Things to look for...

[mickf]

Hey guys. I am looking at moving into my first older Holden pretty soon, I'm going to look at a VS ute with a 304 and a 4L60E, ideally I wanted a manual but they're pretty rare it seems. This particular car has quite high kms on the clock (285k) and as I've never owned a car with this kind of milage I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on the kinds of things I should be looking for when inspecting it? I do actually plan on using it as a daily that I'll start to swap out the bolt ons to try and put some new life into it.

The owner tells me it's not been driven much for about 8-9 mths but is in good mechanical condition and has had bits n pieces replaced that have needed doing. However it has no rego/rwc due to hardly ever being driven. It's pretty clean looking outside and the engine bay also looks clean (in photos).

Sorry for the long post! Thanks in advance guys, looking to join the red team after spending the past 5yrs on the blue team.

 

[Deuce]

Welcome mate.
I expect the suspension will be like a boat with that many kms.
Check everything that has coolant in it (hoses, heater core, rad, heater tap, intake manifold gaskets) as these all leak in time.
There is probably more, but thats all my thoughts for now.

 

[losh1971]

Control arm bushes and joints, tailshaft rubber probably needs replacing, fan clutch probably buggard. Electrical gremlins on the V8s that can be hard to diagnose. But fair few blokes on here will help diagnose the common V8 ignition faults.

 

[Deuce]

And that heater control motor thing in the dash.

 

[losh1971]

And that heater control motor thing in the dash.

What happens? Is it a VS thing, or should I be concerned??

 

[Deuce]

What happens? Is it a VS thing, or should I be concerned??

Its a weird block with different resistors for different fan speeds, but they burn out with age.
I currently have off, 3 or full as options. No 1 no 2, just lots or shed loads. Slightly frustrating.

 

[losh1971]

Its a weird block with different resistors for different fan speeds, but they burn out with age.
I currently have off, 3 or full as options. No 1 no 2, just lots or shed loads. Slightly frustrating.

Would you mind posting up a pic. I might head to the self serve and pull a spare one for myself in case i have problems.

 

[VS 5.0]

Its a weird block with different resistors for different fan speeds, but they burn out with age.
I currently have off, 3 or full as options. No 1 no 2, just lots or shed loads. Slightly frustrating.

Would you mind posting up a pic. I might head to the self serve and pull a spare one for myself in case i have problems.

You be talking about the fan speed resistor.....they live under the wiper cowl, not under the dash. Simple job to replace.

New & old styles.

Busted resistor

Part no. for the new version

 

[losh1971]

If they can be bought new i might have to pop that in my eBay watchlist. Having the part number will make it even easier, cheers 5.0.

 

[VS 5.0]

@mickf As mentioned above, most of those items apply to any used car.

In terms of electrical gremlins such as coil, dizzy, ignition module, fuel pump etc, you're not really going to know until they die on you. If they are working at purchase, that is all you can really expect.

I have a list at home of the service/parts history for my old VS that I had for 19 years at some 230k kms. (Ride thread here if your interested - https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/vs-5-0.125899/). Without wanting to scare you off, it will give you an idea of what I replaced / repaired over that time.

I'll see if I can find it tonight and post the details.

Asking the seller for any service / repair records will also tell you what may or may not have been done.