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Tab8715 posted:I've thought about that too but the used car market is so much different that it used to be. I bought a '97 4-Door Acura Integra in 2007 for $3.4 with 134k miles that was in nearly mint condition aside from a few nicks. Now days it seems like I'll be lucky if I can even find one. I'm convinced cars have a half life of about 7 years until the 25-30 year mark, at which point a weird group of people decides they're awesome for some often unknown reason and tries to save what's left.
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May 14, 2012 15:43
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`Nemesis posted:I know this isn't the right forum technically, but I bet someone here has an answer. The thread you want is over here: Fix it Fast: quick questions that don't deserve their own thread in Creative Convention -> DIY & Hobbies, or the AC specific thread there, although I think that's more about HVAC systems.
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May 14, 2012 15:45
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Argenteus posted:Try rechecking the connections to your battery. I had the same thing happen to me after swapping out the battery on my Ranger and as it turned out I didn't fully secure the cables to the battery terminals. Ding Ding. Turns out the positive cable wasn't making a secure connection even though it was fully tightened (I could wiggle it on and off) I guess I replace the positive cable.
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May 14, 2012 18:26
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Stabby_McBitchslap posted:Update on this: I replaced the ignition switch, which worked OK, but it was still stuck in park. I wound up tearing through the steering column until I found some broken piece of linkage (or something) which I removed. Now it will shift out of park, but it will also start in any gear and shift into any gear when it's parked, which is OK with me. I wound up somehow re-loving the ignition linkage so that it goes into run alright but won't move into the start position. Guess I'll just install a push button start switch. If you manually move the switch to start, does it work? You may have to index the switch with the actuator rod.
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May 14, 2012 18:42
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 I just put these sweet rimz on my car, since this is the first time i've done this, the picture is just for bragging. my question is, though, alloy rims have this plastic centering ring (i hope that's what it's called in english) and only the front wheels have this mounted, the rear wheels do not. is this a dangerous thing to not have? note that it's a front wheel drive car. also what else should i keep in mind when driving with alloy wheels? this is a brand new world for me.
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May 14, 2012 19:43
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Most likely the front hubs are a slightly different size than the rears, and the ring is there to make up the difference. OEM wheels take this into account which is why you can rotate them. Just make sure the rings stay up front when you rotate them.
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May 14, 2012 20:01
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Fucknag posted:Most likely the front hubs are a slightly different size than the rears, and the ring is there to make up the difference. OEM wheels take this into account which is why you can rotate them. Just make sure the rings stay up front when you rotate them. the OEM wheels were steelies, this car's never seen alloy wheels before. from a little bit of googling i can see that the ring is there to make sure the wheels are dead center on the hubs to avoid shaking and whatnot. i'll drive with them and make sure there's no shaking issues i guess? Frobbe fucked around with this message at 20:49 on May 14, 2012 |
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May 14, 2012 20:47
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Any summer tire recommendations for an 02 LS1 F-body? Stock tire size is 275/40R-17. I'm leaning toward Continental ExtremeContact DW but am open to suggestions. Car might see limited track use, it won't see snow.
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May 14, 2012 21:13
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I have the DWS and they're fantastic.
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May 14, 2012 21:22
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Frobbe posted:the OEM wheels were steelies, this car's never seen alloy wheels before. from a little bit of googling i can see that the ring is there to make sure the wheels are dead center on the hubs to avoid shaking and whatnot. i'll drive with them and make sure there's no shaking issues i guess? They're usually specifically compensating for the center bore size of the wheels being too large for the hub (and yeah, it's to prevent vibration from having a gap). OEM wheels usually don't require hub rings.
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May 14, 2012 21:29
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RexSS345 posted:Any summer tire recommendations for an 02 LS1 F-body? Stock tire size is 275/40R-17. I'm leaning toward Continental ExtremeContact DW but am open to suggestions. Car might see limited track use, it won't see snow.
