AMAs seem to be the cool thing to do lately, so thought I'd give it a try. Have been a mechanic for 15 odd years, worked on everything from Hyundai to Porsche. Recently moved to marine in the last year or so. Will try to answer when I can.
Edit - Wow this was much more popular than anticipated, thanks for the great response everyone, hopefully it's helped a few people out.
I would bet $100 that it is an ignition coil, I've done quite a few on those. You will have the choice to replace the one that's dead, or all 4. I would recommend all 4 so you aren't paying for labour again. Coils would probably be $125 each or so at the mechanic, these will be good, genuine coils. You can probably buy them yourself for $30 each or something silly off eBay. I would highly recommend replacing the spark plugs at the same time, worn plugs can cause the coils to fail.
Should be absolute max 1 hour labour including clearing the codes and a test drive.
Thank you so much! I just got it checked by the Kmart mechanics and that is what he said! So far he said he’s “cleared the code” which apparently got rid of the shaking for the next few weeks?
But he’s quoting $1100 to replace the coils!!
You said I’m able to purchase parts elsewhere? Do mechanics have problems with??
Wow $1100 is insane. It could go for 5 minutes before it missfires again, or months, highly likely it won't take long though. It depends on the mechanic, some are quite happy if you provide the parts, others not so much. Do you know anyone slightly mechanically inclined? They are extremely easy to replace.
first 2000 rpm engine rev from my Mazda CX-9 2.5L turbo petrol annoys the heck out of me!is there any way to dampen the noise I hear in the cabin (beside cranking up the rock music)?
Should have bought the toyota kluger……..all car reviews "praise" how quiet the CX-9 is……absolute bs
Can always stick dynamat everywhere. I probably would have gone with the Kluger myself after the absolute failure that was the cx7.
Hey thanks for doing the AMA.
Have one for you. Driving 2007 lancer sedan. I’m finding over the last few months the car is jerking while I apply low pressure to the brakes and come to a stop.
What’s throwing me off is I had a major service in November and the mechanic had checked the brakes and said they were fine. Problem arose somewhere between then and now.
Thanks!!
No problem at all!
Likely your brake rotors, generally the fronts. You can have them machined if the thickness is still ok, but I would personally replace them. I used to be able to machine my own rotors for free, but still just replaced them if that tells you anything.
Whats your experience/opinion of Chem-i-Weld for "fixing" head gasket leaks? It sealed some kind of small cylinder to coolant leak in my MB Sprinter van right away and has been holding now for 20k. The van was pressurising the coolant system and losing/evaporating about 1l per 5k through the overflow. The engine has 430k on it so its not really worth pulling the head and I would just swap it out with a lower km engine. But the chem-i-weld worked right away and so I am eeking out all the km I can get from this engine.
I've seen similar things fix decent leaks, but not sure on the longevity of it. If you've got 20k out of it so far that's not bad, provided it isn't overheated it'll probably keep going for a while yet.
Thanks. Yep fingers crossed. I even did a citric acid flush on the coolant system a week or so after the chem-i-weld, and it has still held for 20k so I'm really quite impressed. It didn't overheat it just one day suddenly started pressurising the coolant during a 4000km roadtrip. I guess maybe a hot-spot or something like that and the mileage just caught up with the head gasket and caused it to fail.
Anyway the oil pressure is getting quite low at idle on this om612 engine (below 10psi), so I'm hoping the chem-i-weld holds long enough to see the bearings out.
Sounds like it's slowly on the way out, but it's done alright with 430k km on it. What's oil pressure like at 2000rpm?
@brendanm: Oil pressure jumps up pretty quickly off idle, iirc at 2000rpm its around 30psi when the oil is very hot (like for a few minutes after coming off the freeway). I have fitted a ~7psi oil pressure switch now, because the previous ~10psi one was triggering all the time at idle when the oil was hot I have it rigged up to a 12V buzzer.
The MB documentation says 7psi at idle is the threshold for a rebuild. It also gives values at specific rpms but it was way above those when I had a gauge fitted and checked about a year ago. These engines don't come with a pressure sender when used in MB vehicles so I had to DIY. I think when used in Jeeps they do have one.
