Holden Calais Problems

THE VL was powered by a Nissan straight six, not a V6. There is a problem with the cooling system of the Commodore, but it's caused by the installation of the engine, not the engine itself. Because of installation compromises in the Commodore, the Nissan engine is difficult to refill with coolant after being drained. If it isn't correctly refilled, the system can be low on coolant and the engine will overheat. A bleed valve on the top of the engine needs to be opened so coolant can flow out when the system is full. If it's refilled correctly, you won't have any problems.

If your calculations are correct, your car isn't returning the fuel consumption it should. The Australian Design Rules (ADR) test fuel consumption on your car is 11.5 litres/100km city driving and 7.2 litres/100km highway driving. From those figures I'd reckon on getting 11-13 litres/100km in normal round-town driving conditions. I suggest you take it to a Holden dealer to have it checked again.

I wouldn't recommend fitting a catalytic converter as I doubt you could get it working. There's a lot more to fitting a converter than installing it in the exhaust system. Making it work effectively is a development exercise in itself, and one I would suggest isn't worth attempting. At least you know that by running unleaded in your car you're not pumping lead into the atmosphere.

Thanks, Steve, and good advice. The Commodore has always suffered from driveline shudder, mostly related to the driveline angles, and removing the spacers above the centre bearing changes the angles nicely.

IT SEEMS the power-steering pump isn't the problem, so I would take the car back to the steering specialist and have him check the rest of the steering system and front suspension. It would be worth checking the rack and pinion, steering joints and tie-rods, and make sure these are in good shape.

I assume the pads haven't been changed yet. Take it to the dealer and ask him to treat it with anti-squeal lubricant, which should fix the problem. If the pads have been changed, check with the mechanic who did the job and find out which pads were used. If he didn't use factory pads, perhaps you should have the pads replaced with the Holden-recommended ones.

IT SOUNDS as if the chips are caused by stones and other debris thrown up by other cars. There's nothing much you can do to protect it, other than use a car-bra. If you don't want to do that, I would touch up the chips so they're not so obvious, and keep your car waxed and polished so the stones and other things tend to slip off the surface.

Thanks Steve. Hopefully it will provide the answer.

You've done just about everything possible and seemingly without finding the cause of the problem. The Commodore of that era is prone to driveshaft vibrations. I would suggest you have the driveshaft angles checked as that is often a source of problems like you describe. It is almost certainly a drive-line problem.