Ask The Guide

Perhaps a little strangely, the only recall I could find for this model to do with the transmission was one alerting owners to the fact that the unconventional design of the shifter handle could trick them into leaving the vehicle unattended without first selecting Park. But it doesn’t surprise me that you’ve had this failure as this generation of Jeeps has been plagued by all sorts of quality and reliability problems and, therefore, recalls and technical service bulletins (like a recall but not a safety-related issue).

I would definitely be tapping Jeep on the shoulder as I don’t believe 85,000km is a reasonable expectation when it comes to the life expectancy of such a major component in a modern vehicle. However, your car is clearly out of warranty, so it could come down to a dog-fight between you and Jeep.

I’d like to think that Jeep might meet you half way with the cost of repairs given the youth and full service history of your car, but there are no hard and fast rules here. You could also consider talking to Consumer Affairs over this.

The other thing you can do is talk to a transmission specialist as opposed to a Jeep dealer. Chances are, the cost of a replacement or rebuilt transmission from a specialist might be a fair bit less than a dealership can offer. But I’d definitely talk to Jeep head office first.

Have you thought about something like a Toyota Kluger, Brendan? These are available in two-wheel-drive (so you’re not lugging around an extra set of axles) or all-wheel-drive and, if you look closely, they’re really just an old-fashioned station-wagon with a (fair) bit more ride height. They’re quite large inside and compete with similar vehicles such as the Nissan Pathfinder and Mazda CX-9.

The most likely reason we don’t get the big American AWD SUVs comes down to availability of right-hand-drive and the fact that the North Americans favour petrol engines over diesel which, in a vehicle like the ones you’re talking about, would have a huge effect on the weekly fuel bill.

Check your owner’s manual, Nick, and you should find the information you’re looking for. If not, there will either be a series of small bolts holding the seat cushion either at its front edge or accessed from behind, in the luggage space. Undo these and the cushion should slide out, allowing you to retrieve the seat-belt buckle. On some Hyundais, the seat cushion is held in place by spring loaded clips which simply need a sharp, upward jerk to free them and allow you to remove the cushion.

Or, you may be able to get access to the belt buckle simply by folding the rear seat-back forward. It’s worth a try. If you do need to resort to a mechanic, it won’t be a big job, so shouldn’t cost much at all.

It would be a brave person to make any sort of predictions based on the Coronavirus. Suffice to say that as consumer confidence falls (and it must be at some kind of 100-year low right now) people tend to keep their powder dry and their cash to themselves. On that basis, I’d imagine you’d be welcomed with open arms (figuratively) at any sort of new-car dealership right now.

Whether that will make too much difference on the price of a new vehicle is up to the dealership in question, but if you can afford it, now is probably a very good time to shop for a brand-new car. Assuming lock-down laws allow you to drive it anyway. And don’t presume that the end of the crisis will see the end of cheaper cars; the damage being done to the economy will takes years or even decades to undo.

The 3.5-tonne towing capacity is a relatively recent thing, Alexander. I’m not sure there would be much choice within your price-range that will do the specific job you’re asking of it. Look at something like a 2012 to 2014 base-model Ford Ranger 4X4 with the bigger, 3.2-litre engine. That has the towing capacity you’re after at around the price you’re looking at. Be prepared for it to have covered plenty of kilometres at that price, though.

It all depends on who’s providing the numbers, Richard. Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of car specification sheets that list the overall width including the mirrors, and plenty without the mirrors.

These days, it’s much more common to find the width measurement includes the mirrors, purely because an exterior mirror on each side of the car is now a standard fitment. A few decades ago, that wasn’t the case and even a driver’s side mirror was an extra-cost option. That’s why the official width specification of an early car will often ignore the mirrors.

Also, don’t confuse the overall width with the vehicle’s track dimensions. The track is the measurement from the centre of each tyre to the centre of its opposite number. Track measurements are rarely the same front to rear, either.

Cars generally have a set of protocols that shuts down the entertainment and other systems to avoid the car’s battery going flat. If, for example, you were listening to the radio without the engine running, eventually, the car would switch the radio off to maintain the charge in the battery.

It’s quite likely that the message you’re seeing is something to do with this process. Why doesn’t it send the message every time? Perhaps it only does so after short runs where the battery isn’t fully recharged after starting the car. Maybe your battery is starting to feel its age. See if you can find a pattern to the message appearing; short runs, cold weather, wet weather, air-conditioning on or off, etc.
 

This sounds awfully like a sensor problem of some sort. Electronic sensors really do control every aspect of a modern car, from the engine to the dashboard and everything in between. So, it’s conceivable that your problem is the fault of a single sensor that is throwing multiple things out of kilter and causing the problems.

But why the engine and dashboard at the same time? Because a car’s computer will often take its cues from a variety of sources. Without a properly functioning dashboard (and the information on road-speed the speedometer supplies to the computer) some engines won’t even run at all. The rough running and hard starting could be another symptom of this.

But don’t rule out something simple like a battery or charging system that is not pulling its weight. Low battery voltage can do strange and random things to a modern, electronically-controlled car.

It’s possible that something has thrown an error code curve-ball at the car, Luke. It’s quite possible that a re-set of the ECU (and you can try it at home by disconnecting the battery for half-an-hour or so and then reconnecting it) will switch the warning lights off and return things to normal.

The other alternative is to take the car to a Subaru dealership and have the car scanned to see what fault codes get thrown up. It doesn’t take a huge fault to bring on these symptoms and I’ve even heard of a car driven with a loose fuel cap causing an almost identical problem.

It’s relatively widespread, Steve. In fact, it was enough of a problem for a while there that Ford was actually repairing some cars that were out of warranty. So that would be the first step: Tackle your local Ford dealer and ask the tough questions. A vehicle made in 2015 is too young to be rusty through bad design, but bear in mind that the dealer may not want to know and playing hardball on your part could result in legal costs if you follow it right through. And there’s no guarantee you’d win anyway.

There are shortcuts to rust repairs, but they all guarantee that the problem will recur. Fixing rust permanently requires removing all the affected metal, welding in new metal and rust-proofing the end result before repainting.

Somehow, moisture was able to enter the skin of the Territory’s tailgate and sit there and, naturally, rust was the end result. The area at the rear of the car around the tail-lights is also susceptible to corrosion. It’s interesting that the Territory had a storage space beneath the boot floor that was designed to accommodate wet bathers and wetsuits after a trip to the beach. Could this be the clue?