Hello from Tokyo.
I have been a long time admirer of these cars and have been given the opportunity to possibly own one. Its a 2003 Arnage T which has a dead battery and no service history. The price reflex it.
I have largely owned and wrenched on the German stuff and this would be my first attempt at a modern British motorcar. Currently I am working on a 1978 Silver Shadow, which has been surprisingly easy to work on.
Back to the Arnage. I know there is a lot for me to learn and search. My first question is the key. The owner only has 1 key which doesnt open the trunk due to the dead battery. The dealer said the orginal master key will open the trunk regardless of the battery condition. New keys are NLA from the dealer here. Is that true for all Arngages? Would a BMW or VW key work? The owner is old and infermed so I cant rely on his support. I read I can access the trunk by removing the rear seats or put power to the starter cable or main alternator cable. I am deathly afraid of damaging any of the control units so I want to go the rear seat route. Any guidance there?
I am a very handy guy, having restored 928s, 944, 911s, E34 M5, W124 and W210s all pretty straight forward with lots of online support. I suppose a car is a car and if a human built it a human can repair it. I have search for repair manuals but couldnt find any.
I am looking forward to this journey.

 

Welcome to 6Spped and a hearty welcome from Scotland.. This is a Great Forum.
As to the Arnage.....beautiful car and imo a better class car than the continental GT. However just too big for my needs or I would grab one at the right price.
Get some pictures up??
Frank.

 

i havent closed the deal yet and only saw it once, at night, in the rain. Tuesday I am going to see it and try to get it running and see if I can actuall close.

 

For the first time in more than 20 years I was stranded on the high going to look at the Bentley. My 996tt FP quit. Get towed to my independent, blah, blah, blah….
I got back the Anri around 4pm and got to work removing the rear seat. There is NO access to the trunk!!! Only a few gaps in the metal to maybe allow a coat hanger. Which I don’t have.
No access from the license plate lights.
I put power to the fuses at the parking brake and got the ECU to power up and when I pressed the trunk release I could hear a relay click but not the trunk popping. Plus the thin gauge wire I used was getting very hot. I didn’t want to use a thicker gauge for fear of shorting something.
The trunk lock will turn right but not left. No sure but I think it’s the valet key because it didn’t seem to seat completely.
I met the youngish owner who pulled up in some obnoxiously loud Lambo. I was surrounded by a bunch of old tracksuit wearing guys while I worked on the car, if you catch my drift. It already dark and I had another meeting so we called it for the day. They may have another buyer. I think my hankering for the Arni is temporarily satisfied. I looked under it and saw an oil leak on the left front suspension.
They told me the dealer wanted $5000 just to pick up the car and diagnose it. So at that rate they should just give it to me.
Here the owner is on the hook for about 4K in car taxes, 4K per year in parking fees, plus whatever is wrong with it.
Black on Black is boss looking. Build quality is phenomenal. But my w210 E55 and Audi RS4 would run circles around the Arni in terms of practicality, performance and reliability. But not in terms of luxury and boss-ness.
dealers tell me I could get a running Arni for 15k. I wait and see if the seller gets back to me in the meantime I’ll keep looking. Looks like it sold！！https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp...on/e1072955398

 

I don't know much about the Arnage, but I had the same key issue on my GT: it will turn right (lock) but not left (manual unlock).

It seems to be a factor of the mechanical unlock having never been used from new, by the time 20 or 25 years later the batteries have died and you need to do it, the mechanism is corroded or gunked solid closed.

Johnny says that this can be cured with a wood dowel and a hammer after soaking it with penetrating oil. But this of course is for the GT door handle, not the Arnage trunk release.

I have been really worried about breaking the key off so I forced it, but not really forced it.

You might be dodging a bullet if you have to pay tax and parking on a car that could take a lot of time to get back on the road. Those are cool cars however.