Ask The Guide

This could be a coincidence whereby your maintenance was timed perfectly with something else going wrong. But if we assume that the new fuel filter is what has caused the no-start condition, then the first thing to check is that you've installed the filter in the correct orientation. Many filters only operate in one direction. Install it backwards, and the fuel may not flow at all, which would give you the symptoms you're now looking at.

There are lots of places for a car to lose its coolant. The cooling system is a network of pipes, water jackets and other plumbing that is required to keep the engine cool, provide heat for the cabin and even cool the transmission.

Obvious places for a leak to occur are any of the joints in this plumbing, the water pump itself or any of the various components that store the coolant (heater core, radiator, overflow tank). A failed welch plug will definitely cause a car to lose coolant, but it usually starts out as a small leak before developing into a bigger one as the plug deteriorates further over time.

If the water is really running out as fast as your pour it in, the best idea is to get somebody to add water to the radiator while you look in the engine bay and under the car with a torch. A leak as big as the one you describe should be very visible.

A misfire under load is often suggestive of an ignition or fuelling fault. You can check the performance of the fuel pump to see that it's delivering the volume of fuel it should, but don't ignore things like dirty fuel filters as a cause of poor fuel delivery.

That said, this engine is particularly susceptible to failures of the ignition coils. In fact, most mechanics who know their way around this engine will suspect faulty coils before anything else. It's not a terribly expensive fix even though there is a separate coil for each cylinder, but nine times out of ten, this will be the problem in a misfiring Falcon or Fairmont. The other piece of advice is to ensure you only use the genuine Ford ignition coils rather than a cheaper, knock-off coil.

There are two things you need to do. The first is to have the vehicle independently inspected. The RACV is very good for this as it has the resources and a reputation that the car industry respects. Once you've found out what really went wrong (as opposed to what the dealership may have told you on the spot) you can proceed. This will inform what happens next.

If the engine failure was not the cause of a poorly fitted oil filter and was something to do with a manufacturing or materials flaw, then you have a case for a warranty claim. Bypass Kia's dealer network and contact the brand's customer service division at head office.

If, however, the failure was caused by a lack of attention by the mechanic who carried out the last service, then the responsibility may rest with them. Mechanical workshops often have insurance to cover them against this sort of mistake but, regardless, if your mechanic was at fault, the problem becomes theirs in many cases.

A modern vehicle like the Kia has a range of engine protection and warning systems to prevent this sort of thing happening. It seems strange that you didn't receive a dashboard warning regarding low oil level or low oil pressure in the moments before the engine failed.

It certainly looks like that could be the case. Mazda HQ has announced plans to stop production of the 6 at the plant that supplies Australian 6s, so barring a switch to a new supply-factory, that would seem to be so. There's a sense that some Mazda factories will continue to build the 6, but the suggestion is that this will only be for some limited Asian markets.

Unfortunately for those who like conventional vehicle packaging, the almighty SUV has just about killed off the traditional sedan and station-wagon.

The engine in a modern car has inbuilt protection where it won't rev beyond what is safe for it. So you needn't worry about that. But a vehicle that wants to hold gears too long can become tiring to drive, as well as using more fuel than it might if its shifted gears at lower engine speeds.

Your car has what are called drive modes which tailor the aggressiveness of the throttle and alter gearshift points to tailor the car's behaviour in different conditions. My suspicion is that your car is set on Sport which is what's making it feel a bit hyperactive. There's a switch on the centre console which will allow you to change the Drive mode to Comfort or Normal. Try that to see if it tames the gearbox's behaviour.

All Kias sold in Australia and built after 1996 can use E10 fuel. But your car will be just as happy on standard ULP with its 91 RON octane rating.

You won't notice any difference between the two fuels apart from perhaps a slightly higher fuel consumption when using the E10. That's because the ethanol content of the fuel has less energy in it than normal petrol. But there's really not much in it and the extra E10 you'll use will be offset by the cheaper per-litre cost compared with ULP.

The fact that you've used E10 will not alter the retained value or desirability to of your car to a potential buyer one bit.

Some of these older luxury cars are tremendous bargains. Or, at least, they look like it in the classified adverts. There are a couple of reasons they're so cheap second-hand. The first is that people are (often rightly) scared of them going bang in an expensive way and requiring lots of pricey repairs. The second is called the funnel effect and happens when a luxury car like the 7-Series is bought brand-new usually by corporate customers. But, when the car is ready to be traded in a few years later, there simply isn't the volume of private buyers waiting for one to hit the market. So prices plummet. The same thing happens to Mercedes-Benzes, Audis and other luxury brands, too; it's not just a BMW thing.

Meantime, the rules of engagement are the same for any used car. The most important thing is not the distance the car has covered, but how well it's been maintained over the years. You need to see a stamped, up-to-date service handbook with no glaring gaps in the service history. Without that document, you could be buying an abused car that will let you down and empty your wallet.

The other thing to be a bit wary of in a 7-Series BMW of this vintage is the ex-hotel courtesy car. Back in the day, BMW had plenty of 7-Series to shift and a relative lack of takers, so the company offered them to hire-car and limousine taxi operators for about the same (leased) cost as a Holden Caprice. That's how so many of them wound up wearing a groove from the city to the airport.

A good, well maintained ex-hire car should be okay, but bear in mind a lot of them led pretty hard lives. That included a variety of drivers who may or may not have cared very much and long hours idling in gridlock traffic. Check the condition of the backseat to see whether it's been used often (does the wear in the back match that in the front?) and check the area around the rear bumper. This was often damaged as a million suitcases were loaded and unloaded from the boot.

You can tell a lot about exhaust smoke by its colour. If it's a blue-grey colour, the smoke is probably from burnt oil. If it's black, excess fuel is probably the cause. Make sure, too, that what you're seeing is not just water vapour that is a normal part of the combustion process and will disappear as the exhaust system heats up and turns that vapour into steam (which is invisible).

But if it really is blue smoke you're seeing, it could be a case of worn out piston rings, or worn valve guides or seals. If it's black smoke, you could have a problem with injectors, the fuel pump, intake system, spark plugs, any number of sensors that control the engine's fuel:air mixture, or about a thousand other things. That fact that the smoke disappears after a while suggests that the engine is happier when it has some heat in it, but really, it shouldn't blow any smoke of any colour at all.

The reductant heater on this car is a heating element that stops the AdBlue from freezing. According to most sources, the heater is only called into operate at ambient temperatures of minus-11 Celsius or lower. So, unless you're a regular at Australia's snowfields, your car will probably never need this function. But while the car may work perfectly without a functioning reductant heater, you might find that it's technically unroadworthy on the basis of its emissions systems (of which the AdBlue is a part) are not all working properly.

Most times, failures of this heater revolve around the electronics that control it, but when that happens, the computer will usually flash up a check-engine light to let you know there's something wrong. Without this light, I'm unsure why your mechanic would think there's a problem with the heater system.