LDV Problems

Any time the engine revs up but the car doesn't go any faster, you're a fair chance to have an issue with either the automatic transmission or the clutch in a manual car.

If an automatic doesn't accelerate when you give it some throttle, our suspicions would be with either the torque converter, something inside the transmission itself or the unit is low on transmission fluid. If a manual car does the same thing, it's usually a poorly adjusted or worn out clutch that is slipping, allowing the engine to rev up, but not transfer that power to the wheels.

Your car would have come with a five-year/130,000km warranty, so if it hasn't exceeded that kilometre limit, it should still be under factory cover. So make sure LDV fixes it as per the warranty terms and conditions.

Assuming there's nothing wrong with the engine causing it to lose power under load, this sounds like a case of the conditions causing the engine to struggle. Soft sand has a lot of friction and this literally grabs the tyres, causing the engine to load up and revs to fall. It's like a big, invisible hand grabbing the wheel and stopping it from turning freely. As you apply more power to counter this, the engine revs up, the wheels spin and the vehicle sinks even further into the sand and the cycle starts over again. Some cars with sensitive throttles are more prone this.

Experienced sand drivers know that the solution to this is to make the vehicle 'float' over the sand, rather than bulldoze through it. The best way to do that is to lower your tyre pressures. This allows the tread to 'bag out' and produce a larger footprint. And a bigger tread surface means more chance of staying on top of the sand rather than buried in it. It sounds simple but it really does work. Think of it as the difference between standing on thin ice in a pair of flat shoes versus stilettos.

How much pressure should you drop. We'd go from the usual on-road tyre pressures to about 18psi as a first step and then 15psi if the conditions are still causing problems. In extreme cases, you can go right down to 12 or even 10psi provided you're careful and keep your speed down. Don't forget to re-inflate the tyres once you're back on the bitumen.

Beyond that, if the problem is engine related, then a scan at your dealership should throw up a code to guide the mechanic on what's wrong. The vehicle is under warranty, so don't be backward in coming forward.

The horn-beep when you lock the car should be able to be turned off via the car settings menu on the main infotainment screen. You need to the find the menu that gets you into those settings and turn off the horn beep function. Many car-owners hate this feature (and so do their neighbours) but disabling it is a fairly simple process that should also be outlined in your owner's manual.

The radio with a mind of its own is another issue altogether and has been around long enough to annoy a couple of generations of LDV owners now. Radios that turn themselves to full volume every time the car is switched on, poor reverse-camera clarity and Bluetooth systems that simply refuse to recognise some phones have all been flagged by owners. But since the car is still under warranty, you should take this up with your LDV dealer. There may be a factory reflash that will return the radio to an obedient state. Perhaps the stereo system is turning itself on automatically as it searches for a connected phone. Some LDV owners have resorted to aftermarket head units to fix these problems, but hopefully LDV has engineered a fix for these later-model vehicles.

The first question is have you tried changing the setting on the throttle controller? The U4 setting on this unit is slightly towards the lazy side of throttle response. Maybe a switch to U8 or U9 will give the throttle response the perkiness you are looking for.

A poor quality snorkel can definitely impede airflow and, therefore, power production, but so can a poor tune, dirty fuel filter, worn injectors, worn fuel pump, a blocked DPF, gummed up intake manifold and about a thousand other things. Is the turbocharger working properly and all the associated plumbing tight and leak-free? This can also cause a loss of power due to lost turbo-boost.

You really need to have a fiddle with the throttle controller to determine whether the problem as you see it is a lack of throttle response or, indeed, a lack of performance in an outright sense. For the record, 11.1 litres per 100km is not, depending on how and where you drive, unusual for this vehicle.

This is either a sensor problem (that tells the car the door has closed and the step needs to retract) or a problem with the actuator that physically reels the step in. Either way, it's an obvious warranty claim.

If the car can't be driven (to the dealership) with the step extended, you could try holding the locking button on the remote for 30 seconds which will sometimes reset the vehicle's body computer and the car will revert to normal operation. Apart from that, arrange for the dealership to pick the vehicle up.

Your vehicle is interesting as it continues to use the old-tech hydraulic power steering, rather than the newer, more efficient electric power steering. This newer technology is simpler and potentially more reliable, but is used mainly because it saves a few drops of fuel.

