Soon to be VX owner, looking for troubles?

[circmand]

Thanks folx. I can already tell this will be one hell of a project. I mean on the outside she is a beauty, but the various shops Ive taken it to provide me with the same litany of needs. Some fairly basic, some serious. But I knew what I was getting into with this (or I think I did) lol. Got the oil changed today because I had no idea when it was changed last. They told me they had no way to tell if the prvious owner was using synthetic or what, so they sold me on Valvoline Maxlife which has both conventional and synth components. I hope that was the correct choice!!

They also said the fuel filter was original from the factory!! Never changed in 105K!! They replaced it and showed me the "gas" they poured out of the old one... it looked like three week old black coffee!! Yuck! I cant imagine what damage burning that crap in the engine has done. I cleaned my K&N filter yesterday, it was nasty too, but looks fine now. Just trying to take care of the simple stuff first while getting a feel for what is in dire need.

Two places told me to get smaller tires, an idea I dont particularly like, because I love the stance of the vehicle as it is. I think it has 33's on it now, but they tell me the mass of the tires is stressing the power steering (i have PS leaks) and may be contributing to my ball joint wear and rear axle leak.

I dunno, what do you think?

I think the shops are correct on the over sized tires causing stress that is a general event on all VX. Unfortunately I have done a project like you are facing though not on a VX. You can pretty much count on the VX needing all the work the shops are telling you and probably several more. The shops probably stopped looking after finding a couple of grand so as too not price themselves out of a nice sized repair job. Given that the PO seems to have not taken proper care of the vehicle I am seeing $$$$$$ in your future. I hope this turns out not to be the case.

[etlsport]

I think the shops are correct on the over sized tires causing stress that is a general event on all VX. Unfortunately I have done a project like you are facing though not on a VX. You can pretty much count on the VX needing all the work the shops are telling you and probably several more. The shops probably stopped looking after finding a couple of grand so as too not price themselves out of a nice sized repair job. Given that the PO seems to have not taken proper care of the vehicle I am seeing $$$$$$ in your future. I hope this turns out not to be the case.

probably true that they will find more stuff, as you do a tear down of the front suspension its easier to see wear on items you couldnt see before, or finding out the new stuff doesnt fit right due to bending thats not obvious

[Grif]

I double post this if the mods don't mind.

I just found out my rear seats wont lock into riding place due to a broken assembly on the rear passenger seat, and the wont lock into the "folded" position due to a broken nylon locking strap. Advice please? Replace both rear seats? Replace just that passenger side rear seat which contains both the seat lock and strap? Or is it possilble to replace just the locking mechanism on the passenger rear seat and its nylon strap?

My guess is I need at least a replacement passenger rear side seat. with working lock and strap. Suggestions and sources of parts please?

The locking flange on the floor appears to be OK.

[Riff Raff]

GRIF--- You forgot the last and very best option regarding your rear seat delima.

REMOVE your back seat and deposit it in the nearest commercial-sized dumpster!!!

Most of us VX owner's here have already removed our back seat and have merely saved it in storage in case we ever sell the VX someday. You will have tons of more cargo room with it removed. Unless you have kids to haul around, YANK IT OUT.

[Grif]

GRIF--- You forgot the last and very best option regarding your rear seat delima.

REMOVE your back seat and deposit it in the nearest commercial-sized dumpster!!!

Most of us VX owner's here have already removed our back seat and have merely saved it in storage in case we ever sell the VX someday. You will have tons of more cargo room with it removed. Unless you have kids to haul around, YANK IT OUT.

LOL... thanks Riff, but I require the versatility that the VX was designed for.

Yes at times I need lots of cargo space, but at times I also need seats to haul people safely.

[tom4bren]

Grif,

You'll be able to save yourself some dinero by doing some of the repairs yourself. The How2 section has some nice writeups on performing some of your required maintenance: bearing repack, tranny fluid change, timing belt, ...

I've been creating pdf's of most of them for my own personal archiving so if you need something you can't find, ask.

One other thing ya might wanna do is search out any members that live near you. Most of us are willing to turn a wrench to help out our family members.

I'm NOT going to recommend that you go to a smaller tire size (I'd never hear the end of it - search on 'offset from hell' sometime to see what I'm talkin 'bout - or look in my gallery).

Now go down to your local supermarket with big plate glass windows and drive past it a few times & check out how good you look in your new ride (there's a thread on that too - pretty funny).

Welcome to the addiction.

BTW, don't forget to keep a close eye on your oil - check it at EVERY fueling. Also get on your hands and knees in front of your new P&J (Pride & Joy) and check your CV boots to make sure they're not cracked or torn. If they are, lemme know & I'll help you to find the threads you'll need to start reading. That's one repair you can't procrastinate on.

[Grif]

Ok, took the VX to my most trusted shop. They found a literally a bent rear end, the right, they had a heck of a time pulling the right rear axle and found some grinding on the gears also indicative of a bent rear end. The entire housing and was bent upwards.

Long story short, replaced the entire rear end assembly, R front lower ball joint, R Front CV, and did an alignment so it no longer pulls to the right nearly as much.

The shop had assumed the nasty "skipping or jumping or hopping" noise was due to the mismatch to the rear axles not aligned up perfectly, and indeed they showed me the gears on the right rear axle, (which had also been leaking if you have followed this thread) and they had been ground down quite a bit which is consistent with at least SOME noise.