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May 14, 2012 21:36
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Uthor posted:I have the DWS and they're fantastic. Anyways, I don't have direct experience with these tires, but I've heard very good things, they seem like the best all around tire on the market these days. Good balance of cost/grip/treadwear, and they are also one of the lightest weight tires for a given size(at least in the sizes I was looking at). I plan to use these if I ever end up going to wider rubber on my 370Z.
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May 14, 2012 22:52
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Splizwarf posted:The thread you want is over here: Fix it Fast: quick questions that don't deserve their own thread in Creative Convention -> DIY & Hobbies, or the AC specific thread there, although I think that's more about HVAC systems. Awesome, thanks. I thought there was a DIY forum but didn't look under creative convention.
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May 15, 2012 00:03
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I know nothing about cars but I want to learn. I was wondering if someone could recommend a good book that would explain the basics of a car such as engine, tires, basically all that good stuff.
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May 15, 2012 04:10
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lurkdawg posted:I know nothing about cars but I want to learn. I was wondering if someone could recommend a good book that would explain the basics of a car such as engine, tires, basically all that good stuff. I read every single thing here. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/
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May 15, 2012 04:19
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So my radiator coolant is disappearing out of my 97 Dodge Ram 1500 360 V8. My car will run a little bit +10 degrees hotter than normal for a few days after I dump some pure antifreeze in the radiator cap. After a few days the truck runs dangerously hot (290 degrees) if I sit at a stoplight too long, until I can get moving again and the temp goes back down. I can see the fluid go down after I fill up to the overflow hole, but it's not going in the overflow reservoir (it doesn't get high enough to go out the overflow hole. It just disappears into the radiator. I can't for the life of me find any fluid dripping while this happens, I've put some cardboard under the car to hopefully show something, but so far its dry. My question is basically, whats the best way to handle this? I'm not equipped with the knowledge or tools to go digging around to check the radiator, hoses, gaskets, etc... What should I expect to have someone find out why in the gently caress this is happening? I know it sucks a poo poo dick to drive my truck like this but I'm worried that I'll dump 1000+ dollars into this old rear end truck only to have something suffer a critical failure.
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May 15, 2012 04:42
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Radiator fluid doesn't just disappear without a trace. It will leave a yellowish/greenish crusty cake wherever is it dripping from. Inspect all the hoses going to/from your radiator, including the ones going the the cabin air heater core, look on the side of the engine, remove the undertray and look for spots on it. Look for traces on the radiator itself, engine block, etc. Could also be possible with a bad headgasket that it's getting mixed in with oil and vaporizing out the tailpipe. Check your oil and make sure it's not milky. Edit: It's also not uncommon to have some air pockets in the system that got burped out after running the engine. Which could account for the coolant overflow level dropping(it sucks it back in when cool). If you only filled it once and noticed that it dropped, that could be normal. Try topping it off again, if it continues to drain then you might have an issue. Oh and don't add 100% antifreeze, either buy a 50/50 pre-mix or mix it yourself with distilled water. peepsalot fucked around with this message at 05:04 on May 15, 2012 |
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May 15, 2012 04:49
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doczoid posted:Hi there, I hope this is the right place to ask this... I don't know about your particular audio setup but most stock speakers are bare minimum to handle the wattage coming from the stock deck. (in most cases) You will overdrive the hell out of your speakers after all the work of cutting into the stock wiring. If you want to drive the stock speakers and use a crossover to cut out the lows and use the sub on another amp you'll probably have some nice sound, especially if you don't want to push it hard. There's a shitload of wiring and configuration to properly install an amplified setup. Fuses, alternator output, grounds, it goes on.
