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Mr. Wiggles
Dec 1, 2003

We are all drinking from the highball glass of ideology.
Ran a diagnostic on the CR-V. No transmission codes. I did get a P0420 (Catalyst system efficiency below threshold) and P0171 (System Too Lean Bank 1). So that would seem to back up the idea that the coils might be going and that a new set of them, plus some plugs and wires, might solve the issue. I'm not sure when the last time plugs and wires were done, since I've only been doing the maintenance on the car for the last 30k miles, so that won't hurt in any case.

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monsterzero
May 12, 2002
-=TOPGUN=-
Boys who love airplanes :respek: Boys who love boys
Lipstick Apathy

Mr. Wiggles posted:

Ran a diagnostic on the CR-V. No transmission codes. I did get a P0420 (Catalyst system efficiency below threshold) and P0171 (System Too Lean Bank 1). So that would seem to back up the idea that the coils might be going and that a new set of them, plus some plugs and wires, might solve the issue. I'm not sure when the last time plugs and wires were done, since I've only been doing the maintenance on the car for the last 30k miles, so that won't hurt in any case.

I doubt coils would lead to a p0171. That's usually caused by something like a vacuum leak. If your spark was weak, you'd appear rich to the O2 sensor if anything.

Mr. Wiggles
Dec 1, 2003

We are all drinking from the highball glass of ideology.

monsterzero posted:

I doubt coils would lead to a p0171. That's usually caused by something like a vacuum leak. If your spark was weak, you'd appear rich to the O2 sensor if anything.

So what, dirty MAP sensor? Dirty throttle body?

Garage2Roadtrip
Oct 27, 2016

Mr. Wiggles posted:

So what, dirty MAP sensor? Dirty throttle body?

Intake manifold gasket, TB gasket, hose disconnected or cracked somewhere in the air intake circuit.
e: think places that outside air can get into the combustion chamber without being metered or monitored by sensors.

Travic
May 27, 2007

Getting nowhere fast
2009 Honda Civic LC 1.6L 4 Cylinder. 93,000 miles.

I've been having a recurring problem with my car. I took it in to be inspected Mid-September and was told that the front tires were worn down (They showed me the wear bars), but the rear tires were fine. I had them replaced (Aspen Touring A/S) and all the tires were aligned and balanced. Almost immediately I noticed a severe rumbling at 60mph. I figured they'd hosed up the alignment so I took it back. They showed me the two old tires and they were horribly out of round that they had not noticed last time. I mean scary out of round. I had them replaced and the car rolled smooth as silk for a few days then it suddenly started rumbling again. I took it back and they said one of the weights they had placed had fallen off. They put it back and re-aligned and balanced the tires. The vibration is still there.

Any ideas?

Travic fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Oct 18, 2017

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

Mr. Wiggles posted:

Ran a diagnostic on the CR-V. No transmission codes. I did get a P0420 (Catalyst system efficiency below threshold) and P0171 (System Too Lean Bank 1). So that would seem to back up the idea that the coils might be going and that a new set of them, plus some plugs and wires, might solve the issue. I'm not sure when the last time plugs and wires were done, since I've only been doing the maintenance on the car for the last 30k miles, so that won't hurt in any case.

Bad coils would not cause a lean condition, nor would plugs. They'd cause a rich condition.

Throttle body gasket, intake manifold gasket, split vacuum hose, badly clogged fuel filter, failing fuel pump, failing brake booster, wound be my suspects. Anything that's going to let air get in after the MAF. It could also be an O2 sensor starting to fail - in my experience, they fail lean, causing the ECU to go "OH poo poo, THROW MORE GAS AT IT!. Usually you'll get an O2 sensor #1 (upstream) code fairly quickly, but it can also cause P0420 if it's running too rich for the cat to do much, if it hasn't picked up on the upstream sensor failure yet. But the sensor usually fails quickly enough that the ECU picks up on it being failed (not always).

I'd personally go ahead and do whatever maintenance it may be behind on, do any obvious repairs you discover along the way, and purchase a small propane torch. You can start the engine, then wave the (UNLIT, but open) propane torch around any suspect areas (particularly the brake booster and the throttle body, but also where the throttle body meets the head - wave it around any vacuum lines too). If the engine RPM increases, you've found a vacuum leak.

