Great Wall V240 Problems

Parts and service supply has been a bit of an ongoing problem for some owners of these earlier Chinese-made Great Wall commercial vehicles. Some were sidelined for extended periods after some service parts were hard to locate and it’s doubtful that Covid and its attendant supply-chain problems have helped in that regard.

I’m a bit surprised, however, to learn that a Great Wall dealership lacks the tools and techniques necessary to carry out just about any maintenance task, including electrical jobs. Perhaps a call to Great Wall’s Australian customer service number might do the trick. If your nearest dealers don’t have the necessary equipment, perhaps there’s another dealer a little farther away that does. Failing that, try one of the many online forums for a solution. Chances are your vehicle won’t be the only one with this specific problem, and other owners may be able to offer advice on who can carry out the work.

These cars have a pretty terrible reputation of reliability over the longer term. Plenty of things seem to go wrong with them (almost certainly thanks to them being built down to a price) and parts supply seems a bit sketchy at times, too.

A loose gearshift mechanism can certainly cause the problems you’re experiencing and a loose, or sloppy gear-stick can be the first symptom. Often it’s a simple case of adjusting the selector mechanism, other times you may need to replace a worn bush or bearing to restore the shifter to its original state. But if the shifter is worn or damaged, then selecting gears can become the problem you’re experiencing.

A car that is reluctant to start first thing in the morning but then starts fine after that initial start-up could be a victim of worn engine internals. Specifically, if the valve guides or piston rings are worn enough, the engine may not have sufficient compression to fire up from dead cold. That fact that the engine got very hot at some stage is also a good way to damage things like piston rings and lead to the symptoms you’re describing. Pull-starting with, I presume, another vehicle can spin the engine faster than a starter-motor will, and for longer, and this could be enough to give the engine the encouragement it needs to fire up for the first time. Is the engine burning oil? Or blowing blue smoke? Both are signs of a worn out engine.

Other possible causes are many and varied and include incorrect ignition timing, out-of-phase valve timing, poor fuel pressure, the cold-start enrichment mechanism not working or a range of sensors not playing the game. And plenty more.

If your car was a V200, then I’d suggest that the diesel engine’s glow-plugs had failed, but the V240 was petrol only. But that in itself is interesting because the engine was more or less an older-design Mitsubishi built under license by Great Wall. As such, it’s a fairly simple old thing with not too much to go wrong.

Perhaps there’s a clue in the fact that the doors lock themselves as soon as you’re on board. Maybe this has something to do with the body computer (that controls functions such as the central locking and immobiliser) which should perhaps be talking to the engine computer, but isn’t first thing in the morning. Do changes in the ambient temperature change the car’s habits? Is it harder to start on wet days? Is the tank full of very old fuel? All these things can have an effect on a motor that is a bit cantankerous to begin with.

It could be that the engine is getting hot, and leaving it for a period gives it time to cool down. Have the cooling system, thermostat, electric fan all checked. It might be worthwhile having a compression test done to see if it’s leaking head gasket.

I would contact the Great Wall Customer Service in 1800 114 672 to find out why the dealer would not do the warranty work, and ask their advice on how to get the work done.

Sales have nosedived because people have realised the quality problems. You're extremely unlikely to get any help from Great Wall on items that should have been fixed under warranty.