Ask The Guide

If you're selling or trading-in the car, then a quality, tested second-hand engine from a wrecked iX35 is probably your best bet. This will be the cheaper option and even though you could spend a lot of money having the current engine reconditioned or a brand-new engine fitted, you'll find that won't affect the resale value as much as the extra outlay.

That said, it all depends on what's wrong with the current engine. If it's completely trashed, then a replacement is the go. But if your engine has simply stopped working for a potentially simple reason, then it might be worthwhile fixing it and maybe saving even more money. Either way, making your car a proper running vehicle again will definitely justify the cost as it's virtually worthless in a non-running state.

As for other brands of engines, the only viable choice is the same engine that make and model came with from the factory. Trying to fit anything else is a whole new car of very expensive worms.

Assuming you mean the Daihatsu's ignition timing, the on-board computer should control the timing. If this is out of whack, you'll find the car could be difficult to start, will idle poorly, use more fuel than it should, be down on power and may even overheat. Or all of those things. For reference, the correct timing for this engine is five degrees before top dead centre (+ or – two degrees) at idle. It can be checked by a workshop to verify whether it's correct or not.

If you're referring to the engine's valve timing, that's a different thing altogether. You need to reset the valve timing whenever you change the rubber toothed timing belt to avoid catastrophic damage to the engine. The valve timing of the car should not change between belt-change intervals, but if it has, then the damage has probably already been done. Again, for reference, the two camshafts need to be lined up with their respective timing marks, along with the crankshaft in its correct position before the new belt is fitted. This is not a simple job for a Saturday morning in the driveway.

This all depends on whether the 2005 Focus is a Mark 1 or Mark 2 version of the Focus. So that's the first thing to ascertain. If they're both Mark 2 cars, then there's a very good chance that the boot release will be the same in either (and, therefore, interchangeable) as we're talking about the same car.

But even if the 2005 Focus is a Mark 1 model, it would still be worth physically checking to see if the release latches are the same. That's because even though the Mark 1 and Mark 2 Focuses were different cars, many manufacturers (Ford included) carried over some mechanical parts (such as latches and cables) from previous models to save on development costs. A good example of Ford doing this was the succession of 1980s Falcons including the XD, XE and XF models which all used the same exterior door handles. So compare the latch you have with the latch on offer and make sure it operates in the same way and direction, uses the same mounting points and will connect to the same cable. If so, you might just be lucky.

Plenty of people have successfully converted vans and small busses into campervans. The reason some are more successful than others is often down to the previous life the vehicle has lived and what sort of preventative maintenance it has been treated to.

A vehicle that has been serviced properly and used carefully is likely to be a good thing even with a few years and plenty of kilometres on board. But one that has been used and abused and neglected in terms of maintenance is not a vehicle you want to be buying second-hand, regardless of make or model.

So make sure the vehicle has a complete service history and try to find out a bit about what it was used for. Does it have a big tow-bar fitted? If so, it's probably towed some heavy loads and that places stresses on every part of the vehicle. Is there any sign-writing on the vehicle (or shadows on the paint where corporate logos once were)? If so, the vehicle has almost certainly been used commercially and may or may not have been driven sympathetically by the company apprentice.

Treat it like an archaeology project, and you'll be amazed what you can learn. Meantime, a privately owned Express van with full service history is the one you want, but be prepared to pay more for such a thing.

If a timing belt breaks, one of two things are likely. Either the broken belt will allow the valves and pistons of the engine to collide, instantly turning the engine to scrap. (This is what happens in what's known as an interference engine design.)

The other alternative is that the belt snaps, but no intrinsic metallic parts collide (this is the case in a non-interference engine). If that's the case, the car won't run, but if a new belt is fitted and the engine retimed, it should work perfectly afterwards.

But even in an interference engine, if the tensioner gets slack but doesn't actually allow the timing belt to jump ship or break, then there's a chance that you've avoided a catastrophic failure. The bottom line is that if your engine suffered a problem with the timing belt, but works properly after being fixed, then all should be good in the long run.

If you can't find the dipstick for the automatic transmission, there might be a very simple explanation: It doesn't have one. Many Fords from this era were not fitted with dipsticks, so checking the level is done from underneath the car via the a threaded plug. Not so easy to do at home. The transmission is a sealed system, and any drop in level indicates a problem that needs to be fixed. So the level is worth keeping an eye on, even if that's not so easy to do in cars like this one.

Theories for the dipstick deletion include preventing owners from over-filling the transmission (easier than you might think, since the transmission temperature when you check it is critical) as well as not giving owners the opportunity to top-up their transmission with the wrong type or grade of fluid.

At some point though you have to imagine that cost-cutting also came into the decision.

It sounds counter-intuitive that an engine would run at all with the crank angle sensor removed. Generally, without this sensor working properly, the fuel-injection system has no idea when to inject the fuel or fire the spark plugs. But sometimes – as in this engine – if the computer can't 'find' a crank angle input, it will take a reference from the camshaft angle sensor and use that to time the injection and ignition.

Even so, if the problem persists after two replacement sensors, it's probably fair to say this particular sensor is either not the root of your problem, or that or the engine's wiring is frying the new sensors as fast as you're changing them.

Either way, a trip to an auto electrician seems like the next logical step. Chances are a switched on sparkie will have seen this exact problem before and will know how to deal with it or at least take the logical steps to diagnose what's going wrong. Simply continuing to change bits and pieces is often an expensive way to solve a problem like this.

Many engine designs have the coolant temperature sensor screw into the thermostat housing. In the case of this model Captiva, however, the sensor screws into the inlet manifold next to (but not part of) the thermostat housing.

A temperature sensor that is sending the wrong information to the car's computer can cause all sorts of mayhem, but it's worth checking the sensor for correct operation before spending money on a replacement.

This problem has occurred before and happens when the pulley rubs through the hose, which finds itself in the wrong position under full turbo-boost. From what I can gather, the problem is due to a running change in supplier of this hose. And even though the hose was a slightly different shape, the manufacturer used the original alignment marks from the previous hose. So, when the mechanic fits the new hose, it places it in the path of the fan pulley when the engine comes on boost.

Ideally, the hose needs to be fitted so that there's at least 25 or 30mm of clearance between itself and the pulley. Your twist-at-the-bottom method should work, because you're effectively altering the incorrect alignment marks to where they should be.

Mechanically this pair was very similar with identical engine options and power outputs. Both also had independent rear suspension by this time, also and the same safety package.

So what the Berlina offered over and above the base model Commodore was a bit more fruit and luxury. That started with climate-control air-conditioning (versus the standard set-up) a CD player, power windows and alloy wheels. And that was about it. Anybody looking for more luxury went for the Calais model which was more expensive, but better equipped again.