Hi Folks, I�m new to the site, so be nice�. I bought my Calais Turbo Series 2 in 1989 after it had done 18,000kms. It has now done 236,000kms. Over the years I have had a few problems, which I would like to share. 1. Problem 1. Driving along and the car cuts out. Wouldn�t start, it had fuel but no spark. All the experts at this stage say it�s the CAS, noop read on... This happened on and off for about 3 months before I found the problem. The wife was driving the car one day and tried to start it. Of course it would start. I pissed around for about an hour determined to find the problem. In the end I gave up and decided I would have to leave the car in the car park. I can�t remember why I did this next step but I did. My car came standard from the factory with a bloody noisy Cobra alarm. There is a key switch located in the glove box to isolate it if required and I noticed that when I pushed the key switch and tried to start the car, it did. If I took my finger of the key switch, it stalled. Hey presto I found it. This was not the only occurrence as I was driving to Nairne one day and on the side of the road, after a train track, is another Calais Turbo with its bonnet up. I stop, introduce myself and asked if I could help. Turns out this guy and his mate had been stuffing around for about an hour with the same type of problem. He told me that numerous mechanics had looked at the car and couldn�t find the problem. I went around to the passengers side of the car opened the glove box, pressed my finger against the key switch and told him to try starting the car. It started�you should of seen the guys face�. priceless. 2. Problem 2. My car wouldn�t start again one day. This time it was different because I had spark. Pissed around for weeks and spoke with a few people. Tried a new pump because I�m thinking its fuel related and the pump had been making a horrid noise. I ended up talking to a EFI service place and they suggested the AFM. He said, disconnect the AFM and see if the car starts. Guess what�it did, so I drove it down to the EFI place and they promptly replaced the AFM. If you disconnect the AFM, the computer goes into limp home mode and will use some basic settings to get you going. 3. Problem 3. While it was at the EFI place I asked them to do a bit of a tune up as the car had been getting crappy economy. I was with the guy when he hooked it up to all of his techno gear and for about an hour he was scratching his head wondering why he could get the A/F ratio right. In the end he suspected that it was the O2 sensor, so he put a new one in. Still no good. He couldn�t work out what was wrong, as he was getting no reading from any O2 sensor. Checked the wiring..yep it had continuity. Anyway time was against us that day and he had to leave. Well, liking a challenge, I decided to have a look, so I checked the wiring from the O2 sensor back to the computer� yep continuity. Check the same wiring against earth�.yep continuity�.hey hold on that�s not right. Traced the wire all the way back to the O2 sensor, which is where I found the problem. Pin 24 on the 16-pin connector (yeah that makes sense!) from the computer is a white wire, which then changes into a white wire within a shield. At the O2 sensor whoever made the wiring loom had cut the shield all the way through to the centre wire. I always thought that that an inch of bare wire running into the centre pin (output) was weird. Anyway the shield, which is earthed, was shorting with the output from the O2 sensor�hence no reading and no close loop mode. 4. Problem 4. This one I think is a little more serious and I don�t have any answers, so I�m after people�s thoughts. I won�t tell you how it happened because that is too embarrassing. Let�s just say that the engine does rev very nicely thank you. Anyway the problem is that when driving along at about 2,300 rpm at 60KPH (I have 4.11 gears) on a light throttle opening in 3rd gear (auto) the engine sounds like it has a little man inside the engine with a hammer and he�s beating the **** out of something. It happens in all gears as well. The noise appears to be coming from the front of the motor. If you put the motor under load, bring it up on boost the noise goes away, as it does also if you take your foot of the loud pedal. When hot, the oil pressure gauge shows 100kpa at idle and goes up immediately on opening the throttle to 450kpa, so my gut feeling is a gudgeon pin. By the way, this noise has been happening for the last 30,000kms. Has anyone experienced a similar problem? Any thoughts appreciated, apart from those saying stop ....ing the motor.

Yeah id say the Problem 4 is either gudgeon pin or most likely a big end bearing. Either way id strip it now before u end up with a bigger disaster Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgz85 Yeah id say the Problem 4 is either gudgeon pin or most likely a big end bearing. Either way id strip it now before u end up with a bigger disaster Thanks for the reply. I have bought a second hand NA engine which I plan doing an engine swap as an interim. I figured if I change the oil pump and run it on PULP that would get me by until I rebuild the original. I'd like to start some ground work about what I can do to the old girl (the car, not the wife). Can anyone recommend an Adelaide guru? Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

water pump makes funny noises , so do big end bearings. gudgeons will be fne.