Barnzey90
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2011
- Messages
- 16
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- Location
- Gladstone, QLD
- Members Ride
- 2004 VYII Calais Supercharged V6
Hi Guys,
I’m new to these forums (first post actually) and I really need some help with the fuel gauge in my 04 VYII Calais Supercharged V6. I don't believe in hiding repairers name's etc. so here goes, I’ll try and keep it as brief but as detailed as possible.
Note: I do waffle on for quite a bit so you might need a fresh coffee before starting
)
The story goes; I bought the car second hand from a local (I live in Gladstone, QLD) dealer "Brian Headley's Used Cars and 4x4's" on 1st July 2011. I had never intended to buy a big car but fell in love with it the second I saw and drove it. Anyway being my first decent car (my first car was a getz) I was proud as punch and I did about 250 spirited km's on the night I bought it. As I was driving around I noticed that the fuel gauge wasn’t going down much (it was sitting on about 3/8ths of a tank) and at one point it seemed to be going up but I didn’t care cause I had a new car lol.
Anyway the next day I was driving around town and the car just died on me. It turned out the tank had run completely dry but the gauge was showing 1/4 remaining. I got some emergency fuel and went straight to the servo and put about 73litres into it. I phoned Headleys and they were very good about it and had it booked in at the local Holden dealer (Anderson’s auto city) on Thursday to have the gauge re-calibrated. Thursday rolled around and I had deliberately made sure that there was only approx. 7-10L left in the tank, as I had been told that the when the gauge hits empty there should be approx. 10-15L left in the tank (the gauge was showing 3/8ths). It went in and they phoned me within two hours to say it was fixed and the fuel gauge was working normally. I went and picked it up and instantly noticed the gauge was still at 3/8ths. I drove around for 10-15mins then went back and complained that it still wasn’t working and they said it would need a new sender unit. I reported this back to Headleys and they organised for a third-party repairer (Queensland Mechanical and Engineering) to fit a new sender unit to the car.
After fitting the sender the gauge functioned perfectly ...... for approx. 3-4 tanks of fuel then what it would do is go all the way to empty then for every litre used after the gauge would go UP! I thought FFS and rang Headleys, and they instantly organised for it to go to Anderson’s for diagnostics and calibration again. Anderson's said that it needed a new sender unit (I had told them when I dropped it off that it had one fitted 4 weeks ago) after I reminded them that it had a new sender unit they said "Oh...... well it probably just needs calibration then" so they re-calibrated it and I picked it up. Again the gauge functioned perfectly ...... for approx. 3-4 tanks of fuel then the gauge went back to never going to empty again (it would go close but never get there). I rang Headleys and they organised for it to go back to Anderson’s for diagnostics and calibration.
This time Anderson’s totally stuffed it up. the fuel gauge was now totally reversed (as in when the tank was full the gauge showed empty etc.), the engine now run like crap, the transmission couldn’t change gears properly (for example it would revv way to high in first gear then SLAM into second, or sometimes third and chug along). The engine/transmission was so crappy that I could not accelerate past 120km/h on a flat road; it was like there was a speed restrictor in place or something. I later found out that what they had done was flashed the ECU with the software for the vy or vx (can’t remember now) series 1 non-supercharged Calais and calibrated the fuel gauge for the Monaro. When I complained they said it was normal and that it could take up to 3 weeks for the calibrations to be fully effective.
Absolutely furious I phoned Headleys and demanded that they send the car to the next closest Holden dealer, which for me is Lawrence’s Holden in Rockhampton. Headleys agreed but I had to get the car to them, which I agreed with. I took a day off work and took the car to Lawrence’s. I dropped it off with a list of all the faults and left it with them at about 8:30, at about 12pm they phoned to say it was ready to go. When I arrived to pick it up they presented with a bill for $60 and said it had a blocked fuel filter and that it was $60 and that I would have to pay for it. I didn't have $60 at the time I barely had enough money for petrol. They had not called to authorise the repair or mentioned it on the phone. I had Headleys pay for it (and they did without question). They said that they had looked at it and that it was fine. At this point I made quite a scene, all the counter staff didn't want to know me and they brought out the service manager who wasn’t very helpful. anyway my 'scene' lasted about 20 min and in the end I demanded that they drain the tank put 10L in the car and let it idle for 15min, I promised them it would play up, Headley's agreed to pay for the labour and eventually they gave in and agreed to do it.
