Cruising around Sydney suburban streets in your V6 Holden Captiva or Commodore thinking you have backed the homegrown Aussie brand, is all an elaborate lie you have been led to believe by clever marketing. If you own a car that has the alloy tech V6 engine in it you have in fact indirectly purchased yourself a Daewoo. Granted our main promotional vehicle is a Daewoo and that may make you think we endorse those kind of purchases, however a few small facts are missing from your equation. Firstly, we were given our promotional Daewoo for free which means we have probably already paid too much for it. Secondly, since then we have accidentally spent at least $15K on the car. You should never pay more than a packet of salt and vinegar chips for any Daewoo. This may help put into perspective the quality of car you may currently be driving.
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So you have made the choice and for a while you have been driving around in your Holden with no problems. Slowly over time you have noticed the car progressively start to sound like a diesel powered piece of farm machinery and then the beloved “Check Engine” light came on. You have had the light checked and cleared any number of times, the special mechanical language that the scan tool keeps spitting out gives you some hints as to what the fault may be. You clear the light and hope it stays off, but it keeps coming back, you’re avoiding the problem and it just won’t go away. Odds are that the fault codes in your cars computer, are codes relating to the common problem these cars have, which is stretched timing chains.
The chains stretch to a point that the cam shafts and crank shaft are no longer in sync with one another and eventually if left unattended, will eat all the chocolate biscuits and finally break. The V6 Holdens run three timing chains to keep the four cam shafts and crank shaft aligned. The job of these chains is to keep the pistons and the valves moving in time with one another. The chains are known to stretch and if it gets to the point of complete failure, it turns the inside of your engine into a giant blender and thats all bad for everyone involved.
So what can you do about this? The short answer is nothing. At this stage Holden is in the know about the “common fault” but have yet to release revised parts to prevent this from happening in the future. This means that if you’re the owner of one of these vehicles and you fork out the mega cash for this job to be carried out, there is a very real chance that in the future the fault could return and you would have to carry out the same repair all over again.
WARNING: You can save some costs on this job by getting a private workshop to carry out the repairs rather than a Holden dealership. The cheaper labour rate 
means you could save yourself up to $2k depending on the labour rate of the workshop and the dealerships. However if you do this, insist that the small shop uses genuine parts.
Local parts distributors such as Burson Auto Parts and Repco do stock aftermarket timing chain kits and the temptation to save a few quid is understandable. Be warned, the after market kits fail prematurely and don’t just stretch but have been known to break. When it comes to this job insist on genuine parts.
So what does this major surgery cost you? Our local Holden dealership is doing the job just shy of $5K. Through a small privately owned workshop using genuine parts the job should cost you around the $3.5k the super bad part to all this is you could be doing it all again in a few years time.
Heard that the new Cadillac ATS-v also uses that Alloytec engine though with the difference of having two turbo’s strapped on to it. So GM/Cadillac may already have a revised timing chain for the Alloytec that may not have been released in Australia
I ended up taking my engine out and dropped it to a mechanic and end up cost 2.7 k but I also bent some valves that where replaced
I bought a new Holeen Captiva in 2006, after 5 years without problem, we had trouble starting the car due to a fuel pump, then leaking steering rack, all suspension starting leaking oil, not to mention turtles wearing after 30,000klms then engine lacked power? Engine light came on and was told by dealer the timing chain was a design fault and I should pay $4,500..sold car and will never by another Holden again after buying Holdens for over 30 years
Why are you saying V-cars and Captiva V6 engines were made by Daewoo? The opposite is true. The HFV6 was made in Port Melbourne in a huge new engine plant built around 2003, and exported to SAAB and Daewoo, among others. I worked at Port Melbourne while all this was happening. FYI, we have an early Captiva (Aug 2006 build, and yes it was assembled in Korea) and it has been very reliable. Even the brake pads lasted 175,000km. My VZ and VE were sold at 100,000 km with zero warranty problems while I had them. A BMW E46 323i was the worst, with sensor failures and major engine noises by 120,000km.
haaaaaaa haaaaaaaaa
This is something the OVER paid engineers at Holden should accept as their design fault, as Holden brought out what they call a SOFTWARE UPGRADE that simply ignored the problem to get through warranty instead of a recall and rectify their inability to see the failings of the design.
WELL DONE HOLDEN
It seems we have much in common. But I don’t blame the timing chains or indeed the whole timing chain system. Although there may in my opinion be an issue of oil grade, I have yet to explore that avenue. I own a 3.2 JTS Alfa 159 Q4. I currently has 111,000 miles on the clock although the chains et al were changed at 98,000.
However, I blame oil flow restrictions in the block, resulting in attenuated pressure/flow rate at the lower timing chain tensioner and my rear bank (transverse mounted) – corresponds to cylinders 1,3 & 5 bank – upper timing chain tensioner. I bought a spare Brera engine to investigate the issue as the problem also affects the VVT response times.
The upshot is, with modifications to supplement oil flow pressure, I now make 266.2 BHP – 270 PS. Economy is much better. It has also enabled me to provision for an extra oil cooler. Also, where Alfa quote peak power @ 6200 rpm, mine is now at 6670 – 470 rpm higher. Had the dyno not been restricted I believe it would make the figure ;extrapolated from the 3.6 Camaro of 323 bhp, 287 bhp. Torque is now is no longer a curve but essentially flat and the figure at 6670 is the same as at just over 2100 rpm @ 210 ft lb., with the power curve still rising @ that point.
The Alfa has a lot in common with other companies, Vauxhall, Holden, etc and I am looking into seeing if my modification can be adapted to fit those. But I am having difficulties in getting accurate pictures or exploded diagrams of these other engines. Can anyone help please?
In addition to the above, @ 6670 rpm where the power curves of the standard engine and my modified one diverge, there is a difference 26 kilowatts. This essentially is a reflection of the lost energy in the standard engine and manifests itself in heat – a real problem for the Alfa engine with it’s manifold mounted cats. My engine is now running about 8 – 10 degrees cooler according to the oil temperature gauge. This will improve again when I fit my new oil cooler. I can’t decide what to go for at the moment as I want something of a high quality to mount just behind the front grill.
Ve sv6 120 ks new timing chain’s new oil pump every ting in front new still rattles on start up ??? What do I look for next 2008 model
Noisy lifters?
Could be a bottom end bearing. Seen it before.
where to find the timing chain positions at top dead centre for alloytec v6 engine on the web ie captiva etc
Hey, so thought I would add a quick note. I have the 2007 VE Calais and had the timing chain issue. I did lots of research online and found both the official statement from GM saying the chain was faulty and plenty of other evidence to back it up. Mine had done 92,000kms when the warning light came on. Went to Holden with all that I had, including a service history, and they replaced the chain for free, using the new heavier duty chain. Worth hitting them up about it if you think you have a case, saved myself $5000 just by doing some homework and asking the question.
Wow, It just goes to show!
I’m reading your old 2017 ish comments and just laughing,
Bought my Adventra 3.6 wagon about 9 years ago. It had 80k on the clock. Now 267k
Only thing went wrong so far was the oil sensor making the “service vehicle soon” alarm sound and light come on.
The motor is a great! 190kw still powering on. Go figure??