Holden Rodeo 2006 Problems

There are a number of LPG systems available for diesels, but they’re different from those we’re used to on petrol engines. In the case of the diesel system an amount of LPG is substituted for diesel, the engine never runs on LPG alone, and the effect of that is to increase power. The idea is then that you back off the throttle and save on fuel, but some people make full use of the extra power and can suffer engine failures as a result. I would urge caution and certainly urge you to talk to other owners who have done the same conversion you are considering to get their experience. It’s also crucial to have an experienced installer do the work on your car.

There are many, many things in a modern cat that can cause the check-engine light to illuminate. The cause could be anything from a sensor somewhere on the engine or in the exhaust to a problem such as low oil pressure, overheating, a dud fuel-injector or even a stretched timing chain that has allowed the crankshaft and the camshafts to become out of synch.

Basically, the car’s computer notices and logs anything that’s amiss and warns the owner that some form of servicing is required by lighting up the check-engine light. The other possibility, of course, is that whoever worked on the emissions control system you mentioned, may have neglected to manually turn off the check-engine light. It’s happened before.

THE Rodeo's V6 is the same Alloytec V6 that's used in the current Commodore. Holden offers a dual-fuel kit for the Alloytec V6 in the Commodore, but it has been modified for running LPG. Holden had been working on a similar installation for the Rodeo, but backed away from it because of difficulties having the LPG-compatible engine fitted in the Thailand plant where the Rodeo is built. It also checked to see if it could get away with running the standard V6 on LPG, but found problems quickly developed with the cylinder heads so never went ahead with the release of the kit. That was an injection kit being developed for Holden by Impco. Impco's advice at that time was that the Rodeo V6 was not suitable for gas, but the guys at the Australian LPG Warehouse have developed kits for it and claim they have fitted them to Rodeos and Commodores and have had no problems. The secret, they say, is they make sure the engine runs rich enough at wide open throttle on LPG so the combustion temperatures don't get high enough to cause problems with the valves and head.

There was a mid-model update released on the Rodeo late in 2005. It’s probably relating to that.

Holden cancelled its LPG development program on the Alloytec engine in the Rodeo when it couldn’t make the valves and valve seats of the standard engine live long enough on gas. While Holden uses the Alloytec engine in its dual-fuel Commodore it’s fitted with hardened valve seats and valves in that car, but for reasons only known to Holden it couldn’t or wouldn’t fit the dual-fuel engine in the Rodeo. Talk to an LPG specialist about the conversion as some claim they can do it quite successfully, but approach it with caution.

THERE seems to be no problem with converting the current Rodeo four-cylinder to dual-fuel. Same for the Hilux. It's best to use a Sequential Vapour Injection system.

IT DEPENDS what you regard as incredibly thirsty. Four-wheel-drives tend to be thirsty. They're heavy and have to drag all that extra four-wheel-drive gear around, and the Rodeo's petrol V6 is a 3.5-litre unit. If fuel consumption is a key consideration for you, try a diesel. Fuel consumption will be much lower, and you won't lose too much performance.

Holden switched from the Isuzu 3.5-litre V6 to the locally produced 3.6-litre Alloytec V6 in 2006. The fuel economy was claimed to have improved by around 2.5 per cent in the switch.