I am looking at buying a 2001 sr forte ford au is there any things that go rong with them that I should know befor I buy it??

AUs do rust in the inner sills and around the boot near where the boot struts fit to the body.
Upper balljoints do go.
The rest of them there is nothing really more to check then you would with any Falcon.
AU's are an underrated car. They are good s**t.

Its just they are as ugly as my Mother in laws a**hole. TE50 was the only nice au there was I think... mind you the Xr utes were nice too

I find myself agreeing with this statement, there are a few exceptions in the line up like a kitted ghia and the lwb land yachts looked good too.

But they are certainly underrated, they are also a car that show what maintenance needs doing.

Most reliable falcon ford ever built, just ugly as F**k.

Rust, like said in the sils and also noticed alot when you open the front doors an car see behind the quarter panel.
Also have nocked a fair few for rego Cos of non retracting seatbelts and lots that have poped the seems at the bottom.

Not sure why this is in the 6 cylinder forum but anyhow the 2001 series 2 was a good car overall. I've had 3 series 2 AUs and all have been pretty good. The big cost items on all of mine have been:

- shagged shock absorbers, even my new car they were shagged at 40,000km
- diffs die very early on, you'll know it by the noise of it killing itself

As for ugly, I disagree with most of the comments so far. I think the AU2 and particularly AU3 with the standard side skirts was a good looking bit of gear, with the SR pack they are pretty nice. I'd have an AU3 over a BA any day of the week, given my view is the BA went to far to mediocre and is as bland as a camry's cardigan wearing aunty. The only negative is the live rear axle but 95% of the time you'd never know.

My advice is stretch to the AU3 SR or one of the 75th anniversary edition Futuras.

I've got a 75th Futura, Great car. UGLY.
And as with all cars these days the paint just doesn't hold up.

Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess. I like the combo of that special colour and the extra trim. One day I'll buy one or the Ghia.

As for paint, all three of my AU2s had good paint and it stayed in good shape no worries. My Tickford V8 Fairmont in Meteorite had paint protection by OziCozi (surfacetech now?) and the others were Meguiars disciples. Care is the key.

Yes they rust, but not as bad as some B series.
Live axle a disadvantage? Give me a simple live axle over diff cradle bushes any day. There is a reason why all ofnthe ex telstra B series wagons are being snapped up and being put into taxi service. As for it being a disadvantage, learn to drive first.

Shocks should last over 80,000kms before they start to lose their damping and control. I haven't had upper balljoint issues, only lower with the control arm stretching out and the balljoint falling out of its hole. Mind you thos is after 600,000kms of hard driving on crap roads.
As for diffs, single peggers last over 400,000kms and LSD's generally last galf of that. If you flog it and smoke em up everywhere then ignore that statement.
Auto's last around the same and the main sympton is that they take longer and longer to engage drive or reverse. Clunky gear shifts happen when the solenoids are on their way out and believe it or not but these cheap reco boxes you see for under 1500 bucks still have dead solenoids in them. I know cause I have one and actually have to watch how I drive. Been like that for over 200,000kms now so ias rough as it is, its still holding up.

Now that ever reliable engine. In a constant operating temp environment (think cabs and hire cars where there is minimal start stop driving) you can get over 1 million km out it and it goes like a private example that has onky 200,000kms. Timing chain guides can flig out after 300,000kms if the carbhas been driven flat out.
Coil packs seem to hold up alright. Mines got 816,000kms on it. Much better than a B series.
Sometimes the return line to the power steering pump leaks directly onto the alternator. A replacement fitting and nut fixes this or if you are a bush mechanic a drip tray cable tied to the pump stops the oil from killing alternators lol.

The interior wear is a bit hit and miss. Steering wheels and door handles dont hold up that great but the gear leaver andbswitch gear holds up better than any B series. Hood lining is better than B series and so are console lids. Air bag lids can fall out if you leave your car in the sun for 8 years straight. Seats are more comfortable than B series and the padding holds up better too.

Anything else you want to know?

A friend of mine had an au with the same power steering problem and made a tray that bolted up under the hose and ran any drips behind the alt, never saw it but I was told it worked

Where did you get you're average ks from, cos timing guides can fail at anytime, usually 1 by 1 and in no particular order.
Saying a LSD diff only lasts 200,000ks is just stupid. Why would borgwarner produce a limo that only lasts the length of the service book.
Upper balljoints are quite common in all falcons, you probably don't know how to check them.
Lastly you're experiences with you're au are not fact for all.

when a taxi driver tells you about a car they spend sometimes 12 hours or more in they know pretty damn well how the car is mechanically.....

So the info would be relevant if the op was buying a ex taxi...

No the info would be relevant if you were to buy the car with the intent of driving it further than the corner shop. That ex taxi has been in the familly since new. So it wasn't always an ex taxi. It only became an ex taxi when the plate lease was handed back in around 2007. It had 600,000kms at the time. In 5 years of private use it has had over 200,000kms put on the odo so it does get used to the tune of over 40,000kms per year.

As for the diffs, talk to your local diff shop. The general consensus is thar LSD's flog out in half the time on a single spinner because the load is applied to more bearings especially around corners. Most people on here rebuild their LSD's earlier due to ratio changes or as a result of warn clutches which need replacing. The pinion bearings get swapped out too and "bobs your uncle" rebuilt diff.
I've only heard of one diff being driven till it siezed up but that was after several thousand kms of what I would consider unbearable noise.

As for warranty? How many kms do the average first owners of a private vehicle travel. Thing would have easilly made it through warranty with the average 15-20,000kms a year privately travelled. Cabs only have 12 months warranty as they travel between 100-150,000kms per year.

Last edited by xcabbi on Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.