VT Wagon Rust in radiator and Tailshaft vibration

[Defected]

Gday guys, Just bought myself a 3/99 Berlina Wagon (upgrade from my VN)

Few issues i had after buying it; Drove no more then 70km back to my dads house then my own house, was on my way to work and the radiator dropped its guts and showed that the 'coolant' had actually turned to a rusty sludge. Anyway the owner of the yard i picked it up from has taken back to a local mechanic in his area to fix it. Replacing the radiator thermostat and both hoses, was under the impression that the coolant was flushed prior to picking up the car as it had 1 rocker cover gasket replaced (apparently both were replaced). My issue now is what chance of electrolysis in the bore or what other damage may have been done. My old man is a auto engineer and mechanic and has said that the head gasket should be fine but we will be getting an upper gasket kit and replacing the gaskets in a few months. Does anyone else have ideas for what i can look out for as i should be getting the car back on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Also we noticed a shudder or vibration in the drive line when taking off, i have since found that the wagons made before June 99 had issues with the tail shaft being on the wrong angle and you can get 2x3mm spaces to raise the centre tail shaft mount, can anyone confirm??

Cheers

- Jack

[Killr6]

if your radiator coolant was a rusty colour, you could have a few problems to look into there. leaky trans fluid, leaking intake manifold gasket, or a rusted out water pump. woudnt hurt to get a pressure test done to check for extra leaks and stuff.

i dont think it would have blown a headgasket, there a few things you can check for, like a milky sludge under the oil cap and and sometimes smoke coming from the exhaust.

[Defected]

Yeah no milky sludge or smoke from the exhaust, cars in need of a service so i cant say if the trans or motor oil are dropping. Might have to check the water pump, I think it may have just not had the coolant changed for a few years

[Killr6]

Yeah no milky sludge or smoke from the exhaust, cars in need of a service so i cant say if the trans or motor oil are dropping. Might have to check the water pump, I think it may have just not had the coolant changed for a few years

yeah give it a good system flush, make sure there is no air in the system, and then just keep any eye on it.

[Defected]

Well the seller is organising that with a different mechanic, just more so worried about any other damage that may have been done. Hopefully by turning the car off as soon as the temp sensor flashed i averted any harm to the head

[VTS5]

Gday guys, Just bought myself a 3/99 Berlina Wagon (upgrade from my VN)Also we noticed a shudder or vibration in the drive line when taking off, i have since found that the wagons made before June 99 had issues with the tail shaft being on the wrong angle and you can get 2x3mm spaces to raise the centre tail shaft mount, can anyone confirm??Cheers- Jack

Get your tailshaft checked out,could be cv joint in the middle,rubber damper or uni joints.Never heard that "angle" theory thou.

[Defected]

Will get it checked out when i pick up the car

Wagon Driveline vibration - During takeoff, or around 70-80k's, some automatic V6 wagons vibrate through the driveline, which may be caused by an incorrect tail shaft angle. 2 3mm spacers (92138057) are used to raise the centre mount of the tail shaft to help reduce vibrations

I found this on phoenixmechanical website, havent heard much info anywhere else regarding this but i might chase it up as it is exactly the same as the issue im having

[ucwepn]

the coolant was brown? like a coffee colour? probably intake manifold gasket.

[convas]

Are you sure it was rust ? the "pills" that GM put in the radiator also make it go brown, I forget their exact name.

[Defected]

Nah it was more orange then brown, ive recently gone back to the maccas where i parked the car, the spot is stained orange leading me to believe rust. Was reading that the alloy can rust like crazy if coolant isnt replaced every second year. I have read about those 'pills" There were some more brown chunky bits, i think that might be due to the pills.

As far as inlet manifold gasket, i might replace that in a few months, easy job, ive done my VN and mothers VX so i'll just take my time in doing all the top gaskets, Couldnt hurt anyways

[Killr6]

a new gasket set would never hurt on these old model cars, only holden use those "pills" and some other places might but it create brown slime.

[Trevor 062]

whilst your at it change your heater taps as well.

[Defected]

Good idea on heater taps, just spoke to shane at Com frenzy in Bayswater, he reckons i should get the heater core water pump and all hoses replaced as well as the items already being replaced.

Never heard of these pills till two days ago, now its all im hearing. What are there purpose?