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May 15, 2012 05:04
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Go to autozone, rent a cooling system pressure tester. Pump the system to 15psi, and let it sit like that for a while. After about 20 minutes, you should have a good idea of where its leaking from. If it aint leaking, its probably burning
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May 15, 2012 05:07
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Explain "hot spots" on a flywheel to me. I'm assuming that's where the flywheel turns bluish in spots, but what causes this, and why is it bad? Mechanic doing my trans swap said the flywheel had a lot of "hot spots" and looked like it wasn't touched last time the clutch was swapped. I know it's usually important to remove whatever glaze from a flywheel during a clutch swap; I've heard "hot spots" before, but I'm clueless as to what actually causes them and what they mean. He did mention the clutch disc had a lot of oil on it as well, the rear main seal apparently wasn't replaced with the clutch. Don't look at me, I bought the car and was told it had a brand new clutch. If that was the case, the clutch would have 30k on it now, and he's saying there's no way in hell it only had 30k.  He also said "whoever did the last clutch job on this car was a loving idiot" 
randomidiot fucked around with this message at 05:32 on May 15, 2012 |
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May 15, 2012 05:29
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some texas redneck posted:Explain "hot spots" on a flywheel to me. I think its that the flywheel wasn't removed and put on a lathe and brought back to actual flatness, and any high spots (lets say 30% of the surface area was high) took the full load for a while, and got hot, and blue, and annealed, etc. Flywheels are not rotors. Flywheels get machined every time you change the clutch.
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May 15, 2012 05:52
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Lowclock posted:For that category I went with the Hankook Ventus V12 and have no complaints. I was thinking Star Specs at first, but they're relatively noisy and rough and wear out quick and I don't want that kind of tire on something I drive every day. I put on a set of V12s recently and have been impressed. Pretty good tires all around, and it's been raining cats and dogs which they've handled really well. TireRack has a rebate on them too. Not sure I'd want to do a track day on them though.
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May 15, 2012 06:00
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peepsalot posted:Be careful to make the distinction between DW(s) ("dry & wet", plural) and DWS (dry, wet, & snow). Since he already said its not gonna see snow, make sure to get the DW, they will grip better! I hate that naming scheme, i think a lot of people pluralize it and don't realize that it's a different model. Sorry, I do have the DWS. I assumed that the DW's were even better, or at least grippier in the summer. (Mine don't see the snow, either, but spring/fall in the midwest ensures that they see near freezing temperatures. I don't feel comfortable running summer rubber in those conditions.)
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May 15, 2012 06:31
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For what it's worth, the DWS has a mileage warranty, DW does not. So, it depends what you're looking for. My previous tires were ContiProContact 2 runflats. They lasted for 10k miles, and ran about $225 per tire. The DWS aren't as grippy, but have a mileage warranty for 60k miles and were $145 per tire. I don't mind paying more for a better product, but when my commute to work is 35 miles each way, I only got one summer out of the ProContact 2s, and that kind of sucked. Not sure what the life expectancy of the DW tires are, but keep that in mind.
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May 15, 2012 12:11
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My father was informed by his mechanic that the headlights on his 2000 Chrysler Grand Voyager are a milky and broken mess, and after checking it this morning I concur: The car looks exactly like this one I took from a dealer site:  He was quoted something like EUR 200 per headlight assembly, which I can't help but think is crap. I checked on Amazon and found the following: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YHFHA4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3BQYNBWYZNMC9 They're basically the right make, year, shape, there is just one detail I'm not sure about :  The ones in the car don't have that "forehead", for lack of a better word. Has anyone here handled these things before, do they fit? Any info is appreciated.
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May 15, 2012 13:45
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ChubbyEmoBabe posted:There's a shitload of wiring and configuration to properly install an amplified setup. Fuses, alternator output, grounds, it goes on. What's the best "hold-babby's-hand" resource out there for this? I can lay hands on some aftermarket stuff pretty easily but I have no idea what to do with it. I have a nice aftermarket head unit (bought it to charge my phone, honestly), but it's hooked up to the stock speakers and they are hating life. Sponge! posted:I think its that the flywheel wasn't removed and put on a lathe and brought back to actual flatness, and any high spots (lets say 30% of the surface area was high) took the full load for a while, and got hot, and blue, and annealed, etc. Rotors should too, to deglaze them and take care of any pad-material deposition.  Hot spots on the flywheel aren't from lathing, they're from slipping the gently caress out of the clutch all the time. As the clutch chatters, it hits the same spots and lifts over the same spots, and the places it's hitting get nuclear hot and de-temper. The flywheel also permanently stores some of this energy as stress (like a Prince Rupert's Drop) and in extreme cases will explode, and get posted in the other thread.
