2010 Holden Commodore Pricing and Specs

There are literally hundreds of things that can cause a check-engine light in a modern, computer-controlled car. A problem with the ignition, fuel system, emissions-control system, air-intake, lubrication, cooling and much, much more can cause this light to illuminate.

The best way to proceed is to have the vehicle electronically scanned. That way, the computer can tell the mechanic where the problem is and, hopefully, precisely what’s causing the check-engine light to flicker on.

For the record, however, a common fault with the V6 engine in this series of Commodores is a stretched timing chain that the computer interprets as incorrect valve timing (which it is). Plenty of owners of this model have discovered this as the cause of their check-engine light.

The biggest problem with this model of Commodore was it’s V6 engine and that unit’s propensity to suffer stretched timing chains. Cars without a full service history will be the worst offenders, but even a car with a perfect maintenance track record can still require new timing chains. However, this usually occurs long before 200,000kmk have been clocked up, so it would be very interesting to see if the car you’re looking at has, indeed, had this repair made by a previous owner. Of course, even if the timing chain has been replaced, that’s no guarantee that the problem won’t occur again. There’s also a suspicion that the three-litre version of the Holden V6 was a bit underpowered and needed to be driven hard everywhere; a situation that didn’t help timing-chain wear at all.

Other problems with the VE Commodore generally include some electrical problems that are surfacing with age, particularly camshaft-position sensors, a build-up of carbon on the intake valves which can cause rough running and poor economy, oil leaks and leaks from the cooling system. That said, if you can find a good one with an engine that has had new timing chains, the VE wagon represents a lot of car for not much money these days. 

The early VE model Commodore V6s certainly had all sorts of dramas with stretched timing chains that could run into thousands of dollars to fix. Holden changed the design of the chain and while it did help, we’ve still heard of later post-2008 model Commodore V6s exhibiting the same problem.

The problem is made worse (accelerated) by poor servicing, so if the vehicle in question doesn’t have an absolutely up-to-date service handbook with evidence of every scheduled service being carried out in full, we’d be walking away. Same goes for a car that rattles on first start-up, won’t idle properly or has a check-engine light illuminated on the dashboard.