Common Car Faults we have encountered over the years
DISCLAIMER:This is not a lesson or guide and if you decide to fiddle with your car you do so at your own risk.
A common fault we have encountered on a number of early Nissan Xtrails 01-05 that would have the engine cut out without warning. Unfortunately in most cases there wouldn’t be a code logged into the vehicles ECU. Further investigation and lots of road testing and using the scan tool to watch live data whilst driving found the signal from the CAS (Crank angle sensor) to flat line. One new crank angle sensor, and a Camshaft position sensor too for peace of mind, the car was back on the road within a couple of hours and has been fine ever since.
1997- 2003 common fault Mitsubishi Mirage door locks continuously cycling on and off; commonly one of two things, a faulty door lock actuator or sometimes if you’re lucky the actuator rod will just require an adjustment.
Mitsubishi Magna 97 – 03 stalling after disconnecting of replacing the battery. Good news, usually just requires base idle to be reset and its worth giving the IAC and throttle body a check / clean whilst you’re there. Have also come across this on Mitsubishi Pajero petrol variants.
Suzuki aftermarket Cruise Control stops working for no reason. After encountering a handful of these and carrying out the basic checks of fuses and other components, we found the unit to not be receiving any power, tracing the wiring back, the wiring was found to have a break in it where it is fed through the firewall on installation. The problem is that this will usually occur outside the warranty period and most people will generally just go without the added extra
Hyundai Getz vibration at idle; Very common for the rear engine mount to wear out, sometimes on visual inspection the mount will appear serviceable yet only on replacement can the improvement be noticed.
Toyota Camry 2AZ Excessive Ticking noise from Engine: Unfortunately in many cases in the ones that have come through the shop, we’ve found problems with the valve clearances being out of spec and noisy VVTI gears. The repair that is commonly now carried out is to replace the timing chain kit and replaced the caps / buckets to get the valve clearances back in to the correct spec.
Common Fault Mitsubishi Outlander 2006-2012: A swishing noise can be heard when cornering, this can happen on any vehicle with air conditioning, but this common fault Mitsubishi Outlander the AC drain tube get blocked and the water produced from the use of the AC cant escape and builds up in the evaporator box, if your lucky and the seal is really good, the water wont leak all over the passenger floor
Mitsubishi Pajero NS 3.2 DiD 2006 on: These vehicles are supposed to have the valve clearance / tappets. They are also prone to soot build-up in the intake manifold. This starves the engine of sufficient air flow and will sometimes cause the vehicle to go into a “limp home” mode. If you’re wandering what that is, you’ll know by the way the car drives.
Mercedes C200 W204: Becoming a more frequent thing to happen now, the electronic steering lock will not disengage. The steering wheel wont turn and the ignition won’t actually turn on, the key turns but nothing else is happening. The only option is tow the vehicle to the workshop, we have some more information on this Mercedes steering fault in another post.