LDV Problems

Have the dealer let you drive a demo vehicle and see if that is the same as yours. If it isn’t than have him investigate why yours is different; if it’s not it could be that it’s the way the LDV brakes are. You could take it to a brake specialist and have them give you an opinion on it, and maybe suggest a fix.

There are so few of these things on the road even now, that it’s difficult to find patterns within the LDV’s reliability record. But a few things have emerged with enough frequency to call them trends. Those start with the electronics and, specifically, the body computer. Some owners have found that the central locking has problems (sometimes traced to a faulty drivers’ door actuator) while others have problems with the entertainment system.

Beyond that, shock absorbers seem to die young and some owners have reported grumbling noises and low-speed jerkiness from the driveline which has been traced back to the rear differential. Some dealers have replaced these units, only for the problem to recur sometime down the track. Overall, the LDV seems to have its problems, but many would-be buyers are prepared to allow for that based on the budget pricing of the LDV range. You get what you pay for…

How sure are you that the caravan weights 2000 kg when fully loaded? What gear do you use when climbing hills? Make sure you are not heavier than you think, and use a lower gear on hills rather than let the engine lug in an overdrive ratio.

It sounds like a speed warning alarm, which should be able to be reset. Check your owner’s manual that should tell you how to do it.

For reasons known only to marketing departments, the LDV, like most modern four-wheel-drive vehicles, uses a rotary knob to shift between two and four-wheel-drive and high and low-range. While old-school off-roaders of decades ago used a simple, mechanical lever to make these shifts, the modern rotary knob system relies on electronics and solenoids to effect the same shifts. When these solenoids go wrong or there’s an interruption to or glitch in the power supply, you can easily experience the symptoms you’ve noted.

The LDV is by no means the only brand to suffer vague or phantom shifting with this system and a body-computer re-set may be required. The fault has nothing to do with you leaving it in 4H while it was parked for a few days. It’s also very unlikely to be an actual mechanical problem with the transmission. So make it the dealer’s problem; it’s a new vehicle, so the vehicle will be covered by warranty and it won’t cost you anything to have put right.

LDV are owned by SAIC Motor, the Chinese state-owned company. SAIC also own MG Motor alongside its Chinese brands, Roewe and Nanjing.

It seems like the fix here would be an obvious one, but there’s a number of potential causes for a fault like this. Let’s start with the actual starter button. It could have failed internally. Or the starter motor itself might have either failed or simply had a critical wire fall off its terminal. Perhaps the immobiliser system is not arming the ignition as it should.

And here’s one from left field: Is the transmission in Park? If it is and the engine still won’t turn over, try putting the selector into Neutral. Both Park and Neutral should allow the engine to start, but most people only ever try it in Park. You could also have a poor earth or iffy battery terminal which is allowing enough current to pass to illuminate the dashboard lights, but not enough to actually crank the engine over.

LDV originally stood for Leyland DAF Vans. Currently, under their new parent company SAIC Motor, LDV is simply known by its acronym. In its domestic market of China, LDV is marketed as Maxus.

There were three engines offered in the 2016 LDV G10, Brett; a turbo-petrol, a non-turbo petrol and a turbo-diesel. Here’s the answer to all three possibilities: Both the two-litre turbocharged petrol and the turbo-diesel use a timing chain. The 2.4-litre non-turbo petrol engine uses a timing belt.

The timing belt will need replacing at regular intervals while the timing chains should be good for the life of the vehicles they are fitted to.

Given the parent company for LDV are the Chinese based company SAIC Motor, LDVs are made out of China. For the domestic Chinese market, the cars are branded as Maxus instead of LDV.