VE Calais V - First Service

[bagman]

Hi there

Just about due for the first sevice ( 3000km ) on my Calais and was wondering, from your collective experiences, whether I should have anything extra checked apart from what's mentioned in the service manual ?

For example, oil change including filter

Appreciate your replies

Happy New Year !!

cheers

[planetdavo]

http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=88442&highlight=3000+service
http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=63380&highlight=3000+service

[Citric XR6]

I reckon its a good idea to change the oil reasonably soon. If not at the 3k service, do it yourself (if possible) within about 7 or 8k.

[milkojnr]

Don't they just walk around the car to see if anything has fallen off it !! It also gives the young mechanic a chance to take a new car out and thrash it around the neighborhood for a while.

I am sure they didn't nothing with mine. Because when I had my 15k service they had to do all the recalls and about 6 firmware updates to different parts of the car.

[bagman]

http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=88442&highlight=3000+service
http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=63380&highlight=3000+service

Thanks for that.
Tried the search function but words such as " service" , " calais v service" etc came up blank.

Appreciate your guidance

cheers

[Wonky]

The 3,000 km "service" is only actually an inspection i.e. they just check all bolts/clamps are tight etc. Definitely get an oil and filter change, though I have read it isn't advisable to go fully synthetic oil till motor has more kms on it.

[youngstar]

I would definitely get them to do the oil & filter unless you are planning on doing it yourself.

15K for the first oil + filter change is too long IMHO.

$120 is well spent for piece of mind !

[Janus]

:soap:

My car has is currently at around 11-12,000km and here is the lengthy list of problem I have with the vehicle. I swear I am just going to go in there and snap this time. It is getting close to the point that I don't see how they are going to fix all these problem to satisfactory level and I think it will be time to be asking exactly what they are planning to do about it.

Sat nav – when the centre dashboard display updates the left hand steering wheel scroll wheel becomes inactive for roughly 10-20 seconds. This happens whenever this screen updates, such as activating cruise control, speed warnings, sat nav location updates, but if the sat nav unit in the glove box is turned off the problem does not occur. This has been tested last time the car was brought in and after testing against another car that was in for service the service manager agreed that this was not meant to happen.

Rear parking sensors – the two drivers’ side sensors fell inside the bumper. Got under the car and managed to put the sensors back in place and they are currently held in place with duct tape for the second time.

Warning lights – if the key is put and left in the accessories position for a few minutes before the car is started when the engine is started a series of alarms such as “Check engine”, “ABS fault” and “Traction failure” are displayed.

Driver’s sun visor – clip attaching driver’s sun visor to the roof is broken and comes out of the roof when the visor is pulled out.

Centre console lid – when the console is closed the lid catches and has to be pushed closed with some force making a loud snapping sound which can’t be good and will eventually break.

Handbrake – when the handbrake was engaged the handbrake cover came off. It was refitted with some difficulty but would like it to be checked.

Back of seats – panel on rear of drivers’ seat has detached.

Front head rests – head rest trim has detached from top of both driver and passenger seats as they have sunk exposing the metal bars holding the head rest in place.

Side of both front seats – the plastic has started to detach from the rest of the seat, all the plastic bits on the floor of the car has come off.

Left hand mirror – glass from left hand mirror fell out smashing the glass when it hit the ground.

Rear seat – has come apart where the base of the seat is connected to the car.

When I have a moment after the new years break I will take some pictures and post them so you can all see exactly what I am talking about.

That is of course on top of the already lengthy list of problems I have had them look at, which I can't find right now on the forum. Just about each week I stumble across something in the car that isn't right, poorly made, broken or breaking. I have been a Holden man all my life but they really are pushing it now. Expecting me to pay good money for a car that is literally falling apart 6 months after I got it. Then I take it in, they tell me they have fixed the problems, I get it back and find that they are all pretty much exactly the same. Exactly what are they doing with my car all day and are they even testing any of the things before they give it back to me!

And this is to an executive state fleet customer who got pissed off with the lies and crap I got from my first dealer, who continually order the wrong car for me, lied about what was going, got two cars in for me and then sold them to private customers telling me that my car wasn't ready yet and then order in the wrong color interior and told me "to take it or leave it because they could easily sell the car to someone else". Not surprising I took my, as well the entire government departments, business else where, but I still get what I would call sub-standard treatment from the new dealer.

[planetdavo]

:soap:

My car has is currently at around 11-12,000km and here is the lengthy list of problem I have with the vehicle. I swear I am just going to go in there and snap this time. It is getting close to the point that I don't see how they are going to fix all these problem to satisfactory level and I think it will be time to be asking exactly what they are planning to do about it.

Sat nav – when the centre dashboard display updates the left hand steering wheel scroll wheel becomes inactive for roughly 10-20 seconds. This happens whenever this screen updates, such as activating cruise control, speed warnings, sat nav location updates, but if the sat nav unit in the glove box is turned off the problem does not occur. This has been tested last time the car was brought in and after testing against another car that was in for service the service manager agreed that this was not meant to happen.

