Sluggish vp v6?

[gtrboyy]

Got completely standard vp ute v6 t5 daily...fixing all those vn-p quirks.

Feels so damn been wondering how it's going to handle hills with 3/4 tonne of gravel/sand/dirt/tip runs for house reno duties.

It's in decent shape idles ok,doesn't use up oil/water & even gets decent fuel economy...no fault codes.

Seems noisey mechanically to me but been told they're usually a lot worse...sounds like a drill & tapping tins at idle..took belt off to be sure it's from engine not to rule out alt & tensioners etc.

Could engine harmonics be setting off knock sensor?
Or just got granny factory memcal tune?

 

[ar5boosted]

It's most likely to be the way that it was driven by the previous owner. Also things like oil and spark plug condition.

No car that gets babied it's whole life ever feels fast.

I'd change it over to the best premium synthetic oil you can find and change the spark plugs. Copper is best.

Start working on the 'Italian Tune'.

 

[VR38]

Sounds like a battery drill???
My VP is that quiet you can hear the injectors cycling...

 

[VR38]

My VP spins the wheels on takeoff for metres, is a bastard to drive in the wet.
Farking awesome on the hi way 5 heads up, loves the mountains.
Is an awesome car on long hall trips.

 

[Immortality]

Noisy V6 engine. Injectors? You should be able to hear the injectors because it's batch fire (they all fire at exactly the same time).

Other noises that I'd be looking at would be balancer shaft bearings and/or loose timing chain. The solution to both is fitting a double row timing chain which eliminates the single chain/tensioner and balance shaft, either leave it in place or pull the whole thing out. The balance shafts tend to get noisy because the rear needle roller bearing is only splash oiled and tends to accumulate a lot of gunk (to solve this issue GM fed oil to the rear balance shaft bearing on the ecotec engines).

Run some of that Nulon Lifter Free ****, it does seem to work, I'd do it after an oil change.

V6/T5 love some 3.45 gears in the diff, wakes em up without making 1st gear unusable.

The VP's were de-tuned a lot and got a different cam from the VN's because the throttle on the VN's was like a on/off switch to fix you can fit a tune from a later SV3800 (HSV) which will wake it up a bit. The VP should also have the bellmouth fitted in the intake manifold, just remove it.

A new O2 sensor probably wouldn't hurt either.

 

[harrop.senator]

I wouldnt bother with fully synthetic oil itll find somewhere new n amazing to leak from. Use a screwdriver as a stethoscope to try find where your noise is coming from. Also if youre due for a service drain a litre of oil out put a litre of diesel in and let it idle for half an hour itll help ungum the lifters if it is them if then refill with 10 or 15w and nulon lifter free.

 

[gtrboyy]

I don't cane it 'cos I'd feel embarrassed if anyone saw me...expected much more bottom end torque though...it barely spins in rain which I thought they were supposed to do without trying.

Took belt off sounds more timing chain & lifter noise...balancer doesn't wobble,noise more from above it & weirdly hear resonating underneath car.

Noticed it sounded much quieter today after quick drive,idle looks smoother...probably got too trigger happy on gerni & degreaser.

List of work so far
Has v8 65 mm throttle body with beefy return spring...cleaned it up,chopped the bellmouth up & refitted as it idled nicer with it.
Extractors(genie?) being manual car,new 2.5" exhaust & changed cat to good low mileage spare
O2 sensor died after got it,changed with spare v8 sensor..no fault codes since then.
Changed oil after bottle of oill flush when got it 2-3 months ago,probably done a 1000 kms at most...will take a few more flushes to quieten down more.
Top plastic tensioner is noisey which will be replaced with new steel version & shorter belt (air con delete)
Changed broken clutch spring & readjusted cable to pedal height specs
Changed bent bonnet hinges...still needs new screen.

Last (doofus)owner didn't service car for 1 1/2-2 years he had it,owner before was a tradie who looked after it...serviced it regularly & replaced most parts through holden dealership except suspension & diff.

Vaguely remember ecu/memcal had recall sticker & wondeing if it's got granny memcal or knock sensor issue.

 

[Immortality]

Use a long screw driver like a stethoscope and listen at the back of the valley between the top bellhousing bolts and also the timing cover.

There were plenty of tune revisions over the years. Post up the code on the memcal and we'll know what it is.

 

[VR38]

I've no known issues but I do have this weird thing that happens if I turn the P/S in too quick and it shutters, the variable steering (Calais) drops out, idle roughens and I loose a handful of KW.
The only way to reset it is to leave the battery disconnected for several days.
Not sure if it is ECU or BCM or variable switch related.

 

[gtrboyy]

Paper wrote code got bit wet

*sticker on ecu
vsv gm v6
stb rpm 5.5

*other part
blah blah 808
16172838
3.8 MAN BAAN

Last part not legible but has last 5 numbers 07090
First bit with letters AX?86