Ask The Guide

If you previously owned large capacity non-turbo cars (such as a V8 or large six-cylinder) you might notice that some newer, smaller-engined cars with turbochargers don’t always have the urgency you remember when pulling into traffic or leaving a green light. That said, turbo motors are less laggy than they’ve ever been thanks to new technology and lighter turbocharger internals, but they can still feel as though they’re taking a second to really get going when you put your foot down. But they shouldn’t make you feel like you’re putting your life in danger every time you try to merge into traffic.

Which means you may have a problem with your car or, depending on your expectations, maybe not. Car dealers have a bit of a reputation of delivering the old “they all do that, sir” line when confronting dissatisfied owners, but you don’t need to leave it at that.

You can ask for a written report showing the car’s boost graph and compare that with what the factory says the car should deliver. But an even simpler way is to find somebody else with the same make and model and ask if you can drive the two back-to-back. Perhaps the dealer has a mechanically identical car on their used-car lot that you could take for a test drive. If your car is noticeably slower to launch than the other, then you may have a mechanical or even a software fault that is affecting performance.

The other thing to remember here is that (unless you bought a manual version) your car has a dual-clutch transmission and these can also sometimes feel a bit slow to get cracking when you launch them. Again, the performance of the transmission should be able to be electronically checked and verified, so don’t rule that out, either.

Most Hyundai engines with a rubber timing belt require belt changes every 100,000km. Stretching this interval is pushing your luck as a failed belt will destroy the rest of the engine. With that in mind, you’re already over that limit by about 10,000km, so a change sooner rather than later is in order.

The car will, indeed, drive perfectly even with an old timing belt. Until it doesn’t. At which point you have an engine bay full of junk and a big engine replacement bill coming your way.

Modern automatic transmissions are pretty complex things and there’s a lot that can go wrong from the simple low fluid level to the catastrophic like a broken torque converter or failed valve body, gearset, oil pump or clutch pack.

But mechanics know that the first sign of this transmission failing totally is a refusal to select Drive. Take the car to a transmission specialist who will have seen these symptoms before and will have a pretty good idea of what’s going on before they even lay a spanner on the car. And be prepared to replace the transmission as the only proper fix.

A second-hand transmission from a wrecked Commodore might be an option, but only if you can prove that the unit has done moderate mileage and, therefore, is probably not about to produce the same symptoms as yours already has.

It honestly doesn’t sound too bad given the average dealership labour rate is usually something like $160 or even $200 per hour to the customer. Also, genuine Holden parts for this type of job will always be preferable to aftermarket parts, and if the quote is to drive the car in and drive it out again with a brand new turbocharger working perfectly, then the price is probably pretty good.

If you want to save money, you can always try to find an independent workshop, but make sure you use one that knows this type of car and this type of repair. And don’t be afraid to ask about where the new parts are coming from.

Presumably the car makes this noise when you hit a bump or undulation. The Commodore’s front end is not particularly complex and is, in fact, a pretty standard MacPherson strut set-up.

With that in mind, there are only so many things that could cause the front end to bang or rattle, including a worn ball-joint, tie-rod end, or suspension bush. But don’t forget about the bushes in the steering rack, too, as these can contribute to a noise from the front end.

If all the suspension checks out, then you need to go a bit deeper into things like the cross-member mounts, engine mounts and even wheel bearings. Any wear or play in these components will cause a clunk in the right circumstance.

If none of that helps then you need to look beyond the suspension and into areas like a loose battery tray in the engine bay or even a loose piece of trim or sheet metal somewhere on the car. Exhaust heat shields are prime candidates for this, as are the metal shields at the back of each brake disc.

You have a few choices here, but all of them involve replacing the broken handles rather than trying to fix them. Your first option is to find one of the remaining Holden dealers out there and order genuine replacements. The second is to find a parts recycler (a wrecking yard as they were once known) and harvest a set of door handles from a wrecked Captiva.

The other option is to find an online seller with brand-new or second-hand replacements (lots of parts recyclers also have online stores). You can order them and have them delivered, usually within a few days if it’s an Australian-based seller. Just remember to specify the handles that incorporate the keyless-entry button.

The most common cause of this behaviour is a build-up of air inside the braking system. When you push the brake pedal, the fluid is forced to push on the parts of the braking system that clamps the brake pads to the brake rotors. That creates friction, and that causes the car to slow.

But the whole system relies on that pressure and it works because the brake fluid (as a liquid) can not be compressed. But air can. So, if there’s any air that has managed to enter the braking system, it will compress when you push the pedal, and the clamping force at the rotor will not be as great.

The fix is to what’s called 'bleed' the brakes. This process removes the air and should restore braking performance. In the meantime, the absolute best advice is to not drive the car anywhere while the brakes are not in top shape. The consequences are not worth thinking about.

Have the car towed to a workshop and while it’s there, think about having the brake fluid replaced as well as having the brakes bled. Fluid should be changed every couple of years but this is a somewhat ignored procedure among many car owners.

Regardless of whether you use an additive, a car’s Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) will still need to be cleaned (or regenerated) periodically as soot builds up in it. Short trips where the engine doesn’t get a chance to warm up properly, as well as extended periods of idling in traffic and stop-start running will all hasten this requirement.

In the case of the Captiva diesel, the best way to manually force a regeneration is to put aside an hour and go for a decent drive. The advice from Holden in the day was to travel at more than 50km/h and at more than 2000rpm (which may mean locking the car out of overdrive) for a minimum of 25 minutes. During this process, you should not allow the speed or revs to fall below those two figures which suggests finding a decent strip of freeway to carry out this process. You should also not turn off the engine at any point in this procedure.

The broad idea is to get the engine and exhaust hot enough for the filter to regenerate and clean itself. Experience suggests a couple of attempts may be needed to get this to happen as it should, and in fact, the car’s computer will give you several chances to produce the desired effect before the workshop beckons.

If, after 100km of this type of treatment, the DPF light on the dashboard hasn’t disappeared, the solution is a trip to a workshop to have the filter investigated and, potentially, hand-cleaned. Also, a mechanic can initiate a DPF regeneration via a scanning tool.

It doesn’t sound right, does it. And why would Kia even include a low-beam light indicator if it wasn’t to show that the low-beam lights were, in fact, on?

You should be able to figure it out by looking at the owner’s manual for your car. I managed to find such a thing online for your model Sportage, and it shows only a high-beam indicator light and a lights-on warning which covers both parking lights and low-beam. That suggests that your dealer is correct.

The other question, however, is what you’re looking at that makes you think it’s a low-beam warning light. The answer could be that there are two high-beam indicator lights, one for the manual high-beam operation and another for the automatic high-beam if your vehicle has that fitted. Perhaps it’s the fog-light indicator you’re seeing. Again, your owner’s manual should spell it out for you.

This could be something to do with the engine’s idle-air control valve which plays an important role in making sure the engine gets the correct amount of air. This amount varies according to (among other things) the engine temperature. So, in a cold-start situation, the valve helps ensure the ratio of fuel and air entering the engine is correct to account for the lack of heat in the engine.

But you could also be looking at a dud temperature sensor that is sending the wrong information to the engine’s computer and causing the same problem. It could be as simple as a dirty intake system or airflow meter that needs cleaning.

But don’t forget the basics, either; a vacuum leak in any of the many rubber hoses on an engine of this age can lead to a lean mixture and a high idle as a result.

A trip to a workshop with a scanning tool should reveal more about what’s going on.