Holden Captiva 2012 FAQs

Check out real-world situations relating to the Holden Captiva 2012 here, particularly what our experts have to say about them.

• How do I drain the fuel from my 2012 Holden Captiva?

  A lot of modern cars don’t feature a drain-plug for the fuel tank. That’s a bit annoying to old-school mechanics, but it does make for a stronger, more leak-proof tank in the case of a modern plastic fuel tank as fitted to so many cars these days.

  Most mechanics faced with this will either remove the tank and tip it upside-down to remove the offending contents, but there is a simpler way if you know what you’re doing. That is to disconnect the fuel feed line from the tank to the engine at the engine end, and then simply turn on the ignition and have the electric fuel pump empty the contents into a safe container. This will take several minutes, depending on how full the tank is to start with.

   

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• Why did my 2012 Holden Captiva lose power and go into neutral?

  Unfortunately, you’re right; this model Holden Captiva has a terrible reputation and failing transmission are right at the top of that list. Holden recognised the problem to an extent and extended the factory cover on the transmission to 150,000km or five years from the date the vehicle entered service. That was up from the three-year/100,000km standard warranty that your car was sold with. But since your car is a 2012 model and has likely been on the road for the last eight or nine years, that’s of very little use to you.

  I agree that a car with 64,000km should not need a new transmission and, if it does, the manufacturer should be helping out. But now that Holden as a brand is extinct, even finding somebody to talk to might be a battle. That said, Holden is legally required to stick around to take care of warranty claims, honour its scheduled servicing schemes, provide spare parts and service and attend to any safety recalls. That also means it still has a customer service division which you can reach by phoning 1800 46 465 336. It’s a long shot, but who knows.

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• What major problems has the Holden Captiva had?

  The Holden Captiva’s problems started with the fact that it was a Daewoo with a Holden badge. Reliability was poor and build quality just as bad and, as a result, the car soon developed a reputation for being more trouble than it was worth. That view among many owners didn’t change as the car aged, either.

  Common problems were timing chain failures in V6 versions, oil leaks and engine troubles in both diesel and petrol form, camshaft problems, diesel particulate Filter (DPF) failures and a range of random electrical and electronic dramas. Transmission failures are also not unknown but this was hardly the Captiva’s worst flaw. Fundamentally, the Captiva was a very ordinary car and not one that most buyers would be prepared to take on now that the true extent of its problems have been dissected by the trade.

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