I have to be honest; this wasn’t the article I wanted to write. I intended to produce a snarky and confronting piece about motor vehicle advertising and quite possibly a review of a new car. But I’ve been distracted by sadness this week: one of the family has been dreadfully ill. Thankfully the metal child and not one of the flesh and blood variety. Yes, the engine I was so proudly lauding last month has developed a number of issues and possibly picked up one of the ‘World’s Worst Timing’ awards. It all started when I received a slightly panicked phone call from Beloved, who was en route to Horsham. She opened the bonnet and held the phone over the engine. “Can you hear That Noise?”

I could, indeed, hear That Noise.

“What do I do now?” There was really little choice, “Keep going to Horsham and watch the instruments. If anything develops pull over and we’ll sort it out from there.”. Both my Beloveds made it back, but That Noise was still there.

It was a high pitched whine, shifting from the front to the back of the engine. Was it a pulley on the fan belt, or something much, much more sinister? Treating it with all sorts of gentleness, I drove my beloved car to work over the next two nights knowing that another trip to Horsham awaited in two days time. This meant no chance of getting it to the mechanic until after that jaunt, a lazy 800 km’s.

I made a quick call to Ballan Holden in Hoppers Crossing, where I’d bought the car, and it was duly booked in for the Wednesday after our Horsham trip.

Apparently the hardening had been knocked off the camshaft, which had caused damage to the hydraulic lifter, which caused That Noise.

The trouble with the Holden V8 is that Americans have never been able to embrace new automotive technology. A hydraulic lifter is essentially a pushrod and, after the introduction of overhead camshafts, pushrods have pretty much been consigned to the parts bin by most manufacturers. The Americans, however, still think the leaf spring is a pretty neat idea and as long as we continue sourcing engines from across the Pacific then pushrods may be around for some time yet.

The real problem I had though, was that my car has now done around 120,000 km’s. The warranty ran out 20,000 km’s ago and I was theoretically stuck with a hefty repair bill. I’ll never suggest that you should always go to a dealer to get your car serviced but the important thing is to at least have a good rapport with the person who services your car.

Holden were quite prepared to leave me with the bill; Ballan Holden however, went in to bat for me. Since I purchased the car I have always had it serviced by them, and this comes back to the relationship you have with your repairer. If you have a history with them it is easier for them to argue on your behalf, particularly when something has the potential to cost a few thousand dollars.

So a few days later the car was returned to me with a new camshaft and new hydraulic lifters. So, all good, right? No. The repairs to the engine have uncovered a new problem, this time the gearbox has decided to go and as I write, my car is once again sitting in the workshop, while my gearbox is assessed and repair options are drawn up. Sometime next week I should receive my pride and joy back and fingers crossed everything is well. Update to come.

A quick Good On Ya: I bought this car from Ballan Holden, I will probably buy the next one there as well, and I commend them to you. They’re at 323 Princes Highway, Hoppers Crossing and can be contacted on (03) 9974 8888.

Website www.ballanholden.com.au

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Skoeman has been the Tribune’s resident car enthusiast for over a year and still has new car stuff to write about!

Read the rest of his automotively inclined articles here and follow him on twitter @Skoeman74

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