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Category: Mechanical

Find out how your car works – in plain English. We reveal all those tricky technical things that might have baffled you about your car

volkswagen touran overheats
Mechanical

My Volkswagen Touran overheats when it goes past 60mph. Any idea what the problem might be?

Our reader’s VW Touran is the 1.6TDI model and it appears to overheat on motorways when he exceeds 60mph for any length of time. Garages have given up trying to…

By James Foxall26th April 202210th June 2022
white smoke coming from car exhaust
Mechanical

I changed the timing belt and water pump on my Ford Fiesta diesel. Why is white smoke now coming from my car exhaust?

Our reader has a 2010 Ford Fiesta 1.6 diesel. He recently changed the timing belt and water pump himself. He now gets white smoke coming from his car exhaust pipe…

By James Foxall31st March 202219th May 2022
autohold handbrake
Mechanical

My car doesn’t have an autohold handbrake function. Is there any way I can add one?

Cars are increasingly doing away with the traditional manual handbrake and replacing them with electronic parking brakes. One of the benefits of these is they come with an autohold function.…

By James Foxall17th March 20225th May 2022
nox sensor
Mechanical

Are the NOx sensor and AdBlue in a diesel car linked?

Our reader has a diesel Mercedes C220 Coupe. A faulty NOx sensor has been diagnosed but at the same time, the low AdBlue warning message came on. This says that…

By James Foxall22nd February 20227th April 2022
self-charging hybrid
Mechanical

I’m thinking about buying a self-charging hybrid. Will it still work if the battery fails?

Our reader wants to know if a self-charging petrol-electric hybrid can be driven as a petrol-only car following hybrid battery failure. There’s no simple answer as the reader doesn’t say…

By James Foxall15th February 202231st March 2022
regenerative braking
Mechanical

I’m looking at electric cars and dealers talk about them having regenerative braking. What is this and is it any good?

Car makers fit regenerative braking to all new electric and plug-in hybrid cars. It’s a good thing because it essentially enables us to get something for nothing while we’re driving…

By James Foxall8th February 202230th March 2022
electric car charging
Mechanical, Opinion

How ready are local authorities for the electric car charging challenge?

This is an interesting question because so much of how well people adopt EVs depends on the electric car charging infrastructure. And currently this appears to be undergoing some growing…

By James Foxall27th January 202217th March 2022
new camshaft
Mechanical

My garage says my car needs new piston rings and a new camshaft. It’s such an expensive repair, can I do the two things separately?

Our reader with the expensive repair has a 2014 Nissan Qashqai. Their garage has diagnosed damaged piston rings on one of the cylinders and damage to the camshaft. The problem…

By James Foxall27th December 202114th April 2022
airbags didn't go off
Mechanical

My cousin rolled his car but the airbags didn’t go off. Is this right?

Airbags are one of the great inventions of modern motoring. They live concealed in your car until they’re needed. Then they deploy in milliseconds to potentially reduce injuries and possibly…

By James Foxall25th November 202124th January 2023
nissan almera on e10 fuel
Mechanical

Is it safe to run a 2006 Nissan Almera on E10 fuel?

We are receiving a lot of questions about the E10 petrol that’s been on sale since the start of September 2021 so it’s worth clearing up any misconceptions. First let’s…

By James Foxall30th September 202116th November 2021

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