Longevity of Z18XE

[SmellyTofu]

Who has a high mileage engine? Any issues with them apart from the b@$tard timing belt change so damn frequent?

[kirssn]

define high mileage. i had the 75000km belt change done last night by hunter holden. they informed me that the belt had already been changed once - this was done prior to 45000km being done on the car because it certainly wasnt done in the 30000km we've owned it.

otherwise, i am currently making daily trips to hunter holden with whinges and gripes about the stupid car because the check engine light keeps coming on along with other bits and pieces. when he runs tech 2, there are faults coming up all the time, minimum of say 4 or 5 each time. i guess i'm lucky that i have a contact in there because without his assistance, there wouldn't be a new engine on the way.

[SmellyTofu]

High as in high 100,000. I'm still deciding to just change over the car (now that I've made my mind to ditch the "company" car) to a more reliable Japanese brand (2nd hand of course) that I know all I have to do is change the fluids and filters and I'm set for 200,000+ or to stick with Astra since it's out of warranty.

[Bernard Siong]

yea i'm also thinking of changing to a jap car but all the nice ons hav been labled rice cars and rice rockets

[SmellyTofu]

I was thinking more RAV4/CRV or Corolla.

[Anonymous]

2nd hand corolla sportivo.

TRD have developed turbo kits for them, plenty of aftermarket goodies, and they don't look bad for a jap fridge. 8) :lol:

[shaohaok]

where did u find the turbo kits?

[Namus]

is this the Z18XE 1.8l Astra engine?

[SmellyTofu]

Yes, also fitted to the Barina SRi.

I don't need a sportivo. I'm so sick of this go fast crap now. I'm getting old but I have other priorities right now and going fast isn't one of them. Need to save money on running cost of a car. (I could do with even a Jazz).

For me in my mind, the thing with the Z18XE is that if it goes all totally wrong, where does one go for cheap parts? Holden more likely than not and only one wrecker I can think of right now. Do the same thing in a Japanese car, there's plenty of wreckers to choose from.

[Anonymous]

where did u find the turbo kits?

I'll pm you with the details ron (later on) :P

You have to import them, I think they cost 5g, and don't void factory warranty.

I remember being really impressed with the kit. :D


Smelly, in that case, I reccomend you check out the new suzuki swift. My brother is thinking of getting one. They have a clarion 4 channel amp and sub out and clarion 6 inch splits as a relatively cheap option 8) :P

[SmellyTofu]

Don't get confused with the TRD supercharger kit for the 1ZZFE. I don't see how you can turbocharge a 2ZZGE without opening up the engine.

Anyway, I'll keep looking around.... Subaru don't have a bottom of bottom basement bargains for staff and I don't intend to have a high changeover bill.

[Namus]

actually i just booked in for next wednesday to get my timing belt changed; $300 odd...coming up to around 57k on the clock...

[shaohaok]

there are bolt-on supercharger kits for the 2zzge as well. blitz make one. stock internals. quite a few ppl run them in japan. the americans turbo the 2zzge as well. i know that XS engineering make a kit, dunno if it replaces the stock pistons tho.

[PaulTheBall]

otherwise, i am currently making daily trips to hunter holden with whinges and gripes about the stupid car because the check engine light keeps coming on along

hmmm you too? I recently had my 75k service on the Barina and I get service lights appearing. I'm worried it is a pre-programmed time bomb in the engine and one day soon it will just die!

[auzvectra]

do ne of u people that are having engine light problems have aftermarket exhausts fitted?

[shaohaok]

i had that come up once when i had an exhaust fitted in the astra.

problem was the Lamda O2 sensor

[PaulTheBall]

No my car is stock...

[kirssn]

nah my mums astra is stock. its just a car to her... so no aftermarket exhaust or anything.

all my engine lights problems are fixed now. i got to holden yesterday afternoon after the stupid car stalling on epping road too many times, chucked a tantrum at my ex, took the keys to his car and said fix it or you can drive the damn thing the way it is until you do, he looked at me and said dream on so i took his car. he got to his place about an hour later and said softwares upgraded, you shouldn't have any problems now, drove it round last night and to work this morning, no problems..

as for timign belt... approx. $300??? i gather you aren't getting that dont through holden since the kit is $350 - $385 depending on dealership. I was lucky and only paid $185. and no service costs.....

[Namus]

yeah not through Holden; never again.....

[kirssn]

i didnt mind through holden but thats coz i get everything at a 'decent' price and dont pay labour!

[Namus]

yeah exactly; pay the 'regular' price and u'd be the same as me

[kirssn]

i'll be honest, i dont recall the last time i paid regular price for anything from holden - i got my commodore and barina back in 2001 and from memory, stopped paying regular price for anything back then????

[Namus]

i don't really mind; i pay a bit more on my service stuff; but all my mods come at dirt cheap prices cause my mate owns a performance shop.....i'd rather that then the other way around cause obviously u'd spend more on your mods then your servicing....

[kirssn]

i'm pretty lucky now even tho my ex is no longer running a performance workshop but is back at holden. he has managed to take alot of "suppliers" if that is the word to use with him, so we are still getting the performance gear at excellent prices.

we just ordered 2 supercharger kits, one for a ba xr8 and the other the ts50, total cost to us for everything came to under $17k. (forgot to mention that includes NOS in that price). if we bought as normal customers, the price would have been in excess of $22k....

as for general servicing, my astra, mums astra, the commodore get everything done for $0.00, dads rodeo, we pay a little bit for work to be done coz it's a company car. not a bad deal i dont think.

[SmellyTofu]

So no one has really cracked 150k in their cars..... hmmm...

[BoostedAstra]

where did u find the turbo kits?

I'll pm you with the details ron (later on) :P

You have to import them, I think they cost 5g, and don't void factory warranty.

I remember being really impressed with the kit. :D


Smelly, in that case, I reccomend you check out the new suzuki swift. My brother is thinking of getting one. They have a clarion 4 channel amp and sub out and clarion 6 inch splits as a relatively cheap option 8) :P

My GF just picked up one of these, so it comes with the amp and sub out? I haven't bothered to look......

[dan_kind]

i dont think you are going to have a problem, even if you did i cant see it being overly expensive... the motors will last if they are looked after, lots of oil changes, treating it right etc... any motor in a consumer vehicle doing 150K is good news...

change it if your worried, i drove my old one like a crazy bastard and it had factory compression at 85,000

[nigel]

I have just turned over 130k on the gsi 94 corsa.still got orignal clutch :roll: it still
drives well for a 11 year all car. :)