Ask The Guide

While I’ll admit that an average fuel consumption figure of 12.4 litres per 100km is high for your car, there are a few things to consider here. By driving just seven kilometres each way to work and back, you’re probably running for half your driving time with an engine that is still warming up. Cold engines use a richer mixture and that means more fuel. Cold starts are a real problem for fuel consumption, and you appear to be driving on a cold engine for a high percentage of your daily run.

The other consideration is your average speed. You say that there’s no stop-start traffic conditions, but if you drive at urban speeds all the way to work, then you need to be looking at the official urban fuel consumption number which is 9.0 litres per 100km (the 7.3 litres figure you’ve quoted is for a mix of urban and highway running).

Even so, 9 litres per 100km is a lot less than 12.4 litres, so maybe there is something going on. Despite your reservations about Skoda’s politics, the best thing to do is to have the car electronically interrogated to see what, if any, fault codes appear. Only then can you really know what’s going on. Are you using the recommended 95-RON fuel? The wrong octane rating (RON) can have an effect on fuel consumption, as can a heavy right foot.

In Australia, this model Prado was available in GX, GXL, VX and Grande trim levels. There was a TX model for some markets globally, but if your car is a private import from elsewhere, then it’s an absolute crap-shoot trying to decipher its options and standard fitments.

With that in mind, if it is either a GX, GXL or VX, then it won’t have a button to control the rear ride height, because the only Australian-delivered 120-Series Prado to have this feature was the Grande. The reason your vehicle sits too high probably has more to do with a previous owner fitting heavier rear springs to account for fully-loaded touring or towing a decent sized trailer.

If you talk to automatic transmission specialists, you’ll soon be told that it’s impossible to over-cool such a gearbox. An aftermarket transmission cooler is designed to work in conjunction with the vehicle’s standard transmission cooling system, so disabling the standard cooler is probably not a great idea.

The problem with coolant entering the transmission is not an unknown one with some Ford (and other manufacturer’s) models and occurs when the standard cooler fails, allowing coolant into the gearbox and destroying the electronics and the gearbox hardware in short order. Unfortunately, this is a design thing rather than a maintenance issue, so the best thing you can do is service the vehicle regularly and make sure that the coolant is changed regularly. Even then, however, swarf from the production process (according to one theory at least) has been known to circulate through the radiator and cause damage to the piping that forms the transmission cooler. A radiator clean and flush might help stave off this process.

If the manufacturer of the aftermarket cooler you’ve fitted can guarantee that the unit will cool at least as effectively as the standard unit on the Ranger, then you might consider disconnecting the standard cooler. Even so, you’d be wise to keep an eye on transmission temperatures, particularly if you tow anything or travel at high speed in high ambient temperatures.

It’s definitely true that the march of new-car technology is making big changes to the cars we’re being offered almost on a monthly basis. So, if your current car is just three years old, it might be worth holding on to it and waiting for the next big thing to arrive in showrooms. Certainly, by trading-in at just three years, you’ll pretty much max out the depreciation you’ll suffer in financial terms.

But by waiting, you might find that you can buy an electric vehicle and be able to tap into newer and better infrastructure that will be in place in another few years, rather than put up with the relatively sparse charging-station network currently in this country.

At the moment, a hybrid or plug-in hybrid is a pretty good way to go, provided you use the vehicle mostly in an urban setting, rather than long-distance freeway journeys where the hybrid tech is less advantageous. A hybrid is not exactly future-proof, but it’s a good next step for a lot of Australian car-owners.

As for what brand is best, the tech is getting better and better as time goes by, so it’s likely to be build date rather than brand that will determine the efficiency of the vehicle in question. That said, car owners can’t hold off forever when it comes to upgrading, so for the moment, a hybrid or plug-in hybrid is a logical next car. We’re particularly impressed by the current-model Toyota Camry which is good value to buy, a classy driving experience and offers hybrid fuel efficiency in the right environment. Such cars will be a lot of Australian families’ first hybrid, and rightly so.

You haven’t given me much to go on here, Rebecca. There are plenty of warning lights on a dashboard these days, and even a 2005 model will have a variety of lights that illuminate to tell you something’s not right.

There are also a host of reasons for the car not starting, so it’s all a bit hit and miss at this stage. To gain a better idea of what’s happening, you could grab the owner’s manual and try to identify what symbol has lit up and which of the car’s systems it represents. From there, you can start to narrow down the causes, but an electronic scan of the car at a workshop sounds like a pretty wise investment. The warning light might even be a by-product of the engine’s refusal to start, and may go out when the engine is finally running.