@stumo: They have to try and make jeeps reliable sometimes. 30 odd psi at 2000rpm still sounds ok, you'll probably hit 500k in that thing.
Hello Brendanm,
I always get my car serviced at Lexus, once I was thinking of servicing it outside, and the franchised mechanic 'Bridgestones Select' didn't have a clue about how to remove certain parts after he checked his computer for the log book maintanence and said it will take a couple of hours I;ll figure it out hopefully. As my car is fairly new Lexus is300H I just went to Lexus instead. But I pay quite a bit from ($550 to 1.5k) for services minor and major service.
Do you think mechanics from franchise or the local ones are the same as Lexus?
I'd steer away from those franchises stores. A good independent would be much better. I've worked on some 450h and apart from it being a nightmare to get to the spark plugs, the rest of it is fairly standard, not sure what it was he was having an issue with. $550 for a minor service is very excessive.
I just feel like the oils and all they put into the car is of a good quality, and general mechanics might put in cheap oils
They shouldn't, but you can always ask them what they use.
I am also interested in buying a Mercedes or a BMW but worried about the maintenance and reliability.
Are you happy to spend money maintaining a car for a better driving experience? What models of BMW and Merc were you looking at? The base models are generally quite underwhelming.
320i, 328d wtc the 3 series or the c250, e200
E series is nice, the 2.0 turbo is ok in the C class, I imagine it would be underpowered in the E. 5 series diesel, or E series diesel?
@brendanm: What do you think of the discontinued R class? Mine has had a few occasions when the tranny goes into limp mode. Repair? Replace? Its happened only a few times and the car has very low k's/usage. (68k in 11 years)
@ATangk: I have never actually worked on them, I don't think they sold many. What codes are stored when it goes in to limp mode? Could be as simple as a shift solenoid.
What are your thoughts on electric cars ?. They seem to be quite easy to maintain.
I haven't actually driven an electric car yet, but they seem like a great idea. Instant torque of electric motors is fantastic, it's yay the battery and charging technology that is holding them back. No charging stations becaus there aren't many cars, but there aren't many cars because there aren't many charging stations.
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Exactly, the problem is both the chicken and the egg are very expensive.
Hi Brendan.
Great AMA.Thank you.
A question about "filled for life automatic transmission" scam.
Old 1998 Falcon EL with low 130K km. How often should the transmission oil be replaced? I have done it once at 100k km and did a full flush removing the pipe at the radiator (16l of TQ95).
Is it best do do a full flush every time or just a pan drop and refill is enough?
Personally I'd recommend every 40k, pan drop, filter and refill is fine at that sort of interval.
My car has an issue where when you add new fuel into it (tried E10, regular unleaded as well), it has a hard time starting. Usually for me to start it, I'd keep my foot on the accelerator pedal, and it would start, and then I leave it idling for a few minutes before I can start driving.
Only happens when adding new fuel. Cold starts are fine all other times. Any clues on what this might be?
Do you fill it past the "first click"? The only thing that can really cause this is overfilling, it causes the excess fuel to go into the charcoal canister (emmisions device), where it is then forced into the intake manifold, causing a "flood" situation. This is why keeping your foot on the accelerator let's it start, when your foot is flat while cranking, the ecu stops injecting fuel and this lets the engine get rid of the excess fuel.
most useful ama ever
Thanks mate, appreciate that
most standard services at places include a ~135/whatever point check - do all of these things get checked one by one or is this a crock of $#!%
also, why on earth are we still using lead batteries on cars instead of switching to lithium
Everywhere I've worked actually checks things. It's not only in the customers best interests, but also the workshops.
The cost. Lighter, lasts longer, can supply more current, deeper discharge, but very expensive.
Thoughts on BMW 328is?
Turbo 4 cylinder MY15.
Anything you think needs careful observation? I've had the car since new so at least I know it's been (somewhat) well looked after.
Don't have much experience with the turbo 4s, but haven't seen any issues with the couple I have seen. Generally if you look after them and don't mind spending the cash on preventative stuff, they are alright.
Would you be able to outline the "preventative" stuff?
Sorry I know I really shouldn't be driving one of these cars, I ended up haggling with the dealer and got the 5 year service plan chucked in and now I'm wondering if that has been adequate…
Google timing chain issues, if it's a 2015 manufactured car you should be fine.
