Engine breathing heavy

[me&myVZ]

Hi Guys,
I had my VZ in for a service yesterday and was given a 3 page document on things to fix
The Most serious of them all being:
Power Steering Resovoir Leaking
Bad Engine Oil Leaks
Rear Shocks are Soft
Water Pump is leaking Badly
Front Timing Cover Leaking Badly
Power Steering Pump Noisey on start up
Left Hand Engine Mount Broken
Brake Fluid is full of liquid
Bad Water leak from Thermostat housing

Now Just 1 month ago I had the Radiator, Water Pump and Thermostat Replaced and now this mechanic is telling me that they haven't been replaced!
He also said my Engine is breathing heavily ....Does anyone know what this means?

He was an arrogant prick and I got the usual Oh Holden's are crap Australian's can't build cars Toyota, Mazda, Suzuki and Nissan all the way!! He told me that It is going to cost me more to fix then the car is worth and to get rid of it! Now I ####en love my car and I don't wanna sell it! So Can someone please give me a run down on what these things mean and how much Im looking at to fix them!! Im not selling my Gorgeous Commodore for a ####en Nissan Micra you stupid ####!! lol

Thanks Gang!

[somefool]

my best advice: try a different mechanic.

"Brake Fluid is full of liquid" ?????????????????
..he must mean water. because believe it or not, brake fluid IS liquid.

[me&myVZ]

I have tried so many mechanics over the years it's not funny! This Bloke many be a prick but he knows what hes talking about! I had the Radiator, Thermostat and Water Pump replaced by a different mechanic all together! The Brake Fluid is yes liquid lol But on the Invoice is says "Brake Fluid is full of liquid and needs to be flushed and replaced"

[RiCeY]

Power Steering Resovoir Leaking - Id be tightening up the hose clamps and recheck after a week.
Bad Engine Oil Leaks - Possible
Rear Shocks are Soft - Also possible how many kms has it done?
Water Pump is leaking Badly - Not uncommon on VZs
Front Timing Cover Leaking Badly - Very common on VZs near the alternator
Power Steering Pump Noisey on start up - Tighten all power steering hose clamps as air in the system will make the pump noisy.
Left Hand Engine Mount Broken - Possible
Brake Fluid is full of liquid - Should be light brown in colour and clear not cloudy
Bad Water leak from Thermostat housing - Not very common and an absolute bastard to get to.

[me&myVZ]

The ridiculous thing is he gives me this list with things like Air Filter is dusty, Windscreen Wiper holders could do with a replacement, Coolant Flush is recommended, A Tune would be beneficial yadadada why didn't he just fix it! Anyway with the list of things that I have put up what would I be looking at to Fix them?

[richardpalinkas]

usually its not the water pump leaking, instead a gasket/ seal directly above it

[RiCeY]

Hows he going to tune it exactly?

Id stay away from that workshop if I was you.

[juiceie vh sle]

he sounds as dodgy as they come..


no harm in getting a second opinion

[exastra]

RiCeY is right on the money.

When I bought my VZ it developed a noisy power steering pump after I cleaned the engine down - found that every hose clamp was loose and leaking. I tightened all clamps, bled the system and presto all good. Its an easy job to bleed the system, just jack up front under the center of the front cross member so both front wheels are off the ground and turn full lock to full lock with the engine off. Do this about 6 or so times lock to lock. Start car and idle for a minute. Turn engine off and repeat until the noise goes away! Make sure the resevouir doesn't get low on fluid while you are doing it. One job done.

Brake fluid can be flushed with a mate pushing the pedal. Again make sure the resevouir doesn't get low on fluid.

Timing cover oil leaks could be a bit costly. Does anyone recommend a stop leak additive that might swell the seals?

[RiCeY]

The timing cover is sealed with a silicone type sealant so additives wont make any difference.

[me&myVZ]

I intend on getting a second opinion as I was not impressed!! And I shall be contacting the Mechanic (Family Friend funnily enough) that fitted the Radiator, Thermostat and Water Pump and telling them to fix what they didn't do right the first time!! They had my car for 2 Days in the Workshop so to be told just one month $1800 later that it's still leaking came as a real shock to me!! The same mechanic told me that my temperature gauge should move up and down and it's normal to sit above half way mark.... The Mechanic that sent me home with the 3 page document of faults though was from The Bridgestone service centre which is known in the My Area to be quite good. Im not sure where else to try as it seems everywhere I go they are just taking advantage of the fact that I have no idea what their talking about or how much Ideally I should be paying and tell me that Holden is crap which really offends me to be honest, because I love my car and personally think Toyotas and Mazdas are as Ugly as #### not to mention I know people with both Toyotas and Mazdas that have had nothing but problems. My car is exceptionally well looked after and is immaculate inside and out and not a cent has been spared on it so for all these problems to just keeping popping up out of the blue and this ongoing over heating / Leaking business that no one can fix is really starting to piss me off as it seems as though it causing further damage to the engine!! Im fully aware of the oil leak, I was told by Holden that it's my Sump Guard O'ring or something along those lines however it was a VERY slow leak and I was told by Holden that it would be about $800 to fix and wasn't very urgent that I have it repaired now all of a sudden my garage floor is covered in Oil and the Engine Cover underneath is filled to the brim with oil. WTF Is going on? The Mechanics are driving me nuts!!

