H Commodore Vn 1990

[Ext User(ThePeriwinkle)]

So have finally bought a car - see subject line, but one thing is bothering
me. On the odd occasion the system engine management light comes on -
generally after city driving but driving is not effected and having had 2
inspections by my mechanic he's none the wiser..
I have been told by friends that this is a common problem with the vn and
that any change in the engine, no matter how small will cause this warning
light to go on.
The car is only on 184,000 kms and I've been told that over the past 3 years
it does done nothing more that local driving (whereas I take it on the
freeway daily).
Can anyone shed some light on this?? Thank you :)

[Ext User(mmal380vrx@hotmail.com)]

On May 12, 12:13 pm, "ThePeriwinkle" <ThePeriwin...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> So have finally bought a car - see subject line, but one thing is bothering
> me. On the odd occasion the system engine management light comes on -
> generally after city driving but driving is not effected and having had 2
> inspections by my mechanic he's none the wiser..
> I have been told by friends that this is a common problem with the vn and
> that any change in the engine, no matter how small will cause this warning
> light to go on.
> The car is only on 184,000 kms and I've been told that over the past 3 years
> it does done nothing more that local driving (whereas I take it on the
> freeway daily).
> Can anyone shed some light on this?? Thank you :)

yeah commodores are duds you should of gotten a magna instead

[Ext User(Andy)]

ThePeriwinkle wrote:
> So have finally bought a car - see subject line, but one thing is bothering
> me. On the odd occasion the system engine management light comes on -
> generally after city driving but driving is not effected and having had 2
> inspections by my mechanic he's none the wiser..
> I have been told by friends that this is a common problem with the vn and
> that any change in the engine, no matter how small will cause this warning
> light to go on.
> The car is only on 184,000 kms and I've been told that over the past 3 years
> it does done nothing more that local driving (whereas I take it on the
> freeway daily).
> Can anyone shed some light on this?? Thank you :)


Quite possibly an O2 sensor fault, but hard to tell without the fault
code/s from the ECU. Your friends are wrong, BTW - As soon as you touch
the throttle there's a 'change in the engine'.


Andy.

[Ext User(John_H)]

ThePeriwinkle wrote:

>So have finally bought a car - see subject line, but one thing is bothering
>me. On the odd occasion the system engine management light comes on -
>generally after city driving but driving is not effected and having had 2
>inspections by my mechanic he's none the wiser..
>I have been told by friends that this is a common problem with the vn and
>that any change in the engine, no matter how small will cause this warning
>light to go on.
>The car is only on 184,000 kms and I've been told that over the past 3 years
>it does done nothing more that local driving (whereas I take it on the
>freeway daily).
>Can anyone shed some light on this?? Thank you :)

4, 6 or 8 cylinders?

If the warning lamp has been activated at any stage, and the power to
the ECM hasn't been disconnected since, it will have logged a fault
code which any competent mechanic ought be able to extract. Nor is it
particularly difficult to do yourself... it's simply a matter of
bridging the appropriate terminals in the diagnostic link located
behind the passenger side kick panel (left side of the footwell).

If yours is a V6, the crankshaft position sensor is a likely candidate
for an intermittent fault condition.

--
John H

[Ext User(Clockmeister)]

"ThePeriwinkle" <ThePeriwinkle@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:46452245$0$9089$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
> So have finally bought a car - see subject line, but one thing is
> bothering
> me. On the odd occasion the system engine management light comes on -
> generally after city driving but driving is not effected and having had 2
> inspections by my mechanic he's none the wiser..
> I have been told by friends that this is a common problem with the vn and
> that any change in the engine, no matter how small will cause this warning
> light to go on.

That is bullshit. On the contrary, the EFI system is pretty basic on the VN.

> The car is only on 184,000 kms and I've been told that over the past 3
> years
> it does done nothing more that local driving (whereas I take it on the
> freeway daily).
> Can anyone shed some light on this?? Thank you :)
>

Most likely a dud or lazy oxygen sensor.

Might just need a long drive with a heavy throttle to get some heat into the
sensor and burn off the crud.

[Ext User(ThePeriwinkle)]

thanks for your help folks...The car is going in to get it RWC on Tues so
I'll get the (different) mechanic to have another look see.. Is looking more
likely thare's a fault with the torque converter. (I think that's right lol,
it's too early on a sunday morning to be doing this, let alone thinking)

BTW as far as ever driving, owning or thinking about a magna....not a hope
in hell. Been there done that, not impressed.