[garyndawn]

Hi, need your advice again please.


Over the past few days we have had a few random lights on the dash. The first one was the Diesel Particulate Filter light, that came on and has now stayed off...that was at the weekend.



Today I have 3 lights come on :



Desent control system (DCS) active and not ready/warning lamp

Electronic stability programe (ESP)off indicator

Electronic stability programe (ESP) active and not ready/warning lamp



They seem to either stay on or offafter i have started up the car and pulled away.



What do you think is going on???



Thanks Dawn

 

[K.L.Richards]

Assuming you have not hit the buttons to activate/deactivate these, I would say you have a problem that needs a visit to a garage.


These lights come on when they are being activated (Downhill Descent) or deactivated (ESP), but if they come on during normal operation or stay on after the dashboard check, then they indicate a problem with the system. For Hill Descent and ESP to be active at the same time, I suspect a sensor has gone wrong, and needs replacing.



But it is a serious fault, and should be fixed.

 

[bigiainw]

Most likely an ABS sensor, the esp and hill descent works through braking the wheel with less traction and transfering the power to the wheel with traction. Sounds expensive...

 

[K.L.Richards]

Not necessity.





Had a ABS sensor fail on my wifes Corsa. Strange symptoms: speedo failure; power steering failure; power assist break failure. The thing is her Corsa doesnt have ABS. But as these sensors track wheel movement they are used for many different things.





The actual ABS sensor on the Corsa was only a few quid, cant remember how much, but less than a fiver. However, Vauxhall dealer wanted to charge me £200 to fix, so told them to stick it where the sun doesnt shine.





Went to my local garage, who did the whole job for less than £30. Only took them half an hour.





So my advise is get the fault and an estimate before you authorise Chevrolet to fix it. Check how much the part is, and maybe use a local independant.





Unless of course it is still under warranty.

 

[bigiainw]

Fair enough, but inany car I've ever owned, and i've had a few, the abs system and sensors were structured into all the other systems- as I'm, pretty sure the Captiva is.

 

[garyndawn]

OMG....... !

will let you know how things go

 

[K.L.Richards]

Take it back. Had 2 Chevy dealerships quote me a small fortune to change a timing belt today. Charging £180 just for the timing belt kit.





And how come 2 different dealerships, have nealry £200 difference in their costs. I thought a dealers franchise, specified the cost per repair.





What planet are these garages on....

 

[bigiainw]

Planet rip off....

 

[andy180]

hi,
just thought id ask how much are they quoting for your timing belt change because mines going to need to be changed soon?

 

[Oldroverboy]

Check Mr clutch online prices which will give you a guide. Single cam £260 twin cam £305inc parts and vat. But think of getting water pump done at same time. Also check vauxhall dealers, antara has same engine and lots of VX parts without the "D" prefix, are the same part number and much cheaper. Cruze oil filter £10.49 + vat VX part £6.75+. Just got oil & air filters from Barry at Cresser, Redditch.

 

[K.L.Richards]

Without mentioning dealers by name, as last time I got posts removed for doing this.





Dealer A (near Pontypool and also a Morgan dealership) was £380 (inc VAT).


Dealer B (near to my offfice in Bridgend) £520 EXCLUDING VAT





It doesnt need changing, as the service book states replacement at 100k miles, and I've only just done over 55k, just I'd rather replace arround 60k than chance it as 100k seems really high. But for £400 I may leave it another year, who knows it may pack in before then.

 

[garyndawn]

just to update you, been in the car all yesterday and none of those lights came on at all...could it be a malfunction in the wiring I'm wondering?

 

[bigiainw]

I wonder if it's been water in a sensor? Would that correlate with your experience. I have frequent issues with water in my reversing sensors causing warning lights on the dash. Just a thought if it's now gone away?

 

[K.L.Richards]

garyndawn, have a look at this...


http://www.daewooclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?tid=8892



sounds familiar....



I had a wiring loom fault fixed on mine, and although I pointed out to Chevrolet the fault being fixed had been a known fault, they denied all knowledge and would not refund me the cost of fixing it.



I came accross this link searching for the one I spotted ages back, which showed Holden (Australian fanchise of GM) accepted on the Captiva there was a global wiring loom issue and repaired all faults with the wiring free of charge, irrespective of the mileage or warranty. Couldnt get them to accept this in the UK though... Rip off Britain ...





Also, see BigAl's comments on this site...

http://www.chevroletownersclub.co.uk/forum/captiva-engine-management-light_topic250.html



Not an uncommon problem, some may say a design flaw, Chevrolet say "Show us your money"...
Edited by: K.L.Richards

 

[K.L.Richards]

Not the Ausie site I first found, but this also states wiring loom problems...


http://news.drive.com.au/drive/used-car-reviews/review-holden-captiva-200610-20120323-1vny1.html



Dont forget this is the same car as the Chevrolet Captiva we all love and the Vauxhall Antara. They all come out off the same production line, just with different badges... (and slight trim deviations).

 

[bigiainw]

Interesting stuff. I was particularly interested in the bit that goes;



A more serious engine problem is the Captiva's habit of losing power without warning. This is a safety issue when entering a roundabout or pulling into traffic.


Some mechanics reckon the fault is caused by a loose connection in the car's wiring harness that connects the throttle pedal to the engine.


A clean-up of the connectors and application of sealant does the trick in some examples.
I have an intermittent issue where the engine refuses to pick up when the throttle is presseed for a split second, particularly when in traffic in an on/off the throttle sequence. Requires more investigation methinks!

 

[Oldroverboy]

Kl, I am sure you have an inkling about this, but here goes. Given your usage, lots of motorways, I would be inclined to wait. The killer for these drive belts is the "shock" loading of starting a cold engine, and to a lesser degree lots of stop start where a vehicle is fitted with stop/start. I have seen examples of where cam belts have never been changed at 5 and 6 years, but have always suggested it is done by 5 years, and 4 for taxis. Of course if you paid full whack for dealer servicing it might be interesting to see what chevrolet would say if your service history was perfect at 4.5 years and 90.000 miles, ie 8 full services at dealer prices.

Edited by: Oldroverboy

 

[K.L.Richards]

Also interesting in the Ausie article is them saying the diesel Holden Captiva needs timing belt changed at 90k KM where the Chevrolet version is 100k miles.





Something doesn't smell right...





90k km is approx 56k miles....perhaps I should rethink my approach.

 

[Oldroverboy]

Comes under the heading of climatic variations. (extreme driving conditions) swmbo had 3000 mile servicing on herCamryin abu dhabi when we were out there. Not allAustraliais like the uk.

 

[Aussie Ed]

Quite right Oldroverboy, infact not much of Australia is like UK! It gets sun for a start and I've not seen too much of that since I've been here in UK (7 months).
One point tolook out for when comparing recommendations on timing belt/chain replacement; the Series 1 had a belt and the Series 2 has a chain. This point alone may well account for difference in 'life expectancy' of the component.

Aussie Ed