Please help guys, powertrain warning light drives me mad!!!
Hi guys,
Recently joined here! I know some of you will probably post "do a search"but Im currently banging my head against the wall with this "powertrain warning light" in the dash.
This warning light came on a week after 120000 kms service was done by my local Holden dealership here in Campbelltown NSW. Being the first time this has happened to me straight away I took the car in to a Holden workshop in Wetherill Park. They reckon one of the bank II O2 sensor is faulty so they replaced it, reset the code and off I went...... The following day this warning light re-appeared again so I returned back there where they had my car for a full day, checked everything, picked up the car in the arvo all is good, again on my way home that arvo the bloody light came on again!!
Fed up, frustrated and wanted to get a 2nd opinion, I booked the car in to my local dealership for them to diagnose the fault and fix the problem. They rang me during the day and they came up with the same diagnostic as the 1st workshop ( O2 sensor ), at this stage I didnt really care I just told them to fix whatever that needs to be fixed so they fitted a new O2 sensor to my car. Picked up the car in the arvo and the lady in the counter told me that if the light re-appear again they'd have to do a software upgrade to the car ( means more money and more time wasted ).
Guess what????? The following morning this friggin light came back on! So I basically hit the roof, after multiple emails sent to them, I spoke to their service manager and expected them to perform this software upgrade for me free of charge ( booked in next Wednesday ) as obviously they have come up with a wrong diagnostic. They have agreed to do this and I will see how I go next Wednesday. If this software upgrade doesnt fix the problem I will demand a refund.
My question is, what could be the real problem of this? Any ex Holden techs / Holden experts here that could help me with this? I doubt that this "software upgrade" will fix the problem, I think this was more their way to cover their f**k up. I dont think they have any idea of whats going on with the problem and they just pulled this "software upgrade" bs out of their a**e.
I really wanted to get this problem fixed once and for all, looked in this forum and I have tried disconnecting the battery and the ECU fuse. The light would go away for say 15-20 minutes and it would re-appear again
Please shed some lights my fellow forum members, especially VZ SV6 owners out there that had similar problems in the past.
Cheers!
Same problem when I changed the spark plugs myself. Its the intake manifold gasket. They probably broke it when they lifted the manifold and didn't bother replacing it. The engine senses a problem because its taking in air from the break in the gasket. A new gasket is around $75. I just got some high temp sealer from the spare parts place, cleaned up the gasket and put sealer wherever i thought there was a problem/break in the gasket. Engine light hasn't come back on in 2 months.
I know yes its a possibility, apparently Holden doesnt sell the stupid paper gaskets anymore, they have the metal ones now. So did you think I should mention this to them? And if they buggered the original paper gaskets and this caused the warning light to come on, what is my chance of getting them to fit the new metal gaskets there for free? Surely they will try everything they can to not do this..........Originally Posted by fixedit
Check to see if they billed you for a gasket. If they didn't you could argue they should have replaced it. Bit hard to prove either way. I think the gasket would always break when the manifold is removed.... It doesn't take long to get it off yourself. Maybe worth a try.
Thanks for your reply mate, I will mention this to them next Wednesday and we'll see how I go. Checked my invoice and no gaskets were billed to me, so yes the pimple-faced 16 years old apprentice probably stuffed the gaskets and didnt replace them!!
I know I could get this done myself but my principle is "if you stuffed it, you fix it" so I will take this up to them and until they fix this warning light problem they will not see the back of me!
Anyone else out there that could help me with a possible explanation as to why this warning light keep coming back on?
Cheers guys!!
i had same prob with "check powertrain", i changed all 4 o2 sensors and it went away, i hindsight i would have only lashed out the cash for the front 2, 1st, as they are the main culprits i have read.
all gaskets are metal now as in the ve's, they are better and hardier, i am doubtful that they would have broken or if they did left a broken gasket on there.
did ur mechanic only change 1 o2 sensor? i would have thought that changing the pair would be the go.
apparently coils are a problematic item for these cars also. i am changing mine soon i think.
