Car Servicing

My 1999 Toyota Camry V6 recently had the catalytic converter replaced. The car has more than 200,000km on the clock and purrs along but, pulling into the carport, I note the exhaust smells as though the fuel mix is too rich. A 300km country drive returned 8.0L/100km. Any thoughts? Oxygen sensors, wrong converter, perhaps the engine management chip is puzzled like me?

My mum has just taken delivery of a 2016 Mazda3. Recently on the Great Alpine Road in Victoria, the satnav screen was blank in some spots along the drive. The screen just had the red arrow and no road detail, as if searching for a signal. Have you, or anybody else, had this trouble? I told her to mention it to the dealer during the week when it goes back for its 1000km check.

My Mazda3 had a screen lockup problem. It was last year and we had to take it to the dealer to fix a software issue in the MZD Connect system. All went well until about a week ago when another small glitch occurred, so we took it back to Mazda who thought that they had fixed it. They have said that they will contact Mazda to see if they know what is happening and if maybe we need a new MZD altogether. The car still goes beautifully and we have no other issues but the dealer did not know whether Mazda was aware of the problem.

I have to replace the tyres on my FG Falcon, should I buy the same tyres that were fitted to the car when I bought it new?

What’s better to buy, a car with high mileage or one with low kilometres?

The bearings in the rear diff of my Volvo XC90 are gone and my mechanic has told me that Volvo can’t supply replacements; they can only supply a complete diff, which costs $6000. The bearings are odd types and not available from the regular bearing suppliers. What can I do?

How do you change a camshaft rear seal in a Range Rover Sport V6 diesel? Apparently you need to remove the chassis to get to the seal, at a cost somewhere between $4000 and $5000. What a joke. I find it hard to believe that, in this day and age, a manufacturer of such a prestige line of cars builds them without access to the motors to replace a moderately priced seal.

My wife's 2011 VW Tiguan has a leaking water pump and I was wondering what is fair when dealing with the manufacturer. While I can accept that the warranty period is over, the car has only done 40,000km. It has had every scheduled service but not many of them at the dealer, due to a poor customer service experience. They have only offered me 30 per cent off an $800 part with labour to cost as much again. I have asked for a better deal but have been told to take it or leave it. Is this fair in today's modern motoring environment?

I bought a new Honda City with CVT in January and it was a big mistake. I've never before encountered the noise and harshness of this CVT, although at some times it is good. I have owned a second-hand diesel Mercedes-Benz, and a Toyota Avalon Grande, plus many more cars over 53 years of driving, starting with a 1947 Chevrolet ute, and none was as harsh as this City with CVT. I have had it back to the dealership twice, and all they do is plug it in to the computer and say "nothing showing up", and tell me they are all the same. I'll never buy a Honda product again, and I'd advise your readers to stay well clear of Honda CVT.

I have a 2000 VT Holden Commodore and I'm having some winding noise and vibration in my front right wheel when I go between 40-50 km and 100-110 km. It's mainly the winding that's the issue, I'm wondering if it could be the sway bar, or a bearing?