I own a VZ SV6 LY7 3.6L 270,000kms. No timing chain issues because I do 5000-6000km oil changes. It’s a must. Coolant in the overflow bottle evaporates and this needs filling to be maintained at halfway between lowest level point and top fill mark when the engine is cold. If you don’t given the loss through evaporation, eventually your cooling system will be sucking in air as it cools and not coolant and you create the same airlock problem you’ve shown here. Regular checks and maintenance always. Check coolant level every two to four weeks.
That’s a good maintenance routine, especially since the HF V6’s are prone to oil sludging due to the small PCV vale, and the fact that the valve was only installed on one bank..
I feel you on this… I’ve done everything I can do keep the heat down. New radiator, bleed the lines, flushed the original radiator. My ve sv6 3.6lt while driving goes between 93-96 when driving and when at lights can go up to 104 and when driving for awhile up hills can go as high as 110 fans kick in at 108 is that normal?
Thank you for your video. I had been experiencing the same issues. This video certainly put me on the right to track to resolving my problem. I used a premixed coolant specific to the engine in my case and also turned the heater in the cabin to max. It took about 20 minutes for all the air bubbles to escape as I tapped the accelerator pedal several times during the process.
That engine was built at the Fishermans bend engine plant in Victoria when it was open -& yes, it's a global GM engine which was manufactured by Holden. I downloaded the factory Holden instructions when I had to help my grandfather out with an overheating issue in his 2005 Model Holden VZ Commodore which runs the 3.6 litre Holden Alloytec LY7 V6 engine which was the very first Alloytec V6 engine that Holden ever made,he replaced the radiator & the Gregory or Haynes manual only had the bleeding instructions for the old 3.8; litre V6 engine,he replaced the radiator & he wondered why it kept overheating,the radiator fans were stuck on in failsafe mode whenever he parked his car at a carpark & after he turned off the engine to protect the engine,the bleeding instructions were something like this :- 1. The Total cooling system capacity was 12 litres,add 6 litres of the orange OAT (organic acid technology) coolant mixed with 50% water & 50% coolant to the engine. 2. Hold the engine RPMs at 2000 or so RPMs until the thermostat opens or the coolant level drops 3. Add the remaining coolant to the engine. 4. The cooling system is now considered bled,refit the cap onto the crossover pipe. The last time I spoke to him he had a thermostat O ring issue & he had taken his car back to the mechanics for a few times until they fixed the problem,he hasn't had many problems with the engine. It had done over 430,000 kilometres last year & he has had the wideband sensor or sensors replaced on the engine,the 175 kilowatt Alloytec V6 engine uses bugger all fuel,it has always done country driving & has never had a timing chain issue. All of the Alloytec V6 engines which have had timing chain issues that I have heard of had done stop/Start driving. They went the same way in the VZ V8 Commodores,my Holden VY SS Commodore has a similar reservoir fitted to what the VN V6 Commodores were fitted with, they deleted that in the VZ V8 Commodores & fitted a radiator which is fitted with a radiator cap so I believe that the cooling system bleeding procedure would be the same as the V6 models. There was no procedure to worry about in the VY V8 Commodores !
Commodore has a Coolant Recovery Tank in the front wheel well and BELOW the expansion point on the Engine. Sometimes when the expansion tank is LOW the Engine sucks in AIR up the hose when it cools down. Best is to scrap the Holden Tank and install after market type with expabsion hose into the BOTTOM of a new Tank..job done. It will "self berp" all the time.
