Ask The Guide

It all sounds a bit counter-intuitive, doesn’t it: That a smaller engine could use more fuel thana larger one? But, in fact, it’s all down to the hybrid driveline in the 2.5-litre version of the RAV4. Because the hybrid version also has an electric motor to help propel the vehicle, the petrol engine has less work to do. So, it uses less fuel, particularly on the official test cycle that determines these numbers.

In fact, in the hybrid RAV4, the petrol engine isn’t even running a lot of the time, especially in stop-start traffic. The electric motor can draw from the batteries on board to get the vehicle rolling, and when it’s slowing down, the electric motor recharges those batteries for the next green light. And when the car is running on electric power, it’s not using any petrol at all.

By contrast, the non-hybrid RAV4 is running its petrol engine the whole time (apart from when it’s at a complete standstill). And that, in a nutshell, is how a bigger engine can use less fuel than a smaller one in the same make and model.

Believe it or not, Steven, this is not a fault with the vehicle at all and something it’s actually designed to do. The theory is that by automatically swinging the exterior mirrors close into the car when parked, there’s less chance of a passing car or truck smashing the mirror.

This technology has its origins in Europe where roads are narrow and parking is a bit more relaxed than it is in Australia. Even so, it’s no bad thing to have happen when you leave the car unattended.

So, while there will be a fuse that controls this circuit, our advice is to leave it alone and let the mirrors do their thing. Replacing an exterior mirror on a late-model car is never cheap. As long as the mirrors fold out to their normal position each time you start the car, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with your Great Wall.

The minimum recommended tyre pressure for your car is 230kPa. That’s equal to about 34psi in the old money. Bear in mind that’s the minimum Isuzu recommends. So 210kPa is definitely too low.

But don’t be tempted to use the tyre’s appearance as a guide to it inflation pressure. Most time, you won’t visually pick a deflated tyre until it reaches below 20psi, at which point it’s already dangerously low. Even parking on a sloped piece of road can make a tyre look underinflated thanks to the weight of the vehicle distorting the tyre’s sidewall.

Using 230kPa is the minimum, you’d definitely increase pressure if you were towing a trailer, were fully loaded or travelling at freeway speeds on a hot day. And don’t be too trusting of your tyre gauge if it’s throwing up low readings all the time. Check it against another gauge to see if there’s a discrepancy. And don’t be at all be tempted to trust the tyre pressure gauge at a service station. The modern, automated tyre inflaters are better, but the old hand-held ones are constantly left out in the weather, thrown on the ground and run over by fuel tankers.

Under Australian Consumer Law, all brand-new cars sold here must come with a factory warranty, but it’s up to the manufacturer where to set the time and distance limits for that model. But even the most generous car-maker isn’t going to apply a warranty to a car that is now two decades old and has covered goodness knows how many kilometres.

For reference, most new-car warranties now cover a vehicle for between five and seven years. You will sometimes find a manufacturer will help out with some of the cost of repairs if the vehicle is only slightly out of warranty (and then, usually on a pro-rata basis). And that will only ever happen if the vehicle is question has an absolutely perfect service record.

If your engine has multiple problems, the best advice might be to look for a good, tested second-hand engine and replace the whole thing.

Good news. Instead of a rubber toother timing belt, the engine in your Ranger has a timing chain. While the rubber belt type generally requires periodic replacement, the timing chain in your car should last the life of the engine.

A faulty transmission oil cooler, which uses the engine’s radiator and coolant, could definitely mix oil with coolant. And while that could lead to overheating as the coolant fills the transmission, you’d also probably notice the transmission dying a not-so-slow death due to coolant polluting the lubricating transmission fluid. But it’s less likely to pressurise the cooling system to the point where the oil-and-water mix exits through the expansion bottle.

Much more likely is that the coolant system is being pressurised by the combustion of the engine. If the cylinder head has been checked and the gasket replaced (assuming it was all done properly) then the pressurisation is probably coming from somewhere deeper in the engine’s crankcase. You need to check the cylinder bore for splits or cracks and take it from there.

Before doing anything, though, check the date of first registration of your car. If it was first registered after October 1, 2018, then it is covered by Haval’s seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. If it was prior to that, then it would have come with a five-year/100,000km warranty which, technically, will have expired. Even so, it would be worth contacting Haval’s local customer service division to see if the company is open to helping with repair costs given the vehicle is only just out of warranty. This presumes, of course, that the vehicle has been serviced correctly and at the appropriate intervals.

Before you buy more parts that may or may not fix the problem, have the vehicle electronically scanned. This is by far the most cost-effective way of finding out what’s wrong and then being able to tackle the actual problem. You could spend weeks and months, not to mention hundreds and thousands of dollars, replacing random parts that have no relationship to what’s causing the engine to refuse to start.

There are literally thousands of reasons for the symptoms you’ve noted, so try to finding the root cause before committing to more replacement bits and pieces.

The starter motor would be a very good place to start looking for the problem. If the battery checks out (and that presumes you’ve load tested it, not just run a voltmeter across its terminals) and the addition of a second jump battery only just turned the engine over, then, the starter motor is a likely suspect.

But don’t forget things like a poor earth somewhere on the car or a dodgy ignition or starter button. Once the engine is running, check the power going into the battery. You should be looking at between 13.2 and 14.5 volts going into the battery with the engine running if the alternator is pulling its weight.

Just because the battery indicator is showing green, does not mean categorically that it’s in good health. It can produce a surface charge that might show 12 volts with no load on it, but can fall to its knees when you load it up with the starter motor.

If this was just a case of the engine not starting every now and then, I’d be inclined to look at the starter motor and, in particular, its solenoid. But since the starter-stop button also sometimes refuses to switch the engine off, it sounds very much like the button itself is faulty.

You can remove the button and clean the electrical contacts with a cleaning spray, or simply swap the switch for one you know works perfectly.

Isuzu lifted the warranty on its vehicles to six years/150,000km for all utes sold after May 1, 2019. Unfortunately, it sounds like your car was on the road in 2018, which means it was covered by a five-year/130,000km warranty. Although you haven’t yet covered 130,000km, the vehicle is more than those five years old so, technically, the problem is not covered by warranty.

However, I think it would be worthwhile contacting Isuzu Australia’s customer service division and pointing out the car’s service history and its mileage. Isuzu may then decide to help with the cost of repairs on a pro-rata basis given the circumstances. It is not obliged to, of course, but it’s definitely worth asking.