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March 26, 2025 18 mins

As part of this week's Ask The Expert, mechanic Matt Bullen joined the Afternoons team to answer questions about cars and mechanical issues.

Matt's been in the automotive industry for 38 years - and he's worked with every major franchise brand throughout his career.

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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks'd be follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
It is time for Usk the Expert, and this week
we've got Matt Bullen in. Matt the mechanic from Exil
Autos and Fat. He's got thirty eight years experience as
a mechanic in the automotive industry. He's worked for pretty
much every franchise brand you can think of, from Japanese
through to the Europeans. And he joins us once again
to answer your questions if you've got a problem with
your motor. He's the man to chat to. Matt. Very

(00:38):
good afternoon to you.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Good afternoon, Matt En Tyler. How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, very good. Nice to have you Beck. So let's
just let's just start with a quick chat about warrant
of fitness rules and regulations and the things people don't
always understand.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Okay, well that's I think that's how this sort of
segment got set off. I replied to a call about
a year ago with a warrant question and it was
quite interesting and popular at the time, warrants of fitness,
Like I'm an author of Air conspector so I'm a
mechanic and we do warrants as part of our job.
There's a lot of misconceptions and a lot of myths
around warrants, and I'll cover one of them. The first

(01:17):
important one is I've got a iron on my car.
I'm all good, and you might be, but you might
not be. A warrant of fitness is a visual inspection.
It's a safety cheek, but it's only a visual inspection.
We can only check what we can visually see without
removing any parts. Now, we are allowed to remove parts,
but we're not required to remove any parts. Right. Things
wear out. Tires wear out, bulbs, blow breaks wear out.

(01:42):
I'll give you an example. The legal minimum for tire
tread is one point five millimeters, right, that's half a
match head. So if you've got four tires that are
half a match head deep, then I can't fail that.
I've got to give you a warrant. Most warrants now
for twelve months, So you get a twelve month warrant
on really minimum tire tread depth. Now, they might last

(02:03):
you a week, they might last you six months, depending
on how many CA's you do back of your check sheet.
And not many people read this on the back of
the check sheet that says it is the driver's responsibility
to maintain the vehicle up to warrant standards. Right, it's
not the owner's responsibility. It's not your mum's responsibility, it's
the driver's responsibility. Now that has implications. If you've got

(02:24):
four ball tires and you have an accident you run
into somebody's three hundred thousand dollars Bentley, your insurance company
is going to have a look at your car and
if they find you had four ball tires on it,
they're going to say to you, we're not going to
pay that.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
That is good to know. I don't know that.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Just because you've got a warrant doesn't mean you've got
a warrantable car.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
So is there ever a situation where a police officer
will pull you over and look at your car and
even though you've got a warrant go you know, can
you be ticketed driving around with a car that's got
a warrant but it has things wrong with it?

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Yeah, you're driving an unwarrantable car, right, whether you've got
a warrant or not. And the police know they can
look at look your registration number it While they're following you.
They know you've got a current warrant in the current regro,
They know your name and address, who the registered owner is.
But if they pull you up and you've got lights
not working, they probably pull you up. If your break
lights aren't working, yeah, and they can say you look
your break lights out, go and get it fixed. But

(03:18):
if you've got load suspension that's not complying, or you've
got tires with steel poking out of them, they can
stop you from driving that car on the spot and
have a toad.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, very big.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Get green stickers and red stickers.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, that is great information for most of us to know. Now,
if you've got a question for Matt, now's your opportunity. Oh,
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to
call if you want to text through. You more than welcome.
Nine to nine to two, But let's go to the phones. Simon,
how are you?

Speaker 5 (03:45):
Yeah? Good after that? And guys, hey, look, I've got
a twenty thirteen trailer cameray which I love, but it's
real noisy on startup. I actually had an earlier model,
the same model the same year, which I managed to
crash and right off so and they had exactly the
same noisy startup. Now Trayder kindly did a fix on
that for free. They replaced the cam chains enginer. So

(04:06):
my questions are, first of all, is this a common
issue with two thousand and thirteen cameris, and if so,
it's to label to continue to fixes under their freebie.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Can you tell me what mote isn't.

Speaker 5 (04:17):
It to two point four?

