Ask The Guide

Fundamentally, a car’s factory warranty should follow it from one owner to another. That’s how Australian consumer law works. The exception would be if the car had not been serviced and maintained properly, at which point the manufacturer can argue that they no longer have an obligation to fix the car under warranty. But that would be regardless of whether it has changed hands or not.

Many car buyers looking for a second-hand car will be attracted to a vehicle that still has a portion of its factory warranty to run. It’s great peace of mind for those buyers.

MG Australia extended its factory warranty to seven years/unlimited kilometres back in 2017, so your 2019 car should still have at least 18 months to run.

A car that’s left to sit for a length of time will often develop a flat battery as things like the clock and security system slowly drain the battery. But this should not happen in just three days.

If there’s absolutely no drain on the battery (as checked by your electrician) then suspicion turns to the battery itself. It may have done this since it was brand-new, but the battery could have a manufacturing flaw or internal damage that means it won’t hold a charge beyond three days. Borrow a different battery and see if the problem goes away.

This is not a good sign and suggests that you have a fairly major engine problem. Sometimes this can be caused by an automatic transmission’s oil cooler having split and emptying transmission fluid (oil) into the radiator’s coolant. If that’s the case, the transmission will also probably be damaged both mechanically and electronically.

Other causes are a catastrophic failure of the engine crankcase or – not quite as serious – a blown cylinder head gasket. But in either of these cases, the engine will need major repairs. The cost of which may exceed the actual value of the car.

Depending on the severity of the problem, a recycled, second-hand engine from a wrecked Barina of the same model might be a better option.

The correct way to proceed here is to have the car scanned to see if it will offer up what ails it. The on-board computer is designed to recognise a problem or fault, record it and then hand over that information to a mechanic during the scanning process.

You can try to diagnose the problem yourself, but doing so by replacing random parts is not the way to go. You can easily replace perfectly good – and expensive – parts and still have a car that won’t start.

But if you do want to tinker yourself, the first thing to check is the electric fuel pump. These require periodic replacement and when they fail, they just stop, and that’s it. To check the pump, turn the ignition to the start position and listen carefully for a buzz or humming noise coming from under the car. It can be difficult to hear, but if it’s present, then the fuel pump is probably not the problem. No buzzing or humming suggests the pump is the culprit.

Honestly, though, there are literally hundreds of reasons a car will turn over but not start.

You haven’t told me what engine and transmission your car is fitted with, but if it’s one with the seven-speed DSG transmission, then this would not be the first time buyers have experienced problems. While not as troublesome as some dual-clutch gearboxes, the Audi’s DSG can wear over time, with symptoms including jerking on take-off, an inability to select a gear and, as you’ve noted, a selection of noises and clunks during shifts.

A transmission specialist should be able to scan the car electronically to see if the car throws up a fault code, and can also graph the performance of the transmission’s clutch packs to see if they’re behaving smoothly.

But don’t rule out something loose or worn in the front suspension or even a worn driveshaft. Both these things can contribute to clunks at low speed.

Yes it did. In order to produce the engine’s 96kW and 280Nm of torque (291Nm in automatic form), Holden - or rather Isuzu, who engineered the vehicle and provided the driveline - used an intercooler to achieve that level of performance.

The factory intercooler was a top-mount (mounted on top of the engine) and there are plenty of aftermarket alternatives when it comes time for replacement. Some owners also choose to fit a front-mounted intercooler for better performance, although in an off-roader like the Rodeo, this can place the intercooler in harm’s way in an off-road scenario.

There does seem to be a bit of a trend here where the Mazda software won’t talk to its owners’ phones. It’s not just a Mazda thing, either; plenty of car-makers using proprietary software receive customer complaints when the software and apps won’t play ball.

Some owners have had success by disconnecting the car’s battery overnight and forcing a reset to factory settings, but in other cases, the refusal to operate correctly is intermittent.

However, it’s up to Mazda to make good on a fix for this. Whether that involves replacing the head unit and screen with a new one, downloading new software or a patch for the existing stuff or whatever the solution is, your factory new-car warranty should cover this. Make sure the fault has been logged at the dealership (so Mazda knows it’s a pre-existing condition) and don’t be afraid to tackle Mazda Australia’s customer service division to see what can be done.

This is a very common problem for owners of modern turbo-diesel cars who only do short, stop-start runs in city or suburban traffic. When the engine and exhaust can’t get hot enough for a DPF burn-off, the computer dumps extra fuel into the engine to get everything hot. If some of this excess fuel gets into the engine’s sump, it can force the level of the sump to rise, leading to the warning light you’ve just seen.

In the worst-case scenario, this fuel in the sump will dilute the lubricating oil and that can lead to a damaged engine. But as you’ve found, even if that isn’t the case, there’s still a price to pay to manually force the DPF to burn off as well as change the oil for fresh, undiluted stuff.

The solution is to make sure you drive the car for at least half an hour at freeway speeds once or twice a month. That will get things hot enough for a complete DPF burn and will keep you out of the workshop. Mind you, making this sort of effort might cost you more than the fuel savings you gain from owning a diesel car. This is just one reason a modern turbo-diesel is not ideal for every consumer.

Fiat kind of skipped the hybrid step with its 500 range, and now offers both a petrol-engined and an all-electric version of the car. The 500X was more or less the SUV version of the Fiat 500, but that was discontinued in 2018. And there was no hybrid version of that, either.

There are a few things to check here. The first is that even though the battery has been recharged, has it been load tested? This time of year is very hard on batteries and even though it may seem to be holding a charge, when you actually put a load on it via the starter motor, it can go weak at the knees and will not spin the engine over.

The clicking you can hear is probably the starter motor’s relay which controls the power to the starter. But what about the starter motor itself? Has this been tested for correct operation. Sometimes the problem can also be what’s called the throw-out mechanism which is a solenoid that forces the starter motor’s teeth to mesh with the engine’s flywheel teeth and, therefore, turn things over.

Perhaps an auto electrician is the best place to start. Their first job will be to test a range of things and rule out possible causes one by one.