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Bought a used 2014 Altima a couple years ago with 40k miles, it was a rental car. Now it's coming up on 46k miles, so not exactly a high mileage vehicle. The oil's been changed once a year though and no other problems. Took it to a dealer for a recall notice, and they want $199 for a rear brake pad replacement with rotor resurfacing, which doesn't seem too much like highway robbery and I have no reason to believe they're lying when they say there's only a couple of millimeters left on one of the pads. They also recommend a CVT flush (not recommended in the manual until 60k miles, but they said it tested high) for $265. This doesn't seem super insane if they're actually following the flush procedure, which apparently involves roughly 8 quarts ($132 retail) of NS-3 fluid and some tricky adding while the engine is idling, but not sure what to think here, the CVT certainly hasn't been abused since I've owned it. Worth it? Finally, a brake fluid flush at $105. The sales dude himself basically told me that I shouldn't bother with this, unless that was just a sales tactic to get me to do the other two. Any thoughts on what I should do here? This is in the far suburbs of Chicago.
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Jul 19, 2017 02:07
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Generally don't bother resurfacing brake rotors, they're cheaper to just replace outright.
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Jul 19, 2017 02:09
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Leperflesh posted:Generally don't bother resurfacing brake rotors, they're cheaper to just replace outright. Hmm, if that's the goon line, I'm really only a floor jack away from replacing the pads for $20 and just wishing I had a pneumatic drill. If I did a CVT replacement instead of a full flush, that would take it down to like $80 for that, but would a flush be worth it? How do I even know they will properly do a flush?
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Jul 19, 2017 02:18
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Are 13 inch rims particularly rare? My body shop is having a hell of a time finding one. 2004 hyundai accent if it matters.
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Jul 19, 2017 03:37
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baquerd posted:Hmm, if that's the goon line, I'm really only a floor jack away from replacing the pads for $20 and just wishing I had a pneumatic drill. If I did a CVT replacement instead of a full flush, that would take it down to like $80 for that, but would a flush be worth it? How do I even know they will properly do a flush? Replace the pads yourself, it's very, very unlikely that rear rotors would need resurfacing at that mileage (unless they were grinding, in which case they'd likely be hosed enough to require replacement). CVTs are finicky enough that I'd go ahead with at least a fluid change. And with having the dealer do it, you know it's (probably) getting the right fluid. That's not a bad price for having them do it. Unbelievably White posted:Are 13 inch rims particularly rare? My body shop is having a hell of a time finding one. 2004 hyundai accent if it matters. Pretty much unheard of today, yeah. You may be better off picking up a junkyard set of 14s or 15s. 13" (both tires and wheels) largely disappeared as an option by the mid 90s in the US; Hyundai and Kia were one of the last companies to use them, IIRC, and only on their bottom of the line models. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Jul 19, 2017 |
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Jul 19, 2017 03:50
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Unbelievably White posted:Are 13 inch rims particularly rare? My body shop is having a hell of a time finding one. 2004 hyundai accent if it matters. Yeah, they are (when I look for them secondhand, pretty much all the hits I get are for trailer wheels). As a Starlet owner, I feel your pain.
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Jul 19, 2017 04:32
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Unbelievably White posted:Are 13 inch rims particularly rare? My body shop is having a hell of a time finding one. 2004 hyundai accent if it matters. As the posters above said yeah they are getting quite rare and haven't been used in years, even 14s are starting to become difficult to get decent tires for in my area. My 89 Golf has 13s so right there with you.
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Jul 19, 2017 05:02
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baquerd posted:Hmm, if that's the goon line, I'm really only a floor jack away from replacing the pads for $20 and just wishing I had a pneumatic drill. If I did a CVT replacement instead of a full flush, that would take it down to like $80 for that, but would a flush be worth it? How do I even know they will properly do a flush? From your mention of it taking NS-3, I'd recommend not doing the cvt flush yourself. We had an employee attempt it on our versa at work and he spent half the day making custom fittings just to be able to fill and drain it. Also, make 100% sure they are using NS-3 since as another store discovered, using NS-2 will grenade the trans in short order. And you might try asking to see the empty bottles of NS-3 once they finish.
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Jul 19, 2017 05:53
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baquerd posted:Hmm, if that's the goon line, I'm really only a floor jack away from replacing the pads for $20 and just wishing I had a pneumatic drill. If you put your car into RockAuto you will probably find rotors for under $30 each, unless they're of some kind of very unusual design. An air impact driver plus a compressor with a decent sized tank is a good long-term investment for anyone who will be cranking on a car periodically: or you can get an electric one if you don't already have air tools set up, there are plenty of serviceable electric impact driver options of both types. Also do not tighten your lug nuts using an impact driver unless you have torque bars to limit the torque to spec. A low-profile floor jack is also very nice to own: that and some jack stands of appropriate beefiness for your car's weight, plus a socket set, crescent/box combo wrenches, and a few other random hand tools and you can do your own oil changes, tire rotations, brake pads, and various other basic car maintenance jobs. A few years of doing your own work will pay for the tools and then some.
