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Knocking noise in 2015 Nissan X-Trail diesel engine

There's often a disparity between what a car is insured for and what it might be worth on the second-hand market. In any case, with a worn out engine, its market value would be next to nothing anyway. And with 290,000km on its odometer, you might have trouble finding a buyer willing to take a punt.

That said, even if you put a low-kilometre second-hand engine in it, the fact remains that everything else from the transmission to the wheel bearings, brakes and suspension have also done 290,000km and can be pretty much guaranteed to be fairly worn themselves. You could then find yourself shelling out more money every year to keep the car running on the basis that you'd already spent $10,0000 on a replacement engine. Sometimes it's better to cut your losses and buy something newer.

Losing power in my 2016 Ford Everest

It sounds like your diagnosis that the vehicle went into Safe or limp-home mode is spot on. Being fully loaded and travelling at speed up a long hill on a super-hot day could certainly be enough to make the car enter limp-home mode for its own preservation. This is confirmed by the fact that after a break and downhill run, the temperature stabilised and the car came back to full functionality.

Modern turbo-diesel engines make lots of power and torque these days, but they do that by burning fuel and that creates heat. You might also find that the limp-home mode initiation was at the behest of the transmission which would also be damaged if it got too hot.

Car-makers have designed these limp-home modes to protect the vehicle from permanent damage in severe operating conditions, and in your car, it seems to have done its job perfectly. The only unknown is whether the limp-home mode was initiated by the conditions or something actually wrong with the vehicle. It would be wise to have it checked over to make sure the cooling, fuel-injection and transmission systems don’t have a separate problem that is causing the Everest to enter Safe mode.

The speed alarm in my 2023 Kia Cerato GT keens sounding

This is a really common type of question here at CarsGuide. It seems a lot of car-makers are using these speed warning systems and, in many cases, they’re more of an annoyance than a help.

In your Kia, speed sign recognition which is part of the adaptive cruise-control feature is the culprit. When the car’s cameras spot a speed sign, they compare that info with how fast the car is actually going (sometimes using co-ordinate information from the sat-nav as well). Sometimes, however, the sign detected relates to a side-street or roadworks on a side street, giving you a false alarm. Either way, not everybody likes this warning system.

There’s good news and bad news in the case of your car, Steve. The good news is that you can go into the menu system, select Driver Assistance, then Vehicle Settings, then Speed Alert, and you should find an Off setting that should disable the warning. The bad news is, you have to do this every time you start the car, because the default setting is On.

Perhaps the dealer can suggest a way of turning it off permanently since it appears as though a software update at your first service has enabled the system since you bought the car.

Unknown alarm ringing in my 2005 Jaguar S

You’ve probably hit the nail on the head, and it is a seat-belt warning you’re hearing. Even though you may have the belt properly fastened, if the sensor that is supposed to detect the seat-belt being latched is not working, then the car will think you’re driving around unrestrained.

Jaguars of this era were not universally known for the quality of their electronics, so it’s very possible that this is precisely the problem. The catch then is that you need to check each seat-belt for a dud sensor, and there are five of them in the S Type. Other things that could trigger the same sort of alarm could be that the park-brake is not fully released or that there’s a door or bootlid ajar. Check it all and rule things out one by one.

Steering locking up in my 2013 Mazda BT-50

Rather than the steering completely locking up, it’s more likely you’re feeling steering that has lost is power-assistance. It can make the wheel extremely heavy and could feel as though the car won’t steer at all. This is linked to the engine stalling, because the power-steering on this vehicle is driven by a belt from the engine. No engine means no power-assistance.

The other questions, of course, are why is the engine stalling and why only on left-hand turns. There are plenty of things that can cause a modern engine to stall from a dirty fuel filter to a blocked injector or an electronic fault. And about a million things in between. An electronic scan of the vehicle might throw up a fault code that will help a mechanic unravel what’s going on.

