Mazda Reviews

First things first: are you sure the leak is coming from the gearbox and not the engine? It can be very hard to discern the difference in a manual car, although it’s easier in an automatic as the transmission fluid is usually a red colour.

Beyond that, oil can escape from a gearbox through a variety of places. The breather could be allowing fluid out, the pan seal could be leaking, the rear gearbox seal could be faulty or you could even have a cracked transmission casing. Don’t rule out a leaking drain plug, either, as this is a very common source of a leak. You might even find the leak is coming from somewhere within the transmission cooler and its plumbing.

It’s a bit hard to know what’s going on here. If a tyre is scrubbing on its inside edge, it’s often a problem with the camber settings (the amount of lean on the tyre from top to bottom). If it was realigned incorrectly, it’s conceivable that too much camber was removed and now the opposite problem is occurring where the outside edge is wearing too quickly. That said, sometimes incorrect toe-in and toe-out settings can cause similarly odd tyre wear.

Either way, this sort of problem should not be beyond the skills of a wheel alignment specialist to rectify without any mechanical changes to the vehicle or its suspension. In extreme cases, adjustable suspension bushes or mounting points can be fitted in place of the standard items to provide a greater range of adjustment. You may find that rectification is warranty issue, but if the misalignment came about through wear and tear or hitting a pothole or big bump, then it may not be covered by the factory warranty. Previous crash damage that has not ben repaired properly is also another common cause of weird tyre wear due to poor wheel alignment.

It mightn’t seem like the vehicle is struggling, but when you consider that a caravan of this size can easily weight the best part of three tonnes, you can see how it puts a strain on every component of the vehicle towing it. It sometimes only takes a small hill or a headwind to push a towing vehicle into its discomfort zone. Do that long enough and eventually something will get hot enough to trigger the limp-home response.

But don’t rule out a check-up at a BT-50 or Ford Ranger (they’re the same vehicle under the skin) specialist who should be able to pinpoint the weak link, as well as offer solutions to stop it happening again. You might find you need a bigger transmission or engine oil cooler, or even a retune of the engine to bring it back to tip-top shape.

Accessories you’ve added can also make a difference. Have you, for instance, fitted a roof rack or larger wheels and tyres? A roof rack can add a lot of aero drag that has to be overcome, while bigger tyres can mess up the vehicle’s gearing, causing it to work harder for the same road speed as before.