Car Servicing

Last week the engine management on my son’s 2014 Holden Colorado diesel light came on, so he parked the car and took it to the nearest Holden dealer the following morning, even though the light had gone out by then. He was told to leave it there and they would look at it on the 4th of Feb. As the car is still under warranty he rang the dealer he bought the car off and was told they could do nothing until the 9th Feb. This means that he will have to wait at least two weeks to have someone look at his car, which is under warranty. As he has reported the engine light issue, but it has gone out, is he safe to pick the car up and drive it as long as the light does not come back on? I think having to wait two weeks is ridiculous. What do you think?

I’ve just bought an Audi A5 3.0 TDI and was offered a paint protection package that came, not surprisingly, with a hefty pricetag. When I challenged the dealer on whether or not it was necessary I got what I thought was a vague answer. Furthermore, NRMA seem to cast doubt on the value of these products on their website. Whilst my car is not garaged, it’s well looked after and I just traded-in a 10-year-old A4 with paintwork that was in great condition. Are these products worth the money?

I’m writing regarding a vibration I'm experiencing in my new Toyota LandCruiser. Right from driving away from the showroom when it gets into top gear there is a vibration like a harmonic vibration. The best way I can describe it is that it is a bit like a galloping horse. A technician agreed there was a vibration but insisted it was because these vehicles were designed to travel at higher speeds than we do here in Australia and this was to be expected because it was “labouring", to which I argued that if this was the case it was a poor design. A week or two later I received a letter in the mail from my Toyota dealer supporting the tech’s comments. If you could advise or assist in anyway it would be greatly appreciated.

I can see spots appearing in the rear window of the new Falcon I am driving. I have been involved in the automotive industry for approximately 25 years in dealerships with a variety of makes and I do not recall ever seeing this before. These spots range from a 5 to a 10 cent in size and cover the whole rear window nearly in symmetrical lines. I can only see them when I am wearing my polarised sunglasses. They are a greyish white and become distracting when the sun hits the rear window at the right angle. They are visible from both inside and outside the vehicle but only when wearing sunglasses. As I am on the road all the time I need to wear sunglasses for my eye protection. I started looking at all the cars on the road and found most didn't have spots visible but the ones that did were either Ford Falcons or Toyotas Corollas and Camrys, so it appears only some cars manufactured in Australia seem to have it.

We also have problems with our Ford Fiesta's transmission. We purchased our car in 2012 and have had problems with shuddering throughout the time we have had the vehicle. We have had the computer adjusted twice, one new clutch and we have been waiting some months for another new clutch. Fords keep saying they will keep fixing the problem up to 100,000 kilometres and we are now at 55,000. We are concerned that the problem will not be solved long-term and we are not happy with Ford and the Ford dealership's reassurance that this problem will be solved. It has been very disappointing to purchase a new vehicle which was to be passed on to our granddaughter when she turned 18 this year and not be confident there will not be ongoing problems.  We are reluctant to pass the car on as we are worried about the loss of power that occurs. Do you know if Ford have solved the problem with the transmission on these vehicles?

Soon after we bought it our 2015 Kia Cerato developed a violent shake in the first 20 seconds after it's started and the revs start to come down. The car has been to two dealerships and Kia Australia has also been involved. Kia had the car on a data logger that confirms that there is an issue, but claim it's within emission standards and to persuade – their words – the customer to accept the vehicle as is. This is a very upsetting situation; they are basically telling us there is nothing wrong with the car. I'm at a loss as to where to from here.

I am looking at buying a 2004 Mazda 3 manual that's done 180,000km as a first car for my son. Is that too many kilometres? Does it still have a lot of life left in it?

I purchased a secondhand 2009 Holden Commodore International in January 2012 from a dealer in WA. I've recently upgraded to another vehicle and on the day of changeover, the Nissan dealer advised that they were unable to give me what we had agreed on for the trade-in of my old vehicle because it is on the repairable write-off register. I had absolutely no idea this was the case and as a result had to take a $2000 loss on trade-in as I was advised they couldn't re-sell at normal price because of the repairable write-off status on the vehicle. I have since been advised I should have been made aware of the status of the Commodore at the time of purchase – is this correct? I have contacted the dealer I bought it from and they advised they had no idea of the repairable write-off status. I've also read that I need to make my insurance company aware of the status, or I may not be covered in the event of a major accident because it is classed as a high risk. Do I have a case for legal advice here? Or is it ok for dealerships to be selling repairable write-off vehicles?

I bought a 2014 Mitsubishi Triton last August and it's now done 49,000km. I have just had new tyres fitted and a wheel alignment done, and the car is pulling to the left slightly and is light on the steering, and also oversteers into corners. I took it back to have it checked and it was pointed out that my rear springs were bending the wrong way, about 20mm in the centre unloaded, and it was suggested that this was the problem. Would this be the cause, or has the alignment not been done correctly?

A month after my 2010 Suzuki Kizashi was serviced it went into limp mode and displayed a speed output sensor error code. A dealer cleared the error code, but the same thing happened on the return journey and the sensor was then replaced. It has since done 32,000km without incident except for a broken fan belt. Would you know what could trigger this?