TX3/TX5 Question

Shamal · 12-11-2009, 10:19 AM

I am looking at buying a TX3 or TX5 Turbo for my daughter and was wondering if there are any known issues, gotchas, or things I should be looking out for with these cars.

Am thinking about the later models - say 92/93 for the Laser, and the last two years of the Telstar.

Where is the best place to look at picking on eup. I would like it pretty original - ie without the Boy Racer go fast bits etc, but some small mods such as stereo, turbo timer etc are fine.

What should I be looking to fork out for one of these in reasonable nic?

Thanks in advance!

Windsor220 · 12-11-2009, 10:34 AM

Gearboxes are weak especially with the AWD versions. If its been thrashed then that might be one consideration.
I cant remember if the 1.8s suffered the crankshaft keyway wear issues. While its running if you look down at the crank pulley(harmonic balancer) and its not turning straight, steer clear.
Apart from that they are ok cars and a bit of cheap fun. I had an older 88 TX3 and was a good car. Embarassed a few bigger cars too.

XT6 · 12-11-2009, 10:50 PM

had a few telstars terrible cars in reguards to reliability, they blow headgaskets very easily, second gear syncro is very very weak and parts are not cheap. the laser is the better way to go

wesso · 13-11-2009, 09:02 AM

I have a 1993 TX5 2.5L V6 (non turbo) that I bought secondhand and I have to say that I haven't had too many problems with it for the number of kilometers that it has traveled. I have recently had to replace the alternator and it seems as though many of the jobs that are normally small on the average car is quite the extreme on this model. For instance just to get the alternator out to exchange it, the radiator had to come out which means dropping the coolant.
The other problem that seems to be prevalent with the V6 is they develop a severe oil leak from the tappet covers and it is a fairly involving job to replace the seals on them also since the intake manifold has to be removed to get to the rear tappet cover.
The last thing that I found is that the parts seem to be expensive, but then it has been quite a while since I have had to replace engine parts so I am a bit out of touch with prices.
All in all I think a Turbo is much more than most girls would want or need unless they are a car enthusiast, because you have the added problem of idle down unless you have a Turbo Timer and even then you have to take into account that unless you are driving the car on longer distances it is going to cost more for fuel due to the fuel that is used during idle down each time the engine is shut down.
I have had two turbo charged cars over a number of years and although they are nice and powerful there is a fair amount of cost involved in their upkeep and especially if you want to keep the turbo happy. The biggest cost in a turbo is the core and that is also the part that seems to go first. The last one I replaced was on a Mazda 323 and just the turbo core cost $1200.00 and that's fitting it myself... so no labour charges in that.

I hope that info helps in some way.

Cheers

Wayne

xr6tgoodz · 27-11-2009, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shamal

I am looking at buying a TX3 or TX5 Turbo for my daughter and was wondering if there are any known issues, gotchas, or things I should be looking out for with these cars.

Am thinking about the later models - say 92/93 for the Laser, and the last two years of the Telstar.

Where is the best place to look at picking on eup. I would like it pretty original - ie without the Boy Racer go fast bits etc, but some small mods such as stereo, turbo timer etc are fine.

What should I be looking to fork out for one of these in reasonable nic?

Thanks in advance!

I had a 1992 TX3 turbo for 2 years, it was my first car. They are a great little car, and i still miss it sometimes when i'm in my big heavy V8. The tx3's are faster, and AWD but as above, watch out for dodgy gearboxes. try changing from 3rd to second at about 60km/h, if it is smooth you should be OK.

My 2c

dragontx33 · 17-12-2009, 04:35 AM

does anyone have ford laser tx3 turbo for sale or tx3 damaged
cheers

Ghiadude · 17-12-2009, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xr6tgoodz

I had a 1992 TX3 turbo for 2 years, it was my first car. They are a great little car, and i still miss it sometimes when i'm in my big heavy V8. The tx3's are faster, and AWD but as above, watch out for dodgy gearboxes. try changing from 3rd to second at about 60km/h, if it is smooth you should be OK.

My 2c

Same here 1992 KH TX3 turbo. The gearboxes are the weak link. Traction and handling are awesome. Brakes are also well matched when standard

JohnnyTory · 28-12-2009, 10:32 PM

I still own my first car which has now been since 1990. wow almost 20 years. thats sad. N e way have a 86 tx5 turbo with 490ks done. Never replaced the motor. Still goes very well. The car is in immaculate condition. Inside and out looks brand new. Never smashed it in all those years (touch wood), not even a dent. Have a 2.5 inch mandrel bent exhaust and run 11psi. Best car i have ever driven. Never had any problems apart from little things. No head gaskets either. I replaced the turbo only 5000ks ago cause it seized and the gearbox was done at about 300000ks. I plan to keep car even though i bought a new terri, just to good to sell. Father owns 92 v6 ghia and never had any problems at all. Great cars too bad they stopped making them. Have a spare smashed AS tx5 turbo that i removed the turbo from if anybody is interested. It is hit passenger side pillar. Otherwise everything still there. Amazingly the smashed car has cruise control in it though i have never seen it in any other car. Was going to transfer it over but cant be stuffed. Cheers

somers181 · 27-01-2010, 03:43 PM

I had a KF TX3 turbo awd new in 1992 and it was a great handling car, had it for 3 years and would rank it up with the BA XR6T i owned for 2 years, also had a 1994 AX TX5 2.5 V6 with all wheel steer for a few years and then gave it to my father who owned it for another 5 years, it was a great handling car and with all wheel steer was fantastic parking into tight spaces, it had everything powered, windows, sunroof, cruise etc and would recommend this as better alternative to TX3 Turbo, only need to be careful with repairs to motor as they can be expensive if they had a hard life.