Darian replied:

Will - I own the very vehicle (10 / 99) SE model - mine has always started very reliably, BUT many people have told me of the early days for this engine model and the starting problems that lots of people had then. Oil viscosity was the culprit - the Caterpillar injection system needs oil pressure to fire it up, and thick, cold oil won't do. People used to talk about "long cranking" to get anywhere! Castrol recommend their 10w-40 Dynamax (mostly synthetic - but quite expensive). They also assure me that RX super 15w-40 will do nicely, and a lot more affordable. I will be changing to the Rx soon. If you are in a cold climate, this may be it. Otherwise, could you expect the dealer to be of help, seeing that it is still under warranty ? Also - do you have interference on your car radio from the electronically actuated injectors ? Mine has been quite bad in remote areas.
Cheerz - dp

Sam replied:

Will,

I remember there being a post a while back about someone saying they had a problem driving up hills and having the engine konk out on them, yet was fine on level ground. This was due to a blocked fuel line or a bung fuel sender pump. (someone correct me if I am wrong). Could be that there is enough fuel to start the engine, but for some reason, fuel stops getting to the engine, the constant cranking eventually sucks the fuel through and troubles end for that day(again, someone correct me if this sounds wrong) Possible cause is fuel sender pump is cactus.

This is just a theory as I am no expert.

Am interested to see what theories/solutions others come up with.

Hope you nut it out.

cheers,
Sam.

Max Presland replied:

I have the same vehicle and have not had a problem. However the oil pressure is critical in the Jackaroo.
You MUST use a recommended oil. I have changed my oil and fliter every 5000k

Will replied:

Thanks for the replies Fellas,
First thing i will try is the engine oil, am currently using GTD which is 15 w 40. So will switch over to another oil. Thanks Darian.
I also had interference with the am side of things in the radio, the local auto elec. advised to remove the arial mast and clean the contact between the mast and motor, it didnt work. I fitted a kenwood radio cassette and cd stacker and problem solved, so it could be in the radio. I had a similiar problem in my commodore but on fm, it was a eurovox as well, changed the radio and all was we ok.
As regards to the local dealer they are incompetent in dealing with "normal" vehicles. So will try a few things myself first.
The theory sounds feasable to me Sam, I did think along those lines myself, we'll see what happens.
I also change the oil and filter every 5000ks Max, the thought of having to spend money on a motor or turbo if something goes wrong is frightening.

Keith replied:

Will, I too have a 9/99 TD Jackaroo and experienced exactly your problem I spent a fair few dollars on fancy oils and it made not one scrap of diference. After seeing others with similar problems on this forum I took vehicle to Holden dealer (must be a large dealership, the smaller dealers don,t have the expertise in these motors). The problem was quickly diagnosed as leaky injector seals, and is rceognised as a fault with this batch of vehicles. Holden replaced injector rail and seals under warranty and I have had easy starting on cold mornings (not that Perth mornings are cold!). Apparently the seals were not sealing when cold causing the starting problem, once motor was warm they expanded and sealed OK until the engine once again cooled completely (ie usually overnight) Yes I get radio interference from engine especially on AM.

Darian replied:

Thanks to all of the above guys in the Jackaroo forum...
Its all coming together now - my vehicle went in for the 50,000 the other day and they said they were doing some injector maintenance under warranty - something about . While on warranty - the radio interference comes from the injector actuators apparently (electronic function) - when the incoming broadcast signal is strong, it beats the injectors for airplay.... when the signal is weak, the injectors win the battle - spoke with Steve Johnson (VKS-737)- he predicted that it would be hard to beat, would affect the HF Doc radio too, and the 27meg CB (all true - UHF etc not affected). Its annoying around town ,but wait till you get in the bush. Because I was unable to us the car radio at all in remote areas (while others in the convoy were quite happy with theirs) I bitched to Holden. THERE IS A WARRANTY NOTICE out on this ! (but you only find out if you kick up ! - cute eh.). They installed a filter in the back of the car radio - helped a bit, but still not good. I have installed a 1m aux antenna down the back on a spare wheel mounted bracket - I use an aux coax cable set up to the car radio, all just for bush trips - works very well - have shifted the HF doc radio antenna down the back too......dp

Alan replied:

I too have a 10/99 jackaroo, I've never experience to much of a starting problem, but I do change to Valvoline Lo-Vis oil in the colder months it's a 10W-30 oil. The mornings aren't that cold here on the n/coast NSW but it sure seems to help with the cold running, Ive been in Canberra in the middle of winter, no problem with starting but the car ran like a Fiat 500 towing a caravan. This was fixed by the local dealer changing the oil but it still needed a fair amount of time to run properley.

The car has a definite flat spot around 60klm/h in fourth when cold a slowly goes away as the car warms.

The car recently had the turbo replaced for oil usage problems and the motor was totally replaced at 38,000klm from the injectors leaking fuel in to the sump and the motor running on after stopping and slowly destroying itself.

So keep an eye out for leaking injectors!

Colin replied:

Will,

12 months ago I had the same problem that you refer to. There are three potential causes, and I never found out exactly which one was the major culprit.

1. Oil viscocity. If you stick to the 10,000 interval You MUST use 5w30 Synthetic. Otherwise be prepared to change the oil every 5,000 ks, but you must still use a premium oil. My Jack was running 15W40. Now runs 5W30

2. Injector Seals. Early production models had differnt compound injector seals which allowed air to start passing at around 40,000 k's. Holden changed mine over at 40,000k;s to the new compound

3. Starting Battery. Later models come standard with twin cranking batteries. Enough said!

Great engine when it is set up right, just a pity that Isuzu & Holden got it wrong in the early days.

Col