The water pump started leaking just after I bought the car.
Not long after, I needed a new exhaust system.
After buying new front tyres, it was almost impossible to balance them properly.
Top radiator hose exploded at 200,000 km.
Had to replace water pump belt at 230,000 km.
Replaced all other belts at 238,000 km.
Motor self-destructed at 245,000 km.
Magnas are nice cars to drive. Mine has air-coditioning and power steering. The motor is very quiet and the car drives very smooth.
I believe that 2.6 litre Magnas have poor fuel economy and the timing chain becomes very noisy.
My car used a lot of oil.
Most of these Magnas seem to have noisy timing chains, but mine got too loose and stuffed the motor up.
When a timing chain become noisy, it is usually time to have it looked at by a professional.
The timing chain has 3 (computer controlled I think?) adjusters. My dad replaced his on his 88 GLX at around 170,000 and they were all really worn, and the smallest one had a stress fracture in it, about to break.
Rest assured that when I start hearing my timing chain on my 89 Elante, ill be replacing it.
Trouble I'm having with my elante (recently purchased it at 167,000 on it) is that the clutch is on the way out and I'm paranoid about the head gasket (as the head gasket on my last car was blown and I couldn't afford a replacement) not to mention 3 of the wheels make knocking noises that I have to look into.
No body seems to realise that when a timing chain is noisy it is time to replace it. Other cars have timing belts that don't last as long and don't get noisy they just break. But that seems to be acceptable to most people, but a magna with a noisy timing chain is not. When a timing chain is noisy it is trying to tell you something. So when a magna breaks its chain and destroys its motor don't blame the car you were warned.
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.
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).
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