Ask The Guide

This is not necessarily a problem, but rather a characteristic of modern, multi-ratio transmissions. They can give the impression that they’re constantly searching for the right gear for the conditions, and it’s worse in hilly country or if you’re towing something. By constantly trying to be in as high a gear as possible, the engine will theoretically use less fuel.

Probably the real question is why a computer-controlled turbo-diesel engine needs an eight-speed transmission in the first place. The answer is that it’s all to do with recording a better fuel consumption number than your opposition on the official test. Sometimes, the vehicle has more gears than it can actually use in Australia. Our 110km/h freeway speed limit meant that early examples of the Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series (which had `just’ six gears) wouldn’t shift into top gear. That’s because the factory calibration told the transmission it could only use sixth gear at speeds of more than 115km/h. Which, just wasn’t happening for the vast majority of 200 Series owners in this country. A reflash for the computer fixed the problem, allowing the Cruiser to select top gear at closer to 90km/h, but it’s a great example of where transmission tech is heading.

It’s always worth contacting a carmaker’s customer service division in a case like this. I agree that 136,000km is far from a reasonable expected lifespan for a modern more vehicle of any sort. But exactly how Volkswagen Australia will view the matter will depend on the car’s service history and how it was used.

You might have some luck and perhaps financial assistance in getting the Amarok fixed, but VW could also point at the age of the vehicle and the fact that it’s way out of warranty. But, again, if you don’t ask, you’ll never know. Don’t bother pursuing this at a dealership level, either, go straight to head office.

First thoughts would be that you have a fuel injector that is not spraying either the correct amount of fuel and/or in the correct pattern for proper combustion. This will certainly bring on the symptoms you’re seeing, as well as ruining fuel economy. It’s also most likely to show up if the engine has been sitting for a while.

But the reality is that a modern engine like this one has literally hundreds of electronic sensors and systems that can all add up to poor running and economy. The best bet is to have the car scanned to see if the on-board computer has logged any faults. Without this intelligence, you’re flying blind, replacing parts that may or may not fix the problem.

An open circuit on a fuel injector is usually caused by either a broken wire to the injector, a loose terminal somewhere in the electrical circuit that drives the injector or a burned-out coil in the injector itself.

Changing the suspect injector will tell you if the coil is the problem, but if that doesn’t fix it, you’ve got to work backwards from the injector until you find the fault. Bear in mind that if the injector itself is at fault, the other three injectors might be ready to go out in sympathy. Modern common-rail engines can be hard on injectors and they sometimes need replacing before they’ve done 100,000km.

These little LED info-screens have been part of dashboards for years now, and they’re a known problem in many makes and models. There are specialist repairers who can either fix the screen you have or remove the dud one and fit a new one. Making sure the odometer still reads to car’s correct mileage is the trick.

Actually, that’s an important point, because a correctly working odometer is a roadworthy item. And one that flashes on and off randomly is definitely not working properly and is, therefore, making the car technically unroadworthy.

The original slipping could have been caused by low transmission fluid, which would also explain why the unit would not select a gear. That would suggest that the transmission has a leak somewhere, because it’s a sealed system and doesn’t need periodic top-ups.

The danger, however, is that running the unit with a low fluid level has caused damage to the mechanical parts of the gearbox and possibly the torque converter as well. That’s because the fluid in an automatic transmission not only provides the drive, it also lubricates the various bits of the transmission. Not enough fluid means not enough lubrication.

If it was a as simple as low fluid, now that you’ve changed the fluid and taken it back to its correct level, you should have all the gears working again. But the fact that it will only select first and second gears suggests damage has already occurred. This is really a job for a transmission specialist who will be able to accurately diagnose what’s wrong.

This is actually a pretty common problem and there seems to be two common causes. The first is leaking seals inside the turbocharger. The turbo needs oil to lubricate it, but if its seals are leaking they can allow oil into the inlet tract and, therefore, the intercooler.

The second cause is possibly even more common and involves the crankcase ventilation system allowing oil into the intake (and intercooler). A modern engine needs to consume its own crankcase fumes and burn them (rather than vent them into the atmosphere) as part of its anti-pollution systems. But in many cars (and modern turbo-diesels are the prime suspects) those fumes can contain some oil mist which, once enough of it has accumulated, will form the oil droplets you’re seeing in the intercooler.

While a faulty turbocharger will need to be replaced, if the problem is the work of the crankcase ventilation system, it still should be addressed before the oil mixes with soot from the exhaust gas recirculation system (another emissions-control device) and forms a horrible, back gunk that clogs the engine’s intake system. If hat happens, costly disassembly and cleaning is required.

Even if you’ve caught this in the early stages (before the gunk can build up) the oil can still cause problems with sensors inside the inlet system and could cause poor running and high fuel consumption. A good quality oil catch can is the preferred method of stopping this occurring as it 'catches' the oil mist before it gets to the inlet tract.

If you’re lucky, the problem might be as simple as a blown fuse that controls these circuits. So that’s where to start checking. The instrument panel lights and rear fog lights in the Hyundai are on separate circuits, so you’ll need to locate both fuses. Start with the internal fuse box located low down on the dashboard near the steering column. The inside of the cover will have a map of which fuse does what, but don’t forget there’s also a second fuse box under the bonnet.

If the problem is not a blown fuse, or the fuse blows again once you’ve changed it, you’ll probably need to services of an auto electrician to figure out where the power is going and what’s the cause. A poor earth somewhere on the car or a short circuit are two likely culprits.

The space-saver from a non-hybrid Corolla should fit your car, provided it’s from a model from the same generation of Corolla. Don’t forget, though, you’ll also need the correct jack and wheel brace to change a tyre by the side of the road.

The bigger question perhaps, is where you’d store the spare tyre and tools on a Corolla Hybrid. The reason the hybrid model doesn’t have a spare tyre in the first place is that the hybrid’s batteries take up an awful lot of space under the boot floor, where the tyre would otherwise live. Meantime, having a tyre and tools rattling around loose in the hatch area is not only an inconvenience but, in a crash, could be potentially lethal.

The shifter in your Kia is designed to be used in the normal (PRND) range in most cases. If you decide you’d like to control the gear selection yourself, you can flick the lever across to the other plane (+ /-) also called Sports mode, and control when the transmission changes gear. By pushing the lever forward in that second plane, you can force the transmission to change up a gear. Pull the selector back and it will shift down a gear. Hence the + and – symbols.

In most cases, the transmission will stay in the gear you select in Sports mode, unless you try to take off from rest in a high gear (when it will shift down for you) or you’ve taken the engine to its maximum speed, at which point the car will automatically shift up a gear to prevent the engine from blowing up.

The idea of this is that you can drive the car in a sportier fashion (makes little sense in a Kia Carnival, I know). But it can also be handy if you are, say, towing a trailer and need a little more engine braking, at which point you can flick across to Sports mode and force the transmission into a lower gear.

Many owners never experiment with Sports mode and it remains a mystery to a lot of people.