A place to ask all your short automotive related questions.
>ProTip - Google your question first. You are in more chances of getting a detailed answer to it.
Also, please go through the thread to find questions of which you know an answer to.
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Can you just use mycarfax on a car you don't own to get the service record for free?
Every thread I post dies in seconds so, here I go,
I live in a third world country in which cars and fuel are extremely expensive. I need to buy a car because I want to go to my hometown without the pain of a bus travel.
I've recently seen a Corolla 2000 with 57k km. It is priced 8400 usd which is very expensive even compared to the prices of its peers.
So what do you think? Should I buy it and put a LPG tank and use it? Or should I pass?
pic is me having comfy times. I earn 100$ a month.
some guy posted a jag x358 and i fell in love with it
it would be my first car though and from googling around id have to have some work done on it to use it into the forseeable future.
my mind is telling me no but my body. MY BODYY. anyway ill probably end up getting a lexus but where are u jagfag
I'm thinking about buying a car from a guy who lives in PA but I live in MD. Does anyone have any clue how this works? Never bought a car before so please explain it like I'm a retard.
I've always driven a truck my whole life, all 4 or 5 speeds.
I got a car for the first time, and I can shift my trucks smooth as butter. The car is a G6 GTP 6 speed.
Every time I shift from first to second, and second to third the car will lurch. After that it's fine.
Tried my friend's car that's a 5 speed and had the same trouble. Maybe I'm just used to a 6 inch+ pull on the catch point.
Am I shifting too early? Too late? I always try to shift at 2.5, then I tried 3, then 3.5 but I still always get lurching.
You're probably just not used to the way the clutch bites, and possibly you're letting the revs drop too far or something -- ideally during casual driving the engine speed will naturally drop to about where it needs to be in the time it takes to shift.
What I find helpful when I'm in a car with a clutch that feels funky to me is think of every gear change the same way I think of taking off from a stop, where the trick is to ride the bite point slightly. I find for me personally that I have a tendency to just sort of dump the clutch when shifting up rather than thinking about the bite point, and if I don't reflexively and unthinkingly anticipate the bite point then of course it's going to wind up lurching and jerking.
As with piano lessons, they always told me to slow down and get all the notes and fingerings right, and that after that speed would come naturally. They were right.
Depends on your age and financial situation. If you're younger, like
so i thought my car had a busted sock absorber because it handles like shit and when the offside wheel goes over a bump, it feels SUPER shitty vs when the near side front goes a bump.
i popped my head under and couldn't see any leaks from the shock absorber and nothing seems to be noticeably broken. i took it to a garage and they assured me it was fine. they said they took it on a test drive and the experienced mechanic said it felt like he would expect. i said he was mental and went to a different garage and they basically said the same thing. they can't see anything underneath that would be causing that feeling and nothing is obviously broken. i said it feels like it's a bit lower on the nearside and going around a bend, it feels like it's dragging
now i don't know what to do because two different garages said they can't fix it so now i'm googling and reading top 10 lists of what could be causing it
how do i fix a problem when i don't know what it is
Forgot to add,
That same car also makes a clunking noise when I take off, hit bumps, or turn. Would that be ball joints, or strut/control arm/bushing?
Depends where the clunking is coming from. Could be a bad motor or transmission mount even. But something like a ball joint where there should be no play ought to be reasonably easy for any mechanic to check (and clunking ball joint should not be allowed past any reasonable safety inspection anyway).
You are probably right to begin with the clunk. If something in your suspension or driveline has too much play and clunks then that should be sorted out before wondering why bumps feel different on one side vs. the other.
If nothing is particularly obvious, there might not be much you can do short of starting to replace things. If it's an old car then maybe all the bushing are just worn enough to add up to spotty handling. A friend of mine had the strangest little dip and weave his rear end would do on one side; neither one of us could figure it out but new shocks were a cheap and easy thing to try and that wound up curing it.
