Holden Trax Pricing and Specs

Basically, the light is telling you that there’s something wrong with the car’s driveline and that you need to have it checked out before the problem does any permanent damage. This can be taken care of at a workshop that has the correct scanning tools.

Possible causes are numerous, but can include a dud sensor, a bad earth, wiring problems, damaged exhaust or any one of about a thousand engine or transmission glitches. Don’t bother trying to guess the reason, have the car electronically scanned and home in on the actual problem that way.

A lot of workshops that aren’t too familiar with a certain make and model will often neglect this little detail, mainly because they either forget or don’t know how to cancel it. The good news, it’s a pretty simple procedure.

Switch the ignition on but don’t start the engine. Then, press the little black button inside the tachometer (just above the 'RPM' symbol) until the oil-can symbol appears. Then, hold the same button for a few seconds until you hear a beep and the number next to the oil can changes to 100 (per cent). That’s it, you’re done.

Holden’s factory maintenance schedule for the 1.8-litre Trax suggests a 150,000km (or 10 years, whichever comes first) timing belt change interval. Don’t forget to change the relevant tensioners and belt idlers at the same time. Many owners also elect to replace the water pump at the same time while this area of the engine is apart for the timing belt change.

The turbocharged 1.4-litre version of the Trax used a timing chain rather than a timing belt. This chain should be good for the life of the vehicle.