I'll toss this here too in case anyone else wants to know. I currently own a 2008 Infiniti G37s. I love that thing to death. I bought it used back in '09 with only 8k miles on it and have since put on about 38k myself. I would not trade her for anything right now, except maybe a GTR. Its a very sporty coupe with tons of power and just the right amount of luxury; it comes standard with all leather and a few different trim options, and the center console is very well set up in my opinion. I have also modded it a bit with a cold air intake, new catalytic coverters, a full new exhaust, a tune, and some 20" wheels to make her my own. The car is definitely a hell of a lot of fun to drive, once you get the clutch down pretty decently, its tough to gauge at first, the car will be putty in your hand. Its definitely an eye catcher too, I see people all the time craning to see it as I drive by, especially Mustang and Camaro owners. And I don't know much about evo's, I'm pretty biased towards the G.
Don't know what your budget is, but right now you can get a reasonable NSX for around 25K. A bit underpowered compared to the beasts of today, but I've never driven another car that was so much damned fun (except a 430 Scuderia, which is a whole 'nother ball of wax).
I've logged a few thousand miles in a 2009 STi and a 2011 EVO MR. Personally I liked the STi better. Road feel, torque, and acceleration in highway speeds & above benefited from the slightly larger motor. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the EVOs TC-SST paddles. I think it's cool technology but I didn't feel the same as banging through the gears with a real manual (even though every test out there says the TC-SST is a superior setup). I shopped for an STi for a bit but as fun as they are they're just not what I needed for a daily driver. The interior is a little cramped and the finish is pretty plain. The G37 is a nice ride but it's a little pedestrian in the performance dept. Looks wise and properly dressed up they look like fucking batmobiles but I'm a "whats under the hood" guy first and foremost. My advice... Look for a car that's a year or two old with low miles and no mods, or factory mods. I know a couple well heeled guys in their 50's that bought STi's on a whim, drove em for half a year and then decided they didn't like the ride of thing compared to the (insert luxury sedan/coupe here) they were use to. The cars either got traded in or they unloaded them for cheap money. The STi & Evo run around $38k new with options. A 2-yr old car will cost about $12k less.
2006 GTI 2.0 TFSI with DSG. Starting two days ago, the CEL, ABS, and traction control lights intermittently come on and will stop being lit up while driving. ABS randomly kicks in when braking, even though the road conditions are fine. Scanned the car with an OBD reader, and there weren't any codes thrown. OBD scanner also reported that the last drive cycle didn't have any error codes as well. Could this just be a dirty ABS sensor? I also know there is a VAG-COM device and application I can use to plug the car into my computer, but I don't know which one I should pick up and which version of the software to use. Any VW gearheads on this board that could point me in the right direction?
This just happened with my 2006 Jeep Liberty a few months ago; same symptoms (CEL, ABS, and traction control lights intermittently come on and will stop being lit up while driving. ABS randomly kicks in when braking, even though the road conditions are fine). I was throwing a code though, and tracked it down to a left-front tone wheel error. Basically, the sensor that is tracking how fast each of your wheels is going has a malfunction. In my case, the sensor is inside the bearing pack - so they need to replace the entire thing rather than just a monitoring sensor. It isn't a safety issue per-say, but it does mean that you cannot trust your ABS to function properly if you need to brake suddenly.
Depends on what OBDII reader you put it on. There are many different levels of readers. There are the generic engine codes, the vehicle specific engine codes, and vehicle specific non engine codes(abs/trans/...). So your ABS and traction control might not show up on every reader. To do a German vehicle specific engine and non engine codes, you i will need a 2K+ OBDII reader.
The OBD scanner I used had specific options for European vehicles, and even more specific, the GTI. When I ran the scanner, the CEL was already off, since I had put the car through a full drive cycle and had started and stopped the vehicle twice before I was able to get to the scanner. I'll see if I can reproduce it later tonight and get to the scanner while the CEL is on.
Generally a code is stored if the CEL comes on and is kept even if the light goes off so you should still be able to figure what triggered the CEL. Also, some scanners are capable of recording readings as the car is driven. I don't know if yours can do that but it might be worth investigating if you have an intermittent issue. If your scanner won't do that, you can get a bluetooth OBDII reader and an app on your phone that will read real-time. Look on dealextreme.com for a cheap one of questionable quality.
