Not Fated To Be A Stagea Owner?

[b_koh1976]

Hey guys,

First time participating in the blog and is just helping my partner to pour out his grievence and bloody hell mine too. We started out with a old Toyota station wagon and after getting the STAGEA things started to go downhill. Here is a series of events that all went wrong:

-Bought series 2 STAGEA from this guy at a steal (ok maybe is also my partner's fault for being too cheap skate). But even though so, the seller should verify the condition truthfully instead of giving some crappy reason (ok I think u guys get the idea). Hello? where is the ethics gone?

-3 weeks after buying & driving it, engine light lights up everytime and car appears to be jerky.

-sent to workshop for diagnose. 3 of the cylinders were blocked. Option- repair the cylinders or rebuild engine. Advice- rebuild engine. (spent close to 6K)

-6 months later got the car back. FINALLY!

-2 weeks ago, went to do the alightment. Mechanic advice- 2 tyres are balding. Change 2 new donuts. (spent close to 400 bucks)

-Last tuesday, went to west end. After that found some cranky sound from tyre. Not sure what caused it.

-Today, went to tyre shop & diagnose problem. Lack of Pressure. Pumped up and ready to go again.

-Later today, cranky sound from tyre again (even worst-as if going to fall off from car). Stop and called RACQ (waited for an hour or so) as found out 2 of the 5 nuts were missing. They were loosen and never tightened which caused 2 of the nuts to snap. Culprit- the tyre shop.

-Just now, my partner and I were waiting for the tow truck ( to the workshop to get it done as it is too dangerous to be driven anymore. Took a cab & went back home first. The poor chap is still waiting.

The bottom line is that what the hell is wrong with sellers and service providers these days? Stop ripping people of and sabotaging poor folks like us. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

I long suspected foul play but partner refuse to believe.

Now I not sure when we will be getting the car back AGAIN as ordinary nuts cannot be used. So what if is back? I am not looking forward to another 'ORDEAL'.

THEREFORE, I URGE INTERSTED PARTIES TO COME FORWARD- BUY OUR STAGEA (0423272076). MAYBE SHE BELONGS TO A BETTER HOME.

[Bunta]

Glad to see I am not the only one who has continual trouble with people "fixing" things on my car

[85URK]

this is why when purchasing a car have it throughly inspected, get the car racq, inspected by one of there stations, never trust any1.

if u had it cylinder tested it might have shown up that there was low compression in the cylinders.

and u would have seen that the tyres were getting down to the wear lines on inspection or if not close to it before u bought the car.

its not your fault about the wheel nuts but it pays to double check even stuff like that, when u pick up your car from the tyres shop, as i said, never trust any1, they wont care about your car like you will.

in the other respect though, now u have a fresh rebuilt engine (pretty much new) new tyres on the car, now i shouldne see anything going wrong with it if u properly maintain the car from here on out.

do a service every 5000KM and then get a reputable mechanic to check everything on the car, even down to hoses, belts, look for leaks, wearing parts etc then he will let you know what needs to be replaced before it happens, its prevetative measures that keep a car running without a hitch.

im sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but dont let it ruin your experience, they really are a great car, its just some ppl out there dont treat there cars right, and therefore these things happen.

i hope u have better luck in the future if u decide to keep it.

Edited January 20, 2007 by 85URK

[Topkart R33]

What was the reason for cylinder blockage???? injector, valves....seems very odd. Did the mechanic explain this??

You would expect with the tyres repaired that the work would be guaranteed....not a good thing to not tighten wheel nuts, think the repairer would be liable 4 that one???

Chin up....once all repaired, the car should do you well!!

[b_koh1976]

this is why when purchasing a car have it throughly inspected, get the car racq, inspected by one of there stations, never trust any1.

if u had it cylinder tested it might have shown up that there was low compression in the cylinders.

and u would have seen that the tyres were getting down to the wear lines on inspection or if not close to it before u bought the car.

its not your fault about the wheel nuts but it pays to double check even stuff like that, when u pick up your car from the tyres shop, as i said, never trust any1, they wont care about your car like you will.

in the other respect though, now u have a fresh rebuilt engine (pretty much new) new tyres on the car, now i shouldne see anything going wrong with it if u properly maintain the car from here on out.

do a service every 5000KM and then get a reputable mechanic to check everything on the car, even down to hoses, belts, look for leaks, wearing parts etc then he will let you know what needs to be replaced before it happens, its prevetative measures that keep a car running without a hitch.

im sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but dont let it ruin your experience, they really are a great car, its just some ppl out there dont treat there cars right, and therefore these things happen.

i hope u have better luck in the future if u decide to keep it.

Thxs for the advice will share it with my partner. He's just came back, all pissed. Btw I found the broken nut along the footpath outside my house and showed it to him, now he is BLOODY pissed (big time) and sad too

. To add the icing on the cake, today was the day we went to the registry of marriage, when it all happen. What a great start to married life duh!

