Holden Problems

It doesn’t have a cam-timing belt; it uses a chain that doesn’t need regular servicing like a belt does.

The crank angle sensor was prone to giving trouble on Vectras, so I would check that to make sure it was doing what it should. You could also check the electrical system generally as it too was prone to the odd gremlin.

On your figures it’s getting 19 L/100 km whereas it should be getting around 11 L/100 km. That says there’s something very wrong, and the petrol smell suggests it could be running very rich. It could be a problem with the oxygen sensor. Have it checked out.

Yours is not the first report we've had of Captivas pulling to the   left, and so far we know of no fix for the problem. We referred your   complaint to Holden who have checked their complaint system, but they   tell us that there are no reports relating to your car in their   system. They have asked us to supply the dealer's name so they can   follow it up further. If you supply us with the name we will pass it on.

The increase in consumption you report is certainly higher than would be expected, but that could be because you were towing. Try it again in normal day-to-day driving and see what you get. The expected increase in consumption is about three per cent and that should be offset by the lower price of E10.

It does seem like a lot of money for the work done, particularly when it has come back to you with a problem. I would insist of them fixing it, but if you feel you don’t have any confidence in them getting it right, I would take it somewhere else and send them the bill.

It's not unusual to have explosions like you experienced, in fact   it's relatively common. The explosion occurs when the air/gas mixture in the intake manifold ignites and the rapid expansion of the gas mixture often blows out the air cleaner like it did on your car.   Ignition is usually caused by a random spark, so you have to find and fix the cause of that spark. The mechanic was on the mark when he suggested you change the spark plugs and clean the throttle body, and I would have changed the spark plug leads as well. His advice that it would settle down is wrong, it will continue to occur until the cause is identified and fixed. He's probably hoping that you will have left town by the time you realize his advice in this case is incorrect.

While oil usage is something to watch your car isn’t using a lot of oil and the trade advice is that the 6.0-litre V8 doesn’t generally have a problem with oil consumption. I would check the oil regularly and if the consumption increases then take it back to Holden for investigation. As an aside most mechanics believe the factory specified service intervals are too long and strongly recommend changing oil more frequently, at 5000 km or so intervals.

Holden’s advice is that you can use E10 petrol in your car.

It sounds like it’s not getting LPG when you attempt to switch over, and that could be something as simple as a power supply problem such as a lead that’s come away from its connection.