El Andrew

Hey guys. Any thoughts on this one before I book it in or get dirty? This morning my BA XR6T (sedan, A4) started making a clunking in the rear. Seems like the left, but pretty hard to tell. Gets louder and faster with speed, so seems to be something that rotates. Becomes noticeable about 30 kph or so. Does it turning left, turning right and straight ahead. Is still there if I lift off the accelerator, however it becomes much quieter or goes away if I shift into neutral and coast. Really came out of nowhere too - one minute it was fine, next minute it was noisy. I'm thinking a half shaft or wheel bearing, but seems odd that it started so quickly.

Haha I was going to say just put three spoon engines in it, but then saw your post.

Not fun! Happened to me a few years back. Someone gave me a reasonable but worn out road bike. I already had a road bike, so I rebuilt it as a flat bar road bike for my wife to use. Gave it a test ride to work and picked up a set of front wheel bearings for the car on the way home, so backpack was heavy as. Picked up a puncture about 5km from home so pulled off the wheel and put in the spare tube. Turned out I'd stripped down and either rebuilt or replaced everything single thing on the bike EXCEPT THE FARKEN HAND PUMP!! I only use CO2 canisters now.

Yep traction control. It's the skid button.

I've had cheap ones (a mechanic chose them, not me) and they broke down under boost. Definitely get stock. I'm actually running NTK and they are fine, bit will go stock next time as those that know rate them highly. But if not stock, then at least make it a reputable brand.

Driverless electric cars, implanted chips inside us, but still slow internet...

Yeah I was thinking that. I actually bought a set to put on the rear. At $125 a pair, I'll just ditch them if they are junk. They can stay the fark away from the front though. Trying to spend the money where it counts so I can do carpet, blinds, deck, etc! I've bought braided lines to replace the old 2004 rubber stuff, 328 rears RDA with Bendix pads and 322 fronts DBA T2. Just need to pick up the ns400s if they are ever back in stock...

That's a lot of rwkw!

That's a better plan. Debatable of course, but Wheels actually rated the BA XR6T as the third was significant car in Falcon history. I doubt they will ever be worth mega bucks though.

Put it this way - a BA F6 has the same injectors as the XR6T so yes, you should be able to get some reasonably safe power on your current setup with a sensible tuner and assuming your hardware is in good nick.

Welcome to the forum! Clyde mountain - you Canberra based then? Me too. Yep that's a brake killer that one. My Kluger rotors were starting to pulse and that trip with a fully loaded trailer finished them off. Personally I reckon get a set of DBA rotors, either standard or T2. They'll handle that fine and good enough quality to resist warping. I wouldn't waste your money on the T3 stuff if you are flogging them towing. Give Matt at Race Brakes Sydney a call and see what he recommends for pads. Actually I'm fitting upgraded brakes to my 04 XR6T pretty soon so might have a set of DBA rotors and QFM HPX pads for the front that I don't need that have plenty left in them. I like the KYB shocks as a decent but cost effective option. Other than that, for what you want just make sure all your bushes etc are good. Others might have more suggestions re suspension for towing.

Technically, it's the pipe that's on fire rather than Arron

This. Get it checked by someone you trust and get a second opinion before splashing cash. I had a bad clunk about 6 months after new diff bushes. Specialist diff place wanted to rebuild the diff. Kmart tyre and auto spotted the bolt in the centre bush had worked loose and fixed it for free. Go figure.

True - but if the car wasn't serviced at Ford I doubt they would be offering to fill out a new logbook...

You bought it from a Ford dealer, not Frank's Discount Autos. I wouldn't stress about dodgy maintenance or edited odometer. When they say they can redo the books, they may just mean that can populate them from the service history stored in their systems. If they did promise the original books as part of the sale and haven't delivered, you could probably push them for a free service or something.

Looked up fuel system in the contents page of my workshop manual. Page 131. Flick open the manual and it lands on page 131. Wow I'm awesome. I'm the best. Make sure the kids are aware of that fact. Start reading. This sounds like a Ford fuel system not a Toyota fuel system. Picked up the wrong book...

Should be nice!

K31th's back!

Thanks, yeah I agree. Until PCMTec release the full logging capability I'm only intending on messing with moderate boost and associated fuelling that can be observed with a boost gauge and a wideband. Plus small changes at a time with detailed notes of what I've changed and what the results are.

Tune loaded in last night with stock parameters. Boost tables returned to stock, cat overtemp turned back on plus a few other fiddles. Base fuel map was leaned out at WOT and high RPM compared to factory... There were some torque management and transmission tables that I left as is - the changes were quite complex compared to the ham fisted approach in the rest of the tune, so I'm a bit suspicious they might just be a factory update when the car was at the dealer one day or something. Will look into it more. Car is now slow! Amazing what a couple of pounds of boost and not much else does. I guess that confirms my boost solenoid is working, on the basis that software changes have made a driving impact exactly as expected.

I've got that exhaust and it looks good and sounds reasonable. My main problem has been it was a pain to align. I've had a few goes at it, but in the end my exhaust giuy had to cut and re-weld the rear hanger and also try different rubber mounts behind the axle to stop it knocking on the cradle. It's possible of course that mine got bent during shipping.

Thanks man - appreciate it! Did a quick file compare before dropping off the kids this morning. There are transmission and timing tables edited, which I'm not inclined to trust given the approach taken to boost control. I'll take a closer look before deciding what next.

Just to clarify, what I meant was to attempt to command zero boost and then give it a gentle drive around the block to see if the solenoid was doing its job or not, before flashing in a stock map. Not planning any earth-shatteting kabooms here! I'll start with the file compare so I know more where I'm starting from. That's a good point re inhg. Feel a bit silly for not noticing some of the bigger numbers in the stock tune. In that case, my tune numbers might be less of an attempt to disable facty boost control by using extreme numbers and more a clumsy attempt at giving someone an 8 psi tune. If so, I hope no-one got charged good money for that! Lots of learns for me here, which is good!

Thanks guys. I'll have a look and let you know how I go. Yeah I did think about the return to stock thing. If it is just those tables I can manually fix, but if a muppet has been poking around it might be best to start from a clean sheet. If I set desired boost to zero (and WGDC to 1) and flash that in, I imagine I'll get a good idea whether the solenoid is working or not. If it boosts at all, the solenoid is either not plumbed in right or isn't working. I might also have to take back a few things I've said about high flow cats. While I still don't think a new cat is going to suddenly detonate your motor while your idling at the lights, I was obviously never going to see an MIL due to overboost when I'm commanding 17 psi! PS looks like return to stock isn't available for the enthusiast version (although may be worth the upgrade if my file is rooted). However the compare function should show me if anything else has changed in my file from stock.

From memory (cleaned the boost solenoid a while back) it's just the usual vac hose via the boost solenoid, but I'll check it out. The turbo guy apparently set everything up as it should be stock, so I'm expecting that's what I'll find. Edit: I'm guessing you are asking because if the compressor housing is hooked straight to the wastegate, I'm running boost off spring pressure only and anything I change in my boost tables will do nothing?