Anyone else had this problem? not happy - gonna go back to a Cruiser or Hilux

Bought my 2006 Astra Equip new in May last year and have been pretty happy with it until last weekend when the Check Engine light came on and Auto Transmission started slipping. Holden are now replacing the transmission under warranty after just 25000klm.

Just want to ask if this is a common problem with this model, and are there any other major problems that I should be aware of.

Thanks

I purchased a Navara STX (D40) in Feb 2006. At around 13,000ks the clutch started to slip intermittently and finally had to be replaced at approximately 18,000ks. I lodged a warranty claim as the fingers on the pressure plate showed uneven wear suggesting a pressure plate thrust problem.

After much frustration and a lot of run around I gave up on fighting Nissan. I have had over 40 years experience driving manual vehicles and for Nissan to suggest the clutch wear was due to improper driving was a bit insulting to say the least. Now I read that others have had similar problems I know it is not just me. Cold comfort.

There have also been a few other smaller problems which have been fixed with no hassle under warranty which is only to be expected for new release models.

Why do I continuously hear about people buying old cars with extremely high mileage and they complain the car they bought for 2 grand brakes down all the time and is costing them so much money to repair!

My gripe is stupid people who are too cheap to go and spend the extra money up front and whinge about having to Repair Old Heaps Of Junk.

Yours sincerely, Adam Pace (MAIME)

It is probably too late to change your opinion, but Newmar is a great company. ALL dealers suck. It doesn’t matter what brand the dealer sells they don't know how to fix anything beyond a fuse. It is too bad you didn't go to the factory. They are the greatest.

I put my Ford Futura in for service at my local Ford Dealer and asked for a standard service. I was phoned to tell me that they had found several problems such as front brakes, exhaust system, steering rack (covered by Warranty). I gave them permission to fix any problems. On picking up the next day, I was presented with an account for $1093.

This I objected to and read out in detail all the costs. The $175 Standard Service did not include all the normal replacement parts and lubricants required: Oil, Air & Fuel Filters or wiper insert blades. Total for this 'Job 1' was $371.86.
‘Job 3' was for Auto Trans service. Total $ 156.50
'Job 4' was for the Exhaust system. Total replacement. Total cost $ 421.46.
'Job 5' was Flush Brake fluid, refill. etc. Total $67.68.

Invoice read, Total labour $330.03. Parts $541.32. Sublet $38.00 (Courier)? P.O.L. $108.15. Less discount $88.84 Plus G.S.T. $ 92.87.

Invoice total was $1021.55, which I paid, but said that I was not happy with the amount and the cost of a standard service, which had been reduced from the first invoice I saw by about $40. My locality is on the Mornington Peninsula, near Rosebud. Any advice on my complaint would be appreciated, 'mug pensioner who is a trusting soul'.

I purchased an SS at 92,000 Km. The car was fine until now at around 93,000 it has started to stall (completely dead). It stalls whilst performing u turns, left/right turns now just sitting at the lights or driving. At first it would start up again after the first attempt now it takes anywhere from 5 - 10 attempts before it will start again.

It is running extremely cool, for example driving in very hot weather around busy traffic the needle barely moves off c and then strangely when I drove 100km along the freeway it temporarily moved up to normal temperature then immediately dropped back again. I have also noticed when idling its revs are very low.

I am hoping this can be fixed under the Holden warranty (believe me I don't have my hopes up). Needless to say I am furious. I wrote this thread after seeing a thread here regarding the same model Commodore doing the same thing (stalling during u turns) among other things. I would really appreciate any info or advice or if any one else has experienced this, please to write in. Thank you.

Hi John,
As the owner of a similar 98 3.0l Jackeroo diesel, mine's done around 125,000km (see my comment 24 Oct ) - perhaps I can offer a couple of suggestions/questions.

1. Has the vehicle been through the recent global Isuzu fuel injector recall?
2. Check both oil filters and type of oil used. These motors must run on the correct oil (pretty thin) although mine is now on 1 grade up from the recommended 10W-30 - I think its 20W-40. The thicker the oil, the harder the vehicle may be to start, and runs lumpy when cold.
3. I'm told they have a bit of a dodgy sender switch thingy under the accelerator pedal, which can upset the computer. Perhaps get it checked/replaced.