Yeah they are indeed great, but it is just that we have spent a hell lot of $$ on it and not to mention the super high cost of premium petrol prices. Money + Time + Effort = WASTED! Scarifaced too much on this Japanese baby, maybe it is time to let go...& start all over again...

YA know of anyone's who's interested? Give my partner a buzz. Cheers.

[85URK]

that is the price of owning an imported car. fuel is dearer, plus insurance is higher by alot, but anyway. goodluck with the

sale. post it in the classified section if u want to sell it.

pics will help you aswell.

[b_koh1976]

What was the reason for cylinder blockage???? injector, valves....seems very odd. Did the mechanic explain this??

You would expect with the tyres repaired that the work would be guaranteed....not a good thing to not tighten wheel nuts, think the repairer would be liable 4 that one???

Chin up....once all repaired, the car should do you well!!

Not sure abt the reason for the blockage, but the mechanic did explain to my partner. (He's too distraught now even to talk abt it )

No doubt the repairer should be liable, but then do you think he would have the guts to own up? Whats done is done. No use crying over spill milk. Is time to move on and anyways I guess we lack of the experience of how to take care of this Jap baby. (Damn should've stick to the old trusty TOYOTA). Well I guess, you never try, u never know. But the lesson was a painful and hard one

Do help to keep a look out for people who r keen on this baby. Thxs.

[b_koh1976]

that is the price of owning an imported car. fuel is dearer, plus insurance is higher by alot, but anyway. goodluck with the

sale. post it in the classified section if u want to sell it.

pics will help you aswell.

is up alredi for sometime before the whole tyre incident happen Check it out.

[Ska]

meh 2 weeks after I got married, my Stagea broke a rear control arm, which spun me, causeing ~$10k's worth of damage, thank god for full comp insurance.

I still own it, 1.2yrs later Still bloody happy with it, only selling it because we want a house, doubt it'll sell though, but if it is for sale then the wife is happy

I say put it down to bad luck and move on, sounds like you have a very good base to start modifying, rebuilt motor and all

BTW Pop into the stagea section, you are not the only wife that owns a Stagea, I am sure Krissie and Krew can cheer you up

[Col-GTSX]

DIY is the golden chicken...

If you dont know how to do something, then get friendlly with a Mechanic you can trust... If you dont know any ask on the forum and we can point you in the right direction...

Also if you wish to try DIY on your car, post up what you want to do and gather advice from everyone before making a choice...

Buying a car, post up on the forums and you will get like 5 members or users to help check it out for you... Thats whats good about SAU, its for eveyone and it costs nothing...

[Spook's_Skyline]

as everyone else says

i could never ever buy a car without getting it full inspected first

its just maddness not to (regardless of how cheap. hawt looking the car is, sometimes you just have to walk away froma sale)

the regular servicing is an extremely good idea also

also, when we bought our house, thought we mite have to get rid of the skyline, but we have been pleasantly surprised that we have been able to keep our car and get the house

i would have been extremely unhappy if i had to get rid of my baby, but repayments arent anywhere near as bad as we thought they woudl be

[Midol]

Nuts being loose is scary!

My sisters B/F borrowed my wheels for a day once, put all the wheels on and forgot to tighten them back up. When I noticed a funny noise I got out and looked and all 5 nuts were within 1/2 a turn of coming off!

I was on a highway as well, so loosing a wheel would NOT have been nice.

[IanB]

if you just rebuilt dont sell, you wont get your money back. Chances are once you get it fixed up you wont have problems with it again.

does your bf/husband (sorry, your post is a bit unclear about this) want to sell the car?

Also, theres a element of responsibility on the buyer not to be suckered into bad buys.The least you could have done is taken someone slightly mechanically minded along with you, or paid RACQ to do it, or a reputable import mechanics if RACQ wont look at it due to it being an import.

[b_koh1976]

if you just rebuilt dont sell, you wont get your money back. Chances are once you get it fixed up you wont have problems with it again.

does your bf/husband (sorry, your post is a bit unclear about this) want to sell the car?

Also, theres a element of responsibility on the buyer not to be suckered into bad buys.The least you could have done is taken someone slightly mechanically minded along with you, or paid RACQ to do it, or a reputable import mechanics if RACQ wont look at it due to it being an import.

yeah, i know will definately make a loss anyways my partner (i will call him just that yet, even though we have registered our marriage WITHOUT rings- cos the money was spent all on the STAGEA! He still owes me for that!) wouldnt mind, he's just eager to sell it off to prevent anything from happening again.

I think should anything happen again we are going to be in deep shit with the rising interest rates next month, we got a $400k house mortage to pay!

