Holden Astra Engine Problems

IT SHOULD be more than 112,000km, that's for sure, but you won't know it's a stretched timing chain until you check it. To do that, you need to take it to a Holden dealer, otherwise Holden will not have anything to do with it. If you have your mechanic pull it down and repair it, you will wear the cost.

Flooding is one of the worst things that can happen to a car; it’s often a cause of a car being written off. You really need to check all electrical connections to make sure they are dry and not corroded, check the computer to make sure it hasn’t had any water in it, and check the engine sensors for water damage. I’d be checking the crank angle sensor in particular.

THE handbook is out of date. Holden will have told dealers, who would take it into account when cars came in for their 60,000km service. Check your service records to see if it's been done.

You could use E10 ethanol blend fuel in both of your cars; you could also use regular 91 in them if you wanted.

THERE have been, and are, other means used to drive the camshaft. Holden, for instance, used gears to drive the camshaft on its early six-cylinder engines. Chains have also been used. Chains last longer, but can be noisy. Most carmakers moved to belts because they were cheaper than chains and quieter. And you might think they also reckoned their dealers could make some money through regularly replacing them.

Holden claims the Berlina will average 9.3 L/100 km so I would say yours is in the ballpark, but bearing in mind that is just two weeks old it should get a little better once it's run-in. As for the speedo, if it is showing a lower speed than the actual speed then it is illegal and you should take it back to the dealer to be fixed. The law allows the speedo to read as much as 10 per cent over the actual speed, but it can't read lower than the actual speed.

There is no set distance and it is usually only done when the engine starts to run a little roughly or loses power. It sounds to me like your dealer is trying to sell you up to something you don't really need.

I BELIEVE it was in 2001 or so. Holden dealers were notified of the change with an instruction to change the belt when the cars came in for their 60,000km service, so some owners might not know it was done. Similarly, if someone other than a Holden dealer was servicing a car the change might not have been made. It's a warning to Astra buyers to check for belt changes before they drive away. A belt failure is expensive.

I WOULD lean towards the ignition system and have the leads, ignition coils and the coil mountings checked. You could also have someone run over the engine diagnostics for you.

There are several issues here. First, the timing belt problem is well known so your mechanic should have looked deeper into the cause of the noise and not taken the word of whoever said it would be ok. The timing belt change interval has moved a couple of times, down to 60,000 km and then out to 90,000 km, but it's such a potentially devastating failure that a "she'll be right" approach simply isn't good enough. Second, your claim would have been stronger against Holden if you were still having your car dealer serviced. Third, Holden will possibly cover part of the repair cost, which is a normal industry practice, so go ahead and have it inspected as they suggest.