It's November 2014… and now you've just scared me.
My car shakes a good amount now (to the point where it's quite unacceptable for such a new car, only has 40000kms). Certainly doesn't have the high pitched whine though. Got any other hints about this issue?
I've loved my car to bits so far, however for what I think is the 2nd gear, it crunches into 3rd with a stupid massive jolt, especially if I'm driving slow (e.g. getting out of a car park). Worse when it's a cold engine. Still present when warmed up, just much less so. Also don't think that's acceptable for such an expensive car but whatever, that I can live with, and it seems to be common when I googled it.
Ahh, no sorry. Just keep your ear out for strange noises - the chain stretches, snaps, and worse case scenario you need a new engine. The timing chain was redesigned for builds starting from 01/2015 to prevent the stretching so it looks like you just missed out.
That's the extent of my knowledge about the issue though, hopefully yours should be fine.
This blog has videos of the whining noise: https://bmwtechnician.com/2016/08/07/n20-timing-chain-issue/
That sounds terrible, you don't have an extended warranty or anything on it?
@brendanm: Got one last service with them sometime this year (in 4000 or so kms)…
I'll get them to check everything - thanks compugrid
My warranty has already expired at the 3 year mark which makes me angry but thanks for the help everyone :)
As per the link below, It is my understanding that BMW has a procedure (11 31 540) and a special tool (2 411 399) to check an N20 engine for possible elongation of the timing chain. I would call BMW and ask to cover the test at least and then with the test result I would go further. You should be doing it before 5 years warranty time expired.
Would anyone happen to know a good independent BMW mechanic in Melbourne?
Hi Brendanm, I have a 2008 mazda 3 2.0 auto sometimes vibrates a bit when braked and stopped in Drive mode. When running in Parking mode dont feel much vibration. Is it a sign of one of the engine mounts shot or more of tranny issue like brake is not properly disengaging drive gear etc? Cheers
Hi, definately engine mounts, pretty common in those. Generally the drivers side mount, can also be the passenger side but not as common. Drivers one is very easy to replace and the mount is fairly cheap.
I have a Nissan Pulsar 2000 auto
It often feels like it loses power or struggles into gear
I’ve put fuel injector cleaner through it
And it’s recently been serviced
I particularly have problems when the car is hot.
Opinion as to what it could be would be appreciated please
Very hard to say with those symptoms without seeing it. It's always good to start with the basics, fuel pressure is a good starting point. Does it jerk/shudder or just feel like low power?
Low power. You can actually feel when it happens. I accelerate and it doesn’t seem to move. I don’t notice it revving excessively when it happens though.
Definately start with a fuel pressure check.
Hi. This has been a great read so far. Well done.
Anyway. I did a coolant change on a d22 with the yd25 engine on the weekend. For the life of me I couldn't find the engine block coolant plug. So I emptied the radiator 3 times refilling each time with distilled water after running the engine and once the coolant was clear i then did the same with the coolant to dilute the distilled water. Bit of a waste and stuff around but the best i could do.
It could of been the coolants first change in 5 years.
What's the effect of a little distilled water in the coolant and really long change intervals?
Thanks
Hi mate, from memory block drain is below the thermostat housing on the passenger side. Water has better heat transfer properties than coolant, so you really only want enough for corrosion protection, generally 33-50% max.
Hi there.. Great AMA and precise answers so thank you!
Have a few of my own if you don’t mind.
Have a under 130k km 2005 3 series. Now they say the power steering fluid with these are lifetime. Do you think I should change it over or not ?
And what about the fuel filter? I have pumped 98 fuel for the last 7 years and haven’t had any issues. Ride is still very smooth..
Lastly, if the top radiator hose is replace, generally would a lot of coolant be lost and hence have to be replaced? Also with beemers should you only go with the blue bmw coolant?
Happy to help mate!
P/s fluid tends to last a while, but is very easy to change. Check how the fluid looks, if it's dark, replace it.
Fuel filter should definately be done, pretty easy to do, it's next to the chassis rail and just a few hoses.
