QTDDTOT : Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Threads

What are you doing on a car enthusiast forum?

Oh sorry you meant the wire from the amp to the speakers, not the wire that runs power to the amp? That would depend then on the impedance of the speakers to guess at how much current you might be looking at (this is harder because now you have to take into account that a speaker coil is a reactive load) but a few feet of 10GA you pretty much can't go wrong.

As for your question about how much power despite only two speakers, it's the wrong question to ask. It all depends on what you're blasting and how loud you're blasting it. What we tend to talk about in the world where we design and build audio equipment is "peak output" (which is where you brag that you have a 250W amp or your new home theater rig is rated 2000W) and the reality of what you'd expect for continuous average output. But in the modern day where people thump nigger beats all day and wub-wub-wub that difference is less important and it becomes more relevant to design the system around peak output instead to put up with the abuse.

I don't have a choice in the car, I was more asking if there was anything I should keep an eye on/if they're known to have problems. I saw a guy in one of these threads saying that he had one as well, maybe he could answer etc

>Fiat
>Car problem with starting
>Shittons of electrical issues
>Replace Glow plugs
>Replace Glow plugs relay
>Replace Battery
>Replace Alternator
>Sacrifice a goat
>...still faulty
>Clean all grounding cables
>Magically everything fixed and charging back at 14.5V

We learn something new every day...

I own an '04 mini and have decided to buy an 190E when I sell it. Yay or nay?

That's why grounding kits used to be a thing. Since it's a car and exposed to the weather what you can do is get some goop from the home depot meant for when you have to attach copper wiring to aluminum wiring without risking galvanic corrosion, and smear that on wherever you screw down the grounds. That will keep out the water, salt, dirt, etc. so they don't go faulty again so easily.

you have a ford 8.8 differential. the performance parts world very well supports your diff and limited slip setups were factory options in them

the best suggestion is to put in a ford limited slip diff. the same time is a good opportunity to change rear gears if you want a little more grunt off the line too. 3.55:1, 3.73:1 and 4.10:1 are commonly available and would all wake that up from the 3.08:1 or 3.27:1 it probably has now.

recommend getting a skilled shop to set up the gears and assemble the diff. it's not "witchcraft" but if not done right it'll blow up in a couple thousand miles.

I used copper paste. It looks as if someone made a shit on the bolts but should do the job for another few years

That should probably work.

How do I learn how to drive with a stick shift if I don't own a manual car?

Borrow or buy one. Do you have a friend with one? If you're desperate you can probably buy some lessons, similarly to if you can't get laid maybe one day you give up and buy a hooker.

Depends on the amperage. 14g for 15A, 12g for 20A. Google this shit nibba. Shouldnt have to size for distance at all.
t. Electrician

Isn't it compulsory to pass your driving test on a manual, or did you go for girly automatic only licence?

I already have the lower-geared rear end and a LSD. Unfortunately the Limited slip just isn’t doing enough for what I need. Would aftermarket locking Diffs for the explorer work? I’m fairly sure the diffs themselves are the same between models.

Not in the beautiful land of freedom.

look around at your local car rentals for a manual shitbox. rent it, spring for the extra insurance :)

yes, 8.8s are mostly the same. You'll need to make sure you're buying the right locker for your spline count (29 or 31)

>29 or 31
sorry, it's 28 spline, not 29. If you have a lsd carrier in it already, you'll need to take that into account too, as most of the lockers will be for the open carrier.

How do I learn how to drive an automatic if I don't own an automatic car?

Put your left leg in a cast so you don't reflexively stomp on the brake pedal when you're coming up on a red light.

funny enough this is what i did first time I drove my company's automatic

Any tips for someone about to take their first ASE?

Also would it be more money to work as an auto or a diesel tech?

Hmm not sure why you had an AT oil pressure problem. 65k miles isn't a problem but if you want to change the oil it's a good time. You probably would be better off taking it to a shop though, it's not as easy as drain and refill. The trans might hold say 12 quarts of oil but you'll only get 2 out by draining it.

I just found in manual what oil I need. It also says it holds 6.5L but only to replace 2.8L and shows how to do it. Gonna give it a try and will reset the error with my computer afterwards. If it will come back I will give it to a garage for full draining.

Look at the fluid you drain out. If it's dark and burnt get it flushed and replaced sooner than later because lack of ATF pressure and busted fluid are good ways to ruin an automatic transmission.

