Holden Problems

Going back to first principles, anywhere that a power wire that should be insulated is allowed to touch an earthed part of the car is a potential source of a short circuit. As such, there are about a million places where a wire or cable carrying 12 volts from the battery could be shorting out by touching an earthed part of the car.

Typical sites of a short-circuit include anywhere where a wire runs through a metal bulkhead (say, from the car’s interior to its engine bay) anywhere a wire is continually flexing (the wiring inside a door jamb where it passes through the body) a switch of any sort or anywhere else where friction could have worn away the wire’s insulation. Sometimes the insulation just gets old and falls off the wire (Mercedes-Benz cars from the mid-90s were notorious for this).

The clue will be in what components have suddenly stopped working. Checking the fuse box to see what fuses have blown in response to the short circuit is also a good indicator or where to start looking. If you suspect the short-circuit is at the battery itself, there will be no need for forensic investigation; a short at the battery will produce a violent spark and lots of smoke. Unless, of course, the car is fitted with a great safety feature called a circuit breaker on or near the positive battery terminal. If you’ve suddenly lost all power to the car, that’s where to start looking.

Finally, don’t assume that a loss of power to the car or some of its components is due to a short circuit. Sometimes a fuse can simply fail for no good reason and call a halt to play. If you’re unsure, an auto electrician can work miracles that the rest of us cannot generally fully comprehend.

The trick to a diagnosis here might be to find out what rotational bits and pieces are involved. To do that, you need to work out whether the noise is wheel-speed related, driveshaft-related or engine and transmission-related. The driveshaft spins fastest, followed by the driveshafts and finally the wheels, axles and brakes. So that’s probably the key to it.

Even something as simple as a bent or loose brake shield can cause a rattle, squeak or grinding noise, and some owners have gone so far as to strap GoPro cameras under the car and take it for a drive to see what’s going on. A mechanical workshop will probably be a bit more scientific, but the basics of troubleshooting remain the same.

As far as the driveline locking for a moment, you could be looking at a related problem or a completely separate issue. It’s probably wise to make sure the transfer case isn’t suddenly shifting into neutral or low-range on its own for that split-second, as that could cause driveline chaos. But a sticking brake caliper or faulty ABS module could potentially also cause the same sensation.

Some cars cycle their ABS systems when you first start up and take off, and this can lead to a metallic noise for a second or two and a slight buzz through the car. It can be intermittent, too. Are you sure that’s not what you’re hearing?

This generation of Holden engines was prone to failure of the crankcase ventilation valve (PCV). When it failed, it caused a vacuum leak in the engine that could easily cause rough running and hard starting. It would also possibly trigger a check-engine light.

Depending on the model and year of the car, you might be able to fit a replacement PCV, but sometimes the solution was to replace the entire rocker cover assembly, which included the valve in question. In many cases, the valve failure was accompanied by a failed rocker cover gasket that leaked oil on to the spark plugs, making the car run even more erratically. Don’t be tempted to try a second-hand PCV from a wrecked Barina. The chances are every high that it’s PCV will be trashed, too.

Manual gearboxes generally work better/more smoothly when they have some heat in them and the oil gets a little thinner and better able to lubricate. So you’re right on that account. If the gearbox was crunching on every gearchange, you’d also probably suspect the clutch might be worn, too. But since it’s only the one gearchange that’s making the noise, then your theory that the synchromesh rings are worn holds water.

But before you do anything drastic, make absolutely sure the clutch is disengaging fully and that all the clutch lines and pedal action are spot on. A dodgy clutch can also produce this sort of crunching noise. And, yes, it can be worse when the vehicle is cold.

Meanwhile, for some reason, the synchromesh on second gear is the one most likely to fail on the majority of cars (probably because second gear cops and awful hiding and copes with very high loads). So, in that sense, yours is a copy-book case of worn synchros. (First gear is also highly loaded, but since you only really shift up from first – hardly ever down to first on the move – its synchromesh rings don’t cop such a spanking.)

If the problem gets worse, you’ll probably find the upshift from first to second will also start to graunch. That’s when you’ll know for sure that the synchros need replacing. As you point out, though, to really diagnose this the fault requires an inspection of the parts and that means the gearbox out and pulled apart. While you’re in there, change the other synchromesh rings and the transmission’s bearings. And don’t put it back together without a new clutch.

In the meantime, however, if you’re prepared to shift very slowly and carefully while the vehicle is cold, you can actually drive around this problem. Many car owners have done so for years without further problems. Not best engineering practice, perhaps, but it’s a money saver.

