Hi I own an 04 VY II SS Crewman. Done 98 thou kms. Broke my velocity joint twice and then managed to break the spot welds inside the axle tubing and put the tubing up the side of the diff housing. So I did what all you crewman owners should have done. Buy a custom Ford 9 inch with sheet metal housing and bigger billet axles. Everything replaced with bullet proof items. Stop *** around with weak parts that Holden make and go for tried and tested parts from a trustworthy diff specialist. My 9 inch looks amazing and sounds awesome. Not to loud though. I had 4.11 diff gears put in and it goes a lot better now as well. Fuel economy is fantastic as well.

As for back lash, I had a slip joint put into my custom tail shaft so I wouldn’t cause any harsh reactions when I’m dumping it into gears at 6000rpm.

Also for those of you who hate the back end being so high but are afraid to lower it due to the fuel tank issues (new tank costing around 5g to install) the 9 inch lowers the tail shaft to an unreachable position. I sat my Crewman on its bump stops and still have roughly 3.5 inches of room before my uni joint touches the tank.

My whole setup cost me 6300 for custom diff with working ABS in the back, custom tail shaft, diff gears, tuning the speedo via vcm suite and labour. Well worth it and no more worrying!

On the 28th June 2008, I came to be on the premises of a second hand motor vehicle dealership, as they had a motor vehicle displayed for sale, which I was interested in finding out more about. When I entered the dealership, I had the sole intention of looking to purchase an Audi A3 which was for sale on the lot. The salesman asked the reasons for looking at the Audi. The sales person was quite inquisitive as to the nature of why I was only looking to purchase that particular brand of motor vehicle. I explained that I was after safety features such as an SRS Airbag.

Audi has been synonymous with German top of the line safety. My Boss and flatmate both drive Audi, and not being knowledgeable about cars, I relied on their advice. The Sales person then took on a different approach, by outlining all the negative aspects that came with purchasing an Audi second hand. He explained to me that the Audi was very expensive to repair and also to fix any electronics that may go wrong would cost a fortune. He also went to explain that to put an Audi in for service was close to a $1000.

He then took me to the back of the car yard and showed me the Subaru RX and explained to me, that this car had the same safety features as the Audi without the cost attached. He showed me the user manual which indicated the car had an SRS Airbag.

I was in a motor vehicle accident on the 18th November 2008 and wrote off the Subaru and broke my nose and had internal chest injuries. The airbag in the Subaru did not deploy. Upon investigation of the steering wheel, we have found that there was no airbag in the compartment. I sent a letter to the dealer principal who did not acknowledge receipt of the letter which was sent via email. I contacted the dealership via telephone to see what the response was to my letter. The dealer principal said that I should get a lawyer as he was not responsible for the sale of the vehicle, and my lawyer should speak with his lawyer and then the dealer principal terminated the call.

When speaking with the dealer principal on the 4th December 2008 at 13.25, he explained that there was an airbag fitted in the vehicle that was sold to me. The dealer principal advised that the airbag may not have gone off based on the degree or angle that vehicle made impact with the tree. The dealer principal also advised that he had a friend who was high up in Subaru and wanted to get himself and some technicians to go to the place where the vehicle had been towed and do an analysis on the vehicle to find out if there was a malfunction with the SRS Airbags not deploying.

I advised the dealer principal that the vehicle was at a lot which was leased by Ace Towing who towed the vehicle away. I advised the dealer principal that I would ring Ace Towing to see if we could arrange Subaru to go and inspect the vehicle. This request was denied as Ace towing wanted to be paid for the towing of the vehicle before anyone was allowed to look at the vehicle.

After an agreement was reached with the Finance company and Ace Towing I was allowed to come and collect my belongings from the car. I was explaining to Ace Towing about the SRS Airbag issue, and so we removed the cover from the steering wheel and we saw that there was no airbag in the compartment where I had expected one to be.

I rang and I spoke with Subaru and gave them my VIN number and they advised that the vehicle I had purchased, the SRS Airbag was an optional extra and my vehicle was not fitted with one. I was willing to purchase the Audi A3 from the dealership as I knew the make up of the vehicle and I understood the specifications and that the car had the safety requirements that I was looking for. Yet this dealership sold me a car under the misrepresentation of safety features it did not have.

I have a 1999 Jackaroo which I have changed the oil in. I now can't get any oil pressure reading on the gauge and the oil lamp stays on when starting engine up. I am not sure if I have accidentally upset the sensor wiring when cleaning some spilt oil off the engine. Would be good if I could get a soft copy of the manual to refer to.

