My first Statesman VR 5.0 Litre - Has Issues..

[Phoenixx]

Hi everyone, great forum for all knowledge levels, cheers.

Just bought my VR Statesman, drove it home from Frankston to Portland last Thursday in the pouring rain and heavy humidity and high heat in Melbourne, never missed a beat.
BUT, since getting it home have several issues, namely -

Ran cool according to the temperature gauge all the way home, sat below quarter even in city driving in high heat with aircon and headlights on and also same conditions on the highway some of the way home, before the rain, methinks the thermostat might be a little fubarred perhaps?

Today Temp gauge no longer working at all and fuel gauge is a little hit and miss as to when it works or not. I also get a crackle or a rapidfire rat a tat tat from my speakers today I didn't hear yesterday. Went out to pick up takeaway tonight and just after starting battery light came on and off and on for a minute then stayed off, dunno why, flipped on headlights on way home and whining noise came from sounded like driver side under the bonnet and stayed on until I turned the headlights off again. Alternator perhaps?

THEN to top it all off when pulling into my driveway a tapping/knocking noise started coming from under the drivers side rocker cover, sounded a little like a stuck hydrolic lifter to me maybe?

Anyone with any ideas or advice before I throw myself on the mercy of my local mechanic and/or auto electrician? Car is dual fuel, 5.0 litre, 4 speed auto and done around 200,000 Km's.

[westbad]

temp gauge sounds about normal mine sits about 1/4
If its stopped working the temp sender is on the front of the inlet manifold behind the throttle body see if the wire has come off, if not a new temp sender is around $25 and 5 mins to change.

Did you check your oil level when it started tapping? could be low or could be the oil pump playing up.
Did the oil light come on?

[greenfoam]

Motor might be a bit sludged up, first things first change the oil with one high in detergents like Mobil delvac 10w/40?? you can get it in Repco in Portland anyway. And add a new filter, you can add a a litre of thicker oil to this and make a custom mix to bring it up to spec if you want. It wont take long for the oil galleries and lifters to clean out if that's your problem

[vr94ss]

My VR v8 runs that cool too. The gauges get dry solder joints, a tap on top of the dash usually bring mine back to life if they go on strike.

As for the tapping I'd give it an oil change with _good_ oil and a new filter and see how it goes. If you feel the need to use engine flush, I wouldn't... I have used 1/2 'n 1/2 high detergent diesel oil and good motor oil instead. Seems to clean things up.

[Phoenixx]

Hey cool, thanks for those responses you guys and I will give them a try and keep you posted on results.
Car has plenty of oil in it, no oil light came on at any time and tapping the dash gently and less gently and even less gently had no effect on making the gauges work properly sadly. As Greenfoam said I can get that special detergenty oil from the local Repco here so an oil change will be first thing I try, and a new oil filter as well. I'll have a looksee for that sensor and see if the wire has come off, I had a little peep for it last night but wasn't looking in the right place of course, d'oh.
The woman previous owner of the car used to almost exclusively run it on gas to such an extent the fuel pump cacked itself because it was rarely used and was replaced late last year, as was the radiator and diff. And she only ever used to run the car on short trips to work and back for over a year so I was wondering if the 430Km trip I took it on back home here from Frankston might have stirred up some sludge or gunge or some other deposits in the engine perhaps?
Oil on the dipstick looks, feels and smells clean with a nice viscosity and seems pretty new to me although she never let on when the car was last serviced, but she did say it was serviced regularly by her hubby at home every 10,000 Km's except for major services which were done by her local mechanic.
All in all it's a great rig, looks good and sounds even better and runs like a top, hopefully just having a few teething problems settling into it's new lifestyle and driver habits. I still fear it has alternator issues but that hasn't failed in any way, just needs seeing to and some attention hopefully.
Now if I can just stop cracking my shin on the tow pull everytime I walk around the back of it...

[westbad]

if you do have alternator troubles the brushes are really easy to replace on them, the reg comes out the back its held in with a couple of little bolts, a new set of brushes are $5 and take 10 mins to solder in, 9 times out of 10 this will fix charging issues. or if your not keen on soldering your self you can buy replacement regs for around $50.

The temp sender is tucked right in the front of the inlet manifold, if you have smallish hands you can get to it with out taking anything off, dont attempt it with the engine running tho as your hands and arm will be right near the fan ;-)

[vn_v6]

do the headights go dim when the battery light comes up?? when the light comes on, go check the battery terminals, if they are hot, they arent making proper connection, and heating up, my mates vn berlina did this on friday night, the lights were dimming and te battery terminal bloody burnt me

[baza]

G`day phoenixx welcome to the forum, go the statos. make sure the drive belt on the water pump pulley to the alternator is tight enough. if its a bit loose can slip and not charge the alternator properly, and may not drive the cooling fan efficiently. also take in all what greenfoam advises , he is a legend on this forum when the 5 ltr ,304 engine is involved. cheers........

[Phoenixx]

Thanks again all for your comments, very helpful as always. Update -

Temp and fuel gauges have decided to work after some slight pounding on the dash so must have bad connections I guess as someone posted about. Back running at 1/4 on the temp gauage so it is what it is.

Alternator has stopped whining also and battery indicator light has stayed off which is good, belts were all tight as well but going to have it checked anyway.

Going to service the car this week and add synthetic oil with a lifter freeing additive as well to hopefully free up the hydrolic lifter which is tapping once the engine gets warm strangely.

Changing the tyres for 235/55/17 for a little more ride comfort so will have a set of 235/45/17 Toyo Teo Plus tyres with at least 80% tread filling the garage so if anyone is interested message me and let's make a deal!!

Thanks again for all your helpful advice and warm welcomes.

[gelousi1]

You probably have a loose connection on your alternator or its worn out, when the battery light comes on it means that the battery is not getting over 11 or 12v i cant remember then when it started working again and the light turned off the whining is just the alternator working hard to charge the battery again that's all so check the positive connection on the back of the alternator make sure its not loose if it is loose its most likely created a bad contact so get on it with a wire brush and gently clean it up with the battery disconnected of course see how you go.