I can feel/hear it only on the front end. The car itself handles just fine, have no problem hitting tight turns at high speeds - for a FWD. It's an 06.
I did notice that the outsides of my front tires are wearing significantly more than the rest of the vehicle. I assume ball joints.
We don't have any safety/smog inspections here. The only mechanics here charge for diagnosis. I don't have time to work on shit myself anymore, unfortunately.
Ball joints sufficiently worn would have your steering feel loose and would have the car wandering a bit even going straight. As they get worse, they play can be enough to violently toss you in a different direction when you're not cornering in such a way as to keep a constant force on it.
Outsides of the tires wearing are most often a sign of too much toe in (i.e. your tie rods are adjusted so that the fronts of your wheels are pointing too far in from being perfectly parallel).
But this is really the sort of thing that is especially difficult to try to diagnose by text.
Fair enough.
Now that I think about it, on occasion it feels like the car will jerk itself to the right on a smooth road - but I'm in IL so we have different definitions of smooth.
Regarding the toe-in. Would new tires(Needed before winter, but want to get this fixed first) after being aligned fix this - or would that be a separate issue?
What kind of oil should i put in my 1990 Toyota Supra non- Turbo ?
Is full synthetic 10w30 high mileage oil a good choice ?
I have a 2002 Camaro ss. It's an auto (don't judge). I was wondering if $200 and up performance modules, performance chips make any noticable difference in hp/ torque?
If you suspect ball joint, you might as well also suspect tie rod end. The typical thing they tell you to do to is to try wiggling the wheel around to feel for play (jacking up that one corner). If you can wiggle it grabbing top and bottom, then that's ball joint. If it only wiggles grabbing by the sides then that's tie rod end. But they have to be really bad before that test will be obvious.
I'm not sure what your question is regarding new tires. But you definitely should get the toe checked / fixed before new tires because if it is bad toe then that can chew up tires quick.
Whatever the manual calls for. If it's not burning oil excessively and you're not facing extreme heat or cold, and you're not racing, then the recommended weight is fine.
The seller is telling me he replaced the engine and transmission, but I just bought the carfax report and it doesn't have any record of that. Is there a chance he's telling the truth and it just didn't show up on the report or is he bullshitting me?
How would I do something similar to the black line thing on this car to mine? Stencils and a Spray gun? Cutting it out of a roll of car wrap?
Does rebuilding an engine necessarily mean they swap out the Engine block and it will have a different VIN?
Maybe there's something philosophical here, but if you're not reusing the block, I'd say you're building a new engine rather than rebuilding an old one.
VIN is attached to the frame. That doesn't change if you drop in an entirely different engine altogether.
Well fuck. Here I was thinking I was getting a new engine in this car but I guess they just did maintenance of some sort. What sort of maintenance do you have to do on an engine for it to be considered "rebuilt"?
In broad terms, you take it apart, replace worn parts with new ones, or replace normie parts with racecar parts, or you shave it and mill it and make it more balanced, or whatever else, and then you put it back together. BAM: now it's like you have a fresh engine from the factory, or maybe one that's even better than from the factory.
So you could think of it as being basically a "new" engine depending on what they did to it. At the very least, you'd assume now you have fresh seals and gaskets, no worn bearings, probably cleaned out gunk and carbon deposits, valves are lashed and maybe even reground if they went through that much trouble. It really depends on why they took the trouble to take the engine apart and put it back together.
>just bought first car
>stupid me forgets to ask him for the oil
>no manual
My question is does mixing different grades of oil do anything bad for the car ? Also what about mixing it with synthetic?
Is the best thing to do mean just changing the oil on the car and a new filter since i just got it?
im 100% sure it is online somewhere
what about fake news
I want the inside scoop eh
nh.craigslist.org
how much would it be to fix a evap leak?
In general you should not be mixing different grades, types, and brands of oil. They'll have different additive packages not designed with each other in mind and the end result will be a who know's what of close enough.
