well I've got an AU 2 tradesman ute 11/2001 and I was pretty happy with it, I had even got over the poor fuel economy but thats when the trouble started....
the roof lining started falling off $120.00 easy and fairly cheap, exhaust section between cat and muffler $140.00 not too bad, air con started cutting in and out and temp gauge started cutting in and out and then all of the dash instruments ARRRR still not fixed, sprayed electrical connections with some crc worked for a month or so but still a problem. started getting hot in town, got the radiator and engine flushed and replaced thermostat, $300 wife started getting cranky (this car is costing us a fortune) found red oil in coolant!!! common problem for automatics!!! apparently the auto trans fluid runs through the radiator and they corrode putting coolant in the trans (sometimes) and/or trans fluid in the coolant, killing the transmission luckily I was only up for $520.00 for the radiator and the trans has been ok, harmonic balancer and 180K service $550.00
so all up in the last 12 months $1630.00 and I still have and electrical, over heating and air con problem ARRRRRRR they might all be related so I am going to check the thermo fans today I think the over heating might be that I have lost the low speed thermo fan the temp gauge still sits between N and O on normal but it smells hot (can smell coolant and it feels a lot hotter than it should) in diagnostic it says 92 deg which sounds normal from what I read on the forums but any help would be appreciated.
