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einTier posted:Only one thing was constant. Every single one of them, without fail, died as I was moving from reverse to forward or forward to reverse. For anyone who's ever taken one apart to clean and re grease it, this comes as absolutely no surprise at all. Dammit I hate greasing those things.
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Feb 17, 2010 20:54
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MechanizedDeath posted:Also do you think the aforementioned Expedition can be set up to tow a 37', 6000 lb, bumper pull travel trailer? I don't know about your knock sensor, but I pull a 6000 lb RV with my 4.6 F150. It's barely acceptable/often painful in the hills. It just doesn't have the rear end to do it. Mine is a '97. Hopefully yours is newer/has more snot than mine if you want to do this. As far as suspension, my truck is a 4x4 off road (soft suspension). A weight distribution hitch makes everything feel just fine. Its quite safe and controlled, even when I finally can get it up to highway speeds. I don't imagine your suspension is terribly different unless Expeditions have coils in the back (not sure).
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May 25, 2011 03:23
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The Scientist posted:What would happen under this scenario? The carb, assuming a mechanical fuel pump, will keep on pushing out fuel, but since you have switched off the ignition the spark plugs no longer be igniting the fuel. Your motos is now a momentum-driven air pump that is sending a highly explosive fuel-air mix out your exhaust valves and through your exhaust. Turn it back on and get a cylinder to fire, and it will light all of that a/f mixture that you've been pushing out the tailpipe....all at once. Even with an electric fuel pump, you'll likely have enough residual fuel pressure in the lines to cause problems. The Scientist posted:Also, I don't even know what you guys mean by "fuel cut under decel". Most EFI motors actually turn off the fuel injectors (no fuel at all going into the cylinders) when you are over a certain speed and the throttle position switch shows closed (foot off the accelerator). Some will do it in other conditions as well (coasting but still with your foot on the accelerator).
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May 25, 2011 15:27
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some texas redneck posted:I think there were some hose clamps and soda cans involved at some point too. There's something satisfying about a soda can+hose clamp+muffler weld exhaust held up by coat hangers.
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May 25, 2011 23:17
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some texas redneck posted:Weld? What welds? There were no welds on that exhaust by the time teenage me was done with it. Oh, I don't mean real welds. I mean some of THIS: 
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May 25, 2011 23:57
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kimbo305 posted:There's no reason that (money no object) you couldn't construct a dummy system to act as the original engine. Btw a W204 is a new Merc. Given how much body componentry is probably tied into the ECU, you have to keep it to keep the luxury of the car. Body components are tied to....wait for it...wait for it....the BCU, not the ECU (BCM in Mercedesese). Some BCMs can be run with minimal tweaking (if they, for example, perform all the functions you need on the body with the key in the on position without the motor started) by simply leaving them in place along with the ECU, which they are almost assuredly will not work without, and have an OBDII plug just for that setup. Then you have the "real" OBDII port for your swapped motor's ECU. The real challenge with all of this is getting factory gauges to work. That's a total crapshoot based on what model you're dealing with.
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May 26, 2011 20:30
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kimbo305 posted:Ok, but in essence, you can't get rid of the old ECU for the BCM to work, right? Usually no, because they are paired. As long as the ECU stays powered and with a keyed power source you can often get away with just leaving it in place. And, well....your OBDII port is almost definitely connected to the ECU and not the BCM, so you'd have no way to program the BCM without it. Cornflake posted:I have a 2001 F150 Automatic, and on the way home from work my speedometer started jumping around randomly from 0-100. I stopped at a light and after about 30 seconds of sitting there it turned off. Whenever I came to a stop the engine seemed like it wanted to turn off. To keep that from happening I kept one foot lightly on the gas and one foot on the brakes when I come to a stop. When I press on the accelerator, sometimes it feels like it wants to change gears even though its not really an appropriate speed. The speedo and shifting problems sound like a bad VSS. The stalling sounds like a crank position sensor. Both of those going stupid at the same time would be odd, so to me that points to an ECU issue, possibly bad/dirty/corroded grounds or voltage problems (bad alternator or battery).
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May 27, 2011 13:47
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CharlesM posted:Eh... I thought there were some race series / racetracks that mandate use of no anti-freeze, because it is difficult to clean up. Then those guys just run water wetter. It was a long time ago I heard that though. You remember correctly. SCCA doesn't allow antifreeze, and I'm sure others (I'm only familiar with their rules).
