QTDDTOT : Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Threads

A place to ask all your short/dumbass/stupid automotive related questions so you don't flood the catalog with a lot of threads when you could just ask here.

>ProTip - Google your damn question first before asking here. Plus check the catalog for specific General threads where you may get a more detailed answer.

Also go through the thread to find unanswered posts and answer them, if you know that shit.

Previous Thread - (Bump Limit Reached)

Happy Holidays, everyone!

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I got a tuneup a while back and my catalytic converter is acting up now. Are they related. Im afraid that one of the spark plugs was put in poorly. Its a v6 and hard as balls to get to the center rear one so Im suspecting he cut corners and it fried my cat.
That being said my cel told me I had random misfires before so if its not telling me now should it be fine?

How is it acting up, funny smell, glowing red hot, what?

If you had misfires before taking it to the mechanic, you probably fried the cat driving it.

Is there any torrent to help me understand how to drive? I am a poorfag so I am willing to take the cheapest formula... any advice is welcome...

aside from oil changes, what constitutes "standard maintenance" for a brand new car?

Whatever it says on the service manual and nothing else

Does anyone know any good references for showing the difference in powerbands and some of the operational/maintenancial advantages and disadvantages of the most common types of engine configurations?

i.e. Why would a manufacturer choose an I4 vs. a V6 or a single cylinder vs. parallel twin?

Additionally: Why have manufacturers and engineers gone so overboard with electronics in modern vehicles?

Are there any vehicles in production that remain that are virtually 100% analogue? I can't help but long for a vehicle that's only modicum of electronics are independently-powered front-mounted lights merely duct-taped or bolted onto a completely stripped chassis. It wouldn't need to be road legal, just 100% operational.

with an oil change being a 1, and something like completely disassembling an entire car and all of its parts down to individual nuts and bolts, then reassembling it completely without any references or guides being a 10, generally speaking, how difficult is it to install a turbo with a ~5-10% increase in hp

Is it a pre assembled kit or completely custom?

start with a kit

A kit is just as difficult as being able to follow instructions and having the right tools.

A custom build can even be more difficult than your 10 because you have to fabricate parts and figure out a way to fit stuff where it wasn't supposed to fit, it's like doing your little R&D using your car as a guinea pig. But again, it depends on how skilled you already are, what tools you have and how creative you can get when it comes to problem solving.

Is there anything different when doing an oil change on a natural gas powered car versus a normal petrol car?

drain, filter, new oil that it?

This, there will be a maintenance schedule in the manual telling you what miles to take the car in for service.

However it may or may not tell what exactly needs to be done, that would be in the shop manual.

>Does anyone know any good references for showing the difference in powerbands and some of the operational/maintenancial advantages and disadvantages of the most common types of engine configurations?

Literally Wikipedia, but it comes with a huge learning curve, you need understand how engines work in the first place.

>Additionally: Why have manufacturers and engineers gone so overboard with electronics in modern vehicles?

Emissions MPGs and safety regulations, are the biggest reasons, with infotainment and ease of servicing being secondary reasons.

>Are there any vehicles in production that remain that are virtually 100% analogue? I can't help but long for a vehicle that's only modicum of electronics are independently-powered front-mounted lights merely duct-taped or bolted onto a completely stripped chassis. It wouldn't need to be road legal, just 100% operational.

When it comes to major manufacturers No, However smaller limited run custom houses and kit car manufacturers do offer near analog level vehicles but they're typically well out of the price range of the average person.

3 or 4 out of ten, you may even have to do some directed modification like tapping into an oil source, which would require you to drill into an oil pan.

The car wasnt being driven, it was sitting for a long time. Been like a year since I used it. I took it to a mechanic because I needed to start driving it again. At a glance it just looked like the cables needed to be replaced but I had him change the spark plugs as well.
As far as symptoms its driving rough sometimes.

Long shot, but have any Californians here ever registered a used 49-state car in California?

My understanding from looking into it thus far is that I should be OK if the car passes smog once I get it here, but I'm wondering if there are any other issues I should be ready to deal with.

You need to more specific, when is it rough, during idle or while driving or both? Why do you think it was the cat? you didn't answer my original question.

Are SUVs awful in winter weather? Compared to a wagon.

Why is shipping a bumper cover from rockauto so expensive?
Truck Freight 1-6 business days, it's $160.
That's more than twice the cost of the bumper cover.

