Joelene
Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2014
- Messages
- 44
- Reaction score
- 16
- Points
- 8
- Location
- Melbourne
- Members Ride
- VE Commodore
I thought this might be valuable for advice for anyone who has a VE Commodore SS V8 or SSV V8 that has a sudden airconditioner or cooling fail when seemingly everything else is working.
Instead of going through all the fuse boxes (there are three) one in the passenger footwell, one in the RHS engine compartment and one in the boot above the battery, and ultimately booking into an airconditioning repairer or a Holden dealer, have a look at this first.
The SS V8 Commodores are known to throw the airconditioner belt off rendering the compressor useless though still driveable. This is the second short belt on the drivers side of the engine tucked down below. It runs around the compressor, a tension pulley and then the harmonic balancer.
There is a GMH fix for this I believe which involves installation of another pulley to keep the belt on track. The problem occurs as the harmonic balancer starts to get a wobble on the rubber base it's mounted on eventually throwing the airconditioner belt off.
I am yet to determine if this is a recall fix for free issue. It damn well should be if Holden knows about this and has a fix for it......
Laws nowadays cover design defect so even products out of warranty should be covered under new Federal Laws covering design life warranties, i.e if you made it and know it's crap and the user has an expectation of so many years of life, you should fix it. Free.
I knew about this throwing belt issue a year ago but when the cooling failed on mine recently it was one of the last things to cross my mind as it simply wasn't visible. I had the standard "we don't know" at local Holden service, book it in, pay a diagnosis fee, have you had the car regassed? It should be regassed every few years yada yada.
A...car....does...not ...need....to....be...regassed....if....it...hasn't....leaked....out. If it has leaked out the leak needs to be FIXED then REGASSED otherwise regassing is a pointless exercise.
Anyway, I found the belt jammed and off the aircon pulley and also jammed behind the harmonic balancer, so before you spend the money....have a look for this seemingly COMMON problem on VE Commodre V8s.
Cheers.
Instead of going through all the fuse boxes (there are three) one in the passenger footwell, one in the RHS engine compartment and one in the boot above the battery, and ultimately booking into an airconditioning repairer or a Holden dealer, have a look at this first.
The SS V8 Commodores are known to throw the airconditioner belt off rendering the compressor useless though still driveable. This is the second short belt on the drivers side of the engine tucked down below. It runs around the compressor, a tension pulley and then the harmonic balancer.
There is a GMH fix for this I believe which involves installation of another pulley to keep the belt on track. The problem occurs as the harmonic balancer starts to get a wobble on the rubber base it's mounted on eventually throwing the airconditioner belt off.
I am yet to determine if this is a recall fix for free issue. It damn well should be if Holden knows about this and has a fix for it......
Laws nowadays cover design defect so even products out of warranty should be covered under new Federal Laws covering design life warranties, i.e if you made it and know it's crap and the user has an expectation of so many years of life, you should fix it. Free.
I knew about this throwing belt issue a year ago but when the cooling failed on mine recently it was one of the last things to cross my mind as it simply wasn't visible. I had the standard "we don't know" at local Holden service, book it in, pay a diagnosis fee, have you had the car regassed? It should be regassed every few years yada yada.
A...car....does...not ...need....to....be...regassed....if....it...hasn't....leaked....out. If it has leaked out the leak needs to be FIXED then REGASSED otherwise regassing is a pointless exercise.
Anyway, I found the belt jammed and off the aircon pulley and also jammed behind the harmonic balancer, so before you spend the money....have a look for this seemingly COMMON problem on VE Commodre V8s.
Cheers.
) 2 min fix to refit it not worth worrying about 