Ask The Guide

Without a make and model, you haven’t given me a lot to go on. But as a rule of thumb, car alarms can go off randomly for a variety of reasons. It could be something to do with a short-circuit in the wiring that controls the alarm, or a fault with the sensors that detect an intruder and trigger the siren and flashing lights. It could even be a family of moths living in the car that take flight and cause the ultrasonic sensors to trip the alarm. Stranger things have happened.

The underlying problem could be with the car’s body computer. This is the computer that controls everything from the windscreen wipers to the dashboard and, where fitted, the security system. If this computer is playing up, you may find all sorts of weird, random things happening, including an alarm that gives false warnings. Even a fault with the switch that detects whether a door is open or closed, can cause security systems to false alarm.

The first thing to try is to disconnect the car’s battery overnight and then reconnect it next morning. This can have the effect of rebooting the computer and returning everything back to normal. It may not work, but it’s definitely worth a try, and it’s free.

This is really backwards, isn’t it? The ice warning is designed to alert the driver to road conditions cold enough for ice to form and cause a skidding risk. But in your case, the opposite is happening and the car thinks it’s freezing outside whenever the temperature creeps up to 28. This would make most mechanics think that the temperature sensor that reads the ambient temperature has gone haywire and is telling the onboard computer lies.

Either that, or the vehicle is selecting the ice and snow driving mode on its own behalf, and that’s what’s limiting your engine speed. That wouldn’t be dependent on the ambient temperature reaching 28 degrees, however. But if the ice and snow driving mode is part of the problem, you could have a faulty switch or even a problem with the car’s body computer. An auto electrician is your best bet.

What the dealer is saying (most likely) is that the fuel pump will be fixed under warranty but there’s a question mark over the condition of the intercooler. They’re probably separate issues. If the intercooler has failed because of faulty materials or manufacture, then it would be covered by the warranty. If it’s been damaged (a flying rock, perhaps) then it won’t be covered by warranty. At which point, you’re liable for the cost of repairs and diagnosis.

The question you need to be asking is why the dealer thinks the intercooler needs to be tested. Is there anything leaking from it? Are there any performance problems pointing to the intercooler being damaged? If not, it’s hard to imagine why the intercooler would need to be tested in the first place, apart from the manufacturer warning dealers of potential failures. Which, again, would point to a warranty issue.

Don’t be afraid to ask the tough question before any work has commenced, and don’t forget that your state motoring club is a good source of legal advice on this stuff.

But you should also know that this model was involved in a safety recall to address a problem with the cooling system where a failure of the plumbing could allow coolant to escape. If this is part of your problem, it would very likely be considered a warranty job.

This can be a bit of a fiddly job and requires you to disassemble the inner door trim to get at the workings within. The problem itself is usually a case of either the glass having delaminated form the metal track it rides it, or the winding mechanism itself has broken or rusted through or structurally failed in some other way.

Once you’ve removed the inner door panel and any protective sheeting under it, you should be able to see what’s failed or fallen off. You’ll need a good torch and perhaps even a mirror to see what’s going on in there as access can be tight.

If it’s a simple case of the glass having jumped out of its metal track, you may be able to refasten it with the correct adhesive. Often, though, it’s simpler and easier to find a replacement glass and track unit at a parts recycler (which we used to call a wrecking yard). If something else has failed, you may need to replace a whole lot more in terms of components, but until you can see what’s what, you won’t know for sure.

The other advice is to not try to move the window via the power window switch. Depending on where the glass is sitting, you may find the winding mechanism will bear on the glass where it shouldn’t and smash the pane or bend something important.

There’s a range of possibilities here. The first is that even though the battery had enough urge to illuminate the dashboard lights when you turned the key, it didn’t have enough to actually spin the engine to start it.

Conversely, you might also find that there’s a problem with the wiring that takes power from the battery to the starter motor, which would also see the engine refuse to crank. But don’t rule out the obvious stuff like a blown fuse or relay in the starting system.