I started my car to leave work tonight and it turned on but the engine sound was pretty high pitched like a squeal. I turned it off and started it again and it sounded normal-ish but quieter than the engine area usually is. Any ideas what I should look at that would cause this?

What modern car is something that looks classic? My wife is so tired of my shitbox needing something fixed all the time that she's willing to help pay for me to get a modern reliable car since I drive her around a lot. She drives a 2016 mini Cooper Pic related my shitbox. I cant find any cars that give me the same feeling looking at it. What would anyone recommend?

Probably because it's big and is classified as something else than you average small package that takes little space and is easier to handle

how stupid would it be to do mad parking brake drifts in a snowed in parking lot? my workplace parking lot is safe from cops, there's like a lot surrounded by buildings on almsot all sides

what im concerned about is the durability of the parking brake though

>What modern car is something that looks classic?
none of them? The closest one I can think of is a mazda6 (mazda3 is the same but I think the look calls for a larger size) but i don't think it's worth going for until mazda tries releasing a mazdaspeed6 again

I think its the cat because my cel came on for it. It gets rough after like 20 minutes of driving and idle.

Auto Parts Warehouse has one that's primed (Rockauto wasn't primed) that has free shipping, it costs about twice as much as the Rockauto bumper cover, but has free shipping.
The Auto Parts Warehouse primed bumper cover with free shipping costs less than just the Rockauto shipping by itself.

I’m not super familiar with my power steering system, but I have a bad leak in my power steering and it’s leaking out of a worn inner tie rod boot. Is this a sign of worn seals in a steering rack? Would I be better off just replacing the entire rack, instead of replacing all the seals?

Dumb question, but can someone help me understand gear ratios? Like for example what does the decimal value (eg 1.24) representing a gear ratio a actually mean?

How bad did I fuck up by buying one of these?

where the fuck is the high-beam selector on these fuckin cars?

The same shaft as the signal and regular lights

the indicators aren't a stalk. it's a lever. the headlights are on a dial but it very clearly only has 3 positions; off, park, and low beam. there is no button that doesn't have a function unrelated to the high beam settings. there isn't even a foot dipper switch.

pic related. this is the american version of the interior, it is basically the same but mirrored. and no, the knob on the end of the light dial does not compress.

Pull it out?

then the knob just comes off the pole.
i've literally tried everything and im so confused

I'm in my mid-20s and single, with a decently paying and secure job.
Should I get a 4-door sporty car like a 3 series or G37 so I can have a mix of performance and practicality, or a 2-door for style and then get some cheaper wagon/SUV for practicality later down the road?

Looking at getting a 2006 Volvo S40 T5 - upgrading from a 130hp hyundai shitbox

Are these decent vehicles?

Crv, forester, or rav4? I go camping on dirt roads like 6 times a year and besides that just have to deal with daily driving.

Cel doesn't automatically mean cat, you need to get the codes run, and then see what they're reporting.

For every 1 revolution on the input, the output spins 1.24 times.

Depends on the driving wheels, typically no though.

I'm single and drive a 540i they're just easier to live with than 2 doors.

Forester

If it is an Monte Carlo version, you did pretty gud.
I hope you bought it with the 1.4 TSI engine and a manual, or maybe the 1.6 TDI engine, otherwise you deserve a gruesome death at the wheels of a Kamaz truck.

Thoughts on the Freelander 2? Specifically with the manual, 4x4 and the 2.2 diesel engine?

well guess I'm dead then
2012 SKODA Fabia RS 132TSI Auto

Still learning to revmatch how bad is it to not get the engine up to the right speed or to rev it too high.

it damages your transmission, not a lot tho
and when I say transmission I mean the entire set

It's really no different than not rev matching.
Considering cars in the last half century have been designed with manual transmissions that don't require rev matching, you are simply doing as much damage as not doing anything and letting the clutch do the job of matching engine speed with transmission speed.

The only thing being being "damaged" here is the clutch, which is being worn a tiny bit every time you shift.

If you are an absolute retard that causes the car to violently jolt and shake at every downshift, then I'd say engine mounts and whatever dapening system your clutch has (either clutch springs or the dreaded double flywheel) will take some abuse, but that's pretty much it.

Is Auto Parts Warehouse a reputable online vendor?

honestly not that bad, chances are its going to be less than a regular shift.
It's normal wear. You don't panic about your tyres being worn prematurely every time you have to corner

But thats what I said, the cel came on for the cat.