Yea, if the CEL came on, it should store the reason why. I know the scanner alot of the guys use around here, you have to go back into the old trouble codes, and find out what was wrong.
That's what's bothering me... I even checked the previous drive cycles using the scanner and it came back with no codes. I might pick up the BT OBD scanner, but the problem is that it's the wife's car and she hates driving mine. I'll check those out, though. Thanks.
Here are some pictures of the power steering cooler installation I did on my Trans Am last week. I resealed the power steering pump on my car, and while I was at it, I decided to get rid of the bulky factory "cooling system" that it had. (an extra-long steel return line that went along the lower radiator support. It was always getting in the way whenever I had to do any work to the front of the engine when the car was jacked up.) I had considered tapping that line into the unused transmission-cooler in the radiator, but the plumbing was going to be a nightmare, so I opted for an air-to-oil cooler. I had a used cooler laying around, so I welded up a frame for it and used that. Here's how it looks off of the car, from the back (yes, the cooler is a little beaten up, but it doesn't leak. I had it checked.): Here it is installed. I had to cut a notch in the front air-dam to make way for the lines (I used 300-psi rated hydraulic hoses covered with wire loom.) And another lighting angle. I couldn't get a view from the top, sorry:
Not true at all in this case. VW/Audis can use a VAG-com for all ODB2 diagnostics, which is relatively cheap ($250-350 for the authentic cable or $100 for the software license if you have an eBay cable) and is a very handy tool to have if you plan on owning a VW/Audi out of warranty for any period of time. It also allows you do to real time monitoring of stuff like MAF values, O2 sensor voltage, fuel trims, etc. <a class="postlink" href="http://store.ross-tech.com/shop/cat/VCDS.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://store.ross-tech.com/shop/cat/VCDS.html</a> OP, as long as you don't live in the sticks, I can almost guarantee that there is someone close by with a VAG-com that will scan your car for free or a six pack of beer. Post up on VWVortex.com under the Regionals section as well as any local VW/Audi clubs in your area. Trust me, scanning for codes is a very common request within the community.
2002 Acura TL Last week I noticed that where my A-pillar meets the ceiling was wet. I've been having to park my car outside in the snow. My first thought was that my windshield was leaking, but after several calls I've be assured that it's very rare. Everybody thinks that it's the sunroof. So I poured water to test the sunroof drains and even blew compressed air through them. They worked fine. Just to make sure, I took it to a car wash, sprayed it down, paying special attention to the sunroof and the corner of my windshield. Totally dry on the inside. I thought that it was fixed. Yesterday, after a decent snow had just started to melt, it was wet again. Any ideas?
Check the door seals too. I've had this happen on cars before. Sometimes its just a seal not seating correctly on a sunroof or window that will fix itself the next time you open and close it.
Thanks for the input. The door seals look good. I've opened and closed the sunroof a couple of times, but it hasn't snowed/rained since then so it's hard to know if that fixed anything. I washed it about a week ago and no leaking, but just days after it snowed and during the melt, it was wet again. I'm really at a loss. The shop wants $180 to have their dudes sit inside and find the leak, which seems exorbitant.
I own a 2006 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD. I'm having some transmission issues. My transmission starts acting up when the vehicle has been driven for about 5 minutes; it won't act up if it is cold. It starts shifting really hard going up through the gears, but not when downshifting. Does anyone have a clue why/what the hell this is?
The only other thing I can think of is that the cold snow is causing one of the seals to shrink enough to let in water as it melts. The materials they use are temperature resistant to some degree but maybe... As for the shop rates... that's high. But I have friends that had sunroof leakage issues that spent hundreds of dollars chasing it and never got it resolved. One way to test where it's coming from would be to split open a contractor trash bag, weight it down a little with something so it doesn't blow away and then cover your sunroof the next time it snows. Do the same with the wind shield afterwards, and then the front window on the side it's wettest. Can't think of anything else.
It didn't do it last year during the snow, but maybe a seal is starting to wear out. Your bag idea actually isn't that bad. I'll try to keep an eye on the weather and try it.