Check evap hoses as well at the same time, and if you have access to a fuel pressure gauge, it wouldn't hurt to see how the fuel system is doing. If you have access to an OBD2 reader or Bluetooth OBD2 adapter, you should be able to take a loot at long and short term fuel trims, along with O2 sensor output. That stuff can be really helpful.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Oct 18, 2017

Professor Shark
May 22, 2012

My oil changes have jumped from $57 to $79 in the last ~4 months. The small place I get it done says that they're being charged more by their supplier. My father in law buys oil when it goes on sale at Walmart once a month and I'm considering getting him to buy it for me. The garage has always used 5W30 Ac delco. Is 5W30 oil the same? Are there brands that I should avoid?

Qubee
May 31, 2013




Got an independent garage to take a look at my car (read post history for details) whilst they were putting a new tyre on for me - as I had a puncture. They've told me they haven't detected any issues, and it's driving me mad.

This loving car will get random drops in RPM when I'm in 3rd and 4th gear, like the engine suddenly lugs and I lose speed and it's a very noticeable jolt (to the point where I'll be pushed forward from the slow down). I took it to an independent garage as I felt VW was brushing me off and not taking me seriously, especially when they refused to look at the clutch because they hadn't "detected any faults".

In 1st gear, the car barely pulls. I had an identical 1.6L TDI 2014 model, and in first gear, the fucker would pull. I could also overtake at 50mph in 4th gear no problem. My 2017 1.6L can't do this at all. I was doing 50mph behind a guy on a country road, dropped down to 4th gear, and pushed the accelerator all the way down and went to overtake him on a straight stretch of road. I ended up bailing on the overtake because my car literally didn't even speed up, despite being around 1600RPM in 4th gear.

It's doing my head in and I'm convinced there's an issue with the car. Changing gears, I feel a shakiness / jangling in the clutch which is really noticeable, whereas my old car never had this. It felt solid and sure of itself. Changing gears was smooth, but my new car, it's like I'm a learner driver when I change gears cause the loving thing judders despite how hard I try to transition between gears smoothly (I'm not a bad driver, I know how to properly change gears).

Can anyone give me advice or tips or any suspicions on what they may think it is, cause I'm losing my mind.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Professor Shark posted:

My oil changes have jumped from $57 to $79 in the last ~4 months. The small place I get it done says that they're being charged more by their supplier. My father in law buys oil when it goes on sale at Walmart once a month and I'm considering getting him to buy it for me. The garage has always used 5W30 Ac delco. Is 5W30 oil the same? Are there brands that I should avoid?

All modern oils generally perform the same. You'll want to verify if your car has some specific requirement to meet (like GM Dexeos) but other than that, the $25 five quart bottle of synthetic 5w30 from Mobil or Pennzoil will surely do the job for you.

Q8ee posted:

I ended up bailing on the overtake because my car literally didn't even speed up, despite being around 1600RPM in 4th gear.

I fully admit here that I've never driven a diesel, but I did have a direct injected turbocharged gas four cylinder. It did make loads of torque but standing on it in a high gear like that at a low RPM would lug the engine big time.

Why would you not downshift for an overtake like that?

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib

Q8ee posted:

Got an independent garage to take a look at my car. They've told me they haven't detected any issues, and it's driving me mad.
Get somebody from that independent garage to test-drive your car, with you in the passenger seat.

The last time I had problems with my truck's front end (there's a part of the 4WD system that keeps mysteriously disappearing, new axles seem to have solved this weird problem) the tech who had done most of the work on it up to that point offered to drive around with me to diagnose the on-again/off-again nature of my problem. His little test-drives hadn't shown anything, but after I picked it up the first time I had some problems at highway speeds so I came back. For the first 10 minutes, no problems (of course), but we got onto a highway and up to speed and then he felt the front end misbehave.

Things like janky gear changes and no power in 4th should show up on a test-drive that goes further than once around the shop. Really, if you've described your problems to them the same way you've described them here, they should be doing proper test-drives anyway.

IOwnCalculus posted:

Why would you not downshift for an overtake like that?
He did. He said he dropped down to 4th, so presumably had been in 5th at 50mph. Dropping more than 1 gear to overtake is outside most people's normal driving habits, I think. Not saying it's a bad idea - Q8ee, take it out again and see what it's like in 3rd at 50mph - but it's probably not something most people would think to do.