I do know that the Isuzu motors in these were very advanced for their day but quite complicated with 2 oil pumps, 2 oil filters and oil pressure driven injectors, etc, making them a challenge to diagnose problems. Somebody did tell me that you can get the computer programme to do your own diag with a laptop, but I've neither needed to nor tried to follow that one up. I am sure of this, though: if you haven't got a really **** good mechanic, get one! Try a new or used Isuzu truck dealer/repairer.
Hope this helps...

Just paid the rego on my Mitsubishi Express SJ 8 seater van. 12 years old, quarter of a million klicks on the clock. On its third windscreen and third passenger side headlamp, but I can't hold Mitsubishi responsible for stones. It's been brilliantly reliable. Only ever off the road for servicing.

Hi All,

Looking for advice and help diagnosing an issue with a recently purchased secondhand VX 2001 Berlina Wagon, done 128,000kms.

In two instances we have been driving (hot day) at 100kms plus and the engine has cutout. Complete shut down - no brakes, no electrics. When this has occurred the battery light has flashed. The car will restart, runs very rough and cuts out again as soon as you accelerate over 50km/h. The petrol was at half a tank on the most recent occasion and below a qtr of a tank on the other. After time (1hour) the car restarts, runs fine and is drivable (we drove a further 200kms second occasion).

After the first shutdown we filled the car and it took 58ltrs (approx) and the most recent filled again and it took 44ltrs.

We checked the battery and the issue does not appear to be coming from there.

I noticed on previous threads a fuel pump issue - could this be the case? or more likely electrical?

Thanks for any help anyone might be able to offer!

Felicity

We've had our TOY Echo now for 4 years and are happy owners. The car has around 85,000 kms and has been regularly serviced. Apart from a few pretty minor squeaks and rattles (which only I but not the wife seem to notice) the car is perfect. It's economical, quiet, spacious and a great little commuter.

Holden Astra 2002 - absolute design debacle - ignition coil pack failed on our way to a wedding on the northern beaches from Blue Mountains at 3.30pm on a Friday afternoon. We had to limp to Parramatta Holden where we had to beg to have something done about the car. At that stage the car was still under warranty and it still cost me $600.

Air conditioner re-gassed twice in four years, third time, I was told the air conditioner needed to be replaced $900 thank you, due to air conditioner clutch failure!

Radio comes on when starting car full blast, don’t you love it 6am in the morning.

Ignition would not start whilst in car park at Penrith car park 8.30pm, car fully loaded with perishable foods, the shopping centre wants to close up, what do you do? - We managed to start the car after 1 hr through the grace of the almighty and no one else. New barrel replaced under warranty after a number of phone calls and my time.

Now, today, ignition failure for the second time with my son in Newcastle who has missed an appointment because of it and it looks as though we will have to put it on a flat top to bring back to Sydney, at what cost? Because this piece of **** cannot be started.

Just think of your daughter, 12 o'clock at night trying to get home in situation as above. Just to add, timing belt every 60,000 kms, what a joke, $700 a pop, thank you! Buy Japanese and you will not have your hand in your pocket. Holden offered us zero support bar the first barrel replacement. You would think a new barrel design would have been put in, but no same old ****.

Hello
I had bought a Ford Falcon Futura 2000 yr model which has runned around 166000 kms. The petrol consumption of the car is too low. Another problem is when I start the car every time there is a dte alarm appears. I want to know what it is. Another thing is oil is dropping from the silencer. Why it occurs? What I have to do for all these thing? I need solution and advice for all of these problems. Pls help me.

Rajesh

I have a KIA Cerato and have had 5 going on number 6 Radio/CDs. I have had my brand new KIA for two years. I took my complaint to KIA directly but got no where. I am now having to take my car back, taking time off work as they will only look at my car between Mon - Fri during the hours of approx 8am - latest appointment 2.30pm. I was told by one of the workers that one man had 12 faulty radio/CD players fitted to his car.

Not Good Enough.

Kim,
I bought an Auto because of the problems people were having with the clutch on the manuals. I did some research and to my mind the clutch is too small. A contributor to another site claims Nissan has now released a modification for the clutch? If you have success with Today Tonight, I have much more to contribute about anomalies with this vehicle that will make the story much more interesting.

