Ask The Guide

Not every Colorado suffers this problem, but there are certainly a percentage that do. It’s a relatively common thing with this model and the first sign is a stain that develops on the roof lining in the rear seat just above the rear window. It’s caused by water entering the cabin through the high-mount brake light assembly.

The problem is caused by the light’s seals that fail over time, and the fix is to remove the light, clean the area around it and then seal it with panel sealer (or something similar) from the outside. If you’re fussy, you can replace the whole light assembly, but that won’t fix the failed seal, so you’ll still need to reseal the area where the light mounts.

What you’re experiencing is the transmission calibration that many modern vehicles use to increase fuel economy. By always trying to be in a higher gear, the vehicle will record a better fuel economy number on the official test that compares it with its competitors.

The downside is that the constant upshifting means the vehicle will sometimes find itself in a gear that’s slightly too tall, and that’s when you’ll start to get the symptoms of feeling like the engine is labouring or lugging.

As you’ve noted, when the car shifts down a gear, the sensation goes away. The solution is to manually pull the car back a gear when this happens. If t really bothers you, you could ask Isuzu if there’s a software update that makes the transmission a little less eager to be in top gear.

What has happened is that the gas struts that are designed to help you raise the weight of the tailgate and then hold it in place have lost some of their gas. As such, they’re no longer able to support the weight of the tailgate and that’s why it’s randomly falling to earth, risking trapping your hands or other body parts in the process.

The solution is to replace the struts. These are available from parts stores and plenty of online sellers and shouldn’t cost too much. They're not difficult to fit yourself, but a mechanic wouldn’t charge too much to fit them either. Once they’re fitted, the tailgate should be perfectly safe to use again.

Many cars also use these struts for the bonnet, too, and they’re a common failure. Just make sure you get the precise strut for your make and model as they vary in length and in how much weight they’re designed to support.

Unless the wheel nuts have sheared off or the bearing or axle failed catastrophically, the most usual way for a wheel to fall off a moving car is if the wheel nuts were not torqued properly by who ever removed the wheels most recently. Has the car ever had a new set of tyres? Or was the wheel that jumped ship changed at any stage because the tyre was flat?

Perhaps the best advice is to approach your state motoring club. These clubs often operate a technical inspection service where the cause of faults can be determined and a written report supplied. This is then considered an independent source of evidence and may be helpful if the matter is taken to a dispute hearing.

The first thing to do is check the fluid level in the transmission. Problems like this are often caused by a low fluid level, so that’s where to start. The problem then is that the Captiva’s transmission doesn’t have a conventional dipstick, so the level is checked by getting the vehicle up to operating temperature and then removing the fill bung (on the transmission next to the left-hand driveshaft. Obviously, you need to car off the ground to do this.

If a little fluid drips out of the fill bung when you remove it, the fluid level is correct. If not, you need to add fluid until it does start to drip back out. If the transmission is low on fluid, you’re also dealing with a leak, because this is a sealed system and should not require top-ups.

Don’t be tempted to continue driving the vehicle as it is, as the fluid not only provides the drive for the transmission, it also lubricates the moving parts. So operating it with a low fluid level can cause permanent damage to the unit.

The first question to ask is have you changed the way you drive the vehicle. Driving style has a huge bearing on fuel economy, and if you’ve started to drive the vehicle harder or even on roads that are more winding and hilly than before, a jump in fuel consumption is common. On that level, is it just you driving the vehicle or is somebody else using it lately who might have a heavier foot than you?

Have you added a roof rack or more weight in the form of a winch. Even a new set of more aggressive or larger diameter tyres can do terrible things to fuel economy. But if the answer to all that is no, then you need to have the car scanned to see if any fault codes are thrown up by the computer. And when was the engine last tuned? Is the air cleaner free of dust and are the fuel injectors working as efficiently as they should be?

This is very possibly a fault with the power supply to the fuel pump rather than the pump itself. The clue is that the fuel gauge started playing games just before the engine shut down. The fuel gauge is controlled by the sender which is usually in the tank with the pump. They’re often supplied power by the same wiring. So any problem with the power to the fuel pump would also possibly show up as a fuel gauge that’s making strange movements.

Start by checking the power supply to the pump, but don’t rule out a poor earth somewhere in there as well. Even though the fuse is okay, if the power wire or earth wire is loose/corroded/faulty/dirty/short-circuiting, then you may have found the problem.

Spark plugs can foul with oil or with fuel if the mixture is incorrect or the fuel is old and stale. If it’s fuel that’s the problem you need to either fix the problem that is throwing the air-fuel ratio out of whack or replace the fuel if its old (and modern ULP doesn’t have a huge shelf life). Experience has also shown that once a spark plug has fouled because of old ULP, no amount of cleaning will bring that plug back to life.

If it’s oil that’s fouling the plug, it’s probably because of blow-by from worn piston rings or valve-stem seals. If that’s the case, the oil level n the dipstick will be falling over time and you may even see evidence of blue-grey smoke from the tailpipe. Without knowing how many kilometres this engine has covered and how it’s been serviced, it’s very difficult to suggest what the cause might be.

Any remedy can only be suggested once you know what’s causing the problem. The first step, then, is to have the car scanned to see if there’s a problem the on-board computer has identified and logged. Once you have that information, you are a lot closer to knowing what to replace.

Logic suggests that an engine that runs roughly when it’s cold might be running lean. If that’s the case, it could be caused by many things including worn injectors, a lazy fuel pump or even a temperature sensor that is not telling the computer that controls these things that the coolant temperature is low and the engine needs more fuel to compensate. Then, once the engine has warmed up, the fuel-air mixture is correct and the engine settles down and runs properly. That said, 30km is a long time for the engine to take to warm up.

You could spend lots of time and money replacing the wrong bits here, so a scan is definitely the way to proceed.

The answer to this question depends entirely on one thing: Are you trading the vehicle in on a new car or selling it privately?

If it’s the former, then the trade-in value won’t be too much different regardless of whether it’s had its 100,000km service or not. Dealerships can service a car for a lot less money than they charge you to do it. But if you’re selling privately, the car will be a lot more attractive to a private buyer if the cost of this major service has already been taken care of.