Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-64
Hi, I bought my vauxhall (UK) vectra with 8,000 miles on it. It's a late 2003 2.2 triptonic automatic.It's now done 32,000 miles I've just been told it's got coolant in the auto gearbox and it's going to cost four thousand pounds to have it replaced. Vauxhall are going to charge me 220 pounds just to have diagnosed the problem.
Since calling various non dealer garages for second quotes. I now find it's a design fault + very common. Thanks Vauxhall!
Hello.
Just wanted to let people know about my 2000 JS II Vectra.
We brought it off a dealer, 1 owner, log books, blah, blah, blah.
We have put about 60,000kms on it with absolutely no problems what so ever. Great car to drive. We kept our services up all the time.
It has just done over 200,000kms and we are starting to have problems. The crank angle sensor ($200) and CAM angle sensor ($80) both failed causing rough idling. Apparently the original ones Holden designed were bad so they redesigned them. We also had a timing kit ($280) put through at the same time as one of the sensor was in that general vicinity. (Timing kits should be done every 100,000kms).
Now we have a hole in the exhaust which we have to get fixed ($40) for roadworthy. No real biggie.
The next thing to happen which was in the last week was the car started overheating. When I checked the coolant level I found it to be dry which worried me because I checked it a couple of weeks earlier. I took it to a radiator joint who was suppose to pull out the radiator, flush it and clean it, check for leaks, replace thermostat and refit radiator.
Now these people had no idea how to get the radiator out so they sent it to a mechanics who took 3.5 hours to get it out. The radiator guy checked it out and said that it was fine ($99). The mechanics refitted the radiator and replaced the thermostat ($100) and filled it up with coolant (I supplied Nulon Coolant). Mechanics Repair bill = $502 (inclusive of thermostat). Oh by the way it took them 2 full days to do all this. Slack bloody mechanics.
Now I took the car for a drive on Saturday 17th Feb 07, pulled up at the petrol station to fill up and noticed the "Check Coolant Level" warning come up. I look under the car and notice a little wet patch, pop the hood to see whats going on and notice coolant at the BACK of the engine bay. I drive home leave the car running and pop the bonnet again. I look at the back of the engine bay and notice coolant dripping (rapidly) out of the heater tap (this is a little black plastic tap with a thin vacuum hose on top, a pipe on one side and 2 pipes on the other). Of course no one has one of these on the shelf so now I have to wait until Monday 19th Feb so I can ring my local holden dealer and get them to order me in one with a complimentary reaming of my wallet. So if you notice your coolant level dropping then this is another item to check. I pulled it out to see if I could fix it, but they are a sealed unit (throw away and replace).
Besides all this the next item to get fixed is a couple of lights in the dash...YAY.
I do like driving the Vectra and I think we are lucky to have a relatively trouble free one (it has done over 200,000kms). I think it will be time for an upgrade soon though.
Cheers
Simo.
I posted a comment about Holden Vectra on the 21 of November 2006, and now I have some updates.
At first I really liked the car, it handled the road well and it was nice and powerful. And then the problems began. I've already written about these problems in my original post.
I must say that Holden service has put me off their cars and anything to do with them forever. They charged me $55 to diagnose the engine management light problem, and then I came to pick up the car they told me that they couldn't tell what the problem was exactly, but there is definitely a problem (hmm.. REALLY???). Anyway they said that they will need to run a further 3 hour check for another $200. I told them where to go and took the car to independent. It took him 5 min to detect the problem, which was with the airflow meter.
Since the previous owner had lost his service history, I decided to pay Holden a visit again for the 60,000 service to have them stamp a service book for resale value. I had all the parts needed for that service (purchased them at Holden previously as I thought to service it myself). They charged me $350 even though I gave them all the parts! They changed the spark plugs, filters and oil, all of which like I said I supplied. What's more, they gave me a list of problems totaling around $2000 which they "recommended to change". This included alternator bearing ($700), disc pads, coolant (which was already changed by the independent) etc..
Anyway I disregarded all that and had the car checked by the same mechanic who diagnosed my engine management light. Except for the alternator bearing, which I ended up replacing, the other problems did not exist. I just got rid of the car (it was very hard to do even though I fixed all the faults, the price was cheap and low kms) and bought a brand new Honda Civic.
Now, to the car itself. The Holden Vectra could be a very nice car, however in my opinion and based on other comments here and from what I heard, it is a very unsuccessful model. Whoever designed the mechanical part of it failed big time. I've noticed that all Vectra owners (up to 2002 models) have had the same problems. Funny it sounds like someone programmed all these models to fail in a certain way step by step. It is also very expensive to repair, and mechanics, including Holden dealers, have no clue about to fix them. I don't know anything about recent models though (2003+).