They're good cars, but remember:
-use oem oil filter - engine can develop knocking sound on not original one, even if they're high spec (mann, bosch, mahle - even they won't work properly sometimes), don't know why, we did quite a few oil changes on those engines and now we only use oem filters
- when doing oil change yourself, you have about 3-5 minutes from draining oil to starting the engine again, you have to drain oil, change filter and put in new oil in that time - otherwise hydraulic cam tensioner can go boom,
-use high quality oil, even though most manufacturers recommend even 10w40, also keep oil level at max or even slightly above
-if you're getting new car, if trans is manual, change its oil after 6k miles

Thats pretty much all. Enjoy the car and great mpg's it gives.

If I do pic related I should be able to see what condition the gearbox oil is in, right?

That should give you some idea, but you'd want to know what fresh fluid is like to compare. Let me put it like this: if it looks like ass and sludge on the dipstick, or there isn't even even enough to get on the dipstick, then you know for sure you have a problem.

I have only replaced transmission fluid in my manual fiat. The new one was cherry red/pink. I assume automatic one should be the same/similar.

Yeah it's usually a somewhat translucent light red color when fresh. Kind of like when you put in fresh motor oil maybe it looks a little bit like honey and then turns dark pretty quick with normal use. Yet when you go to drain out the old motor oil, you can easily see if it looks like gunk or just normal dark motor oil.

just for reference if anyone ever ends up here by searching google.
Honda Accord uses Honda ATF-Z1 oil/fluid, but it has been discontinued and replaced with Honda ATF-DW1 which can be used as a replacement.

01 Integra GS-R, once my engine is warm to operating temp, sometimes when I idle my RPM will go down to ~500rpm (and shake a good bit) from my normal ~750RPM idle speed, i've noticed when it does this my voltage gauge will go down from 14V to 12V. What should I do to smooth it out so it stays at solid 750RPM all the time?

also if I turn on something electronic (usually I just turn on my driving lights or turn my AC on) and it shoots right back up and goes to normal idle with a voltage of 14V

Could be all kinds of things. Air sensor, sticky idle air control valve, maybe even gunky PCV, your grounds aren't good enough to read .01V anymore, TPS is a little flakey, O2 is reading a little off the map, there's sludge in your fuel filter, there's a tiny vacuum leak somewhere, the ECU doesn't have the best programming in the world, your plugs are gapped wrong or covered in carbon.

if it doesn't stall out on you or throw codes then don't worry much. You can do all the usual basic maintenance if you want, which is a good idea anyway. But what is normal is that your electrical system won't be at 14V during idle. It's usually rigged to be at 12-13V at idle and only get up to voltage when you're driving.

thanks senpai. thats what I was hoping for, I had an EVAP code not long ago (which I got rid of by replacing my gas cap) so I might try to run some fuel injector cleaner thru and check my filter.

That's probably unrelated. But it doesn't hurt to run a bottle of injector cleaner just in case.

I'd give you the QRD on what I'd do if it were my car but it's actually not a very quick run down because it's a long list of one weird tricks to do that aren't going to hurt but might abate the one or two or seven weird things that aren't quite right on an old car doing old car things.

true. I've seen purge valve can cause the issue on some other forums, I did recently change PCV, either way I think it's fuel line or vacuum line related.

Vacuum lines can be a bitch, especially in and around that era where you open the hood and half the engine bay is a nest of vacuum lines. Do you know about any vacuum line tricks?

Here's one: get a can of carb cleaner or something like that. The kind of thing where if you were still a 15 years old you'd spray it into your potato canon because it catches on fire and blows up with a tiny ignition spark or whatever.

Spray this on your vacuum lines and junctions while the car is idling. If the engine surges or bogs when you spray it at a certain location, that's where your leak is.

my only trick was a seemingly dangerous one my father would do where he would hold a cigarette to the line until he saw the smoke being sucked towards the leak,

That's a pretty legit trick. It also works well with cooling fans for computers: watch the smoke and if it cavatates instead of flowing smoothly then the fan is spinning too fast.

More trouble than spraying the lines though, sins smoke just wanders around while the can of whatever is under pressure to be sent in a very specific direction.

