Car Thread - VROOM VROOM

[Falcos_Commisar]

It's a long story but, I have a few clients with toyota products who want to digitally change the VINs on a few newer camrys, everyone says this is impossible on any car made after 2005 but I've seen it with my own eyes on a 2014 Ford product and many others, do you have an opinion on Toyotas/Lexus and Modified VINs to salvage, salavaged title cars? Will simply changing the VIN in the ECU cause an error preventing the car from running? properly and fail emissions?

No idea, never had the need the change a car's VIN.

If they're trying to "clean" a savage title car that's post ~2018 they're kinda fucked. You'd have to reprogram the keys at the same time. Probably more trouble than it's worth tbh.

Usually a vin swap / change is to sell a busted down car as better than it is or to hide stolen shit.

Fun fact, every Benz sold in the USA from 2019 onwards has a tracker in it. Makes the repo man's job super easy. Most luxury brands will probably follow suit quickly.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

I really despise German cars. The E46 was my only exception especially the M3(with the good transmission). E90 was a total piece of shit over- engineered and everything after just got worse. I need dealer software to change the regular old 12 Volt battery in a modern BMW? Whats German for go fuck yourself?

To be fair, what makes the E46 great is the refinement and comfort and the reliability of the M54. That also means the other M54 equipped cars are just as good give or take depending on AWD diffs and stuff like you have on the X3 and X5.

 

[TiggerNits]

A friend of mine got a 22 Jeep Gladiator Mojave and a 22 Wrangler Sahara for free after his dad passed earlier this year. He let them replace his 96 Chevy 1500 and his wife's 02 Jetta as dailies and they both complain about how gutless they are

 

[Darkholme's Dungeon]

German fucking cars after 2005? Waste of time and money.

That can be said for all autos now (waste of time and money). I was hoping the Chinese EVs enter the US market purely to fuck over all the US manufactures with a 10k wheels fall off car out of spite, but alas Biden added 300% tariffs so it'll be $30,000.

Not Toyota ASE certified but know people who are. All mass market dealership service departments are the EXACT SAME. Deny, deny, deny , lie and try and do as little work as possible while charging as much as they can. Luxury ones are a bit better, fwiw I've had the BEST experience at Lexus and the WORST at Audi.

The moment a car is out of powertrain warranty, leave the dealership for good.

This reminds me of state inspections. I remember them up selling a New Yorker (Bless their heart, now go back to NY carpetbagger) $220 for the state inspection that was mandatory, and they didn't tell her that was the wrong one (they weren't state licensed).
Then when she went back and complained they (manager team) basically laughed at her and said "sorry, no refunds". Pretty sure that's fraud but when's a dealership not trying to fuck you over?
US automakers 100% deserve the union rape they get.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

That can be said for all autos now (waste of time and money). I was hoping the Chinese EVs enter the US market purely to fuck over all the US manufactures with a 10k wheels fall off car out of spite, but alas Biden added 300% tariffs so it'll be $30,000.

I've had Hondas built around 2003-2004 that ran for 350K miles original engine and transmission. I gave one to charity as the starter/suspension was shot and lets be honest here any car with 300K miles is going to need a new suspension sooner or later.

To be fair, what makes the E46 great is the refinement and comfort and the reliability of the M54. That also means the other M54 equipped cars are just as good give or take depending on AWD diffs and stuff like you have on the X3 and X5.

I believe you but around 2006 or so BMW like most manufacturers starting relying heavily on multi-module based systems. The problem is around 2006 unless they were security related these modules were true plug and play or paired with very minimal tooling like just jumping wires on the old OBD2 for for 30 mins. When the E90 came out you needed very powerful equipment to make very minor repairs. Also quality began to slip, at least imho.

 

[Darkholme's Dungeon]

I've had Hondas built around 2003-2004 that ran for 350K miles original engine and transmission. I gave one to charity as the starter/suspension was shot and lets be honest here any car with 300K miles is going to need a new suspension sooner or later.

Yeah no doubt on the suspension. I've seen a dude with 750k on his 80s VW diesel rabbit. The headliner had fallen off and the trim was cracked everywhere, the suspension literally didn't dampen anything and the frame was rusted so bad if you sneezed you'd put a hole in the metal . The engine sounded new and the transmission was still easy to shift, quartz clock and the speedo lights all worked just fine though, and the A/C blew cold.
Short of the VE pump leaking and burning a hole in the block, there's not much you can do to kill those. I can't say the same for newer vehicles with the ECU/PCM/ electrical shit. I tried to find one for an older ford (early 00s) and they wanted seven hundred for a computer which may or may not work with no returns. That piece of shit only had 178k on it before the ECU shat the bed.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

sorry to double post..