Not much will be lost replacing the top hose, make sure to check all the mother plastic parts of the cooling system. If only a little but is lost simply too up with distilled water, but if you need to add coolant, only use the same as what is in there, or something compatible, mixing coolants is not a good idea.
Can I just say, great ama and congrats on the new job. My question is, what is your opinion on ignition coils? Are they binary in the sense if it's failing it won't work at all? Reason I ask is because I've had 2 fail recently. The first one went 3 months ago and the second one (different cylinder) around a month ago. I've just been replacing them as they go, cos you know ozbargain.
Thanks mate.
Coils can just get weak, where they will be fine at idle or low load, but will break down under load. Thet can also just flat out fail.
Your experience is why I recommend people replace them all if paying someone to do it's as it's cheaper to do all at once than one at a time labour wise. What car do you have?
Forgot to mention it's a 2005 honda accord euro. It has just done 120,000kms. I'm pretty mechanically inclined so I've just been doing it myself as it's literally a few screws.
Yeah if you are doing it yourself, do one at a time for sure, it's the ozbargain way! Great car by the way, really like the euros.
As car mechanic, what you think is the most reliable brand or model car?
Probably the old Toyota Camry. In saying that, there are a lot of good cars around nowadays.
How old? I have the 2001 which might be near the end of the ones you are talking about. Its done 180k and its never skipped a beat. Only bushings in the back needed replacing and did it myself.
I do have an oil leak at the moment that I am npt sure where its coming from. As the engine slants back (4cyl) after a degrease everything at the top is dry. I have already done the valve cover gasket ans plug seals. Oil drips off the back of the sump a drop every now and then. I havent got ight under the car to check yet but guessing that what i have to do.
Do you happen to know what might be commonly causing leaks on these? Someone online said it might be some of the seals behind the pulleys and a timing kit might be in order. How hard is something like that to do and woukd i need may special tools?
Great AMA by the way. Been wanting to ask for days but keep getting dostracted reading the comments!
Sorry mate missed your question until now! Yes you have one of the great ones. They can leak from crank/cam seals, and commonly from the oil pump O ring. Lots of timing belt kits actually include the oil pump O ring now.
Hello Brendam,
I have a Subaru Liberty 2007 MY08 NA 2.5 SOHC wagon. I had the opportunity to upgrade it when a fellow Liberty owner wanted to sell his Raptor Supercharger. It was serviced before installation. So, I decided to buy it to make it a more interesting car to drive. He installed it and I had it tuned. However, on occasion, there would be a flat spot/hesitation when accelerating from a stop position. It has always been there since it was installed. The injectors have been replaced twice, new fuel filter, new plugs, upgraded fuel pump, new MAF and the throttle body has been cleaned a few times. The tuner was unable to find the fault. I am at a point of giving up and just putting up with it. Maybe, some members here may have some ideas on what may be causing it. Thank you for reading this.
Sounds very much like a tuning issue, tuner should be able to see what is happening on the dyno quite easily.
Thank you, brendanm. I've had it on the dyno but they were not able to find the issue and told me that it was running fine. As soon as I drove it i noticed it was there. Will just have to put up with it.
If there is a flat spot they should be able to see it go rich or lean at that point. Do you have a wideband 02 on the car? You could even log it yourself.
Hi Brendan, here goes… Is it worth buying a second hand dual cab ute as a daily driver? At what point is it better to buy a new budget dual cab (i.e triton) as opposed to high k's second hand? Any make/model/year you would recommend? Any you would stay clear of?
I always advocate buying used as opposed to new, purely as it makes more sense financially, and you can get a nicer car than you otherwise would for the same budget. What sort of money do you want to spend? I like dmax, ranger/bt50, old 3.0 Hilux, Amarok. Do you need a ute often? They are getting better, but still a bit "agricultural" around town.
You've probably been asked this a lot but I'm gonna ask it anyway,
What would you recommend to a young first car owner. (17, 18) Under $5000 what would you recommend? As far as I've heard, second hand cars are a bit of a lucky dip. But is there any key brands or characteristics you'd look out for? (Asking of course with zero car knowledge)
Thanks!
Corolla, any of the late model Kia/Hyundai. Make sure whatever you buy has been serviced. At under $5k you probably wont be getting a low km vehicle, but if they have been serviced, higher KMs isn't that much of an issue. Try to get as late a model as possible, purely for the safety features.