Mad video man this helped me a lot I ended up bleeding the air out and getting a new radiator cap my car was running that hot it was in limp mode. Now my car runs at 99 degrees it jumps abit to 104 if I’m driving the car a lot thru out the day but other then that it stays between 98-104 degrees i need to run coolant in my car should drop down to 90-95 atleast
Now your first mistake, at 2:07 min and 7 seconds your pointing the camera at the radiator cap. The colour of your cooling system coolant is not correct, it should be a nice pink to red colour (Nulon is the best concentrate coolant I have found) but lets get back to the subject, your cooling system liquid colour is rusty brown which indicates that the coolant is no longer effective and your system is contaminated (rust and corrosion). Here, instead of filling it back up with distilled water (even though this is the correct water to use) you should have carried out a radiator flush and service the cooling system. There is a proper sequence you need to follow to service these Alloytec V6 engines, and should be carried out every 3 years, So please follow the correct procedure when flushing out the cooling system and or the engine or gear box, also if you do not follow the proper procedure you may always suffer from air locks and over heating, or damage to the engine or the heater core, even internal parts of the engine because they do not like getting hotter than they should be as they are made from Alloy. At 3:45 you say the coolant was not making around that route, this is usually caused by not checking the coolant level on a regular basis (accounting for evaporation) or by over heating which creates an air lock. Air locks stop or block the coolant system flow and this is why you need to bleed the air out of the cooling system. You also mention that the coolant was low, these engines need to be checked on a weekly basis (Oil and Coolant levels). At 4:06 you say, it's supposed to be swirling or something? Well mate you have the radiator cap off, so the cooling system can't build up pressure, and even though the plastic bottle is doing it job it is not the correct tool for the job, you need a cooling system spill free funnel which locks onto the system (where the radiator cap goes or where you currently have the plastic bottle) this helps keep the system full and allows the air bubbles to rise to the top. The other thing you are not doing is helping the air rise to the top of the cooling system? Once you completed the radiator flush and you think you have filled the system with the correct amount of coolant and distilled water, you should jack the front of the car up while it is idling, high enough to force the air bubble to rise to the top of the cooling system. For example: If you have a coke bottle in your hand or even your bottle of distilled water, if you turn the bottle upside down what does the air bubble do? (it rises to the top) And if you tilt the bottle left or right the air bubble will follow and rise to the highest point, hence jacking the front of the car up and forcing the air to rise to the top. And the thermostat will open slowly, but will not open fully unless it reaches the correct operating temperature, if you do not understand cooling systems you should definitely not do a video on how to, more like a video as Please Help because there are many other things you need to do to make sure the cooling system is clear of air locks, so I really suggest buying a service manual about your car and or any related car and reading it before you work on a cooling system, even before you search youtube, because then and only then do you know if someone is following the correct procedure.
my husband has specified in holden and v6's alike for many years he said this video is a great how too... goes to show what you know as you don't jack the car up to purge the system hence why the car is made with a water pump. if your going to trall someone's videos! hahah at least get your facts right hahahag idiot
Very helpful info, you mentioned engineering mode, how do I find that? My VE 3.0 pings sometimes, when the temp gauge is low it's ok, I noticed that when it's pinging the temp gauge is higher, close to 1/2 way. And the fans or fan seems to be on quite a lot, I hear when accelerating.
1. Insert key in ignition 2. Push down left hand side scroll on steering wheel 3. Turn ignition on or start engine while still holding down left hand scroll 4. When system check is complete release scroll and you should be in engineering mode. 5. Scroll through using left hand scroll to check what you want
Did you end up doing the thermostat? Our VE Omega just climbed randomly to the overheat, did some shopping came out and seemed fine again. We've had an older VT Commodore that was doing this not knowing and it's usually the themostat.
Not sure if you've seen my other videos abot the VE, but this one had the camchain warning light, but it didn't effect driving at all. Did not own it for long after I made this video.
SOme have been lucky, others not so much. Is it a keeper? Only if you're prepared to maintain the cam chain and service oil and filter every 7500km or even shorter.
@@VroomBroomZoom no rattle at all bought it for 4 grand, replace all the cooling system, thermostat, water pump, hoses, gaskets, no more overheating, my next project would be timing chain and oil pump, car has few issues as well as centre bearing and tail shaft needs replacing. but don't really wanna spend more money unless engine has no more issues anymore after that overheating problem. cos i wanna keep the car as my daily
@@VroomBroomZoom If you listen to a ford driver then you have real problems because ford only made 3 good engines. The GTHO, The Cosworth and the Barracuda, the rest are shit boxes.
I own a VZ SV6 LY7 3.6L 270,000kms. No timing chain issues because I do 5000-6000km oil changes. It’s a must. Coolant in the overflow bottle evaporates and this needs filling to be maintained at halfway between lowest level point and top fill mark when the engine is cold. If you don’t given the loss through evaporation, eventually your cooling system will be sucking in air as it cools and not coolant and you create the same airlock problem you’ve shown here. Regular checks and maintenance always. Check coolant level every two to four weeks.
That’s a good maintenance routine, especially since the HF V6’s are prone to oil sludging due to the small PCV vale, and the fact that the valve was only installed on one bank..
I feel you on this… I’ve done everything I can do keep the heat down. New radiator, bleed the lines, flushed the original radiator. My ve sv6 3.6lt while driving goes between 93-96 when driving and when at lights can go up to 104 and when driving for awhile up hills can go as high as 110 fans kick in at 108 is that normal?