Rear parking sensors – the two drivers’ side sensors fell inside the bumper. Got under the car and managed to put the sensors back in place and they are currently held in place with duct tape for the second time.

Warning lights – if the key is put and left in the accessories position for a few minutes before the car is started when the engine is started a series of alarms such as “Check engine”, “ABS fault” and “Traction failure” are displayed.

Driver’s sun visor – clip attaching driver’s sun visor to the roof is broken and comes out of the roof when the visor is pulled out.

Centre console lid – when the console is closed the lid catches and has to be pushed closed with some force making a loud snapping sound which can’t be good and will eventually break.

Handbrake – when the handbrake was engaged the handbrake cover came off. It was refitted with some difficulty but would like it to be checked.

Back of seats – panel on rear of drivers’ seat has detached.

Front head rests – head rest trim has detached from top of both driver and passenger seats as they have sunk exposing the metal bars holding the head rest in place.

Side of both front seats – the plastic has started to detach from the rest of the seat, all the plastic bits on the floor of the car has come off.

Left hand mirror – glass from left hand mirror fell out smashing the glass when it hit the ground.

Rear seat – has come apart where the base of the seat is connected to the car.

When I have a moment after the new years break I will take some pictures and post them so you can all see exactly what I am talking about.

That is of course on top of the already lengthy list of problems I have had them look at, which I can't find right now on the forum. Just about each week I stumble across something in the car that isn't right, poorly made, broken or breaking. I have been a Holden man all my life but they really are pushing it now. Expecting me to pay good money for a car that is literally falling apart 6 months after I got it. Then I take it in, they tell me they have fixed the problems, I get it back and find that they are all pretty much exactly the same. Exactly what are they doing with my car all day and are they even testing any of the things before they give it back to me!

And this is to an executive state fleet customer who got pissed off with the lies and crap I got from my first dealer, who continually order the wrong car for me, lied about what was going, got two cars in for me and then sold them to private customers telling me that my car wasn't ready yet and then order in the wrong color interior and told me "to take it or leave it because they could easily sell the car to someone else". Not surprising I took my, as well the entire government departments, business else where, but I still get what I would call sub-standard treatment from the new dealer.
There is an older thread for people with VE issues.
This isn't really the right thread to be posting up a long list of issues and gripes, as he was asking about thoughts on a minor service and things to possibly look out for, not a hate list.
PS: Sell it and buy a "quality" japanese car where nothing goes wrong (cough, cough).

[macca33]

True, this one was not intended as a hate thread, but Janus has a Calais V and these are things that went wrong with his. Thus, it makes for reasonable information for a fellow Calais V owner, such as the OP. It will give him the opportunity to understand the types of things that others have had problems with.

I still love my VX....:stick:

Cheers,

Macca

[planetdavo]

True, this one was not intended as a hate thread, but Janus has a Calais V and these are things that went wrong with his. Thus, it makes for reasonable information for a fellow Calais V owner, such as the OP. It will give him the opportunity to understand the types of things that others have had problems with.

This forum already has more than enough doubling up of the same subject.
The problem really with posts like that, with questions like originally asked, is that people suddenly start getting all paranoid about problems they DON'T actually have!

[macca33]

Fair enough call there. The number of similar threads on VE will make any person trying to do a search very confused, I 'spose. There is also a lot of 'I think something is wrong' when it often isn't, that goes on here.

Cheers,

Macca

[Pickles]

Janus, definitely not good mate, I'd be really pi......ed off.
I reckon you must have got a "Monday" car.
Anyway, surely this is unusual, I thought most VE buyers, particularly Calais V buyers, were pretty happy?
Cheers, Pickles.

[WAVESS]

Change oil and filter.

[Janus]

There is an older thread for people with VE issues.
This isn't really the right thread to be posting up a long list of issues and gripes, as he was asking about thoughts on a minor service and things to possibly look out for, not a hate list.

I think that this list is more then justified here. He has a Calais V, he was asking what to look out for, these are all problems I have had in the first 6-9 months of ownership and many of these problem have been around or have obviously been happening for awhile so he should keep an eye out, check the car over and make sure that these things aren't happening. Personally I think that post after post of people telling him to have the oil checked and filters changed isn't helping him, this is exactly what they would do in the service anyway. You really need someone to tell you what the real problems can be and go over your car and look for them.


PS: Sell it and buy a "quality" japanese car where nothing goes wrong (cough, cough).

And surely you can't honestly say that the problems I have had in the relatively short time I have had the car, not to mention the 5 times it has been in for repairs already, are acceptable! You are starting to sound like a member of the dealership staff who seem to thing that things falling apart shortly after you have paid almost $60k for a car is perfectly normal. Or they have no idea about the cars and claim that whatever is happening is normal and it isn't until you force them to look at another car that they admit that there is a problem.


