AI Stupid Question Thread - The automotive forum is calling about your car

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > AI Stupid Question Thread - The automotive forum is calling about your car

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DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Scruffpuff posted:

OK I got a question about my car that's been bugging me, it's a bizarre trait I've never had on other cars, I'll describe it best I can.

Make/Model: 2015 Dodge Challenger R/T, 8-cyl 5.7 liter
Transmission: 8-speed auto

The weird thing:

99.99% of the time the car runs absolutely fine and as expected. But living as I do in an area with a lot of elderly drivers going 15 MPH in a 45 zone, I occasionally find myself behind one such driver for an extended time. Once a lane to pass finally opens up, often with a limited runway, I hit the gas to get around the guy, admittedly probably much harder than I should - I think I'm converting blood pressure to foot pressure. In these rare cases, those times when I REALLY need the power I know the car has, the engine roars to life, downshifts, does all the things the engine should do. The problem is, the car doesn't actually go anywhere. It's almost like the transmission shifts into neutral while the engine makes all its impressive noises, which does me no actual good.

Do the RPMs surge and then drop? Does the car shutter when it starts speeding up again? Does it happen more when you're turning (particularly to the left)? Because "it feels like my car shifts to neutral while my RPMs spike" is exactly what a slipping transmission feels like, and many will start slipping only when you're trying to floor it at first. While a car that new shouldn't be slipping, it's not outside the realm of possibility considering it's a torquey engine.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2021 17:53

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 08:13

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Once upon a time I was taught to crack open the bleeder when compressing the piston back into the caliper to let the dirty old fluid out. Is that sound advice?

# ¿ Apr 25, 2021 02:39

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Yeah Eric O. is great but is almost definitely a fascist, one episode he was whining about his kids being taught "all this crazy nonsense in school about changing genders. I change oil not genders" and said something about homeschooling his kids because of it

# ¿ Apr 30, 2021 19:43

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

You can't bring up pussy shrapnel and not elaborate. Don't leave me hanging.

# ¿ May 4, 2021 19:44

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Human Trash Bag was the only saga I witnessed. I can appreciate a nice troll but the guy was just not very good at it unfortunately.

DildenAnders fucked around with this message at 04:59 on May 5, 2021

# ¿ May 5, 2021 04:54

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

My sister has a 2005 Ford Focus ZX5 with the 2.0l Zetec. Talked to her today and she said she gets around 24 mpg with it. Is it just me, or is that pretty low? She's a good driver, definitely doesn't drive like a maniac or anything and the car doesn't have any codes. Checked some of the more obvious potential causes (tires, air filter, etc.) And nothing else is jumping out at me. Is this just something to expect from a 16 year old car?

# ¿ May 10, 2021 23:24

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Please stop taunting us East Coast people with that car. That's how cars here look after a few months.

# ¿ May 15, 2021 05:39

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

I think my third gear synchro is chipped (it usually grinds going into third, less often when shifting up but always when downshifting). Will double clutching into third prevent wear for the rest of my transmission?

# ¿ May 15, 2021 16:46

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

06 Mazda 3. I don't have enough jack stands to keep the car level, will that gently caress me over when I try to change the fluid?

# ¿ May 15, 2021 18:05

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Manual tranny fluid. Would putting it up on ramps work? Or will it not fully drain then?

# ¿ May 15, 2021 18:44

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

I'm no expert but the Mazda will probably be a much more fun and reliable car to drive. Don't let the, uh haters, make you buy a worse car for more money. Stick with the Mazda.

# ¿ May 16, 2021 14:35

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

There are quite a few things I would do for that car. Do tell.

# ¿ May 17, 2021 21:27

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

I got a $1200 grant from school that has to be spent on "CoVid related expenses", which can include car repairs. I have a couple of things wrong with my car, any ideas on what I should prioritize? It's a 2006 Mazda 3 with the 2.0L

1. It seems to have some worn/broken suspension components. It pulls to the left and makes some noises when I hit bumps/occasionally when turning at low speeds.

2. Valves are making noise, nothing too bad but doesn't entirely go away when it's all warmed up. Took it to my mechanic, he said he thinks it's the lifters and that it would be $1000+ to fix it (and that I probably shouldn't bother at this point).

3. Transmission feels very worn, and third gear in particular has a bad syncro, so it grinds going in. It's just recently gotten worse, but it still has yet to pop out or refuse to go in or anything. Clutch seems like it's in good shape

Again I know $1200 won't cover everything, so any thoughts on what I should prioritize would be helpful.

