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Okay everyone... I need some help! I took some advice and swung by a towbar place, to get them to have a look... and their first impression was "that's not right!". Not about the rust (they said it was fine), but the plate said "C'DORE VT HSV SEDAN" (Hayman Reese part number 1633). I have a...

Out of curiousity... do I need to undo the bolts and stuff for cleaning it up? I don't mean the bolts that attach the towbar to the car... I mean the actual bolts that hold the towbar together. I have no intention of ever pulling it apart. I noticed the bolt heads are also a bit rusty... so I'm...

Thanks guys :) I'm assuming it's OK if I go over the whole towbar with a wire brush, put on some of that rust remover/converter/primer stuff, then give it a coat of black auto paint?

Naaaah I'll use it provided you all say it's OK. :) I figured if it was bad, someone would immediately say NOOOOO, don't use it (etc). I took another photo: http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/1895/dsc01934r.jpg (very large, sorry!) So you can see a fair amount of rust on it, and even the bolt...

Ahhh see that's the thing... I'm not really used to towbars, so I don't know how rusty they normally get. I've seen photos on ebay where you can see the blotchy rust areas on the tongue etc... but this has a lot of rust marks everwhere, and is a bit pitted/eaten away on some sections (as seen in...

Hi all, I was at a wreckers today buying a couple of parts for my car, and figured I'd grab a towbar while I was there. It was dirty but I figured "meh" and grabbed it anyway. Once I got home I cleaned it up a bit, and found a bit more rust than I was expecting. I know towbars get a lot of...

It's a stock exec, with the stock bar - not lowered. It's my "sh*tbox", but I want to keep it running for as long as possible. :) My tyres aren't normal though, I have 15"x7" alloys and run 225 wide tyres.... not quite as wide as your 19's. That timber trick sounds like it just might work, so...

Hmmmm I'll check them out - woah you have to remove the front bar though? Damn, I didn't consider that...

Hi all, Seeing as how I'm learning how to service my car.... I want to buy some ramps so I can actually get under there (first thing I want to do is service the transmission). What sort of load-rating do I need to get? I know places like supercheap have those $30 ones during the sales, but...

Guys, sorry for hijacking an old thread..... but when you change the gasket (I'm going to buy the genuine holden rubber ones), do you also need to change all the bolt seals as well? Holden are changing around $5 each for the seals, which quickly adds up for a whole set!

Does anything need to be modified to fit it? I keep hearing things about having to drill holes, cutting out bits of the radiator shroud etc to fit them...

What do you have still left? :)

I'm the same... I'm interested if I can pick it up, if you live in the westurn suburbs (I work at tulla airport).

How many km's has the car done? What's the condition of the auto box?

No, I haven't had a compression test done.... You could be right about the oil pump, but I think the pump itself is working, it's just that the current oil is slightly too thick when cold, so the pump takes a few seconds longer to get the oil circulating properly. I supsect when I put it...

I'm really starting to think it's the oil being a bit too thick. I remember the mechanic talking about moving to a thicker oil, he mentioned 20W50, but the actual invoice just says "60W" (they use valvoline)... so I guess I have 20W60? (if that exists) The noise hasn't happened at all now...

Well that $350 is if I pay cash. ;) Ahem... ;) He's always been honest with me, and he lets me bring in my own parts and he fits them at his labour rate, so he's so far been able to beat every other quote for all the work I've done to the car. It's only now with this inlet manifold gasket...

Okay guys... I keep seeing on this forum quotes for around $150 - $200 to change the inlet manifold gasket. I have been speaking with my mechanic, who's a pretty decent guy, and he claims it's a lot of work (about 4 hours all up) and the best he can do is $350. That includes all the genuine...

How long did it take - and was it very tricky? You have to drain the oil and coolant first? I haven't seen the gregorys manual yet - my local stores all sell ummm the haynes (?) one... will grab a gregorys when I see one though. :)

Yes and no! In my case, a dodgy lead was causing issues at low speed (sometimes felt like it was going to stall, and sometimes did!). That seems to have stopped now... I'm guessing if I didn't replace it now, that corrosion would have gotten worse and the car would really misbehave. Other...