I 'spose. There is also a lot of 'I think something is wrong' when it often isn't, that goes on here.

I promise you I am not imagining any of these problems.

Outside mirror.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/897b2d72eb.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Broken mirror that just fell off the car.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/7bd1988ad7.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Broken handbrake.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/6535a75257.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Driver's seat.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/872aedcbaf.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Back of driver's seat.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/85d23e78e9.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Better angle of back of driver's seat.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/7166e4a165.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Driver's head rest.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/5f456dc9d2.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Passanger's head rest.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/4131411edd.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Rear seat.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/a1fc803ce8.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Best I could do of under the rear seat where it is meant to connect. You can pretty much stick your whole hand under there.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/516c763fec.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

That is just the interior fit and finish problems that I could get a decent picture of. I couldn't be bothered and it was to hot to get down on my back and take a picture of the duct tape holding my parking sensors in place and it is hard to take pictures of all the electrical and satnav problems I am having.

As I said, just give your car a really good once over and make sure that there aren't, or even the beginning of, any of these kind of problems.

I am a big Holden fan and really love this car, but it kind of takes the shine off it and annoys the hell out of you when every week you find something else wrong with it.

[lowriding]

those aren't common issues ,you seem to have a bit of a lemon build wise there . Mate that's definitely unacceptable . I don't know why or what problems your having getting those fixed -try a better dealership . Or go over your dealership and contact Holdens customer service directly .

[EvokeWM]

Hi Janus - I see you've had a few of the same problems I've had with my WM Caprice (many of the interior bits & electrical systems in the VE Calais V are the same on the WM Caprice). Most of my probs are electrical or software related. The downside of complicated computer managed electrics.

See my list at Australian LS1 and Holden Forums (http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=89681)

[Wonky]

I've had the seat base trim fall off same as Janus. Was fixed under warranty once I showed my dealer.

[lollymanv8]

Mate, that's shocking!!! I'd be asking Holden for a new replacement car!

[Carby]

Our VE SV6 has had a HVAC problem (twice) , a protective rubber has fallen off the inside of the hood, I have the same problem with the handbrake with the top coming away and now the steering wheel activated left hand dial is non operative. The VE drives brilliantly but is a serious worry quality wise as far as I'm concerned. I was going to keep the GTO but it has been the biggest POS I have ever owned bar none, when the lease is up in a couple of month's it's going - ohh happy day!. I have test driven a new C Class Benz and other than it being gutless it is a whole universe away better quality inside the car - feels very sturdy and solid. Like Janus, a Holden/HSV may not be in my future. Very, Very disappointed in Holden quality in the last few cars I've driven and owned.:spew:

[Janus]

Well I took my car in on Monday, they did nothing and said that they had to order parts, and brought it back in on Thursday as they said to. They had it all day and when I get there I find that they have replaced the parking sensors (although I am yet to get under the car and check to make sure that they just haven't left them duct taped in place) and refitted my handbrake.

Everything else on my list they say they are either waiting on parts (why did you make me bring the car in on Thursday if I just have to bring it in sometime next week) or for things like the electrical, satnav and scroll wheel problems they say they have no idea and that Holden are "working on a fix".

This is strarting to really annoy me and I told the service manager this. What it the point of these people if they can't do anything to the car. I have to wait for the all the bits to come in when the things are made about 40 minutes away so that they car repair and replace all the seats and then they say that they are sending the car off to some auto upholstery place to have the seats redone and repacked, which they say will take another day or two. I sure hope they are planning on giving me a replacement vehicle, but I assure you this will be asking to much as I have gotten zero customer service thus far.

As for the issue of the satnav problems and the ABS/Engine warning lights coming on they gave me a photocopy of pages of a Holden service manual explaining the problem and then basically saying they don't know what to do about it and if a customer complains change this setting so they thing that it isn't happening anymore. Although this isn't really a problem for me as if you actually read the description of the problem they are talking about it isn't the one that I am experiencing. It would seem they don't actually listen to the owner and driving about what the problem is and instead just find something that kind of matches what is happening and then say that that is it.

How many times do I have to tell them that the left hand scroll wheel not working is not a problem with the central display so stop turning off options and replacing parts in it. It is the freakin' sat nav that causes it. If I turn the sat nav off it doesn't happen and if I turn it on it does. Plus all the other people on here who have complained of the same thing also have sat nav!

So I am going to go in there next week when they finally get the parts they need in, grab the service manager and drive him around the block a dozen times showing him EXACTLY what it happening and when it happens and then maybe they can use a brain and actually try and fix something in my car.

[MK1]

I went for my 3000K service, I asked them to do an oil and oil filter change and the boss of the service department told me that he doesn't advise me to do this because Holden install a particular type of oil that helps with the running in of the motor and should be left in till at least 15,000Kms.

Has anyone else heard of this?

Does Holden use a particualar type of that assists in the running in of the car?