No idea, never had the need the change a car's VIN.

If they're trying to "clean" a savage title car that's post ~2018 they're kinda fucked. You'd have to reprogram the keys at the same time. Probably more trouble than it's worth tbh.

Usually a vin swap / change is to sell a busted down car as better than it is or to hide stolen shit.

Fun fact, every Benz sold in the USA from 2019 onwards has a tracker in it. Makes the repo man's job super easy. Most luxury brands will probably follow suit quickly.

I'm in the Auto security industry, or rather the physical security industry altogether I should say.

Depending on the car changing VIN (electronically) can be easy just simply dialing in through the OBD2. Some require removing the ECU/DME/main computer and removing the data manually and editing and reflashing and by reflashing I mean directly to to the chip on the board NOT re flashing via OBD2 port. In my industry we don't even call it "re-flashing" unless we are required remove an actual electronic module from the car. Anwyay... I work with some insurance companies and law enforcement and they need me to examine a car and give them my .02 on whether the thing has been stolen or VIN-swapped or airbag/collision damage concealed and not disclosed etc etc. %90 of what I do for Auto security is simply replace keys when all are lost to a car and some guy is stranded. There is purposely NO handbook on modern theft investigation, they don't want to give the bad guys a handbook so I need to keep up by doing my own research.

I've seen VIN Swaps using the same keys before/after, I promise you making the key is typically far easier than a high quality VIN swap with fake stickers and fake VIN plates and such.

Most vehicles in made for US roadways have a GPS and often a wireless firmware update port, this started around 2015 or so even for mid range cars like Dodge SUV's. If your car is stolen you can call up the dealer but they will never give you live GPS data from the OEM hardware of their car. If you file a police report they will give the live data to law enforcement only. Can you guess why? Too many people have tracked down their own stolen cars and simply killed the person driving it. There was a famous case of a 14 year old nigger kid with 2 friends in a %100 stolen newer Audi. Now somehow the owner had live GPS maybe aftermarket maybe he had a friend at the dealership but he knew where the car was. He keeps calling the plice telling them where the car is, I forget the details but they are either too slow or it turns into a juristition nightmare, either way the police say "Sorry dude, can't help you" despite knowing where the car is pinging 3 times. There is even body cam footage of this conversation where the guy is so fed up he says "You deal with this or I will and it's going to be a whole differnt police report if you force me to retrive my own stolen property. So GPS pings and he grabs his gun and finds his Audi he aproaches with firearm concealed IIRC and immeditely 3 niggers inside his car open fire on him first and he returns fire killing one 14 year old armed nigger driving a stolen car at 11:30 at night, the two others run. That is why Toyota USA will never give you the GPS of your stolen car. And ofcourse the father blamed the man who's car was stolen from him and gave no explaination/tok no responcibilty raising why his son is driving a stolen car with a pistol at 11:30 at night on a Tuesday because well, niggers.

Almsot all German cars made after 98 have the keys on file and by on file I mean even the data in the chip for the immobilizer and the mechanical info for cutting a key, some have a "pairing procedure" that requires no special tooling. Benz used to have a "master chip" made for law enforcement/repo men that would start all ML350's I think it was? But the key had to be cut correctly in addition. The best car theives out there have GPS jammers/spoofers or just pull the fuse of the GPS module.

 

[Darkholme's Dungeon]

Can you guess why? Too many people have tracked down their own stolen cars and simply killed the person driving it.

Car theft is modern day horse theft and should be punishable by firing squad within a year.
As a matter of fact, lots of current day issues would be solved with this.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

Car theft is modern day horse theft and should be punishable by firing squad within a year.
As a matter of fact, lots of current day issues would be solved with this.

Well I agree with you the courts (and police) don't do jack shit half the time and they don't do enough to punish repeat offenders of violent crime or even property crime. Proving GTA can actually be one hell of a challenge. In example car with a history of 2 owners? Nobody can say when the car was screwed with. Did the first owner wreck the car and steal another one? screw with it hide the damage? Did the second owner just buy the car for the VIN/paperwork to drive a similar low mileage car in great shape? I won't go into details but there are so many scams to avoid odometer readings and VIN checks and such. IDK where you are but the Dept in charge of civilian owned vehicles in large US states is a fucking joke. One of the cases I was involved with in iinvestigating the guy buys the car, sends in ALL the proper paperwork for a new owner gets the title and response from the office then drives it for at least 5 years, puts at least 50K miles on it, pays insurance on it, gets speeding tickets in it at least once and then goes to sell it to another party 5 years later, turns out it was stolen 7 years ago and they just found out by running the VIN this time. What. The. Fuck?

