Powertrain error

[VZ Man]

Hi. I started my 06 VZ exec yesterday and the car was shaking like it was running on a few cylinders. After the computer check was done by the car the warning tone was heard and Powertrain error or fault was being displayed on the screen. I switched the car off and started it again and it was fine, switched the car off and started it again and no problem for the rest of the day. I have no idea what this means and it's not in the user manual. I switched the car off and started it again and it was fine for the rest of the day. Does anyone know what this means and is it a once off error?

[CHDSV6]

I've had the startup shake a couple of times in my SV6, but without the error. I'm no expert on engines etc, but i've always put it down to a sort of "cold start" or something. Usually a tiny rev (1000 - 1200rpm) for a second is enough to settle the shake, and then it's business as usual. I've been told by an auto electrician that a slightly low battery voltage (like 11.5v instead of 12v) can uspet some of the diagnostic sensors, especially the ABS Module during startup. I run with my headlights and foglamps on AUTO all the time and this generally doesn't flatten the battery, just drops the voltage slightly outside the required range for the car to be happy. If it only happens once randomly I wouldn't worry too much about it, but of course get your dealership to take a look if it is coming up more often than not.

Hope this helps.

[JBDrifter]

I picked up my VZ Calais on Saturday, all good with it until Monday when I was driving home from work. Still being new to the car, and it being my new toy I put it in active select mode to have a little play around and it straight away gave the "Check Powertrain" fault. It stayed for probably the next 6 or 7 starts of the car, then last night i took it for a drive and the fault was finally gone.

Don't know why it did it, but it's going to a mechanic tomorrow for a couple of other little things and he's going to check the fault logs for me to see what the go was.

BTW, it is in the user manual and the "Check Powertrain" message has something to do with an emissions fault. Most of my searching around the net for the cause of this found the problem to be faulty o2 sensors, but it could be a number of things.

[tigerpm7]

Interesting because the exact same thing happened to me last week. When I turned the car off and re-started it was fine so I thought nothing of it. Maybe I should get it checked out but if it doesn't do it again I guess it's not a problem and the dealer wont bother replacing anything.

[VS4fun]

Yeah you will probably find it is the oxygen sensor. Not sure the exact reason for it going off and then being fine. I have had that warning come up before, and stay on when you start the car. The issue was a oxygen sensor that had gone, apparently they are quite prone to playing up. My particular issue was because i have an aftermarket exhaust and high flow CATS the sensors are working out of range and fail more then usual.

If it isn't coming on all the time it's not to worry about, and probably not much to worry about either if it is on, but i don't like having warnings on my dash.