1st workshop replaced the bank 1 sensor ( before cat ), 2nd workshop replaced the bank 2 sensor ( before cat also ). The thing that pisses me off is that both of them diagnosed the car, plugged in their u-beaut TECH2 thingo, it tells them that the O2 sensor is buggered, it even tells them which sensor, which bank etc but the PROBLEM REMAINS. The reason I took the car to Holden was that they are suppose to be the experts and have all these technical informations handy when problems like this arise but unfortunately it isnt working at the moment. I will let youse know how I go tomorrow with the software upgrade!
so i assume they/you disconnected the battery for a while, to reset the cpu? also maybe make sure the wires to the o2 sensors havnt been rubbing on exhaust etc. its a tough one mate, when this happened to me, i just change everything as it needed to be done anyway. plugs, filters, cleaned throttle body, new o2 sensors and that fixed it, if it didnt i was gonna do the coils, but it is hesitating on takeoff under heavy accelaration lately so they may need to be done. good luck mate hope you figure it out. keep us posted
I have had it with this problem..... Took the car in back to Holden to get the software upgraded, it went alright for 35kms trip to work in the morning. Guess what on my way home this arvo, it came back on again. Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
Yes mate, I have tried disconnecting both the battery and the ECU fuse with no luck. Both dealerships might've had it reseted through their TECH2 scan tool though.
I am going to demand a refund from them because the problem wasn't fixed also worth mentioning that they billed me for this software upgrade but I refused to pay as their diagnostic is obviously INCORRECT and the problem wasnt fixed the first time around. So people if you take your car to a Holden dealership to get it repaired and if the problem still exist, get it up them, dont let them trying to pull their BS out of their a**e and expect you to keep paying more and more for their incompetence.
Im not sure of the sensor wiring rubbing against exhaust mate but if this was the case wouldn't you think they would've picked this up?
Plugs were done in the last 120000kms service last December and there is no hesitation whatsoever from the engine, everything with the car / engine is normal so this is a tough one fellas.....
As soon as I have got my money refunded its time to find a "real mechanic" and let them find out whats wrong with it. Stay away from Holden Service I'd say, bunch of uselesss and pathetic people!
Its a shame that Holden built great cars but their aftersales support is crap!
Try an up to date Auto sparkie....Lot of mechs out there dont have the tools or know how..Got some problem VZ in the shop now thats costing a lot of time that cant be recovered. Even the Holden dealers send out the problem cars, we have to know everything and then get hammerd by the customers because we dont know our job. I think some ppl need to see the other side of the fence....
yeh i second that, sparkies are great, they identifie most problems straight away, because lets face it thats they're specialty, and they have all the diagnostic tools and no how to use them properly. a mechanic usually says youv got an elec fault, then go thru process of elimination to find it, whereas a sparky hooks up his digital fark knuckle and pinpoints it. saves time and money in my experience.
that sux mate, is it still showing the code for o2 sensor fault?
Yes mate, I have tried disconnecting both the battery and the ECU fuse with no luck. Both dealerships might've had it reseted through their TECH2 scan tool though.
I am going to demand a refund from them because the problem wasn't fixed also worth mentioning that they billed me for this software upgrade but I refused to pay as their diagnostic is obviously INCORRECT and the problem wasnt fixed the first time around. So people if you take your car to a Holden dealership to get it repaired and if the problem still exist, get it up them, dont let them trying to pull their BS out of their a**e and expect you to keep paying more and more for their incompetence.
Im not sure of the sensor wiring rubbing against exhaust mate but if this was the case wouldn't you think they would've picked this up?
Plugs were done in the last 120000kms service last December and there is no hesitation whatsoever from the engine, everything with the car / engine is normal so this is a tough one fellas.....
As soon as I have got my money refunded its time to find a "real mechanic" and let them find out whats wrong with it. Stay away from Holden Service I'd say, bunch of uselesss and pathetic people!
Its a shame that Holden built great cars but their aftersales support is crap!
I know the feeling of being on the other side of the fence as I work as parts interpreter in a major forklift company. What I dont understand is that both delaerships has had my car for a total of 5 times and so far Im getting no result. I cant keep taking the car back to them (time consuming) + they want me to keep paying for the labour which isn't fair as they were the ones who diagnosed it, assured me the repair was going fix the problem but no, the light kept coming back on. Why should I keep paying for their incompetence?
Will be taking the car to an auto sparky & mechanical workshop this morning so we will see how we go. Hopefully will come to the end of it. Will keep updating his thread until the problem is solved!
You may be overlooking some of the details in my post. 1. Engine light only came on after I changed spark plugs. 2. Engine light stopped coming on after I fixed the breaks in the gasket. Also, I suspect if you drive too long with a faulty air/fuel mix ratio caused by a break in the gasket, it could have an affect on the O2 sensors.
This 3rd party workshop reckons there may be a vacuum leak. It looks like ''fixedit'' may be right.
This is on for young and old guys, got the Service Department Ops Manager involved, sent him an email on the weekend spat the dummy about this.
When I informed him that a 3rd party workshop has inspected the car and it may be the broken intake manifold gaskets, his reply was "we have highly skilled and highly trained Holden experts, some has been working for Holden for over 20 years etc" and my response was why wasnt this picked up by your so called Holden experts? Why wasnt the 120000kms log book service done properly by your so called Holden experts? Dumba**e!!!!
