To add further, if you bought your car second hand, you are covered by a
Used Car Statutory Warranty if the vehicle is less than 10 years old and has travelled less than 160,000kms. The warranty duration is for 3 months or 5,000kms and covers everything unless identified on a defect notice provided with the contract of sale.
Also, whenever you buy any product in Australia, you are also covered by Australian Consumer Law which provides a statutory warranty (
consumer guarantee) that the product is as described, fit for use and of acceptable quality... There is no duration specified within the law as to how long statutory warranty should last.
There is also the manufacturers warranty which has a fixed duration but on a 2014 commodore it may or may not have expired since they sold commodores with 3, 5 and 7 year warranties depending on deals at the time of sale. You could also extend the manufacturers warranty under some conditions by paying a fee. So you really need to check what the manufacturers warranty status is.
All the above warranties can’t be excluded or voided because you have serviced your vehicle at non dealer registered business. So you don’t have to go to the dealer for service and ACCC is rather adamant at that.
The last type of warranty is one of those dealer warranties that you purchase at the same time you purchase the vehicle. It‘s more of an insurance policy and is full of all sorts of conditions and usually requires the vehicle must be serviced by the selling dealer. Not sure whether this clause is legally binding or not. Personally I’ve never liked these insurance type warranties but some I know swear by them.
So, which warranty applies depends on how much time has passed since purchase date. I’d look at calling on the used car statutory warranty as the first go to. In all cases of warranty issues, it’s always best to provide a description of the fault, dated and with kms, in writing to the selling dealer ASAP. This is important so the date of notification is preserved as this warranty only lasts 3 months or 5000kms, so you want it documented while it’s still covered.
Then if they say run 98 and some injector cleaner, do so and keep receipts... That way, if the problem isn’t resolved you are still covered by the UCSW since the fault was identified during the period of coverage even though it may now have passed (while you were driving with 98 in the tank).
If the 3 month or 5000kms period has passed, you can try your luck with ACL consumer guarantee as a car should idle without issuse for much longer than the 3 months provided by the UCSW, after all its only 6 years old and Holden sold some models with 7 year factory warranty FFS...
As to what the problem could be, it seems like a heat related issue as some component is suffering when it gets hot. It could be anything and can be an absolute PIA to isolate. I’d check engine sensors/components that impact idle (idle control solenoid, evap control solenoid, throttle position sensor, crank sensor, etc).Then look at AC sensors (anything that senses load and is read by ECU), electronic power steering system (load sensors connected to ecu) and charging system. All these components provide engine load and of something is going askew the ECU may not see the load and not increase idle speed.
In a late 80’s car I owned, I had engine stalling and then aircon cutting out issue which took years to resolve. Bypassed the engine stall by increasing idle speed a little but aircon would still cut in and out. I the end it was a power steering pressure switch with intermittently failed, something handled under as a recall in the USA but the idiot dealers down under had no clue.
Anyway, some food for though.
Good luck.