An engine that runs well when cold but misfires when It’s warmed up is often a victim of poor air-fuel mixture. That can be caused by an air-leak (such as the intake manifold gasket you’ve already changed) a crack in any of the intake plumbing, faulty fuel injectors, a worn fuel pump, a corrupted ECU (computer), blocked fuel line or about a thousand other things.

But in this case, knowing the Ford AU Falcon’s engine, I’d be taking a close look at the ignition system, specifically the coil pack. These have been known to fail regularly, often displaying their problems including a rough idle, once the engine has warmed up; precisely the symptoms you’ve noted. That said, rather than rush out and buy a new coil pack, have the vehicle scanned electronically to rule out any other potential source for the problem.

There are lots of gizmos and gadgets that keep a modern engine running sweetly and maximise efficiency, and some of these do involve the camshafts. But I’ll go out on a limb here and suggest that the component you’re referring to is the cam-chain tensioner which does, indeed, operate automatically to keep the timing chain at the correct tension. Why am I so sure? Because this series of engines has a terrible reputation for premature wear of these components and subsequent replacement of them.

Shared with both Peugeot and Mini, the engine in your car experienced timing-chain problems (mainly a stretched chain) in both turbocharged and non-turbocharged variants and became obvious when the engine started making rattling noises, especially on cold start-ups or when idling. Eventually, the chain could fail and if this happened, the engine could be destroyed and would need to be replaced. The solution was to catch the damaged timing chain components before they became a problem, and that’s where having a listen to the engine each morning comes in. Beyond that, you can reduce the risk of the problem occurring by changing the engine oil every 10,000km (and not stretching this interval) and keeping a close eye on the engine’s dipstick and replenishing the oil to the correct level when necessary.

Peugeot kept fiddling with this engine to try to fix this problem and developed no less than four different timing-chain designs over the life of the unit to try to fix the problem. But none of the fixes seemed to be perfect, so it’s an ongoing thing. The build date of your car will determine which design it uses, and the bottom line is that sometimes you can get away with replacing some of the timing components, while at other times, you’ll need to replace the chain, tensioners and seals…quite a big and expensive job.

Assuming the worst, you should budget for at least $2000, maybe more depending on what workshop you use.

Make sure the engine is tuned properly at all times, resist the urge to carry gear you don’t need (utes are bad for this) and make sure the tyres are correctly inflated. All those things will directly affect how much fuel your car uses. But really, the biggest change you can make to the Crewman’s drinking habits it to control your right foot. Driving behaviour will have a much greater affect than anything else, but it’s worth noting that the Holden Crewman earned a reputation for being a guzzler early in its life.

High fuel consumption was a major criticism of these cars when they were brand-new. The combination of a heavy car and a large capacity engine meant that the Crewman was never a fuel sipper. To be honest, the absolute best way to reduce its fuel consumption is in the way you drive it. A light foot on the accelerator might just have a bigger effect than you imagine when it comes to squeezing every kilometre out of every litre.

But there are other things to do as well. Start with the tyres. A tyre that is under-inflated can cause a vehicle to use more fuel, but frequent tyre-inflation pressure checks can help. Of course, the car’s safety is dependent on correct tyre pressures, too, so it’s not just fuel economy at stake here. Either way, start at about 30 or 32psi (more if you’re towing or carrying heavy loads) and don’t let the pressures drop below that level. Correct wheel alignment can also influence fuel economy and don’t forget to keep the engine tuned and running sweetly as a well-tuned engine will always use less fuel than one that is out of adjustment. Ute owners often fall into the trap of carting around a lot more gear than they need (because they can). Removing weight from the vehicle’s tray will also help cut fuel bills.

Carburetted V8 engines in Rolls Royces of this era use a fairly simple choke system, based on a bi-metallic strip. When this strip is cold, it rotates the choke to the on position, thereby giving the engine a richer mixture (more fuel, less air). As the engine warms up, hot air plumbed from the exhaust system heats the bi-metallic strip, causing the choke flaps to revolve into their off position. There’s also a mechanical cam system operated via a linkage from the throttle pedal that sets the chokes on the first start-up and then maintains a fast idle once the chokes have begun to wind back into their off position.

The pipes that carry the hot air to the bi-metallic strip can crack or fracture over time (and heat cycles) and this can mean the strip won’t get hot enough to turn the chokes off. Sometimes the mechanical cam system can become sticky, causing the fast-idle condition to persist. Next time you notice the engine fast idling, try giving the throttle pedal a short, sharp stab to see if that brings the idle back to normal. If not, you may have to replace the hot-air pipes. Removing the choke flaps from the rest of the carburettor will also take the choke out of the equation, but you might find the car is difficult to start and won’t run smoothly in winter.