We bought the wife's used car 3 years ago and that's what we did. "I'll pay X, out the door," and they took it. I've had no luck with this strategy this time. The SUV I was looking at had an oil leak, mismatched tires with one that would barely pass a safety inspection, questionable air ride assist compressor and several interior bells and whistles that didn't work. I just asked for $1,400 off of asking price, which I think was reasonable and what I could fix those issues for. Then I went up to $900 off asking price, that would barely cover putting a new set of tires on the thing.
What new truck is $30k?? Motorcycle dealers are worse. "I have to pay $800 freight? For them to ship YOU the bike....which happened before I got here. So if I don't pay it, can I just get them to ship it to me? No? Then it sounds like a dealer cost, twat waffle." The place I bought from in Accident, MD (seriously) waived that shit, and I will drive 3 hours there just because they didn't try to fuck me over.
I always love it when you go to look for what is making noise and basically hits you over the head with what is wrong. Instead of just changing the bushing, the car is almost 20 years old now, so i said fuck it everything is getting changed, ball joint, bushings, sway bar link, tie rod end, strut assembly. Don't want to do the job, and a year or so later something else fails.
Alright help me out guys. Best Miata to buy in the 10-12k range, this could be a cheaper 6k option with 4k of upgrages, or a 10k that's set to go. Don't want any of the first gen with the flip up headlights and nothing later than 2013. And GO!
Got all the front trim installed on the Parkwood. Bad news is that we won't be attending SEMA this year. Somehow it hasn't been canceled yet but being in the same building as several hundred thousand people from all over the world doesn't sound like a gamble we want to take.
I hate to be this guy, but have you considered a Solstice? I have driven both a 3rd Gen 2004 Miata and a first year 2006 Solstice, and the Solstice fit and finish was way better then the Miata, and the Solstice drove way better.
I finally got my Flowmaster exhaust put on today. I'm not thrilled with the stupidly expensive Magnaflow tips I had them put on, but overall I'm happy. I thought the tips were just stainless replacements for the stockers, but they're bigger. I liked the size of the stock tips. The car now has a much more aggressive growl at idle, without being obnoxious, and a deeper note coming from the pipes. I really didn't expect it, but there was actually a slight increase in power. At least that's the seat of the pants feeling. Maybe 5-10 HP. At the very least the engine does seem slightly more responsive. All told the parts and labor was just over $600. For the improved growl at idle, it was worth it.
The Camaro has picked up a new WTF? At start up and low temps, it runs like normal. Once it gets in the 210 range, the idle fucks up. Not horrible like it did before, but a subtle rough idle. If I had thick, cozy seats I probably wouldn't even notice it. Hell, if I wasn't so familiar with the car I might even think it normal. The tach isn't fluctuating at all, no codes, no CEL. But, the engine feels...different.It doesn't seem to rev as smoothly or easily, and it feels like it's not pulling as hard as it should. Then again, it's been in the 110 degree range this week, but the car has run in that kind of heat before without the same feeling. One other thing, twice this week I stopped for gas or beer on the way home. When I fired the car back off, there was a very noticeable POP! from the exhaust. That kind of leads me to think it's a fuel issue again. Like it's not adjusting the air/fuel to compensate for the operating temperature and running rich. Does that sound about right? Any ideas what might be causing it? Thanks.
A bit of research and possibilities are all over the place. Possibly the O2 sensors? That kind of makes sense. The issue started between one stop light (With the car fully warmed up), and 2 miles down the road at the next stop light the idle was rough. It was a very sudden change, and it's been ongoing for a few days now. Like I said, the car idles fine until it approaches the 210 degree range....then it shudders at idle. There is no fuel smell, so I'm sure the purge solenoid issue is taken care of. I'm baffled.
Last time I saw something like that it was a MAF sensor... at some points when it got some heat into it it shorted out which caused problems with the A/F mixture. Mind you, I have no idea if that even applies to your car....
Toytoy, this is where you get out your cool new scanner and read the live data, specifically your Long Term Fuel Trims (one for each bank of cylinders). Look at the short term fuel trims while your at it. What these are is a measurement in percent of how much fuel the pcm is having to add or subtract from the factory tune to maintain the proper air/ fuel ratio. The rule that they taught us in technical school was anything over 15% plus-or-minus is bad, but if you ask me, once you're over 10%, something screwy is going on. Read those when the car is acting weird and report back here. LT1s were notorious for vacuum leaks coming from the intake manifold gaskets; another test is this: Go to live data, and look at the upstream oxygen sensors (Bank 1, sensor 1, and bank 2, sensor 2). They should be switching between 200-800 mv., or somewhere in that area. Then spray the gasket area/ fuel injectors with starting fluid. If the oxygen sensor voltage suddenly goes to 800+ mv. and stays there, you got yourself a vacuum leak. Actually, spray any connection on the intake manifold when you do this. Lastly, see what your Mass Airflow reading is. Normal for a V8 is about 5-8 grams per second. For the record, I don't think there's anything wrong with your O2 sensors, but I could be wrong.
