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IOwnCalculus posted:I don't think you're saying anything all that different from me here - because you're right, the car itself will keep on going for as long as you feel like feeding it basic maintenance. But you're not going to find something like a pristine, or possibly even "more serviceable than what you have now" driver's seat in a junkyard because those cars got used hard and thrown away fast, a long time ago, and there's not even much in the way of a bunch of Saturn-purist perverts trying to keep them going. Saturn purists don't consider the L series a Saturn.  Just like the Ion, Vue, etc don't exist to them. They're rebadged Opels and Chevys. I liked my first Ion enough that I cursed myself with a second one (holllllly poo poo that was a mistake), but it was essentially a Cobalt with party trick doors.The disagreement was the electronics - the L series (especially an L100), electronic wise, is on par with a base model Cavalier. PCM, body control module that only controls lights/wipers/cluster, SRS module. Likely doesn't even have ABS. And.... that's about it. The Aurora has a ton of various modules for drat near everything.
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Oct 20, 2022 01:33
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IOwnCalculus posted:Unfortunately, not anything you're going to find in better numbers in the US. The platform was mostly shared with non-US models like the Vectra and Calibra, and similarly low-selling vehicles like the Saab 9-3 and 9-5. STR posted:Gonna disagree with much of what you're saying. Thanks for the replies, guys. It's got 165,000 on it and the guy is a mechanic, just in a bad situation right now (refugee from Ukraine and speaks no English). The car was free because it was loudly dying and the dude brought it back into a pretty good running condition after one day of replacing a bunch of engine stuff. Getting a front seat replacement is just a comfort thing at this point. Is it illegal to fabricate a mount for a different car seat?
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Oct 20, 2022 03:37
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STR posted:Saturn purists I was gonna throw shade on this until I remembered that I would pay good money for a yugo.
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Oct 20, 2022 04:39
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spacetoaster posted:Is it illegal to fabricate a mount for a different car seat? Not in the least and that's definitely going to be the lowest cost option. Main thing is just to consider that the seat is a major part of the crash structure and needs to be bolted very firmly to strong metal - just drilling holes through the floorpan to match the seat's brackets and through-bolting it is not going to work well. Mr. Wiggles posted:I was gonna throw shade on this until I remembered that I would pay good money for a yugo. I'd absolutely have some fun with an original SC2/SL2/SW2 with a stick. They were damned decent cars for the early '90s, but they were pretty poo poo for 2002. IOwnCalculus fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Oct 20, 2022 |
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Oct 20, 2022 05:31
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IOwnCalculus posted:
I thinking you can dual intake cam them and they have the same suspension dimensions of a Subaru so used could over just bolt up. Honestly, would make decent autox shitbox for a dude on a budget.
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Oct 20, 2022 13:28
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Car: 2015 Mazda3 sGrand Touring My car has started doing a weird thing. I am not a car guy, so pardon me if I use poor terminology. The issue: in the morning, it starts rough. Well, it kind of chugs several times before turning over and starting. Anecdotally it seems associated with the cold weather. After starting, it runs fine. I stopped at the gas station on the way to work, and when I got back in the car it started fine that time. I replaced the battery, and while running a voltmeter reads 13.5 volts at the battery terminals. Autozone tested the battery and said it is fine. The car has 80K miles. Any ideas?
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Oct 20, 2022 14:46
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Annath posted:Car: 2015 Mazda3 sGrand Touring How cold is it in the morning there? When you measured the 13.5v was the car running? Generally an alternator should have it over 14v so it could be that your alternator is on the way out (or it's electrical contacts have an issue). Did replacing the battery help?
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Oct 20, 2022 16:39
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It's been chilly, around 35F overnight, maybe 33F? Not quite freezing yet. The car was running when the voltage was measured. The battery was replaced about 2 months ago, so before it got cold. There wasn't any noticeable change with the new battery.
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Oct 20, 2022 16:49
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totalnewbie posted:I work in the auto industry as a direct sensor supplier to OEMs. Let me tell you, I would not wish any customer to be able to see a lot of the data that's available to calibrators, not least of which because I know for a fact that people will not at all comprehend what they mean or be able to make use of the data. Also, without knowing how the OBD flags are calibrated, it can be difficult to understand how certain flags apply to a component in the system. I strongly disagree on hiding the data though. If the data is there and would be useful to someone who's trying to troubleshoot the vehicle, it should be at least accessible to read. Again, no disagreement on write access, but trying to block everyone from reading data just because some people might misinterpret that data is wrong.