I left them with it and they rang late in the afternoon to ask me to come in and get the car. When I arrived I was presented with 6 photos of my fuel gauge and a service manager with a smug look on his face. He showed the photos one was the gauge position at 10L (gauge on empty) one at 20L (gauge just under a quarter) 30L, 40L etc. up to 60L. After I had looked at the photos I looked up at him and he said with a smile on his face "see it works perfectly" to which I replied "at which point did you put 10L in the car and run it for 15min?" the smile vanished from his face and he replied "we didn’t do that because we didn’t know if we had to drive it or not" my reply through gritted teeth was "where is my f**king car" he pointed to it in the yard I snatched the keys out of his hand and stormed out of that hell hole.
What they didn’t tell me is that they had re-calibrated the fuel gauge prior to draining the tank. Anyway with the new calibration the gauge did work fine for another 3-4 tanks before going haywire AGAIN. This time Lawrence’s suggested that the sender unit that was fitted was a DOA part and that Headley's should buy a genuine sender and have it fitted by Holden. Headley's agreed (apparently a sender unit and labour is about $700) to fit a new sender unit and they organised it to be done. On November 11th the second sender unit was fitted to my car. The new sender had appeared to have fixed it, even after 4 tanks it was still with range and I thought I was in the clear..... Until the 20th December approx. 5-6 tanks of fuel later. I was driving to work, I new the fuel was low and I had intended to fill up on the way to work that morning. The gauge was just a hair above the 'E' line and the distance to empty was showing about 9km (which was plenty) there are a couple of steepish hills on my route and the D2E counts down a bit quicker than usual because the car is working harder. The D2E counted down 3,2,1,0 and then within 10 seconds of it saying 0 and gauge on the 'E' line the car stalled. I shouted "F**K YOU YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF SH1T" at the top of my voice to the cluster (I’m sure it was offended)
My friend brought me fuel and I got to the servo and all was good again.
I rang Lawrence’s and told them what had happened and they told me that it was normal for that to happen, even though they were the ones to tell me there should be 10-15L left when the gauge hits empty. I didn’t bother to argue the point I just hung up.
I rang Anderson's and told them what had happened and they told me that it wasn't normal but didn’t know how much fuel should be left when the gauge hits empty.
I rang the Holden dealer in Maryborough and told them what had happened and they said that it’s defiantly not normal and that there should be 10-15L left in the tank when the gauge hit empty.
I rang WestPoint Holden in Indooroopilly in Brisbane and they weren't sure if was normal or not but they said you have 50km from when the fuel light comes on to when its empty, they were unable to clarify if the 'fuel light' was the low fuel or very low fuel warning on screen and also didn’t know if it was 50km at 8L per 100km or if was 50km at 18L per 100km. They also couldn’t confirm if by 50km to empty meant until the gauge reads empty or there’s no fuel in the tank.
I have a friend that has two VYIIs and my grandparents also have one and all 3 hit empty with approx. 15L left in the tank (i.e. 60L to fill it back up)
My Issue now is because Holden are telling Headley's that its normal operation for the car to stall when the gauge hits empty they won’t fix it.
I would like to make one point clear here Brian Headley's have been extremely good to me and I do not want to tarnish there name. As for Holden, I think I’ll go back to Hyundai’s for my next car, there service was brilliant, and they had straight answers.
I have a few questions
1) How much fuel should be left in the tank when the needle is on "E"?
2) Has anybody got any ideas or things I can try to diagnose or repair my fuel gauge?
3) Is Holden’s service always this bad? Nearly everyone I talk to has a had at least two bad experiences with Holden service. Many people have told me not to go to Anderson’s. Also when I was at Lawrence's four other people came in to make complaints about Holden service.
4) Is there a Holden dealer that anyone would recommend? Even if it’s in Brisbane, gold coast, sunny coast areas.
5) I have read on the forums that this is a very common problem with the VYs, is there a possibility that the fuel gauge cannot be fixed?