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May 27, 2011 14:21
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Piano posted:spending a month's pay on your house is pretty normal, but would be silly for your car. I see you've never lived in or traveled through a poor neighborhood in America. I lived in apartments that got turned section 8 right before I moved out. I was the poor looking dude with the 2 year old F150. I was paying a good $400 a month on it, and my rent was $375. 1/2 of the cars in ther lot were worth more than mine. Mercs, riced out poo poo with rimz and bumpin systems, Caddys. You get the idea. Bad-decision-mobiles, but still expensive. (Greenville NC) Yeah, I was making enough money to move out long before I bought the truck, but until things started getting less college kid and more halfway house, I really didn't care for a bachelor pad.
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May 28, 2011 01:12
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sliderule posted:What the hell is protruding from the hub of this vehicle? Bearing buddies? Please say it's bearing buddies.
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May 28, 2011 04:07
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dag01 posted:I thought you were supposed to pay MSRP for cars until semi recently, I probably look exactly like an inexperienced sucker. Wow....yeah, you sure did. dag01 posted:
Stop making it worse! You obviously have Internet access, so do this: choose a vehicle you want. Do you research online to find out what it's worth. Bring cash, or arrange for financing through your bank ahead of time. Go to the dealership and tell them you want x car for y dollars. Let them balk for a while. Tell them again, also tell them you have cash/cashier's check, take it or leave it, you have other dealerships to go to if they don't want the deal. If you price is reasonable (as in the low end of what other people have been paying for the car in your area) you'll be fine. If they bust out a "four square" to talk financing, stop them immediately and tell them you have that handled, and are willing to discuss cash prices only. If its a new car you're looking at and aren't comfortable with the negotiation, do it by fax with several dealerships.
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May 28, 2011 16:21
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I'll probably just bring my mom or something to the dealership.
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Zero VGS posted:Here's a quick one. I just bought a 98 Ford Contour, and if I turn on the air conditioning, it blows warm. I hooked up one of those recharge cans to the low-pressure port and ran the A/C on full, and you can hear the A/C attempt to kick in every couple seconds (and each time the pressure needle on the can's gauge simultaneously drops). It will repeat this cycle indefinitely. The gauge indicates I have the proper resting pressure. If you were that low on refrigerant, it's a good chance you need 20+ ounces to get back to normal. I've taken it upon myself to explain the process in more detail here so I don't have to retype it all the time. It helps to understand how the system works to diagnose it. Yours sounds fine mechanically, but low. Your compressor isn't "dying", it's shutting off exactly the way it should be when the low side pressure drops. This keeps it from killing itself. Most systems when properly working and fully charged will do this anyway, just not as frequently as yours is doing it. You very well may have a leak somewhere. If you can find a can of refrigerant with dye in it and get your hands on a UV flash light or black light, you'll find the leak in no time. Edit: Sponge! posted:No, there's a switch at the other end of the spectrum that will shut it off if you overfill it. Don't count on that switch. A lot of cars will self destruct before then (if they're at the age to be needing this kind of thing). Late 90s/early 2000s Explorers are notorious for that, along with whatever else Ford used those general AC components in. Motronic fucked around with this message at 18:48 on May 29, 2011 |
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May 29, 2011 18:39
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RapeWhistle posted:I've been having weak AC cooling too. Theres a fairly audible hissing sound around the AC fill and purge valves. Does this definitely mean there's a leak? Not really, it could mean you have an expansion valve/capillary tube that is clogged due to debris in the system. The way to (start to) diagnose this is by hooking up a set of gauges and seeing what the static and running pressures look like.
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May 30, 2011 04:12
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Molten Llama posted:If your cans of refrigerant had leak detection dye in them, it should be pretty easy to spot the gigantic spray of neon green dye even without a UV light. This is truth (the first part), and often the second. Many suck badly, necessitating ripping the dash apart. Some aren't so bad. I'm doing on in a 98 Explorer at the moment. I had it out in 30 minutes, and it will go back in even faster. It actually comes out of the engine compartment with only minimal other things needed to be removed (air box, washer fluid reservoir, accumulator).
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May 30, 2011 04:23
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Sponge! posted:If so who/how decides which vehicle gets the VIN if someone were to "graft" a sprout of a vehicle? Who? The state its titled in. And it usually ends up with a new VIN because its now a "(re)constructed" vehicle, at least in PA, similar to how they would give you a VIN for a trailer you build from scratch. This goes for almost any frame/body swap when there is a vin on both. If the VIN is on the body, as it normally is, just do it and shut your whore mouth so you don't end up with a reconstructed title.