Sorry, forgot to mention that it is a 3ltr turbo diesel.

Mate at the moment I have given up. The thing is made of cast and I don’t want to break the sensors coming out, plus no one wants to do it, all about legal mumbo jumbo and emissions... How did you go any luck on your end? Also got a price from Nissan direct for a DPF filter if I break it and it was 2735.

However I have unplugged the sensors that go into the DPF and unbolted it, took it off for 200klms and got that dist from 1/4 of a tank. I did leave the elec air sensor plugged in before the DPF and all seemed ok. So I might try again soon but have just given up and accepted that it uses a **** load of fuel.

I had a similar problem with my 2006 Viva. Took a few visits to Holden before the problem was rectified. The engine would rev up and appear to drop into neutral. This could happen pretty much any time with no sort of trend to a particular driving condition.

Turns out it was a transmission switch causing the transmission to drop to neutral, engine revving up and car losing power. Sometimes then it would just drop back into drive other times I would have to select neutral and the reselect drive to get going again. No amount of diagnostic from Holden could identify the problem until I noticed the transmission indicator on the dash displaying a square with a diagonal line through it. When I told Holden they knew what the problem was. This was the first time I had any sort of indication to tell the service tech.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Graham

Leanne, I too have purchased a BF series2 SR Falcon, and from the first week of owing it experienced gear box issues. We drove to Queensland in December of 2008 and had on several occasions the kick back on passing selected 2nd gear at 100km with some pretty loud noises. I reported this to the dealer here in Melbourne and was told that they would re-set the software into learning mode which should fix the problem. This of course did not do anything and subsequently the gear changing became erratic from time to time. Quite harsh in the mornings.

When we purchased the car it was bought with the expressed intent of towing a small caravan. Before we even hooked up the caravan the gearbox leaked large amounts of fluid in the driveway with the outcome being the fitting of a new gearbox. Next we were assured the problem was resolved and the new gearbox overheated and went into a limp home mode? Next the dealer insisted on fitting an oil-cooler to the gearbox at a cost to me result was exactly the same, overheating! Next the Ford customer relations are suggesting the dealer get in tough with the Techs at Ford.

What do you think? Same **** result. So where do I go to from here? Did you eventually resolve your issues cause at this stage I, like you seem to be getting no where and it has cost me 3 lots of holiday cancellations apart from the expense of missing days at work.

Hope to hear your resolve.

Dave

Owner of a 2001 Rav Cruiser. Just experienced the same problem. 118000 km on the clock. Car serviced regularly but not by Toyota. The owner of the local dealership just got off the phone to me today and said, "Being an out of warranty claim Toyota don’t look favourably upon the fact that the car was not serviced by Toyota". Wish this had happened 2 months ago before I purchased another car from them. "Bugg**".

Have my transmission specialist looking at the issues now and he is dealing with Toyota. His quotes are well under some of the quotes for the ECM and Auto listed here. Suggest everyone gets some extra quotes from their local transmission specialist. Any info I can provide to help anyone or they can provide me would be great. Fingers crossed. Good luck everyone.

My SS Crewman I bought about three months ago. I have replaced front bearings, brakes squeal when applied also have a knocking noise from the rear. Not as much power as I thought, what a piece of ***.

G’day could you please give me info on what type of heavy duty clutch you used? What make etc, as my Navara STX has done 55 thou. After reading this complaints corner sounds like I’ve been lucky. Any info would be appreciated as I too tow a van of the same weight. Thanks for your time, Regards Troy.

VACC, the peak automotive industry body in Victoria, is calling on the State Government to cut the cost of stamp duty on new vehicles.

In its pre-budget submission 2009-2010, to Treasurer Mr John Lenders, VACC recommends the Victorian Government reduce new vehicle stamp duty for eligible buyers.

“Victorians currently pay stamp duty of $5 for every $200 on a vehicle up to $57,009 or part thereof. Over this threshold, stamp duty is $10 per $200 or part thereof. A meaningful rebate of say, $500 would stimulate extra sales of vehicles in Victoria,” VACC Executive Director, David Purchase said.

“A similar scheme in the residential housing market, involving the introduction of a first home owners grant has successfully encouraged some buyers into the market place who otherwise would not have been able to purchase property.

“We feel a ‘new vehicle rebate’ could do the same for the new car market,” Mr Purchase said.

