Holden Commodore 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.

The fact that it’s running roughly once it’s warmed up suggests you have a problem with either the head gasket or the head, even though there’s apparently no oil in the coolant. Try and identify which cylinder, or cylinders, are misfiring and remove that head to check it.

Ignition coil failures have been an often reported failure on Commodores going back a number of models; it's not necessarily something new. I couldn't say the others will fail any time soon, after all the two failed coils did 184,000 km before giving up.

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

REPLACING the lifters in the Gen III is a reasonably big job. The heads have to be removed and machined before they go back on. That's why the mechanic is suggesting that you do all lifters at the same time. It's likely to save you money in the long term. The quote, however, does seem a little steep. It probably should be more like $2000.

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.

It's not a common problem, but it isn't unusual for ignition coils to fail. I don't believe you could claim to have 'lemon' coils as you say, after all one lasted close to 100,000 km before it died. I doubt that any claim to have the other four coils replaced would find favour with Holden.

Under the Australian Consumer Law introduced in January 2011, a consumer can request a refund or a replacement for persistent problems if the car doesn’t do the job it’s supposed to do.

THOSE early Commodores often have trouble with a crank sensor, so that may be worth checking.

THANKS Sam, and for anyone thinking of doing the conversion the information about the need to change the diff ratio is important to note. For readers in Victoria, we have been told the Castlemaine Rod Shop is able to do the conversion too.

Let's put it this way, it's not unusual, it's a sign it needs a service. Go through the ignition system and make sure all is well, perhaps replace the spark plug leads to make sure there aren't any random sparks that could ignite the air/LPG mixture in the intake manifold.