ExecuDork fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Oct 18, 2017

Qubee
May 31, 2013




IOwnCalculus posted:

I fully admit here that I've never driven a diesel, but I did have a direct injected turbocharged gas four cylinder. It did make loads of torque but standing on it in a high gear like that at a low RPM would lug the engine big time.

Why would you not downshift for an overtake like that?

Purely based off of past experience with my 2014 model, I'd done overtakes at that RPM in that gear many, many times. It was never insanely fast overtaking like this, but it definitely did the job well enough to warrant not having to shift down further to 3rd gear, and it was fast enough to easily overtake at 50mph. Only time I'd downshift to 3rd gear to overtake at 50mph was when I was being a cheeky bastard and wanted to shoot past someone.

ExecuDork posted:

Get somebody from that independent garage to test-drive your car, with you in the passenger seat.

I honestly can't fault the garage. I paid £63 for a tyre change and was fully expecting to pay them the £45 diagnostics fee on top of that as well. However, they only took payment for the replaced tyre, and when I mentioned the £45, they told me they didn't feel right charging me for it as they hadn't found any issues. The first time I took it to them (the reason I came back is because they were so drat honest and genuine), the driver sided with me and said he could definitely feel the engine was lugging and hesitant. But today, they said they didn't detect any issues, and the odometer showed me that they'd driven ~5 miles. So at this point, I'm really starting to doubt my sanity, despite noticing these drops in engine power regularly enough to not trust my car.

At this point, I'm going to take their advice and just go to my dealer and ask to test drive an exact same model to finally put a nail in the coffin and show whether this poo poo is in my head or not. The independent garage is honestly top notch, though. I'll be doing all my car-related stuff with them from here on out. The jangly and rattling clutch issue was mysteriously gone when I picked it up, so I have a feeling they tightened stuff up, and I really respect that level of customer service. Clutch feels so much better now, and doesn't vibrate through my foot when changing gears. I didn't realise it was that bad but after they'd tightened whatever they tightened, the clutch feels solid and responsive. I have a feeling that's going to fix the juddery gear changes.

Azuth0667
Sep 20, 2011

By the word of Zoroaster, no business decision is poor when it involves Ahura Mazda.
Is replacing oxygen sensors on a 2002 toyota camry, 2.4L 4 cylinder engine, something a novice could do?

BlackMK4
Aug 23, 2006

wat.
Megamarm
Yes, just make sure you get an actual o2 sensor socket and a decent breaker bar for it, otherwise you will hate life when you strip it.

Travic
May 27, 2007

Getting nowhere fast

Travic posted:

2009 Honda Civic LC 1.6L 4 Cylinder. 93,000 miles.

I've been having a recurring problem with my car. I took it in to be inspected Mid-September and was told that the front tires were worn down (They showed me the wear bars), but the rear tires were fine. I had them replaced (Aspen Touring A/S) and all the tires were aligned and balanced. Almost immediately I noticed a severe rumbling at 60mph. I figured they'd hosed up the alignment so I took it back. They showed me the two old tires and they were horribly out of round that they had not noticed last time. I mean scary out of round. I had them replaced and the car rolled smooth as silk for a few days then it suddenly started rumbling again. I took it back and they said one of the weights they had placed had fallen off. They put it back and re-aligned and balanced the tires. The vibration is still there.

Any ideas?

Anyone have any thoughts?

rdb
Jul 8, 2002
chicken mctesticles?

Travic posted:

Anyone have any thoughts?

Your tires are probably still out of balance. Shops don’t always calibrate thier balancers like they should. Take it back again and complain, show them the vibration if needed.

If it gets real bad and they cant fix it find a shop with a hunter road force balancer.

blugu64
Jul 17, 2006

Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?
Any advice on window tint? I found a great installer (been around 20~ years in the same spot), and am looking at Llumar CTX (ceramic) 35 all around. Maybe 15 on the hatch?

2013 Chevy Volt

Autoexec.bat
Dec 29, 2012

Just one more level
So as previously mentioned I bought a super cheap non-running 85 Turismo 2.2 because I like lovely malaise era cars but I've been unsuccessful so far at trying to get it started. It cranks and tries to run but won't fire more than 3-4 times in a row before stopping again. I changed the fuel pump/filter, put good gas in it, and changed the oil/plug wires then tried the propane trick to make sure it's not just the carb. I then tried to turn it over by hand from the cam (I know not the right way but it's on a hill atm) to check timing but I couldn't get it to budge even with the plugs out. Also tried adjusting the distributor but it didn't help either. Does anyone have any ideas where to go from here?