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Oct 20, 2022 17:29
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wolrah posted:I 100% agree on "fiddling with" things, I have absolutely nothing against locking down and/or setting tamper flags for changes to at least most modules. Even if you have the data, you do not know how to interpret it. You don't know what the correct data should look like, you don't know the targets, the limits, the allowed variation, the correct behavior under certain conditions, including various transient conditions, etc. I'm not talking about simple things like an O2 sensor output - that's already available to you. For example, what's the correct voltage for the Vs or Nernst cell in a widerange O2 sensor? If you know how widerange O2 sensors work, I can guess what you'll say, but you're going to be slightly wrong. I know this sounds really condescending and I don't mean it that way. It takes a lot to get cars working correctly these days and all sorts of systems are tied together to make sure the car runs the way it should. It's a really complicated business that sometimes even baffles us, the people who deal with this one particular part on the car all day long because we don't have enough understanding of other components or the system. Calibrators often miscalibrate vehicles and rely on us to perform some testing to find those errors and fix them because they don't have enough understanding of the individual components that they're using. So if the people whose job it is to understand this stuff doesn't have enough knowledge to make use of all the really detailed data that's available from development ECUs, I can't possibly expect a mechanic - even a good one - to be able to. But, if they do get their hands on the data, all sorts of theories start flying around and it just causes problems. It could also be that the data you're talking about and the data I'm talking about are not the same sets of data. In which case we may both be right 
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Oct 20, 2022 18:19
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e: Moving it to the car buying thread
Henrik Zetterberg fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Oct 20, 2022 |
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Oct 20, 2022 22:12
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e: same
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Oct 20, 2022 22:35
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Not sure whether this would go in the tire thread or here, but the tire thread seems to be more tire buying? I've got an intermittent TPMS light that I can't figure out. Sometimes it will stay on for days, sometimes it will be off for days, sometimes it is on and turns off mid-drive, sometimes it is off and turns on mid-drive. My pressures in all four tires are to spec, is there a monitor in the spare tire? It's a '12 Honda Accord so it has the individual sensor tire stem things rather than an indirect system. Will an OBD-2 scanner like the Autozone has show TPMS codes? I know it will show traction control codes but IDK about TPMS. I had a work E-150 back in 2014 that did this but I didn't give a poo poo about it because it was a work E-150 and the massive transmission leak at 30k miles was more of a concern.
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Oct 21, 2022 04:07
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my 01 miata is bleeding oil all over the driveway, suspiciously close (2 days ago) to getting tires put on at discount tire. probably 2 oz of oil on the ground from just a day. what could this be? i'll take a closer look tomorrow when i can jack it up
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Oct 21, 2022 07:14
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I just saw a video where in the mk1 Fit/Jazz they folded the front seat level with the rear bench. I pushed mine all the way forward and it's not even close to fitting, any ideas what's up and how this is supposed to work? thetan_guy42 posted:my 01 miata is bleeding oil all over the driveway, suspiciously close (2 days ago) to getting tires put on at discount tire. probably 2 oz of oil on the ground from just a day. what could this be? i'll take a closer look tomorrow when i can jack it up E: possible explanation 
mobby_6kl fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Oct 21, 2022 |
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Oct 21, 2022 13:05
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22 Eargesplitten posted:. No, you'll probably need a TPMS tool like this one. https://a.co/d/j5zkrf8 You can find cheaper ones that will just do the type of car you have. (E.g. just GM) Some Older vehicles figured out if there were low tires by reading differences in wheel speeds, but newer ones use sensors inside of the tire that read actual air pressure.
