The "I love my ST220" thread...
Discussion
GreenArrow said:
D_T_W said:
GreenArrow said:
Hmm, very tempting!! I leave my job in December with a big fat cheque and an ST220 Is very high up on my shopping list!!
Welcome to come and buy mine, 4 months it's been advertised and not even an email offering a daft price for it. Wrecked my ankle pretty much permanently so in need of an auto. Spent a fortune on it as well making it sound like a proper V6!It's on PH, eBay and Gumtree, facelift 2003 '53 plate with a Quaife Diff and Milltek exhaust and a few other things. All the main stuff that could go wrong I've fixed as I'd planned to keep it a while
Edited to add - http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/281843549055
Edited by D_T_W on Sunday 8th November 22:38
RichGault said:
From my post before,just realised it's the bloody cruise control..........
Certainly sounds like a breather pipe. Quite possibly the one which runs into the rear of the intake manifold. I've had two issues with that hose - 1 split and once it had come away from the manifold ever so slightly.I changed the plugs on mine today. Not a job I want to repeat in the near future!
sanguinary said:
Certainly sounds like a breather pipe. Quite possibly the one which runs into the rear of the intake manifold. I've had two issues with that hose - 1 split and once it had come away from the manifold ever so slightly.
I changed the plugs on mine today. Not a job I want to repeat in the near future!
Just how difficult are the spark plugs to change? I am considering doing mine when I do the oil change next weekend, but might leave it for a summer job next service if it's a PITAI changed the plugs on mine today. Not a job I want to repeat in the near future!
TheBALDpuma said:
Just how difficult are the spark plugs to change? I am considering doing mine when I do the oil change next weekend, but might leave it for a summer job next service if it's a PITA
It's a doddle if you've got small hands. The front bank takes ten minutes. For the rear bank, the intake manifold needs to be removed. There are two bolts with access issues. The first is on the side of the manifold, pointing to the passenger wing. You can just see it if you look behind the throttle body. The other is a right royal pita! There's a 10mm bolt holding a cable clip at the rear of the engine. You can just get a small socket onto it. Don't drop it though! You need to remove the bolt and the cable from the thread - this is tricky as the cable is fairly substantial. Once off, at the base of the thread is a 13mm bolt. This needs to be released, but not removed to allow the manifold to lift. Then it's a case of removing a couple of pipes into the manifold, allowing you to rotate it around 45 degrees to the front of the car.I ended up removing the strut brace, both across the vehicle and the bit with sits on the driver's side suspension, in order to give me a few more mm of access, along with the plastic trim which sits across the base of the windscreen. I was going to leave the cable fixing off when putting it back together, but it actually went on pretty easy in the end.
Took around two hours in the end. I reckon next time, I'll have it done it one. My hands look like they've been shot blasted now though!
sanguinary said:
It's a doddle if you've got small hands. The front bank takes ten minutes. For the rear bank, the intake manifold needs to be removed. There are two bolts with access issues. The first is on the side of the manifold, pointing to the passenger wing. You can just see it if you look behind the throttle body. The other is a right royal pita! There's a 10mm bolt holding a cable clip at the rear of the engine. You can just get a small socket onto it. Don't drop it though! You need to remove the bolt and the cable from the thread - this is tricky as the cable is fairly substantial. Once off, at the base of the thread is a 13mm bolt. This needs to be released, but not removed to allow the manifold to lift. Then it's a case of removing a couple of pipes into the manifold, allowing you to rotate it around 45 degrees to the front of the car.
I ended up removing the strut brace, both across the vehicle and the bit with sits on the driver's side suspension, in order to give me a few more mm of access, along with the plastic trim which sits across the base of the windscreen. I was going to leave the cable fixing off when putting it back together, but it actually went on pretty easy in the end.
Took around two hours in the end. I reckon next time, I'll have it done it one. My hands look like they've been shot blasted now though!
A Summer job it is then I ended up removing the strut brace, both across the vehicle and the bit with sits on the driver's side suspension, in order to give me a few more mm of access, along with the plastic trim which sits across the base of the windscreen. I was going to leave the cable fixing off when putting it back together, but it actually went on pretty easy in the end.
Took around two hours in the end. I reckon next time, I'll have it done it one. My hands look like they've been shot blasted now though!
OK to all you ST220 lovers, I am still fairly keen on one of these, along with about 151 other cars it has to be said, but one thing is putting me off, various threads where owners said they were troublesome.... are they really a pain in the a***? I would have thought with a n/a fairly unstressed V6, an ST220 would have given less trouble than your typical 3 litre turbo diesel, or 2 litre turbo'd petrol car?