[me&myVZ]

The Bloke from Bridgestone told me that my Engine only has maybe 12 - 18 Months left considering the condition it's in.... Now My car has had every single service in the logbook, using the best Petrol, oil and coolant money can buy! Every time It's needed something I've had it fixed right away, and it always use to come back from the Service centre with 0 Faults to report. Now Each time it goes in The List get Bigger and bigger and I can't work out why as nothing has changed!! I can give it my best shot to locate and tighten the hoses but the bleeding of the system sounds a little out of my league unfortunately! The ordeal is becoming incredibly stressful and draining my bank account however Im not prepared to give up on my car!

The thing that got me scared though was the Bloke made a big and dramatic pause when explaining the "Engine is breathing heavily and there is oil in the inlet" ....Dose anyone even know what this means? How much should I be looking at to pay?

Thanks again Guys

[Brenah]

Oil in the inlet?
Did he mean Air inlet? Well yeah oil gets squirted in there when ya mash ya foot to the floor.

RiCey will have some answers for ya.

[Stewlz]

When I installed the mace manifold insulator on my vz sv6 I had a LOT of milky oil in the air intake pipe, which I didn't realize till I sat it on the ground upside down and oil drained out of the resonator pipes for at least 5 minutes. I've read from this here that it's just from the crankcase and is quite normal. It's easy enough to just clean it up when you take the intake off

[impulsesv6]

The thing that got me scared though was the Bloke made a big and dramatic pause when explaining the "Engine is breathing heavily and there is oil in the inlet" ....Dose anyone even know what this means? How much should I be looking at to pay?

Thanks again Guys

blowby past the rings

[RiCeY]

Some oil "sweat" in the intake pipes is normal, enough to pour out is derfinately not normal.

[NAVZCALAIS]

As ricey said it depends on the amount of oil in your inlet pipe. The hose that is connected to the engine side of the inlet pipe is connected to your PCV valve which allows pressurised oil vapours to escape the crankcase and feed back into your inlet and be burnt during you standard engine cycle. A little bit is nothing to worry about however if it pours out something bigger is at hand.
Also if you haven't already what i will recommend is take your car in to get the engine bay cleaned (it costs roughly about 50 bucks) that way you will able to see the problem areas yourself. If you don't know what your looking at take some photo's of your engine bay from several different angles and post them up here that way some of the more knowledgable JC'ers might be able to help you
Hope this helps

[ToMMMaY]

Sometimes it might cost you a little bit more
But its worth it
if your into performance just Do some Researching and get the Engine Rebuilt like a Boss
You know its going to come back brand new And would definatly be happy

[me&myVZ]

Thanks for the responses guys, From my Understanding there is a lot of oil!!!! He said to me he has never seen a Commodore breathe so heavy! And It is going through buckets of oil!! My Garage floor looks like a black pool but Im not sure if that's anything to do with that or just one of the many oil leaks!! I will take some photo's of my engine bay tomorrow and post them up!!

[me&myVZ]

My Dreaded Oil Leak

[me&myVZ]

Second Picture

[me&myVZ]

And Third

[me&myVZ]

Sorry about the quality and lack of detail guys! It's just really hard to get my big camera in there!

[NAVZCALAIS]

Ok first get some degreaser and give the crankshaft pulley area a really good clean (till you can see silver again). That way you will able to see for yourself what is happening. Let your car idle up to temperature and watch for any fresh leaks. If more oil appears you will obviously have a leak. The power steering hose connections looks like their shot so they will need fixing. As for the amount of oil in your inlet unfortunately it sounds like you have an interal problem with your piston rings with the car more than likely having excessive blow by. My advice go back to a mechanic and ask them to do a compression test and a cylinder leak down test. Doing these two tests can narrow down straight away exactly what the problem is
Hope this helps

[RiCeY]

The timing cover will be leaking near the alternator and covering everything with oil, I guarantee it.