>Oh sorry you meant the wire from the amp to the speakers, not the wire that runs power to the amp?
The wire that runs power to the head unit. Think about it like im making a boombox with a car stereo and a couple 6 inch speakers, no amp, no subs, no bumpin.
>but a few feet of 10GA you pretty much can't go wrong.
Perfect
>As for your question about how much power despite only two speakers, it's the wrong question to ask.
I realize that may have been worded poorly, I'm concerned about the total draw of the radio and speakers not only because of wire sizes, but because there will be more to the total system then just the audio hardware and I have to have a rough idea of the draw in order to size another piece of kit.
>Depends on the amperage. Google this shit nibba.
I have, this is only another form of gathering information before making a decision.
>Shouldnt have to size for distance at all.
I will for the longer run, the extension cable will feed more then just the stereo and DC is more susceptible to loss because of line length then AC. Going up another gauge should be fine though.

Electrician dude is correct in that the length of the wire for pretty much any vehicle is not going to put you into a higher gauge requirement per the IEC. It's just good practice in general because with low-voltage systems (bear in mind IEC is based around 10x the voltage and a whole lot more beyond that and AC to boot) making sure you don't get line losses from current draw becomes more relevant. Your blender won't care if there's a mild brown-out and it's only running at 100V, and neither will your breaker box.

If it's nothing but wiring up speakers you can pretty much do anything and it won't break or burst in to flames. I literally have some bigs of home depot extension cable RIGHT FUCKING NOW connecting my desk amp to my desk speakers because it's a cheap way to get decent quality chink copper twist cable at the guage I want that sounds better than MONSTER CABLE nonsense or $.03 lamp cable.

What are your total expected current needs? At some point you have to start asking what your alternator can keep up with, if you're going to wind up running the battery down, if maybe you'd benefit from capacitors for transient current draw or multiple circuits to level out voltage sag or noise on the lines.

I'm breaking in my Ford Focus ST. The manual says "vary the speed" and that's about it. Now, I live in Santa's refrigerator where it's 11 degrees for a high. I noticed on my drive today, the second of my ownership of the car, that while the coolant was up to temperature within 10 minutes the oil NEVER got up to temperature. It was stuck at just over 1/4 on the gauge after about 15 minutes of driving. I was driving around for a good 30 minutes. What's the deal? I can't get it hotter because I don't want to pass 4k RPMs on a breaking in engine or on a not-up-to-temp engine but what else is there to do? There's only one way to get the engine hot and that's by getting up in the rev range.

plug OBDII in and check what temp computer reports. Might just be a faulty dashboard

That's an age-old argument, but you don't build engines so you don't know what you're talking about. Drive it firmly under 3k or 4k so that it gets up to temp sooner than later. Oil temp lags a good 10 minutes at least once coolant temp comes up, and oil temp is really what matters more.

As far as vary the engine speed, maybe you think you should cruse at 68MPH. Don't use cruise control and you'll probably bounce around from 65 to 70 anyway. It's not a big deal.

Perhaps. Personally I think it's just because I wasn't aggressively going up and down through gears, while staying under 4k revs. That's really easy to do in city traffic but not so easy to do in suburban sprawl where lights may be a mile apart if not more.

Ah okay. I've never had a new car before so this experience is alien to me. I'll be sure to drive spiritedly in lower speeds in lower gears with lots of gear changes.

Does reducing the weight on the rear of a front heavy FF that understeers make the back more twitchy as opposed to responsive?

Change the oil and filter on time to get out the initial metal wear. That's more important than why they want to you vary the speed or have it up to temp or whatever.

But really the engine and all the things connected to it are designed to work best when you warm everything up to something near design specifications. If that means you have to find a little road near you that you can have fun tearing around so that you don't always drive it cold during the winter then all the merrier :D

>Change the oil and filter on time to get out the initial metal wear.
At the 1000 mile broken in mark or at the first oil change interval? A Ford technician I know told me that changing it that early after the break in would just be pissing money away. He said save your first oil change for 5000 miles as per the handbook. I believe him, he's a good guy.

>If that means you have to find a little road near you that you can have fun tearing around so that you don't always drive it cold during the winter then all the merrier :D
Sounds like a plan! I gotta find a little stretch of road to play on and pray that the frozen summer tires won't toss me into the ditch.

