Our team of experts are here to solve your car problems or help you decide which one to buy.
It wasn’t until the end of 2010 that Hyundai got around to fitting the i20 with Bluetooth tech, so really early examples of the i20 missed out. But Bluetooth is available on all other i20 years and variants, so here’s the skinny on how to connect Bluetooth to Hyundai i20 models:
Hyundai i20 Bluetooth pairing starts with your phone having Bluetooth switched on and the phone in discoverable mode. You then need to press the Menu button on the car’s control panel and use the right-hand dial to scroll through till you find the Bluetooth prompt. Press Enter and then highlight the Pair function and hit Enter again. From there, you’ll get a series of vocal prompts which will lead to the info screen showing a pass-key number. Enter those numbers into your phone, hit the green button and you should be connected.
Some later model i20s have slightly different procedures, but the basics are the same: Search for the car on your phone, use the set-up menu on the screen, and then enter the correct pass-key number. While some other systems display the pass-key number on both car and phone, Bluetooth Hyundai i20 style needs the pass-key as a manual entry to your phone.
Once you have the connection established, the Hyundai i20 Bluetooth will allow all the usual functions including music streaming. The car and phone should automatically pair each time you enter the car from then on. If problems occur, the first place to look for answers is the owner’s manual, but a Hyundai dealer should also be able to help with troubleshooting.
The correct Holden Cruze oil type (grade) is a 5W30 fully synthetic. That’s for either the 1.8-litre, 1.4-litre turbo or the 1.6-litre turbo engine. The exception is the two-litre turbo-diesel Cruze engine which requires 5W40 grade oil.
There are no real trade secrets on how to change oil on a Holden Cruze and, provided you have the right equipment and basic skills, it amounts to warming the engine, draining the oil from the sump into a container, replacement of the oil filter, replacing the drain plug, refilling the sump and making sure the oil in the engine is at the correct level.
This is important maintenance because it ensures the engine always has a good supply of clean oil. Without this, the engine will die young. You can have a mechanic change your oil at a service centre, but with a drain pan, filter wrench, simple socket set and a work light, this is a DIY project.
Things you’ll need to know include the size of the drain plug, the specifications (part number) of the oil filter, and how often to change oil on this particular engine (the service interval).
The recommended Ford Ranger engine oil depends on the engine fitted to your particular example. Since the popular PX Ranger (2011 to 2022) used four different engines over its time on sale, this is an important piece of the puzzle. So here’s how it pans out:
The Best Ford Ranger oil type for the 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine is a 5W30 fully synthetic. The 3.2-litre turbo-diesel also uses the same grade and specification of oil. The sophisticated two-litre twin-turbo diesel requires 0W30 fully synthetic oil which is quite a light oil but is designed to lubricate those turbochargers immediately on start-up. Meantime, the 2.5-litre petrol engine (which is quite rare to find and only sold for a few years) requires either a 5W20 or a 0W20 (depending on which oil manufacturer you ask).
In the Ranger’s case, changing the oil at home is not difficult provided you’re not dealing with the five-cylinder 3.2-litre turbo-diesel. We’ll get to that one in a moment. In the case of the other engines, it becomes a case of warming the engine, removing the drain plug and letting the old oil out. While it’s draining, fit the replacement oil filter, replace the drain plug and refill the engine with the fresh oil. Once you’ve checked the level and it’s good, you’re on your way again.
The exception to all this is the 3.2-litre engine which has a sophisticated oil pump that allows it to save a bit of fuel, but also imposes a ten-minute limit on how long you can leave the sump-plug out and the engine empty of oil. Because of the way the pump is designed, an empty sump will cause the pump to not prime itself when you refill the oil and start the engine. And that can destroy the engine. So, the oil filter needs to be changed separately and the oil drained and refilled inside that ten-minute window. Simply google `how to change oil on a Ford Ranger’ and you might not be given this vital piece of info. Beyond that, the job is still a DIY one, but you have to be aware of that time limit.
Oil changes are part of any vehicle’s regular maintenance and the specifications of the oil required and the service interval (how often to change oil) are set by the vehicle’s manufacturer. If this job isn’t for you, pretty much any mechanic at any service centre of any size will be able to handle it quickly and efficiently as well as dispose of the old oil and filter for you.
It’s important to understand, but is the engine in your Mazda 2 timing belt or chain driven? That’s because a timing chain should last the life of the car with no extra maintenance, while a timing belt will need to be replaced at regular intervals. If you ignore timing belt changes, the belt can snap in service and destroy the whole engine.
Fortunately, the engine in the Mazda 2 uses a timing chain, so should require no special maintenance for as long as the rest of the car is running properly. That gets around the problems of the cam drive belt replacement as well as the associated cost.
This advice applies to both engines used in the Mazda 2 since 2002 and covers the ZY-VE engine (2002 to 2014) and the later V-P5 and F-P5 engines. It’s also dependent on regular oil changes and other maintenance having been carried out.
