2005 Holden XC Barina Hatchback Warranty Complaint
August 31, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
2005 Holden XC Barina Hatchback Warranty Complaint
Name: Carol Brownlie
Car Make: Holden XC Barina Hatchback
Car Model: Holdend XC Barina Hatchback
Year of Manufacture: 2005
Warranty Complaint:
The ongoing problem with my car is that the emission light flickers on and off or remains on and the car runs as sick as to the point where it is dangerous to drive.I have kept up with the services and driven it to another town to have it fixed and bought a new battery etc for it including having the fuel filter replaced and it still has problems.it has done approx 17,000 kms since mid year 2005.Holden wont cover anything under warranty.I have paid for everything and the problems with the emission still are ongoing.










Good on you Carol Brownlie for bringing this to our attention.Holden is not as good as the much older Holdens use to be.Its good to be able to read things like this before going buying a new car that you think you may want and like so thanks guys.I’m sticking with Ford or something else.
i’m having a similar prob as most of you, my 02 barina was great little car, no problems, started leaking water, took to holden dealer service and spent $110 to tighten up a nut. Was told 60,000 service was going to be $900 at least due to timing belt. Due for soon. Week later the warning ECU light has been on and off and it is stalling at lights. Took to another mechanic and they have been testing for problem. Thought it was electrical but auto elec couldn’t find anything so now they think they have narrowed it down to ECU which has possibly been heated and now has fault. After reading comments by tank and fab going to suggest on Monday the *head *melted catalytic converter *coil pack and *fuel injectors. Sounds to me like the catalytic converter. Anyone else had to replace the ECU???? Gen part is to $1400. Don’t want to do unless sure.
Bit of an update on my 05 XC Barina that had the blown up starter motor – barely 8 weeks later I was driving home from a staff meeting at night, went to overtake a car (barely going 110km/h to get around him – didn’t drop a gear to do so) and the little beep beep shuddered violently and started to lose acceleration; to me it felt like it had dropped a cylinder or something like that.. (the little bit of knowledge I have from religiously watching the V8s for years :P).
Luckily I was only about 5kms away from home so I managed to limp it home, my dad had a look at it for me and he thought that a hydraulic lifter might have broken in the engine (everytime you pressed the accelerator it would shudder violently and have a ticking noise), the local mechanic came over the next morning to have a look at it and on first inspection he thought the same thing.
They managed to limp it over to his workshop which was about 12kms away – he opened her up…
SNAPPED A CAMSHAFT CLEAN IN HALF!!!!
All of the tappets that hold BOTH camshafts were loose and I was pretty damn lucky that they both didn’t go…
Holden didn’t really care that much and it wasn’t worth the fight with them and paying to get the car (which had it’s guts laying over the mechanic’s workshop floor) to their service centre for them to turn around and say they may or may not be able to do anything…
Got a quick and dirty fix done on it and nearly $3000 later I decided it was time to buy a new car…
Had my gorgeous Mazda 3 for 3 months now…
Hi, just a quick question about these fantastic cars (sarcasm). I have fixed a few electrical faults on this car myself over the past year, & now I seem to have a new one to keep me entertained. The problem I am having is that the air bag light would sometimes come on while driving, this did not happen all the time. Now the light is on all the time. Has anyone else had this problem? If so what did you do to fix it? If you went to the dealer to get it fixed, what was the reason they gave you for the light coming on. Any help you may be able to give would be great. So until the next problem (probably only a few hours away) thanks.
I rented out loads of Vauxhall Corsa’s ( Holden Barina) in the UK when I worked as manager for Enterprise and had the airbag light come on in approx 30% of Corsa’s on fleet. The local Vauxhall dealer said it was just a loose wire. All he did was removed the airbag from the steering wheel and push the yellow connector back in place and most of the time it rectified the problem.
Another reason could be the wiring under the seat has been loosened by having stored stuff under the driver seat or while cleaning under the seat. Don’t let a mechanic charge you the earth to fix it though, it really isn’t that expensive, though some will try to rip you off.
Have just bought 2001 Barina. Private sale. Drove well when inspected.
Picked up car 1 week later, got half way home & engine light comes on & there is a miss in the engine. On mechanics advice, bought new coil unit & spark plugs. Car runs well now but engine light still on. On the drive to the mechanics, noticed that the engine would hold revs (for a second or so) while changing gears. Mechanic reset the engine light & said maybe oxgen or other sensor could be problem. Oh and timing belt is now noisy. Anyway, drove away from mechanic, engine did not hold revs & all seemed fine. Got half way home again & noticed engine starting to hold revs & engine light back on. Wish I had read this forum before buying this dud.