The lawyers write the manuals so that normies won't break the car if they follow the instructions. Oil changes don't really cost much compared to the car so it's up to you if you think you want to do it at 1000 or save your shekels and probably your car won't break if you do it at 5000.

I'd do it at a few thousand but I also buy used cars rather than new ones to save my shekels.

At that point you might as well worry about your alignment. But if you take more weight off the front it probably won't plow as hard.

Most FWDboxes aren't really set up to respond well, and safety standards usually make it so the rear is a dead end drag-butt so you won't start going backwards in an emergency.

Want to get a light, peppy little car to beat on the weekends and wrench on after work. I know the stock answer, but that kammback has me sweating. Anyone have any help in deciding between the miata and crx?

The CRX is still in production? I have great memories of riding in the hatchback of one as a high schooler. But I don't think such a thing would be legal these days.

Put tape over the oil temp guage. It's not there to give you usefull information, but to make teenagers think it's a race car.

Miata
Is
Always
The
Answer

>still in production
what?

Are you looking to mod it at all? I think the D series as more aftermarket than the 1.8 in the miata. They also take to forced induction with less fuss than the miat.
Driver being equal, the miata might be a little faster and have a nicer interior, but the crx has a roof.
Pretty close, but if you already have a daily, I'd lean mazda.

Do they still make CRXs like they use to? I don't believe it.

Anyway the obvious answer is a Miata. Have some fun in life. Do you really need a roof?

The other day I noticed my car making a really annoying scraping, rattling noise when in motion. It literally sounds like I’m dragging a fucking frying pan on the road.
But there is nothing apparent on the undercarriage or in the engine bay that seems loose, and I cannot figure out where it is coming from.
The sound comes and goes, and the car is driving just fine.
Any suggestions what it might be? It seems to me like it isn’t something critical, but it’s super goddamn annoying.

water pump on its way out?

I only hear the sound when I’m moving, at idle there’s nothing, so that’s why I defaulted to something being loose.

probably a bearing somewhere

Thanks, I’ll look into that.

Is there a name that groups together the speedometer, rev counter, and fuel gauge?

The gauge cluster?

I have several thousand dollars (+/- $25k) to spend on customizing the interior of my new 2018 Ford F150 Limited (inb4 Ford sucks and ram/chev/etc is better). Not a huge fan of the Navy Pier leather, but that's the only option. Just need a few ideas on how to make the inside more luxurious and comfortable (could also spend a few grand on the exterior if there are any great ideas there). Thanks for all input, even the haters ;)

Dashboard

How tf do I get out of this phase of wanting to buy a cool car to daily instead of just making the smart decision and buying something more reliable?

Buy a cool car. I don't think there's any other way around it.

Do you want to know my dirty secret? I bought a toyobaru and even though I hate it it I wish I hadn't tossed away the past 10 years of my life waiting until I felt ready to have fun.

Did you have that "work now, play later" mentality? Cause that's what I was raised with and it feels like every time I try to do something even a little wrong it'll come back to bite me in the ass.

Also I'm looking at something older than a toybaru, think more 90's

Yeah kind of. That's my old European immigrant family mentality I guess and I agree with it.

I fucking hate things biting me in the ass when I screw up but maybe that's just the right way to think I have to do better next time. I wish I got a cool 90s car back when it was still then 90s but this thing is still so much fun and I'm glad I took the chansu.

Are braided stainless steel brake hoses, fuel hoses, etc worth it or a waste of money?

>At that point you might as well worry about your alignment. But if you take more weight off the front it probably won't plow as hard.
You mean it won't understeer as much even though there's less weight in the front because there's less weight pushing the car around to begin with?

If you're running the stock fuel pump with stock pressure they are a complete waste of money.

No, I mean sort your alignment out because then you'll be able to get your head around whether a battery in front makes a real difference or not.

Good to know. What about the brake ones? I have seen replacing the stock rubber ones with braided stainless steel as a recommended mod in many places as doing this supposedly gives superior feel for braking.

