Ask The Guide

This is a very contentious question and depending on who you talk to, you’ll get a bunch of different answers. Overall, it seems that Navara D22s from about 2007 to 2010 did, in fact, have a DPF fitted as standard. But only if they had an automatic transmission; manual versions don’t seem to have been fitted with a DPF. Why? Who knows.

In any case, the definitive answer can be obtained by looking under your vehicle. The DPF will appear as a large cannister, mounted next to the chassis rail, just behind the transmission and is part of the exhaust system.

There could be any number of reasons for this from an electrical or a mechanical point of view. Since the car is under warranty, why not tackle your Haval dealership with the problem as, legally, it’s their responsibility to put right.

But on another level, are you sure the vehicle is not using its electric motor to help power the vehicle? The transition between petrol, electric and a combination of the two can be pretty hard to pick sometimes, especially in newer vehicles with smoother engines and better sound-proofing. In fact, the Jolion Hybrid has been praised in road tests for the seamless way it transitions between petrol and electric power, so maybe because you’re not feeling or hearing this transition, it appears to be not happening, even when it is.

This is the vehicle trying to tell you that the oil level in the engine is low and needs to be topped up to prevent damage to the engine. The engine has a sensor that is triggered when the oil level drops below a pre-determined level, at which point the oil level is not quite low enough to cause damage. If it continues to fall, however, that will change. So don’t drive the car any farther until the oil has been topped up.

By the way, all engines use some oil; it’s a normal part of the way an engine works. Some modern engines with low-friction internals will use a little more oil than some older engine designs, too, and this can catch some people out. But don’t panic, because this is one of the ways a modern engine saves fuel.

What you need to be aware of is how much oil the engine consumes as normal, and make sure that doesn’t start to increase which would indicate engine wear is occurring. For reference, the grade of oil you need to buy for a top-up in your Chery is a 10W50 fully synthetic.

The official oil recommendation for this vehicle is a fully synthetic 5W30 grade oil. If the engine is in good condition, this is the best oil to use. The X-factor in all of this, of course, is the relatively high mileage your car has covered. As engines wear, and perhaps begin to consume a bit more oil between oil-changes, the conventional wisdom has been to use a slightly thicker oil. A 10W40 would be the logical choice here.

But the turbocharged Cruze engine, like a lot of modern engines, uses some pretty fine oilways that may not be compatible with the thicker 10W40. Examples of this include the oilways that lubricate the turbocharger’s bearing and also the ones that allow the variable valve timing to operate properly. Unless the engine is showing real signs of wear, sticking with the 5W30 oil is definitely the best advice.

This could be the result of a worn or poorly adjusted transmission, a worn torque converter or even something simple like a low transmission-fluid level. So that’s job one: Check the level of fluid on the dipstick. If that’s okay, you really need to see a transmission specialist who has probably seen these exact symptoms before. What I can tell you for sure is that the automatic gearboxes fitted to Holdens of this era did have a finite lifespan before they needed either an overhaul or outright replacement.

But make sure your mechanic checks that the cause of the vibration is not a worn universal joint or bent axle or an out-of-balance drive-shaft. Even a sticking brake or a worn engine mount can induce vibrations into a moving or accelerating car, so rule all that stuff out first.

You have a couple of options here. You can remove the stater motor and take it to an auto electrician who will be able to test it, see what’s wrong with it and give you a quote to rebuild the unit. Or, you can simply buy a new or reconditioned starter motor and fit that instead. Both these options should provide you with a warranty of some sort.

Actually, there’s a third option, and that is to visit a wrecking yard, take a starter motor off a wrecked Territory (making sure it’s the same model and engine) and fit that to your car. This will be the cheapest option, but you could easily find that the new second-hand starter motor has the same problems as the one you already have. Some wrecking yards (who like to be called parts recyclers these days) offer starter motors (and other components) that have been tested, so that would be preferable to just finding one still bolted to a wreck. You might not be offered any sort of warranty, however.

There are a lot of possibilities here. Either there’s a problem with the actual shifter for the transfer-case (that selects two or four-wheel-drive) or there might be something amiss inside the transfer-case itself. But before you try anything else, make sure that the transmission is in Neutral. Many vehicles will not shift into or out of four-wheel-drive while the transmission is in Drive or Reverse. So stick it in Neutral and see what happens.

From memory, the 4WD selector in your ute is a mechanical lever, not one of those newer rotary knobs. So at least you won’t be trying to overcome an electronic selection problem that occurs in these later versions.

When things like a car’s lights start to develop a mind of their own, the car’s body computer is sometimes the root cause. This is the computer that controls everything from the central locking to the lighting and the climate control to the cruise control, as well as a lot more in between. If this computer module starts playing up, all sorts of weird things can take place, including the dashboard lights coming on of their own doing. If this happens overnight or when the car is parked for a long period of time, it could easily drain the battery and leave you with no electrical power.

An auto electrician is the obvious solution, but try this trick at home first. Remove the negative battery terminal on the car and leave it disconnected for an hour or two (or, even better, overnight) this is sometimes enough to reboot that body computer and return the car to normal operation. Be aware though, that even if this fixes the problem, it may recur sometime down the track. But at least then you’ll know what to do next time.

It doesn’t matter whether you have the two-litre petrol, 2.4-litre petrol or the two-litre turbo-diesel engine in your Sportage, they all use timing chain technology rather than the toothed rubber timing belt. As such, the timing chain fitted should be good for the life of the engine and should not require periodic replacement as a timing belt does.

Any vehicle with air suspension can suffer failures of this technology, especially if they’ve been used hard in an off-road setting (which the original Cayenne was very well suited to). The good news is that air suspension failure should be relatively easy to spot as the car will settle into its lowest position if the suspension is letting the air out, say, overnight.

For the record, this generation Cayenne was only fitted with air suspension if you bought either of the turbocharged versions (the Turbo and Turbo S). The entry level Cayenne S was fitted with entirely conventional steel springs.

Other things to watch out for are coolant leaks from the plastic plumbing under the intake manifold while big, heavy, powerful cars like the Cayenne can be hard on tyres and brake pads. So check those things still have some life left in them, or budget for replacements.