The answer to this will depend on exactly which model Barina you have. In some models (typically earlier ones) the code is simply a servicing reminder to make sure the owner knows maintenance is due.

But in some versions of the Barina of this era, fault code 89 usually relates to a problem with the car’s thermostat. So don’t drive it any farther as the faulty thermostat could cause the engine to overheat with catastrophic results. Have a mechanic check things out and see if the thermostat is indeed faulty. If it is, it’s a relatively cheap fix, certainly compared with the cost of a new engine.

Sometimes the code relates to a switch in the thermostat that is responsible for switching on the car’s electric fans, but either way, it could lead to overheating. Don’t ignore it in any case.

Many mechanics at this point would put their money on a bad earth somewhere on the car. Even though the LED light is working, the car’s computer thinks otherwise and, since LEDs draw so little current in the first place, they can be a bit hard to diagnose. Even so, the fast flashing suggests that there’s definitely a problem. To be honest, an auto electrician is probably your best bet at this stage.

Some owners of older cars have found that switching to LED headlight globes can cause the car to think that there’s a blown light somewhere as the current being drawn by the LEDs is so small compared with the normal globes the car came with. Fundamentally, the computer can’t see the current that should be being drawn when the lights are on, and fires the check-light warning symbol. You may find it’s the LED indicator light unit itself that is faulty. These can develop random failures in the internal circuitry that controls them.

The first thing to do, though, is to try the home computer reset which involves disconnecting the battery overnight and seeing if that calms the computer’s nerves. It might not work, but it’s free to try.

This sounds like a fairly simple case of the engine setting up a harmonic vibration through the car. It’s not an uncommon thing and diesels are worse than petrol engines purely because they vibrate more, particularly at idle. By revving the engine slightly, you’re changing the frequency of the engine’s vibrations and moving them out of synch with what’s called the 'natural frequency’ of the rest of the car.

Why does it manifest at the steering column? Because the column is a long, flexible (in a micro sense) shaft that is far more prone to picking up vibrations than a short, more solid part of the car. Why is it happening now all of a sudden? Probably because there’s some wear in the car somewhere. Your call to change the engine mounts was a good one as these can wear and cause this very problem. But, equally, the wear could be in the exhaust system or one of the points where it attaches to the car, a heat shield, the torque converter, or maybe even a piece of the car’s sheet metal that has come loose and is moving slightly.

The quickest fix is to bump the idle one or two hundred rpm and see if that moves the engine out of the vibration zone at idle.

Most mechanics would go back to basics for this one. With the engine running, you place the leads of a volt-meter across the terminals of the battery. This will tell you how much power the alternator is putting into the battery to keep the latter charged. You want to see a figure of up to about 14.5 volts, and anything less than about 13 volts suggests the alternator is struggling.

If you get a low reading, try the test with the engine just off idle as this can sometimes wake the alternator up and get it pulling its weight. Don’t forget to do the test with all the lights ad stereo off, and the air-conditioning switched off, too.

Unless the water has come up through the floor and somehow got into the seatbelt mechanism or parts of it, the most logical answer is that rainwater has entered through an open window, run down the seatbelt webbing and into the mechanism under the seat. Failing that, if the floor and carpet has somehow got wet in the past, some water may have leached into the mechanism.

The question is: how do you know this has happened? The pretensioners only ever fire in the case of a collision, so their condition is pretty much an unknown until you need them. If, however, you’re referring to the inertia-reel mechanism that locks the seatbelt when you pull on it suddenly, then I’m sticking with the open-window-rainstorm theory, as water could definitely run down the belt webbing and into this part of the seatbelt assembly. Failing that, the moisture could be condensation that collected if the vehicle had been stored in a damp environment for some time.

The only real way to properly overcome a dashboard – or a 'check engine’ – warning light is to fix the problem that caused it to light up in the first place. Cars like yours have lots of sensors dotted around them to keep an eye on things like the emissions controls and a small glitch in one of these can cause the warning light to illuminate.

The best way forward is to have the car electronically scanned at a workshop equipped to do so. From there, the car can tell the mechanic what’s wrong and you can pinpoint the exact problem. Otherwise you’ll be stabbing in the dark, as these systems can be very complex and made up by lots of different sensors and triggers, all of which can give the same warning light.

Beyond that, a car’s oxygen sensor (which lives in the exhaust system and sniffs the engine’s emissions) is a likely culprit. But don’t guess: scan the car’s computer and find out for sure.