Issues with lane-keeping assistance in a 2023 Nissan X-Trail

This model X-Trail is fitted with active lane-keeping assistance which is sort of a helping hand when the driver isn’t keeping the car in the centre of its lane. It could be that this system is what’s causing the car to feel like it wants to pull you into the next lane.

You need to have this checked under warranty as soon as possible, since it’s an obvious safety issue. This isn’t just a Nissan thing, either. Many brands have had complaints about these systems, and in some cases, cars fitted with collision-avoidance systems have been known to slam on the brakes when the car’s camera 'sees' something like a wheelie-bin on the footpath and mistakes it for a truck entering the road. Speaking of which, your lane-keeping assistance is controlled by a camera at the front of the car. Have a quick check to make sure there’s not a huge dead bug confusing the camera.

The air-condition in my 2018 Holden Acadia isn't working

The workshop you want is a specialist air-conditioning business. Air-con might have a simple job to do, but it’s a complex system with lots of interlocks to protect the various bit and pieces. If, for instance, the gas level is low, a sensor will detect this and disable the air-con compressor so the system can’t be damaged by running with low gas or lubricant. So, simply replacing sensors and other bits and pieces randomly is a great way to tear up money and still not fix the problem.

You need to have the system checked by somebody who understands the technology. They will test for leaks, check whether the system is holding pressure and then check the operation of the rest of the hardware including the compressor, receiver-drier, condenser, blower-fan and relevant filters.

If you’re lucky, the system may just need re-gassing, but you could also be up for some expensive new parts if there’s other damage or problems. But without a proper diagnosis, you’re flying blind.

2019 Isuzu D-Max would not rev to cross a small rise

Sandy conditions are incredibly hard on every aspect of a four-wheel-drive. The sand itself constantly shifts under the tyres and clings to them as well, dragging them down and making the engine and transmission work very hard to maintain progress. You may have already noticed that you use a lot more fuel in sandy country and it’s all because you need to be constantly making more power to maintain speed than in normal conditions. Turbocharged engines and automatic transmissions, in particular, can get very hot very quickly in sand.

With that in mind, it’s very possible that something in the driveline got hot enough for the car’s computer to go into limp home mode to protect what ever was hot from damage. Limp home mode often involves limiting engine revs and turbo boost, both of which contribute to heat production. This would explain why the car would not climb a crest but came good after a break.

Issues with the automatic gearbox of my 2008 Ford Territory

Transmission fluid should generally be a pretty pink or red colour. If it’s black (and/or smells like burned toast) that suggests that it is way overdue for a change of fluid and a new filter, and also that there could be lots of wear inside the transmission.

Tiny bits of the clutches and bands that control an automatic like yours wear off over time and it’s these that are discolouring the fluid. That fact that they’re black, also suggest they’re burned having been overheated at some point in the past.

A transmission shop should be your first port of call, with instructions to diagnose what’s wrong and work out a strategy from there. If the transmission is badly worn, it may need replacing or rebuilding. But you might be lucky and discover that the fluid is simply old and depleted (from a leak somewhere) and the transmission may recover with a full service. Don’t count on it, however.

Do I have to retime the motor if the serpentine belt in my 1998 Toyota RAV4 broke broke?

It all depends on what you call the serpentine belt. If you mean the toothed rubber belt that drives the camshafts, then yes, the engine will need to have its valve timing re-set before it will run again with a new belt. If this is what has happened, you’re lucky that the 3S-FE engine in your car is what’s called a non-interference engine. That is, if the belt brakes, the pistons will not crash into the valves, destroying the engine. In an interference design, you’d be looking at a whole new engine.

If, however, the belt you refer to is the one that drives the power-steering pump, water pump and alternator, then you should be able to simply replace the belt and be back in business.

Disclaimer: You acknowledge and agree that all answers are provided as a general guide only and should not be relied upon as bespoke advice. Carsguide is not liable for the accuracy of any information provided in the answers.
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