Greetings from up north

[DoubleH]

Hi all!
New member signing in.

Been "observing quietly" for a good half year now, since I got my 2006 Vantage Meteorite/Black last summer.
Found the information posted here extremely helpful pretty much right from the start when I got the emission/check engine light already after driving about 500km's and got bit of a scare at first.
So a big thank's to you all for posting to this forum!
As recommended, pulled the fuse also immediately after getting her home the first time and got to enjoy proper sounds right from the start

The Aston's don't actually grow on trees in Finland or Estonia were I'm living half of the time, so it's a quite rare motor here. Im guessing there's about 2-3 Vantages in Finland and mine was the second one registered in Estonia.

Allthough the car is pristine and the service history seems to be in order, it's
pretty obvious that none of the common fixes haven't been done.
She has been originally raised in Italy, so that might have something to do with it..?

So, I have pretty much all the known flaws:

Gear change difficult first to second when cold
Whine from engine bay when cold.
Maybe some pump in the engine is also noisy when cold
Few times a sound like you would be scraping asfalt with a metal bar, could have also been a stone stuck somewhere in brake disc, but seemed to originate from engine bay?
Steering wheel airbag rattles when driving over bumps
Emission check engine light popping up regularly –bought an OBD reader to be able to reset it myself, but still annoying

Have to try and fix these in next service, which is actually quite tricky since we don't have even Aston dealer here. Nearest is in Stockholm/Sweden.

Also a cruise control would be nice, since the car doesn't have it . Anybody know good reasonably priced option to install one afterwards?

Otherwise loving the car, although more bhp would be nice and the throttle way more responsive.
Thinking of BR upgrades, but at the moment the beauty of the car compensates the shortcomings

[Arjxh56]

I got cruise installed on mine at an AM main dealer. It was pretty much just the price of a new steering wheel as i believe thats all they had to replace for the cruise to work? From memory i paid about £400... It also added a nice new leather smell to the car, although thats now gone

I have the issue with difficult 1st/2nd in cold.. my service is due shortly so i am thinking of having the oil changed to help this. I think i will wait until the clutch needs to be changed to have the gear linkage done?

Although you are miles from dealers, you have some wonderful roads to play on where you live

[Cockernee]

Welcome to AM ownership and to the forum. We are a nice bunch on here, well mostly

The whine / noise you speak of when cold was described to me as a normal noise from the Dry Sump pump. I never questioned it and most people report this noise on a V8V. As for all of the others, they are how we say "features" .

I am sure you can get these resolved at service and enjoy the Aston experience.

Happy New Year by the way.

[krisdelta]

Hello and welcome!

The whine from my engine was the pulleys / belt, this was drastically improved by replacing them (<£100 of parts) and I believe tactical talc powder also helps

Mines mostly been fine since the replacement, but still a bit whiney when damp.

Enjoy the car!

[MaverickV12]

DoubleH said:

Emission check engine light popping up regularly –bought an OBD reader to be able to reset it myself, but still annoying

If you PM me about this I can advise as to how to get rid of it, but it's a bit long and not really for this sort of thread But if it keeps coming on, then it's coming on for a reason.

[Jockman]

Thanks for the write up Henry...good luck with the niggles...not sure what your warranty position is ???

[DoubleH]

Arjxh56 said:

I got cruise installed on mine at an AM main dealer. It was pretty much just the price of a new steering wheel as i believe thats all they had to replace for the cruise to work? From memory i paid about £400... It also added a nice new leather smell to the car, although thats now gone

I have the issue with difficult 1st/2nd in cold.. my service is due shortly so i am thinking of having the oil changed to help this. I think i will wait until the clutch needs to be changed to have the gear linkage done?

Although you are miles from dealers, you have some wonderful roads to play on where you live

I was thinking some after market cruise control kit, but if the price of a new steering wheel with the controls are in that ballpark, have to definitely look into that then, thanks.
Got a few nice winding roads here, but most of the year they are unfortunately covered in snow

[DoubleH]

Cockernee said:

Welcome to AM ownership and to the forum. We are a nice bunch on here, well mostly

The whine / noise you speak of when cold was described to me as a normal noise from the Dry Sump pump. I never questioned it and most people report this noise on a V8V. As for all of the others, they are how we say "features" .

I am sure you can get these resolved at service and enjoy the Aston experience.

Happy New Year by the way.

Yes, I have learned to live pretty much with all of the noises, so most of the time purely enjoying the Aston

[DoubleH]

MaverickV12 said:

If you PM me about this I can advise as to how to get rid of it, but it's a bit long and not really for this sort of thread But if it keeps coming on, then it's coming on for a reason.

Thank you. I will send you a PM

[DoubleH]

Jockman said:

Thanks for the write up Henry...good luck with the niggles...not sure what your warranty position is ???

My pleasure. Noo warranty whatsoever..

[Vee12V]

DoubleH said:

I was thinking some after market cruise control kit, but if the price of a new steering wheel with the controls are in that ballpark, have to definitely look into that then, thanks.

Better safe than sorry in case of cruise control.
Wouldn't ever trust after market in this particular case (not to mention possible legal/insurance issues in worst case scenario)