That being said, if it's your shitbox or you're just doing it once to use up some old oil you have around, and you're not doing something ridiculous, then it's not going to hurt anything.
If you don't know when the last time he did the oil and filer then you might as well do it anyway. Or if you're feeling adventurous, wait until after the winter since winter is often hard on oil due to the increased chances of water and gas getting into it from cold operation.
Just buy a motorcycle, that's what it appears most third worlders drive.
How many miles do you have on the car? if its in excess of 80k miles and the shocks haven't been changed then you need to do it anyways.
If the car is in excess of 100k and no suspension parts have been changed, you probably need to replace most everything. If you do replace everything it maybe beneficial to upgrade your suspension when replacing said parts.
FYI the way shocks are, and variance in stock performance from car to car, its very hard to diagnose a blown shock.
04 f150 has a hesitation from 3-4k but only at wot. it threw a cel for running lean and cyl 7 misfire. it has 40-45 psi fuel pressure so i dont suspect clogged fuel filter. is it a clogged/dying injector? it only happens at wot which is closed loop so it ignores the o2 sensor, so thats probably not it right?
Snapped my key and had to drop the chipped piece of the key into the ignition to get the car started in a hurry. How do i get this little piece of shit out? I've tried using strong magnet and hairpins.
You mean open loop. Right, probably not the O2 sensor. You can do the usual stuff like moving the spark plugs around to see if the misfire follows the plug. I don't know if it's easy to move the injectors around to see if the misfire follows the injector. Wouldn't hurt to look for an obvious vacuum leak. Wouldn't hurt to run a can of injector cleaner just in case you have a clog that it might remedy.
But at the end of the day an A/F problem when running open loop is usually an air sensor problem, or possibly a TPS problem depending on how the system is set up.
HA HA HA OH WOW
(sorry)
Are 8th gen Cadillac DeVilles reliable? I've heard the Northstar is expensive to fix.
you could try superglue or epoxy or soldering a piece of metal but you gotta be really careful
Your state DMV would be better able to answer that question, as titling and registering a car vary's from state to state.
Generally when buying out of state, you'll need to arrange transport, whether renting a car to get you up there and driving the bought vehicle back or have someone follow you. You'll need a Certified check in the agreed apon price, 2 copies of a bill of sale pre-printed out, and you'll need to get from the owner his signature on the bill of sale on your copy, and most importantly you'll need to get the title from him that day once the money has exchanged hands (some states require the title to be signed as well signifying transfer of ownership).
NEVER buy a car without a title, it'll be difficult to register it, if it doesn't pop up as stolen when you try to go register it, also be wary of sales that have a different persons name on the title than the sellers, someone selling a car like that is illegal in many states and may cause problems for you down the line.
Also almost all private sales are as-is, so if you find a problem with the car later on after you buy it you have little to no recourse as to getting your money back, so be absolutely sure the car is in a condition you are satisfied with.
Sup cunts, for offroad purposes and in the interests of maintaining all low end grunt or if possible increasing it: What should I do about the exhaust on my Isuzu 6DE1? I can get extractors for it, put mandrel belt pipes on etc, I can leave the stock manifolds and put mandrel bend pipes on, I can remove the restrictors from the Y pipe or leave them. I have no idea what to do.
6VD1 I meant
MDfag here
you have to get the fucking mega inspection (probably toughest in the country) to register it here
like it better be a garage queen or expect to spend $500+ to get it to pass inspection
once it is registered you never have to do that inspection again
Also forgot: most states require you to insure the car immediately, some companies will cover the car in the short term if you have pre-existing policy with another vehicle on it, but you need to at least attempt at getting insurance for it asap.
also you need to get a MD title but I think that was like
I rear-ended a truck when I tried overtaking it and almost ran head first into a police SUV coming at me at 60mph. I thought the truck had stopped ( it was in front of a grocery store, I thought they were unloading) and didn't realize it had gone to the side of the road because of the incoming police cruiser.