Got to take my car back in there on Thursday if they dont fix it and still giving me the run around alas talking BS, I will take this matter further and will not back down.
hey buddy had same thing and like others have said my manifold gasket needed replacing but also my thermostat was sticking just be persistent holden are the most painful ***** going round
OZTEEL
<<< My Ride
Not sure if this would be the fix, but the oil pressure sensor will usualy go at around 150000kms. Maybe yours has failed early. This is an expensive part and only change it if you are sure of this.
The Holden dealer should be able to look up the fault code with the diagnostic tool, but again, money.
"Phantom messages" seem to be a common problem on the VZ V6, at least when they're a few years old. Mine had the larger problem of not starting, so the messages were something to ponder while I waited for a mechanic to arrive. The second mechanic to look at my problem said that it is common in VZ's; and that it requires two "Computers" to be reprogrammed, or possibly replaced (megabucks). A frien with the same symptoms has his VZ booked in for "reprogramming" in 10 days (local dealer is "busy"), and I'm waiting to see how he goes before I spend money on mine.
Latest update on this thread:
Dealership had my car for another 2 full days and reckon its the ECU but is unsure. They're going to check my ECU by swapping it to another VZ SV6's ECU but told me that I will have to wait as they couldnt find similar model car in their used car yard. Told them I aint happy and demanded a refund and they finally refunded my money -> another lesson for you guys out there, if any dealerships stuff you around, dont be afraid to demand your money back!
Took the car to an independent garage as per my previous post above, they done the checks and said that my cat converters are stuffed due to E10 fuel Ive been using in the last 2 years. They were really confident that by replacing the cats this powertrain light will go away so got them both replaced. The light stayed off for approx. 60 kms and it came back on again -.-''
I went back there to get the codes scanned and got these 2 codes: PO0420 and PO2098.
PO0420 -> catalyst operating efficiency below threshold - bank 1
PO2098 -> post catalyst fuel trim too lean - bank 2
2 possibilities for these 2 fault codes:
1. aftermarket cat converters fitted aint compatible / not good enough
2. new post cat o2 sensors buggered again due to bad cat converters problems in the first place ( dealership replaced both bank 1 and bank 2 post-cat sensors ) -> I am hoping this is the case and by putting new o2 sensors hopefully this will be the end of it all.
Will let everyone knows next week!
Anyone out there having problems with having aftermarket cat converters fitted to their car? Im not talking about performance / sport converters just standard non-genuine converters. Please advise guys!
Big block Alloytec
Was not aware of this problem. Hopefully new post cat O2 sensors will fix your problem.
See this article.Fuel School: Oxygen (O2) Sensor and Catalytic Converter Failure Problems
Hey mate I got the power train warning up yesterday. Guna take her in tomorrow
ScufVZwags, get the codes scanned and ask to see the codes or ask them to provide the codes to you. If the code(s) is/are emissions/catalytic converters/post-cat o2 sensors related, you have 3 options:
- replace the sensors ( if they are confirmed to be buggered )
- replace the cats ( must be genuine Holden otherwise the light will come back on again as the o2 sensors will sense something is different and will get their mates ECU to turn the annoying warning light to come back on ). My cats were the culprit and I took a shortcut by putting an aftermarket cats there and the light did come back on!!! Please learn from my mistake!
- save your money if you dont wanna go with genuine cats, get aftermarket cats or even better replace the full exhaust system with a performance one and buy these "spark plug non-foulers"
please click on the link below if you not sure what they are. This modification is very popular in USA as their emissions law are really strict compare to ours in NSW lol. I wish I would've found out about this earlier, this would've saved me a LOT of time and MONEY.
Here is the link for more info on these "spark plug non-foulers" to trick your post-cat o2 sensors:
Custom Exhaust: Tricking the Post-Cat O2 Sensor - JDM Universe.com
As for myself I am going to get a cat back exhaust system done soon, and still weighing up the option of getting an ECU tune to disable the post-cat o2 sensors reading (not cheap) or do the cheap and quick fix as per the link above.
Oh one more thing guys, should I go with 2.5 inch single cat back or 2 1/4 inch dual cat back? Not really after a mad performance gain, just want to get a better noise from the exhaust when I "open" her up and not too loud when idling/cruising.
Any feedback would be appreciated!
Hey mate had same problem and it was due to my thermostat sticking and a crack in my manifold gasket.
OZTEEL
lol why would you use e10... its cheaper but you use more fuel when you run e10.. so really your paying more. and you pay even more when compenents f*ck up
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