RE: ASTRA CONVERTIBLE 2002: WHAT A LEMON!

Hi, just wanted to let you know that you're not the only one that is having problems with their Astra Convertible.

I got my Astra in June 2004 and since then I have had my short engine replaced due to excessive oil usage. My roof keeps on playing up, I have had it back to the dealer for them to try and fix it, and they have replaced this and that, and the air con still plays up to this day.

I have also ringed Holden customer service and they really couldn't help me, I know that my dealer is trying to do all they can, but this is beyond a joke. I have and I will again send a search in the paper for other Astra convertible owners that have had problems with their cars.

Replying to S Corner - steering column/turn indicator noise

I have a 1997 VT commodore that had the same problem. The noise is actually coming from the indicator switch because the lubricant inside has dried out causing the points to short out. Change your switch before it catches fire like mine did. Lucky I put it out by pulling out the fuses. The switches are only about $40 or $50 dollars through Holden.

Regards N Butler

I did lots of research before I bought my Astra and really thought I had made a fantastic and informed decision. Now the car is about 18 months old and I have had more problems with it than the sum total of all the other cars I have owned, and more. It has had a series of odd problems since new and no one at the dealership or Holden seem to know how to fix them.

The major ongoing problem is an ignition issue where the car simply won't start. It's been in about 6 times for this one. Apparently it's my key causing the problems - the car thinks that I'm using the wrong key and the computer therefore rejects the key. Well, a new key hasn't fixed it, nor has the weird suggestion that my mobile phone is interfering with the key...

So now it still won't start on occasions and sometimes it actually starts, but stalls after about 2 seconds, so I reckon that means there is more to it. It's booked in again on Friday so we will see.

Other issues with this model have included poor fuel economy - fix - computer upgrade and the car now runs really rough but has better (but not fantastic) fuel economy). Another issue is the funny electric windows that 'crack' when you go over bumps or even when you don't, plus the window drop slightly as you drive around so you get wind noise after a while.

Add that to the dicky door openers which are really ergonomically difficult and the odd placement of buttons on the dash plus the constantly dirty front mags (hard brake pads I'm told) and I hate my car.

Holden have only told me to take it to another dealership if I'm not happy - a bit hard when I live in a regional area.

I really wish I had bought something else...

I bought my Mazda nearly a year ago... It had 2 previous owners. Just have to say it is a great car and I enjoy driving it every day. It is value for money, looks great, and has enough power while still being economical.

Take a look at other posts. Holdens, Fords and other cheap cars like Kia's are a waste of money. Don't buy them; it's not worth the risk. I have rarely heard of people having problems with their Mazda or Subaru. Toyota and Mitsubishi seem to be pretty good as well.

I will say one other thing. If you pay $15,000 or less for a brand new car, what do you expect? I do believe that you get what you pay for. But that being said, there are a lot of decent cars around the $20,000 mark, and sometimes you can pay big money for a new car and it can turn out to be a lemon. So just do your research by looking at sites like this.

After reading over everyone else's Holden Astra hiccups I am scared and thought I would let you know you're not alone...

I since my posting in August 06 (see below), my ignition barrel went too - $300 later through Barloworld Holden. And the part that really annoyed me is they told me I had to go through them so they could record everything back into the computer - only to find out upon payment that this was a ****

My steering is making a not so friendly noise and in all honestly I am so scared to get it looked at cos I don't want to spend anymore money on this car.

I still haven't fixed the oil light problem - I replaced just about everything - switch, filters, etc - everything but the motor, although I hear it may be the pickup. I've had to flush the throttle body and injectors out, the pin came out of the brake pads - $90, had to buy a whole new kit. My air con makes a noise - not even game enough to go there.

My partner has told me to sell it privately cos even though it's immaculate $7k is the highest trade in I have been offered. But seriously I couldn't sell someone else this headache privately. Karma, what goes around comes around, although I don't know what I did to deserve this car! And if my brother wasn't a mechanic could you imagine what everything would have cost me! I would never buy a HOLDEN ever again, this car ruined the Lions Den for me and it has also ruined my financial goals. I can't believe I got rid of a Corolla for this lump of ****

* This was my posting on another site:

I have a TS 01 Astra - I have had NOTHING but trouble with it and I have serviced it regularly, every 10,000kms instead of 15,000kms. I have replaced so far in this order ... the left hub, the alternator, the right hub; the power steering pump is on the way out ($1200 just for the part) and now the door locking mechanism.