The recommended Audi Q5 engine oil is a fully synthetic oil with a viscosity rating of 5W30. Regardless of what engine is fitted to your Audi Q5 oil type and grade remains the same from 2017 onwards, regardless of whether the car in question is fitted with the two-litre turbo-petrol, two-litre turbo-diesel or the three-litre V6 engine.
In older, simpler cars than the Q5, an oil change is as simple as opening the drain plug to remove the old oil, spinning on a replacement oil filter, replacing the plug and refilling the engine with oil.
But the complex specifications of the modern Audi line-up mean that there’s often a bit more to this critical maintenance job. For instance, some of the fasteners Audi uses in the engine bay might require specialised tools. There are also sometimes complicated engine covers above and below the engine that need to be removed for a service to take place. Even turning off the service reminder light after the oil change can be confusing if you don’t have the knowledge or the gear to do it. Suddenly, a DIY job has just become a much bigger size task and “how to change oil on a Audi Q5” has become a very complex question.
For many Q5 owners, then, an oil change is a good job for an accredited service centre with a trained mechanic who can also advise on how often to change oil and the correct service interval for other important jobs.
Ford’s popular PX Ranger (sold from 2011 to its replacement in 2022) marked a distinct move away from timing belt technology to drive the engine's inlet and exhaust cam. So, regardless of what engine your PX Ranger has fitted to it, the Ford Ranger timing belt or chain question is answered with a simple response: It’s a timing chain.
That means the timing chain should be good for the life of the vehicle and will not require replacement at regular intervals, unlike engines with a rubber drive belt belt, provided oil changes and other maintenance has been carried out properly. This gets around the rubber drive belt problems of periodical replacement and the associated cost.
This advice covers every PX Ranger engine, including the 3.2-litre five-cylinder diesel, the 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel, the two-litre twin-turbo diesel and even the short-lived (2011 to 2015) 2.5-litre petrol engine.
The Fiat 500 Bluetooth system incorporated a Windows-based technology called Blue & Me. The idea was to give full hands-free control of the phone’s functions, but how to connect Bluetooth to Fiat 500 hardware is similar to any other system.
Bluetooth Fiat 500 pairing starts with enabling Bluetooth on your phone and switching the setting to Discoverable. From there, you use the car’s info-screen menus to find Settings, then select User Pairing. Then tap the Blue & Me prompt on the screen and type the PIN into your phone.
That should ensure the connection and reinstate it whenever the car detects that phone.
The catch is that Fiat 500 Bluetooth wasn’t available on every model. Early (2008 and 2009) base model (Pop) Fiat 500s sold in Australia didn’t have Bluetooth connectivity. If you bought the Sport or Lounge model, you got this feature, but only Pops built in 2010 or later had Bluetooth.
Toyota Camrys from 2017 onwards use the same engine oil, regardless of the engine or drivetrain fitted. So, the recommended Toyota Camry engine oil for either the 2.5-litre petrol engine, the 3.5-litre V6 and even the Hybrid Camry, is a fully synthetic engine oil with a rating of 0W20. This Toyota Camry oil type is quite `light’ (thin) but ensures the engine is lubricated quickly, especially in the case of the Hybrid version where the engine is stopping and starting regularly.
When it comes to how to change oil on a Toyota Camry, the task is really no more complex than it is for other conventionally laid out cars. Which is to say that if you have the right tools and some experience, this critical piece of maintenance shouldn’t pose too many DIY obstacles.
To carry out this service, though, you’ll need to know the size of the drain plug, what replacement oil filter to buy as well as the drain tubs necessary to catch the old oil. You can find out the correct oil change interval (how often to change oil) in the specifications section of the car’s owner’s manual.
If that all sounds a bit too hard, a service centre with a qualified mechanic should be able to handle the job relatively cheaply and will attend to the details like disposing of the old oil correctly and safely and resetting the service-reminder light on the dashboard.
Ford Focus Bluetooth wasn’t a reality until the new model that arrived in 2011. But at the point, it was standard on every trim level (including voice command) and was many people’s first taste of the tech. Prompting a lot of online questions along the lines of how to connect Bluetooth to Ford Focus?’ It’s actually pretty easy. That said, the best of these earlier systems used Ford’s SYNC tech which was introduced on Focuses built from August 2012 onwards.
Bluetooth Ford Focus pairing starts with switching on the Bluetooth on your phone and making the device discoverable. Then press the Phone button on the car’s menu system and follow the prompt to Add A Device. You should then be able to select SYNC from your phone’s list of available devices, enter the security code displayed on the car’s screen and your Ford Focus Bluetooth pairing is done.
From there, you can make and receive calls, view text messages and stream music, all via the voice command system.
Subaru’s engines over the decades have used both popular methods of driving the engine’s camshafts, but what about the mid-sized cross-over Subaru? Is the Subaru XV timing belt or chain?
Actually, all XVs from the arrival of the model in Australia in 2012 to now, have all used the same FB20 engine. Which means every Subaru XV sold here has used a timing chain rather than a timing belt.
For most owners, this is good news as the timing chain should be maintenance-free for the life of the car, while a timing belt needs periodic replacement.