LDV Problems

It’s probably trying to tell you that there’s a fault with the Lane Change Assist function which keeps an electronic eye on vehicles that are too close to you for you to change lanes safely. This system can be damaged if the cameras or sensors around the car are damaged or have been bumped or coated in mud or even dunked briefly in water.

While the LCA warning message is showing, you need to be extra careful when changing lanes as the car may not be able to give you all the information it once did when the system was working properly. By scanning the car electronically, the onboard computer should be able to pinpoint what’s wrong with the system. It may just need a recalibration, but this is usually a job for the dealership.

This is very likely to be an electronic problem based on the fact that if the transmission works properly in manual mode, there’s nothing internally wrong with it. But when you shift it back to automatic mode, there’s a stray or incorrect signal being sent to the on-board computer. In turn, that’s possibly throwing the operation into limp-home mode which is why you suddenly have a loss of power.

Limp-home mode is, as the name suggests, designed to get you home without doing further damage to the vehicle. As such, it can limit power, limit top speed and even lock you out of certain gears to ensure this happens. Have the vehicle scanned to see if any error codes are being thrown up by the computer.

This might sound like a long shot, but are you sure the fuse was okay? Sometimes, these delicate little fuses might look fine, but can still be blown. To make certain, change it for a new fuse anyway and see if that returns things to normal.

However, modern car components like display screens are no different to any other modern electronics (except they live in a much more hostile environment than the TV in your loungeroom). Which means, of course, they can simply die for no apparent reason. At which point, this becomes LDV’s problem as it’s a pretty straight-forward warranty issue. Take the car back to the dealership, tell them the problem and it’s their responsibility to fix as per Australian Consumer Law. LDV can choose to fix the screen or replace it, but it must be returned to fully working condition at no cost to you.

It’s often the case that the spot you see water entering the car is not where the actual leak is located. Water can take all sorts of interesting routes on the way to where you can see it, being driven by both the air passing over the car and following the odd shapes and profiles that make up the bits of a car’s body you can’t see.

But believe it or not, one of the best ways to find the source of a leak is to sit in the car while somebody on the outside trains a garden hose in specific places. As the aim of the hose moves, you might find the leak increases and decreases, helping you pin-point the source.

This cause of a water leak can sometimes be as simple as a small twig or leaf stuck in a door rubber, but it can also be the result of a damaged seal, body damage and even a replacement windscreen that has not been sealed properly.

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.

On most cars, you can disable beeps and buzzers that tell you the car has locked or unlocked. Many people choose to do so, too, out of consideration for their neighbours who don’t appreciate even a small toot of a car’s horn when you leave for work at 5am.

On newer LDVs, you can go to the touchscreen and hit Settings. Then touch 'Car' and then 'Comfort' and 'Convenience'. That will then offer a list of features, but the one you want to touch on is 'Locking Feedback'. That will then give you the choice of 'Lights and Horn', 'Lights Only' or 'Horn Only'. By touching on 'Lights Only', you should have disabled the horn beep when locking and unlocking. Your neighbours will thank you.

Safety gear such as seat-belt warnings don’t usually have an on-off button, as they need to operate all the time in the interests of safety. But having them go off when there’s nobody in the back seat is just annoying.

Are your kids leaving their school bags or anything else on the seat when they leave the vehicle? Sometimes a bag of groceries or a small suitcase heavy enough can make the vehicle think there’s a human backside on the seat and, if the seat-belt isn’t done up, will sound the alert. If not, you’re probably looking at a problem with the sensor that triggers the warning. Either way, the car thinks the seat is occupied when it’s not.

This problem should be covered by your new-car warranty, so let the dealer sort it out. In the meantime, you might be able to silence the warning by clipping the seat-belts into their correct buckles, even if there’s nobody in those seats.

The simplest cause of a problem like this is the little sensor that `knows’ when the gear selector is in park. If the sensor fails or is maladjusted, it can’t tell the computer that the vehicle is in park (or neutral) at which point the computer won’t allow the engine to start.

However, before you start replacing bits and pieces, consider that this is a pretty obvious warranty job and LDV is obliged to fix it at no cost to you. Provided you have had the vehicle serviced properly and haven’t exceeded 130,000km, LDV’s responsibilities are quite clear.

It would appear the vehicle has gone into limp-home mode. This limits how much power the engine produces and how fast the vehicle will go as a means of protecting the engine and transmission from damage due to whatever the root cause is. Often a low coolant or oil level or high temperature will force the car into limp-home mode, but there are many other reasons for this to happen. You need to take the car to a workshop which will be able to scan the vehicle electronically and gain a better idea of what’s going on.

Don’t forget, either, that provided you car is less than five years old and has travelled less than 130,000km, it should still be covered by the LDV factory warranty.

As for the colour of the oil, diesel engines are notoriously filthy things and nearly always turn their oil black in a very short space of time. In fact, even when topping up with new oil, by the time it has reached the sump and appears on the dipstick, it’s already black.