I have had ENOUGH, I don't know whether I bought a lemon but you shouldn't have to out lay this kind of money on a 5 year old car.

Quiet conveniently the only thing that went wrong during the 3 year warranty was the left hub - which was due to faulty workmanship through a Holden service, but Holden took no responsibility and I ended up out of pocket for the part and the panel damage that occurred.

NEVER buy a Holden 4 banger, stick with the Japanese produced 4s as they know what they are doing. If anyone else has had as many problems as I have... I feel your pain. Also my car has the stutter and the oil light problem too. Forgot to mention that as I have become accustomed with it.

To T SIM from Rockhampton Queensland

I am not at mechanic or an expert so feel free to disregard my advice. I had the same problem with my 2004 BA XT and I am an extremely sedate driver (zero to 100 in three weeks). I called Ford. They told me I am the only one with this problem and NO! There is no recall or problem with any other Fords (same as what they told me when I asked about the BA's little issue of the transmission cooling oil line bursting inside the radiator and flooding the transmission with coolant...and what if it happens to me... anyway).

I listened to the noise carefully over a month and pinpointed the transmission. It seemed to me that the transmission seems to be starved of oil when it tries to shift at low engine revs so when you rev to take off from the lights or the corner it gets a surge of oil and clunks into gear.

I tried to get a closer look but Ford in all their wisdom have sealed the transmission so you cannot even check the oil level let alone its condition. (Why in the world would you seal a piece of machinery which runs at high temperatures, uses high speed gears, needs a precise level of oil for cooling, needs filters to take out iron filings from the wearing gears AND is reasonably expected to last at least 10 years?)

Anyway, long - short, took it to my trusted mechanic (not the dealer). He bought the transmission kit, dropped the oil out of the transmission, replaced the filter and the sump gasket and refilled with new oil. He also told me to do this every 40,000k's. (Go find THAT in your manual!). The filter that came out was one solid mass of iron filings.
No more clunks since then. At all. Cost me $120.

This worked for me. It may be totally unrelated to your problem so good luck.

P.S: Make sure that your mechanic cleans the transmission sump thoroughly before putting it back on as the new filter will suck up the iron filings left at the bottom of the sump.

RE: Astra Convertible - Latest update on my piece of ****

I have also been given the run around by Holden and I have had enough. My brand new Calais Premium V6 encountered its first major problem at just 33klms. My list of issues would not fit on this page. The service from Holden's head office is nothing short of appalling.

Since my problems with my car started in November 2006 I have had 13 fellow workmates all experience similar issues with their new Commodores and you guessed it, Holden are not interested. Customer Service from Holden is a joke. Holden shows total disrespect towards their "Customers" and "Service" is a word that Holden struggles with knowing the meaning of. I wonder just how many other discontented Holden customers are out there that just accept the situation and don't take up their rights to have their problems corrected.

I'm not prepared to have my car off the road for the 5th time in 11 weeks. It's a brand new replacement or a full refund of my purchase price. Michelle, just on ACA & Today Tonight when I suggested to Holden that I was prepared to go to the media they laughed and stated that the shows don't take on individual consumer issues with major corporations. A rather smug reply to say the least.

The after turbo valve, rattles and then a loss of power was replaced under warranty. Good for 12 months but started again. I have been told there is a better fix than a genuine part that keeps failing. Can anyone help?

I have recently purchased a new Navara with a hard cover and the side part under the roll bar has cracked. I returned to Nissan where they replaced it and within 4 days the new 1 has cracked. Nissan tells me that this is a 1 off and they have never encountered this before. Has anyone else had this problem or is it just my truck?

Have had constant issues with DSG in "manual mode". Once I revert back to normal auto mode the gears feel a lot stiffer when moving between D, N, and P etc.

First time I reported this to dealer I only had the car a few days since delivered brand new. It was not sorted out after car could not be started when gears were locked. Resolved itself and I collected the car.

Happening to me again after trying to use manual mode again. Anybody else had DSG problems?

I bought the car in 2002 when it had 100,000k on the clock. Engine was and still is in excellent condition. The gearbox broke down in 2004 with the pinion shaft bearing cracked from the housing. This costed me $2500 that time. Again I had a failure recently and found that all the gears had been worn out.

