Buying a 99 4.5L petrol, any good

[4by]

Great buy buddy. Not sure if my LPG is vapour or injected but can definitely vouch that the tune is in favour of the lpg and it drives like any other car, just a bit heavier. Mine is a pig on petrol and just sucks it back with little to no power. Interested in finding a chip so I can tune for both fuel types. Ok on petrol on the highway but guzzles everywhere else compared to the lpg.

Xede do a chip with 2 tunes so you could have one for petrol and lpg. I have one in my car.

[Jamesandlizk]

$2800 for injected is awesome. Even $2200 for vapour sounds cheap. I was going to change mine from vapour to injected and they quoted me $4000.

So I just went to pick the car up, surprise it's been in an accident with a roo. There is damage to the front end even though the bloke told me its never been on an accident. Lifted the bonnet and it need coolant. Took about a litre. Bloke reckons he just did the rocker cover gasket and mustn't have filled t up properly.
Need to know 1 why u would need to replace the rocker cover gasket and 2 is there a simple way to tell if the head is gone in it? Can't afford a lemon.
2 the high gear in 4 x 4 felt like it was gonna stall, could this be from low fuel? Bloke reckons it ran out of petrol driving into his driveway after we left and that's why.
He said we can have a mechanic look at the car but don't want to waist $300 if I can help it.

[Jamesandlizk]

What is the cost of a head and or a head gasket if anyone has had to replace one before?

[4by]

So I just went to pick the car up, surprise it's been in an accident with a roo. There is damage to the front end even though the bloke told me its never been on an accident. Lifted the bonnet and it need coolant. Took about a litre. Bloke reckons he just did the rocker cover gasket and mustn't have filled t up properly.
Need to know 1 why u would need to replace the rocker cover gasket and 2 is there a simple way to tell if the head is gone in it? Can't afford a lemon.
2 the high gear in 4 x 4 felt like it was gonna stall, could this be from low fuel? Bloke reckons it ran out of petrol driving into his driveway after we left and that's why.
He said we can have a mechanic look at the car but don't want to waist $300 if I can help it.

What.... your joking.... he hit a roo..... what the????????
Did you see the car before, was it all okay??

Ok, so normally I adjust the tappets and still use the same rocker cover gasket. Unless he damaged it. Shouldn't have to use coolant to change rocker cover gasket....

As I know it a head gasket will show up as milky residue under oil filler cap, (unless he wiped it clean) bubbling in radiator with cap off and engine idling, using water and spitting water out the exhaust. I think a compression test or cooling system pressure test will show up head gasket fault.
Not sure about the engine stalling. Get him to put some fuel in it and try again.

Perhaps you should look at another car or get this one cheaper again..... good luck and let us know how you went.

[rottodiver]

Get it checked... It is not a waste of money either way...
Scotty

[lhurley]

Rocker cover gastkets aren't expensive, less then $50. Unless he took off the radiator hose to change the gasket, it shouldn't need any water. Rocker cover usually only needs to come off to do the tappets. Tappets need to be done fairly often on gas.

I would be very apprehensive about buying it. If it was my money, I wouldn't be buying it.

[Lowie]

Hey Ozzymalone - I have recently installed a performance chip in my trol (one of those that trick the MAF) had it custom built to suit the 4.5L. Took me ages to source it and didn't cost a lot (well under $100). I haven't done a lot of k's yet but can say the fuel economy hasn't change much (still a thirsty bastard on both petrol & LPG) but definately has increased performance wise. Once I've turned over 1,000k's I'm gonna ge it dyno'd. if it comes up good I have done a deal to sell them in Oz as we definately need somethig to improve the performance of the 4.5L.

[Lowie]

Re the 99 trol. Bloke sounds dodgey to me. I agree with 4by - those two suggestions are a dead giveaway if the heads cracked or blown a gasket.
FYI, I paid $10K for my 98 Ti with 340K's on it.