24th Oct 2006, 10:43

First thing to remember is that this is a very old car in reality. The parts that may need replacing are now 17 years old!. At 17 years old and 180k you'd expect the exhaust to be needing replacement. The front tyres with the balance problem could be the brand, but also likely the mechanic doesn't know what they're doing.

Radiator hoses are normal to replace, they should be checked for signs of wear. At 17 years old/180k etc you'd expect the rubber to be perished. Belts normally need replacing, and should be done at first signs of wear (cracking on the underside). 245k out of a motor isn't unacceptable, but if well looked after they last much longer. People don't replace parts when they expect them to be replaced and that's when you get problems. Radiators also wear out, and a coolant change and radiator flush (using the chemical flush) is probably a good idea. At that age though, be prepareed to buy a new radiator if its worn and starts leaking. Use a good coolant such as Tectaloy 90 plus, not cheap crappy coolants.

For oil I recommend the Penrite HPR15, or for worn engines HPR30. This oil seems to be the best in this car and it will run much better on it.

24th Dec 2007, 14:54

Technically I have 3 uncles that are all mechanics, and one is an electrical engineer (well he was) with the air force, and driving my 1990 Elante round they always tell me to put the sae20 / 50w into a TM TN TP TR or TS Magna, as you never know how much wear the piston rings have. So yeah, I recommend the heavier oil for the Magnas, after learning from experience. I had the standard 20/50 in it, then got it serviced, put the 10/15 in it, and bang within 300km of having thin light oil in it, and mind you the motor had 337,000km, it blew due to insufficient oil around the piston rings.

I never had that problem with the 20/50, so it was either drop another motor in for $2000 or sell it and buy another. I sold it for $200, bought a 1990 Elante for $500, which I think has plenty more Km's to do with only 135,714km on the clock (genuine), where as my old 1990 Elite had had 2 motors, a gear box and the injectors etc done before I bought it with very genuine looking service history (boy oh boy, the RTA records show different).