VF SS 2016 Passengers Side Carpet Wet- Holden Confirmed Recall Done

[Thorby]

Arvo Lads,

Up in Coffs Harbour for a family emergency, and just discovered the passengers front floor is wet. Went and bought a cordless wet vac to dry it out, so far appears to be water and not coolant. Went to the local dealership today, they ran my VIN and confirmed the AC drain reroute recall had been done before I bought the car. My question is as my car is out of warranty, and this is the second occurrence of this fault where do I stand? As I don't have access to any of my tools or trolley jack, when I get home is this sucker easy to unblock? I can't get the car high enough where I am at the moment, so any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers
Thorby

 

[Anthony121]

Arvo Lads,

Up in Coffs Harbour for a family emergency, and just discovered the passengers front floor is wet. Went and bought a cordless wet vac to dry it out, so far appears to be water and not coolant. Went to the local dealership today, they ran my VIN and confirmed the AC drain reroute recall had been done before I bought the car. My question is as my car is out of warranty, and this is the second occurrence of this fault where do I stand? As I don't have access to any of my tools or trolley jack, when I get home is this sucker easy to unblock? I can't get the car high enough where I am at the moment, so any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers
Thorby

Take the side passenger trim off from beside the console. You can see the drain plug and unscrew if necessary.

 

[Skylarking]

Just cause the recall work was done, doesn’t mean it was done well and the reason you may not have noticed a wet floor until going to Coffs Harbour is that you weren’t driving for long periods in humid environment, maybe...

So to check if the original foam or remediated rubber seal is the issue, you can remove the passenger side console trim as Anthony121 said. This Chevy SS program bulletin outlines the work to correct the issue so you can use it as a guide to check that the work was actually done correctly on your car. Just note that Chevy SS is LHD so things may be mirrored as compared to our RHD commodores.

As a side comment, the issue could be a blocked drain causing an overflows (if the system allows such to occur) and not a foam or miss installed rubber seal.

As for warranty, the remediation work should have been done correctly and the work warranted by Holden (and by ACL). But if you haven’t driven in humid locations for long periods, you may not have noticed the work didn’t resolve the issue as mentioned. Only you know the dates involved and the environment you drive in so I’ll leave that for you to ponder but if this is the first time you suffered high humidity, its the first opportunity that their service bulletins was put to the test....

Factory warranty wise, considering many Holdens were sold with 7 year warranty, and as ACL doesn’t specify a set duration, I’d argue they need to check the issue and that the bulletin was indeed done correctly.

If the grommet is the cause and your carpet now has mould, I’d get them to install a new carpet and underlay as well... but if no mould has set in, the carpet/underlay still needs to be removed so it can dry fully (else you will get mould)...

Good luck with it.

 

[Thorby]

Take the side passenger trim off from beside the console. You can see the drain plug and unscrew if necessary.

Thanks bud will do.

 

[Thorby]

Just cause the recall work was done, doesn’t mean it was done well and the reason you may not have noticed a wet floor until going to Coffs Harbour is that you weren’t driving for long periods in humid environment, maybe...

So to check if the original foam or remediated rubber seal is the issue, you can remove the passenger side console trim as Anthony121 said. This Chevy SS program bulletin outlines the work to correct the issue so you can use it as a guide to check that the work was actually done correctly on your car. Just note that Chevy SS is LHD so things may be mirrored as compared to our RHD commodores.

As a side comment, the issue could be a blocked drain causing an overflows (if the system allows such to occur) and not a foam or miss installed rubber seal.

As for warranty, the remediation work should have been done correctly and the work warranted by Holden (and by ACL). But if you haven’t driven in humid locations for long periods, you may not have noticed the work didn’t resolve the issue as mentioned. Only you know the dates involved and the environment you drive in so I’ll leave that for you to ponder but if this is the first time you suffered high humidity, its the first opportunity that their service bulletins was put to the test....

Factory warranty wise, considering many Holdens were sold with 7 year warranty, and as ACL doesn’t specify a set duration, I’d argue they need to check the issue and that the bulletin was indeed done correctly.

If the grommet is the cause and your carpet now has mould, I’d get them to install a new carpet and underlay as well... but if no mould has set in, the carpet/underlay still needs to be removed so it can dry fully (else you will get mould)...

Good luck with it.

Thanks bud I will take some pics when I tackle it on Saturday. Cheers

 

[Ron Burgundy]

How did you go with this mate

 

[Thorby]

How did you go with this mate

Funny you should ask, I pulled the side trim off the console on Saturday for a look and just ran out of time to do anything. For shits and giggles I rang Holden Customer Care yesterday, and swiftly fell off my chair.

They listened to what I had to say and agreed it is most likely that the drain is misaligned, then checked my VIN and agreed the recall had been done in March 2017. They gave me a reference number, and transferred me to the local dealer who ironically I bought the car from.

The girl on the phone took my details and booked it in for the 18th of Feb, she had a bit of a chuckle and commented that the dealer who did the work probably did not take enough care when they did it.

There was utter silence on the other end of the phone when I told her it was done at their dealership two months before I bought the car off them. Will give you all an update after she goes in, fingers crossed this may be a small win for the consumer. Time will tell.

 

[Thorby]

Got an update on this will post tonight, god nothing is easy with this car...……...

 

[Skylarking]

god nothing is easy with this car...……...

Sometimes I‘m left feeling like it’s time to cash in and sell while prices are high... If I do that, the problem then becomes what to buy that has similar performance and wont cost almost double

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Sometimes I‘m left feeling like it’s time to cash in and sell while prices are high... If I do that, the problem then becomes what to buy that has similar performance and wont cost almost double

#stinger