rdubs

Hi everyone, I have my G into the dealer shop to get something tweaked and I guess it spent a few days out in the heat because they told me, like many here, my mirror started dripping and has ruined the climate control interface. I spoke to someone who said he replaced the climate control on his G with, I think it was, an Audi A8 one which he bought off ebay for like $300 instead of the dealer who wanted thousands. Does anyone know for sure, or have a part number where we can get the same part but from an Audi? Thanks much.

Thanks guys. The dealer checked it and turns out it was the front crank oil seal - again, the one they supposedly fixed. So they fixed it again, thankfully free of charge. But I did talk to them when dropping the car off and they said if it's coming from the front of the engine normally it's either the crank seal or the oil pump o-rings or gaskets. The oil pump job is about $700 they said, mostly labor. They said the valve covers have leaked before but rare. Also good was that unlike my little Toyota MR2 project car, the G doesn't have camshafts coming out of the engine for a timing belt, instead the timing chain is enclosed within the engine so no penetrations to outside the engine which could leak. Anyway, glad it's that and nothing else. Take care all.

Hi all, I have a 2004 Gallardo 6-speed. A few months ago I noticed a very slow oil leak. I hate any kind of leak, in my opinion quarter million dollar cars (new) should not leak. So I brought it into the dealer. They said it was the front crank seal, which was lucky because it is relatively easy to get to and you can swap out the seal without needing to take a lot apart or dropping the engine. Something about how in 2004 they didn't use a spring-loaded seal to keep tension which they used in later years. Anyway, not too long after bringing it home I noticed yet another leak, possibly dripping from more than one spot (but close). Very slow leak, you can't see it dripping but if you put a piece of cardboard under the car you can see there is definitely something going on. Where besides that front crank seal do Gallardos tend to leak from? Also if you guys have any idea of relative ranking, from easiest / cheapest to fix to worst case, that would be helpful. I guess I'll have to take it in again, hopefully they can find the leak even though it leaks only really slowly. Thanks. 'Dubs

Hope you got it... don't mean to hijack your thread but would look silly if I started a new post saying also looking for a cover for my 04 Gallardo. Please pm or post leads. Thanks.

one crash, "game over" with no restart. Even if I don't crash it going that fast is likely to cause scratches and such in the paint from flying dirt. But mainly I love it too much to risk it. Plus I still have the factory tires and they are kind of slippery (relatively), increasing the risk.

I have been playing it a couple days now. I am so happy it has the Gallardo, now I can finally pretend to drive the car I actually own to see what it can do (no way will I ever take mine to the track). The driving aspects are great but the quantity and selection of events, at least compared to GT4, is way disappointing. I also heard you have to wait till level 25 (which will take a couple weeks) before you unlock the endurance races, which sucks because I just find myself wanting to drive the car for a long time without having to re-do the same race over and over. Oh well.

Did it sell?

Sorry Peter for hijacking your thread a bit (sounds like you're done!) but I am interested in buying a clear bonnet for my black 04 Gallardo, I don't really need it but it would look nicer with it, it's not worth the $5K cost to me but if anyone comes across a great deal on one please let me know.

I am thinking about selling my 2004 6-speed manual, the wife and I have our first child on the way. Jet black (NOT metallic). I planned on keeping it forever but I only might sell it to get an 06SE, I love the two-tone paint. Car has just under 8900 miles on it, has the 2006 (upgraded) clutch. I also removed the stock radio and retrofitted a STOCK nav system in (bought from Proxus). So now it has the nav and multifunction screen that the 06+ ones do. Leather roof liner upgrade. I also had the muffler upgraded with a retrofitted muffler from an 08, so now at 3000 RPM the bypass valves open and the exhaust bypasses the muffler baffles, which gives 20 more horsepower than stock 04/05's. Basically except for the front end lift system this car is a 2006 model except at a 2004 price. Heated seats too, it took me forever to find this car (I was looking 6 months) because when you buy a $130K car (at the time) you want it to have heated seats. PM me if you're interested but don't expect a steal since not only do I not need to get rid of it, but it's not really comparable to the used and abused 04's you see selling for $90-$95K and anyone will tell you buying one of these it's better to pay a little more for a quality one and sleep easy at night. Interior still smells like came out of the showroom. Would be interested in trading for a Grigio Proteus 2006 SE 6-speed manual.

Thank you guys. That's exactly what it is. Fortis, nice pics plus lol. 'Dubs

Hi all, Stupid question, apologies in advance. On my 04 Gallardo, some parts of the engine (I think on or around the valve covers) are painted a flat black but have this coarse sandpaper-like texture. I recently read there was a specific name for that kind of paint/treatment, but forgot it. As you can imagine, a google search for "sandpaper engine paint" didn't work very well. Anyone know what that kind of paint is called? Thought it started with an M. Thanks. 'Dubs