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Oct 21, 2022 14:10
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Didn’t we have a bodywork thread somewhere? Getting close to bondo blizzard time on my truck…
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Oct 21, 2022 14:24
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mobby_6kl posted:I just saw a video where in the mk1 Fit/Jazz they folded the front seat level with the rear bench. I pushed mine all the way forward and it's not even close to fitting, any ideas what's up and how this is supposed to work? nitsuga fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Oct 21, 2022 |
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Oct 21, 2022 19:20
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Taking the "stupid questions" bit very seriously: I don't come in here too often but this is the first time I've owned a car on my own without a dude in my life e.g. my dad or a boyfriend who took it upon himself to do all the car things. Can someone give me a rundown on basic maintenance things everyone should know or take care of regularly? Or send me to a resource you trust? Thanks 
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Oct 22, 2022 20:28
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Doc Fission posted:Taking the "stupid questions" bit very seriously: I don't come in here too often but this is the first time I've owned a car on my own without a dude in my life e.g. my dad or a boyfriend who took it upon himself to do all the car things. Can someone give me a rundown on basic maintenance things everyone should know or take care of regularly? Or send me to a resource you trust? You don't need a dude. There is a user manual in your car somewhere or available online, if it's in your car it's probably in the glove box. It has a "service interval" thing which is like a chart showing the various things that are supposed to be done at certain mileage points in the life of the vehicle. You'll see stuff like timing belt should be changed at xyz miles/kilometers. If you have a new car, these things are important to follow because not following them (and having receipts) will remove the warranty of the car. If you have an old car, a lot of the stuff isn't absolutely necessary, but some of it is (timing belt for example). A lot of things will be suggested in the manual to be inspected or replaced at certain mileage, like brake pads, and to be honest you can kind of play it by ear to some extent if you don't have the cash to bring your car in every few months asking for a shop to tell you if there's anything you can spend money on. A lot of used car ownership is just listening and feeling for changes in the car and when you notice something (change in how it sounds when it's starting or when you hit the brakes) you bring it to a independant shop that you trust. You can find these kind of shops generally by asking around your friends or I guess looking around on facebook or whatever but I don't have facebook and don't know how reliable that would be. I'd look at the google reviews I suppose in your are for little shops and very much try to avoid anything that is a franchise. Under no circumstances take your car to a dealership for service unless you have a new car and it's free service. Other than that just ask questions in here and your legion of goon aunts and uncles will help you out and steer you in the right direction.
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Oct 22, 2022 20:41
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What kind of car? The owner's manual will have a maintenance section. If you don't have the owner's manual, you can usually google the make/model owner's manual to find it (i.e. for my car, I would search for "2007 ford crown victoria owner's manual") Oil changes are important, checking the oil and other fluids regularly is important. Most cars can go 5000+ miles on an oil change (though oil change places will usually try to say 3000 miles or 3 months - it's excessive with modern oils). If you don't drive much, try to change it once or twice a year - it won't go bad from just sitting in the engine, but lots of short trips will cause water (from condensation) to build up. Spark plugs are usually every 90-100k miles on most cars. Timing belts, if the car has one, are anywhere from 50k-120k, and have the potential to ruin the engine if it breaks. Most important is to find a trustworthy independent mechanic if you're not comfortable doing your own work. Check Yelp for a place with a 4.5 star rating or higher. e;f;b randomidiot fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Oct 22, 2022 |
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Oct 22, 2022 20:50
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Check oil level and tire pressure on a regular basis. I used to do mechanic work for other people and if they’d only do those two things, they’d have far fewer issues.
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Oct 22, 2022 21:43
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Yep the Maintenance Schedule is what you want. It's usually super clear on what needs to be done and when. Then just take the car to a shop whenever one of the next items comes up. Unless you want to do it yourself of course! nitsuga posted:I had the same deal with my MK2 Fit, but I wonder if you need to lift the rear seats, lower the front, then lower the rear again. It was comfortable enough with the ridge, but I might have lounged a bit more if I ever figured it out. Somehow I didn't even think about lifting the rear seat lol, I'll give it a try later. The guy just pushed it in with some, but not too much force. This is never going in as it is though 
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Oct 22, 2022 21:50
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Doc Fission posted:Taking the "stupid questions" bit very seriously: I don't come in here too often but this is the first time I've owned a car on my own without a dude in my life e.g. my dad or a boyfriend who took it upon himself to do all the car things. Can someone give me a rundown on basic maintenance things everyone should know or take care of regularly? Or send me to a resource you trust? Everyone else has hit the highlight reel already. Only thing I would add is make, model, and year dependant. Some cars have known issues that can be prevented. Tell us the specific car and or Google for example "2007 honda accord common issues" and "2007 honda accord recall".