Did you manage to get your gaskets replaced? I'm in the same boat as you.... can't decide whether to pay the mechanic $$$ in labour, or just do it myself....

Thanks for all the tips and advice guys - I've finished the job. :) The hardest bits were opening those little latches that hold the leads to the side of the engine, and then routing the leads under the alternator (especially that plastic tubing). The rest was pretty easy! I used one of those...

Oh wait... I'll try it like this - I thought you were supposed to get the complete bundle under there (protector already around the leads). :)

Okay guys, before I break anything - how do you get the leads out from underneath the alternator? There's not enough room to get the rubber boots through.... unless I attempt to disconnect the alternator cable (which also goes under the alternator)? Is anyone able to do this without removing...

Thanks!!! I have looked at the prices for all the different leads now, and as it turns out, the genuine GMH ones from my local Holden dealer were $56.... *much* cheaper than any other brands at the auto stores! My current genuine leads lasted 190,000km's.. which is a pretty good run I think. :)

Okay my next question - what leads should I be buying? I went to my local supercheap, hoping to pick up the standard Bosch "super sport" or whatever they're called.... but they didn't have any for the late model commodores. They only had the $104 blue Bosch ones, which would be overkill...

Hahaha well in this case, I don't care if I wreck the leads. :) But if I'm able to do this, from now on I'll be changing the sparks myself. :) For WD-40... so I just spray a bit into the each end of the lead (both ends), or just on the metal tips of the coil packs?

Thanks for all your help guys - I will do it after work tomorrow night (once the engine cools down). My engine kept conking out the other day, well - I guess this is why! I really should get a gregorys manual or something and learn to give it a full service.

Next question.... How do you remove the lead at the spark plug end? There is a metal cylinder which appears to surround the spark plug... I assume I just pull the lead off, but how do I remove the metal cylinder? Does it just pull off? I don't want to touch it without asking here first. :)

Hahaha thanks for that - I'll clean it up and pick up some new leads tomorrow - then definitely replace them one at a time (no way I want to screw that one up).

Photo attached. :)

LOL sorry - I should have said - I did it one at a time. :) i.e. I unplugged one, had a look at the connector, then put it back on. :) I basically just wanted to see how easy they were to pull off, and then after doing one, I thought I'd just do them all (one at a time), to inspect the...

Help!!! I was curious, so I just unplugged the leads at the coil pack, one by one - I really didn't know what I was doing. That was easy enough! Now, for the problem - lead #2 is *stuffed*. There's green corrosion (like when an AA battery corrodes). The connector on the coil pack itself is...

It could be, but the trans fluid level is fine. It's starting to get a bit dirty, so I really should change it soon. p.s. I am determined to learn how to change the oil... one day soon!

Do you know if there are any guides etc on here? Like what tools are needed... I bought a set of spark plugs, so I'm thinking of getting a new set of leads and changing them all over at the same time. :)

Did you ever sort this out? Mine has started doing the EXACT same thing as you. It started happening a few weeks after I had the front engine mounts replaced.... so I'm assuming it's because of that (I didn't get the rear engine mounts replaced).

Changing the spark plus sounds like an easy job.... but what about changing the leads too? Is that something that anyone can do at home? (I have a VXII V6)

Hi all, My VXII (with 190,000km's on the clock) has started to get a bit of oil in the coolant (not the other way around thankfully!). My mechanic claims the inlet manifold gaskets are shot, and that's what's doing it. Trouble is - he quoted $450 to do the work. That seems a bit high...

Well my mechanic only recently changed to thicker oil, and he said it was probably just the fact the pump has to work harder to circulate the oil... but I'm concerned that this will cause damage. It only does it during startup, and only in the mornings (i.e. if the car has been sitting there for...

Hi all, It's been a long time since I posted here.... from when I first bought my Commodore VXII with 20k on the clock. I've now hit 190k, and I'm starting to feel that my engine is wearing out! Basically, on first startup in the morning, sometimes the engine will make a banging sound...