When I started to investigate this I found that Toyota construct these V6 models with the gearbox from the V4 and do expect problems every five years. The V4 gearbox is not enough to match the power of a V6 and fails regularly.

As above engine light always comes on. Fix lasts about a month etc and gearbox auto is sloppy in changes etc and is always getting a service ... please help

The car is still under warranty and it keeps stalling. Have taken it in to have the problem fixed three times and it still hasn't been rectified. Have also had it reprogrammed. Having it seen again for the 4th time - any ideas as to what's happening?

If it can't be fixed this time, will really consider going back to Holden.

Last year June I took my Forester in for a service. I pointed out at the time of the service that the paint was flaking on the bonnet. That afternoon when I called in to pick the car up I was presented with a bill for work carried out, and given a load of empty bottles.

I was also told that the paint problem would have to be checked out by the head office. When I arrived home I opened the bonnet to check the oil and guess what I had paid $250 to park my car for the day as nothing was done. I contacted the dealer principal at Breakfast Creek and took the car there the next day for an inspection. His service manager confirmed that the service wasn't carried out as described in the owner's manual. I was then offered 50% off the next service.

As for reporting this to the head office I contacted them and sent photos and a full 2 page explanation. No prizes as to what the outcome was - yes you guessed it, the BIG brush off. I am happy to report that 7 months later the inspection on the paint work still has not been done. And when I had the Forester serviced yesterday 25000kms, I was told that I need 2 new tyres and that the tyre rotation was an extra $65. Yes new tyres at 25000kms!

Purchased Holden Astra Jan 2002 then:-

Sept 2004 - had to replace ignition barrell, which apparently is a common fault with Astra. Luckily this one was covered by warranty.

Dec 2006 - had to replace ignition barrell, however as I was 8 weeks outside warranty for the last barrell, Holden could do nothing. Have to ring locksmith for this job, luckily I found who knew all about this fault & it only took him 1hr to fix for $165. A lot cheaper than Holden quote.

Jan 2007 - Emissions light came on, had no choice but to take to Holden. They serviced the car & told me ECU had been sorted. Whilst driving home that day the light came back on a again, now it seems it's either a Coil Pack problem or ECU again. Either way I'm looking at minimum $1000 to fix.

I have experienced some braking noises when braking over uneven surfaces. The brake pedal will shake/vibrate with noise as the pedal is press down and when the car is going over some uneven surfaces. Is that normal? Or is there a problem with the braking system?

The brake was pressed down partially for partial braking effect (not full braking) when these vibrations and noises appeared.

Another problem is some rattling noise at low speed, low rev especially when travelling uphill. I suspect the exhaust suspension and perhaps the gear box. Is this normal? The transmission for my car is manual.

Any advice or opinions would be appreciated. My car is due for 10000km service next month. I've been quoted $245 by a Honda service dealer. Would like to know what other prices people are paying for this service as well. Thanks.

I have a BA XT sedan. Now when you stop at lights or stop sign and take off you hear this clunk noise. Have had Ford look at it - still no idea. Thought it was brake calipers, it's not. Thought it was rear suspension, it's not. Changed tail shaft - its not that either.

I'm at wits end so if someone out there has any idea please help as its only got 7 months new car warranty left. I have to try to find out what's wrong. As you all know Ford don't give a **** Surely they have techs that would have some idea?

Piston 4 had a 1/4 inch hole inside and there were 6 cracks across the head and 10 days later the turbo main bearing fell apart so I had to replace it. The cause of the blown piston was the oil rings were to tight so they scraped the bore dry and made the piston explode. The head cracked because of the heat also the temp gauge did not move it.

Turns out the turbo's are only recommended for 150,000km so I had to replace the turbo's and a complete unit. So now I have a Garret turbo and also have different shaped pistons and a larger sump different size rings.

Nissan know they have a problem so they have constructed a kit or you can buy a whole new motor. The motor is $5800 +GST then add 30 hrs of labour to remove and then 20 hrs to install.

The problems started at 213000km, total rebuild and turbo cost around $12300. Also when driving the motor just dies so you pull over and turn off and count to 10 and turn back on. Local dealer is aware and admits to having replaced motors from 30000km-110000km.

Because I bought my car 18 months old and did not have it serviced at my dealer, they did not care. I then tried to contact Nissan Australia - they never returned my calls or answered their phones.

Having read so many bad reports covering so many serious faults with this series of Nissan 4x4 vehicles I am cured. I no longer want one EVER!