Bumping on my question. DOes anyone know anything about the Freelander 2 with the 2.2 diesel and manual box?

What were the codes then?

Still bump.

Where is that noise coming from?

>I got a tuneup
boomer detected

From behind that thing over there

Like I said, its a v6 and its hard as balls to get to the rear one. Worth paying someone else for imo.
Cat below efficiency on bank 1.

Why diesel engine revs lower comapared to petrol ones?

How the size of the wheels affects the performance of the car?

If you mean diameter then view it as a gear ratio.
The bigger the wheel, the longer the ratio, the higher the (theoretical) top speed and the lower the torque delivered across the board. Side effect of a different wheel diameter is a broken speedo: bigger wheels = going actually faster than what your speedo says, smaller wheels = the opposite.

If you mean width then you are going to get some handling advantage in pretty much every situation, provided you keep your tires on par.
Shit tires on wide wheels may very well be worse than good tires on narrow wheels.

Overall bigger wheels may be heavier than smaller wheels, introducing negative effects that may or may not be noticeable. Go read a bit about how high unsprung weight and high polar moment of intertia negatively affects car behaviour if you want an in-depth explaination.

Which pair of speakers would be best for my mk1 mr2?

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Because diesel takes longer to burn compared to gasoline.
Past a certain speed (usually somewhere between 4,5k and 5,5k RPM on most engines) the fuel simply can't burn fast enough before the piston ends its current cycle and there is a massive drop in torque that makes the engine unusable. Basically, the combustion becomes so fucked and unsynched with the piston motion that the engine can't sustain itself more than that.

A lot of older diesel engines didn't even have a proper rev limiter, the engine just limited itself because it couldn't really rev higher.

The biggest thing is just to replace stuff before it breaks, not after. When one thing breaks, you can bet it'll take a dozen other things that were in perfectly good condition with it. Keep a close eye on that service schedule, and if you drive spiritedly replace stuff even sooner. Keep up on all the other fluids such as transmission, diff, coolant, brake, and power steering.

avoid one at all costs
guy i know had one and it was huge piece of shit, interior will fall and oil leaks all day errday

How much easier is it to live with?
I really like the styling of the 4 series but I'm not sure how much I'm going to miss 4 doors having driven sedans all my life.
Would the gran coupe be a good middle ground?

>have old hunk of shit
>only putter around town
>moms car breaks down all of a sudden
>needs rides to and from work
>it's literally hovering around 0 degrees outside during the times she needs rides (works overnight)
>on highway
>belt starts squealing wildly
>don't even get it up to 60
>pull off to drive city
>squeals whenever it's revved near 2k
>grandpa drive car
>max speed without squeals is 45

literally too cold to do any work, should I be fine if I just keep my foot out of it for awhile? it still squeals when it's a bit warmer out, but less noticeably.

V belt setup.

A belt won't cost like $25 and probably can be replaced in 30 minutes. Would you rather be cold for 30 minutes or get stranded and freeze to death?

Like open the door and throw shit in the back in matter of seconds, and pulling it back out in as short a time, vs having to lean over the seat and do the same.

Same goes for driving friends around.

yeah, but then it's gonna be the pulley, then it's gonna be the water pump, then it's gonna be the power steering pump, nigga it's too cold to be doing this diagnostic shit.

Why would a new engine need 1/2 choke to run? bad gas?

cold conditions, leaky intake, bad mix adjustment

So definitely need new front tires, car is front-wheel drive. I would say that my rear tires probably still have half of their traction though.

What's the procedure here? Dad is paying for it so I suppose that's fine, but do I really "need" 4 new tires? I've read that it's also commonplace to cycle the back to the front and then put the new ones on the back.

I live in a snowy area, but I'm sure I'll be fine with all-season tires.

>jack car up
>put jack stands under
>take front wheels off
>put wheels in trunk of other vehicle
>go to tire shop
>tell them tire size and pick what you want
>they slap them on in 5 minutes
>you go put them back on your ride
>good to go

that way you avoid the monkeys actually touching your car.

Good idea, I'll probably keep that in mind in the future, although I'm not really concerned anymore because frankly there is nothing that they could do to my ride at this point that hasn't been fucked up.

I'm just moreso wondering if it's worthwhile to replace all of my wheels or just two of them. I always hear about "unstable traction" and all that jazz

you're buying tires not wheels

but if they got tread, are the right size, and are in balance there shouldn't be anything unstable about it, especially if you're replacing tires on the same axle.

unless you've got some super soft touring tire on one side, and some aggressive 14/32 tread mud tire of the same size opposite it.