Actually, it wasn;t me who bought it! My partner did. He just let me see the pictures and the price. He wanted to get one from STREET MACHINES but it was a series one and the price was almost the same as the series 2 he bought. I alredi warn him abt the price being so cheap with potential problems but he's acts so rashly and his EGO is so damn big that he always don't listen to me!

And I came home one day surprised, seeing this STAGEA parked in my garage with my excited partner inside fiddling with it. Well what can I say?

Anyways thanks for the advice. It is alredi done deal and too late. At least we know now and i wouldn't buy a second hand car now still. Saving up to buy a new Volkswagen Golf GTI myself now. Heck what the fellow says.

[b_koh1976]

Nuts being loose is scary!

My sisters B/F borrowed my wheels for a day once, put all the wheels on and forgot to tighten them back up. When I noticed a funny noise I got out and looked and all 5 nuts were within 1/2 a turn of coming off!

I was on a highway as well, so loosing a wheel would NOT have been nice.

Lucky u at least they didn't snap!

[AlexR34]

This is exactly why i dont take my car to the mechanic anymore i try and do everything on my own that is possible with the tools i have, and i dont let crappy dealer mechanic service my car with some crappy MOBIL oil, my baby only deserves MOTUL oils.

Good luck with everything.

[ze_flexy_1]

-Later today, cranky sound from tyre again (even worst-as if going to fall off from car). Stop and called RACQ (waited for an hour or so) as found out 2 of the 5 nuts were missing. They were loosen and never tightened which caused 2 of the nuts to snap. Culprit- the tyre shop.

-Just now, my partner and I were waiting for the tow truck ( to the workshop to get it done as it is too dangerous to be driven anymore. Took a cab & went back home first. The poor chap is still waiting.

The bottom line is that what the hell is wrong with sellers and service providers these days? Stop ripping people of and sabotaging poor folks like us. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

I long suspected foul play but partner refuse to believe.

Now I not sure when we will be getting the car back AGAIN as ordinary nuts cannot be used. So what if is back? I am not looking forward to another 'ORDEAL'.

THEREFORE, I URGE INTERSTED PARTIES TO COME FORWARD- BUY OUR STAGEA (0423272076). MAYBE SHE BELONGS TO A BETTER HOME.

Dont worry, weve all had trouble with some "professionals" out there on fixing our cars or diagnosing the correct problems........Just ask Ian about his bloody air-con hahahaha

yeah, i know will definately make a loss anyways my partner (i will call him just that yet, even though we have registered our marriage WITHOUT rings- cos the money was spent all on the STAGEA! He still owes me for that!) wouldnt mind, he's just eager to sell it off to prevent anything from happening again.

I think should anything happen again we are going to be in deep shit with the rising interest rates next month, we got a $400k house mortage to pay!

Actually, it wasn;t me who bought it! My partner did. He just let me see the pictures and the price. He wanted to get one from STREET MACHINES but it was a series one and the price was almost the same as the series 2 he bought. I alredi warn him abt the price being so cheap with potential problems but he's acts so rashly and his EGO is so damn big that he always don't listen to me!

And I came home one day surprised, seeing this STAGEA parked in my garage with my excited partner inside fiddling with it. Well what can I say?

Anyways thanks for the advice. It is alredi done deal and too late. At least we know now and i wouldn't buy a second hand car now still. Saving up to buy a new Volkswagen Golf GTI myself now. Heck what the fellow says.

Dont worry, you'll get your wedding

Congarts to getting a house tho, you gotta be happy about that

Every one has morgages these days its not uncommon, but like my parents, if i were to get a morgage, id have an ongoing rate payment and continue to live my life till it pays itself off.

[IanB]

I still think selling it after all the work has been done to it to fix it is a poor decision.

Im surprised that someone who knows enough to do a 6k rebuild (Im assuming that you did your research before you did the rebuild, shoped around etc, im also assuming you went with forgies and the like for that price) to a RB25 doesnt realise this? (You or your partner)

Oh well, good luck with the sale.

[b_koh1976]

Hey guys,

Thxs for all the advice. To sell or not to sell-lets leave it to fate.

Been slap with a whooping $300+ bill to do the nuts on the tyre yesterday... normal car nuts=$8, ours=$20+ each. We not only have to replace the 2 nuts but 10 of them! Oh well...

Btw since alot of us have meet with doggy repairers and dealers...maybe SAU can start up its own shop for repairs and parts. At least we can surely trust them, and save poor folks like us from being ripped off?

[maclarenf1]

Sorry to hear about you fate .....since its a re-build engine..do not sell it...cos you wont have any problems with the IT........i HOPE...

I was hoping to buy a stag in the future....when the time come to upgrade to a more practical car...Still will ..just got to make sure when your buying Jap car......get it inspected NOT by RACQ...but buy a tuner who knows skylines........and there are plenty here to advice on finding one in BRISY...

Plus hey.....seasons change its not always winter.........