Urgent Advice need on the L77

[shane_3800]

Well Holden never ceases to amaze me.

Here is the lastest. The new L77 (bastardised 3/4) engine is in the process of being fitted to my car at the moment.

I get word today that they (the dealer) has changed the camshaft from the L77 with a new L98 camshaft.

Also as outlined in the Techline they have removed the L77 sump and will take the sump from my August 2009 built L98 (last of the L98's) and fit it to the what was new L77.

There are 2 proceedures on the techline one for a 2007, 2008, 2009 VE with the L98 and then there are the 2009, 2010 VEs with an L98. If the L98 was fitted back in 07, 08 and early 09 is says to use the sump, dipstick tube and dipstick etc etc. For the later model VE (so MY9.5 owards) you on need to replace the Valley cover and crankshaft. There is no mention of the need to change the sump.

I've told the dealer that yes my car is a 2007 VE but the engine is a L98 from the MY9.5 series which is why it only takes 7.6ltrs of oil. The earlier L98 had an 8.3ltr sump.

This is just complete bullsh!t that Holden will replace an engine with a new 3/4 motor but pull it apart to swap bits (like sump, etc) because? who f$!kn knows. From what I can gather seeing NO ONE will give me a technical reason why it is imperative to change theses parts (such as if they don't the ass end will fall out of it). It defeats the purpose of supplying a new motor which is covered under a 2 year 50,000klm Holden warranty.

I have reached the point with all this bullsh!t I have had to go through, that I will be publishing all my frustration on the various Motor magazine sites, Youtube and anywhere else it will get coverage. Basically warning people to be wary of the way Holden deals with Mechanical engineering faults. My recommendation would be not to buy a V8 holden ever. They have had so many years to get it right an still can't do it.

I am also in the process of obtaining professional advice in which to take the matter further.

NOTE: I should add though. Except for what appears to be a lack of care resulting in the sump being removed possibly unnecessarly, my local Holden dealer have been great to work with.

Also was told today that they no longer take the motor out through the top of the engine bay. They remove the engine out the bottom. Yep got to pull all the subframe crap, steering, etc etc out to change the engine. What use to be a 2 day job now becomes a week (maybe longer)......

Heres a pic of the so called NEW 3/4 engine minus the sump.

View attachment 126017

ahahahahah ahahahahahah ahahahahhahahah 1 week ahahaahaha ahahahah try 2 day max


i think the issue might be the difference in cam lift the car is to work with a set cam lift so l98 cam is to be used

the l77 can be set to afm or non afm

there may even be lobe seperation difference's ??? this would cause slight issues with cam sensors and ecu's

 

[Reaper]

Got the car back this afternoon. The car was out most of the day being test driven (no not flogged!) by the service foreman (whos a friend). Everything checked out ok and was handed back. I'm to affraid to cold start it in the morning now as I don't want to hear if it slaps its head off.... I will just be selling it and not have to worry.

The darkside is one car I will be test driving, so to Nissan, Toyota and Subaru. But one thing is for certain, no more V8's.

You have seriously had the worst luck of anybody I have seen ever. Better luck in the future!

Reaper

 

[Advanced_Amatuer]

Which toyota/nissan/subaru models do you have in mind?

 

[HEXEM]

Which toyota/nissan/subaru models do you have in mind?

(Ford FG XR6 Turbo), Toyota Aurion TRD, Nissan Nirvara ST-X, Subaru Outback Turbo

 

[HEXEM]

Driving the car into work this morning, just leaving home and the car felt weird (hard to discribe) then a few klm later, Stability Control warning, ESP off warning. They stay up on the display for about 10 minutes then go away. Pull up the next set of lights and the car was idling smoothly, not jumpy or rocking. Get to the dealers and tell them about it...

Out comes my mate with tech2 and there is a C........ something code stored. The code related to the calibration of the sensors for steering, wheels, etc etc (all that ESP/Stability stuff). He told me that they didn't recalibrate it as when they test drove the car it didn't give off the fault.

The reason it occured was due to the system being disconnected for over a week. Anyway 10mins to recalibrate everything and there was no problem driving home. Infact is just felt good to drive. The test will come in the morning again to see if there is some underlying gremlin as work....

Please do not ask me about the 'you know what' its taboo to mention it now ...... One thing though is the drivers side injector bank is now quite noisy.... oh well can't have everything I guess..

 

[Advanced_Amatuer]

Triton?
I was thinking about it before i got the ss

 

[ozz77]

I have a MY11 SS Wagon ( L77 auto), it has 30,000 km and it knocks when starting up cold any way, has done for a while. I have also found that it uses oil, and i have other knocking issues on take off. Holden has had the car for 2 weeks total and cant find a single thing wrong with it and told me that all wagons make the knocking noise on take off.
At least Holden is replacing your engine, they never even went any were near that for me.
The power is great, the economy is great, the look is great but after that the brakes are spongy, the suspension is ruff and with the problems above I'm not to happy with mine.

 

[HEXEM]

This thread is a bit old now but....

Mate you need to be at Holden first thing in the morning at the same time they start the car so you can point it out. Also have the Holden district service manager present. Unless you have that in place there's no point, they will claim everything is normal... when in fact its not. I had to fight to get them to acknowledge that the engines were not right, that there was an internal problem. The engines would be quiet as a mouse for the first few 1000klm then start knocking.

This thread was started because when they (Holden) agreed to put the new L77 in my car they gave me an April 2011 built L77. After several 1000klm it didn't knock on cold start, however because they absolutely had to change the camshaft (from an L77 to L98) it had constant lifter ticking (possibly lifter preload issue due to wrong size pushrods). It just did my head in the level of incompetence. Holden Technical said they had to change the camshaft (and not the pushrods and lifters) in the engine because they didn't know how it would work.

All the technical advice I received from the major performance shops from just about every state the complete opposite. For you car however it would be a straight swap over because you have AFM.

 

[PIR4TE]

I have a MY11 SS Wagon ( L77 auto) ... the power is great, the economy is great, the look is great but after that the brakes are spongy, the suspension is ruff and with the problems above I'm not to happy with mine.

I've got exactly the same car, and can recommend stopping by GSL Rallysport (JC sponsor) next time you're passing near Inala. They'll sort the brakes for $100, and if you ask they can also define a custom suspension spec to your liking. It's worth the detour next time you're on the southside.
I'm currently at Clontarf Beach, have clocked 120,000ks and elected not to renew / extend the factory warranty because I'm genuinely satisfied with the few easy tweaks to remedy or manage certain factory issues.
PM me if you'd like to talk or meet up.