Holden Problems

Mid or medium-sized SUV buyers are absolutely spoiled for choice right now. Pretty much eery car-maker form the budget brands to the high-end marques has a range of SUVs in a size to suit anybody.

Many have very frugal turbo-diesel engines but, for many owners out there, the petrol variant is the one that makes most sense. And even if you’re not worried about fuel consumption, the planet will be pleased to know that most modern SUVs are actually very frugal at the pump compared with their counterparts of just a few years ago, your Captiva included.

If your priorities are reliability and running costs, then maybe a visit to a Hyundai or Kia dealership might be in order. Both brands have plenty of SUVs to choose from, including diesel, petrol, hybrid and even electric versions thereof. They both also offer an industry-leading factory warranty, and capped-price servicing is another big selling point.

I’m not sure what your experience has been with your Captiva, but if you’ve had a similar run with that of many, many owners, just about any new SUV will be more reliable than the Holden.

A lot of modern cars don’t feature a drain-plug for the fuel tank. That’s a bit annoying to old-school mechanics, but it does make for a stronger, more leak-proof tank in the case of a modern plastic fuel tank as fitted to so many cars these days.

Most mechanics faced with this will either remove the tank and tip it upside-down to remove the offending contents, but there is a simpler way if you know what you’re doing. That is to disconnect the fuel feed line from the tank to the engine at the engine end, and then simply turn on the ignition and have the electric fuel pump empty the contents into a safe container. This will take several minutes, depending on how full the tank is to start with.

DPF additives are real thing right now as consumers run scared over the thought of their car’s DPF needing replacement. These additives use a catalyst that claims to help clean out the DPF and regenerate it, usually by lowering the temperature at which the soot will be burned off in the filter.

Perhaps some do, but just as surely some of these will be snake oil. Choose a known brand and be prepared for the experiment to be a complete dud. Expect to pay about $30 for a bottle of additive, too, so it’s not a cheap experiment.

You can try either the type of additive that is simply poured into the fuel tank when you refuel next, or the type that is sprayed into the air intake system with the engine running. Either way, these are probably best regarded as a preventative measure and the servicing industry seems pretty doubtful about the additives’ ability to clean a DPF that is already blocked.

Some owners have, indeed noted power-steering problems in this model Commodore. That said, this is a very common model, so some problems are to be expected as they with most other makes and models.

The most common problem seems to be a squealing noise when the wheel is turned. That’s often due to low power-steering fluid level (check the dipstick at the top of the reservoir under the bonnet). If the level is low, you need to start looking for a leak as this is a sealed system and shouldn’t need topping up over time. Leaks can occur in the pump itself, the steering rack or the plumbing that joins them.

A vibration through the wheel or a fluttering sensation can often be caused by air trapped in the system. With the engine running and the car in Park, turn the wheel slowly from lock to lock a couple of times., That’s often enough to purge the air and return the steering to a nice smooth feel.

Some owners have reported an improvement in their power-steering by draining and flushing the system and adding new fluid.

This model Holden Cruze is well known for transmission failures. Symptoms include the inability to select gears, a complete loss of drive or, as you have noticed, flaring in the gears. Unfortunately, this often mean the entire transmission is unserviceable.

Holden did extend the transmission warranty on these cars to five years or 150,000km, but even at that rate, your car would still be well and truly out of warranty. The first step, however, is to have the car scanned to see if the computer throws up any transmission-fault codes which could tell more of the story.

In some cases, these cars also experienced failed transmission coolers which allowed the transmission fluid and engine coolant to mix. If that’s the case, you might be able to get away with replacing the radiator, but historically, many of these cases also caused the transmission to fail.

Failures of brake-light switches is quite common in modern cars. This is the tiny switch that is located either on the brake pedal itself or somewhere near the brake master cylinder that senses when you’ve applied the brakes and switches the brake lights on to warn following vehicles that you’re slowing.

In the Colorado’s case, the switch is located on the brake pedal, so you’ll need to locate the old one and replace it with a new unit. Most mechanical workshops can do this quickly and cheaply, but if you want to tackle it yourself, the replacement switch can be bought at a parts store or online.

It all depends on what parts of the suspension the workshop is telling you is worn out. If the strut tops or suspension-arm bushes are worn out, or there’s a problem with the ball-joints or tie-rod ends being too worn, then there’s certainly the chance that there’s insufficient adjustment within the system to return your wheel alignment settings to their correct spec. Even a worn out wheel bearing can cause all sorts of wheel-alignment issues.

Just because you haven’t felt the problem, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. These issues develop gradually and we don’t always notice the small changes week to week until they become a bigger problem.

If, however, you genuinely think the tyre shop is trying to rip you off, you can have the car independently inspected to see if you’re being told the truth. Your state motoring club should be able to help here. Sadly, some of the bigger car-repair retailers have been caught loading up a customer’s repair quote in the past, and consumers need to be on the lookout for these bogus `faults’ that will be added to the bill. We’re definitely not tarring all big chain retailers with the same brush, but it’s something to be aware of.

Vibrations through a car at varying speeds or throttle position can be an indication of wheel imbalance, poor wheel alignment, worn suspension parts, a damaged tyre, bent wheel rim, a driveshaft or CV joint problem, engine misfire, gearbox of differential issue, over-tight brake, worn brake drum or rotor and perhaps a million other things.

If the problem is worse since the new engine was fitted, I’d be looking at things like engine mounts which can wear and even fail, leading to a vibration or wobble throughout the whole car.

But if the bull-bar is wobbling in sympathy, don’t rule out a loose bolt(s) in the bull-bar mounts which are allowing it to flop about and send a shiver through the rest of the car. Even a blob of mud stuck in the inside of a wheel rim can be enough to imbalance that wheel and produce the same effect when the particular harmonics of slowing down enter the equation.

You could start with the engine mounts and work your way backwards along the driveline, looking for worn couplings, U-bolts and universal joints. If you have a Go-Pro camera, maybe mounting that under the car and reviewing the footage afterward might give you a clue as to what’s causing the wobble. Having the wheels and tyres balanced would be another relatively inexpensive way of ruling out one possibility.

A check-engine light in a car like a Captiva can mean all sorts of things. Everything from a stretched timing chain (quite likely in this vehicle) to a dud oxygen sensor in the exhaust system (and about a million things in between) can cause the engine light to flicker on ominously.

The best advice is to have the car scanned electronically. That way, the scanning computer will 'talk’ to the car’s computer and the car should offer up any faults it has logged in the process of being driven.

You’re better off not driving the car until it can be scanned and fixed, as the problem causing the engine light to come on could easily get worse and may eventually damage other components. If it is something like a stretched timing chain that is causing the warning light, it could eventually break and reduce the whole engine to scrap.

The 17 X 7-inch rim was one of the upgrades Holden gave the Cruze in CDX trim to distinguish it from cheaper models. But since no changes were made to the suspension or bodywork as part of that upgrade, the CDX rim and tyre should fit on the CD model with no problems.

The only catch might be that you’re then slightly limited in what tyres you can use. Because the 17-inch rim has a one-inch (and wheel and tyre measurements are still universally in inches, rather than metric) larger diameter, you can’t always fit that rim with a high-profile tyre as that might cause clearance problems.

The best advice would be to stick with the standard tyre specification for the 17-inch wheels. You may find, though, that the lower-profile tyre on the 17-inch Cruze rim might cost you a little in ride comfort terms as the low-profile tyre won’t have the same, softer sidewall and may transmit more movement into the cabin.