Ask The Guide

The SVS warning literally means Service Vehicle Soon. It suggests that the on-board computer has detected something wrong with the vehicle, and is warning you that it needs attention pronto.

The fact that it’s losing power is probably evidence of the computer placing it in limp home mode to prevent it doing any further damage to whatever mechanical system is causing the problem in the first place. Take it straight to a workshop and have the vehicle scanned to see what the fault might be.

There could be something wrong with the vehicle that is causing engines to blow up, and simply fitting a new engine is leaving it open to the same catastrophic problem(s). A fuel supply or cooling system problem would be just a couple of possibilities and fitting a new engine to a vehicle with such a problem could easily lead to successive blow-ups.

There’s also the possibility that you’ve simply been unlucky. Was the second engine a used one from a wrecking yard or a rebuilt unit? If it was the former, you might find that it was just about ready to expire, and the fact that it was fitted to your vehicle was not a factor. This is why it’s always important to have any second-hand engine tested before it gets fitted. Good quality used engines will come with a written report to prove there’s some life left in them.

There’s also the owner’s approach to a new engine. Were you careful to check the oil and coolant of the new engine once it was fitted and running? A second-hand engine might have an oil consumption pattern you’re not familiar with, and ignoring this important check could see it run dry and expire. Not pointing fingers, but even a 'new' second-hand engine requires a close eye kept on it.

Assuming the vehicle is starting and stopping correctly via the start button, you could be looking at anything from a faulty component in the switch’s lighting circuit, to a bigger problem with the car’s body computer. An auto electrician should be your first stop to get it sorted.

But until you can book in to an auto sparkie, try this trick at home. Disconnect the battery and leave it disconnected for an hour or so. Then reconnect it and see if the problem has gone away. Sometimes, a body computer needs a reset, and disconnecting the battery is the equivalent of Alt-Ctrl-Delete, or turning a computer off at the wall and switching it back on.

It definitely could be the transmission’s main pump. Without this pump working properly, it can’t create the pressure necessary to select gears via the valve-body or indeed, produce enough drive force to actually get the car to move.

But, you could also be looking at a broken valve body, faulty selector cable from the cabin to the transmission, a broken torque converter or a complete, catastrophic internal failure of the gearbox. Instead of guessing, take it to a transmission specialist who is very likely to have seen this very problem many times before.

The kerb weight of the RAV4 you mentioned depends on whether it’s the two or four-wheel-drive model. If it’s the former, the kerb weight is 1690kg, if it’s the all-wheel-drive model, the kerb weight is 1775kg. I know you asked for tare weight, but the only difference between kerb and tare weight sis that tare weight is the mass of the empty vehicle with 10 litres of fuel in its tank, while kerb weight is the same empty vehicle but with a full tank of fuel.

Of perhaps more interest to anybody towing is the fact that the two-wheel-drive RAV4 can tow 480kg while the AWD version can cope with 1500kg. The 2WD Rav’s GVM, meanwhile, is 2185kg and the AWD’s is 2230kg. The two-wheel-drive RAV4’s GCM is 2665kg, while the all-wheel-drive’s GCM is 3730kg.

Some of this information is quite difficult to find (even if you have the owner’s manual) yet it’s crucial safety information and should be more readily available. Some car makers seem very coy about publishing GVM and GCM limits, possibly because they don’t always reflect well on the product’s ability to tow and carry a load at the same time.

It’s odd, but some cars just don’t like some brands of phones. Toyota, in particular a few years back, had all sorts of trouble connecting certain phones to its factory Bluetooth system and, even if you could connect, sometimes the reception was so poor that it wasn’t worth the effort.

All the alternatives you’ve listed have their pros and cons, and bear in mind that a Skoda uses VW technology. The main concerns over the years have been failures of, and problems with, dual-cutch transmissions. If the VW tech scares you (or your mechanic) put the Skoda in the same basket. Beyond that, it comes down to your personal driving preferences and what sort of deal you can squeeze out of the dealer.

Don’t forget, either, that we generally upgrade our phones every few years, so if your phone is already an older one, maybe your next mobile will pair with the Mazda perfectly. Or, make it the Mazda dealer’s problem: If they’ll throw in a compatible phone as part of the deal, maybe the CX-3 is for you after all.

If the car still has drive in the forward gears, but refuses to drive in reverse, it’s a reasonable bet that there’s wear or damage to the transmission’s intrinsic bits that select or control reverse gear. If the transmission was simply low on fluid or had a bad pump or torque converter, it wouldn’t go anywhere in either direction.

A transmission specialist will probably have seen this problem before and will be able to advise of the extent of the damage. Either way, don’t drive the car any farther as you may do more damage.

This transmission has a finite lifespan and when they die, they sometimes just stop working as yours appears to have done. An automatic specialist will know the telltale signs of this and should be able to diagnose the problem.

But don’t give up hope; you might find the problem is simply a low fluid level in the transmission. Low fluid can certainly provide the symptoms you’re seeing. However, if that’s the case, then you’re chasing a leak, because these transmissions are a sealed system and shouldn’t need periodic topping up.

The fact that it sometimes runs perfectly means there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the engine’s intrinsic bits and pieces. If there was, it would never run perfectly at all. Which means you’re probably chasing a sensor, fuel supply or electrical problem.

Cars like this have sensors all over them to inform the computer of what conditions demand, what the driver is asking for and what it should do about all of that. Scanning the car electronically might provide the answer via a fault code. But we’d also take a look at the engine’s stepper motor which is a small electric actuator that controls the throttle position. If this component is not working properly, it can lead to the exact symptoms you’re seeing.

Squeaking when a car’s suspension moves up and down is usually down to a couple of things. Either there’s wear in a ball-joint or suspension bush, or the bushes and joints are full of dry dust. Have you driven the Triton off-road in sand or dust recently? You might find that some dust has managed to work its way into the rubber bushings and is causing the noise.

At worst, you may have damage to something in the suspension that is placing a load where it shouldn’t or perhaps even rubbing where it shouldn’t. With the vehicle securely parked, you can climb underneath and have a friend use their body weight to bounce the vehicle on the spot. If you’re lucky, you might be able to pin-point the source of the squeak.