VE commodore 4 cam timing chain failure

motorway, Dec 15, 8:29am
crunch, munch and a total lunch.very impressive amount of damage.

thunderbolt, Dec 15, 8:34am
But chains are much better than belts which can explode with no warning at all.

Why oh why did this happen when Scotty was away.

ginga4lyfe, Dec 15, 11:31pm
Blame it on holden, get them to fix it :P

a.woodrow, Dec 15, 11:39pm
What year ve, how many km's and had it been regularly serviced!

curlcrown, Dec 16, 5:24am
not unusual on early VEs. Later ones have an improved chain. Was the engine light on!

brokebloke1, Dec 16, 5:31am
bull ! the early VEs ran the alloytech 3.6 same as the VY - VZ

motorway, Dec 16, 5:59am
230000, no knowledge of it's history, it turned up at our place on a tow truck.as usual the owner is somewhat vague.
It was cranking slowly and making this god awful grinding noise.he said he was driving it and it "went all slow an that, so I thought i'd get it home".

xs1100, Dec 16, 7:07am
yes and it happens on the vz also the vy was the last with the 3.8 and when they do costs around 3k

curlcrown, Dec 16, 8:04am
I've heard of it happening on a 2006 VE engine light was on and yes $3k to replace 180000km. VY used the old 3.8 VZ the 3.6. However the problem has been reselved in the later modeles.

cowlover, Dec 16, 9:13am
There is a story on this in Consumer.Known fault.Holden were required to fix at their cost.Might be worth a follow up.

scotty20001, Dec 18, 10:05pm
wow one timing chain failure out of how many Commodores are running the Alloytec engine no problem! probably due to lack of servicing but anyway Holden should cover it, would i still have an Alloytec V6 over any thai built heap of junk yes i would, the funny thing is if a Jappa broke its timing chain on this MB it would be swept under the rug wouldn't it! compare people complaining about their Jappas on this MB compared to Commodores, you do the math.

scotty20001, Dec 18, 10:08pm
interesting the worshiped thai V6 had a recall causing timing belt falure. very interesting, V6 engine (2002): Two problems were handled as a recall. The automatic tensioner for the timing belt malfunctions, resulting in excessive slack; a problem with the water pump casting causes misalignment of the timing belt. Both components were to be replaced at the same time.

ringo2, Dec 18, 10:09pm
230,000 k and Holden should cover it. I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

thunderbolt, Dec 18, 10:10pm
One Scotty!
I know of one commodore that has had two chains replaced already.
And it cost much more $$$ than replacing a cambelt.

a.woodrow, Dec 18, 10:11pm
For the last of the vz, and the first of the ve series, holden, in an effort to cut costs, changed to a cheaper supplier for timing chains. these timing chains proved to be flawed in the sense that they would stretch, setting off the check engine light. these chains were replaced under warranty by holden. if OP had their check engine light on, and continued to drive then holden won't be interested, although at 200+ kms they would probably say fair wear and tear anyway.

a.woodrow, Dec 18, 10:14pm
Nope it wasn't one, it was literally thousands that had to be replaced. I worked at a holden dealership during this issue. And apart from a couple of earlier 4wd vehicle timing chains, I have never seen a japanese car timing chain fail in my life

xs1100, Dec 19, 8:21am
hahaha ring Nissan then i spoke to someone last week and the navaras have a problem with timing chain stretching

mellisa2000, Dec 19, 8:27am
Becoming quite common Scotty! A lot of vehicles affected, a few less failures due to at least some owners having a CEL on on the dash, then taking the car to the dealer for a check, luckily before blowing up.