Doesn’t sound too bad actually.
Thank you for your video. I had been experiencing the same issues. This video certainly put me on the right to track to resolving my problem. I used a premixed coolant specific to the engine in my case and also turned the heater in the cabin to max. It took about 20 minutes for all the air bubbles to escape as I tapped the accelerator pedal several times during the process.
Awesome, did you get to the bottom of the core issue? As in, what is causing the air bubbles?
That engine was built at the Fishermans bend engine plant in Victoria when it was open -& yes, it's a global GM engine which was manufactured by Holden.
I downloaded the factory Holden instructions when I had to help my grandfather out with an overheating issue in his 2005 Model Holden VZ Commodore which runs the 3.6 litre Holden Alloytec LY7 V6 engine which was the very first Alloytec V6 engine that Holden ever made,he replaced the radiator & the Gregory or Haynes manual only had the bleeding instructions for the old 3.8; litre V6 engine,he replaced the radiator & he wondered why it kept overheating,the radiator fans were stuck on in failsafe mode whenever he parked his car at a carpark & after he turned off the engine to protect the engine,the bleeding instructions were something like this :-
1. The Total cooling system capacity was 12 litres,add 6 litres of the orange OAT (organic acid technology) coolant mixed with 50% water & 50% coolant to the engine.
2. Hold the engine RPMs at 2000 or so RPMs until the thermostat opens or the coolant level drops
3. Add the remaining coolant to the engine.
4. The cooling system is now considered bled,refit the cap onto the crossover pipe.
The last time I spoke to him he had a thermostat O ring issue & he had taken his car back to the mechanics for a few times until they fixed the problem,he hasn't had many problems with the engine.
It had done over 430,000 kilometres last year & he has had the wideband sensor or sensors replaced on the engine,the 175 kilowatt Alloytec V6 engine uses bugger all fuel,it has always done country driving & has never had a timing chain issue.
All of the Alloytec V6 engines which have had timing chain issues that I have heard of had done stop/Start driving.
They went the same way in the VZ V8 Commodores,my Holden VY SS Commodore has a similar reservoir fitted to what the VN V6 Commodores were fitted with, they deleted that in the VZ V8 Commodores & fitted a radiator which is fitted with a radiator cap so I believe that the cooling system bleeding procedure would be the same as the V6 models.
There was no procedure to worry about in the VY V8 Commodores !
Thank you for this write up, hope it helps somebody 👌
You have to clamp off the overflow by taking it out of the refill then clamping it and the air will purch
Commodore has a Coolant Recovery Tank in the front wheel well and BELOW the expansion point on the Engine. Sometimes when the expansion tank is LOW the Engine sucks in AIR up the hose when it cools down. Best is to scrap the Holden Tank and install after market type with expabsion hose into the BOTTOM of a new Tank..job done. It will "self berp" all the time.
Thank you for this, I’m sure it will help others 👍
Hey Terry, can you tell the exact name of that aftermarket or do you have link where i purchase. Thank you for this.
It’s funny you showing this, I had the same issue, bled the system and she worked well for 3 months then my water pump shit itself 😂
Yep, I guess it’s the sign of the inevitable
Mad video man this helped me a lot I ended up bleeding the air out and getting a new radiator cap my car was running that hot it was in limp mode. Now my car runs at 99 degrees it jumps abit to 104 if I’m driving the car a lot thru out the day but other then that it stays between 98-104 degrees i need to run coolant in my car should drop down to 90-95 atleast
Glad it worked 👌
Now your first mistake, at 2:07 min and 7 seconds your pointing the camera at the radiator cap. The colour of your cooling system coolant is not correct, it should be a nice pink to red colour (Nulon is the best concentrate coolant I have found) but lets get back to the subject, your cooling system liquid colour is rusty brown which indicates that the coolant is no longer effective and your system is contaminated (rust and corrosion). Here, instead of filling it back up with distilled water (even though this is the correct water to use) you should have carried out a radiator flush and service the cooling system.
There is a proper sequence you need to follow to service these Alloytec V6 engines, and should be carried out every 3 years, So please follow the correct procedure when flushing out the cooling system and or the engine or gear box, also if you do not follow the proper procedure you may always suffer from air locks and over heating, or damage to the engine or the heater core, even internal parts of the engine because they do not like getting hotter than they should be as they are made from Alloy.