After talking to the truck driver, he told me not to say I thought the truck was parked because I would get a point in my license. What did he mean by this?
Also, my brakes were absolute shit, I had actually made an appointment to change them a week ago but never went ( stitch in time etc ). I'm 90% sure I would have stopped in time if my brakes were in full working order. How will that play into this situation? Do I mention it?
I've never had a crash in 4 years driving, what happens now? I called my insurance, but the truck driver had already reported it and the insurance people told me to wait for someone to contact me. I think I heard they were going to send someone over to check my car. Why? Will they pay for my car? How the fuck does insurance work?
>Will they pay for my car? How the fuck does insurance work?
Jesus Christ, why do you even have a license?
In most states they're going to issue you a ticket at the time of the accident, If they didn't issue you one at that time then you probably won't get pointed.
The fact that you did or did not get your brakes changed recently makes no difference in regards to insurance or whether you get a ticket or not, you're still at fault, bringing it up only makes you look more like an idiot.
Do you have comprehensive insurance or just liability? Did you even bother to read your policy when you purchased it?
If you don't have comprehensive you're liable at least for the damages of your own vehicle, and will have pay for any repairs out of pocket, however the fact that they are sending someone out does sound like you have comprehensive. They'll set up an appointment to meet with you to look over the car, and will assess whether they will pay out for the damages or if the damages exceed your what your policy allows for, and or if they will total the car. If the do determine that they will pay for it, then you have two options, write you a check and let you choose your own shop to have the car repaired, or use the repair shop that is in network with the insurance company, and they'll make an appointment with you to drop off the car.
If your policy allows for them to give you a rental car, then they'll arrange that too, but otherwise youll be needing to arrange your own transportation.
He could be telling the truth, but unless you can independently verify it you shouldn't buy. Maybe have a mechanic or knowledgeable individual take a peek at it for you.
There isnt fake news about the oil your used car is designed to take.
This is your only easy option. Superglue should work but as user said, be very, very careful.
Other options could have included getting a new steering column from the scrap yard and swapping the ignition barrel over, or just the whole thing.
But all this chip nonsense, I don't even know why they keep making everything more complicated for no reason.
Wouldn't you need the key to the donor vehicle if you swapped the ignition barrel?
Yeah. They don't always have the key for it, but often they will if it's not a pick-n-pull joint.
Please help, somebody. Can't find any info. Was gonna ask my exhaust guy but he'd probably try to sell me an exhaust regardless.
>buy used car
>go to transfer title
>guy fucked up sales price and "altered it"
>have to do a bill of sale now
>also need emissions
>15 days or penalty fines will fuck my tight, virgin ass
Do I need to get the emissions tabs before I transfer it to my name, or can I just get the testing done some other time after the transfer?
United States, Washington State.
I wanna buy a new car, not a used one on craigslist... Is there anything necessarily bad about doing this?
>just get an older model
but I want the look the 2018 models have...
How do you restore a bent dashboard? I have a 1993 Ranger, plastic dashboard is in really good condition but is slightly malformed in some areas, particularly the edges that have to snap together. I was wondering if buying a heat gun and trying to undo the years of sun expansion might do the trick but wasn't sure.
only if you're an idiot (ie gonna finance a $100k Merc when you work at McDonalds)
I think you'll need the emissions.
Maybe you can transfer it without them and register it later but i doubt it
If you're willing to drop significantly more cash for looks, then there's nothing wrong with that. But it will cost more for a vehicle that likely performs almost the same.
what are Veeky Forums's thoughts on the current series m3/4? looking at picking up a used one within a year.
Impossible, they are too risky and I will occasionally go to my hometown which is like 600~km from my university and I have things to carry.
Is a 2002 avalanche a cool truck?
An avalanche hit my fucking parked car. Other than that yeah they're cool.