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Jul 19, 2017 07:22
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How well do newer Silverados hold up? Looking at two different 2009 GMC Sierra SLEs. Both 4x4 with the 5.3L. One has 57k on it and the other has 87k. I like the 87k one better since it is black and has fog lights and is a bit cheaper. Also, is it possible to wire up OEM fog lights to the truck withoit hacking it up?
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Jul 19, 2017 11:34
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Trucks are like the easiest thing to wire anything into. Check to see if the underside of the dash is open and if you can access the fire wall easily-ish. Probably going to be a matter of fishing a wire through the firewall using a coat hanger/stick, catching power to lights somewhere in the engine bay and putting in a switch somewhere on the dash.
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Jul 19, 2017 11:48
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Thanks for the help everyone. I took a year of auto classes back in the day and it will be fun to get back into this.
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Jul 19, 2017 12:32
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Update for those of you interested: Took the car to the VW dealership (2nd time now, for the same issue). Technician said he couldn't feel anything wrong with the car (as he was driving it). He was flooring it and the performance was poo poo, I even told him it doesn't pull like my old car does, and he said it feels normal. I asked him if he could have a look at the clutch anyway, for my ease of mind. He said it wouldn't be covered by the warranty if he did that, as he couldn't detect anything wrong with the car (gently caress off) and he needs to feel a fault for it to be covered. I told him it doesn't feel right, I told him I drove the exact same engine size in a 2014 Golf, and it felt twice as nippy as the one I have now, despite this one having 115BHP compared to my old 105BHP. He shrugs and says he can't discern any issues, but they're taking it in next week to run a diagnostics (they won't find anything most likely, cause they clearly wanna save as much money as possible, and it's what the other VW dealership did already and it changed nothing). Right after that, I called up my local Halfords (a big car service company) and asked if they'd have a look for me and that I'm happy paying to find out what their opinion is. The minute they found out it was new and under warranty, they told me they won't help, as they don't want to get in the way of a dealership (he said if they found an issue and I took that as proof to the dealership, it would cause issues for him). Fair enough. Went to a small independent garage, that guy test drove it and basically confirmed all my suspicions. He said it's like the car is hesitant to pull away, and that he felt it lugging a little bit. He told me that the clutch feels fine, and doubt that's the cause of the problem. He told me not to worry, give it a thousand miles or so and hope that everything beds in. He said as well that year by year, engine mapping changes, so it could be that due to the whole emissions scandal, they've strangled the engine. I'm definitely going to go back to them once I break the 1000 mile marker if the issue is still there. The guy was genuine and gave me his honest advice, he straight up told me not to pay the £45 they charge to have a look at it, as he feels the problem might resolve itself once it's been broken in. I feel robbed by the dealership, to be honest. Dropping all that cash on a new car, only for it to feel like a 1L granny's car compared to my old nippy bitch. I'm also officially past the 14-day return window so I can't throw the car back at the dealership. PSA: always test drive the loving car you're getting. Don't be a jackass like me and barely put it through it's paces cause you already test drove another model at a different dealership.
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Jul 19, 2017 13:08
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:You may be better off picking up a junkyard set of 14s or 15s. 13" (both tires and wheels) largely disappeared as an option by the mid 90s in the US; Hyundai and Kia were one of the last companies to use them, IIRC, and only on their bottom of the line models. Autoexec.bat posted:My 89 Golf has 13s so right there with you. Ethics_Gradient posted:As a Starlet owner, I feel your pain. Thanks ya'll! I was worried that it was just the medium-size jeans effect (thing is actually common, but demand is so high you can never find it). Is there anything I should take into consideration if I go up a rim size? Do I have to have my wheel wells cut larger or something? Should I try to just up to 15s if I can?
