Holden Problems

The correct Holden Cruze oil type (grade) is a 5W30 fully synthetic. That’s for either the 1.8-litre, 1.4-litre turbo or the 1.6-litre turbo engine. The exception is the two-litre turbo-diesel Cruze engine which requires 5W40 grade oil.

There are no real trade secrets on how to change oil on a Holden Cruze and, provided you have the right equipment and basic skills, it amounts to warming the engine, draining the oil from the sump into a container, replacement of the oil filter, replacing the drain plug, refilling the sump and making sure the oil in the engine is at the correct level.

This is important maintenance because it ensures the engine always has a good supply of clean oil. Without this, the engine will die young. You can have a mechanic change your oil at a service centre, but with a drain pan, filter wrench, simple socket set and a work light, this is a DIY project.

Things you’ll need to know include the size of the drain plug, the specifications (part number) of the oil filter, and how often to change oil on this particular engine (the service interval).

Plenty of cars suffer this problem as they age. Consider that every time the vehicle is used, one or more door handles is being operated. Throw in the fact that the quality of these Holden Captivas was a bit sketchy in the first place, and you can see why the years and duty cycles of the door handles can catch up with them. Fortunately, it's not a huge job to replace the handle and new handles are available form lots of outlets including online sellers.

The Captiva was not alone in this problem, and many makes and models have a history of door handles breaking. Again, it's usually through wear and tear and cheap materials in the manufacturing process at fault.

Air-conditioning systems are designed with various interlocks to prevent them being damaged by extreme conditions. For instance, if the refrigerant gas in the system starts to become depleted, it will also get hotter and hotter the harder you work the system. Eventually, the temperature of the system becomes too high and the interlock will step in and shut the air-conditioning down to prevent it becoming permanently damaged.

You need to take the car to an air-conditioning specialist who will have the tools and equipment to safely test the system to determine the problem. Then whatever is wrong can be fixed according to strict environmental regulations, which is why air-conditioning is not a DIY job.

A diesel that will turn over but not fire will often have a problem with its fuel system as the cause. You may need to check the fuel pressure and the pump itself, but other causes can be blocked or worn injectors and blocked or dirty fuel filters. A car with faulty glow-plugs can also be difficult to start from cold. But even things like a blocked air filter or something else fundamental to the car's operation could be the cause. And while it sounds simple, is there actually fuel in the tank?

If the solution doesn't present itself simply, the best advice is to have the car electronically scanned to check for fault codes the on-board computer will have logged.

The 1.8-litre non-turbo and 1.4-litre turbocharged engines in the 2014 Cruze will run happily on 91-octane petrol. The more highly tuned 1.6-litre turbo engine in the SRi, SRi V and Z Series models required a minimum of 95-octane fuel. There's no problem using 95-octane fuel in the engines designed for 91 fuel, but you probably won't gain anything in terms of fuel consumption or performance. The only thing that will happen quicker will be the emptying of your wallet.

There's no problem mixing 91 and 95-octane fuel in the cars designed to run on 91-octane petrol, but the 1.6-litre engine can be damaged by using anything other than a fuel with a minimum octane rating of 95.

Okay, first question: Did the sensor damage happen before or after the failure of the alert? If it’s the former, it’s a fair bet the crunch has broken the sensor in question and led to the whole inter-linked system failing.

If the problem happened before the bump (and caused the knock because it didn’t warn you of the looming barrier) then you need to investigate further. An auto electrician should be able to test the system and its circuits and tell you what the cause of the problem is. It could be anything from the wiring to a blown fuse to the sensors themselves having failed. Living on the very edge of the vehicle, these sensors have a pretty hard life with every tap and bump to the bumper potentially damaging them or their circuitry.

The 1.8-litre non-turbo and 1.4-litre turbocharged engines in the 2014 Cruze will run happily on 91-octane petrol. The more highly tuned 1.6-litre turbo engine in the SRi, SRi V and Z Series models required a minimum of 95-octane fuel. There's no problem using 95-octane fuel in the engines designed for 91 fuel, but you probably won't gain anything in terms of fuel consumption or performance. The only thing that will happen quicker will be the emptying of your wallet.

There's no problem mixing 91 and 95-octane fuel in the cars designed to run on 91-octane petrol, but the 1.6-litre engine can be damaged by using anything other than a fuel with a minimum octane rating of 95.

A wobble or vibration big enough to be felt through the floor that suddenly occurs for no reason, can often be traced back to a wheel balance issue. If the wobble is worst through the car's steering wheel, it's likely to be a front-wheel balance issue, otherwise we'd be looking at the rear wheels.

The generally terrible state of our roads at the moment is probable cause for this, and a decent impact with a pothole can be enough to dislodge the small weights on a car's wheel that make it balanced and, therefore, rotate smoothly. When you consider how fast a wheel is turning at 100km/h, you can imagine that a small imbalance can be enough to produce a big wobble.

The good news is that this is a simple fix. A visit to a tyre specialist will soon determine of a wheel balance problem is the issue and it can be fixed quickly and cheaply with the replacement of the small, lead weights which are stuck to the car's rim. While the wheels are being checked, it's a good idea to examine the tyres, too. A tyre with structural damage or a flat spot an also lead to this type of problem.

If this doesn't turn out to be the cause of the wobble, you then need to move on to other components like the driveshaft and universal joints and even suspension bushes and shock absorbers.

It won't be the sump itself disintegrating, but my guess is that somebody who has changed the oil in the past has over-tightened the drain plug when they've replaced it. That stretches the threads on what is often a relatively soft metal and, as a result, the threads have broken away from the rest of the oil pan as you've tightened the plug.

This is actually more common than you think and happens because people don't stop to think about how much force they use when they replace the plug. While it's true that you don't want the plug undoing itself while you're driving, it's also the case that all that sump plug has to do is keep the oil inside the engine. It serves no other purpose and simply doesn't need to be too tight. Sometimes, home mechanics ignore the need to replace the crush washer on this plug with the result that they then notice an oil a leak a few days later. That's when they'll reach for the big spanner and try to tighten the sump plug some more to stop the leak. And that's when the threads break away and they're in the position you now find yourself.

The solution is to get the vehicle to a workshop (you may have to tow it as it can't be driven with no oil in the engine) which should be able to drill the hole in the sump to the next over-size and fit a slightly larger, new sump plug. It's tricky though, as you don't want to allow swarf (little metal filings from the drilling process) into the engine where they'll damage those expensive internal parts.

You can buy replacement keys from locksmiths or online. They're not very expensive for the Captiva (unlike many cars which can cost hundreds) but you will need to have the key cut by a locksmith to make it work with the locks in your car.

If the remote control unit is working, you can fit the new key to that, or you can buy the whole unit with a new remote control. This new remote unit needs to be coded so that it talks to the computer in your car, but again, a locksmith should be able to handle this. If not, a Holden service centre will be able to code the new remote.