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Oct 22, 2022 22:53
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Stupid question: I just noticed this on the 2019 Miata I just recently purchased. How concerning is this? Is this clear coat peeling or something else? This is on the front bumper, there's a few spots that have some similar peeling, but this is the worst spot. It's small, maybe 1/4 of an inch or so? I also noticed something similar happening on one of the side mirrors, but can't find any other spots on the car where this is happening.
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Oct 22, 2022 23:52
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reversefungi posted:Stupid question: I just noticed this on the 2019 Miata I just recently purchased. How concerning is this? Is this clear coat peeling or something else? Honestly that looks like there's a clear wrap kind of protective film on the car and it's peeling back, collecting dirt where it's peeling back. It's really difficult to say with that photo and a photo of the area in daylight would be helpful.
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Oct 23, 2022 00:01
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VelociBacon posted:Honestly that looks like there's a clear wrap kind of protective film on the car and it's peeling back, collecting dirt where it's peeling back. It's really difficult to say with that photo and a photo of the area in daylight would be helpful. Here's a few more shots for reference, hopefully these help:    You can kind of see how there's also a ring forming around the Mazda badge, which makes me assume it's some sort of protective film too. Had no idea if that was a thing that actually exists or if it was a peculiarity for Mazdas or whatnot
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Oct 23, 2022 00:22
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Thanks for the replies, everyone. I've got the manual and I'm skimming now. The car is a 2008 Lexus ES 350. I bought it off my dad It has just under 100K miles and seems like a very reliable car from what I've been lightly perusing online, but again, I'm not really used to taking care of these things myself so the insight is super appreciated.
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Oct 23, 2022 01:24
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Yeah, you've done well. That's going to be about as simple of a car to take care of as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if the only ~100k-specific maintenance items on it are a coolant change, brake fluid change, and spark plugs.
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Oct 23, 2022 01:28
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Doc Fission posted:Thanks for the replies, everyone. I've got the manual and I'm skimming now. The only stupid questions are the ones that aren't asked. Unless your dad already replaced suspension components, you're probably going to have to replace those soon. Ask him if he's replaced them and if not, be prepared to spend a couple thousand dollars to do that. Unless the car is crunching and crashing over every bump it's not urgent but it's a major bill to be prepared for. Another thing that you can do that isn't specifically listed in the user manual is to check your tire wear. If you don't have a fancy tread gauge, you can use a penny, assuming you're an american. If you can see the top of Lincoln's head, you're going to need new tires. Another thing you can do is learn how to check your various fluid levels. The user manual will tell you how to do this. If nothing else, learn how to check the oil and coolant levels. Checking transmission fluid might be a little difficult, and checking brake fluid can be as well but if you want to go that far check those too. If you're taking your car in for an oil change, make sure they change the air filter every other oil change. That is such an easy thing on many cars you can probably do it yourself if you want and save some money.
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Oct 23, 2022 01:37
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reversefungi posted:Here's a few more shots for reference, hopefully these help: If this bothers you, this is likely the kind of thing a reputable detail shop in your area may have seen before, and can take the wrap off / wet sand and buff / correct anything getting screwed up with the paint. Could be expensive though. You could google car paint correction in your city if you've never brought your car around to one of those shops before. Oh also, I don't know the full circumstances of when you came to own this 2019 Mazda, but it might be worthwhile to spend a few mins calling and chatting with whomever it was purchased from. Some manufacturer affiliated dealerships could maybe help with a deal if they do details in-house, since it kinda sucks this was not pointed out before you bought. But if you bought from an individual 
Inner Light fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Oct 23, 2022 |
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Oct 23, 2022 03:18
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nitrogen posted:If you're taking your car in for an oil change, make sure they change the air filter every other oil change. Im gonna disagree on the first part The manual will have a milage for that and it's not every other oil change. It may vary with weird use like lots of driving on dusty dirt roads. I will agree on the second part though. If you want to diy your air filter AI will be happy to help. And it will cost $5-10 instead of $30-50 at a shop.