Sorry to hear that user. Thanks for the input though
looks about as cool as any other pointlessly huge gas guzzling twin cab
i.e. it doesn't look cool at all unless you're a guy who needs his truck to compensate for his insecurities
Does the "misfire" mean that my car is misfiring or that the misfire test has taken place?
>check engine light turns on
>check codes
>RANDOM MISFIRE RANDOM MISFIRE RANDOM MISFIRE
>car drove fine with no noticeable problems
It means your car detected a misfire and saved it up until the codes are reset
yo i am not good at cars at all but i'm freaking out a bit right now, can anyone help?
my tire pressure was low so i tried to fill them up a little at the gas station but the car is now giving ridiculously huge numbers for tire pressure (they were at 28 psi, should be at 34, now showing 50-58 for some)
but like one tire i inflated for ~20 seconds compared to another i did for much longer, and it's showing like 48 compared to the other's 55, and i'm pretty sure there's no way that's true
i tried a physical pressure gauge (the little pen-shaped ones) and got inconsistent numbers but more around 35ish which is what i expect
are digital ones unreliable right after filling up, or should i be running outside to let air out of the tires right now?
All your tires are unreliable right after driving, Just give them a bit of overfill, then go bleed the extra air out at home a few hours later.
alright, i'll try to check them tomorrow morning and see where it's at
thanks
It's a parts hauler and i can squeeze about 20 mpg out of it.
>needs a large truck to hide his insecurities
Projection much?
Are you sure? This isn't a code, this is a monitor trigger.
>too risky
What did he mean by this?
>I have things to carry
Bikes can carry shit. But whatever, waste your life savings on some shitbox instead fag.
Do /VIN/ threads not exist anymore? I guess I could buy an unlimited but I'm not really even looking for a car...
Bump, anybody know?
Depends on the type of plastic they used, which I couldn't tell you. There are two types, thermoset and thermoplastic; if it's the former, no, you can't, they hold shape once they initially are molded and burn instead of become malleable again under heat like thermoplastics.
You could try, but I'd be very cautious with the heat at first.
Am I a fucking idiot for wanting to pick this up just to fuck around with? I know I've heard they do hold some potential for some mazda engine swaps and whatnot, but in general would I be a retard to consider buying this just for shits and giggles?
delaware.craigslist.org
I'm new to efi vehicles can someone explain chips to me, even better if you can explain using them in CA. Can I program my ecu with a chip and then set it back to stock when it comes time to smog with no issue?
i need a new exhaust, honda crx, want to go stainless steel. i already bought a thunder brand stainless catalytic converter, and will buy a stainless magnaflow muffler. are there stainless resonators? i cant seem to find any
If you can buy it out right, or your credit is perfect and can afford the payments then no there's nothing bad about it.
Theres nothing wrong with buying a car for shits and giggles.
Hell theres RWD SBC swapped festiva driving around my area, I ocassionally see. The car looks like shit but Its probably insane and fun as hell.
Depends on the car. Usually if you chip the vehilce its a permanent change to the programming and cannot be undone unless you replace it with the Original chip.
Other cars can be tuned by a shop but it would be prohibitively expensive to have it tuned and retuned just for emissions.
And still other cars can take tuning on the fly and simply need an interface with external computer to change the tune.
All the above may or may not be detectable by the emissions tester, as some ECU's keep a log of when they have been reset.
Above all most proper tunes need to be done by a shop, with proper equipment, and with a dyno if necessary.
Any easy way to determine the plastic type?
o my automatic car will stall when I come to a stop after driving on the highway.
What is wrong? should I clean the IAC valve? or is it TPS/ECU?
Car has no EGR so its not that
Pelase help
What year make and model?
Is it stalling as your sitting there or stalling as you slow down? If its stalling as you're slowing down I would suspecting something is wrong with the transmission.
95 ls400
stalling as I slow down, as I come to a stop, especially on a slope
There are also a number of issues with the transmission so I'll start there
cheers
I think the piece has dropped further into the lock barrel. I think it will fit my spare key just fine now if i can find it.