You know why they hung horse thieves? It was too easy. Most cars built after about 2000-2005, good luck stealing them without temporary access to the key or key data. Unless its a Kia/Hyundai (with a key ignition NOT the key-less push button start ignition) and made specifically for US sale you don't just change the intention switch anymore to steal a car.

At minimum 3 niggers a month would call me up and they'd say "I changed my ignition to my 2007 Chrysler X and now the car wont start" I'd always reply "What was the reason for replacing the ignition"? And they'd always hesitate then reply "you, and the dealer want too much money for something auto zone sold me for $80" just as usual I'd reply "Did you just change the lock or did you program the chip in the new key for the anti theft, the immobilizer system?" the answer was obvious %90 of the time. Sometimes they'd chimp out and start cussing at me when I told them I needed all the old parts they removed to make the key. Half the time they removed the prior hardware in an INCREDIBLY destructive manner. As in using an angle grinder to cut the old one in half to replace it with a new one. All this to save about $100 and no plans on how to lock the car doors in the future, other than spending another $60 on parts and 3 hours replacing the door locks.

 

[Eggward biscuitbottom]

Cool bmw related ews stuff

I can't reply to your reply to me i don't know why. I don't know the European standard for key cutting as my expertise isn't on the software side the one time i didn't have keys i just got rid of EWS all together and a year later i switched to aftermarket ecu for my project e30 so i'm afraid i can't answer that. I mostly have autistic interest in the m50-m54 engine generations. I am curious about American engines as they are completely foreign to me. Why is the LS such a popular platform i kinda want to have a car with an LS in it but i know nothing about them are they reliable even with some light modification?

 

[Troon_Patrol]

I can't reply to your reply to me i don't know why. I don't know the European standard for key cutting as my expertise isn't on the software side the one time i didn't have keys i just got rid of EWS all together and a year later i switched to aftermarket ecu for my project e30 so i'm afraid i can't answer that. I mostly have autistic interest in the m50-m54 engine generations. I am curious about American engines as they are completely foreign to me. Why is the LS such a popular platform i kinda want to have a car with an LS in it but i know nothing about them are they reliable even with some light modification?

I tend to post large text heavy posts. If you highlight the text that want to reference you can quote a selection to keep the thread smaller instead of re-posting my entire long post.


North American cars tend to have lighter security than European manufactures, even their counterparts made for export into say the UK have security features that would not become standard for another 5-6 years in the U.S. either the metal portion of the key becoming far more complex to copy or a newer generation of immobilizer software requiring newer equipment. The Ford Focus for example, I'm sure you are aware it's the "basic bitch" cheapest thing Ford had to offer for years. IIRC they kept the model name "Focus" for euro market but instead of having a key I can cut with hand tools I need a $4,000-8,000 machine to cut the key or be incredibly good with a dremel tool but that's not being realistic at all.

The LS engine? As in LS1-LS6? You know there is just something about the LS series the LT previous series did not have. There's some kind of "magic" that the engineers just got right. The fucking LS series is used in even used in some helicopters IIRC and there are some performance shops that shove LS6's into newer Ford Mustang based track cars which is kind of blasphemy in American car culture, putting a GM made engine into a Ford Vehicle and vice versa. In the year 2024 Brand loyalty to cars in the U.S. is extremely minimal to what it used to be 50 years ago. 1970s If you were a Ford guy only purchased Ford if you were a Chevy man, that extra .7 liters of engine displacement assured you had the better car. I'm sure there are some Youtube videos on why the LS1 made such a jump forward in performance. I'm not an engineer to be perfectly honest with you I never made it too college but, I'm sure there is someone who can explain why the LS became such a popular platform for both performance and reliability. I personally have a hard on for the Coyote 5.0 liter to be honest I think I just like it because it's the newest Ford Engine that has been around long enough to prove it can handle a decade on the road and forced induction and such. I like ford but holy shit have they made some terrible engines in the last 20 or so years, the Coyote 5.0 Gen1 was one of the good ones.

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

Too many people have tracked down their own stolen cars and simply killed the person driving it.

As they should, it's BASED as hell.

Cars really are the modern day equivalent of horses

The LS engine? As in LS1-LS6? You know there is just something about the LS series the LT previous series did not have. There's some kind of "magic" that the engineers just got right. The fucking LS series is used in even used in some helicopters IIRC and there are some performance shops that shove LS6's into newer Ford Mustang based track cars

Indeed, GM struck gold with the LS.