In the case of your car, noise from a power-steering pump is often caused initially by low fluid. The power steering fluid doesn't just provide the hydraulic pressure to help you steer the car, it also lubricates the moving parts of the pump. If this fluid runs low, that lubrication doesn't happen, and the pump will wear quite quickly to the point where it seizes. It's a bit of a surprise that such a new vehicle would have this problem, but any sort of leak in the power steering system can lead to this low fluid level and the problems it causes. If you're lucky, the system might just need a top-up to make the noise go away. But if damage and wear has already started to occur, then the pump might be on the way out.

It's worth mentioning that your car is covered by a five-year/130,000km warranty. So, provided you haven't exceeded that mileage and the car has a documented service history, you may find that the problem is actually worthy of a warranty claim.

The bigger question is why you didn't just turn around and drive straight back to the dealership. A brand-new car like this should not have any of these problems, and it's a sad comment on the attention to detail (or lack of it) demonstrated by the dealership that pre-delivered the vehicle when all these things should have been checked. Let's not forget, this is what the dealer delivery charge is supposed to sort out.

The steering wobble is possibly a wheel with a missing balancing weight, particularly as it only appears at a particular road speed. But the steering wheel button issue could be a fault with the wheel itself, the on-board body computer that controls all this stuff or even the software that drives it.

Straight back to the dealer and don't take "they all do that" for an answer.

Every time you drive the car, the alternator should be keeping the battery fully charged. If you had the dash-cam switched on and recording for 18 months without driving the car, then, yes, it would definitely flatten the battery. However, it shouldn’t really pose any threat to the alternator.

It doesn’t really matter what’s draining the battery, be it a dash-cam or the headlights or the stereo system; if the car gets regular use, the alternator should be able to stay on top of things and keep the battery charged and in good health. This sounds more like your dealership blaming the dash-cam as the cause of a failed alternator, when the problem was possibly a dodgy alternator all along. 

Don’t accept nonsense like this. Take the car to an auto electrician and have the thing diagnosed properly. Then by-pass the dealership and contact LDV’s Australia customer service number. Your vehicle should still be under factory warranty, so make it LDV’s problem. And if the car’s alternator can’t support a dash-cam, then it’s probably not fit for purpose, at which point the ACCC and Australian Consumer Law might be interested.

From the sounds of things, you need a vehicle that can accommodate the wheelchair as an actual seat in the car rather than having the chair folded and stored for the journey. With that in mind, a van or people-mover is by far the best best bet and the news is good, because there are plenty of choices. For a while there, people were converting Ford Falcon station-wagons for this task, but since the Falcon is no longer made, vans have become the new default vehicle to convert. Which makes plenty of sense.

There are specialist firms around that will carry out whatever conversion you require and tailor-make the ramps, lock-down points and grab-rails you need to make it work for you. Switched on companies will sit down with you and discuss your precise requirements and engineer something bespoke if necessary.

At the moment, the list of car choices is pretty long and includes the new Hyundai Staria, VW Caddy, LDV G10, VW Caravelle, Renault Kangoo, Renault Trafic, Hyundai iLoad, Mercedes-Benz V-Class, Toyota HiAce and, in case you need something really big, even the Toyota Coaster. Some of these companies are also registered as NDIS suppliers.

But don’t rule out a second-hand vehicle, either. There are websites around listing used wheelchair-accessible cars for sale. Some will be ex-taxis, but others can be relatively low-kilometre cars that might just have the exact layout you were looking for.

It's less common than it once was, but still not unknown for a particular car to be more problematic than the ones that came off the production line either side of it. Presumably, you've just been unlucky and got lumped with the car that had dud components from the start. Hopefully, though, replacing those parts will be a permanent fix.

LDV vehicles are definitely built to a price, and overall quality, materials and fit and finish are not as good as some better-known brands. But, like any of the Chinese manufacturers, LDV's quality is on the up and the later the build-date, the better. Perhaps that's why your partner's newer LDV has been more reliable.

The best advice is to keep a very close eye on the vehicle and make a note of anything that seems amiss. Then, take these potential faults up with the dealership you use as a way of alerting them to any pre-existing conditions. That way, even once the five-year,/130,000km warranty has expired, those faults will still be fixed under the LDV warranty terms and conditions as they occurred while the warranty was still current.