If you are a Holden Vectra owner and have got no faults with it, I really envy you, as if not for all these faults, it is a very nice car to drive. Good luck!
I am an army mechanic, and just a few things in relation to the points of people replacing sensors for the ECU; some car's ECUs will only work properly with their own sensors, so if you just chuck a new one in, it will not work properly. A simple reprogram of the ECU should make it run like new.
I am a Dealer mechanic. Don't touch Vectras (any model). They have always been plagued with issues. We don't import them any more, thankfully.
If you think you had issues with the old models, huh! The new range is worse. They never sold many compared to Commodore (as an example) but we do often see them in the workshop.
I also have a 2001 Vectra CD Sedan - manual (purchased late 2002).
I have also been plagued with problems - ever since I first got the car my 'Check Coolant Level' warning has haunted me. I kept topping up the coolant every few months and it finally became quite serious and leaked to a low level about a year ago. I took it in - it was time for a service anyway to the Holden dealer (tsk tsk) and $800 later 'there were no apparent problems and the pressure tests showed no leakages'.
Before I had driven it 1km, the warning flashed up AGAIN!!! I took it back in, and another $380 later they found the problem - it was apparently a heater valve or tap that had to be replaced. They were 'doing me a favour by only charging me half price for the labour!!!' I wasn't all that impressed and now, sigh, the same warning has just started flashing again, a year later.
Noteworthy would also be that my AC died within the first year - as was fixed under warranty, and in the first month there was some problem with the alternator that caused my car engine to cut out when idling in traffic - also fixed under warranty.
I recently got a quote from Peddars and I'm up for around another $1100 for suspension etc - I don't know much about the wear and tear of cars, but I hope that after 5 years on the road that is an unfortunate, but expected expense.
ONE other thing worth mentioning is that I and three other Holden Vectra/Barina owners have had constant and unsatisfactorily resolved issues with windscreen wipers - extremely vexing!
I am in the same boat as the comment just above me.
I own a 2001 CD Vectra; it suddenly started leaking massive amounts of coolant and showed the check coolant level sign. I took it in to the dealer; they did all of the pressure tests and so forth. Obviously couldn't find a problem with it. I then had taken it to a independent and it took him 15 minutes to tell me that it was the heater tap. Thankfully I got this all paid for through the extended warranty. $450.
I still have a year on my loan, but I think I am going to sell this car, and will never even contemplate looking at them again. They are a good car when test driving; I seriously recommend letting a Vectra warm up then test drive it, you will then spot all of the faults (e.g. Suspension, O/Heating when the A/C ain't on, poor acceleration, steering errors too.)
The only reason I am typing this is because I have had to take leave without pay today due to a crap car. Apparently the car is fitted with a maintenance free battery, which does not require fluid level checks or any checks. I leave town for 3 days and get greeted by a flat battery. I have struggled finding any reason as to why it is flat. Looks like I might just buy a new battery; she'll be right @ $180 each.
Have a Nice Day...
Anyone want to buy a Vectra?? Going cheap, may need fat wallet.
RM.
I own (well still paying off) a Vectra 2001 CD Sedan. I bought the car second hand from a renowned Used car dealership. Upon driving out of the car yard I have had nothing, but problems.
First the "emission" light came. After being tested by Holden on the diagnostics I was informed no problem and they reset the computer. Few days later same problem. Took it back to the dealer who said they replaced the sensors. Few days later light came back on. To date I have returned it to be checked and no problem has been found. The light is permanently on.
Just recently the timing belt went. $3000 later (12 valves needed to be replaced because when timing belts go on these cars they tend to bend the valves as well). After picking up my car, a week later I noticed oil in the coolant container. Back to the mechanic who pressure tested the head (no problems), and did work on the head gasket. He flushed the cooling system (the oil will never be entirely removed not to say it being in the air con aswell) Yesterday I noticed the problem still there. The mechanic cannot understand why oil is getting in to the water.
If any one has any suggestions as to what the problem may be as well as the light issue it would be greatly appreciated. I still have two years to go to pay off the car. I did get a trade in price of $5000, dealers do want the vectras.
Coolant leaking!
I started worrying after read through the comments above. I have a Holden JS Vectra V6. The car has been leaking coolant since the last service a couple months ago. During the service a flush of cooling system was carried out by the dealer as so called 'Preventative Maintenance' and the service costed me 500.00 bucks. It was not until then the car started having the coolant leakage problem. What a coincident?! Also my experience from the dealer service is very unpleasant. I am now starting thinking to sell the car and hope this will be end of the nightmare.