Autoexec.bat fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Oct 19, 2017

StormDrain
May 22, 2003

Thirteen Letter

Autoexec.bat posted:

So as previously mentioned I bought a super cheap non-running 85 Turismo 2.2 because I like lovely malaise era cars but I've been unsuccessful so far at trying to get it started. It cranks and tries to run but won't fire more than 3-4 times in a row before stopping again. I changed the fuel pump/filter, put good gas in it, and changed the oil/plug wires but it hasn't made a big difference then tried the propane trick to make sure it's not just the carb to no effect. I tried to turn it over by hand from the cam (I know not the right way but it's on a hill atm) to check timing but I couldn't get it to budge even with the plugs out. Also tried adjusting the distributor but it didn't help either. Does anyone have any ideas where to go from here?

What kind of history do you have on it? Anything?

Carburetors are pretty simple devices and even a gummed up one should allow a motor to run at some position, so provided it has fuel (is this confirmed? fuel in the fuel bowl?), you should get some lovely rear end performance. I don't know though it looks needlessly complex with wires and vents.

Are you absolutely sure the timing is correct for the distributor? Easy enough to get it 180 degrees out of phase and it'll try hard to run but never run right.

Autoexec.bat
Dec 29, 2012

Just one more level
No history other than the owner said he had driven it a couple years ago before parking it but I think someone screwed with it since. The vehicle history on this particular car is so sparse half of the vehicle history sites think the VIN is invalid and one of them that did work only had a single entry from 2013 which was last time it was registered.

It has fuel which it was spraying out of the bowl at one point and started a small fire. The distributor was 180 out but I've already corrected that then kind of eyeballed it from there until it was firing the most often. To simplify things all non-essential vacuum lines have been plugged off as the car only needs 2 to run and the rest are all emissions stuff.

Autoexec.bat fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Oct 19, 2017

Godholio
Aug 28, 2002

Does a bear split in the woods near Zheleznogorsk?
Dude just get a timing light. The distributor being off can be surprisingly effecting at loving over attempts to start it.

Edit: Obviously you need to figure out the carb issue too.

Godholio fucked around with this message at 04:57 on Oct 19, 2017

MrYenko
Jun 18, 2012

#2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

Godholio posted:

The weak point of every Taurus until maybe the current Five Hundred-based generation is the transmission. If it's otherwise reliable, and the price is low enough that even if you end up replacing the transmission it's still affordable, they're fine rolling couches.

The AXODE is a wear item. Every sixty to eighty thousand miles, like clockwork.

Autoexec.bat
Dec 29, 2012

Just one more level

Godholio posted:

Dude just get a timing light. The distributor being off can be surprisingly effecting at loving over attempts to start it.

Edit: Obviously you need to figure out the carb issue too.

Well that's what I get for listening to my neighbor who claimed it wasn't necessary.

I'll get one after work and yeah have a carb rebuild kit on the way.

StormDrain
May 22, 2003

Thirteen Letter
Plus a 4 cylinder distributor has 90 degrees between the center of points, which is a lot more room than a 6 or 8 cylinder, I’d think that would be a lot more difficult to get close from scratch.

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib

Q8ee posted:

I didn't realise it was that bad but after they'd tightened whatever they tightened, the clutch feels solid and responsive.

It's possible they were looking at the car and somebody noticed a loose bolt or dangling wire or something, and just did it. Rarely, but not never, a tiny, trivial fix makes a huge difference. Something like a loose electrical connection that comes and goes, or a pin that gets in the way of something else when it's not supposed to, sometimes, can really gently caress with driving a car in weird ways.

Travic
May 27, 2007

Getting nowhere fast

rdb posted:

Your tires are probably still out of balance. Shops don’t always calibrate thier balancers like they should. Take it back again and complain, show them the vibration if needed.

If it gets real bad and they cant fix it find a shop with a hunter road force balancer.

Ok. Thanks for the advice.