So to clarify, if you start the car up, In park, it doesn't stall, or sputter, misfire, or the engine doesn't shake excessively especially after warming up?
If it does none of that, then its probably your transmission, as in the torque converter is not decoupling as it it should. You can check fluid levels and color and see if adding any if your low helps but odds are you're in for a transmission replacement.
Starts up fine, runs fine and doesnt stall
Only stalls after a long stint on a highway and you come to a stop
Doesnt stall in park, doesnt spark or misfire
Engine seems to shake a bit especially when cold, in an pulsing manner if you get what i mean
Massive shaking from the car from 1500-2500 rpm, but only when moving so definitely transmission. Also massive clunks when it changes gears sometimes
Reckon its the torque converter? Thats what I was thinking
Its already got something wrong with a mount so maybe I do need to replace it
So i want to get my 1st car soon and besides e36, civic and celica, I've been mostly considering to get a Miata
The thing is: I've asked some of my friends that are more advanced than me car wise, and most of them said that Miata is a really bad 1st car since because of it lacking abs etc. it's hard and rather dangerous to dd it, especially in winter, also without the hard top the winter is going to be pain
Now I'm not sure what should I do?
This was strange for me since it's the opposite of what you can find on the internet
I've been wanting a cheap rwd car, but preferably Japanese, so the Miata was pretty much the only option in this budget range, so now I would have to decide between getting either fucked up BMW or fwd japanese
>Inb4 mr2/s13/s14 etc
I live in East Europe and all of this shit is expensive
Clear codes and see if they come back. If they do then some sensor or other is getting wonky and the """misfire""" just isn't really a misfire or isn't strong enough to feel, but rather the ECU is just upset that the sensor readings aren't right.
If the CEL starts blinking then you're getting bad misfires in realtime. Otherwise, the ECU might not even turn the CEL on at all despite recording misfire codes depending on how it's programmed.
>are there stainless resonators
Of course. I got a couple from Summit Racing years back when I was tinkering with building my own exhaust. I'm sure there are plenty of other places selling them these days.
Go for the Miata. Get snow tires. Drive it hard before winter comes to get a feel for it, and then when it snows find a parking lot or whatever to get a sense for how it slides.
You'll get used to it. People drove terrible RWD boats for decades in the snow. The Miata by comparison will handle like a figure skater once you get the hang of it. It's much scarier to get stuck than to have to counter steer slightly if it starts to come around on you.
I won't be able to buy a car before winter comes, I will rather buy one in the middle of it.
Hopefully it won't be a harsh one, since for 2 or 3 years they have been pretty mild
Fellow Eurofags what's a good brand to buy a clutch set from?
Luk, Valeo, Blue Print, AISIN, SACHS, Nipparts etc.
Just take it easy at first then. Just because it's RWD doesn't mean it's going to try to launch itself into every tree. RWD just means it spins the tires without going anywhere and if you make them spin in a corner then it can turn without using the steering wheel.
If anything the soft top might be the worst part. But that's up to personal taste. You might love taking it down in nice weather so much you don't care about the winter, or you might find it's just a hassle.
ABS? ABS is sometimes good in the snow and sometimes bad. ABS can make it take longer to stop and be really irritating. On the other hand, ABS will usually also keep the car pointing in the right direction, so it's easier to not completely mess up and panic. Just one more thing to get used to imo. My first car didn't have ABS and I didn't have a problem.
whats the best i can do with 15k? first car, i wanted a luxury brand but im gay. generally want something thats fun to drive and doesnt make me look poor even though i am
get a 350/370z.
I6 uses some fuel but it looks way more expensive and new that it is, has abundant aftermarket and can be modified to do just about literally everything.
Luxury is overrated, as long as seating position is comfortable and it has AC and radio, it is more than enough.
Who would want a DUKE Engine in their automobiles?
youtube.com
dukeengines.com
This makes triangles look like cavemen tech.
I want to try it in a LSA.