I own a 2000 Holden Vectra JSII CD which I bought second hand from a private seller almost 3 yrs ago. I've had the timing belt replaced during its 100K service. The most recent problem I'm facing is that the traction control "TC" and "ABS" lights come on very randomly and the speedo needle goes down to zero while I'm driving, but the performance is not affected. The lights stay on for a few minutes and once they go off, the speedo returns to normal. Has anyone else experienced this problem before? I've called the local Holden mechanic to ask what the problem was and he's asking me to leave the car with him for a day so that he could check it out and do whatever repair is needed, but looking at all the comments on here, I'm hesitant to leave it with the Holden mechanics.
I own a 2001 JS II Vectra 2.6 V6 Manual. I purchased the car at 59,000km. It now has 85,000 km on the clock. Like you guys, I too had the same leaking coolant problem a week after I bought the car; the heater control valve was faulty. A common problem as advised by our local Geelong (Australia) Holden dealer.
The oil cooler is generally the next coolant leak most V6 engines will have. The oil cooler sits between the two heads, using coolant to cool the oil. However the clamps tend come loose, causing oil to mix with the coolant. Hence coolant leaks and dirty brown/green coolant results.
My advice would be when the 120,000km service is due, replace the clamps on the the oil cooler as well. Since the inlet manifold has to come off anyway (to get to the spark plugs), you may as well replace it then. Plus, the water pump is in the vicinity, as well as the thermostat. It may be an expensive service at the time, but will save you money and hassles in the long run.
How can you say that about the Holden/Opel vectra? I own a Holden 98- 99' js 2 CD with 2.2ltr 16v engine, I have had absolutley no problems with this car it was bought as dealer demo, the car has been put through its paces and keeps going, I put my foot down and my vectra goes "rite lets go faster!" my interior isn't even falling apart looks like new and my car has never been garaged, also it has smokers in it, my car doesn't get treated that great, but it puts up with it, I went 2 years without servicing and engine light came up that's it, got it serviced no probs, so its either you are trying to fix it yourself, or the manufacturer is doing a poor job.
I notice my traction control light is now coming on as well! This tends to happen on hot days along with the RPM needle going up and down like yo-yo while it's driven. My temperature gage is also not working. Is this to do with the computer or a fuse?? Hope someone can help as I too am scared to take it to a Holden dealer. Otherwise the car has been great, and had no other problems due to it being serviced when it's needed.
I've recently purchased a Vectra (older from 98) and have had a few troubles, but nothing too annoying yet... anyway the real point of posting here was to talk about the air-con.
Mine pretty much stopped working so I took it to a specialist who told me that Astras, Vectra Bs and VT Commodores all have a similar air con pump which is rather 'poor'. They explained that the pump works in a rocking fashion, and that if the rocker over-travels, but a fraction of an inch then it will seize, thus meaning the whole unit must be replaced (around 1000 dollars). Lucky for me it was only a split pipe in mine (140 to fix and regas). So there you go--all round dodgo air con. Nice car though, enjoying doing it up.
I have a 2000 VEctra cdjs2 hatch. I bought it in August 07 and have had countless problems with it since. First the Traction control and ABS brakes dash lights kept coming on and my speedo died whilst the lights where on, My engine light kept coming on too, then as fast as they started they went off. I didn't notice a performance problem just that fact that the dash went pyscho on me...
I took it back to the Delearship as it was under 3month warranty and they didn't know what the problem was, they also said it was probably just a light fault and not to worry about it (even thou most of the time I was driving I didn't know what speed I was doing. So they didn't car at all about the safety issue of the vehicle they had sold me. I then had to go thru fair trading to get my problem car fixed, they finally agreed to fix it 3 months later and had to remove the dash to fix the problem... It took 1 week, not sure of the cost, but I can imagine it would've been expensive. Electric windows also go down when I put them up sometimes, not fixing becuase it would cost a mint. DASH LIGHTS Are always blowing and cost to repair. MY AC vents also make rattling noises so annoying. Then after that problem was fixed, my front tyres started making a hell of a noise, I spoke to Holden who said the vectras are noisy cars when going between 70-110kms. But as is has now got a lot noiser I'm starting to worry about the saftey of my car. : (trying to trade in for a Subaru...
If your looking into Vectras STAY AWAY, THey are peices of U KNOW WHAT *!$%
MYNX.