# ¿ May 21, 2021 14:21

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

The used car market is a sewer when times are normal (and they most certainly are not right now). If you want to find something good you have to be checking at least twice a day for the really good stuff that gets snatched up, make sure you have mechanic check it out thoroughly, and realize that paying a bit more upfront can save you a ton down the line if it means getting a car that's been taken care of (or even just had the bare minimum of fluids and stuff changed). That being said, you can get some good cars quite cheap with a bit of luck. A couple of years ago my brother found a Matrix XR in beautiful shape with ~100k on it and receipts for everything on the cars maintenance schedule. It was $3k all said and done, and 70k miles later it's still holding up pretty well with minimal work put into it (aside from tires, brakes and oil of course). If you get discouraged just keep looking and know the more you look the easier it will be to spot something good.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2021 06:57

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Do I remove the marinade off a steak before I cook it in a pan?

# ¿ Jun 5, 2021 20:47

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Welp I didn't mean to post that here, but thanks for all the advice at any rate. The marinade didn't taste very good when I licked it off though...

# ¿ Jun 5, 2021 23:32

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

I'm not sure about belts but oil should be changed at least once a year, possibly more often in a vehicle like that. I know some people drain the fluids out/remove the battery when they know a car is going to be stored for a while (like several years), maybe you could look into that if it fits your situation. Though I'm not sure how expensive it is to have it done professionally (and what exactly would have to be done to resurrect it later).

# ¿ Jun 14, 2021 21:31

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

I'm not sure if there's any sort of a collection of those ratings, but I can say with certainty that old BoF trucks are significantly less safe. More mass is irrelevant when small impacts still cause passenger intrusion, which is what happens when they aren't engineered to disperse energy in a specific way. Not to mention large, BoF trucks have higher centers of gravity, and are thus significantly more prone to the most dangerous types of accidents, roll-overs. Bigger=/= safer, vehicles have to be designed carefully and deliberately in order to be safer.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2021 18:16

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

I have a 2006 Mazda 3, with about 131k miles on it. It calls for 5W-20. It's not a big deal if I switch to 0w-20 right? Costco has it at half the price of autozone and it's full synthetic, which I usually don't go for. Also, any other car things I should buy from Costco?

# ¿ Jun 24, 2021 22:08

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

When you top off the gas tank after the nozzle stops, you're just filling up the EVAP system with gas, right?

# ¿ Jun 27, 2021 23:13

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

From personal experience, any VW with a DSG will either get very expensive to maintian or very broken and slippy.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2021 13:15

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Just bought a used car for my brother, and the shift bushings feel very old, mushy and vague. Can bad shift bushings lead to damage? They seem like an absolute pain in the dickhole to change out.

DildenAnders fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Jul 5, 2021

# ¿ Jul 5, 2021 14:47

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

AWD systems depend on wheel speed sensor inputs and are extremely sensitive to wheel diameter. Unfortunately they are telling you the truth, though 3 tires is a lot cheaper than a new AWD transfer case.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2021 22:27

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

I have aftermarket HID headlights installed in my car (from a PO). How do I replace them when one goes bad?

# ¿ Jul 8, 2021 00:54

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Anyone have experience with getting tires from Costco? My brother needs all 4 changed, and I was wondering if Costco would be more cost-effective than something like Walmart.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2021 16:30

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Is the Ecoboost 4-cylinder found in the Focus ST in the MZR family?

# ¿ Jul 14, 2021 21:37

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

What's the best way to go about selling a car that hasn't been registered in over a year? My sister stopped driving her 1999 Honda Civic because of a lack of available parts for the Takata airbag recall, and now she wants me to sell it for her (she has since moved the car out of state, I have the title but it's still in her name). Also can I get a Honda dealer to perform recall repairs even if the car isn't registered/insured? This is in New York state if it matters.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2021 21:58

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Yeah, there is no advantage to sticking with 1 insurance company. If you want to save money, shop around every year (and be prepared to hop around providers). They will use any excuse to raise your rates, the way to keep them honest is to play them against each other.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2021 13:03

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

The Door Frame posted:

My radiator cracked a tiny bit and started leaking a couple hundred miles ago. When I went to refill it this time, the radiator itself was full of normal green coolant, but there was frothy white stuff in the coolant coming from the engine once the thermostat had opened up that had a very oily consistency. Not a lot of it, but enough to be concerning

Any chance that it's something other than a head gasket leak?

What does your oil look like?

# ¿ Jul 22, 2021 01:09

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

1999 Honda Civic. Car has sat for about 6 months, 6 year old battery in it was toast (wouldn't hold a charge after jumping it) so put a new battery in. Right now it reads 12.6V when sitting and 14.1V when the car is running. However, when I turn the headlights on, the interior lights start to dim, and when I turn stuff like the A/C and radio on, the engine starts to shutter a bit. Aren't those symptoms of something in the battery circuit not being right? I have no real experience diagnosing battery issues but I do have a multimeter if it makes sense to check other things.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2021 20:43

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

You're probably right, just went to double-check it and it turns out it was just the A/C that made it shutter, and the interior lights barely changed when I popped on the headlights. What threw me off was that the gear indicator (showing "P" "N" "D4" "D3" etc.) on the dash got dim as I turned the lights on. Thanks for the help

# ¿ Jul 24, 2021 23:27

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Also with the 99 Civic, it seems like the valve cover gasket is seeping and I want to replace it. Anything else I should do while I do that (aside from plugs)?