DogonCrook
Apr 24, 2016

I think my 20 years as hurricane chaser might be a little relevant ive been through more hurricanws than moat shiitty newscasters
In that 88 carbs never have their chokes adjusted right in my experience and its not a big deal if the car will run but it can make it a real bitch to get started the first time if everything else is a little off too.

Also check your dwell. An 88 may have worn the distributor lobe by this point and going with a pertronix would give you more spark and eliminate having to worry about the distributor. Also check for play in the shaft although thats probably less likely.

Also id do the timing light but at this point after you get it running go off vacuum to tune because not a drat thing will be to spec anymore so imo your neighbor isnt wrong but you can save a lot of time getting it started for sure.

Also idle adjustment may be way off if the previous owner covered up a problem like a leaky gasket etc. Same with the fast idle screw and that may not even be engaging properly if the choke isnt adjusted right.

E: also check whatever method they use to drop voltage to the coil after it cranks. Its usually a ballast resistor. That can cause this too and those dont hold up very well with age. Switching to a pertronix would let you eliminate that as well and ballast resistors are very finicky so unless you are going for a purist thing id switch that and put a modern coil in there to make this all easier and maintenance free.

DogonCrook fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Oct 19, 2017

Mr. Wiggles
Dec 1, 2003

We are all drinking from the highball glass of ideology.

Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:

Bad coils would not cause a lean condition, nor would plugs. They'd cause a rich condition.

Throttle body gasket, intake manifold gasket, split vacuum hose, badly clogged fuel filter, failing fuel pump, failing brake booster, wound be my suspects. Anything that's going to let air get in after the MAF. It could also be an O2 sensor starting to fail - in my experience, they fail lean, causing the ECU to go "OH poo poo, THROW MORE GAS AT IT!. Usually you'll get an O2 sensor #1 (upstream) code fairly quickly, but it can also cause P0420 if it's running too rich for the cat to do much, if it hasn't picked up on the upstream sensor failure yet. But the sensor usually fails quickly enough that the ECU picks up on it being failed (not always).

I'd personally go ahead and do whatever maintenance it may be behind on, do any obvious repairs you discover along the way, and purchase a small propane torch. You can start the engine, then wave the (UNLIT, but open) propane torch around any suspect areas (particularly the brake booster and the throttle body, but also where the throttle body meets the head - wave it around any vacuum lines too). If the engine RPM increases, you've found a vacuum leak.

Check evap hoses as well at the same time, and if you have access to a fuel pressure gauge, it wouldn't hurt to see how the fuel system is doing. If you have access to an OBD2 reader or Bluetooth OBD2 adapter, you should be able to take a loot at long and short term fuel trims, along with O2 sensor output. That stuff can be really helpful.

Interesting today - the engine light has gone off (codes stored but nothing active) and the condition has gone away. Haven't done anything to check the intake pathway yet.

StandardVC10
Feb 6, 2007

This avatar now 50% more dark mode compliant
My sunblock has been leaving whitish stains on the plastic trim and seats of my car. What's the best way to clean it off?

DogonCrook
Apr 24, 2016

I think my 20 years as hurricane chaser might be a little relevant ive been through more hurricanws than moat shiitty newscasters

StandardVC10 posted:

My sunblock has been leaving whitish stains on the plastic trim and seats of my car. What's the best way to clean it off?

Dude just keep living your badass life and dont bother us with your questions about how to live the good life we dont know.

And before you ask i also dont know how to get gold dust out of carpet either.

Jk i have no idea but i would imagine you want something that works on grease like simple green. Also do a test spot so if it discolors or something it wont ruin it. Simple green works for everything though and isnt very harsh but i wouldnt use it on fabric.

Autoexec.bat
Dec 29, 2012

Just one more level

DogonCrook posted:

In that 88 carbs never have their chokes adjusted right in my experience and its not a big deal if the car will run but it can make it a real bitch to get started the first time if everything else is a little off too.

Also check your dwell. An 88 may have worn the distributor lobe by this point and going with a pertronix would give you more spark and eliminate having to worry about the distributor. Also check for play in the shaft although thats probably less likely.

Also id do the timing light but at this point after you get it running go off vacuum to tune because not a drat thing will be to spec anymore so imo your neighbor isnt wrong but you can save a lot of time getting it started for sure.

Also idle adjustment may be way off if the previous owner covered up a problem like a leaky gasket etc. Same with the fast idle screw and that may not even be engaging properly if the choke isnt adjusted right.

