Chasing a bit more info on AU Utes

[lockieoc]

Hey guys,
So my cousin has moved back to Australia and is on the hunt for a car and wants to snap something up quickly so he can start working.
He has his eye on a Series II AU Ute with around 170k on the clock.
I know that AU II onwards are much better then the Series I so all im really after is a definitive list of mechanical issues this car may come across. I can see there are lots of different issues that these cars can have but what are the common ones particularity for the car with this amount of K's and what are some tell tail signs that he can look out for.
Any help is much appreciated.

[Beer Baron]

Front lower ball joints.
Front lower control arm bushes.
Front wheel bearings.
Rotors warping.
Check for clean diff and gearbox oil. The autos dont like dirty oil and neither do the diffs.
Sump gaskets leaking.
Timing chain tensioner o rings leaking.
Cracked firewall or pedal box in manual AU's
Window regulators
Door regulators
Steering wheel grip twisting
Seat bases collapsing or cracking
High pressure power steering hose leaking
Radiators leaking from side tanks.
Steering rack seals weeping.
Jammed cd players
Flogged out rear tie rods in IRS sedans.
Idler pulleys and tensioner pulleys noisey
AC clutch bearing rattle.

That is all i can think of right now.There is more.

They are great cars, But need maintenance like everything else but some people don't believe in preventative maintenance.

[lockieoc]

Cheers Beer Barron thats what i was after.
He can stretch his budget to $7500 and looking around it looks like that gets you into the high 100k mark for AU's, i would rather see him pick up something with 100-150K on it.

[Beer Baron]

I bought my AU2 sedan 3 years ago with 180k on it. 260k on it now and haven't had many issues, None that i would call expensive anyway.

[Day-mow]

should be reasonably easy to find a clean AU ute for that. good luck