Well fuck, took the Nova for spin today and as I was getting on the freeway (2000 rpm, maybe 15% throttle) I see a giant white cloud behind me. I pull over and it's puking trans fluid. Got it towed home, jacked it up and it's coming from the front of the trans. Either front pump, front pump seal or converter.
I forgot the details of your build, but yeah, my money is on front seal/ front seal bushing. Unless your converter hub was really grooved (and if it was, I doubt you would have used it), you probably nicked the seal when installing it, or your converter bushing is bad. I can't tell you how many times I've seen guys pull a transmission to change the converter seal, only for it to leak again because the bushing was also worn out. A friend of mine who owns a transmission shop told me that the bushing provides about 90% of the seal for the converter; there's no way that lip seal could hold full line pressure (anywhere from 75-250 psi).
At work we have been going threw a few(4 in the last 6 months) PDC's(power distribution center/main fuse block). Dodge in there infinite wisdom, decided to put 3 to 4 relays right on the main circuit board inside the plastic housing, and not be removable like all the other ones. So if you have a fuel pump or a wiper motor relay go, you can't just change the relay, you have to change the whole PDC.
We get the weirdest shit at the other shop. This is a 1917 Pierce Arrow. 5000 lbs, cast aluminum body and doors, 825 cubic inches underrated at 66hp, although some say it's closer to 92hp. (A Model T had 20hp for comparison) The pictures don't do justice to the sheer size of this thing. The tires are 35" tall. I'm 6'2" and I can't reach the top of the convertible top. It's too long for our paint booth. Fully restored, this beast is worth about $400,000. (We're not restoring it, just prepping the metal for it's cross country journey) If you're bored or enjoy reading about rare cars, here is a cool page talking about them. https://www.autoweek.com/news/a2122221/1917-pierce-arrow-66-touring-one-well-heeled/
I *Think* I found the issue with my hot idle. (Dixie, the fuel trims were all within tolerance) The shop I go to told me I need a tune up ($1800)...and I not so gently explained the car had a tune up 4 months ago and no way in hell did it need a tune up. I finally acquiesced and had them change the plugs ($600) because I thought possibly it could've fouled a couple of plugs when the purge valve took a shit. I looked at the old plugs and it looked like a few of them were running lean. They didn't look to bad though, although they weren't showing a uniform burn. Anyways, I started doing a bit of research and found a likely culprit....the Ignition Control Module. The genius engineers at GM mounted a heat sink to the head and bolted the ICM to that. As the years go by the thermal compound breaks down and the ICM shits the bed. I replaced it today and ran the car up to operating temperature...and the idle stayed normal. Mostly. It's still got a bit of a bump, but not the shake it had been getting. I'm thinking I may also replace the idle air because why not? I'll know for sure if this cured the issue when I make the long drive to work on Monday. It's always been kind of an intermittent thing, but once the idle went to hell, it stayed that way until the car cooled down over night. Fingers crossed this fixes this issue, I'm sure another one will pop up soon.
Changing the ICM somewhat alleviated the issue, but the car's still not quite right. If the weather gets hot enough (It always gets hot enough here), the idle goes to shit. Not complete shit...I don't have to keep revving the engine to keep it going, but it idles like I have a huge overlapping cam. The factory cam has a bit of overlap, but it never ran like this before. I ordered an idle air for it and will try that. This has to be something simple. I just wish it would throw a code and give me a clue.
Have a question to the automotive techs on the board. I have a 1986 Ford Stepvan E350. I've been trying to get it going for a little while now, but can't seem to figure out what the issue is. Things I've done so far : New battery, new air filter, gas tank was replaced and refilled, new radiator cap, new starter. If I turn it over, it just doesn't start. If I spray some starter fluid into the carb, it starts, but putters out within 3-4 seconds. I thought it may not have been getting fuel, so I removed the fuel filter and watched gas pour into the carb when pressing the gas pedal. I've started a few fires in the carb and had some nasty backfires from flooding it??? Anything I've tried gets it running for a couple seconds, but not long enough to even get it into drive or do anything else. The carb is OLD, probably still the original one. Haven't checked the plugs or plug wires since it'll start when fed starter fluid directly into the carb and stay started as long as you keep spraying it in there. What should I be looking to do next to try and get this started?