Balky transmissions, droopy visors and poor tire wear
Question: I own a 1995 Mazda MPV with an automatic transmission and 360,000 kilometres on it. The transmission will not consistently shift to drive. Sometimes — if I’m lucky — I can shift to drive. But then I can’t shift to park or reverse. I’m wondering what’s causing this problem.
J.F. Answer: I’m wondering if you may have a cable-linkage fault that is preventing the shifter from delivering the correct mechanical request to the transmission. When the MPV fails to engage drive, do you get neutral instead? How about getting reverse or neutral when you’re attempting to select park? If so, a close look at the linkage, particularly at the transmission end of the cable, may steer you to a simple fix. Q: I own a 2006 Nissan Armada with 400,000 kilometres on it. The car just runs and runs. We love it.
But the driver’s sun visor won’t stay up. It keeps falling into my sight line, and I don’t see any way to tighten it. No little Allen nut or even a way to remove it and fix. Any suggestions?
D.C. A: That’s good to hear about the Armada’s impressive service life. I’m hoping you might be able to remove the sun visor from its mount and shaft by twisting and tugging on it. Then align the visor with the now-exposed shaft and, using a piece of tape, mark a location on the visor a couple of centimetres back from where the end of the shaft would be if installed.
Next, using a pair of quarters as protective pads, try squeezing with vise grips the sun visor where the shaft would pass through your tape mark. This will be a trial-and-error attempt to gently crush the metal sleeve inside the visor just enough to increase friction when the shaft is pushed firmly back into the visor. Creating a very slight bend in the shaft would be another way to increase friction. Hopefully, one of these options will spare you from renewing the $200 part.
I almost forgot: A replacement from an auto dismantler would be another option. Hopefully Nissan uses this same part and trim colour on more than one model, increasing your chances of finding a matching donor.
Q: How important is it to rotate tires? I have a new car and do my own oil changes and basic services, but rotating the tires is a hassle to do at home with only one jack. I now have 16,000 kilometres on the clock, and the tires appear to be wearing evenly.
J.L. A: The answer to this depends on the type of driving you do, the type of tires you have, and the type of vehicle. About half of my lengthy daily commute is on winding mountain roads, which really take a toll on the outer edges of the front tires, making it important to rotate my tires every 7,000 kilometres or so. My Volt is also frontwheel drive, so the front tires tend to wear more quickly than the rears. A rear-wheel-drive vehicle driven in the city and in fairly straight highway situations could likely go further between rotations. Wider performance-oriented tires require more frequent rotation as well. It’s best to aim for all four tires wearing out at the same time so a performance imbalance of two new and two older tires doesn’t occur. I’d buy a pair of jack stands and go to the extra trouble of rotating tires at least at each oil change! Q: My daughter drives a hand-medown 2003 VW New Beetle with a 1.8-litre turbo engine and fivespeed manual transmission. She wants another Beetle, and she likes driving a stick. I can’t seem to find current-model Beetles with manual transmissions. Our local dealer tells me that VW does not sell Beetles with manual transmissions here due to the low market demand. My question is whether VW makes a 2017 or 2018 Beetle with a manual transmission, and how do I go about purchasing one?
R.M. A: Being insistent will get you nowhere: The dealer is right. VW does not sell Beetles with manual transmissions anymore for the reason you were told: low demand. Your best bet might be to buy a used one. Brad Bergholdt is an automotive technology instructor at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, California. Readers may send him email at bradbergholdt@gmail.com.