>250 watts
at what ohms and voltage ?
it would help to know what amplifier you are using so its spec were clear
especially if it has a DIN 45000 rating
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_power#US

car audio companies will often advertise a the maximum wattage with the amp running at 2 ohm (or bridge tied load) and powered by 14.4 volts
but since you will be running only off battery's and are using a small amp I would expect the wattage to be less

a quick point of rough reference is the fuse system on the amp
(15 amp fuse = 150 watt rms @ 4 ohm ???)
not much point in having the wiring significantly weaker than the fuse

if super cheep 8 gauge (may overheat wire)
if pimpo 10 gauge is fine
if RMS 15 gauge will do

just keep the wiring less than 7 foot long
fordtruckclub.net/forum/photopost/files/1/5/2/0/4178001080_07138dfbe4_o.jpg

We don't have much to go on, but could be wheel bearings. Does it get louder with speed? If so, with vehicle speed or engine speed? Also maybe a loose heat shield? I've had plenty of those.

youtu.be/csV5gQo9wmc
Perfect explanation

question about fuel efficiency: i drive an old little 4cylinder MT truck

well i cruise at about 60/65mph to be light on gas, this speed seems to be the bottom of my 5thgear/OD
well if i encounter an incline or strong headwind should i drop it down to 50/55mph in 4th gear or just raise my speed to 65/70 in order to stay in OD? which would get me better gas milage

or even just on really long roadtrips where time is not an issue, am i just better cruising in the slow lane at 50/55 in 4th gear? cuase i average about 25mpg cruising 60/65mph in OD

Is scratch remover more of a buffing compound or more like a polishing compound?

Do I need do buff and polish fresh clear coat or just the parts around it that I sanded?

Will working in just a scratch remover do the trick?

why is a Garret turbo usually twice as expensive as an equivalent borg warner turbo? Also, is a ball bearing turbo worth the 50%+ increase in price over a standard bearing turbo?

No, it's a premium. If you have the money, get it, if you don't, no biggie. It's kinda like porting a head, it's the last of many pieces to a puzzle.

the one that ISN'T FWD

>It's a premium
Garrett or ball bearing turbos?

Do they make roll cages with back seat passengers in mind or at least that allow back seat passengers?
I've been looking for a bit and I'm not finding much
I want to eventually get an S13 hatch, and I want to install a roll cage but I also wanna keep the back seats
> Is this possible?
> Where can I learn more?

Did you finance it or buy one outright?

This sounds right, Google also gave me "tachometer"

What's the best way to decontaminate after rats? I picked up a 92 Leone wagon for next to nothing recently, nothing wrong with it apart from rust and rats.
Rats got into EVERYTHING. They didn't chew any upholstery which was a blessing but managed to shit on every level surface, no joke. So far I've opened all the drain plugs and flushed the car out (took out the carpet and dash) of all the shit that was on the floors, but still have to pull out the entire cabin aircon/vent setup to clean it.
Pic related, it's the cabin fan I pulled out today :<

I've been pressure washing most of the interior including the fan box and everything and not really giving a fuck about water getting into things because it might as well be broken considering how gut wrenching-ly disgusting everything is.

I want this car on the road in 6 months, and besides the rust this is the nastiest part I have to deal with. My question is can I safely decontaminate all this aircon crap by spraying pure bleach all over it and letting it sit. This is stuff like the centre heater box, aircon box, and cabin fan assembly. Two of these things consist of two radiator things for heat and cooling in seperate boxes thats require complete disconnection of aircon and heat pipes to remove. I'd like to avoid this. Can I just use bleach and water or should I suffer through removing EVERYTHING and manually scrubbing the nasties off?

TL;dr: rats shit on everything in abandoned Subaru, can I just spray all air vent/air box surfaces with bleach to decontaminate, or should I disassemble all parts and scrub the crap out of everything. This is not a restoration, more a "get-the-shitbox-on-the-road" operation, so as long as it's not going to make me sick I'll do it.

I fucking wouldn't touch it even if I was paid to

I'm paying myself with weed, beer and determination. It's fucking disgusting but at the end I'll have a sick af 4wd Wagon that cost almost nothing so I'm prepared to go to great lengths for it. Have another picture of the disgusting airbox.

What's the final nail in the coffin for a car? Or can you just keep replacing shit forever?

My guess is you'll get the best mpg in 5th at around 60. If a hill or headwind won't let you go at such low rpm you should get better mpgs in 4th and by dropping your speed a little. Depends on several factors though.
On long roadtrips your best bet is to sit behind a semi truck and catch his draft. You have to be fairly close but you can definitely feel when you're in the draft and you can let off the gas a bit.

I don't understand what you're trying to do. Scratch remover is intermediate, a medium to medium/ fine cut.