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Jul 19, 2017 14:01
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Unbelievably White posted:Thanks ya'll! I was worried that it was just the medium-size jeans effect (thing is actually common, but demand is so high you can never find it). Is there anything I should take into consideration if I go up a rim size? Do I have to have my wheel wells cut larger or something? Should I try to just up to 15s if I can? hyundai accent 13 inch wheel search This says 2000-2001 accent but it could be the same as yours. But yeah, not much else there. If you want to go up a wheel size and not bother with recalculating your speedometer then you'll just be buying a slightly thinner tire. You can use this Tire size calculator to figure out what tire sizes will have the same diameter as your current ones. Doing this will cause a harsher ride, though. Cage fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Jul 19, 2017 |
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Jul 19, 2017 14:06
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Q8ee posted:Update for those of you interested: Unbelievably White posted:Thanks ya'll! I was worried that it was just the medium-size jeans effect (thing is actually common, but demand is so high you can never find it). Is there anything I should take into consideration if I go up a rim size? Do I have to have my wheel wells cut larger or something? Should I try to just up to 15s if I can? As long as the pattern of studs and centre bore are the same, the wheel will bolt on, and if the offset (difference between the centre of the wheel and the line of the actual mounting face) is similar, it'll work right. The only gotcha is that larger wheels are usually wider too, and you use wider tyres, so you need to both account fir this when calculating the diameter to be the same, and make sure the extra width won't rub anywhere. For almost all cars, you'll find information out there on what people have found fits. A set of used wheels and appropriate tyres from a higher spec version are always an easy way of doing it.
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Jul 19, 2017 14:14
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Unfortunately not, the car is fickle. 2nd time it plays nicely when I take it round there, then it judders all the way home. Genuinely wish I could just hand the loving thing back, but ah well. The independent garage guy sorta made me feel a little better, but I'm still really upset with the entire thing. Driving the car isn't fun or enjoyable cause it just refuses to go. And I have a feeling it probably won't fix itself, and the longer I leave it the less options I have of potentially getting myself out of the contract. Edit: so many conflicting statements. The guys at the dealership say there's no break in period for modern cars. The guy over the phone (for VW) says there is a break in period. The independent garage guy said there's a break in period. Dunno who to believe. Qubee fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Jul 19, 2017 |
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Jul 19, 2017 14:33
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Q8ee posted:Unfortunately not, the car is fickle. 2nd time it plays nicely when I take it round there, then it judders all the way home. Genuinely wish I could just hand the loving thing back, but ah well. The independent garage guy sorta made me feel a little better, but I'm still really upset with the entire thing. Driving the car isn't fun or enjoyable cause it just refuses to go. Look in your manual for the official statement re break in, there will be something listed there. I am dubious that it will suddenly gain an extra 50bhp of performance after 1,000 miles. Can you try another dealership?
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Jul 19, 2017 14:56
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Autoexec.bat posted:As the posters above said yeah they are getting quite rare and haven't been used in years, even 14s are starting to become difficult to get decent tires for in my area. My 89 Golf has 13s so right there with you. Anything smaller than 16s is tough to source these days.
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Jul 19, 2017 15:05
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spog posted:Look in your manual for the official statement re break in, there will be something listed there. I've tried finding the break in statement so many times but I can't seem to find it in the manual. I've read it back to front twice. I've so far tried two dealerships: one where I bought it (which I'm yet to see how well they diagnose any potential problems) and another certified VW dealership an hour and a half away (which did jack poo poo and didn't even fix the broken plastic interior properly, it broke again after just 3 days).
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Jul 19, 2017 15:07
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Q8ee posted:I've tried finding the break in statement so many times but I can't seem to find it in the manual. I've read it back to front twice. I tried to find a pdf version, but it looks like you need a VIN to download it from VW. I would do that, then CTRL-F.
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Jul 19, 2017 15:11
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http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/manualsGodholio posted:I tried to find a pdf version, but it looks like you need a VIN to download it from VW. I would do that, then CTRL-F. Dammit, you fast fingered freak! From the 2015 manual quote:Break-in period spog fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Jul 19, 2017 |
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Jul 19, 2017 15:12
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You guys are brilliant, thank you. I'll follow that advice and hopefully it all turns out okay.
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Jul 19, 2017 15:16
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Godholio posted:Anything smaller than 16s is tough to source these days. It depends a bit on what you want in tires. I had no problem finding 14s for my Ranger in 2014, and offroad tires will probably exist on 15 inch wheels until the end of time. But performance tires in anything with a remotely thick sidewall are nonexistent. It cost the same to go to 20s as it would have to go to 18s on my C10, and even the 18s have limited tire selection now. The 20s I run have the same fitment as the regular SRT8 Challenger (front) and Hellcat (rear) so much better tire selection.
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Jul 19, 2017 17:50
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Q8ee posted:Update for those of you interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9igQ18GIqvc&t=0m26s
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Jul 19, 2017 18:42
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That video loving nailed it. "Every year, the engines have changes made, so that's probably what you're feeling and aren't used to" "Just gotta give things time to bed in and get smoothed out, is all" "Car feels fine, mate, nothing wrong at all" Just got back from the shops, car has judders for days. If juddering was a source of energy, I could power an entire third world country with the amount my car judders. Isn't it weird how it's always the case of your car being an absolute pain in the rear end normally, but it'll 180 the minute you take it in to show them the problems. Crazy how nature do that
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Jul 19, 2017 19:36
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Q8ee posted:That video loving nailed it. "Every year, the engines have changes made, so that's probably what you're feeling and aren't used to" "Just gotta give things time to bed in and get smoothed out, is all" "Car feels fine, mate, nothing wrong at all" Keep going back to the dealer haha. One of the times it will show that issue and no one will be able to deny it. After that they probably won't mind taking care of it, since they get reimbursed partially by corporate (I think at a lower than public labor rate).
