Can someone help identify Maloo issue - video here

[Rob Furniss]

My Sons Maloo has developed a bad knock, can someone identify what the cause is/may be from this video?
http://s248.beta.photobucket.com/user/R ... 4.mp4.html

[Supplanter]

Aaah, I can see the problem, it's a Holden. Sorry I can't be of any more help.

[Rob Furniss]

Just skyped my Dad back in the UK and he reckons the dull thud is big ends and the higher pitched is top end like a destroyed tappet but really could be numerous things, oh well my lad just needs to chuck some money and someone to fix as I don't have a clue on internals.

[Bennoz]

Sure does sound like big end. A big end & a bent valve. Lucky for him, LS2 crate motors ain't that expensive.

Busted diff, now a big end. He must have been driving like a senior citizen

[Rob Furniss]

Thanks for having a listen Ben.

[fraz91]

He tear-arsed out of ours early this morning on a cold engine - with no oil in (didn't know at the time).

Agree though, the dull thudding sounds like a big-end is on its way. We had a similar sound on our race buggy when we pulled the big-end bearings out altogether (they kept catching on the crank and stalling the motor). The ticking could be any number of things though, but a tappet/valve is most likely.

[Rob Furniss]

Cheapeast fix cost we've had is $7000 and that's an estimate (rebuild/new motor not much in it), had another of $7500.
LS2 crate motors seem to be almost 6K on their own then labour cost on top.
Or would it be simple enough for us to do at home if we buy an engine crane? (done an FTO engine before with my Dad helping but that's the end of my experience swapping engines)

[Astron_Boy]

This car wants to die...

it's always cheaper to DIY.
provided it's the same motor and you know what plug goes where it's straight forward stuff.

Having said that, the engine bays arent the easiest things to work on...

[Rob Furniss]

It sure does want to die, nothing but trouble.
After ringing around for quotes and a couple of people saying they've known of oil pick up issues and oil pump failures on this and he's only had the car a month I decided to phone the dealer. It's being picked up shortly and hopefully they will sort it, engine shouldn't be packing up with 70k's on the clock.

[Bennoz]

f**k, is that all. Quite right, they shouldn't be.

[Rob Furniss]

f**k, is that all. Quite right, they shouldn't be.

Hopefully the dealer will do the right thing but even if they do pick up the cost i'm not expecting them to pick the whole cost up - maybe 2 thirds (or should I?)

[fraz91]

f**k, is that all. Quite right, they shouldn't be.

Hopefully the dealer will do the right thing but even if they do pick up the cost i'm not expecting them to pick the whole cost up - maybe 2 thirds (or should I?)

The dealer should pick up a fair amount of the cost, as 70k is VERY low mileage...

[rock_it]

They may hide behind "owner usage"..

If the low oil cannot be pinned to them, they will try to avoid responsibility.. But I am happy to be wrong..

[Rob Furniss]

Dealer says - NO.
Don't know why yet but they want 11K to fix the issue.
I'm waiting for a phone call from the service manager.

[rock_it]

Dealer says - NO.
Don't know why yet but they want 11K to fix the issue.
I'm waiting for a phone call from the service manager.

Freaking ouch!

[Rob Furniss]

They said clutch is blue so that means my son has been abusing it (and said it's recent wear?), 'if the clutch hadn't been blue we would have picked up the cost'.
He's only had it 1 month and yes he's put his foot down a fair few times but hasn't been going mental.
Waiting for dept of commerce to go in and inspect it maybe next week, i'm expecting them to see the blue clutch but how can they say it's down to the last month of driving?

[Bennoz]

F*ck that, argue the previous owner was the cause of that blue clutch, not your problem, they put it under warranty for you, not the previous owner.

[Technikhaus]

Ouch :s

[Rob Furniss]

Dept of commerce have been in to the dealers to have a look and i've spoken with the inspector.
He said quite a lot but basically it's spun a bearing, clutch is fried but he can't tell when that happened as there was no lingering smell.
He didn't like the look of the oil pipes that feed the pump as they were dinted/crimped - just didn't look right and may warrant further investigation but I may have to pay someone to do a full strip down.
Said the tyres weren't ripped up and he also had a good feel in the arches and no signs of anything untoward like bits of rubber etc.
I told him that it also went through 6 litres of oil in one month and he was gobsmacked.
So he reckons it's had a bad life but can't say when, they are making further enquiries but it may be down to us to try to prove it wasn't my son.

If I can find the previous owner and he's willing to hold his hands up and say 'yes I drove it hard, did x y z' (if he did in fact do so) then that will help the case immensely.
At this stage though I don't have the previous owners details, been through all my sons stuff and he doesn't have anything other than the original purchase receipt from 2005 and it may have changed hands several times since then.

Can anyone help play detective? It's a 2005 ZR8 Maloo in black with reg no 1CXD098 and seems like from service history the car has stayed in Perth all it's life.
I've searched youtube for rego 1CXD098 but nothing has come up, car also used to have a private plate of Bombzilla but I don't know when it changed but it was still on that plate up to 2009 as one of the dealers has it listed under that plate for maybe repair work then (although it's archived so they don't know what work).
If I can turn up a video of burnouts, roll backs, drag action anything like that would be really good (i've already tried and still trying)

[rock_it]

Commodore forums?