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May 30, 2011 13:38
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elevatordeadline posted:Q: Why is remounting the transmission so difficult? Do you have a proper transmission jack (so you know you're holding it level)? Have you put a bottle jack under the bell housing and moved it up/down when you got hung up to see if it helps? That's pretty general, but considering you didn't mention what you're working on, that's about all you should expect.
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May 30, 2011 18:35
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Revol posted:What is going on? I did something very stupid, didn't I? Probably, but everything fixable, and this doesn't sound terribly expensive. First question....does it make noise when you try to spray the windshield? If not, you need to start simple.....is the fuse OK? If so, you want to find where the wires go to the washer pump and get a volage meter on it and see if there is power when you try to use it. If yes, you probably just need a new $25 washer pump, and to put back whatever you ripped off (which probably attaches to the pump anyway, so you'll be right there).
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May 31, 2011 01:24
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Is that even really a "part"? Form the diagram it just looks like a length of heater hose. If it's not molded in some specific shape (and maybe even if it is) you can get out of this on the super cheap and just buy about $0.25 worth off of the bulk rack at the parts store.
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May 31, 2011 02:57
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SynMoo posted:That red foam stick was your level gauge. When it floats to the top you're full. Not a necessity to replace. Ahhh...I missed the part where that was the level stick. I thought he was talking about a hose. So yeah....forget that part of what I said, but check if you are getting motor noises, etc.
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May 31, 2011 03:47
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Billy Tully posted:Get one with a good body, the engines are pretty much a wear item and the transmission should last forever. Rust is the enemy. This is truth (transaxle, btw, but you probably knew that) Also, bring a jack. Check bearings and steering components for play. This will give you a general idea if the thing has been maintained or is just a (possibly) shiny body with a mechanical trash heap below it. Brakes. They suck on these things, but they should work. Accelerator pedal: smooth and it should return well. The cable should not be frayed back at the carbs or you'll be driving home with a piece of fishing line strung through the window from the back, pulling on it as your throttle. BTDT. Engine: it should run and idle smoothly. It should have reasonably consistant power throughout the RPM range. If it falls on its face somewhere, be concerned. Carb(s) should have chokes on them that work. Could be manual if it's old enough, could be automatic (meaning you floor the accelerator and they stay on when cold if I recall correctly on the webers you'll likely find back there). All sheet metal should be in place over/behind the engine or you won't cool properly. The presence of an external can type oil filter is an indication that someone somewhere along the line was trying to take good care of the thing. Exhaust: you should just assume that if it's not new, one or both of the heat exchangers is rusted through and you will die of carbon monoxide poisoning if you attempt to use the heat (or even drive around without the windows down). Getting a headache 30 minutes after your test drive is a pretty good indicator. Hell hole: check under the battery. Can you see the driveway? No? I'm as surprised as you are. Charging: bring a multi meter. If the generator isn't putting out 13.5 or more just above idle, it's time for a new one. If it puts out less than 12.6 at idle (and the idle is correct and not too low) it's time for a new one. And by new one I mean rebuild. Most of these things aren't a big deal. You can easily fix any of them with cheap parts and a few tools. So if one or a few look bad, don't panic. If most/all of that list is wrong, it's a beater and you should walk away and find another.
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May 31, 2011 15:45
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The Scientist posted:I was under the impression that you use it on a separate rubber gasket and it makes it more squishy, sticky, and thus a better seal. That is one application. It can also be abused/misused/extended as a gasket replacement, seam filler, or adhesive. Whether it should be or not is a different story. But if all you need is some light adhesive but also need a seam sealer so that you don't get any moisture in or out (like in the case of these headlamp projectors) it fits the bill pretty well.
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May 31, 2011 20:46
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rcman50166 posted:So I drive a 2003 Saturn L200 as a DD to and from work. I commute 50 miles in one direction. I also have terrible brakes for some reason. The brakes were replaced a couple thousand miles ago but the pedal is not very responsive. It is squishy and I can bottom them out quite readily. Braking force also suffers. I can't even locked them on wet roads. It is not air in the brakes, I had them bled twice. However, maybe coincidentally, my hand brake has stopped working. Friends of mine think it's something to do with the brake booster/master cylinder. I need opinions. The brake job cost an embarrassing amount of money (which was "supposed" to fix the problem) so I want to go into a shop and point out exactly what might be wrong with it without going on a wild goose chase again and spend another $900 on a loving brake job Replace all of the rubber brake lines. It will feel like brand new. It's not a booster. That won't let you bottom the pedal out. It's not likely to be the master cylinder, because that's not how they fail. But if you had a proper "big rear end" brake job, where they flushed all of the brake fluid, put on new calipers and rotors (which I hope is what they did considering it was $900), the last thing to do is the rubber lines. Which they should have done if they did all that other stuff. Got your invoice to look at and tell us exactly what they did se we aren't just guessing?