E: also check whatever method they use to drop voltage to the coil after it cranks. Its usually a ballast resistor. That can cause this too and those dont hold up very well with age. Switching to a pertronix would let you eliminate that as well and ballast resistors are very finicky so unless you are going for a purist thing id switch that and put a modern coil in there to make this all easier and maintenance free.

I got the timing light and tried messing with it again but it won't run at all where it should be, it has to be advanced a fair bit to start firing (still doesn't run at any position). I looked at the plugs again after all the messing around and they are fouled leading me to think the carb is horribly out of adjustment likely to compensate for the huge vacuum leaks it had. Here's a pic of the carb, is it as bad as I think it is? Not pictured is the idle stop which is not touching that arm at all, it is all resting on the choke linkage.




If so how does one go about resetting it?

I have no problem swapping the electrical system down the road but for now I'd like to make sure the engine is in good enough condition to bother. The distributor shaft is fine but I do suspect the coil.

Autoexec.bat fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Oct 19, 2017

DogonCrook
Apr 24, 2016

I think my 20 years as hurricane chaser might be a little relevant ive been through more hurricanws than moat shiitty newscasters

Autoexec.bat posted:

I got the timing light and tried messing with it again but it won't run at all where it should be, it has to be advanced a fair bit to start firing (still doesn't run at any position). I looked at the plugs again after all the messing around and they are fouled leading me to think the carb is horribly out of adjustment likely to compensate for the huge vacuum leaks it had. Here's a pic of the carb, is it as bad as I think it is? Not pictured is the idle stop which is not touching that arm at all, it is all resting on the choke linkage.




If so how does one go about resetting it?

I have no problem swapping the electrical system down the road but for now I'd like to make sure the engine is in good enough condition to bother. The distributor shaft is fine but I do suspect the coil.

A new carb probably isnt expensive for that, like 100ish. Usually a warped base is what spells doom you can rebuild indefinetly more or less. That base warping issue is no joke on a lot of cars. As a rule i run a thicker gasket and loose bolts with loctite on them.

If itll run way advanced for now i would keep bumping the idle up till it catches. You may have to retard a bit as you do it. Once it catches adjust timimg for fastest idle or advance until vac peaks and you are in the ballpark if not dead on then drop the idle with the idle screw. Then clean up by adjust mixture till it stumbles or peak vac then back off a quarter turn.

Itll still run like dogshit until you do that process at operating temp but you wont be running at temp till you have the leaks fixed so you may as well tune for a cold engine in the meantime imo, just definetly dont put it under load.

A pertronix is also pretty cheap but i hear you on not wanting to go there. You do need to check dwell and the lobe though. If that lobe is worn or the points gap is off you won't get a proper spark. The connection breaks early so you get a partial shot and at best its incomplete combustion.

Same with a ballast resistor. Its a metal wire meant to heat up and take voltage from 12v at start to 9v for running and to protect the coil. That happens gradually as the metal heats so each failed start is dropping voltage to your coil a bit whether it catches or not. It will also corrode on its own whether its used or not. So you may not even be getting the full 12 at start or 9 at run. You can short the terminals and bypass it and get the full 12 but im not sure how long a coil can handle that to be honest. I mean if thats dropping you down to 6v it'll never catch. If your car does use the ballast resistor id definetly replace it even if it looks brand new. Most coils for old cars actually come with the resistor as an option if you order from like summit or jegs. My expeirence with them is the operate reliably for about 6 months after that its a crapshoot.

E:also on the dwell thing get a digital dwell meter or mutimeter because it also lets you read rpm off the coil, plus its a decent multumeter for everything else. I forget what brand i have but if you google digital dwell meter its the orange and blue model and its cheap and good enough.

If you switch to digital pickups lika pertronix instead of points you'll never need to bother with dwell again but being able to read rpm from the bay is super handy when you go to adjust the carbs and set idle.

E: oh and also dont worry too much about the mixture screw too much, thats super fine tuning compared to timing id shoot for the middle of the adjustment till its running but be real carefull you dont back it all the way out trying to figure out what the middle is.

