumb-wheel on the drivers side of the centre vents that seems to be stuck, so I thought maybe this was something to do with it, or the other thought I had was a vacuumn leak of some kind. Any help would be appreciated.
the motor may be jammed, or burnt out, that changes the position.

the motor may be jammed, or burnt out, that changes the position.

Nup, all fixed. Just a case of the rod from the motor dropping out oft he actuator. I pushed it back in and re-fastened the clip, all better now, this forum rocks!! :D

Don't suppose anyone else wants to help me fix the slightly rough Idle on my Auction purchase?? I feel like I'm hogging the forum with all the issues in my car, lol. The idle is rough in park as well as when the car is in gear. I have checked for vacuumn leaks and found nothing, it's possible it just needs a good service and tune, I don't know how long it was sitting at the auction. Just thought there maybe a few things worth checking. It has to go to the dealer for a major service anyway so I'm not too worried.

The cigarette lighter doesn't work either, not sure how I'm supposed to charge my new Tom Tom without it!! Checked the fuses, all good, checked the wires on the underside of the pull-out drawer for the lighter/ash-tray and these all seem to be connected.......I think I'm starting to understand why the car was so cheap, hehe, no major problems just a few annoying little things.

Also, if anybody in Melbourne is looking for a leather interior I went to a wrecker in Dandenong, one of those "bring tools and do it yourself" type places, this morning to get windscreen trims and found a 97 Verada with full leather interior (light grey colour) in great condition.......I was only after the windscreen trims and the glovebox manual (that came with a plastic folder and a bonus cassette of poxy R & B music from last year.....lucky me, yay.....to the bin with ye!!) but the seats were really tempting. The motor was gone and the front lights and stuff, the drivers airbag was popped so the steering wheel was no good, but door trims and seats may be of some use to someone. The place seemed fairly reasonable on price and the leather seems to be fairly sought-after on the forum. Eh, if anyone wants more info let me know. :D

Idle,
Check you Throttle body is crystal clean, also once done, reset your TPS and also ensure that it is working correctly (manual will give you the specs)

Not sure where you are located, i am happy to have a look for you.

Any idea how much they were asking for the trim?

Righty, the grille is body colour on the surround (still not sure what it's called so my mates description of "Gloss Primer Grey" will do) with chrome fins, not sure if this makes a difference. I'm fairly certain the Ei badge on the boot is right, I don't think the car has been modified much except for the lowered suspension all round (yellow struts, not sure what brand, will check when I get a chance to have a good look at it). The wheels are definately the same as the ones on MitchellO's white beast, had a couple of Pirelli's fitted to the front for Roadworthy, the back has Turanza's on it. I like the wheels and they are MMC brand so I'm assuming they are standard equipment.

Zed, in answer to the question about the Calais, refer to the following photo. It met a truck at an intersection and hit that hard it cracked both front rims and pushed the motor and trans back far enough to rip the trans tunnel open and shift the centre console and dash back 3 inches (air bags EVERYWHERE!!).....the photo shows the K-Frame being rebuilt, yes you heard me right, they fixed the bloody thing!! Cut it at the windscreen and rebuilt it forward, new suspension towers, new steering mount points, the total cost of this rebuild was $15,500. $200 under total write-off price because the repairer wanted the job. I begged the insurance company to write it off, but no joy. What I ended up with is a Calais that crabs and floats at speeds 80 and above, shudders like nobody's business braking from any speed, and is gone from being a nice smooth, luxury drive to being a generally awful car to drive (seriously, it's like driving a banana, let go of the steering wheel and it will do a u-turn). The panel alignment is excellent, the paint job is great.....as far as good work goes, thats about the extent of it. Had it back 4 times under the insurance company's "Lifetime Guarantee on Repairs"......pfft, what a waste of time. Their response is "Can't fix it any better than that". Tried to refuse to take it back, insisting that the insurance company get it repaired, they will not play ball. So, rather than cut my losses and sell the thing to some unsuspecting bugger (to look at you wouldn't know it had been repaired, if you drive it at less than 80kms you may not notice anythign untoward), I'm gonna fight the insurance company through VCAT and make them pay me out or fix the car properly. Putting the car back on the open market is dangerous and a bas**rd act to the person who buys it, so I'm stuck with it til something happens. But I've got my Verada now, so I'm happy :-)

So when I say I've lost money on cars in the past......perfect example, lol. I will definitely get a major Mitsubishi service for the engine and trans early in the new year, thanks for the tip.

Mate, also call ACA they love these stories, There is a place near Dandenong who do insurance repair reports for people like you with issues, these can then be taken to your insurance company and if they will not fix go to the insurance review board, bit like an obudsman, will cost your insurance company $$ to simply have the right of reply.

Haha, Found and circled the problem.....I like that!!

No idea how much the trim was, but if you're interested I can call in on my way past tomorrow and ask them?

I'm in Aspendale, obviously you know heaps about cars, I have no idea what you're talking about really, lol, but if I'm still having the idle issue once the car is serviced then I'd love to take you up on that offer, thanks for that!! Are you a mechanic or something?

In reference to the Calais (yes, found AND circled) The Insurance Review Board (IOS - Insurance Ombudsman Service) is already involved mate, they recommended a place in Clayton to do the reports, as well as putting it on a car-aligner to get accurate measurements down to the mm. Its fantastic the reports you get, everything is based on original manufacturers specs as far as measurements go, so you get a print-out with a basic floor outline of the car, with dots marking each measuring point (about 40 in all I suppose) and the ones that dont meet spec are marked in red, the others in green. The report explains why they don't measure up (ie. My left front chassis rail is 12mm in - toward the centre of the car - and 8mm up....thats a huge discrepancy and thats only 4 of the measurement points!!) so needless to say most of my measuring points are red, lol. Vicroads has got involved, which is a good thing, because they will go to court as "expert witnesses" for me. The insurance company have been notified....whether they decide to fight or give-up remains to be seen.

I would love to embarrass the insurance company on ACA, but I have a huge moral issue with both ACA and Today-Tonight so I can't bring myself to do it, lol. Thanks for the suggestion though.

BAsed on what you have written. I think it will be written off. Shame you have to go through the crap. I'm suprised they even repaired it in the first place in the state it was.
But then again i had a vehicle which was smashed with hail and flooded then repaired and they wrote it off 4 weeks later because they did a crap job re assembling it and paint srinkage as well.


Regards

$3700!!!!!!! Damn it thats cheap as! and I thought paying $5500 for a 99 Verada was cheap! But its got 206k and and Xi the one im looking at.

Straight to the auctions for me