Austarion

G'day everyone,

I'm more than sure this has been asked before and I apoligise if i missed a post in plain sight about it but i don't have that much time to look just now, If so could you please put a link as well.

I would just like to know about the problem areas of things to look out for in a starion, what might be a problem in the future, and of course the big one off rust. Also the motor, what mileage can they take comfortable before they need some help and if theres any ways of telling the what might need fixing..

For now I have only seen one starion that i had a test drive and good look in all the corners, in rather good order apart from some rust in the bottom edge of both doors and some other minor issues, clock showed 280k aswell.

Cheers

dude, seriously, buy that two tone JB and spend the rest of your cash fixing the little stuff, or paying someone to. its between 1 and 2 grand undervalued.


first thing i would look at is that the car ISN'T a series one JA, as they had the most design faults/bugs. the wiring etc is improved on a series 2. the JB/JD are streets ahead in reliability.

things to look out for are: compression, blowing smoke, rust between screen and lip in middle lower section of windscreen, turbo excessively noisy, fuel leaks at intake, engine running rough, clutch slipping, power steering noisy, steering sloppy/wanders (drag link), etc etc

well yes i am seriously considering doing so but due to the age of the engine kms wise and how it looks like it had been run in the past I wasn't sure. And some of the thing that possible need doing to it could end up costing more than another staz in better order.
reguardless, i wanted to know what i would have to do to it if i don't find another one in the mean time.

how fast should the gear change be?? as i don't think the synchros were out but i couldn't change that fast it seemed.

what to know when looking for a starion..
hmmmmmm.......

depends on what you want out of it .
if you want to keep it stock and resore it , make sure its complete . maybe some day it may be worth something.

if you want a race car / track car , then any thing will do, provided you are handy with the tools and can mod geniric items to suit your needs .
if you want it as your every day driver consider something else.

why do you say not as a daily? i'm thinking of it for mostly that purpose, dont mind with a few mods.

Hmmm...my Series 2 JA which I bought in 1987 has been my daily since then, with the odd rest here and there.

i dont mean to offend the others that use their staz as a daily , but these vehicles are getting on in age , and parts are scarce , if you retain the old eci system it will let you down , the injectors will let you down , the ignition will let you down, and the electrics will fail at some point , not to mention the switches. these items are hard to obtain. it is not like you can walk in to a repco and ask for them. or walk down to your local pick a part and find a staz sitting there

on the other hand if you purchase one that has had a mpi conversion with a decent ecu , it will almost tell you what has gone wrong.

older ecu's do send codes but no many techs know how to read them these day's .

parts are the biggest issue with with these cars , yes there are heaps of older cars on the roads , but they are simple plain motors and suspension set ups . not high tech electrics or a/f metres and all that other crap

the staz was way ahead for its time back in the day , but that day has long gone with it's out dated stuff .

by all means its a car alot of owners love , but also love to hate.

what i would look for would be a complete car with a good clean body and complete interior , dont worry too much about the engine , the 4g63 is strong and parts are plentiful , you can go down the t/cam route if you chose or stick with the sohc ,but at least make sure it has an mpi or you are willing to do that conversion . if you are handy with a spanner then the staz is a car for you , (some times i want to kill it with a sledge hammer) as i said love / hate .

speending a little more up front will save you mega dollars down the track , alot of money has been poured into some that come up for sale , look at the wide body with the sr20 , you could not come close to building a third of that car for that asking price , but i bet a lot of people have spent just as much and are no way near to what has been done .

alot of people on this forum have a wealth of knowledge on the beast , and if you get stuck you will find help.

but as your daily i would really re consider and keep it more as your hobby / tinker toy ..... think about it , when was the last time you saw one on the road ................ think about it , spend wisely up front ...........

zippo wrote:maybe some day it may be worth something.

LOL

zippo wrote:if you want it as your every day driver consider something else.

mine's a daily driver..... which i haven't driven for a month..... and probably won't be able to for a while longer......

fair enough I see where your going with it.


[quote="zippo"]think about it , when was the last time you saw one on the road ................quote]

funny you should say, have only seen one driving down here since the car isn't that common but i saw one yesturday and I know its a daily driver.

paradox wrote:the car isn't that common but i saw one yesturday

you have cars in tasmania?

rofl yes though you might find it hard to believe rofl

...and I bet they have two rearview mirrors, one for each of the driver's heads

JPC wrote:...and I bet they have two rearview mirrors, one for each of the driver's heads

What a wicked sense of humour rofl

JPC wrote:...and I bet they have two rearview mirrors, one for each of the driver's heads

thats just an insult to yourself to say that people born in tasi have more brains than you.

paradox wrote:thats just an insult to yourself to say that people born in tasi have more brains than you.

twice the brain but half the IQ :P