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Oct 23, 2022 03:47
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Inner Light posted:If this bothers you, this is likely the kind of thing a reputable detail shop in your area may have seen before, and can take the wrap off / wet sand and buff / correct anything getting screwed up with the paint. Could be expensive though. You could google car paint correction in your city if you've never brought your car around to one of those shops before. I mean it really doesn't bother me too much as long as it's not like an actual issue with the car's paint/clear coat/etc. Judging from your comment, it seems to be just some sort of wrap on top of the clear coat that's starting to wear at the edges? I'll talk to the dealership about it next week, but as long as it's not like an actual serious problem, I'm fine with letting it stay on there for a while longer and get a detail shop to fix it once it becomes more noticeable.
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Oct 23, 2022 04:59
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reversefungi posted:I mean it really doesn't bother me too much as long as it's not like an actual issue with the car's paint/clear coat/etc. Judging from your comment, it seems to be just some sort of wrap on top of the clear coat that's starting to wear at the edges? I'll talk to the dealership about it next week, but as long as it's not like an actual serious problem, I'm fine with letting it stay on there for a while longer and get a detail shop to fix it once it becomes more noticeable. The issue would be more that it will allow poo poo to sit in there against your paint and not get cleaned when you wash the car, and it'll continue to get worse. Personally I'd rather not have a wrap like that and I'd remove it so I can properly clean the car.
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Oct 23, 2022 05:34
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VelociBacon posted:The issue would be more that it will allow poo poo to sit in there against your paint and not get cleaned when you wash the car, and it'll continue to get worse. Personally I'd rather not have a wrap like that and I'd remove it so I can properly clean the car. Oh really great point, I hadn't thought about that. Hope the dealership isn't too much of a pain about it and will just fix it. On the plus side, seems like only the front bumper, hood, two front panels and the side mirrors have the wrap. None of the rear panels/roof/trunk/etc. have any wrap. Weird, but should hopefully make this a little easier.
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Oct 23, 2022 05:51
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reversefungi posted:Oh really great point, I hadn't thought about that. Hope the dealership isn't too much of a pain about it and will just fix it. On the plus side, seems like only the front bumper, hood, two front panels and the side mirrors have the wrap. None of the rear panels/roof/trunk/etc. have any wrap. Weird, but should hopefully make this a little easier. Yeah I would actually expect that the wrap is on those areas to protect from debris strikes while on the highway etc so you only need it on the surfaces which have a chance of being struck by such debris- front facing surfaces or those quite near the front of the car! e: vvv no worries zoom zoom VelociBacon fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Oct 23, 2022 |
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Oct 23, 2022 05:53
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VelociBacon posted:Yeah I would actually expect that the wrap is on those areas to protect from debris strikes while on the highway etc so you only need it on the surfaces which have a chance of being struck by such debris- front facing surfaces or those quite near the front of the car! That makes sense to me. Thank you, appreciate all the help!
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Oct 23, 2022 06:06
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honda whisperer posted:Im gonna disagree on the first part The manual will have a milage for that and it's not every other oil change. It may vary with weird use like lots of driving on dusty dirt roads. Fair. If you're doing it yourself I always find it easier to just do it every other oil change otherwise I will forget. But yeah, following the user manual is more important.
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Oct 23, 2022 20:32
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Is wrapping a car still a thing? I have a 2008 whose paint is starting to show age and has a decent amount of scratches and dents/dings. It has 89k miles on it so I bet it'll still go a bit longer. Car prices are a bit more than I want to spend so is this an actual use case for vinyl wrapping for a fresh car feeling? What would a decent price be for a single color on a Volvo C30? Do dents need to be taken out before wrapping? Thanks for looking at my 4 stupid questions!
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Oct 23, 2022 22:49
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Wrapping the car isn't going to hide the dents. So yeah you might want to consider that. Price varies greatly. Being as old as it is, it might need some sort of paint correction in order for the film to adhere properly. That will cost extra. Take a look around at places in your area that do wraps and see what they say about price. Just the front bumper might only be a few hundred bucks, while a complete covering could run several thousand. For a car that old, you might consider just getting some body//paint work done.
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Oct 23, 2022 22:54
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