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May 15, 2012 14:49
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Autozone, you know it, you avoid it, but they have super cheap oil that requires purchase of a filter to get it cheap. It is cheaper to add the filter and throw it in the trash then buy the oil alone. Anyway all the filters they sell I believe are utter crap. Anyway I am cheap so which of the crap filters should I purchase? Choices include, fram, stp, bosch. All others are either 15 bucks or special order only. I have been going stp because it looks the best inside. Which one is going to help my commuter beast to 300k miles?
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May 15, 2012 15:04
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Get the Bosch. Don't buy Fram. Wal-Mart usually beats Autozone hands-down on oil, though. They sell 5 quart jugs of Mobil 1 0w-30 for less than the "with filter" sale price of a 4-quart jug at Autozone. I don't like Wal-Mart, but there's one or two things I can't pass up. v  ve: gently caress, quarts are not gallons Splizwarf fucked around with this message at 15:14 on May 15, 2012 |
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May 15, 2012 15:11
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Elephanthead posted:Autozone, you know it, you avoid it, but they have super cheap oil that requires purchase of a filter to get it cheap. It is cheaper to add the filter and throw it in the trash then buy the oil alone. Anyway all the filters they sell I believe are utter crap. Anyway I am cheap so which of the crap filters should I purchase? Bosch. And yeah I have like 10 extra filters from those deals... I buy a case of Wix from NAPA and they do me good.
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May 15, 2012 15:13
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I have taken up Autocrossing.I have very limited knowledge on suspension set-ups. My car is currently at the stock ride height on stock suspension, I have been told that lower is better but I find this somewhat dubious. How much of a drop is needed for maximum performance gain? What is considered excessive? Does the suspension needed to be re-engineered when the car is lowered excessively? Thank you.
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May 15, 2012 17:20
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assfucker420 posted:I have taken up Autocrossing.I have very limited knowledge on suspension set-ups. My car is currently at the stock ride height on stock suspension, I have been told that lower is better but I find this somewhat dubious. How much of a drop is needed for maximum performance gain? What is considered excessive? Does the suspension needed to be re-engineered when the car is lowered excessively? It really depends on the car. You need to provide more information. Autocross set ups, from my experience, are lower and much much stiffer. Also what the guy below me said. Lightbulb Out fucked around with this message at 17:31 on May 15, 2012 |
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May 15, 2012 17:25
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assfucker420 posted:I have taken up Autocrossing.I have very limited knowledge on suspension set-ups. My car is currently at the stock ride height on stock suspension, I have been told that lower is better but I find this somewhat dubious. How much of a drop is needed for maximum performance gain? What is considered excessive? Does the suspension needed to be re-engineered when the car is lowered excessively? It's tremendously more complicated than that. From an autocross / driver skill perspective, your best bet is to get a second set of wheels and some sticky tires, and become competitive in your stock class before you start dicking with suspension.
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May 15, 2012 17:26
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Safety Dance posted:It's tremendously more complicated than that. From an autocross / driver skill perspective, your best bet is to get a second set of wheels and some sticky tires, and become competitive in your stock class before you start dicking with suspension. Thanks. I was not planning on dropping the car anytime soon. The Vehicle in question is a 1989 Nissan 240SX Coupe. I'm just exploring the limits of the stock tires for now (195/60HR15 Bridgestone RE960AS) and thinking of moving to Advan A048s when I am good enough. Is the A048 a good competition tire?
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May 15, 2012 17:58
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I'm trying to fix my roommate's 49cc moped but I don't know much about this sort of thing. The problem is that it's impossible to start with the electric starter and very difficult to get started with the kick. Once it goes it's fine, and riding around charges up the battery and then if it needs to be started again in a relatively short amount of time (hours) even with the electric start it's OK, but a week later it's back to square one. Normally I'd blame the battery but it was new at the end of last summer, wasn't used much, and I took it out over the winter. Or am I wrong about this?