However after all that was done, and I am confident in their rear end work, I still get a "jumping, hopping or severe rattle" sound from the front end esp under acceleration at low speed. At higher speed, its not noticeable at all, but from a stop, and I stomp on the accel, the "rumble" is very disturbing. It literally sounds like gears are grinding a few teeth before I get it up to speed, or that my front wheels are "hopping" but I doubt very much that the its the wheels.

I've read all the threads I have found about weird front end noises, but frankly, if I went underneath, I would have no idea what to look at even with your all's pics, descriptions, and remedies.

I trust my mechanics, and they got me a good deal on replacing the rear end, but I'm afraid they are still missing somthing serious up front. I paid 1300 for a used rear end assembly, and it was supposed to be the entire rear, axels, and diff. But if they shoved the old right rear axel back into a new housing I will be majorly pissed off.

I think I need a guru.

Anyone in Southern Alabama/Northwest Florida need a case of beer and an instant friend on the Gulf Coast Beaches in exchange for a valued educated opinion?

[Shawn Seeback]

well wat type of accident was this vehicle in & is this the one vehicle that was in 2 accidents? I would also check your trans & engine mounting aswell. Take a look at the Service manual if you have them? They should tell you the dimentions on everything and all you would need then is some beer forself to go with all of that reading and measuring, this will also teach you everything on your vehicle it is time consuming but very possible. I am not a amazing tech but i did teach myself alot about cars and trucks, also just about anything. Well if you could explain the types of accidents it was in it could help with a visual idea, i might be able to help? Oh yea also check out some of the offroad forums aswell thier are alot of people that can help out their aswell.

[KeithVXlvr]

We all told you not to buy that piece of junk.

[circmand]

I guess you found the troubles you were looking for.

I bought my VX new but I bought a 1974 Jensen Healey for $800 that was in really bad shape to restore for a hobby. The advice given to me was buy the vehicle that is in the best mechanical shape you can afford. Restoration will be far cheaper. I ignored that advice to my chagrin. I spent about $20000 grand restoring a car that is now worth $10000. But it is a blast to drive

[Shawn Seeback]

He sounds like a true VX'r am i wrong? Well i think he deserves at this point his terror problem solved so if you think you got a resolution give him the sh*t you kno.. he has a challenge which is worthy;0Sh*t

[Gussie2000]

He sounds like a true VX'r am i wrong? Well i think he deserves at this point his terror problem solved so if you think you got a resolution give him the sh*t you kno.. he has a challenge which is worthy;0Sh*t

Me and grif chatted for an while wednesday evening.
Give him few ideas of what need to be done,He also has a apparent fuel/air leak which he'll need to address as soon he's doen with the mechanical part.

Sure we all adviced him not to take the bite,but good damn,the VX has a spell that none of us can't fight against when we got in love with it.

So all we can do is whish him the good to pull this one & have a happy loving ending drama-novela

[Grif]

well wat type of accident was this vehicle in & is this the one vehicle that was in 2 accidents? I would also check your trans & engine mounting aswell. Take a look at the Service manual if you have them? They should tell you the dimentions on everything and all you would need then is some beer forself to go with all of that reading and measuring, this will also teach you everything on your vehicle it is time consuming but very possible. I am not a amazing tech but i did teach myself alot about cars and trucks, also just about anything. Well if you could explain the types of accidents it was in it could help with a visual idea, i might be able to help? Oh yea also check out some of the offroad forums aswell thier are alot of people that can help out their aswell.

From the info I have one accident was a front end to a tree, and the other was with a vehicle of some sort. That is all carfax knows and the original owner is not around to take any questions so to speak. Cosmetically, you cant tell it was in an accident at all. Its a real beauty.

I do have the service manual, the downloadable one on CD, but man, what a kludge work to read. I think some owners here have done somthing usefull in printing it out, I shold prolly look into that. I think since Ive got the rear end taken care of the front end is now where most of my mechanical probs are, still pulls to the right even after alignment, and jerking from the txmission esp coming from the front. Other than that I really its only a matter of cleaning up years of neglect of the engine. Some interior work, and of course I still would like to use my rear seats.

With no garage to work in, very few tools and very little time, I know I will need to rely on paid mechanics and sage advice from this forum. Thats why I'm here!

I crawled under the vx last night to look for anything obvious, but I think your correct, measurements need to be taken. I was pleasently suprised while underneath that it has a Borla exhuast system! I KNEW that sucker could not be sounding stock! I like it..

Thanks for your encouragement.

[pbkid]

stick with it man! you will get that baby working...at least your willing to try, most people would just give up right at the start...

this forum is FULL of information and very helpful people...you put the two together and you can fix just about anything my friend! do some research and ask questions when you cant figure something out

[Grif]

The advice given to me was buy the vehicle that is in the best mechanical shape you can afford. Restoration will be far cheaper. I ignored that advice to my chagrin. I spent about $20000 grand restoring a car that is now worth $10000. But it is a blast to drive

I certainly don't need another hobby, and I DID buy the ONLY VX I could afford, in cash, and I knew it would be a work in progress, and that it was going to take time and more money. I took a gamble, and I dont regret it YET... hehe..

Like many of you have pointed out, its bourne out of the love for the vehicle.