Holden Barina 1994 FAQs

Check out real-world situations relating to the Holden Barina here, particularly what our experts have to say about them.

• 2014 Holden Barina won't select reverse

  Based purely on your symptoms, a broken clutch is the most likely cause. When a clutch loses the ability to fully disengage the engine from the transmission (through either wear or damage) the gears can become very difficult to select. Sometimes they will engage with a crunch, at other times you may not be able to select them at all.

  This is a different problem to a worn clutch which has lost its clamping ability and is slipping, but the ultimate fix is the same: A new clutch assembly.

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• Why is my 2007 Holden Barina dropping dead while driving?

  The thing with problems like these is that you could be looking at a single fault or a group of problems that are each giving you a different symptom. Something could be getting hot in the engine management system that is causing the vehicle to shut down, and a good place to start looking would be the crank-angle sensor. When these get hot, they stop sending a critical signal to the engine’s computer and it just shuts down. After a short cool-down period, the sensor can often come back to life and away you go again.

  Meantime, a stuttering idle and inconsistent engine speed on start-up would make a lot of mechanics check out the stepper motor which is part of the throttle mechanism and is responsible for setting the idle speed and allowing the engine to start.

  Has your mechanic scanned the car or simply done a few basic checks? An electronic scan should be your next step if it hasn’t already been done.

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• My 2010 Holden Barina won't go in to first or fifth gear

  Losing particular gears can be a symptom of internal transmission damage, but it can also indicate a simpler problem with the selector mechanism that joins the gear stick to the gearbox. However, if this was the case, you’d probably lose two gears on the same selector plane (such as first and second or third and fourth) not first and fifth which are at opposite ends of the shifter mechanism.

  If there was internal gearbox damage, you’d possibly also be noting other noises and problems caused by the internal carnage, which makes me think the internal selector mechanism might be at fault. At which point, it’s probably a gearbox-out repair.

  However, a transmission specialist that knows this gearbox well may have a different opinion and should be your first port of call. A specialist will save you time and money in the long run.

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