You might even have a problem as simple as a poorly adjusted switch that prevents the engine from starting if the transmission is not in Park. Try starting it with the gearbox in Neutral and see if that works. If it does, your transmission safety switch is a dud and needs to be either replaced or repositioned.

On paper, yes. Both variants use the Aisin AWTF-80 six-speed automatic transmission. But whether they’re interchangeable or not is a bit more complicated to answer. You may find there are detail differences such as where the sensors are mounted and perhaps the bolt pattern itself. And there could also be differences in the specification of the torque converter in each case.

A transmission specialist dealing with these makes and models might be able to give you a clearer idea of interchangeability, but fundamentally, yes, they’re the same transmission.

This could simply be a case of the engine’s idle speed being set too low. If that’s the case, even though it’s firing on all four cylinders, it can feel rough and lumpy as though there’s something major wrong. Then, as you increase the revs, the engine smooths out and feels normal again. Even a worn or broken engine mount can amplify vibrations at idle, as can an exhaust leak.

A good mechanic will be able to tell you quickly whether this is the case or if, in fact, the engine really is dropping a cylinder at idle. If the latter is the case, you may have a dud spark plug, ignition wire, sensor or even a blocked or dirty fuel filter. Again, most mechanics won’t have a problem tracking this one down.

It’s true that the Nissan Qashqai has had a couple of safety recalls, but they didn’t affect 2025 models, so you should be okay there. But it’s worth mentioning that the Kia Seltos from the same era has also had its share of recalls and problems, including an engine glitch that saw a lot of examples needing new engines (which Kia did its best to put right). Again, though, by the time 2025 had rolled around, the problems were largely a thing of the past. Or should be.

Some Nissan owners have complained about failures of the brand’s CVT transmissions. But the reality is that these are both very new vehicles and, provided they’ve been serviced properly to this point, will also have a lot of factory warranty remaining.

Which means it really comes down to which of the two offers the space and features you need and which one you prefer to drive (which means checking things like the rear vision and anything else that is likely to annoy you). Take both for a decent test run, check the service record and go from there.

Sometimes, all it takes to inject a bit of gearshift movement into a car is a slightly worn gear-selector linkage. Wear in one of the many joints can translate as movement or vibration, along with a rattling noise as company. Is it possible the ticking noise is this rattle? If this is the case, then the linkages can be replaced usually quite easily without touching anything else on the transmission.

Another possibility would be a worn engine or transmission mount that is allowing the entire transmission to flail about under the car (particularly when the driveline moves from loaded to unloaded - ie; when the driver is on and off the throttle) when it should be held firmly by the mount. Again, this is not a huge problem to fix in most cases.

If you’re unlucky, the problem might be something actually inside the transmission, at which point the repair gets a lot more complex and usually involves removing the transmission for a mechanic to check inside. The fact that both fifth and sixth gear are the problems, suggests you may have internal gearbox wear on those two gears or the shaft that carries them, but a check up at a transmission specialist should be your next move.

What you’re experiencing is the front and rear axles fighting each other. Us old-timers call it axle wind-up and, as the name suggests, it’s what happens when the various wheels need to turn at different speeds, but can’t.

When you’re in 4H, you’re effectively driving the front and rear axles at precisely the same speed. Logic says this shouldn’t matter, but, depending on what lumps and bumps they’re covering at the time, there are times when the front and rear wheels need to travel at slightly different speeds. Throw in full steering lock, and you’ve just made things very difficult for the driveline with all sorts of competing forces being fed around the various tyres, axles and driveshafts.

This is far from limited to the Isuzu, and many four-wheel-drives without a centre differential (such as your D-Max) when driven at full lock in 4H will exhibit the same shunting and apparent loss of power. The power loss, meanwhile, is simply those front and rear tyres fighting each other; nothing to do with the engine at all.

When you shift back to two-wheel-drive (2H) the front and rear axles are suddenly free to turn at different speeds, and the sensation goes away. This whole situation is why you can’t use 4H on dry bitumen in a four-wheel-drive vehicle without a centre differential. Meantime, there’s no fix for it other than learning when and when not to engage 4H.