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May 15, 2012 18:35
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Elephanthead posted:Choices include, fram, stp, bosch. All others are either 15 bucks or special order only. I suppose Bosch is fine but I always think, yeah, fifteen bucks is three times as much as the cheap filters, but it's still only fifteen bucks. I buy Mobil 1. Probably excessive and unnecessary but again, it's only fifteen dollars.
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May 15, 2012 19:10
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big business sloth posted:I'm trying to fix my roommate's 49cc moped but I don't know much about this sort of thing. The problem is that it's impossible to start with the electric starter and very difficult to get started with the kick. Once it goes it's fine, and riding around charges up the battery and then if it needs to be started again in a relatively short amount of time (hours) even with the electric start it's OK, but a week later it's back to square one. Normally I'd blame the battery but it was new at the end of last summer, wasn't used much, and I took it out over the winter. Or am I wrong about this? Check the voltage on the battery if you can. "Wasn't used much" for 9 months is actually pretty bad for a vehicle battery. It would have been better for the moped if you had started it up and rode around the block / parking lot once every week or so. Speaking of which, have you cleaned the carb?
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May 15, 2012 19:22
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Leperflesh posted:I suppose Bosch is fine but I always think, yeah, fifteen bucks is three times as much as the cheap filters, but it's still only fifteen bucks. I buy Mobil 1. Probably excessive and unnecessary but again, it's only fifteen dollars. A lot of filters are identical, just rebadged. I *think* walmart's supertech brand is identical to the bosch.
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May 15, 2012 19:29
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big business sloth posted:Normally I'd blame the battery but it was new at the end of last summer, wasn't used much, and I took it out over the winter. Or am I wrong about this? 95% chance it's the battery. If you weren't keeping it on a float charger it likely dipped below 10.5 volts or so from sitting so long which means it's permanently damaged. Have it tested on a carbon pile load tester to verify, or just swap it. If it's really bad, you should see low voltage within hours/a day after it has been charged. Charge it and keep it disconnected to rule out any parasitic drains from the scooter if you choose to go that route.
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May 15, 2012 19:42
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Safety Dance posted:Check the voltage on the battery if you can. "Wasn't used much" for 9 months is actually pretty bad for a vehicle battery. It would have been better for the moped if you had started it up and rode around the block / parking lot once every week or so. No, I'll check that though. If she has to buy a new battery, well, that's on her. Thanks. ^^^yeah.
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May 15, 2012 20:17
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OK, I have a minor mechanical failure (x3) in progress, and I need some advice on what to do next. There are 6 bolts that hold the skid plate (which is also the transmission support) to the frame of my Jeep. Due to Michigan's practice of salting the roads during the winter, the bolts are heavily rusted, so I sprayed them with PB blaster as best I could. The frame rails are full of mud, so I can't spray PB Blaster directly on the nuts that are inside the frame. The 3 bolts on the passenger side came out with a 18" breaker bar, the 3 on the driver's side all snapped off.  I got a set of bolt extractors that grip from the outside (for when you round off a bolt head) in the right size to fit the shaft. That got one of the bolts out, but snapped the other two flush with the frame. So now I've got 2 12mm grade 8.8 bolts rusted so firmly in place that a 18" breaker bar yielded the metal (twice). The next step was to get a bolt extractor that fits inside the bolt and therefore is... smaller... but for this to succeed, it would have to take more torque than the bolts... Well, maybe they're made of a significantly stronger material... Nope.  This is where I'm at right now: 3 bolts broken 5 times, 4 of 6 bolts successfully replaced, two still broken. At this stage, I'm thinking of just running a large bolt all the way through the frame rail with a nut on top. The only thing stopping me is that I'm slightly worried about putting extra holes in the frame rails. I know there's a lot of holes already in the frame, but they're mostly on the sides, not the top or bottom, that's where the beam gets most of its strength (think of an I beam, it's never an H beam). Ideas? The front bolt is still in there, broken but untouched, so if I can successfully remove that with your help, I'm OK with 2 of 3 bolts, at least until I can get it to a shop and let a pro work on it.
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May 15, 2012 23:12
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