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Jun 1, 2011 18:43
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If that's the case (everything but the rubber lines) and its as bad as you say, it's entirely probable that you can put the thing on a lift with someone in it to stomp on the brakes and be able to SEE the line(s) bulge. They should have done that after your first complaint, but chain shops are hit and miss (usually miss) as to the quality of mechanic you're going to encounter.
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Jun 1, 2011 20:25
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Great Beer posted:How worthless is a car with a salvage title? My El Camino took some hail damage last month and the insurance company is offering to either let me keep the car with a salvage title, or take an extra 2k and they take it and most likely scrap it. Id rather not let them have it, since its new engine/transmission have less than 1000 miles on them but I was planning on selling it some day anyway. Define "an extra 2k." Is this 2k over the repair cost? If so, what's the repair cost?
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Jun 2, 2011 00:21
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Great Beer posted:The repair cost was 6800, thanks to just about every body panel being damaged. The glass was all OK at least. So you can walk away with a check for almost 9 grand? Jesus H christ man, do it. It's am 86 El Camino in average condition. Unless this is some weird emotional attachment. In that case, take the $6800 bucks in repair money, do your shopping well, do whatever prep work you can, turn it into a 10 with that cash, and be a happy man. Based on the fact that you are even asking this question, it seems like you are leaning towards some version of the latter and shopping for permission. You have my permission. But I require before and after pictures.
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Jun 2, 2011 03:37
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Deceptor101 posted:Crossposting this from the BMW thread in the hope of getting more answers: That is the most hilarious thing I've heard in a long time. I really don't see what the problem is. Leave it. Alternately, it really sounds like there is a tear in the snorkel. I suppose you could look for that if you really feel the need to fix it.
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Jun 2, 2011 04:23
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LobsterboyX posted:other than that, the car runs great never gets hot. So are you saying it gets hot(er than normal) on the highway? Pinging is preignition. It's either too lean, or the timing is too retarded. Is this a mechanical or vacuum advance distributor? It sounds like it's not advancing enough, or the timing is just set wrong. I'd start by figuring out how much the distributor is supposed to advance if it's working properly, put a timing light on the thing and check that it's actually advancing. If all that checks out, I'd see if you aren't running the thing lean all the time. If you fatten up the mixture does it still run fine off highway? If so, you very well may be able to fix your issue that way. LobsterboyX posted:warped head? ( the guy who told me this is a weird old kook that hangs out at the cruise in every friday) Ummm...stop listening to him.
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Jun 2, 2011 14:08
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rcman50166 posted:So then brake lines stretch like this due to old age? Or maybe they put lovely lines in I didn't know about? I would think the first scenario is more probable. The rubber gets old. It's unlikely that any new lines they put in would be bad out of the box, as they need to be DOT approved unless they are marked "for off road use only". They probably just didn't change them.
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Jun 2, 2011 19:46
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ChangoBat posted:I have a 06 Mazda 6 and the interior headliner fabric is detaching near the top rear window on both sides. Does adhesive spray work ? Google is giving mixed info on sprays and is saying it's best to remove and respray and refabric. Anyone dealt with it? Just bummed because my car is pretty new imho for the headliner to start coming off. Here's why you're getting mixed information: it depends. What typically makes the fabric fall down is not an adhesive failure. Most headliners are some manner of fiber board, with a layer of foam glued to it, and the fabric you see glued to that. Just about every failed headliner I've seen has been because the foam is falling apart (I've always lived in humid areas on the east coast - your mileage may vary). No amount of spray adhesive is going to fix that (but staples are a ghetto way to hold it up for a while). If you have a different problem, it might work for you.
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Jun 3, 2011 13:11
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EightBit posted:While the engine is still running, remove the positive battery connection. No, don't do this. Can you get away with it? Probably. Will you with something that has an ECU? Maybe not, especially if the charging system is having problems. It also doesn't tell you whether the alternator is bad or not. Just if it's totally dead. And even then it might just not be getting a field current and need to get cranked up enough to auto-excite and not be an alternator issue at all.