Speaker 3 (04:21):
I can pop the herd if you want, Yeah, pop
the herd will take three five if e or five.
These z feel.

Speaker 5 (04:33):
Have a sticker on the on the on the cam
tign cover one on that.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
I wouldn't imagine it's got a cam change. I wouldn't
imagine it's got a cam chain. It should have a
cam belt.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
Okay, that's all right.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, all right, you've popped that bonnet, Simon, eh and
we look all right, well lost Simon, hold it. I
just hold there, Matte, he's going to come back.

Speaker 5 (04:56):
There's nothing. Yeah, no, there's school guys. There's nothing on
the motor to identify it. But there a diamond doesn't
like there're all over the roads. The most common Zealand
assembled when he yelling you two thousand, thirteen point two
point five.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah, so it won't be a cam chain, it'll be
a cam belt.

Speaker 5 (05:13):
That'll there cam belt.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (05:14):
So that so that noise on startup when it's cold,
and if you leave it sitting for a few days,
it's noisier. If it's warm, it's quiet as it's just
on startup when it's cold.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yeah, I just want to determine it's a belt and
not a chain.

Speaker 5 (05:26):
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
I don't think it'll be a cam chain. It's going
to be a cam belt.

Speaker 5 (05:31):
Okay, So if Toyeta, like I had exactly the same model,
which I said, as I've managed to write off, Tyda
did a free fix on that and they put a
they put a new tension in it and it's the
noise away. What if your expectation you could go back
to them and say, hey, look you did one, could
you do another? Or is it kind of a window
that age understanding?

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah? Probably probably not at that age. They will do it.
They will do an out of warranty consideration, but maybe
at a five year old vehicle or a six year
old vehicle something like that, but probably not a twenty thirteen.
Now it's it's twenty you know, it's fifteen years old
in it, So yes, one probably wouldn't get it done
if I continue to.

Speaker 5 (06:11):
If I continue to run it when it's rightly on
cold startup, is it late to do damage?

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Oh? Mate, with that hearing that, I can't say that.
But if it's if it's a cam belt, I'd just
like to know what engine it is. If you can
tell what the engineer is, If you can even text
tell me what the engineers, you can probably adjust the belt.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
Simon. You go and you go and see if you
can find out what the engine that is and then
text it in and then then we'll down, we'll be
on the plate and then we'll give that information to
Matt or us. We'll won't be able to get to
all of our callers coming through a lot of texts
coming through and callers, and we want to get to
everyone if we.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Can, absolutely so O eight one hundred and eighty ten
eighty is the number to call if you've got a
problem with your car. Matt is the man to chat
to and pays to get in right now. If you
can't get through, keep trying because it's always a popular segment.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
Ellen, you've got a question for Matt.

Speaker 6 (06:56):
Yeah, Hi, guys, I'm just happy to be talking about
this today. Actually a bit Warren the finasis. If you
go and get and you fail, you've got the twenty
eight days to get otherwise that you're charged again. And
I know that's a charging thing. Is there actually a
grace period?

Speaker 7 (07:17):
You know?

Speaker 6 (07:17):
If I happened to drive it out of the chest
you stay and go home and a tripicot pulls me over,
or policeman pulling over, is he with is it right
to give me a ticket or not?

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yep? Sorry you were breaking up here.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
But so basically was saying that if you if you
get the twenty eight day grace period, you fail to
warrn a fitness and they give you twenty eight days
to get the thing fixed. If you pull over it
by police in that time and they spot something that's
not you know, up to warrant for the standard, can
they charge you or is the fact that you're in
the twenty day.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
No, there's no, there's no such thing as grace period.
They can't charge you another fee until twenty eight days.
So if you take it back tomorrow you get a
free reinspection. But if the only reason you're allowed to
drive your vehicle at that point is to to get
a warrant. So you can't go to the supermarket on
your way home. You can take it home and then
you can take it back to get work.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Or you can take it back for the reach it
if you get pulled up in that time. Yeah, they
are quite rightly, we'll give you a ticket. Well, most
police will say, look, you get your warrant within seven
days or something, bring it in and we'll get rid
of the ticket. But the only reason you can drive
a car without a warrant is for the sole purpose
of getting a warrant.

