LDV Problems

It depends on which particular version of the G10 you have. That’s because, around this time, LDV offered three different engines in vehicles badged as G10s. There were a pair of petrol engines – one turbocharged and one without a turbo – and a turbo-diesel. Both the turbocharged petrol and the turbo-diesel used a timing chain, while the non-turbo petrol (which had a capacity of 2.4 litres) used a rubber timing belt.

As such, the two engines with timing chains should not need maintenance in this area, while the 2.4 petrol’s timing belt will need to be replaced at whatever intervals LDV specified. Workshops dealing with these cars seem to recommend a belt-change interval of five years or 100,000km, whichever comes first.

If the car drives forward then it’s possibly not the age-old problem of low or dirty transmission fluid that’s causing the problem. Even so, it may not be a catastrophic failure of the transmission and could, in fact, be as simple as a poorly adjusted gear selector cable or linkage. The sensors that operate the rear camera and reversing lights are not necessarily the same ones that actually select each gear, so the fact that they operate does not mean the transmission is physically selecting Reverse gear.

Have the vehicle looked at by a transmission specialist who will possibly have seen this very problem before. Don’t forget, either, that if the car has travelled less than 130,000km and has been serviced correctly, you may still be covered by LDV’s factory warranty which was for five years back when the vehicle was sold new. But get it looked at and the problem logged with LDV before that warranty runs out.

There’s probably a very simple solution to this involving a wire that has been disconnected during the transmission replacement, and not reconnected afterwards. You might find it’s a wire to a sensor that has been bumped or disconnected, and without this, the engine doesn’t know it is below operating temperature and, therefore, doesn’t richen the air-fuel mixture to compensate.

This compensation is how modern, electronically controlled vehicles make do without an old fashioned choke lever. But if the wiring isn’t connected and the sensors all working, the car doesn’t have the information it needs to run properly under all circumstances.

What the dealer is saying (most likely) is that the fuel pump will be fixed under warranty but there’s a question mark over the condition of the intercooler. They’re probably separate issues. If the intercooler has failed because of faulty materials or manufacture, then it would be covered by the warranty. If it’s been damaged (a flying rock, perhaps) then it won’t be covered by warranty. At which point, you’re liable for the cost of repairs and diagnosis.

The question you need to be asking is why the dealer thinks the intercooler needs to be tested. Is there anything leaking from it? Are there any performance problems pointing to the intercooler being damaged? If not, it’s hard to imagine why the intercooler would need to be tested in the first place, apart from the manufacturer warning dealers of potential failures. Which, again, would point to a warranty issue.

Don’t be afraid to ask the tough question before any work has commenced, and don’t forget that your state motoring club is a good source of legal advice on this stuff.

But you should also know that this model was involved in a safety recall to address a problem with the cooling system where a failure of the plumbing could allow coolant to escape. If this is part of your problem, it would very likely be considered a warranty job.

I can understand why LDV is staying a bit quiet on this one. The fact is, you’ve modified the vehicle from standard, and LDV has absolutely no idea of the exact changes you’ve made. That makes it very difficult for LDV to comment. You’re probably going to get a more informed opinion by talking to the company that carried out the camper conversion. They may have seen this happen before and have a solution ready made.

As for the actual problem, even though you’re still within the Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) limits, you might find that the weight of your conversion is not evenly spread across the front and rear axles. Placing heavy stuff at the rear of the van will inevitably compress the rear springs. It’s just a question of how much. Don’t forget to weigh the vehicle with all your camping and gear on board and the fuel and water tanks full, too, as this is how you’ll be travelling. Which means loaded up like that represents your real GVM.

Possible solutions include a firmer set of rear springs that will cope with the load better, or even a set of helper springs (possibly air bags) to assist the standard springs. Either way, these modifications need to be carried out by a specialist and may even need engineering approval to remain legal on the road.

This is a curly one isn’t it? You stand a decent chance of returning the info screen back into English, only if it’s already in English so you can drill down into the menus in the first place. You might be able to flick through the menus until you find the word 'English' (start in Settings if you can decipher even that much). Perhaps the owner’s manual gives some insight into how the language is set.

But, honestly, the quicker way is likely to be to take the vehicle to an LDV dealer and have somebody familiar with the menu system sort it out for you.

It’s tempting to think that this might happen every time you change or disconnect a battery, but who knows? Equally, it could be a glitch within the car’s body computer that controls the dashboard and many other functions in a modern car.

This make and model has a reputation for leaking transmission fluid either through breather outlets or plugs that should seal but don't. And one of the first signs that a transmission has lost fluid is a refusal to select a gear. Everything an automatic transmission does is through hydraulic pressure. Lose enough fluid over time, and there's insufficient pressure to make the vehicle move.

The good news is your vehicle should still be under factory warranty, so take it to an LDV dealership to be assessed. But don’t try to top up the fluid and drive it there, as this could cause more damage if the problem is something more complex.

Your LDV has a seven-year/200,000km warranty so, in theory, any failure of the transmission within this period would potentially be covered by the warranty. The exception would be if the vehicle has not been serviced correctly. If you or a previous owner has skipped servicing and maintenance, you may find the warranty is void. The other exception would be if the vehicle has been abused or used to tow heavier loads than it’s designed for.

This engine uses a separate cooling system for its intercooler set-up, rather than simply tapping into the engine’s main cooling system. But the secondary cooling system works just the same as the engine’s coolant system, which means the expansion tank also has an overflow function.

When coolant is heated, it expands. If the system is too full, there’s not enough room for this expansion of the coolant, and the overflow function steps in, allowing some of the coolant to escape to prevent over-pressurising the rest of the system. Once that has happened perhaps a couple of times, the system will then have enough room in the expansion tank to completely contain the coolant, even when it’s hot. This is possibly why you’re seeing some coolant escaping.

However, if the coolant level continues to drop, there’s a good chance you have a leak somewhere in the system. This could be contained within the plumbing that routes the coolant around the engine bay, or even a crack in the expansion tank itself. A workshop should be able to do a pressure test which will determine if there’s a leak and where it is. The leak is also often located on the valve that lets the excess coolant when it needs to (a valve that can commonly fail). This is normally at the top of the expansion tank, but the leak could easily be appearing at the bottom simply by running down the side of the tank.