6) Also if the problem is so common is there a recall out from Holden regarding this?
I really appreciate any help you guys can give me on this issue.
I’m new to these forums (first post actually) and I really need some help with the fuel gauge in my 04 VYII Calais Supercharged V6. I don't believe in hiding repairers name's etc. so here goes, I’ll try and keep it as brief but as detailed as possible.
Note: I do waffle on for quite a bit so you might need a fresh coffee before starting
)The story goes; I bought the car second hand from a local (I live in Gladstone, QLD) dealer "Brian Headley's Used Cars and 4x4's" on 1st July 2011. I had never intended to buy a big car but fell in love with it the second I saw and drove it. Anyway being my first decent car (my first car was a getz) I was proud as punch and I did about 250 spirited km's on the night I bought it. As I was driving around I noticed that the fuel gauge wasn’t going down much (it was sitting on about 3/8ths of a tank) and at one point it seemed to be going up but I didn’t care cause I had a new car lol.
Anyway the next day I was driving around town and the car just died on me. It turned out the tank had run completely dry but the gauge was showing 1/4 remaining. I got some emergency fuel and went straight to the servo and put about 73litres into it. I phoned Headleys and they were very good about it and had it booked in at the local Holden dealer (Anderson’s auto city) on Thursday to have the gauge re-calibrated. Thursday rolled around and I had deliberately made sure that there was only approx. 7-10L left in the tank, as I had been told that the when the gauge hits empty there should be approx. 10-15L left in the tank (the gauge was showing 3/8ths). It went in and they phoned me within two hours to say it was fixed and the fuel gauge was working normally. I went and picked it up and instantly noticed the gauge was still at 3/8ths. I drove around for 10-15mins then went back and complained that it still wasn’t working and they said it would need a new sender unit. I reported this back to Headleys and they organised for a third-party repairer (Queensland Mechanical and Engineering) to fit a new sender unit to the car.
After fitting the sender the gauge functioned perfectly ...... for approx. 3-4 tanks of fuel then what it would do is go all the way to empty then for every litre used after the gauge would go UP! I thought FFS and rang Headleys, and they instantly organised for it to go to Anderson’s for diagnostics and calibration again. Anderson's said that it needed a new sender unit (I had told them when I dropped it off that it had one fitted 4 weeks ago) after I reminded them that it had a new sender unit they said "Oh...... well it probably just needs calibration then" so they re-calibrated it and I picked it up. Again the gauge functioned perfectly ...... for approx. 3-4 tanks of fuel then the gauge went back to never going to empty again (it would go close but never get there). I rang Headleys and they organised for it to go back to Anderson’s for diagnostics and calibration.
This time Anderson’s totally stuffed it up. the fuel gauge was now totally reversed (as in when the tank was full the gauge showed empty etc.), the engine now run like crap, the transmission couldn’t change gears properly (for example it would revv way to high in first gear then SLAM into second, or sometimes third and chug along). The engine/transmission was so crappy that I could not accelerate past 120km/h on a flat road; it was like there was a speed restrictor in place or something. I later found out that what they had done was flashed the ECU with the software for the vy or vx (can’t remember now) series 1 non-supercharged Calais and calibrated the fuel gauge for the Monaro. When I complained they said it was normal and that it could take up to 3 weeks for the calibrations to be fully effective.
Absolutely furious I phoned Headleys and demanded that they send the car to the next closest Holden dealer, which for me is Lawrence’s Holden in Rockhampton. Headleys agreed but I had to get the car to them, which I agreed with. I took a day off work and took the car to Lawrence’s. I dropped it off with a list of all the faults and left it with them at about 8:30, at about 12pm they phoned to say it was ready to go. When I arrived to pick it up they presented with a bill for $60 and said it had a blocked fuel filter and that it was $60 and that I would have to pay for it. I didn't have $60 at the time I barely had enough money for petrol. They had not called to authorise the repair or mentioned it on the phone. I had Headleys pay for it (and they did without question). They said that they had looked at it and that it was fine. At this point I made quite a scene, all the counter staff didn't want to know me and they brought out the service manager who wasn’t very helpful. anyway my 'scene' lasted about 20 min and in the end I demanded that they drain the tank put 10L in the car and let it idle for 15min, I promised them it would play up, Headley's agreed to pay for the labour and eventually they gave in and agreed to do it.
