Nachoooo

Light bars are a notoriously grey area. Perspectives go from all ranges for police and WOF inspectors... I failed my WOF with the light bar switched via high beam. To pass I just unplugged it. It is on a on/off/on switc either way. On whenever I want, off completely, and on via high beam. Regardless of what your WOF inspector rules, be aware that you might get a fussy cop who doesn't like seeing you using it either... use at your own risk really

Pulled out and stripped an engine on a wagon to repair the blown head gaskets. Had my suspicions up as there were MLS (Multi Layer Steel) gaskets already fitted, indicating a previous repair job from the original composite pieces. What I found stripping the engine down wasn't ideal.. First part, they've put the inlet cam caps back to front, despite the screaming markings on them.. After removing the P/S head and gasket I found the culprit. You can see on the bottom RH corner of the LH combustion chamber where the compression was leaking out of the cylinder The gasket has cracked/split, not something I've come across before! More concerning was the corrosion along the outside of the cylinder wall...

Some of my thoughts, Any of the VAG 3.0L TDI engines are a wall of torque, even more so tuned. Last gen Q7 could be an option, but they're pretty lacking nowadays. New model is rather nice, SQ7 is another level... B8 A4 S4 wagon? C7 A6? X3 We've an X3 35i at work lately, seemed nicely kitted out in similar trim to your old 535 wagon, similar age too. Might be an option. Diesels here seem alright too. X5 M50D anyone? Tri-turbo goodness? Evoque are refined inside but I found the 4 banger a little highly strung, I favour the smoothness and torque of a 6 cylinder specially with diesel, but that's just me...

Don't think there are many if any others, I'm pretty new to the area myself. Easily tempted by a good drive somewhere!

In the article they say from 96-04, and being a Canadian site, I'd say that covers BG/BD to BE/BH, in that their model years are quite far off ours and/or Japan's. I'd say it'd be worth investigating if there were any changes to the 4EAT in your BP9 from the BH era for a start

Try the Allied pump at Upper Clutha Transport, when I left it was $2.08/L for 95...

They've made a massive mistake there somewhere. Presuming they're factory brakes, 294mm rotors aren't anywhere near that price. Try again on monday with someone new or try BNT

Things to be mindful of with BL/BP's; they wear lower control arm bushes (front), and wheel bearings can be a common and costly fault. For the 3.0L's the front idler pulley bearings (x2) can wear out, depends what stage you catch it out on as to what damage you're up for. Solid cars otherwise, really quite a step up from a BE/BH for sure! 3.0L with the 6MT is a fantastic car!

I've had multiple success with it myself. Even had a face-lift with the throttle position graph on the cluster display, you could push the pedal with the graph rising, with no increase in revs. After a clean and reset and they were both back in sync. I'm not saying it's THE fix for every car with this problem but for the sake of $20 and some time, it's worth doing regardless.

You would be surprised how much of a difference cleaning the throttle plate and resetting the ECU makes. It would seem models with the electronic throttle are prone to build up carbon around the plate edges, which results in you feeling a delay between the pedal and car. Take off the intake hose, clean up the plate, plate edges and surrounding intake with a can of upper cylinder clean, use the rest as directed. Then reset the ECU using a VAGCOM / Tactrix cable etc. You'll gain a fair bit of response back, however if you really want to adjust the proper calibration, a reflash is your best bet really, like Kiwi_Fozze and Marky suggested

Should do. I've had varying success talking with BH era models using FreeSSM, better results with '01 onwards models

Jaycar sell an LED relay https://www.jaycar.co.nz/relay-flasher-led-2-pin-univ-12v/p/SY4016

See the difference? This bottom post on its on would've saved a page of sarcastic S***. Why bother?

Fitted and wired in my light bar yesterday, super impressed considering the cost!

RE002's for summer Michelin X-Ice for winter

Basically, a LED bulb cannot utilize halogen reflector, so if you're gonna swap be ready to lose the majority of practical output from the fogs. Depending on what colour temperature (4300k vs 6000k etc) you get, it'll match the headlights and/or parkers. But yeah, you lose "fog lights" really.

At a well educated guess it'll be a D2R 12V 35w

+1 Haha. Interested to see the outcome too. I've seen another case where simply replacing the sensors was unsuccessful, 2005 3.0 outback, auto. Have you replaced the brake pedal switch yet?

Has the car got any Japanese nav systems in it? Could be under the passenger seat or in the piece above the clock?

Yeah that sounds about right if you go genuine. BH are like $85 trade last time I checked, well over $100 retail haha. The only place that could physically match one was partmaster for $25 I think... Took a bit of hunting out

Off the top of my head the repco part number is RCA104P, trade is like 25ish plus, can't imagine retail being any more than $30-$40

Swapped out some door lock motors, welcome back central locking!

1999 Legacy 337,000, family owned since '07 @ 114,000

soba's explained it well. Sometimes the switch can fault and have incorrect resistance readings resulting in an ABS code. Might be worth trying a second hand replacement or even a new one?

Sorry to hijack this post. What's the best way to remove corrosion affected coolant from the system? And should attention be paid to any components in the cooling system that could be largely damaged by corrosion?