Ask The Guide

I’ve hard of this before and it usually seems the cause has something to do with the wiring that controls these warning lights. It could either be a bad earth or a broken wire, but in most cases the symptoms are the same; a flashing 4WD indicator light when the vehicle is in two-wheel-drive. I’ve also heard of dud ABS sensors triggering the same, or similar, warning lights on the dashboard.

These vehicles use servos to engage four-wheel-drive (unlike older vehicles which used a manual lever pulled on by the driver) so there’s a level of electronics involved. And that always means potential problems as the cars age, particularly a vehicle that may have seen its share of rough stuff over the years.

The best advice is to have a Mazda specialist interrogate the on-board computer, at which point the car should give up all its dirty little secrets, including why it thinks it’s in four-wheel-drive when it’s not.

Car-makers tend to like to keep information like this a bit of a secret until the vehicle is officially launched, Michael. And since I can’t even find out when in the next 12 months the new D-Max is due to hit showrooms, it’s a bit tricky to answer your question. Word around the campfire, though, is that the new D-Max will indeed have an electronically locking rear differential, where previous models didn’t even have a limited-slip rear diff. So that’s good news.

Generally, you can’t engage a rear diff lock without engaging four-wheel-drive, but when it comes to what happens with traction-control at that point, the various manufacturers tend to go their own ways. Some will leave the traction-control active with the rear diff locked, others don’t. The former arrangement is generally regarded as the superior system for off-road traction, but it does potentially place more stress on the driveline. But which way Isuzu intends to jump in this regard is still anybody’s guess.

It sounds to me, Michael, that your repairer is not being entirely scientific about the diagnosis procedure. Changing things because they might fix the problem is an absolute hiding to nowhere in modern cars, purely because there are so many sensors and systems that can cause all sorts of problems.

While your repairer is correct that a diesel-particulate filter problem can cause a loss of power, so can a faulty intercooler, a dirty MAF sensor, leaking injector O-rings and a leaking boost pipe. Okay, so those things have all been fixed, but which one was causing the problem?

The smart way to go with a vehicle like this is to plug it into a scanner and download all the fault information that has been logged by the on-board computer. Only once you know what components are dodgy can you make an informed decision about what bits and pieces to replace. Beyond that, you’re stabbing in the dark and forking out big dollars every time a mechanic says "let’s try this…".

So, no, you’re not stupid in thinking that all the possibilities should have been considered before work began, and I’d be having that very conversation with the workshop involved. It may be that all those components that have been replaced were, in fact, faulty, but replacing things until the problem goes away is often a very expensive way to tackle a problem.

I’d be interested to know why Ford won’t help with your problem, but it’s a fact that there are some circumstances where a manufacturer isn’t obliged to fix a problem like this. If the problem has been caused by negligence or abuse on the part of the owner, then you begin to enter a very grey area. On the other hand, if the rust is due to a manufacturing fault such as poor rust-proofing at the factory, then it’s a different story.

I contacted Ford Australia about this, but without more information, the spokesperson could only really refer me to the warranty fine-print and, in particular, this couple of paragraphs:

• Ford will warrant a part which it finds to be defective in factory materials or workmanship under normal use and operation
• A part won’t be replaced as a consequence of the owner’s failure to maintain, use or operate the vehicle in accordance with recommendations and instructions.

Honestly, your email raises more questions than answers. Is the corrosion surface rust or actual rot in the metal? Has the car been used in the mining industry? Has it been used to launch boats into salt-water on a frequent basis? Has it been submerged in floodwater at any stage? Has it been badly damaged and repaired? On what basis did Ford deny your request to have the vehicle fixed under warranty?

As for your options, you could pay to have the chassis replaced, but that only makes me wonder about the rest of the metalwork in the vehicle. Or, you could talk to a consumer advocacy group and see what your legal options amount to. The real job will be convincing an arbitrator that the rust has been caused by poor quality rather than any owner abuse or negligence.

The market value of your car, Clare, if you were to sell it privately is probably between $10,000 and $12,000, so $7000 as a trade-in is roughly what you’d expect. It might be a fraction low, but without seeing the car in the flesh, that’s difficult to say for sure. In any case, it’s in the ball-park. That’s how dealers make money on used-cars; they buy them at their price and sell them at yours.

