cro142

I have just bought a 2004 BA Mk11 XR6 Turbo with 4 speed auto and done 120,000km When you move ahead slowly and turn, as in when parking etc, the diff clunks several times. I know there were problems with these diffs in earlier years, and I seem to remember a fix for the LSD clunk was related to the diff oil or an additive to quieten it down. Does any one know anything about a fix for this?? I have owned 7 BA/BF turbo's , including a new BA in 2003, but have never had this problem. Help!!!

Yep, spot on. Who in their right mind would even think of trying to sell a dodgy couple of cars with the non-attractive specs of the Force cars. To then name these cars Force 6 and Force 8 is just the last nail in the coffin. Nobody will pay premium money for a car with those dopey riceboy names and the aura of a cynical attempt to cheaply flesh out the model range. Even if this was not Sak's idea, he made a critically bad call by supporting such a poorly thought out ploy.

The 06 V8 Championship series has ended in damaging contoversy for the fans, the teams and the sports' administrators. The facts are these: Fact 1. The combined teamwork of the HRT and HSV teams was brought to bear to diminish the chances of Lowndes winning. This is OK, but it must be done within the rules. Maybe sometimes it was not. Fact 2. Rick Kelly was judged guilty of a shunt in race 3, and was penalised with a drive-through. Fact 3. This shunt was a championship-determining act - Kelly lost penalty time, but Lowdnes was effectively put out of the race. Fact 4. The difficulty for the officials was to decide if Kelly's penalty was appropriate under the circumstances. If this had been Race 2 in Round 2 of the series, such a penalty would be considered by everyone to be appropriate, as the consequences for each competitor would be minimal. However in this case, the consequences of the shunt were extreme (championship-determining), so is it appropriate to apply the simple "Round 2" rules?? Fact 5. Without any other guidance from the rules available, the officials applied the simplistic "Round 2" ruling, and stuck with the drive-through penalty for Kelly. Unfortunately, this ruling was extremely controversial, leaving the Ford fans feeling a lack of natural justice, and probably some Expensive Daewoo fans feeling that maybe something was wrong here. So, what would have been the best way to resolve this?? There is a very true saying that applies in difficult decision circumstances: "If in doubt, throw it out". In my opinion, given the extreme and unresolvable controversy of Race 3, it would have been a better outcome for the sport to have declared at yesterday's hearing that Race 3 be classed null and void for the championship. Therefore, the points score would revert to that after Race 2 - resulting in a draw, and the awarding of joint championship to Kelly and Lowndes. A much better outcome than the bitterness and division that we have now. Peter C

I notice the road noise in the ute so much because I have an XR6T sedan as well - and the difference is quite a lot. The comment about loud music is valid - crank up the volume and you sure don't hear any road noise. Trouble is, I still know its there, and am keen to make it quieter. The BF's may well be more quiet than the BA's, as I think that is one of the improvements across the range.

When I do mine with the Dynamat, I won't cover the vent holes, but am hoping that the matting placed everywhere else will make a good enough difference. I am concerned though that the majority of the noise may be coming through these vents. When I've done it, I'll report back. Peter C

Thanks to Hiddeous and Adam for the advice and the link to this thread in regard to my now-closed post about road noise in my ute. I have now purchased some Dynamat and hope it will introduce some quiet to the ute cabin. Thanks guys, Peter

Be careful not to shoot yourself in the foot over fuel prices. After all, fuel costs are only about 15-20% of overall running costs - depreciation is the big one. So, if fuel prices go up and you decide to sell your T to save a few bucks on fuel, you will be selling your T into a soft market, which is soft precisely because of fuel prices. That is, in order to convince someone else to buy a not-so-economical car, you will have to drop the price (the market will do this for you) to make the trade-off for fuel consumption attractive. This is the way to MAXIMISE your depreciation costs. What you finish up doing is accepting $3K less than normal for your T, then buying a more economical car in a strong market, thus paying $3K more than normal for it - a total cost of $6K - all for saving $10 per week. Crazy. The other option is to buy a Corolla in the first place. I drove a new one for work the other day. Great car - Toyota reliability and resale, fuel efficient etc, etc. Trouble is, when it had 3 normal sized people on board it did not have the guts to accelerate at more than a crawl, was very hard to stop in a reasonable distance, and it certainly didn't like changing direction. This is dangerous and unattractive motoring to me. By contrast a T goes, stops and steers brilliantly. Horses for courses.

Yeah, it seems these readouts are consistently off. I have had 3 other BA's and the readout was off by about 1L/100km - but this one is off the planet with a difference of around 3L/100km. Sure makes for a depressing read before you know not to believe it!!

The trip computer on my BAII Turbo ute seems to give a wildly incorrect readout of average fuel consumption. I had suspected this for a while, and last week did a test which confirmed it. Over a full tank of fuel (~70 litres), and with the AVG L/100 zeroed at the fill, the trip computer read an average of 16.5 L/100km. However, using the old manual method of calculating the consumption from litres used and km travelled (neck to neck fill at start & finish), I calculated a consumption of 13.3 L/100km. Having used this manual method for calculating fuel consumption for many years prior to trip computers, I am satisfied that I can do this accurately. So, why the huge difference?? - 16.5 by the trip computer, and 13.3 by calculation!! Any ideas ??

I have towed my 18 foot fibreglass boat (about 1600kg) from Sydney to Brisbane with my auto T. Fuel consumption was 19L/100 average by the trip computer. That's cruising at 110kmh, and pulling easily up the Moonbi Ranges at part throttle in third gear at about 90kmh. By contrast my old ED XR6 barely made it over the same hill flat out in first gear with this same boat.

I had this problem on my T - turned out it was one of the rear wheel sensor leads had touched the tyre, worn thru the plastic covering and shorted out. Replaced sensor lead to fix.

Dave, I have a genuine 18" wheel and tyre for sale. The wheel has a slight surface mark on it, and the tyre (original Dunlop SP 9000) is well worn but suitable for a spare. Price $300. I am in Brisbane.

Ripper, Goose - you've done it !! I can see now why I could not see the adjuster wheel through the hole. I actually did try to remove the disc - I took the caliper off, but could not get the disc to budge. I whanged it as hard as I dared, but it was rusted on solid. Anyway, now we know how to do it. Cheers, Peter

Well, here's the story: Put the car up on jacks, removed the wheels, and removed the rubber grommet on the face of the disc. So far, so good. Trouble was, I could not find an adjuster wheel in there to work on... My son had the rear wheels off his NL Fairlane, so I removed the rubber grommet from one of his discs - and sure enough I could clearly see an adjusting wheel in there for the handbrake shoes. So, even though the rear brake systems of both the BA and the NL look identical from the outside, there must be an internal difference. Damned if I could find an adjuster wheel on the BA. Dead end it seemed. While crawling around under the car, I found the handbrake lever cable adjuster. It is located up above the big muffler in front of the axle, just beside the tailshaft. It's not very easy to get to, but possible. (Goose, this answers your question above). I did an adjustment on the cable length, and that has fixed the problem, at least temporarily.

Guys, Thanks for all the suggestions. I feel I am now armed with enough info to give it a go this arvo. It sounds like it is a job best left to the dealer, but the trouble is I need to have it right before tomorrow morning, so I'll give it a try. Thanks again. Peter