Holden Statesman 2005 Problems

The SVS light is otherwise known as the Service Vehicle Soon light. It indicates that there’s something wrong with the car’s engine management (in the case of your Statesman). In this make and model, it’s often triggered by a faulty oil-pressure sensor which is relatively cheap and easy to replace.

But that shouldn’t cause the misfire. Which means you need to look further and that would start by giving the car an electronic scan. It’s worth knowing that these engines used spark plugs that required replacement at 80,000km intervals. These won’t cause the computer to log a fault code, but they do fail remarkably reliably at this mileage, and a misfire is the first symptom.

ON THE basis of your description I can only conclude that your engine is a classic example of the problems that have afflicted the Gen III V8. The clatter you hear at start-up is probably piston rattle. It's also the more subdued rattle you mention at idle after start-up. You don't mention oil consumption, but some Gen III V8s use oil at a rather high rate. There is a fix. Holden replaces the pistons and rings, and it's mostly successful. Go back to your dealer and insist it be fixed.

OPINION varies on the suitability of the Alloytec V6 for conversion to LPG. Holden is adamant that the engine needs the hardened valves and valve seats it fits to its LPG-compatible 175kW engine. Reports suggest that heads require rebuilds as low as 50,000km when you run the standard Alloytec engine on LPG. Some converters will tell you there is no problem, and that they have successfully converted a number of Commodores. The best policy would be to have hardened valves and valve seats fitted and a sequential-injection LPG system fitted.