Thank you!
What would you say about a regularly serviced 2006 ford focus? 133000 kms for about $4k?
Make what you will out of this, I heard this somewhere, ford stands for Effed On Road Daily.
The ford focus is not the most reliable thing. Look for Japanese or Korean.
Territory TX RWD Auto Petrol vibrates a lot whilst stopped at traffic lights whilst in Drive. I keep putting it in Neutral whilst stopped at the lights which solves the problem temporarily.
Thanks for your help
If it isn't missfiring (low power and shudder while accelerating), you have at least one broken engine mount, very common in the territory's. They are cheap and easy to replace.
Thank you. No it isn't misfiring. How much is a reasonable price to get it fixed? Just don't want to get ripped off.
I would recommend doing both mounts even if just one is gone, as the other one will also fail shortly. A couple of hours labour and $80-100 for each mount would be in the ballpark.
Thanks for the AMA.
My 2009 Honda Jazz auto has a shudder/vibration when accelerating from standing. Usually on flat it’s goes away very quick, or down hill I might not even feel it, but if I’m standing still, start moving uphill it’ll shudder for a while until I reach circa 20-25kph.
Any ideas what the problem might be?
Sounds like a missfire, if you accelerate hard at 60kmh or so does it shudder?
Could be related to CVT - well known problem to shudder from standstill.
CVT fluid flush should help, if not, might be a problem with CVT itself.
That would have been my first guess, but the 09 has a standard auto.
Sorry, 2006 Jazz. Would that make a CVT your first guess?
After googling the CVT issue I think that’s what I have. Changing the transmission oil sounds like it can help, but not fix the problem. Fix requires transmission rebuild of sorts.
Is this a problem that will cause anything more than just shuddering at low speeds?
@cloudy: Yes 100% it will be the CVT start clutch. Yes sadly the start clutch pack needs to be replaced to fix the shudder. You can try changing the oil, but this is an inherent issue with these cars, it's actually why Honda went back to a standard auto in the later ones.
No other issues really, just the annoying shudder taking off, may wear engine mounts a little faster perhaps. Not enough to be worth the cost of the fix on that car.
What's your thought of using toyota filters vs ryco, sakura or coopers.
Have you had a ryco filters fail? Is there any brands to avoid?
I don't like Sakura, Ryco and cooper are fine. Had a Ryco fail once which cost an engine, Ryco paid for a new long motor with no issues. Coop r actually seen to have a better ant drain back valve than Ryco sometimes.
Have you had experience, and if so positive or negative with Nippon Max filters?
Not really any experience sorry.
Great thread.
I'm after manual car to cruise around on weekends, I'm after fun car and easy to maintain. If you have to pick between 2008 civic type r, 2009 mazda 3 mps or 2004 mx5. Which would you choose?
Mx5 every time.
Thanks.
If buying from large reputable dealer who provide warranty. Is it still worth getting pre-purchase inspection done?
I'm under this impression (could be wrong) that large reputable dealer generally keep the good trade-in to sell after inspecting them, and they wouldn't do something dodgy to ruin their reputation. They would sell the bad ones to smaller dealer.
I think you get a (short) warranty when you buy a used car from a dealer
@Never Pay RRP: Yeah in qld you get statutory warranty for a short period on certain car from dealer.
Check the terms on that warranty, they can say things like having to service every 6 months and for limited amounts that don't actually cover the cost of a major fault.
@[Deactivated]: From my fuzzy memory, the warranty on a dealer used car might only be 6 months (or less). So the requirement to service every six months might be a moot point.
I can't remember exactly, but I think my used car purchase came with an inspection as well, but how thorough that would be could be up for contention…
As a side note, my purchase was still under dealer warranty when I bought it, which is why I paid a lot less attention to these details
I would still get it checked personally, previous crashes and poor repairs can get picked up, plus you won't have to deal with the warranty process which can be a nightmare, especially if national warranty company is involved.
My Toyota Corolla 2008 engine light is on and is yellow! And the car shakes/vibrates. What do you think is the problem and how much will this cost me to fix?? I had my car serviced 6 months ago.
Thanks