GreenArrow said:
OK to all you ST220 lovers, I am still fairly keen on one of these, along with about 151 other cars it has to be said, but one thing is putting me off, various threads where owners said they were troublesome.... are they really a pain in the a***? I would have thought with a n/a fairly unstressed V6, an ST220 would have given less trouble than your typical 3 litre turbo diesel, or 2 litre turbo'd petrol car?
I had mine 5 years. Breather pipe went once, two rear wheel bearings replaced and a water ingress issue on a rear door (fairly easy fix).
Rear subframe bushes were fine in the 30k miles I did (from 50-80k). I regularly changed the oil, serviced on the button and had no real issues. I tend to do preventative maintenance - so the first morning it was slow to start, I changed he battery. It never let me down.
GreenArrow said:
OK to all you ST220 lovers, I am still fairly keen on one of these, along with about 151 other cars it has to be said, but one thing is putting me off, various threads where owners said they were troublesome.... are they really a pain in the a***? I would have thought with a n/a fairly unstressed V6, an ST220 would have given less trouble than your typical 3 litre turbo diesel, or 2 litre turbo'd petrol car?
I sold mine to a workmate and friend and in 2 years all he`s done is service it and a set of pads. Bear in mind, if someone has problem with a particular car it's banged straight on the net.GreenArrow said:
OK to all you ST220 lovers, I am still fairly keen on one of these, along with about 151 other cars it has to be said, but one thing is putting me off, various threads where owners said they were troublesome.... are they really a pain in the a***? I would have thought with a n/a fairly unstressed V6, an ST220 would have given less trouble than your typical 3 litre turbo diesel, or 2 litre turbo'd petrol car?
I had mine 4 and a bit years and these are the repairs I had to do:New clutch (under warranty soon after I bought it since it was dragging/not disengaging properly)
Rear ARB drop links
Rear subframe bushes
Handbrake cables
Split coolant pipe (bit of an oh s
t moment since it was after a particularly spirited hoon that I pulled up amidst a cloud of steam)engine breather pipe (front one, think it got damaged during the coolant hose repair)
A couple of slightly sticky brake calipers
Rocker cover gasket
The rest was just consumables and me being picky.
So hardly a big list of issues, and most of them are age-related. They're not unreliable cars. When you consider they are performance vehicles and the newest ones are now 8-9 years old, they're very cheap to run.
Still miss mine.
Edited by Howard- on Wednesday 2nd December 11:06
GreenArrow said:
..buying one with 80/90K miles on, what do you look for? Bushes and head gasket issues? I am told this car can have head gasket issues and also the DMF/flywheel could go at that sort of mileage.
I've had my car from new which is 11 years now. The car has done 170k's worth of miles and so far I've had to do:-Alternator - just last week
2 rear calipers due to them getting sticky
2 x Engine breather pipes
Clutch/Flywheel at 110k
Handbrake cables
Rear Subframe bushes
Rear ARB Drop Links
As Howard- says the rest are just consumables so hopefully this helps but I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have.
Some ST220s seem to be considerably better than others. Mine's been the worst car I've ever owned, a friend scrapped his when the engine died, and another mate has just spent four figures on swapping the alternator (and wiring) and chasing oil leaks. And then there are people like Podie, whose car was a gem.
I can't remember everything mine's needed in the last nine years but it's something like this: complete engine, engine loom, ECU, alternator (four times), two clutches, entire front suspension arms etc, every wheel bearing a couple of times, one rear calliper per year and so on.
Still, I think it's needed only one replacement bulb, and that was the rear number plate lamp. That probably balances it all out...
I can't remember everything mine's needed in the last nine years but it's something like this: complete engine, engine loom, ECU, alternator (four times), two clutches, entire front suspension arms etc, every wheel bearing a couple of times, one rear calliper per year and so on.
Still, I think it's needed only one replacement bulb, and that was the rear number plate lamp. That probably balances it all out...
TheBALDpuma said:
I don't know what, where, or how difficult that is...
My list of work done or cars is...
Fan belt change on a MK2 Golf
Oil/Filters on a Puma
HCV on a Puma
MAF Sensor (lol - easy) on the ST
This job sounds awkward and some of the bolts are hard to see or can't be seen. Once you have removed the inlet manifold once it becomes very easy to do. What will help is to look up a how to thread on a site like STdriveRS or TalkFord, but also perhaps look at some inlet manifolds on eBay so you can see where the fixings go.My list of work done or cars is...
Fan belt change on a MK2 Golf
Oil/Filters on a Puma
HCV on a Puma
MAF Sensor (lol - easy) on the ST
When I remove mine I also remove the drivers side strut brace as this makes access a lot easier. Rather than a socket a ratchet spanner is ideal on the hidden rear manifold fixing.
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