I know someone whose putting one in a 1938 Ford coupe..... I think he'll achieve orbit with it.

There needs to be a law passed saying that a US manufacturer HAS to keep making LS engines until the heat death of the universe.


As for the Coyote V8, there are rumors that it'll be out of the F-150 in a few years and the Mustang will be the last vehicle Ford ever puts it in.

 

[TiggerNits]

As they should, it's BASED as hell.

Cars really are the modern day equivalent of horses



Indeed, GM struck gold with the LS.

I know someone whose putting one in a 1938 Ford coupe..... I think he'll achieve orbit with it.

There needs to be a law passed saying that a US manufacturer HAS to keep making LS engines until the heat death of the universe.


As for the Coyote V8, there are rumors that it'll be out of the F-150 in a few years and the Mustang will be the last vehicle Ford ever puts it in.

I have a friend that just moved from a Ford and Hyundai dealer to a GM and Honda dealership as the parts and service manager.

He was complaining Saturday about how GM makes LS core fees astronomical now to discourage the aftermarket tuning shops from reselling them. So to counter it the tuner's started trying to buy them out of scrap yards, which led to GM offering scrap yards cash for LS blocks in some areas which is driving the price even higher.

 

[WhatInTheActualFuck]

A friend of mine got a 22 Jeep Gladiator Mojave and a 22 Wrangler Sahara for free after his dad passed earlier this year. He let them replace his 96 Chevy 1500 and his wife's 02 Jetta as dailies and they both complain about how gutless they are

Not shocking - the Pentastar isn't a bad engine, but Wranglers weigh a shitload and there just isn't enough torque there, especially at low revs.

 

[Darkholme's Dungeon]

Not shocking - the Pentastar isn't a bad engine, but Wranglers weigh a shitload and there just isn't enough torque there, especially at low revs.

Have you ever driven an Isuzu Trooper (second gen) with a diesel swapped in? Well I did once, good luck making it past 45 mph on a flat road lmao with 58 hp.
We're going back to that level of anemic on some of these newer engines. Sure you can hit 80, but it takes for fucking ever and emissions kills the engine at like 100k.

 

[Bassomatic]

First gen (82'-93) rear end so that's a 8.5? I'm trying to find a diesel bellhousing for it.

I think its actually gms 9" ?

My bad I forgot you can pirate anything outta the Jimmy of that era too. They had tru tracs stock and it'll do you fine for a lot.

It's a semi popular rear for smaller wheeling (off road) options. So most of that stuff is around.

Or get drunk weld that diff, make inital D dreams be real.

 

[Total Annihilation]

Thoughts on a 2020+ Ford Explorer?
Out of all vehicles Ive tried for around $30k used/new it meets my needs the best, but the reliability seems questionable. The counter to this is to get Ford's ESP if it's under 3 years old and under 41,000 miles, but that's an extra cost.
Unironicly I was looking at possibly getting a used Tesla Model Y, but the whole EV meme has me feeling suspicious if it's worth it long term. I would like to add that I have the capability to charge it each night easily.

 

[Darkholme's Dungeon]

Thoughts on a 2020+ Ford Explorer?
Out of all vehicles Ive tried for around $30k used/new it meets my needs the best, but the reliability seems questionable. The counter to this is to get Ford's ESP if it's under 3 years old and under 41,000 miles, but that's an extra cost.
Unironicly I was looking at possibly getting a used Tesla Model Y, but the whole EV meme has me feeling suspicious if it's worth it long term. I would like to add that I have the capability to charge it each night easily.

If you live in a hot as fuck or cold as fuck area, The model Y range is reduced from the extremes.
What's the engine on the exploder?
3.5L Intercooler likes to burst from a freeze issue
Oil leaks causing turbo to blow just like VW engines
Overheats on all of them (mostly < 2.0L which I don't think is on the explorer)
Cylinder deactivation is a bitch.

I think its actually gms 9" ?

My bad I forgot you can pirate anything outta the Jimmy of that era too. They had tru tracs stock and it'll do you fine for a lot.

It's a semi popular rear for smaller wheeling (off road) options. So most of that stuff is around.

Or get drunk weld that diff, make inital D dreams be real.

I still can't figure out what rear end they put in it until I can open it up. Maybe I'll drop an Impuse or Geo rear end in for the lols.

 

[Total Annihilation]

What's the engine on the exploder?

It's a 2.3l turbo 4 with 300 hp and 310 lb feet torque.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

It's a 2.3l turbo 4 with 300 hp and 310 lb feet torque.

Sounds like the same one in the Mustang ecoboost. Should be fine as long as you change oil on time.