Faults:
Major loss of power associated with tappet noise, from ~80 000 km. Small holes transporting oil from the engine block to the camshaft became blocked, causing damage to the cams. Its therefore important to keep the oil clean on this car - not sure if that's a design flaw or due to exceptionally low maintenance effort by previous owners.
Car repeatedly overheated from about 100, 000 km, especially when travelling at low speeds. This turns out to be a common problem (e.g. 3 Barinas to our local mechanic within a fortnight) - the radiator gets blocked and needs to be reamed out.
Intermittent complete loss of power from about 124 00 km, during longer drives. This seems to be because a valve that equalises pressure into the petrol tank has failed. (In this model the valve is not on the petrol cap as in many other cars). Cheap solution: just don't screw in your petrol cap fully.
Difficult (or impossible) to start on wet mornings, sometimes. Seems to be a petrol or air problem rather than an electrical one. No suggestions for fixing that - mechanics can find no faults.
Failure of high beam switch at ~80 000 km.
25th Jul 2006, 09:07
Your starting problems may be due to the oil.
It is very important on these cars to use a light weight oil - I think the correct grade is 10w30?? Castrol Magnatec is recommended. The handbook recommends 20W50 but this is wrong and causes starting problems in cold weather - Holden dealers should know about this.
We had severe troubles after I replaced the oil - car was almost impossible to start, it turned over fine, but wouldn't fire. I Phoned service dep't - their first question was, "have you changed the oil?" The heavier oil clags up the valve lifters in the engine when cold, so the lifters jam open, you have no compression and it won't go, or runs very roughly for a minute or two. Changed the oil to Magnatec - no further trouble.
Also the car runs much better with premium fuel - change the setting under the bonnet to "95" (details are in the handbook - octane selector) then or 98 grade fuel - runs smoother, much more get up and go, better fuel economy. It's not just the fuel, it's the engine settings changed by the octane selector, but you MUST use prem fuel if you have the selector on 95 or you risk engine damage.