Please be aware that the Kia Carnival (05-06 model) still has engine problems. There are a number of cases of engine failures (oil in the water from failed head gasket) at relatively low kms (11K - 40K kms).

Kia Australia has provided replacement short motors in order to fix the problem, however, it is not known if this will rectify the problem. Please be careful in purchasing any Carnival, as I do not believe that this year's model is any better. Poor quality vehicle that should not be sold to the public and Kia Australia should be held accountable to the public.

I purchase my first new car being a Holden Astra in July 2006. I have had the vehicle serviced as required by the log book, by the Holden dealership. In October I had the vehicle serviced and 2 new front tyres put on and the vehicle had only travelled 44,000klms at this stage, just out of warranty.

When I picked up the vehicle the steering felt different, but I put it down to the new tyres. This obviously got worse, read the book, and ended up ringing the dealer. I took the vehicle down they checked the fluid and found it to be low (if not empty. They filled it up and said that they needed to check the vehicle. I thought nothing of it, thinking only that they had forgotten to attend to it during the service.

No way, up on the hoist it goes and they call me and tell me that the vehicle needs a new Steering rack at a cost of $2495-00 ... what the ... the car is just over 3 years old and has only done 50,000klms ... is anyone else having this problem and are they having any success with Holden?

Reference to D Sanders, Sydney 10/10/06 - I have had the same experience overtaking a car on a country highway.

I had just overtaken a vehicle travelling at 100kmh when engine cut out so drifted to side of road. Luckily there was enough room to do so at the time! Very fortunate not to have passed the next vehicle being a 3 trailer road train! This is the 2nd time the car has stalled within a month. Ford said it could be a carbon build up but were not sure.

I bought this vehicle in July 2000 after doing a lot of research into mid range 4wd's. The Nissan seemed to be the car for us. I was even told by a BMW Australia mechanic that the Pathfinder had one of the best gearboxes in the world. HA HA HA.

After various small issues the big issue presented itself at 97,000kms (Still under warranty). The gearbox ate itself. The local dealer was in the dark, no idea what had happened. Every one's attitude was that Nissans didn't do this sort of thing. The automatic specialist that the dealer sent the box to had never heard of the problem let alone pulled one of theses boxes out.

Nissan imported a box and replaced the dead one (after arguing that they would only repair not replace) & 7 to 8 weeks off the road.

At 102,000 kms the torque converter packed up. After much snarling and begging on the phone to Nissan Australia the converter was replaced. No problems until Monday 22/01/07. Yes the vehicle has about 250,000kms on it but the second box has just done exactly the same thing and the torque converter looks to be following. Total quoted cost of replacement $7,500 excluding labour.

The vehicle does not do hard work, has never towed anything heavier than a box trailer with rubbish in it & spends probably less than 1% of its travel time in 4wd mode, hardly if ever in low range. Never wound up the diff. Always serviced. Apart from the near $40,000 purchase cost, this thing will end up costing us over $50,000 in total for a car that is now worth about $16,000 maybe.

I had a 1980 Commodore with 825,000ks on the clock and it never ever ever gave me any trouble.

Well thank you for your advice. I had my front disc rotors grinded back by my fantastic local Ford dealer. It cost me about 80 dollars to fix. Well if it happens again to my Falcon or the next one I will own I will take your advice.

I wonder if the brakes are also poorly ventilated and that is probably the cause of the of the BA series brakes hmm! I also wonder if the brakes are poorly ventilated and not for the climate curious! Thank you pity I don't have a brake specialist near by. Cheers Chris I'm sure you solved a lot of peoples Falcon brake discs. Just another thought how about the Focus with are European designed?

Quite simply if you want an honest service don't go anywhere near Subaru Artarmon.
I took my car for a service, the ABS was functioning with no problem, when I picked it up all of a sudden the ABS was broken.

It definitely happened at their site, and the manager refused to even speak to me, he just kept getting his lackie to call me saying it was a coincidence, which is possible but if true why wouldn't the manager be prepared to discuss it with me.

It's simply terrible service, and obviously the guy isn't trustworthy, or simply doesn't care if he upsets loyal Subaru customers.

I sent a complaint to Subaru, but as expected they just point me back to the service center and wash their hands of the whole issue. Leaving me no option but to put the issue on the net and hope people see it and avoid Subaru Artarmon.