Holden HR Pricing and Specs

Any remedy can only be suggested once you know what’s causing the problem. The first step, then, is to have the car scanned to see if there’s a problem the on-board computer has identified and logged. Once you have that information, you are a lot closer to knowing what to replace.

Logic suggests that an engine that runs roughly when it’s cold might be running lean. If that’s the case, it could be caused by many things including worn injectors, a lazy fuel pump or even a temperature sensor that is not telling the computer that controls these things that the coolant temperature is low and the engine needs more fuel to compensate. Then, once the engine has warmed up, the fuel-air mixture is correct and the engine settles down and runs properly. That said, 30km is a long time for the engine to take to warm up.

You could spend lots of time and money replacing the wrong bits here, so a scan is definitely the way to proceed.

First thoughts would be that you have a fuel injector that is not spraying either the correct amount of fuel and/or in the correct pattern for proper combustion. This will certainly bring on the symptoms you’re seeing, as well as ruining fuel economy. It’s also most likely to show up if the engine has been sitting for a while.

But the reality is that a modern engine like this one has literally hundreds of electronic sensors and systems that can all add up to poor running and economy. The best bet is to have the car scanned to see if the on-board computer has logged any faults. Without this intelligence, you’re flying blind, replacing parts that may or may not fix the problem.

These little LED info-screens have been part of dashboards for years now, and they’re a known problem in many makes and models. There are specialist repairers who can either fix the screen you have or remove the dud one and fit a new one. Making sure the odometer still reads to car’s correct mileage is the trick.

Actually, that’s an important point, because a correctly working odometer is a roadworthy item. And one that flashes on and off randomly is definitely not working properly and is, therefore, making the car technically unroadworthy.