Ask The Guide

This transmission has a finite lifespan and when they die, they sometimes just stop working as yours appears to have done. An automatic specialist will know the telltale signs of this and should be able to diagnose the problem.

But don’t give up hope; you might find the problem is simply a low fluid level in the transmission. Low fluid can certainly provide the symptoms you’re seeing. However, if that’s the case, then you’re chasing a leak, because these transmissions are a sealed system and shouldn’t need periodic topping up.

The fact that it sometimes runs perfectly means there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the engine’s intrinsic bits and pieces. If there was, it would never run perfectly at all. Which means you’re probably chasing a sensor, fuel supply or electrical problem.

Cars like this have sensors all over them to inform the computer of what conditions demand, what the driver is asking for and what it should do about all of that. Scanning the car electronically might provide the answer via a fault code. But we’d also take a look at the engine’s stepper motor which is a small electric actuator that controls the throttle position. If this component is not working properly, it can lead to the exact symptoms you’re seeing.

Squeaking when a car’s suspension moves up and down is usually down to a couple of things. Either there’s wear in a ball-joint or suspension bush, or the bushes and joints are full of dry dust. Have you driven the Triton off-road in sand or dust recently? You might find that some dust has managed to work its way into the rubber bushings and is causing the noise.

At worst, you may have damage to something in the suspension that is placing a load where it shouldn’t or perhaps even rubbing where it shouldn’t. With the vehicle securely parked, you can climb underneath and have a friend use their body weight to bounce the vehicle on the spot. If you’re lucky, you might be able to pin-point the source of the squeak.

The modern automatic transmission is a wonderful thing with efficiency that is now as good as a conventional manual, but with all the refinement and convenience that automatics have traditionally provided. Reliability is generally good and the newer automatics are also able to save lots of fuel compared with older versions of the same technology.

Of course, that’s if we’re talking conventional torque-converter automatics. If you’re referring to CVT transmissions or dual-clutch transmissions (which are essentially a manual with a robot to shift gears and operate the clutch for you) then some of these have shown up problems over time. Many car buyers are a bit wary of CVTs and dual-clutches, but when it comes to a torque converter automatic, unless you’re very unlucky, reliability and durability should generally be good.

It sounds as though the material the dashboard structure or skin is made from has started to collapse or degrade in some other way. If the structure beneath the vinyl skin of the dashboard fails, you could conceivably wind up with a mis-shapen dash.

While that might sound trivial, it’s important that this gets fixed as this part of the dashboard houses the airbag. And if the opening for the airbag is not the right shape or is compromised somehow, it could affect the correct deployment of the airbag in a crash. And the consequences of that aren’t hard to imagine.

You’re right that error code P0171 on this car equals an engine that is running too lean. That is, There’s either not enough fuel or too much air in the cylinders. On this engine, many owners have found that the PCV valve can fail, but also that the rocker cover itself can contribute to vacuum leaks. If you can hear air hissing anywhere, then a vacuum leak somewhere around the engine is a pretty good bet.

But let’s not forget that a lean mixture can be caused by not enough fuel, as well as too much air. In which case a check of the fuel filter, fuel pump delivery volume and pressure are warranted. You can also get a lean error code from a faulty or dirty MAF sensor in the engine’s intake system.

I’ll assume it’s a Hyundai dealership that wants to charge you to assess the car. And I hear what you’re saying about the car’s service history and the fact that some of these engines have been fixed by Hyundai because they were faulty from new. So, the best advice is to forget about the dealership and go straight to Hyundai’s customer service department at head office.

That cuts out the middle man at the dealership and should get you in touch with somebody who knows whether your car was one of the affected ones or whether you’ve just been unlucky in this instance. My experience has been that Hyundai takes this stuff very seriously and has helped other owners in the past. However, your case will still be assessed according to the service history and how many kilometres the car has covered.

That’s an odd one, to be sure. I’ve never heard of an engine that used different sized spark plugs in different cylinders, so you’d have to assume it’s the result of somebody only doing half a job when the car was serviced.

There’s at least one possible explanation for this, though. You might find that one of the spark plugs is difficult to reach or access. In that case, a lot of amateur mechanics will leave that one plug and replace the others with new plugs that have a different sized insulator (the white, ceramic bit you can see poking out of the cylinder head). It’s always best practice to replace spark plugs as a complete set, but lazy mechanics will cut sometimes corners.

There’s also a very slim chance that a previous mechanic has used a different sized spark plug during a routine replacement because they didn’t have four new ones that matched.

Spark plug size is critical in many respects. As well as having the correct threaded section to fit the cylinder head, a spark plug’s internal dimensions are crucial to ensure it doesn’t poke too far into the combustion chamber and make contact with the piston. It also needs to be located correctly in the combustion chamber to ensure proper ignition of the fuel.

Coolant from the radiator and engine oil are supposed to be separate and never mixed. If they are mixing, you probably have a problem with either the engine’s cylinder head gasket or perhaps an oil cooler that uses the radiator coolant to do its thing.

If the oil has water in it (or vice versa) don’t drive the car any farther as the diluted engine oil can destroy the engine. Similarly, if the coolant is escaping into the oil, you might find there’s no longer enough coolant left in the radiator to prevent the car overheating., That can destroy an engine, too.

As for a warranty claim, a blown head gasket is a bit of a grey area. You may have to prove that the gasket blew of its own accord, rather than through you continuing to drive the car with an overheated engine or some other form of abuse.

I can see why you’d want to make this change as a lap-sash seat belt is a much safer alternative to a lap-only belt. Provided the seat belt you’re fitting conforms to all Australian Standards, it shouldn’t be a problem, but you might find it’s not as simple as it sounds. That’s because the lap-sash belt is a three-point design. That is, it attaches to the car in three (rather than two) places. That means it requires a shoulder-height mounting point.

The thing about that is that the car itself may not have a proper seat-belt attachment point in that area. If that’s the case, you’d need to have a mounting point added to the car and this would probably have to be inspected by an engineer before it would be legal to use. The mount itself would have to comply with all relevant Standards, and so would the method of its attachment to the car.

But it would be worth checking if there’s a mounting point already there. We’d also suggest you contact your state registration authorities to make sure they don’t have a problem with this change as the car may need a modification plate to remain legal. It would also be wise to let your insurance company know that the car has been modified in this way.