# ¿ Jul 25, 2021 04:27

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Does anyone know who the OEM was for the 1st gen Mazda 3 sway bar linkage? Or is that the type of part where the manufacturer really doesn't matter?

# ¿ Jul 26, 2021 12:07

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Just watched this video, and he mentions intake baffles that can break off. Is anyone else familiar with this problem, and should I be worried about it at 134k miles?
Edit: I'm an idiot, engine in question is the Ford Duratec/Mazda MZR, here's the video:
https://youtu.be/3GGfys4ndJc

DildenAnders fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Jul 30, 2021

# ¿ Jul 30, 2021 16:55

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Could be literally millions of reasons unfortunately. Check your tire pressure as well. If the car has lots of seemingly unrelated fault codes it could be wire damage from a rodent or something, but that's very much jumping to conclusions. Get the codes read and go from there.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2021 17:04

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Text replies from craigslist asking for me to email them are probably weird scams, right? Ex". I Want to buy your . 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee - $1,500 (*****, NY)
.Email me if it's available [ connieljohnson728@gmail.com ] "
Just got like 3 of these, all weirded very strangely but differently with different emails so just want to make sure it's not some weird cl response option or something.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2021 02:02

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Yes for christ's sake don't arm yourself when checking out things on craigslist, all you're doing is substantially increasing the odds someone (including yourself) gets murdered.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2021 09:57

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/honda,1999,civic,1.6l+l4+sohc,1355611,body,bumper+cover,1344
I'm replacing the rear bumper cover for a 1999 Honda Civic, however most of the (affordable) options I'm finding are unpainted. What's my best option to have the bumper painted to match the rest of the car? Will an auto body be able to do it?

# ¿ Aug 7, 2021 20:48

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

Spark plugs (and oil changes) are great for a beginner to try. That being said, it's unlikely you need them changed if there aren't any problems with the car atm. I think your best bet would be to get yourself a suitable ratchet set and spark plug socket, pull one out, and look at it. If it looks worn, then you know you should replace them, and if they look fine, then you can put everything back, having gained both experience with working on your car and saving a bit of money. Youtube and google images are generally great resources for this type of job when you're starting out, so I'd recommend you watch a video first. And it's very important you work on a cold engine, as you can very easily strip out the spark plug holes if the engine is still hot. At any rate, best of luck.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2021 16:12

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 08:13

DildenAnders: Mar 16, 2016; "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.â

VelociBacon posted:

2007 GTI, 6spd manual with factory LSD.

Lately (for about a week or two) when driving at highway speeds I've noticed an intermittent and irregular gentle knocking sorta sound from I think somewhere in the front of the car. It sounds almost exactly like driving over a repaired crack in the road or similar small irregularity. It's not associated with engine speed or gear selection. It doesn't change appreciably when making long sweeping left or right hand corners. I don't 'feel' anything in the steering wheel or in the frame of the car when these sounds occur. It's driving completely normally and no CEL is on. It happens under braking as well as during acceleration or just cruising. It almost sounds like something is embedded in a tire, but it's not occurring with that kind of regularity or frequency. Imagine something like a screw being in the tire every 10th-15th rotation of the wheel but not otherwise.

I'm unable to reproduce any kind of noise when moving the body of the car up and down by grabbing the wheel arch, and I don't hear anything like I'd expect with a sway bar linkage when I go over a speed bump either both wheels at the same time or one wheel at a time. I don't have an easy way of getting the front wheels off the ground to push/pull on them to see if I feel any play which I recognize would be a good next step to see if a wheel bearing might be on it's way out.

Any ideas? I'm going to take a look at the front axles when I can get there with a flashlight (in the middle of a work set at the moment) to see if maybe a CV joint is out, but I think that would make the noise worse on acceleration if that was the issue.

My other thoughts were a front wheel bearing or front strut mount/bearing. I've never had any issues with that kind of thing in any vehicle I've owned so I don't know what it 'should' sound like but I thought with a wheel bearing it would be louder when loaded in one direction or the other as when on a long left/right corner on the highway. At a standstill, turning the wheel from one direction all the way to the other doesn't produce any knocking or clicking sounds.

Thanks goons.

I like Mighty Car Mods on youtube but I have to fast forward through a lot of their dialogue because about a third of the time it's not nearly as funny as they think it is. They have incredibly interesting projects and a wide diversity as well. I've really enjoyed them and they're good people often supporting local charity organizations or mental health stuff etc.

Could it be a sway bar link? Those things go bad all the time, and though they don't affect driving too much, they can make a ton of racket. Thankfully, they are also generally cheap as hell and very easy to replace (rust not withstanding).

# ¿ Aug 15, 2021 09:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > AI Stupid Question Thread - The automotive forum is calling about your car

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