Rantings and Questions of an ol' fool

[Vincenzo]

Greetings to all. My vehicle is a AU S3 XR6 M Sedan (Hp). I bought the vehicle Boxing day 2010 in Ipswitch (142 XXX) and drove 8000k back to Darwin. I was absolutely impressed by it's handling, comfort and economy. The only fault I could find with the car was the clunky diff exactly like my 1994 EF XR6 M Sedan in Darwin. Vehicle has now just clocked up 160 XXX k. I had been told this was the usual but more on this later.

Since ownership I have had the following parts fixed ;

4 x powersteering switches, 1 x battery, 1 x fuel pump relay, 2 x clutch cables, 1 x set of sway bar links, 6 x welch plugs, 1 x radiator and 1 x clutch. Cost for radiator / clutch was $1250 (again, more on this later)

i have upgraded these parts as well

287mm grooved and slotted rotors with EBC red stuff pads - took about 1500k to bed them in properly and stop squeaking but well worth it.

Covering these are a set of 235 / 40 / 17 Yoko V550 db's - great wet or dry

Pacemaker 4480's - beautiful gains in mid range power but no noticeable increase in fuel economy

Ballistic 100 cpl cat with Redback / lukey 2.5" system to the rear

The only other mods I may do are neo bushes and gas shocks.



When some of the repairs have been done I felt as though I was being gouged but there was no way to prove it, or so I thought. I sometimes felt work was done that was not essential. In talking with one owner one day I mentioned I don't work any more (disability pension) so can easily fit in to any vacancy for the work to be done. Suddenly, some work became non essential and some work the price dropped.


So, Question 1 - do you think some businesses charge what they think you can pay not necessarily what it should cost?


Now, the second question relates to my current repairer. Over the last two days I had a new radiator fitted and a new clutch which included a fly wheel shave, new thrust bearing, Spigot and cable. Whilst driving the car today something wasn't right but I wasn't sure what. It then hit me - there was no more clunky diff in reverse or first - smooth as a baby's bottom.

This leads me to think of two possibilities - one being that while they had the gearbox / tailshaft out they tightened up something on the diff or - two the clunking was from a misaligned gearbox / clutch which was fixed when it was put back together.


So, Question 2 - can replacing a clutch make a clunky diff disappear. Could the clunk have been coming from the clutch all the time.


As a parting thought - for any one either in Darwin or travelling through and needing repairs I whole heartedly endorse Phil Kerr Service centre, Harriot Pl Darwin