At 3:45 you say the coolant was not making around that route, this is usually caused by not checking the coolant level on a regular basis (accounting for evaporation) or by over heating which creates an air lock. Air locks stop or block the coolant system flow and this is why you need to bleed the air out of the cooling system. You also mention that the coolant was low, these engines need to be checked on a weekly basis (Oil and Coolant levels).
At 4:06 you say, it's supposed to be swirling or something? Well mate you have the radiator cap off, so the cooling system can't build up pressure, and even though the plastic bottle is doing it job it is not the correct tool for the job, you need a cooling system spill free funnel which locks onto the system (where the radiator cap goes or where you currently have the plastic bottle) this helps keep the system full and allows the air bubbles to rise to the top.
The other thing you are not doing is helping the air rise to the top of the cooling system?
Once you completed the radiator flush and you think you have filled the system with the correct amount of coolant and distilled water, you should jack the front of the car up while it is idling, high enough to force the air bubble to rise to the top of the cooling system. For example: If you have a coke bottle in your hand or even your bottle of distilled water, if you turn the bottle upside down what does the air bubble do? (it rises to the top) And if you tilt the bottle left or right the air bubble will follow and rise to the highest point, hence jacking the front of the car up and forcing the air to rise to the top.
And the thermostat will open slowly, but will not open fully unless it reaches the correct operating temperature, if you do not understand cooling systems you should definitely not do a video on how to, more like a video as Please Help because there are many other things you need to do to make sure the cooling system is clear of air locks, so I really suggest buying a service manual about your car and or any related car and reading it before you work on a cooling system, even before you search youtube, because then and only then do you know if someone is following the correct procedure.
You are awesome! Thank you for all that infromation. Hmmmm.....I do think it will need a flush....oh well, another job, another video!!! 😂👍
Geez you really went to town on him
my husband has specified in holden and v6's alike for many years he said this video is a great how too... goes to show what you know as you don't jack the car up to purge the system hence why the car is made with a water pump. if your going to trall someone's videos! hahah at least get your facts right hahahag idiot
That comment would have taken me 2 hours to type. Thank you for the detailed explanation.
Very helpful info, you mentioned engineering mode, how do I find that? My VE 3.0 pings sometimes, when the temp gauge is low it's ok, I noticed that when it's pinging the temp gauge is higher, close to 1/2 way. And the fans or fan seems to be on quite a lot, I hear when accelerating.
I can remember right now but there are lots of videos on YT on how to get in 👍
1. Insert key in ignition
2. Push down left hand side scroll on steering wheel
3. Turn ignition on or start engine while still holding down left hand scroll
4. When system check is complete release scroll and you should be in engineering mode.
5. Scroll through using left hand scroll to check what you want
Drill 2mm hole in the thermostat. Burping fixed
Lol...how?
I’m replacing my thermostat. Though it might have been head gasket causing the issues. So hoping new thermostat fixes the issue.
Maybe show what buttons your pressing for ya dash
Did you end up doing the thermostat? Our VE Omega just climbed randomly to the overheat, did some shopping came out and seemed fine again. We've had an older VT Commodore that was doing this not knowing and it's usually the themostat.
No never got there.
The thermostat should allow for a quick warmup. If the warm up is slow, the thermostat is stuffed.
What do you put in there? Water?
Yes for testing purposes. I then did coolant
The same thing happened to my car. How can I fix it
Try what I did in the video 🤷🏼♂️
hey mate just a question, what other issues did you get after the overheating was fix?
Not sure if you've seen my other videos abot the VE, but this one had the camchain warning light, but it didn't effect driving at all. Did not own it for long after I made this video.
@@VroomBroomZoom damn maybe alloytec really is a problem engine
SOme have been lucky, others not so much. Is it a keeper? Only if you're prepared to maintain the cam chain and service oil and filter every 7500km or even shorter.
@@VroomBroomZoom no rattle at all bought it for 4 grand, replace all the cooling system, thermostat, water pump, hoses, gaskets, no more overheating, my next project would be timing chain and oil pump, car has few issues as well as centre bearing and tail shaft needs replacing. but don't really wanna spend more money unless engine has no more issues anymore after that overheating problem. cos i wanna keep the car as my daily
Awesome solution to the problem!
Indeed!
most VE commodores are recycled by now, but plenty of bog stock falcon xt's on road. Theres a reason why these cars are skyrocketing in price.
You recommend a XT?
@@VroomBroomZoom If you listen to a ford driver then you have real problems because ford only made 3 good engines. The GTHO, The Cosworth and the Barracuda, the rest are shit boxes.
@@gilbertsmale9250 the Intech is also a god motor