Hard restarting VR...1 hour wait.

[Hotblooded_VR]

Hey NickVR..where are you in Adelaide if I may ask? Do you do your own repairs? Can you point me in the direction of a good reliable cheaper mechanic maybe....I know I know...is there such a person...lol. My usual mechanic died a few years ago and the last few times with the very problem I posted about I used LubeMobile and they charge like a wounded bull, dont know what they are about sometimes (unless you get a LubeMobile ex Holden mechanic which I did once to replace the fuel pump) or they dont fix the problem to start with. I paid out $300 for them a year ago to find this fault I have originally posted about and all they did was decabonize and clean the fuel rail/intake body with a can of cleaner and still couldnt find the problem. I dont want a mobile mechanic again unless the car is undriveable.
Just wondered how you get your repairs done Nick.

 

[NickVR]

I'm in Salisbury, don't do all of my own repairs. To fix the problem I had I went to Bill Towlers on waterloo corner road at Burton. He checked the computer codes and fixed the problem. Can't remember how much it was but it wasn't exactly cheap but fixed the problem. For general servicing and repairs after that I went to a place on stanbel road called glenrothes motor repairs. Great guy does good work and resonably priced.

 

[Hotblooded_VR]

Ok Thanks Nick..I'll look into the Stanbell rd guy...I used to be a Salisbury postie btw...know it like the back of my hand even though I live in Elizabeth..Cheers..thanks for the info.

 

[Hotblooded_VR]

Oh BTW Guys just as an interesting sidenote...
I use an original Holden remote key which had a flat battery and therefore the central locking doesnt work even though the key still operates as a key to lock and unlock the car and to start the engine. Now whether it disbales the anti-theft correctly with a flat battery could have been some of the problem I thought. The plastic body of the key is broken away where one of the screws goes in to hold the key in the body securely..the other screw luckily is ok in the plastic body and that screw actually attaches to the little round contact of the key that hits the barrel ring on the car's ignition. I replaced the battery (which is a slide in fit inside the remote plastic case) thinking it might help my re-starting problem if anti-theft wasnt disabling properly, but that didnt help anyway.
Now here I come to the point...My ex-wife had to purchase a copy replacement key from Holden's themselves (I think she said about $200 Plus) a few years ago. Naturally over time the battery in that key died too. I opened the case up with great difficulty (even after removing the 2 screws) because the darn case was more or less molded together. I got it open only to find that the battery ITSELF was spot welded to the two contacts (positive and negative) and they in turn were soldered onto the circuit board inside the case. In other words you CANNOT replace the battery and its a $200 Plus throwaway key. I was NOT impressed especially coming from a Holden dealer. So beware when purchasing a key that you maybe ask to see inside it and make sure its not a soldered/welded battery and has a slip in surround to hold the battery. Just thought i'd let you know in case somebody else has to replace a key or needs a spare. Maybe I was a one-off case in point..who knows. It would be interesting to hear if anybody else has heard of being ripped off that way too.

 

[Hotblooded_VR]

Sorry guys...I've just been informed in another part of the forum by Not_An_abba_Fan that this is a known issue about the keys...darn I wish I had know about it a few years ago when I got burned. Apologies all.

 

[NickVR]

If you have an original remote the batterys are able to be replaced. Did it on mine, glad I had one factory remote still cos the other was a replacement.

 

[OzJD]

As I posted in the other spot you posted, you can rip the spot welding off the battery mate, ill post pics to prove it if needed

 

[Hotblooded_VR]

Actually OzJD I wouldnt mind seeing the pics thanks buddy...Did you somehow have to respot weld the pos/neg tags to the new battery somehow also..if so what sort of gear did you use for the spot welds?..forgive my ignorance.

 

[calais_cruzin]

Im not sure what batt goes in em but u can get batteries with tags on them, then u jst solder them into place.

This is the most common coin battery, jst have to find out what number urs is or voltage.

CR2032-VC - 3V PCB Mounting Lithium coin battery - Jaycar Electronics
CR2450NRH 3V PCB Mounting Lithium Coin Battery - Jaycar Electronics

 

[Hotblooded_VR]

Thanks calais_cruzin and OzJD. I'll keep my eyes open for a tagged battery anyway for my second spare key. It is a 3Volt CR2032. I have now actually modified the First spare key to use a slide-in button 3volt battery by de-soldering a button slide-in holder from one of my old computer motherboards which hold the same size battery. It took a little filing on the slide-in plastic case that holds the battery just to get it flat enough to fit into the key shell but it worked out ok, and then I soldered that to the little circuit board in the key body. All working well now and I dont have to worry about soldering anymore when I have to replace the battery. Slide the old battery out and slide a new one in. Thanks all for your suggestions. Now back to my main problem of hard to re-start the car. I'm saving up to replace the TPS first cause I think that might fix a few problems (error code 21). In the meantime i'll use your suggestions and see if i can find one of my son's mates with a VR and borrow his ECU to find out if mine has actually partially fried itself (error code 51) and therein might lie my main problem. I'll post back in a few weeks if I manage to get that done. Cheers all.