Holden Problems

Yes it is, which means that if you don’t do regular runs at highway speeds, the filter is prone to clogging up and requiring either cleaning out or even replacement. The filters for this car are advertised for anything from $200 to $800 for a second-hand DPF, but you could be buying one that is well past its best.

In a more general sense, any second-hand Epica would need to be super cheap before you’d consider it, as they were a slow seller and not a particularly good quality car even when brand new. Unloved then, they’re unwanted now. There are definitely better choices.

Rather than an internal transmission problem, this is probably a simple case of loose fittings where the selector meets the gearbox or even where the selector pivots inside the centre-console. The moving parts inside this mechanism can wear over time and lead to sloppiness in the shift lever itself. You can remove the centre-console panels and see for yourself if there’s excess play or movement in the connections. The fix might be new bushes or guides, but it shouldn’t be a huge job.

The reason you can’t find much information on a Calais ute is because it never existed. Holden did all sorts of limited edition utes (including things like an Olympic Edition in 2000) but never built a ute with Calais trim or a Calais badge. Which is not to say a keen owner hasn’t modified a ute to live up to the Calais name, but it certainly never came from the Holden factory.

It’s nice to see that some of us are still recycling and keeping old cars on the road. Your question was a hot topic back in the mid-1980s when unleaded petrol (ULP) was being mandated for all new cars. The issue was that older car engines were designed to run on fuel with a small amount of lead in it to help protect (mainly) the valve seats (hence, leaded petrol). The lead also helped prevent detonation inside the engine by raising the petrol’s octane rating. Without this lead, the engine could wear out prematurely, and it was something that owners of existing cars were very worried about.

The ultimate solution for older engine was the installation of what’s called hardened valve seats which, as the name suggests are valve seats in the cylinder head that were physically harder and would cope with the lack of lead. Since your car is older than most people reading this, you may find that it’s on its second, third or even fourth engine and, in that time, may have been fitted with hardened valve seats. Knowing the history of the engine would be very helpful.

But if you don’t have that information, the best advice is to run it on 95-octane fuel (for the octane rating to prevent detonation) as well as a lead-replacement additive to protect the valve seats. This additive can be added to the tank when you fill up, or as a permanent kit fitted under the bonnet that drips a small amount of additive into the engine as it runs. The Valve-Saver brand was a popular make of this type of kit back in the day.

When the time comes to perform work on the cylinder head, think about having the valve seats replaced with hardened ones, at which point you can forget about the lead-replacement additive.

What’s probably happened is that the battery of the vehicle has been disconnected as part of the repair process (perhaps there was some welding done, or the workshop disconnected the battery while waiting for parts to arrive). In the process, the radio’s stored stations have been lost.

This is a pretty common problem in most cars that have had their battery disconnected for any length of time, and it requires you to retune the radio to store your favourite stations. If the stereo unit is the one that came with the car from the factory, the owner’s manual should detail how to store your stations, but if the stereo is an aftermarket one, you’ll need to find the instruction sheet, or just wing it until you work out the process.

In some vehicles, you’ll also need to find the radio’s security code and key that in before the unit will even switch on.

Losing particular gears can be a symptom of internal transmission damage, but it can also indicate a simpler problem with the selector mechanism that joins the gear stick to the gearbox. However, if this was the case, you’d probably lose two gears on the same selector plane (such as first and second or third and fourth) not first and fifth which are at opposite ends of the shifter mechanism.

If there was internal gearbox damage, you’d possibly also be noting other noises and problems caused by the internal carnage, which makes me think the internal selector mechanism might be at fault. At which point, it’s probably a gearbox-out repair.

However, a transmission specialist that knows this gearbox well may have a different opinion and should be your first port of call. A specialist will save you time and money in the long run.

No, it shouldn’t be difficult at all. Plenty of online advertisers list the ABS module for this vehicle, including second-hand, reconditioned and brand new examples. Prices range from a few hundred dollars for a second-hand unit (that might have the same problems as the one you already have) to about $1300 for a reconditioned unit and up to $3000 for a brand new module.

Despite its patchy reputation, the Captiva sold well for holden (mainly on price) so there’s plenty of knowledge and spare parts out there for them in the repair industry. Don’t forget to try traditional auto parts stores, either, as these can sometimes be a better bet than an online seller, particularly if you need the part in a hurry.

This is not an unknown problem with the diesel Captiva. The root of the problem is probably within the fuel system which is over-fuelling the engine. You need to check the fuel-pump pressure as well as make sure all the relevant filters and clean and there are no leaks anywhere in the system. Even then, the actual cause is most often worn out fuel injectors which need to be either reconditioned or replaced. Conventional wisdom suggests that reconditioned injectors will last about half as long as brand new ones before needing attention again. That said, reconditioned injectors are cheaper to buy.

Worn out or dirty injectors have been by far the most common cause of diesel over-fuelling, and the problem is not confined to the Holden Captiva.

As a modern, conventional design, your Holden is negatively earthed (or, grounded). That is, the negative terminal of the battery is connected to the car’s body and engine to complete the circuit for the electrics to function.

But it wasn’t always this way, and in the USA and particularly Britain, many makes and models were positively earthed. Farm machinery and motorcycles were also often positively earthed. I’ve even heard that Dodge cars from the 1920s and 1930 were positively earthed in Canada, and negatively earthed in the US.

There’s a theory that negative earthing is better for preventing corrosion due to electrolysis, but it seems not all engineers agree on this. Ultimately, negative earth is the conventional setup today. Just make sure you don’t get it wrong as hooking up a battery the wrong way around in a modern car is a fair chance to blow the computers and other electronics to smithereens.

Basically, the light is telling you that there’s something wrong with the car’s driveline and that you need to have it checked out before the problem does any permanent damage. This can be taken care of at a workshop that has the correct scanning tools.

Possible causes are numerous, but can include a dud sensor, a bad earth, wiring problems, damaged exhaust or any one of about a thousand engine or transmission glitches. Don’t bother trying to guess the reason, have the car electronically scanned and home in on the actual problem that way.