Soon to be VX owner, looking for troubles?

[Grif]

I obviously can't read order of posts. Welcome Grif. Now you get the joy of putting money & time into re-conditioning one of our children. Thanks for adopting. Welcome to the family!

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?

[Gussie2000]

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?

That's absolutely right,the shop have give you the right advise,you shall get regular tires,at least 'till you gete all those leaks fixed.

Also consider having the engine flushed with sea foam,the most synthetic oil use by 99.9 % of us the mobil 1 also royal purple & amsoil.

Also change all differential fluids as well as the T-case & transmmission;As you said you have no clue when last the previous owner did it.

Repacking or replacing all four bearing is a good thing to do along with new brake pads & rotors.flushing the brake fluid,radiator & probably a full tune up is needed to improve performance & MPG.

You got a lot of work to do GRIF,hope you can really enjoy it as much as you want.

Keep us posted on the progress & don't forget there's a lot of info in here usefull to you.

[etlsport]

33s are a little big, but a few members have them and do ok, it sure wouldnt hurt anything (other than your ground clearance) to go a little smaller, when its time for new tires i will probably end up with a 31.5" tire

i work in a shop, so if you have any Qs about parts pricing/ labor costs to make sure you are getting a fair deal, feel free to ask and ill get you quotes for what it would be in my shop for comparison

[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