1996 Holden Barina GSi from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

I have a 96 barina hatch with no air con. Has anyone put in an underdash air con in their car?

For the owner with the 5 points. I wrote the comment before yours.

The fuel consumption is an issue. Ours uses around 10L/100km and nothing seems to effect it to any great amount. We have tried 98 octane fuel and it improves a small amount dipping into the 9's, but not a lot. The octane select thing is just an electrical connector. You simply unclip it from the clip that holds it to the car, then you can unplug it from the wiring, turn it over, and plug it back in. The other side will have 95 written on it. I have a dyno at my shop, and tested the car with both fuels and both settings. On the 91 setting it maxes at 40kw @ wheels, and on the 95 setting it makes more power all the way through the range, and from mid rpm onwards makes significant gains topping out at 45kw. So a bit more than 10% more power. Not bad for free. These motors are rated at 60kw, but the dyno measures at the wheels and a drop of around 30% is not uncommon, especially with an automatic.

For the exhaust you may have to go to an exhaust shop and get them to add another muffler. The previous owner may have wanted it louder, and asked for one less muffler when they had the new exhaust done.

We have now owned the car for a few months, and it has generally been a reliable and easy to drive car. It is very punchy off the traffic lights, especially for an automatic with a little motor. Just after posting previously, I changed the brake pads which were only around $35 and did them at home in around 15 minutes each side. the drivers side front shock was history, and so I also put a pair of new shocks in the front. Also around 15 minutes each side, and just under $200. Now the car drives like new.

Hi.

I also have Holden SB Barina City 1997. The car is a great run around car, and performed well until 2 months ago when my wife was driving. All of the sudden she heard loud bang under the bonnet. Once stopped on the side, she checked to see if there is enough water and oil. All was OK, but it makes very loud ticking noise. When I towed it home, I tried turning it on and same noise.

Got RACQ to have a look, they said it was something to do with the timing belt. Decided to see if I can find the problem; started taking the engine apart and found that one of the tappets was snapped. As I was taking parts off, I found that the 3 piston was snapped also. The engine block has been damaged from the piston...

Time for a second hand engine.. found an engine of a SB Barina City 1999 model for $650. While the engine was out, replaced the clutch for $310 and timing belt and fan belt.

When the new engine was put in place, turned on first go.. yay... it drove very smooth like a new car for a month... then one afternoon it was a rainy day where I found that the fan belt was making a noise on and off (slipping), then the engine amber light turned on..

After driving it home, I tightened the belt and the noise stopped... didn't drive it for couple of days. Then I drove it for about 15Km and found that idle was all over the shop; sometimes high, sometimes sounded like it was stalling. The amber engine light was still on...

Drove home, then thought I will leave it for couple of days with the battery unplug-ed... two days later had a look at the fan belt and found that I was given wrong belt; a big bigger than I needed it... now the belt is in place and the amber light is not on (at the moment)... the problem now is that the engine has a very high revs and I'm not sure why. When stopped at the lights, the engine is quite loud as if I am holding the accelerator...

Could someone help me please or point me to the right directions to work out why the car has such high revs, and why would the engine light come on sometime? I have paid $1500 for the parts only so far. Please email me on mrbissi@hotmail.com

Cheers

eko.

Hi,

I have just bought a 1996 Holden Barina City. The car runs well. The fellow I bought it off said that for a few months the temperature was up to about 100 degrees. He put a new radiator in and the temperature gauge hardly moves. My initial thought is that the thermostat is stuck open, or is this normal?

Hello, I'm Jay and I just bought a 1997 Barina City 3 door, and want to upgrade some of the parts on the car. Starting with a sport suspension, full exhaust, upgrade the brakes to cross drilled in the front and convert the rear from drum to rotors, and maybe a body kit later.

I was wondering what other cars use the same parts - I heard the Swift and Swift GTi, but not sure what years.

Thanks for the help, Jay

jveedub@yahoo.com

Hi, my friend has a 95 Barina GSI 1.6, and if left for a few days and then started, it blows smoke for a while, but if driven daily it is OK. Has anyone had this problem? If so, please email me at kaditcha@ozemail.com.au

HI all.

I just got a 1996 Holden Combo with 108km on the clock. I too had overheating problems. The car would dramatically heat up just sitting still. I installed my own thermo switch to control the fan. I will be cleaning out the radiator soon.

Another thing was bad throttle response, so much so that I would press and release the throttle, then after the car would rev. I'll be cleaning the throttle body too.

And finally, has anyone had problems with their center digital display? When I got the car, there was no CD player in it, and half of the display was very dark. I put a DVD player in it, eventually the display stopped all together... Did I do something to it? I did notice a cut wire, I think it was red with a black trace in the car side of the plug.

Apart from that, the car is cool.

To the last entry, it sounds like you have blown a fuse for the display centre. I had the same problem as well.

I own a 1999 Barina Swing (automatic) which I have had very little trouble with until a few weeks ago. It heats up extremely quickly when doing speeds of 40km/hr or under, but mainly when waiting at the lights at this same time, the car vibrates quite heavily. I assumed it may have been because of the weather, but last night it was a cool night and no real traffic on the roads, so speed wasn't an issue, and it reached higher than I have seen it go.

So I pulled over, and switched the car off and waited for the car to cool down. This is when I noticed a smell resembling burnt toast lingered in the air, and the area around the gear box/ hand brake was hot to touch.

Any help on how much it would cost to repair and what the issue is, would be appreciated!