Daihatsu Problems

Unlike fuel and oil filters which are often located in easily accessible places and are able to be removed and replaced easily, most automatic transmission filters are located inside the actual transmission. Usually, this means removing the transmission's pan which is also usually the way to access the transmission's valve body and other parts that are part of a transmission service.

The best way to access this area is to have the car on a hoist and work from underneath.

Assuming you mean the Daihatsu's ignition timing, the on-board computer should control the timing. If this is out of whack, you'll find the car could be difficult to start, will idle poorly, use more fuel than it should, be down on power and may even overheat. Or all of those things. For reference, the correct timing for this engine is five degrees before top dead centre (+ or – two degrees) at idle. It can be checked by a workshop to verify whether it's correct or not.

If you're referring to the engine's valve timing, that's a different thing altogether. You need to reset the valve timing whenever you change the rubber toothed timing belt to avoid catastrophic damage to the engine. The valve timing of the car should not change between belt-change intervals, but if it has, then the damage has probably already been done. Again, for reference, the two camshafts need to be lined up with their respective timing marks, along with the crankshaft in its correct position before the new belt is fitted. This is not a simple job for a Saturday morning in the driveway.

If the ABS and overall braking system is working properly, then the warning light you’re seeing is probably being caused by a sensor or part of the electrical circuit involved in controlling the ABS. An electronic scan of the car’s on-board computer should give you an insight into what’s wrong and you can work forward from there. Simply replacing bits and pieces in the hope that they fix the problem is often a very time and money consuming way to go about this. Most workshops will be able to scan the car and interpret the fault codes.

The Daihatsu Feroza (called the Rocky or SporTrak overseas) was sold in part-time 4x4 or full-time 4x4 variants depending on the gearbox chosen.

Daihatsu Ferozas carried a kerb weight of 1206kg when new.

Even the newest Daihatsu Feroza is 20-years-old now so they're verging on classic car territory, and this means many will require engine and transmission overhauls, if not even bigger work. Coupled with the fact they are renowned as hardy off-road 4x4s the chances of finding one which hasn't had a hard life is going to be extremely difficult.

All that considered, however, they are well-made and generally reliable vehicles when in good operating order.

While specific tyre sizes will depend on what wheels are fitted to the exact Feroza in question, the popular short-wheelbase Daihatsu 4x4 should normally take a 225/70 R15, though a 205/75 or even a 195/75 could potentially be fitted in certain circumstances.

Check what size tyres are on your car now by looking on the side of the tyre for similar numbers as 225 refers to the width in millimetres, 70 or 75 will be the height of the sidewall of the tyre (known as aspect ratio), while 15 refers to the wheel diameter in inches.

From its 1989 introduction until its cessation in 1998, the Daihatsu Feroza was only available with petrol 1589cc four-cylinder engines.

The car is now 11 years old, so you would expect it to be worn to some degree and using oil as a result, so putting oil in once per month is not a big deal, providing it's not a lot of oil. I would keep a record of how much you are putting in and show it to your mechanic the next time you get it serviced.