Speaker 4 (08:30):
Wow, that's interesting. I've always just taken that back in
the day. Is just grace period.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
I've got a.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Month take your car, and take your car in before
the warrant expires, because we can post date them up
to fourteen days, so you don't lose any time. If
we take it in a week early, we'll post date
it the seven days. But if you fail, then you've
still got a current warrant on your one screen.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Very good cecil Matters standing by for your question.

Speaker 6 (08:57):
So I drove a ks portage where the window wiper
fluid is leaking, and I just wanted to know.

Speaker 8 (09:05):
Is it an easy fact?

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Is there a product I can use to see it?
Or am I going to have to take the whole
thing with specialist to get that. You're talking about the
wipe of the washer fluid. Yeah, yeah, yep, the water yeah, okay.
How much is it leaking? How much? Like does it
empty it completely? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (09:26):
It does it completely?

Speaker 3 (09:28):
Okay. So at the bottom of the bottle there's a
little pump or the rubber seal. That rubber seal may
be leaking, or the little pump might have come out.
It's probably not something you're going to do at home.
It's it's really going to need to go up on Oyst.
But no, there's nothing you can put in it to
seal it. It's either got a broken bottle or the
or the seals leaking.

Speaker 5 (09:47):
Okay, So I'll take it in to get looked at.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
No, that's okay, thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
All right, good on you, Thanks you seal.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
Thanks for your call.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
One hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to
call if you got a question for Matt Azaia. How
are you this afternoon?

Speaker 9 (10:02):
Hey, I'm good about you.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Very good. Matt is standing by for your question.

Speaker 10 (10:06):
Okay, great, so I've got to well, I got hit
at a parking lot very lightly, but it popped the
braw It popped my rear tail light slightly. It's not
it's not broken, it's not cracked, but like it's out
of the clip, like in the bracket came loose, so

(10:26):
it's popping out and slightly wobbly. I you know, looking
for the tail light's kind of expensive. I'm trying to
look sick in hand. But and I've still got months left,
like near like the second half of the year to
get my wop. So I was wonderings gonna couple me
up on it. It works, so.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
It may leak, may leak rain water in, but as
long as all the lights are working and it's not broken,
the leans aren't broken, and it's roughly in the right place,
then it shouldn't be a reason to be ticketed. What
sort of vehicle is it?

Speaker 10 (10:59):
Uh, it's a Corolla Axio like twenty sixteen.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
So so if you look in the boot in the
back where it's where it's a text, there should be
a couple of ten minl nuts and you should be
able to take those nuts off and pull it right out,
and then you should be able to see where the
clips go. The clips might have popped out of the
light unit itself. It's not broken.

Speaker 10 (11:20):
No, no, it's not broken.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, it should be a simple folks. Just take them,
take the nuts off from the back, pull it right
out and have it look at it.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
Yeah, good luck with that as am.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Some great texts coming through. This One says Matt, I've
got a BMW A M three twenty sixteen to twenty
nineteen with an S fifty five engine. I think that
is that has a common crank hub failure. I've been
told that was a well known issue. Do us as

(11:54):
consumers have any rights to that well known issue with
the BMW M three.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
If you bought a new in New Zealand you would,
But probably not if it's the second hand vehicle.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeap, No, No, that's an easy one.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
It's not one. It's not what I've heard of, but
probably not.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Hey, Matt's is a text of why does my hold
in three o eight blow water out the header tank?
It never overheats, that can't.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
Pressurizing, so it's a head gasket. Try the radiator cap
might need an new radiator cap. So the radiata CAP's
got a pressure valve and a suction valve, and both
velves have to work. It'll push water out. If it
doesn't work, probably it won't pull the water back in
if it's not overheating. I'd be looking at the radio

(12:42):
to cap first.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
You go, okay, Carl, I have that help.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yep, very good, Tony, you're on with Matt.

Speaker 11 (12:50):
Gentlemen, Look quick question warrants of fitness is certificates. What
is the main difference for we have sha if you're
half past the world of business, but you're really you
actually have to have a certificate business. What would be
the difference in a fil for both those? In other words,
what are the aspects of the sertificates the difference between

(13:10):
that in the world as far as the checks and everything.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Goes in regard to what type of vehicle.