Regards, Al

I brought my vehicle over from South Africa on a holiday and had it serviced at a Ford dealership in the western suburbs of Sydney NSW. I left it with them for a couple of days as I was sight seeing around Sydney. I was little bemused when I picked the car up. When I entered the driveway as the spare parts ute was arriving for work the driver seem to be intoxicated and was drinking a tooheys new long neck. Could also hear bottles rolling around in the back of the ute. I was startled as it was 8am in the morning. I picked for vehicle up and drove no further than 450 metres out of the driveway when the diff gave way and I was brought to a sudden halt. After getting out of the vehicle I checked for damage and noticed there were prawn heads inside the left front hub cap. A foul smell indeed. Then I proceeded to check the back seat and found 2 tickers to bass hill drive and a tube of ky jelly and bottle of cougar.

Let’s just say I can't wait to get home to Durban.

It started by making a rattle kind of noise then just stopped operating.

My daughter tried to turn radio on while car was not turned on. Warning signal went ever since - cannot stop it. I even went and unplugged battery to reset but the signal did not stop at all, very annoying please help.

I have a 2001 Kia Carens which I've owned since new with 115k on the clock. So far I've had the following problems:

* Plastic pin broke in driver's side door handle once.

Absolutely nothing major at all. It's got 6 seats, heaps of space and great economy. Probably one of the biggest highlights is the Phillips / Kia stereo which even though it's completely standard I had my neighbour convinced at one stage that the car had a 12" sub woofer ...

The car handles much better than it should given its dimensions, and was just $23,000 band new with a 6 year warranty! (A friend of mine got his for $18,800 when they ran them out!)

All in all it's been a bargain, and when time comes to sell it my next car will have a lot to live up to.

If you're looking for a wagon or people mover, definitely take one for a test drive now that they're getting around for less than $10k.

17th Oct 2007 Renault RX4 fidji 2003 model with 22000 miles on the clock full service history wrecked its gearbox. Apparently the crown wheel has damaged the casing and guess what it needs a new gearbox, awaiting Lumleys extended warranty to pay for it (that’s another story).

I will contact Renault as there appears to be particular problems with this vehicle though it’s out of warranty.

Can’t agree more with the Glasgow garage owner, these vehicles are thrown together we even had the plastic engine shield chaff through the fuel lines. Haven’t seen any recall notice for this and don’t think mine had any special lines fitted so could happen to any diesel RX4.

I have just installed a 50 litre gas tank into my BA Falcon and I can only get on average 260km per tank!

Is this about right?

Would anyone happen to know how to turn off the warning alarm that rings when you have not put your seat belt on and started driving?

It's a good reminder for on-road driving of course, but becomes fairly inconvenient when driving through paddocks and getting in and out to open and close gates etc.

I have the same problem - I was going to London today in my TD2 2.5S Disco on a 99 when the engine power just stopped then came back on. The engine was still running but it didn’t go faster and the revs stayed at 3000. I have a auto so I got towed back to my garage and they say as my car is overheating and the coolant level had leaked overnight that my head gasket has probably blown as when the coolant was topped up and the engine was running but with the coolant lid off there was bubbles in the water. Meaning that air is getting in. Also I looked near the back drivers side wheel as that’s where the fuel pump is and it was leaking ... all of these are contributing to my … Was perfect Discovery.

I too have a 2000 Kia Carnival and this week it done a crank shaft. Was told it would cost $7000 to replace motor. Not good enough when the motor costs more then the car. The more I look into it the worse it gets.
Deanne

Bought this 4X4 Courier in the winter and problem only appeared in February on the first 35 deg day we had and after Midland Ford did a "Throttle Body Service" during a normal oil change service. (Hint, Keep away from Midland Ford)

Runs faultlessly under 30 deg temperature days -- over that , pings like mad, all sensors check as per specs, using 98 octane petrol has no effect, fuel pump pressures and flow as per specs, timing as per specs, fuel pump pre filter and tank clean, new high pressure in line filter installed.

This can't be the only Ford Courier in Australia experiencing this problem -- any comments and advice welcomed as EFI firms and the Ford "experts" in Perth are stumped.