Great Wall Problems

This is a great example of when it’s necessary to go back to basics. Obviously, towing or running heavily loaded places greater strain on every single component of a car. And, of course, that includes the cooling system. So start with the obvious things like the correct grade of coolant and its level in the radiator.

Working back from there, check the radiator hoses for wear (worn hoses can 'suck in' under the load of the water pump, leading to reduced coolant flow. Are all the clamps tight and leak-free? What about the radiator itself? Is it blocked with gunk or is it flowing freely (you might need a radiator shop to check this and flush the unit)? Are the engine’s cooling fans working properly? Is all the factory shrouding for the fans present and in place? Moving further inside the engine, is the thermostat working properly and opening sufficiently to allow extra coolant to circulate as the engine gets hotter? Is the fan belt tight and driving the coolant pump properly?

Any one of these things can cause overheating, but it’s also where most mechanics will start looking for the problem. If that doesn’t turn up anything, you need to dig deeper and start looking at the condition of the engine, whether the ignition timing and fuel mixture are correct and even whether there’s a dragging brake or park-brake that could be loading things up to the point where they start to get hot.

The light-bulb symbol is trying to tell you that you have a globe that has blown. But if that’s the case, the symbol should be lit the whole time, not just when you apply the brakes. I’d suspect a short-circuit of some kind, but I’d start with checking all the car’s earths. A bad earth can cause all sorts of random electrical mayhem to occur, including false alarms of the warning lights. That said, if the car has a blown head-light, try changing that to see if the warning symbol goes away for good.

An auto electrician might be your best bet if the problem continues. Chances are, a good auto sparkie will have seen this very problem many times before.

You’re dead right that this is a serious problem. Not being able to accelerate briskly when pulling out in traffic (for instance) is a huge risk to you and other road users.

The problem could be a simple adjustment issue, an electronic glitch or a major mechanical issue, but whatever it is, it needs to be fixed before you try to drive anywhere else. But here’s the good news: This is definitely a warranty issue, so make sure it becomes Great Wall’s problem, and not yours.

It's not uncommon for diesel engines to give a little shiver as they start up. There's a fair bit going on inside a diesel engine, with some heavy bits and pieces moving around inside it that can cause vibrations. This is why – along with the way either engine ignites its fuel - a diesel engine is, typically, not as smooth as a petrol engine.

But the sensation should last only a second before the engine settles to an even, relatively smooth idle. You may also find that as you put more kilometres on the car, the engine will smooth out a little.

But if you're still concerned, log this behaviour with the dealership. Your GWM has a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, so if there really is a problem down the track to do with this vibration, you'll be covered as you've recorded a pre-existing condition.

A problem like this is all but impossible to diagnose remotely. There are literally hundreds of reasons why this could be happening, and simply guessing at an answer and replacing that part randomly is not the way to proceed. The fact that no fault codes have shown up Is a puzzle, too. Don’t forget, though, that there’s probably a second fuse-box somewhere inside the vehicle as well as the one under the bonnet that you’ve already checked.

I’m not sure about the flashing anti-theft light. Sometimes these flash constantly whenever the car is locked as a message to would-be thieves that there’s an alarm system fitted. That said, the problem could be something to do with the immobiliser system which would stop the vehicle in its tracks if it thought the car was being started by somebody without the correct key fob.

The bottom line, of course, is that this vehicle – provided it’s been serviced correctly – is still under Great Wall’s factory five-year/150,000km warranty which was introduced back in 2019. So make it Great Wall’s problem.

When a whole bunch of electrical and convenience items go on the blink all at once, the prime suspect is the vehicle’s body computer. This computer controls all the functions you’ve mentioned as well as plenty more including the entertainment and climate-control systems, the powered seats (if fitted) and even things like the seatbelt warning lights and buzzers.

An auto electrician is your best bet at this point, and chances are they’ll have seen this exact problem on similar models. Ultimately, you’ll probably need to replace the body computer, but you can try this trick first. Disconnect the car’s battery and leave it disconnected overnight. Next morning, hook it back up and see if the various functions have returned. Disconnecting the battery will sometimes force a reset to the factory settings and will return the body computer to normal service. It’s not a guarantee, but definitely worth a shot since it costs nothing to do.

The last decade of dual-cab four-wheel-drive utes have emerged as the tow-vehicles of choice, and you see them everywhere filling roles exactly like the one you have planned. Popular models include the Ford Ranger you’ve nominated, Toyota HiLux, Mazda BT-50, VW Amarok, Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Isuzu D-Max. But there are also cheaper alternatives including makes like the South-Korean made Ssangyong and various Chinese brands like LDV and Great Wall.

Just make sure you know exactly how much you need to tow before making a decision as some of the cheaper models don’t have the same outright towing capacity and even if they do, some of them don’t have the engine performance to make towing as easy as it should be. For parts availability, the Toyota would be king in really remote areas, but any of the major brands are pretty well covered in Australia.

Meantime, don’t rule out ute-based wagons such as the Ford Everest, Isuzu MU-X, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Toyota Fortuna. These offer better ride comfort when unladen thanks to more sophisticated rear suspensions and most have as much or almost as much towing capacity as their ute brethren.

Your car is fitted with climate-control air-conditioning which means it should be able to be set at, and maintain, temperatures from low to high. To claim that heat can only be produced at settings of 29 degrees (pretty darn hot) and above is just ridiculous.

Perhaps there is a problem with your car that means this is the case, but I can assure you it’s not normal for this, or any other, model.

The first thing to do is try another dealer. But if you don’t do any good there, go over the dealer’s head and tackle GWM’s Australian customer service department. Unless you’ve neglected the car’s maintenance or modified the car in a way that affects the A/C performance, this is almost certainly a warranty issue and GWM needs to fix it. Don’t take no for an answer.

It all depends on the model and variant of the vehicle you’re talking about, but, generally speaking, the fuel rail pressure sensor on a turbo-diesel engine will be somewhere along the fuel rail. But, even if you know for absolutely certain that this sensor is the problem, we have to advise against any amateur mechanic taking on this, or any other, job that deals with the fuel system. That’s because the fuel systems on a common-rail turbo-diesel run at incredibly high pressures. So they’re dangerous things to fiddle with.

In some cases, the pressure could be enough to slice fingers off. Which means you have to know the exact process to follow in order to bleed off any residual pressure in the fuel system (even if the engine hasn’t run for days) before you can safely tackle jobs like this one. Leave it to the experts, in other words. Also, a specialist is a chance to be able to make a more accurate diagnosis than the one given by an online forum of dubious credibility.

Believe it or not, Steven, this is not a fault with the vehicle at all and something it’s actually designed to do. The theory is that by automatically swinging the exterior mirrors close into the car when parked, there’s less chance of a passing car or truck smashing the mirror.

This technology has its origins in Europe where roads are narrow and parking is a bit more relaxed than it is in Australia. Even so, it’s no bad thing to have happen when you leave the car unattended.

So, while there will be a fuse that controls this circuit, our advice is to leave it alone and let the mirrors do their thing. Replacing an exterior mirror on a late-model car is never cheap. As long as the mirrors fold out to their normal position each time you start the car, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with your Great Wall.