VT Help Acclaim..

[SV666]

Hi guy's

First time venturing onto the vt-vx fourms and was wondering if someone could pass on some knowlegde to myself regarding my mums vt...

First off
VT II Acclaim
Been with us for around 8 years now..
Has been negelected...(due to stubbourn stepfather..)

As this car has been an ongoing issue for my mum and after countless attempts to take this car to holden (or any mechanic for that matter and not to any of my stepdads mates backyard operations..) for a complete head to toe check there has been some troubling issues occuring.

Car has massive hesitation/delays when applying acceleration if giving full throtle car slowly gains motentum and at some cases the revs bounce up and down sligthly but continue rising..

from a standing start (lights) (between 0-40km) when revved to 2500rpm car struggles to put power down feels like slipping and/or the diff is not putting the power to the ground, just feels very sluggish...

whilst travling at speed car is fine for eg/ traveling at 60km and wanting to get to 70km the revs respond ok and theres no slipping as such just the hesitation.. at 80km-100km if wanting more power the car would stuggle with giving more power feels like it slips, it feels like the car would start to jerk at that those kinds of speeds (unsettling really)

When idling the car's rear would move, it replicates when you take the handbrake off and as the adjusts to move off but it does this without the handbrake being touched.. I find that wierd..

Today I took it for a run just to see what it does as stated above it did all those things, i did push it quite a bit using the power button etc, which it felt a bit smooth at times while in use.. as I returned and turned the car off the smell of carbon was quite evident whether this car hasn't been on a decent "run" for sometime or there is major problems arising...

Also a few things interior wise that are falling apart such as driver seat not mounting properly and dodgy glove box whereas you go to open it and the actual front cover would fall into your lap, and the like.

As I am not the master mechanic here and niether is my stepdad although he would like to think he is..ha! ha! I would like to know whether is this worth while to fix up and if so what would I be looking at expense wise? Mum can't afford a new car but she needs something more reliable I offered my sv6 to her for peace of mind until we can get this sorted out but she has knocked it back..

Any help and knowledge will be a great help.
Thanks in advance Alex.

[graham7773]

How much do you want to spend? New coil packs (ebay), plugs and leads with oil change and air + oil filter probably would not go astray. Clean the throttle body and butterfly, spray carby cleaner works do not spray the maf sensor. Put the car in for automatic transmission service including transmission flush. Can be done at home but you will need a very big drain pan and at least 15 litres of Dexron 3 transmission fluid. Better to get auto man to do it. He will probably pick up anything else wrong with the transmission and tell him about slight slipping feeling. As for "carbon smell", leaking rocker gaskets letting oil fall on to exhaust manifolds will give that, also hot brakes can cause a similar smell. Driver seat and glovebox are just "fixit or replace it" items. seat mount bolts don't usually come loose but if they have, just tighten them up. That's enough for now.

[accentstencil]

When I had the problem of slow acceleration I replaced the oxygen sensors and it improved greatly but this may not be your problem but oxygen sensors should be changed every 80,000-100,000 ks. If the car is missing under acceleration then that is usually due to a bad spark plug or lead, most probably lead.
If it is the right hand side of the glove box that falls then this is usually just a case of re-inserting the pin that fell out. The pin is made of plastic and should still be in the gove box unless it fell on the floor. If it is the left side that hangs then it is most likely that a part has broken off the glove box and a replacement glove box will be needed.

[graham7773]

accent stencil, I have never had oxygen sensor problems so never even thought of them. Don't they cause excessive fuel consumption as well?

[accentstencil]

accent stencil, I have never had oxygen sensor problems so never even thought of them. Don't they cause excessive fuel consumption as well?

Yes they do but I did notice a vast improvement in acceleration when I changed mine. It was running like a slug before the change.

[FstStig]

Coil Packs and DFI Module sounds like the go. Wouldn't hurt to change the air filter and fuel filter and giving the Throttle body a clean. I don't think you would need 15liters of Dextron 3 for an automatic filter service. My VR only took 5 Liters! When was the last time the Spark plugs were changed? Probably wouldn't hurt to take one out and have a look at it. Becareful when taking off the Spark plug lead as these tend to snap if they are really old.

[SV666]

Thanks guys, so far the coils auto trans check and throttle look to be the go here. I would love to perform this myself but I am not the well into the mechanic side of things would give it a go but rather get the professionals to do the job. As someone has asked how much am I looking to spend? 2 grand I think is plausible if and any extra will look into as well but I would assume upwards of 2 grand with labour costs... Will check the spark plugs and leads at least I know how to do that

[graham7773]

SV666, the coil packs are a snap. just 2 little bolts each... and they are numbered. If you do them, do the plugs and leads also. You will like the result Mumboman, with the trans fluid flush, it's not a normal service. You disconnect the return pipe from the radiator to the tranny then run the motor until the fluid coming out is cherry red. Probably a good idea to put a bit of clear hose on the outlet fitting to run the waste fluid into a container. Helps to see when the fluid is right colour too. Naturally you put new fluid in as you go. Voila, complete trans fluid flush. By the way, a dry fill on the VT trans is 7.9 liters. To completely flush the trans it's good to make sure by pushing some extra fluid through. 15 liters covers it fairly thoroughly