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Jun 4, 2011 15:19
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stubblyhead posted:My wife's car has been stalling a lot lately. It tends to happen when the weather is hot and she's in traffic. It stalled on her yesterday evening during slow moving freeway traffic; some kind person had to help her get to the side of the road to wait for a tow truck. After a few hours, it will start up fine. This is vapor lock, right? The car is a 98 Mazda 626 with around 150k miles or so. It just got a tuneup a couple months ago. I can't find the paperwork, but I know it got new wires, plugs and fuel filter. If this is vapor lock, what can you do to prevent it? Anything else it might be? I don't know 626es specifically, but that sounds a whole lot like what a bad crank position sensor does. It works when cold, and then dies while running or causes difficult hot restarts. Car forums are always filled with bad CkPS problems this time of year (and A/C repairs).
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Jun 5, 2011 17:41
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Javid posted:My car is an 89 cougar. The brakes *work* - no fade or any of that poo poo. However, in driving someone else's much newer (2002 CRV) car, I discovered that my car has a LOT less braking power than it does. Is this just an old car thing, or something I can improve? The pads haven't been changed in at least 4 years, but the most recent shop visit they told me those were fine (and Schwab would've happily charged me to replace them, so I believe it). Do they make 'bitier' pads? It is entirely possible your rotors are glazed. Did you neighbor drive around two-footed? Have you ever flushed the brake fluid? If not, go do it/get it done - it makes it feel brand new. Some newer cars will just have better brakes. Some older cars (my 85 944) will rip your face off if you try to mash the pedal like you might on many much newer cars. It's really difficult to tell if something is wrong without driving it. Motronic fucked around with this message at 12:59 on Jun 6, 2011 |
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Jun 6, 2011 12:56
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Javid posted:I doubt they're glazed, the rotors were warped and I got them turned a bit ago. Maybe fluid's the thing to do, the stuff in there isn't pretty. Yeah, then they probably aren't glazed. A proper flush will make an amazing difference if the stuff is that old an nasty. It will also keep you from trashing your braking components with corrosion from the inside....the corrosion inhibitors break down after several years.
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Jun 6, 2011 15:17
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Rubiks Pubes posted:Goodyear managed to over torque my lug nuts, and four of them broke when I was trying to rotate my tires. They are spline drive type lugs and the bottom 1/2" or so of them is still in place, but not the part the spline drive socket fits on. Wait...what? What vehicle? Are you positive you can't just beat them out the back with a sledge hammer and replace them? Wheel studs aren't typically threaded, other than the part that you put the lug nuts on.
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Jun 7, 2011 03:20
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Rubiks Pubes posted:The lug nuts broke, not the studs. Ahhh...sorry. Yeah..there's a few ways to take care of that. But heat is right. Make Goodyear do it.
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Jun 7, 2011 13:07
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Rubiks Pubes posted:They said they could not fix it without messing up the wheels Sucks to be them. I guess they owe you wheels too.
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Jun 7, 2011 22:38
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krnhotwings posted:I want to clean my idle air control valve on my '96 camry because it has trouble keeping idle from a cold start. I watched this video and the guy sprayed carburetor cleaner directly into the valve without removing it. Is this safe to do? I'd imagine that the nasty gunk being cleaned out would end up somewhere other than the ground.. Yeah, it will end up in your motor. It might not be the most advisable thing to do, but you probably aren't really going to be dislodging massive pieces of carbon when doing this. But you could. If it's easy to take off, take it off. If it's a total bitch, doesn't look like it's full of gravel or gravel waiting to happen, and you're feeling moderately adventurous, leave it on.
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Jun 8, 2011 14:56
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tkNukem posted:Can a failing hub/wheel bearing be misperceived as a failing balljoint? Absolutely. If they aren't paying attention/don't know what they are doing/too lazy to do it right, you can just say "the wheel is jiggly when I try to move it - failed - probably a <blah blah blah>". Get that poo poo in the air, and get your head under there while someone else moves the wheel at 12 and 6 and then at 3 and 9. You'll see what's moving. Replace it.
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Jun 8, 2011 16:02
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kinkster posted:I have a 93 Dodge caravan, the families teen beater. Without air conditioning it's crazy hot in the Texas heat. 
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Jun 9, 2011 14:06
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Javid posted:and god help you if you have an FR-12 system, which exactly one (shady) shop in town will even touch Where did you get this idea from? Any decent garage that's been around for more than few years has R-12 equipment. A certification to purchase it in small quantities is a $30 online test that takes an hour (I have mine, and I'm not a professional mechanic). Yes, R-12 is expensive, so it's $120 worth or refrigerant instead of $20. But it is still legitimately available (you can't produce it, but you can recycle and sell it).
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Jun 10, 2011 00:53
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