How do I find a good 3 door efi vitara? - common problems?

[drifta]

Hey guys,

So I've been looking for a vitara for the past 3 months, ive nailed it down to the 1.6L efi 3 door vitara, but im beginning to get frustrated waiting..

I WANT TO DRIVE OFFROAD AGAIN ALREADY!

over in WA we only have roughly one new 1.6 3dr efi vitara come up for sale every week or two, with so little of them for sale I havent found one ive been happy with..



How common are these problems ive found ?

- A steering "rub" or vibration (minor problem?)
- ceased locking hubs

- oil seeping out around the engine (and usually underneath wet from oil) - EVERY car I have seen has had oil seeping out! what the.. (rocker cover gasket needs replacing perhaps?)

- notchy gearbox
- car runs awful and sputters from cold, gets better when warm
- no airconditioning
- torn soft-tops
- high kms (over 200k)

Am I asking too much by turning down cars with all these issues, is there a better place to look? I've been looking in the quokka every week and saturdays paper occasionally and auto-trader occasionally.. drive.com.au and websites like that are good for eastern states cars but i cant seem to find many wa cars for sale on those sites..

or, alternately if anyone knows of anyone selling such a vitara, or one with a 4age or sr20 or other modified engine, please contact me!

Cheers

Paul / drifta

[just cruizin']

How old are these vehicles?

What's the steering rub, a vibration will be a wheel balance and alignment
Creased Hubs, clean them out, it's not hard. Probably never been locked in or are over packed with grease.
Oil seepage, tappet cover maybe but most probably the oil pump, reasonalby big job.
Notchy gearbox, oil may be too light or never replaced
cold start - needs a tune
No aircon - did these come with that option
torn softtop - spend the $400 on a new one

What do you normally do when you buy a car, I normally go a full tune, total fluid swap, wheel balance and alignment and depending on K's and how much I likely to keep the vehicle, a bit of an engine overhaul

[suzukiboy]

You might have to look out of state.
I live in Brisbane and brought my Vit in Sydney, flights are cheap.

My Vit was a one owner 96 hardtop with 70 000klms on the clock.

One of my hubs ceased, even with alot of use.
I have replaced the tappet cover gasket twice and it is leaking again, I give up on that one.

Rebuilt my gearbox at 150 000klms easy job.

Was a time when I couldn't care if my car didn't have air........ but now I wouldn't buy one without.

I wouldnt buy a Vit with over 200 000klms unless it was very cheap.

[nicbeer]

check the auctions also. maybe also look at the GV's

any reason for narrowing down to that model?

[drifta]

just cruzin:

thanks for your reply..

the steering rub its almost like there is a piece of plastic in the steering wheel colum rubbing against some other plastic.. or perhaps its a really dry bearing... ive had this on two vitaras ive test-driven..


cold start running rough.. and 'chugging'.. does this mean the engine was fine? (darnit, that was probably a good car then)..

some lady said hers didnt actually come with aircon- weird!

suzukiboy..

yeah ill possibly get one shipped on the train from sydney, seems much better range and values over there.. what happens to a vit engine over 200kms? i agree though i want one with less.. man, how much did you pay for yours????, 70kms! thats friggen awesome!!!!!!

nicbeer:
which auctions? pickles? havent had much luck finding vitaras there before.. government vehicle vitaras? hrrmm..

the reason for that model choice is

A) EFI = fuel economy
b) EFI = more power -- 75kw vs 55kw!
c) less weight than 5 door model (better on fuel and better to 'chuck' around like a sierra, but with less back breaking hardness)

ive also considered the 1998 new shape v6 vitara and converting it to gas, but even with the rebate it will cost $1700 due to the places only doing gas injection in suzukis..

im still considering the 1.6 carby, but would prefer the economy and power of the efi version... the good thing about a carby one is its cheaper and easier to find.. and with a cheaper car i wont care so much about all the crazy 4x4ing i will put it through (possibly denting and skratching it)

[just cruizin']

The rubbing you're talking about is probably the unis in the steering shaft. Held of one failing with near fatal results

[Gwagensteve]

I thought there was a plastic sleeve over one of the unis on vitara steering shafts and this can catch and rub.

Steve.

[joeblow]

swb efi vit, gonna be hard to find. last one took us 14 months, didn't have aircon but i got some of that stuff under the house. finding one under 200k's is going to be a problem. if the vehicle has been well maintained the motor should still be fine, and import blocks and heads are pretty cheap. the steering shaft noise is more than likely a dry shaft in the column, come across plenty of vits that do it, even one of my vits has that noise. air-con was standard in most lwb vits but not so in the shorties. keep looking, one will pop up but i wouldn't settle for a carby model as you'll be lucky to find one of these nowadays under 300k's. and look under the vehicle for bent tanks and gearbox crossmembers, this will let you know what kind of abuse it has had.

[suzukiboy]

My Vit will be up for sale end of this year or next year, looking for a Nissan Ute.

Don't have a clue what price to put on the Vit.

[shandy]

hey mate

im in perth and i did the exact same thing as you and narrowed my search down to a swb efi vitara. i found one 2.5 mouths after starting search it has 170k's soft top for $4600 only problem im having is the oil leak.

good luck finding you car
shandy

[drifta]

shandy.

thanks for sharing your story,

yeah i probably saw that vitara, was it a white one? up north of river?

I saw one recently with 200kms, but it needed tyres, oil pmp, water pump, etc etc.. would have cost about $2000 to get it all sorted so i let it go..

i hate oil leaks, but perhaps ill just have to accept it and put up with it *hrmph*

[suzuki boy]

I just picked my SWB vit up for $2300 with all suspension work new engine and front diff......

Like people have said look intersatate! I just got mine from QLD. To truck it from QLD to VIC was $560!

BUT it's a carby! ANy reall reason you want the efi?

[shandy]

hey mate

yeah it is a white with black soft top and yes i got next to a park in north bridge.

so far i have had to spend $800 on a new rear diff and now it is getting the oil leak done which is going to be big apparently.

shandy

[drifta]

BUT it's a carby! ANy reall reason you want the efi?

1. power
2. fuel efficiency..

it seems that the efi is better at both... anyone want to chime in on the fuel efficiency? as im PRETTY sure its better at efficiency but not 100% certain

[suzuki boy]

From the other post yeah it sounds like yhe efi is better on fuel......