Car Servicing

I'm after a bit of advice regarding my 2012 Volvo XC60, which I bought new. After having the car for some time, I noticed one day when the windscreen fogged up that suction cup marks were visible on the inside of the windscreen, but did not think much of it. It has had a few issues covered by warranty and been the subject of two recalls for different things since and I was starting to wonder if I had bought a bit of a lemon! This winter I have noticed that when it rains, water is getting in along the top of the windscreen, which has brought me to the conclusion that the windscreen was replaced or pulled out and put back in before I bought the car and it was not sealed properly. The dealership has told me that it is not uncommon for the seals to fail due to wear and tear. I have never had a windscreen leak on any previous car and I don’t recall anyone in my family having an issue of this kind. I would be interested to hear your opinion on this, and if this a problem that often occurs? What should I do? Obviously, I need to get this fixed, but the dealer has quoted well over a $1000. I feel a bit ripped off, for a car that is only five years old, and only done around 45,000 km.

My 2010 Mini Cooper keeps overheating. The coolant is not leaking but I fill it up and it just disappears within seconds. This has only started in last six months. What could be causing this?

Does the 2013 Mitsubishi Lancer CJ MY13 ES have a timing belt or a timing chain? If it has a timing belt, what interval does it need to be changed? I'm interested in buying the aforementioned car from a secondhand car dealer, but it has 99,000 km on it and I'm worried the belt will need to be changed after I buy it.

I have a 2014 Nissan Pulsar sedan and its 80,000 km service was done by a Nissan dealer, but I was not comfortable with what he commented. Before I booked it in, they said this was a major service and needed a full day to complete the engine scan, replace the engine and brake oil, filters, transmission oil, wheel balance and rotation. The quote was $490. Now I have done it, but it was done in two hours! I'm worried they haven't done the transmission oil change saying that's not necessary, but the log book says replaced transmission fluid (except AT6 & AT7). I have no clue what these codes are! Is it compulsory to change the transmission oil at 80,000 km?

Could you advise on the following issue we are having with our 2014 Ford Focus Trend? The vehicle has a very bad clutch shudder on takeoff and when changing up and down through the gears. The vehicle has been to the local Ford dealer seven times for this concern, where they have carried out various PCM and TCM software updates, the clutch assembly was replaced at 19,000km and is to be replaced again now at 35,000 km. My wife no longer feels safe to drive this car. Do you know if there is a solution to this defect?

I own a 2017 VW Tiguan. I have posted the following question to VW Australia and my dealer, and thought you may be able to shed some light on this subject. The question is: I read in the owner’s manual that when the navigation gets out of date one can download the latest data to an SD Card and then install it. I asked VW Australia where this was located on the web, as following the instructions to find it on www.volkswagen.com I could not. Glen Denman, Customer Experience Ambassador of VW Australia informed me I had to take the vehicle to a VW dealer for this to be performed and I would be charged for it. I also noted that the owner’s manual indicated there is a VW SD Card. On speaking with Glen I was informed this had a cost of some $500. Now I am no fool and the cost of SD Cards, depending on capacity, are quite inexpensive, and I am more than capable of following the instructions to load software. Can you please explain what the dealer charges when it is required, and why there is indeed any charge given the likes of Tom Tom and Garmin etc. can provide lifetime updates for free on a device that costs a mere couple of hundred dollars, and yet VW Australia cannot on a vehicle costing some $60,000? This to me appears to be yet another example where those in countries other than Australia are treated respectfully and Australians are taken for a ride." I would appreciate your thoughts and feedback.

Could you please tell me what type of battery I need to buy for my 2009 Peugeot 308 XSE 1.6 turbo?

I have a 2017 VW Golf 110TSI Highline. I purchased it new, and it has now done 5319 km. At around the 1000 km mark it began making a noise when I braked. It sounded like something was scraping and seemed to mainly come from the rear left side, but it didn’t happen every time I braked and it has come from both the rear and the front of the car. On a few occasions it has happened when accelerating. We took the car back to the dealer twice. The second time we were told a senior VW technician had test driven the car and reported the following: "the noises are caused when gear is selected. To achieve a higher gearbox effectiveness, the oil quantity was optimised on the 7-gear DSG. This leads to lower consumption, but the gear changing noises are less damped. This is characteristic of the DQ200 gearbox as it's a manual gearbox change." I'm frustrated with this reply. Can you please tell me if/what more I could be doing to have this problem rectified? The dealer does not/cannot do any more to help me. I bought the car in good faith, that it did not make a noise, nor was it advertised as likely to make a noise. I don't feel that is the car I am now driving.

Is Land Rover is cooperating with buyers whose Discoverys have major problems? Our 2008 Land Rover Discovery 3’s crankshaft has just broken north of Three Ways and it means a new engine at around $15,000. We have complete service and repair records. Our Land Rover has only done 140,000 km.