DogonCrook fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Oct 20, 2017

Professor Shark
May 22, 2012

IOwnCalculus posted:

All modern oils generally perform the same. You'll want to verify if your car has some specific requirement to meet (like GM Dexeos) but other than that, the $25 five quart bottle of synthetic 5w30 from Mobil or Pennzoil will surely do the job for you.


I fully admit here that I've never driven a diesel, but I did have a direct injected turbocharged gas four cylinder. It did make loads of torque but standing on it in a high gear like that at a low RPM would lug the engine big time.

Why would you not downshift for an overtake like that?

It’s a Chev Cruze LT, would the turbo engine require anything different?

autism ZX spectrum
Feb 8, 2007

by Lowtax
Fun Shoe

StandardVC10 posted:

My sunblock has been leaving whitish stains on the plastic trim and seats of my car. What's the best way to clean it off?

My first go to would be watered down dish detergent. Sunblock is usually pretty oily.

DogonCrook
Apr 24, 2016

I think my 20 years as hurricane chaser might be a little relevant ive been through more hurricanws than moat shiitty newscasters
Diesel oil comes in heavier weights which can be handy. I know you can run it in a gas engine but im not sure its going to work out well the other way around because they have way more detergent because of all the soot. Short term it wouldnt matter but long term it could. Ive read about some aircooled engines using it but for anecdotal reasons and because modern oils tend towards the thinner side and less detergents so diesel oil in an old car might make sense because its might be closer to what was around then.

Oils are rated for spark or compression and i think thay have to be labelled as such but i forget what symbol you look for. As far as im aware the only difference is the detergents and what weights are available.

I have no idea how emission equipment would handle it like cats or whatever is going on in a modern diesel. Diesel oil in a gas engine would probably foul your cats but thats just a guess.

Deteriorata
Feb 6, 2005

Professor Shark posted:

It’s a Chev Cruze LT, would the turbo engine require anything different?

Check your owner's manual. It will have any specific requirements beyond viscosity. Mine takes full synthetic 5W-40 that meets FCA spec MS-12991, for example. With a turbocharged engine I wouldn't cut any corners. It doesn't take much for the oil to start coking in the turbo so cheapo oil could prove very expensive.

DogonCrook
Apr 24, 2016

I think my 20 years as hurricane chaser might be a little relevant ive been through more hurricanws than moat shiitty newscasters
I was curious so i looked it back up and 914 guys sometimes used to run it because it contains more zinc or did as of 5 years ago. In a car that needs zinc you absolutely have to have it or whatever part that needs it will have massive premature wear. Like on a 914 it would wreck your valves very quickly. Im not sure why a diesel needs but it wouldnt be in there if it wasnt required because regs make it expensive stuff.

DogonCrook
Apr 24, 2016

I think my 20 years as hurricane chaser might be a little relevant ive been through more hurricanws than moat shiitty newscasters
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2012/10/18/tech-101-zinc-in-oil-and-its-effects-on-older-engines/

This is a good explanation of the whole zinc thing. I guess bear in mind they hawk this stuff but there are tons of articles about it because nobody has found a good replacement.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Professor Shark posted:

It’s a Chev Cruze LT, would the turbo engine require anything different?

Check the owner's manual, but probably Dexeos branding. Which most synthetic at Walmart has.

GnarlyCharlie4u
Sep 23, 2007

I have an unhealthy obsession with motorcycles.

Proof

DogonCrook posted:

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2012/10/18/tech-101-zinc-in-oil-and-its-effects-on-older-engines/

This is a good explanation of the whole zinc thing. I guess bear in mind they hawk this stuff but there are tons of articles about it because nobody has found a good replacement.

It's the same reason that it's good to use Rotella T on vintage motorcycles (flat tappets). Modern motorcycle oils are also pretty good but don't quite have the same zinc levels as Rotella T. They mostly just lack friction modifiers that would gently caress up your wet clutch since it shares oil with the engine.

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DogonCrook
Apr 24, 2016

I think my 20 years as hurricane chaser might be a little relevant ive been through more hurricanws than moat shiitty newscasters
Yeah im still digging around but i think even rotella is no longer good enough. I use brad penn after having it recomended by some harley guys and it comes recommended on rennlist and ive been pretty happy with it. Plus its green so at a glance i can tell whats leaking without crawling under there lol. The race oils are good too but its too thin for an aircooled engine without a massive oil cooler and good lord its expensive stuff. Brad penn is pretty cheap.

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