I left them with it and they rang late in the afternoon to ask me to come in and get the car. When I arrived I was presented with 6 photos of my fuel gauge and a service manager with a smug look on his face. He showed the photos one was the gauge position at 10L (gauge on empty) one at 20L (gauge just under a quarter) 30L, 40L etc. up to 60L. After I had looked at the photos I looked up at him and he said with a smile on his face "see it works perfectly" to which I replied "at which point did you put 10L in the car and run it for 15min?" the smile vanished from his face and he replied "we didn’t do that because we didn’t know if we had to drive it or not" my reply through gritted teeth was "where is my f**king car" he pointed to it in the yard I snatched the keys out of his hand and stormed out of that hell hole.
What they didn’t tell me is that they had re-calibrated the fuel gauge prior to draining the tank. Anyway with the new calibration the gauge did work fine for another 3-4 tanks before going haywire AGAIN. This time Lawrence’s suggested that the sender unit that was fitted was a DOA part and that Headley's should buy a genuine sender and have it fitted by Holden. Headley's agreed (apparently a sender unit and labour is about $700) to fit a new sender unit and they organised it to be done. On November 11th the second sender unit was fitted to my car. The new sender had appeared to have fixed it, even after 4 tanks it was still with range and I thought I was in the clear..... Until the 20th December approx. 5-6 tanks of fuel later. I was driving to work, I new the fuel was low and I had intended to fill up on the way to work that morning. The gauge was just a hair above the 'E' line and the distance to empty was showing about 9km (which was plenty) there are a couple of steepish hills on my route and the D2E counts down a bit quicker than usual because the car is working harder. The D2E counted down 3,2,1,0 and then within 10 seconds of it saying 0 and gauge on the 'E' line the car stalled. I shouted "F**K YOU YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF SH1T" at the top of my voice to the cluster (I’m sure it was offended)
My friend brought me fuel and I got to the servo and all was good again.
I rang Lawrence’s and told them what had happened and they told me that it was normal for that to happen, even though they were the ones to tell me there should be 10-15L left when the gauge hits empty. I didn’t bother to argue the point I just hung up.
I rang Anderson's and told them what had happened and they told me that it wasn't normal but didn’t know how much fuel should be left when the gauge hits empty.
I rang the Holden dealer in Maryborough and told them what had happened and they said that it’s defiantly not normal and that there should be 10-15L left in the tank when the gauge hit empty.
I rang WestPoint Holden in Indooroopilly in Brisbane and they weren't sure if was normal or not but they said you have 50km from when the fuel light comes on to when its empty, they were unable to clarify if the 'fuel light' was the low fuel or very low fuel warning on screen and also didn’t know if it was 50km at 8L per 100km or if was 50km at 18L per 100km. They also couldn’t confirm if by 50km to empty meant until the gauge reads empty or there’s no fuel in the tank.
I have a friend that has two VYIIs and my grandparents also have one and all 3 hit empty with approx. 15L left in the tank (i.e. 60L to fill it back up)
My Issue now is because Holden are telling Headley's that its normal operation for the car to stall when the gauge hits empty they won’t fix it.
I would like to make one point clear here Brian Headley's have been extremely good to me and I do not want to tarnish there name. As for Holden, I think I’ll go back to Hyundai’s for my next car, there service was brilliant, and they had straight answers.
I have a few questions
1) How much fuel should be left in the tank when the needle is on "E"?
2) Has anybody got any ideas or things I can try to diagnose or repair my fuel gauge?
3) Is Holden’s service always this bad? Nearly everyone I talk to has a had at least two bad experiences with Holden service. Many people have told me not to go to Anderson’s. Also when I was at Lawrence's four other people came in to make complaints about Holden service.
4) Is there a Holden dealer that anyone would recommend? Even if it’s in Brisbane, gold coast, sunny coast areas.
5) I have read on the forums that this is a very common problem with the VYs, is there a possibility that the fuel gauge cannot be fixed?
6) Also if the problem is so common is there a recall out from Holden regarding this?
I really appreciate any help you guys can give me on this issue.
