SigENeaT

Brakes; discs are warped. I have the same problem on mine atm ;D Aircon prolly just needs a service. Dont hold your breath though, if something is broke can be $$$ to fix! ($1500 just went into replacing nearly all of mine!) Ask the smart mushrooms at SoarerCentral.com the same questions. You will undoubtibly get an answer to all of the questions!

Its such a pity that they are so cheap, my garage is already full! ;D Lots of problems can occur with the Soarers (gadgets!!!!) because, face it, they can be up to 16 years old now. On the plus side, always cheap to fix if you follow the right steps! =P Lots of dealers and casual owners come accross problems like the blinky dash and end up forking out $$hundreds for replacement parts, when you can easily fix with a couple of simple tweaks! =P My advice is to check them out. Take a few for some test drives. Hell take lots out for drives! Find one that you like the most and then go over it with a fine tooth. Check all the common things that go wrong and if you cant see any problems snap the car up. I havent ever heard of someone disappointed with their Soarer purchase. A good rule of thumb, put aside ~$3000 for the first year of its life to fight against things breaking. Common money pits are the airconditioner (i just put $1500 into replacing about all of mine), turbos (when the ceramic wheels die, replace the turbos or put steel wheels in, ~$2000), auto transmisison (mainly a problem in the TT's, the Japanese like to trash turbo cars! I put $1000 including labour into replacing mine last year). There are also a couple other common mechanical faults that can occur, ~$400 a piece.

There are heaps of things you can do to them. Polishing and sanding have already been mentioned... so heres some more =P One of the most common (unfortunately also the hardest!) fix is to heat up the light assembley so that the gooey seal goes.. gooey. You can then split them and clean them from the inside out! A cut polish works well here. Then you can reseal them to your liking! (You can also protect against the leaky-water problem here). Another quick job which works well is to pour metho (or window cleaner) in through the indicator hole. Give it a swish and pour it out. Leave in the sun to dry. I do this every couple of months. Combined with a cut polish 2ce a year and they look dandy!

Mr Neil Griffiths is the man to talk to. http://rushimports.com.au/ He usually lurks around the SoarerCentral.com forums. There are also plenty of supercharged Soarer munchkins on the forums there! Its a good move. A mate of mine is in the process of supercharging his v8. Has his manifold, plenum and unichip with the rest on its way. He might finally have a chance against my 210ish rwkw TT downt he 1/4mile ;D

Long answer: Awesome car. The v8 engine is a quality motor with plenty of power for cruising. All the mechanics are next to indestructable. Replacement parts are redily available through your nearest Toyota dealer. Insurance is a doosy however. Given your age and the kind of car it is, expect to cough up $2500ish a year and three lungs. If you have money, the v8 Soarers have a great upgrade path to follow which involves the magic supercharger. Dont discount the 1jz though. It may have less luxury features, but it makes up for it in POWAH! (Clarkson would be proud!)

The stock amp is very pathetic in the ol' Soarer. VERY. Not to mention any you would pick up second hand these days (Dont contemplate getting a Toyota branded new one) would be 10years-ish old. Check out what Jaycar has on offer. Very clear and high quality sound with great response, lots of power as well. Very cost effective pricing as well. You might wanna bounce on over to SoarerCentral.com for some actually helpful advice. Plenty of gurus there with years and years of experience. Another handy site to stick your nose into is Reepa.com Reepa knows his stuff! =P

In my opinion, dont touch any Soarers if you are still on your P's. Get something cheaper to beat around and thrash. The 1jz can be a daunting first turbo car given the sudden torque that comes on from the two turbos. The v8's also tend to move sideways on your first couple of runs. (I havent been in the na 2jz, no comment). Insurance is a dandy as well! I know places in Perth ask up to $5000 a year for the 1jz for P platers. As for weight, without fluids and people in the car, the v8's are around 1640kg, 1jz around 1560kg and the na 2jz around 1540kg. Of course, depending on what factory options you have the weight changes dramatically. Electric seats add nearly 40kg, airbag suspension on the limiteds add more.. blah blah blah. A safe assumption is about 1750kg curb weight (with fluids)

Hey mate, Quite an odd one there! Most likely an electronic problem somewhere along the lines. First thing i would try is an ECU reset. http://soarercentral.com/sc-forum/messages...html?1098228107 Dont be fooled, the pics are of a v8 but the fuses in the 1jz are the same. If that doesnt fix it then make sure that any piggyback things you may have plugged into your ECU (SAFC etc) arent being dodgy. Try disabling/disconnecting any. If you still have problems pop on over to the Soarer Central forums where all the gurus live ;D Soarer Central