Speaker 11 (13:19):
Well light vehicle? Right, I just got to hear a certific.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Fitness okay, yep, okay, So that's the same as a
rental between the two.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
Mm hmm yeah. So what is the difference betweens and
a certificated fitness.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
I don't know. We don't do stuffic. It's a fitness.
It's something that only the testing station will do. The
best way to check would be to have a look
at two chick sheets and see if they're checking anything differently. Ye. Yeah,
very good. I've got if you've got another car that's
a normal private card, just compare the two chick sheets.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yep, very good, Thank you very much. Tony, all the
best with that, David, you've got a question for.

Speaker 7 (14:02):
That, Yes, hello, Doon Matte.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
Question.

Speaker 7 (14:07):
If I was to take by car and for a
warrant a fortnight before the new date and I get rejected,
does the twenty eight day period start from the date
I got rejected or from the date that the warrant
was due.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
From the date you had your inspection done. It's just
the administration thing. It's just they don't charge you a
new fee until the twenty eight days after the test
you've heard.

Speaker 7 (14:32):
So it's not actually from the date that the warrant
was due, because I've gone earlier to say I've got
a fortnight early and I got rejected. So does the
twenty eight day period to get it fixed run from
the day you have it rejected or from the date
that the warrant till you do.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
That's from the first test.

Speaker 7 (14:52):
Your head's all right, thank you. Very much.

Speaker 4 (14:56):
Easy that one, All right, Dave your questions to me.

Speaker 9 (15:01):
Yeah, I've got a Jag two liter Jag and I
had a new battery fitted to it. And now none
of the doors will lock. Our unlock with the key.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
For how old is it?

Speaker 9 (15:17):
It's a twenty seventeen thirteen.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
May.

Speaker 9 (15:23):
I have had a reset, a reset, so is that expenses.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
Would need to it would need to go. Probably the
best bit would be to go to an auto electrician
and have a check with an auto electrician.

Speaker 9 (15:37):
Yeah, and they can locate the problem, can they.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
They might be able to tell you the best place
to start.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
All the best. I know that you're worried about it
being expensive, So we're going to our fingers crossed for your mate.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
Just just go and say go and go in and
say I think we need a reset, and then they'll
make them think you know what you're talking about.

Speaker 9 (15:59):
The mate say you need a new car.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Or the best mate ian.

Speaker 4 (16:03):
You've got a question for Matt around your Honda Odyssey.

Speaker 12 (16:07):
Yes, Hi, Matt, Hi, Guys, As I said, I got
a hold over the sea twenty nineteen two point four
liter engine, I've noticed a problem which.

Speaker 8 (16:20):
Sort of becomes dangerous it's going to delay in the
acceleration pedal, so the car basically doesn't respond if you're
in the intersection. Uh, and you want to pull or
you want to take over a car on a passing lane,
the car which sometimes doesn't respond to the pedal. It's

(16:41):
like a delay like a second or two. And I
found it dangerous.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
I feel like it. Does it feel like it's changing
gears or does it feel like the engine is just sluggish?

Speaker 9 (16:50):
Yeah, it feels like the engine is sluggish.

Speaker 12 (16:53):
So so happen.

Speaker 8 (16:54):
When I got another ODC, an older version, same size Mota,
and it's very responsive.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, Ian, thank you very much. We've got about sixty seconds.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
Man, if you haven't got an engine light on the dash,
i'd imagine there probably is an engine light. It could
be something like an airflow meter or a map sensor.
You'll probably have to get it in and get it
scanned and get somebody to test the onboard computer.

Speaker 4 (17:22):
Yeah, i'd say, and that's one that you want to
take in because that's no good.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
If you mixed cars on the phone, I'd be rich.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
If you're leaving, you know, if you're losing power in
the middle of an.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Intersection, No good, no good, not a good place to
be right, Thank you very much, has always Matt a
pleasure to have you on, and we'll do it all
again in about a month's time.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Awesome, guys, Matte, did you fix your windows?

Speaker 4 (17:43):
Yeah? The hey that worked that you said, reset the
windows and boom they're going.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Best on the bizz.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
Thanks very good.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
All right, I've got to say this, thanks Matt. We'll
catch you again soon. As always, advice offered in the
segment has done in good faith and should always be
confirmed by a physical inspection of your vehicle.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
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