At this point, if I want a compact off-roader that won't cost an arm and a leg (such as the Rav 4 or the Honda CR-V), my only options are:
>first gen Santa Fe and Hyundai Tucson
>Subaru Forester but I know nothing about the Forester nor the 2.0 litre diesel
>Get myself a Mk4 Golf with 4motion and lift it.

The Subaru Forester is a nice car but it's so rare here in Europe and there is scarce info about them.

>but it's so rare here in Europe
It's not.

It's not a very popular brand in Eastern Europe and Italy atleast, Subaru, much less the Forester...
I would buy one but I know nothing about the 2.0 litre diesel.

>Infinity Kappas, 2 sets of 2 for $189 apiece
>Labor $100
>Speaker Amps $240
>Labor $150
>Bass Install, $150
Worth it, lads? Just got a huge bonus from work but I'm still feeling jewwy about upgrading my car's stereo finally.

I have a big ass Chevy Diesel that's been sitting for 5 years that just got fixed and running today. it fires up and runs great, however the oil pressure starts to get low as it warms up. not super dangerously low, but lower than it seems like it should be. can old oil that's been sitting for a long time start to thin out or breakdown or something? it goes from around 55 at cold start to about 15 when warm. it's got the Duramax Isuzu 7.8 inline 6 by the way.

>been sitting for a long time start to thin out or breakdown or something?

Yes, It probably needs new oil asap.

To get a fist sized dent out of a hood and repaint it, is $550 reasonable?

figured, nigga takes 8.5 gallons so didn't want to go buy $200 in Rotella if I didn't have to

Why don't they bring back sick ass futuristic things like that, instead of shitty non-physical buttons that get finger grease everywhere?

Once I nearly shat myselft when the heathed seat was on. Now it kinda smells like ass when I turn on the heated seat. What do?

TLDR:
>can a hydraulic lifter stick inside its bore?
>if so, will this cause a no compression condition?

I have an 87 ford 2.9 v6 and the exhaust valve on cylinder 1 does not close. i removed the rocker arm assembly and saw the valve closing as i loosened the bolts so i know the valve itself isnt stuck. the pushrod doesnt appear to be damaged in any way but i can see that there appears to be some gunk buildup around the top of the lifter. the buildup seems to indicate that the lifter isnt moving. there wasnt any knocking before i took the rocker arm off, so i know that the lifter probably isnt collapsed. i havent seen any metal in the oil so i dont think the cam is damaged.

send help this is making me crazy ive been trtying to get this damn truck running for a month

bought an E10 corolla, battery died, wanted to get it out, but the hood release cable's fucked.

can't find a replacement locally (tfw u buy cars slightly older than u) - would an E11 cable work as a replacement? thinking that toyota wouldn't be too retarded and they wouldn't change such a silly thing for no reason for another generation

My steering wheel has some 'give' in it that hasn't been present previously, it feels looser. Checked ball bearings, wheel components, alignment, all of that. Got a professional second and third opinion from two different shops, they couldn't find anything 'wrong' with it, but I'm concerned because it feels odd at high speeds on the highway and I feel like it's dangerous to go over 70 if the controls aren't tight. Am I worrying too much? Missing something very obvious?

you can buy parts to make custom length cable

I swear to god this is my biggest pet peeve.
don't know what to do to fix it.
Sometimes there's a joint between the steering column and the steering rack on some cars that gets loose, maybe check that? Fuck man, I'm with you on this.

If you've eliminated all the front suspension components and bushing then its the U-joint in the steering shaft, or the steering box/rack and pinion itself you need to look at.

steering gear preload. some cars can be adjusted but many cannot

You mean qts? My m62 takes 8 qts so its like minimum a $50 oil change regardless.

Yes, body work is expenisive, Insurance has paid 3 times that much to replace a bumper and hood before on my car.

did you try to pull it out with a plunger?

does actually wirk sometimes

still can't find much info on how long the cable is (just one guess on 77.2in on Dorman)

anything I should look for? just "universal hood cable"?

universal throttle cable kit

no it's 33.5 qts
so with a filter it's about 8.5 gallons

Thanks, going to be checking steering box/ related bits tomorrow and then going to get a fourth professional opinion on what is going on.