I'm not sure how an electric piece of equipment continues to function when its fuse or relay has ben removed, so maybe you need to check that you're pulling the correct fuse. The car's owner's manual should contain a list of fuses, their location and what circuit they relate to.

In any case, problems like this one are often the fault of the car's body computer which can fail, allowing all sorts of random errors to crop up in anything from the climate-control stuff to the central locking. If that's the case, a new body computer may be required, but these can be obtained second-hand to keep costs down.

But before you do any of that, try these simple tricks: Using the key fob, press the door lock button and hold it down for at least a minute. Sometimes, this is enough to reboot the computer and restore normal settings. The second thing to try is to park the car and disconnect the negative battery terminal. Wait at least an hour (overnight is better) and then reconnect the battery and see if the car's computer has reset itself. It doesn't always work, but it's free and definitely worth a shot. Just make sure you have access to the radio's security code to restart it after disconnecting the battery.

Both those models of Holden used the same engine; the L36 (Holden's internal code) Ecotec V6. As such, you should be able to fit the engine from the VT Commodore into the Statesman with very few other changes. The biggest hurdle will be if the Commodore donor car was a manual-transmission vehicle, as the ECU may be different to the Statesman's unit to allow for control of the electronic transmission. The best bet is to retain the Statesman's wiring and computer and change over only the engine hardware from the Commodore.

The other (minor) catch is that the VT's version of the V6 was tuned for 147kW, while the later version of the same engine in the Statesman was good for 152kW. There was a small torque difference, too (304Nm plays 305Nm). So you'll be trading off a small amount of performance but, realistically, not enough to notice.

This is a very common complaint among owners of Holdens of this era. If you’ve checked all the likely places for water to enter, then you have to start thinking laterally. Does the car have an aftermarket of dealer-fitted rear spoiler? The mounting holes of these can be great places for water to enter the boot. But believe it or not, this series of full-sized Holdens was also susceptible to a manufacturing glitch where the rear quarter-light windows weren’t sealed properly. Water can, apparently, enter here and find it’s way into the boot. It sounds crazy, but I’m assured it’s a thing with these cars.