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Jul 19, 2017 19:42
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Unbelievably White posted:Thanks ya'll! I was worried that it was just the medium-size jeans effect (thing is actually common, but demand is so high you can never find it). Is there anything I should take into consideration if I go up a rim size? Do I have to have my wheel wells cut larger or something? Should I try to just up to 15s if I can? If your area is anything like mine, size 13 and 15 tires are not too hard to find but size 14 tires with the proper height to not mess up your speedo have to be ordered so either a compatible set of 15s or 13s would be how I would go. I only suggest the 13" since the tires are dirt cheap. A quick search for your car shows no results for me but you could find some compatible wheels without too much trouble, like this. Original wheel size for your car according to the internet: 175/70R13, 5.5 width, 46 offset 4x100 bolt pattern M12 x 1.5 bolts 54.1 center bore For comparison, 1985-1992 Golf/Jetta GL wheels: 175/70R13 5.5 width 38 offset 4x100 bolt pattern M12 x 1.5 bolts 57.1 center bore The only difference here would be you would need hub centric rings and the wheels would stick out a touch more than your old ones due to the lower offset (8mm further out) The nice part about this is the Golf actually has an aftermarket, so you could get something like this which would work fine for your situation. Autoexec.bat fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Jul 20, 2017 |
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Jul 20, 2017 02:53
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Any tips on getting dowel pins into a flywheel, or is it just an arduous pain?
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Jul 20, 2017 04:31
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Put them in a freezer for an hour or two?
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Jul 20, 2017 04:34
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Spray them with an upside down can of duster.
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Jul 20, 2017 04:40
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Autoexec.bat posted:If your area is anything like mine, size 13 and 15 tires are not too hard to find but size 14 tires with the proper height to not mess up your speedo have to be ordered so either a compatible set of 15s or 13s would be how I would go. I only suggest the 13" since the tires are dirt cheap.
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Jul 20, 2017 07:46
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Turns out the remote central locking module was bad, I've sent it back and they should be sending me a new one in the next few days. Thanks for all your help!
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Jul 20, 2017 10:40
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Local shop did an oil change on my 2008 Prius for $16 after tax/disposal, and I paid $25 for Mobil 1 Extended Performance at Walmart and $5 for the OEM Toyota filter in Amazon.  Since I didn't get fluids topped off/multi-point inspection, should I check for anything other than wiper fluid and coolant levels?
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Jul 20, 2017 12:29
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Josh Lyman posted:Local shop did an oil change on my 2008 Prius for $16 after tax/disposal, and I paid $25 for Mobil 1 Extended Performance at Walmart and $5 for the OEM Toyota filter in Amazon. Check both coolant levels (inverter coolant and engine) and check the GIANT brake fluid reservoir. The brake unit on a Prius is one of the most expensive parts on the car - don't let that thing run dry.
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Jul 20, 2017 18:04
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Oh dear god yes. I know 3 people who've had to replace it.. to the tune of $2500 (one of them managed to get it down to $2200) They claim you can't just throw a used one in, and only the dealer can do the work. Not sure how true that is.
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Jul 20, 2017 20:44
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0toShifty posted:Check both coolant levels (inverter coolant and engine) and check the GIANT brake fluid reservoir. The brake unit on a Prius is one of the most expensive parts on the car - don't let that thing run dry.  At least I'll be able to use for drain/fill on inverter loop at 150k per Toyota maintenance schedule.Brake fluid is a very good level.
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Jul 20, 2017 21:25
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So, another question about my 05 Prius, the AC system sometimes is nice and cold and other times doesn't work at all or barely works and it's a complete crapshoot which it is on any given day, it'll even sometimes start/stop working mid drive. Also the sightglass on the system is all foamy even freshly charged. I recharged it 2 days ago gambling that more 134a would help and it was cold for that day and the next morning then stopped working mid-day then started working again this morning . Does anyone know what this could be?
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Jul 20, 2017 23:14
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I think there is a dedicated AC thread currently active? As far as initial troubleshooting, can you tell if the compressor is engaging when you don't feel like you're getting cold air?
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Jul 20, 2017 23:17
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It appears to be working all the time when the AC is turned on, but it's a Prius so it's some kind of electric compressor. It seems to stop working more when the car has been sitting in the sun but that may just be coincidence. Edit: Found the AC thread, I'll post over there. Autoexec.bat fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Jul 20, 2017 |
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Jul 20, 2017 23:22
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