Assuming you’re trading the car in on a new vehicle, the important thing is not how much the dealer offers for your trade-in, but rather the change-over number. That is, the amount you have to pay to get into the new car. A dealer can often flatter you into thinking you’re getting a good deal by discounting the price of the new car, but if they also slice a few dollars off the value of your trade-in, you’re back to square one, right?

If the noise sounds like a dull thud or knock from deep within the engine, then I have bad news. Something inside the engine is probably trying to get out. And if it does, the engine will be instantly turned to junk. The worse news is that it probably already is (junk) even though it’s still running, because the damage has already been done. From the sound of things, your engine is perhaps only a few seconds away from exploding expensively.

Noises like this are usually caused by wear in the bearings – typically the con-rod bearings – and while they can be fixed if you do so before the engine grenades, it will always be an expensive job. In fact, it would likely cost more than the actual value of a 2005 Pulsar itself.

The best advice, then, is to let a mechanic have a listen to see if it’s as bad as you’ve described. From there, I reckon a second-hand engine form a wrecked Pulsar would be your best bet if you’re determined to keep the car.

A 2002 Magna in decent condition is around the $2000 to $3000 mark, Karen. So depending on what’s wrong with your car, the value in 'poor condition' could be as little as a few hundred dollars. If we’re talking major panel damage, flaking paint, rust and a car that needs new brakes or suspension, you could be looking at the vehicle’s scrap value which would be between $150 and $250 at current rates.

Wow, that’s a rare beast, Tom. It’s also a bit of a unicorn and, since no two converted Patrol tippers were the same (more or less) there are no hard and fast rules on what they’re worth second-hand.

From the sound of things, yours is in very nice condition and has low kilometres, so they’re both good selling points. But from a buyer’s point of view, I’d want to know that the vehicle has been properly engineered (as these were converted to tippers by third party modifiers, rather than Nissan itself) and that it has all the paperwork necessary to obtain a roadworthy certificate and be legally registered. What your insurance provider will make of such a vehicle is up to them, but it’s another consideration for would-be buyers.

As for a price guide, the only similar vehicle I could find for sale at the moment was around the $20,000 mark. But this is a classic case of a vehicle being worth precisely what somebody else will pay for it.

A car that is reluctant to start first thing in the morning but then starts fine after that initial start-up could be a victim of worn engine internals. Specifically, if the valve guides or piston rings are worn enough, the engine may not have sufficient compression to fire up from dead cold. That fact that the engine got very hot at some stage is also a good way to damage things like piston rings and lead to the symptoms you’re describing. Pull-starting with, I presume, another vehicle can spin the engine faster than a starter-motor will, and for longer, and this could be enough to give the engine the encouragement it needs to fire up for the first time. Is the engine burning oil? Or blowing blue smoke? Both are signs of a worn out engine.

Other possible causes are many and varied and include incorrect ignition timing, out-of-phase valve timing, poor fuel pressure, the cold-start enrichment mechanism not working or a range of sensors not playing the game. And plenty more.

If your car was a V200, then I’d suggest that the diesel engine’s glow-plugs had failed, but the V240 was petrol only. But that in itself is interesting because the engine was more or less an older-design Mitsubishi built under license by Great Wall. As such, it’s a fairly simple old thing with not too much to go wrong.

Perhaps there’s a clue in the fact that the doors lock themselves as soon as you’re on board. Maybe this has something to do with the body computer (that controls functions such as the central locking and immobiliser) which should perhaps be talking to the engine computer, but isn’t first thing in the morning. Do changes in the ambient temperature change the car’s habits? Is it harder to start on wet days? Is the tank full of very old fuel? All these things can have an effect on a motor that is a bit cantankerous to begin with.

You’ve hit the nail on the head Alan. The 48-volt mild-hybrids weren’t taken up by M-B Australia, purely because the plug-in hybrid GLC300e will have a bigger battery than before (for more range) and is a better fit with where the brand is going in this country. Watch out for the plug-in GLC in showrooms in the second quarter of this year.