Hi everyone Finally had the operation done at the dealer, they used an 08 exhaust. They hooked back up the vacuum lines (the 04 has them but because of the design it always goes through the muffler no matter what). Based on some of the discussion here I thought it would be pointless because installing the retrofit exhaust means you're in the open-bypass all the time....but mine doesn't. It works exactly like it was 06+ stock. That is, below 3000 RPM the bypass is closed and it goes through the muffler, and above 3000 it bypasses. I'll drive along just below 3000 RPM and it will be so quiet it's like the Lambo is in "stealth mode". Go above 3000 and you can hear the bypass open up and the car get louder. Point is, I probably would have been okay having it in bypass the whole time but I love not having to choose! It works on my 04 exactly the way it does on the 06+. The trick is to make sure you hook back up the vacuum lines. Apparently (and you can see it on the Lamboweb conversion writeup) the 04-05's also had the bypass lines but were useless because it would always go through the muffler. But it seems the logic and plumbing to tell the bypass valves to open at 3000 RPM was still in place. Silly of Lambo to make a bypass that didn't bypass, but kudos for them for designing a better muffler that didn't need any other hardware and software changes. One happy camper over here. The torque down low seems less than the 04 stock, but at the higher RPM's the torque feels stronger...really pushes you back in the seat. Especially without a passenger. Good luck all and thanks for the info.

It's just the easy part. The person who is at fault is responsible to cover any and all damage that they cause. But collecting it is the sticking point. Of that amount they owe, their insurance will pay out up to the max they're insured up to. After that the insurance company does not pay anything, but the person at fault still owes the money. It's just that the person who got hit now has to go try to collect the deficient amount, which (assuming they won't pay) I believe is done though gaining a judgement in court. NOTE: I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY. The posting here is just based off my own experience dealing with these things. So in numbers, let's say you get hit and the damage is $90K. They are insured up to $50K. Their insurance pays out $50K, and the person who hit you is still responsible for the remaining $40K. It's just that since they aren't insured for that amount, it will be harder to collect. And the fewer assets the person has, the harder it will be collect, even if you have a judgement. With a judgement I think you can either go after their assets, put a lien on their assets, or try to garnish their wages. And if they are an illegal alien, you're really screwed because since they don't have a legitimate job that you can garnish their wages from, you lose that method of collection as well. So when you spring for that uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, basically your insurance company kicks in to pay the deficiency amount. So in the example above their insurance would pay $50K and your insurance would then add in $40K. Your insurance company basically then "owns" the right to collect that $40K from the person who hit you. The big difference though is it has gone from being your problem to being your insurance company's problem trying to collect it. This is why people who have less to lose carry less insurance. Because even though technically they'll owe more from an accident because their insurance will pay out less than a more expensive policy, they have nothing you can go after so it doesn't matter if they personally owe $10K or $100K, so their downside is limited, but they get the upside of paying less in insurance for minimal coverage. However, IMO, uninsured/underinsured motorists are only one burden expensive car owners face. The other major problem is "diminished value." Meaning, after your car is hit and repaired, even if it is repaired perfectly it will still never sell for the same as an undamaged car. That's true for any car, but the effect is massively amplified with exotics. Think about it, if you're going to drop $100K, $150k on an exotic you want one that has a perfect history and so if you're going to buy a car that has been in a wreck you are going to want a sizeable discount. I'm not talking $2-$3K less that a normal car would go for, I mean like $10K-$15K. That is why my heart completely goes out to the OP, because his value took a hit and he wasn't even at fault. One other problem with diminished value is that your insurance company won't pay you for it, and nor will they get involved in helping you recover it. You're completely on your own trying to collect it. And other insurance companies LOVE to say that DV doesn't exist in any case and so they're not paying it. My wife's 6-month old Mercedes once got hit so hard two wheels came off the ground and the guy from their insurance tried to tell me the car's value had gone UP because it got had gotten a new door installed during the repair and so it was better than factory condition. The only way to recover diminished value, very sadly, is through having a professional estimate of the dimished value and then filing a court claim against the person who caused the accident. Pray that the amount of DV is less than your state's statute for small claims court because otherwise you have to get an attorney or file a pro se suit. The only time an insurance company will pay a DV claim is on the courthouse steps 10 minutes before a trial. Their MO is, if we're going to pay this out we're first going to make you go through all the pain of trying to collect it, because there's always the chance you'll just say screw it and walk away. Joe my recommendation is to get a dimished value appraisal done before repair work starts. I used this fellow from Dimished Value of Texas . That's the thing that sucks about owning these cars, we have so much downside and so much to deal with if someone hits us even if it's completely their fault. Owning one of these cars, it's a complete Sword of Damocles. Best of luck my friend. I'm sorry this happened to you. 'Dubs

Hi Ohlgren, great to hear from you again. Just curious, what makes it so hard to work on the engine basically at home? That would be part of the project is to do as much as possible at home. The one that Peter K found, it doesn't say why it isn't running. I guess it could be either the parts are all good but just needs new fluids, new gas and to be cranked for a while. Or it could be something is mechanically wrong that will require taking the engine apart. Not being able to do that second part in one's garage takes it out of the realm of project and puts it in the realm of professional.

My hope would be to find one that needs more labor work (that I can do) than it needs parts. Of course I don't expect to find one like that anytime soon, but you never know, so it doesn't hurt to ask people to keep an eye out. If one needs a ton of new parts, instead of just needing a lot of love, it's certainly not what I'm looking for.