In addition to the above, VACC has put forward the following recommendations:

- Retail automotive industry roundtable to encourage consultation and cooperation
- No new taxes or charges for business (including land tax rises) and reduce Workcover premiums
- Reduce payroll tax and plan to repeal progressively over two terms of Parliament
- Cut GST collected on fuel excise
- Increase Small Business Commissioner funding
- Establish an Office of Small Business regulation review
- Additional funding for automotive trade training
- Support promotion of workplace vehicle safety
- Enhance motorcycling and scooter licensing laws to encourage greater use of this efficient and economical two wheeled powered form of transport
- Fund extension of Melbourne Exhibition Centre
- Split vehicle registration activity away from VicRoads
- Increase funding for enforcement on unlicensed motor car traders

“The retail automotive sector is very important to the state’s economy, providing employment for more than 52,000 people in Victoria,” Mr Purchase said.

“Many businesses exist on low profit margins and due to the global financial crisis, are now facing the prospect of reduced cash flow, tightening credit and increasing costs. Unfortunately some have closed and employees made redundant.

“Therefore it is critical for both business and government to recognise and react to the effects of the global financial upheaval. Strong partnership between VACC and the Victorian Government will be important in navigating the challenges which will be faced by the retail automotive industry,” Mr Purchase said.

The M and S lights are a common problem on the Discovery 2 and 3. It is caused by the water run off pipe from your air conditioner.

The run off pipe which gets rid of the water from your a/c is positioned right on top of the inhibitor switch for the gearbox and when you stopped at the lights for example not moving, it just drips drips and eventually annoys the switch enough to cause that problem.

If at all possible drive around without the a/c for a week or so and see if it still does it.

Has anyone else had problems with their coil pack in the 2005 Astra? Just had to replace mine at a cost of $620.00. Not covered by warranty. It is only 3 years old and had just been serviced under 3 weeks before. I see they recalled them in the UK and replaced all the 2001 models. Would love to hear of any else, as I hope to take this further.

It will be the brake calipers, nearly all BA's had the rattle. They fixed it on the BF's doesn’t do any damage. If you’re worried about it swap the calipers to the BF ones.

One way would be to put thicker oil in your engine, but you have to be careful not to put too thick in or you could blow it up.

Has anybody else had problems with the fuel system on their Astra Twintop? I have had seven fuel pumps/regulators replaced in the last year and the problem still hasn’t been resolved. Just before it happens the car smells strongly of petrol and the service light is displayed then the car shuts down which is very frightening if you are on the highway or turning at a junction!

There has been a malfunction with bonnet opening mechanism. Will check it out when I get some daylight. Sounds like a common problem.

How do I get into it?

Swap the tyres to the back see if the sound has moved to the rear. There are brands that are noisy from new. Most used cars don’t cover tyres under warranty. Go to tyre shop Goodyear Bob Jane, see what they say.

Regards, John

Matt,

You last stated you were removing the DPF on advice from a rep. Have you done it yet and how did it go? Did you receive any advice on resetting the injection process to prevent wasting fuel on the regeneration process?

Regards, Al

Have the usual exhaust smoke from worn stem seals. None of the Stop smoke products seem to make a lot of difference. How do I effectively reduce the smoke without replacing the seals? Thanks.

Have you checked the shocks? Make sure all bolts are tight. If you have no luck mate take it to a mechanic.

Good luck

I too have a 2000 3.0L Turbo Jackeroo which is stalling at low revs and have also noticed that it stalls when oil pressure is extremely low. I have had the car for 3 years and only use Penrite 5w 50 diesel oil. I have had the wire harness to the injector rail changed and a new oil pressure sensor seal.

Could you please give me some clues on what else it could be thank you.

I am another Toyota owner who has a clock spring issue and would be very interested how you go about getting it fixed for free. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Geoff

I have the same trouble as a lot of other people who own 2005 Hilux re clock spring. As yet I have not taken it further but will on Monday 30/3/09. If this is a fault then I'm not prepared to pay the $700.00 asked by Toyota.

Just send your complaint to the head of Ford Australia with a floral arrangement, and include a tube of ky jell. Explain your problem and tell him to put ky on his foot so when he kicks the idiot up the **** he won’t lose his foot, but on a serious note the guy probably got a big bonus $$$ for making Ford the extra repair money.

Under the front end of the BA Falcon there is a heavy rattling sound every time we go over a bump and it has progressively gotten worse. I have checked the front sway bar and it seems ok. Please can someone help as this is my wife’s car and I... well need I say more.