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Engine light on - Car seens fine tho?

JamesyYz125Brap

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I own a 08 Sv6 ute. I lost my licence so it doesnt get driven much, and a couple weeks ago it sounded a bit wierd on start up, like it was lacking battery power or something.
So i ignored the light and said i'll drive it far enough to charge the battery and hopefully it will go away tomorow, which is did..
And now a few weeks later, it seems to have all the battery power, but its come up with check engine again, changed oil and filter couple weeks ago, coolant levels fine.
Just wondering if its simple to take it in and get them to check for the error with thier computer things, and if its stupidly overpriced to do this or?
And also my dad topped my coolant up, but he used the type B or which ever one isnt suitable for alloytec.
So is a top up of the wrong coolant something i should be worrying about?
I wanna replace the coolant anyway, is it something that can be done in the driveway?
Any help or suggestions are appreciated :)
 

paddingtontv

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In these engines you should top with the red/orange colored coolant or just water top not good to mix, they have it in Auto one
 

reccymech

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My engine light came on last night after I'd been replacing the low-beam lights with HID upgrades. I think it was because to gain access to the passengers side I had to remove the air box and in doing so I disconnected the MAF sensor (I think this is what it is) and forgot to connect back up after I took the car for a 'check'. Now the Check Engine light is on.

Car drives fine. No the 'piss off' is have the light reset, which will no doubt cost me. :mad:
 

Zerone_V

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The check engine light will reset automatically if the car does not detect any errors for a number of key off key on cycles.

A cheaper option may be to buy a cheaply elm327 scantool from eBay, ($20)
And scan / clear the codes yourself.

Finally, these VE commodores are very voltage critical.
Even though my battery is not even a year old, this cold wet weather (with wipers blower fan, demister headlights and all the other crap running), I'm finding that I have to put my battery on charge every fortnight or so, otherwise the crank voltage is too low, and I start getting problems starting and the car throwing error codes.

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mpower

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Even though my battery is not even a year old, this cold wet weather (with wipers blower fan, demister headlights and all the other crap running), I'm finding that I have to put my battery on charge every fortnight or so, otherwise the crank voltage is too low, and I start getting problems starting and the car throwing error codes.

that's not normal, I'd say your alternator is on it's way out or the battery you bought is cheap junk/faulty.
 

Zerone_V

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Nah, at the moment my electrical loads are pretty full on.
I have 3 cameras and a DVR fitted that only power up whilst driving, the IQ unit which appears to suck power updating traffic information when then car is off,
All the usual calaisv power sucking options such as memory power seats and mirror positions, where the seat will change its position if me, or my misses takes the car out.
The alternator is definitely charging the battery, but lots of short trips are not giving the alternator time to get the battery up to condition.

I've also been doing a fair bit of programming on the car, which requires ignition on, engine off for long periods of time, which is not helping matters.

Hence the reason to give the battery a top up charge every fortnight.
(A good drive is what the car really needs at the moment)


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mpower

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Sounds like you need a better alternator then, lot's of short trips won't be helping. As I said though, not normal and the further information you just provided confirms this.
 

JamesyYz125Brap

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My engine light came on last night after I'd been replacing the low-beam lights with HID upgrades. I think it was because to gain access to the passengers side I had to remove the air box and in doing so I disconnected the MAF sensor (I think this is what it is) and forgot to connect back up after I took the car for a 'check'. Now the Check Engine light is on.

Car drives fine. No the 'piss off' is have the light reset, which will no doubt cost me. :mad:

Haha dude I did the exact same thing when installing led strips under my headlight. The check engine light will be gone tomorrow bud so don't stress. .
 

JamesyYz125Brap

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And as for my ute. The check engine lights gone away again as I had the car running for 30min or something yesterday. So it was just the car sensing that the battery was flat like I thought it would have been. .
As for the coolant tho, I was told its a job to leave to the mechanic but I was planning to do it myself. Can anyone point me in the right direction? :)
 

RiCeY

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Sounds like you need a better alternator then, lot's of short trips won't be helping. As I said though, not normal and the further information you just provided confirms this.

A better alternator wont change anything as it will still charge at the same rate. The charge rate is variable and is controlled by the BCM/ECM and depends on the battery voltage and condition.

The problem is the time available for charging which will remain insufficient with a higher capacity alternator.
 
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