04 rodeo 3.5 V6 gremlins

[swoody]

G'DAY,
I DRIVE A DEC 04 RODEO DUAL CAB WORK TRUCK WITH THE 3.5 V6 THAT HAS A FEW GREMLINS & LOOKING FOR IDEAS AS NOBODY SEEMS TO KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS THING INCLUDING HOLDEN. WE HAVE 2 IN THE COMPANY, THIS 1 & ITS SISTER. THE SISTER CAR HAD A NEW ENGINE AT 20,000KS & HAS SINCE BEEN PRETTY GOOD BUT THIS 1 GOT A NEW ENGINE AT 90'000KS & HAS A FEW ISSUSES THAT ITS HAD SINCE NEW. NOW HAS 104,000 ON IT. FOR WHAT EVER REASON IT NEVER KNOWS HOW IT WANTS TO RUN. SOMETIMES IT RUNS GREAT, SOMETIMES IT STALLS FOR A FEW DAYS RUNNING, SOMETIMES IT SEEMS TO HUNT & THE REVS ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE. IT SEEMS TO RUN RICH ON SOME DAYS & AT TIMES IT SEEMS TO LOSE POWER UNDER ACCELARATION. IT DRIVES ME NUTS. TO DRIVE IT IS AN ART AS YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO GET. I HAVE ALMOST KILLED MYSELF & OTHERS ON MORE THAN A FEW OCCATIONS. OF COARSE IT NEVER PLAYS UP WHEN IT GOES IN FOR SERVICE. HOLDEN HAVE REPLACED MOST PARTS OR SO THEY SAY SO IF THEY CAN'T FIX IT WHO CAN? NO WONDER I'M A 1 EYED FORD FAN. OH YEAH SOMETIMES THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COMES UP ON THE DASH 4 A FEW DAYS THEN GOES AWAY. MAYBE IT WAS A MONDAY OR FRIDAY CAR? :crazy: i also posted this in other models tech
CHEERS SWOODY

[Dave_STR]

Running rich , Id be checking the temp sensor for the engine/ecu.

Check the air flow metre aswell.

Good luck.

[swoody]

At last some light at the end of the tunnel. The list so far as the egg spurts at holden are on the case. a crook egr valve, the battery is under voltage so has a crook cell & is showing up oxygen sensor faults which has been put down to a crook engine harness. holden have informed me that this has happened to a number of these babies. the sister car to this one is now also doing it. now we will see if they will cover it as this car has had this problem from new. 3yrs to maybe find the fault, not bad

[Mauchit]

We've had a few in with dodgy Throttle Position Sensors, but this normally throws up a TPS fault when you code read it, the other thing I've found is that the air filters start to break up and small peices get caught in the air mass meter, this makes them run like crap.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[JamGQ]

Just a few words of advise.

When they replaced the engines, did Holden also replace both front exhaust engine pipes. These pipes contain the cat. converters and oxygen sensors. One of the reasons found for the engines failing was the cat. converters deteriating/melting down. Particals of ceramic has been found to suck back up into the inlet manifold and cause engine damage. A blocked exhaust pipe could be the cause of poor performance, rich mixture, hunting and stalling.

Another know problem has been faulty fuel pumps causing insufficient and erratic fuel pressures. Also check if it is positioned correctly inside the tank.

Also these engines MUST have the valve clearances checked at 100K. This is usually a full days work, rocker covers must be lifted, clearances checked and shims under the camshafts replaced with the correct thickness items. If the valve clearances are insufficient, poor running will be noticed and eventually the valves will burn out due to not seating/sealing properly. This doesn't normally happen if the tappets are noisey, quite the opposite, the engine will be quiet because there is a lack of clearance.

And to conclude, another problem may be lack of oil lubrication of the camshaft journals which is the result of poor oil quality or lack of oil changes. If a lack of oil pressure has occured, the camshaft journals run dry seizing the cam. Because the engine drives the cambelt with force, the gears shear the locating dowels on the camshaft itself, putting the engine slightly out of timing. This may be a reason for poor performance, rough running, high fuel consumption, stalling and hunting.

Just a few things to look into....

Cheers,
JamGQ

ps. I have over 10yrs experience with Holden......

[swoody]

hey guys,
thanks for your help & i put these ideas to the boys at holden. i got it back the other day with a bill well over $2k but i must say that it's running sweeter then it ever has, even when new. as you can imagine the boss is stoked about the bill so the battle begins as we have all the service records with the complaints on them so i'm told. one of the other boys took it to swan hill, about 3hrs from here & he tells me it's pulling like a train fully loaded. it's now a pleasure to drive & not a bad car at least for now. the main problem turned out to be the wiring harness with crook joints near the coils. the inlet manifold needs to be removed to replace it. if it happens again i will keep you posted.
cheers swoody

[Michaelc]

Hi Swoody,

I'm having the same torubles with my RA V6 at the moment. I have sent an email to your Hotmail address asking for help. Can you please have a look at it?

Thnaks

Michael

[swoody]

just a quick update on the rodeo, it's still running sweet & has clocked up 10,000 trouble free klms so far since the repairs.