Vehicle Maintenace General

Autistic Gunspergings said:
On oil changes; there is probably a more optimal routine for every individual car but change the oil every 3k miles. Ignore what the manual says or what the computer says.
Is it optimal? Maybe not, would be surprised if it is, but as a general rule of thumb it has never failed me. I've seen expensive German engines run 200k miles with no issue because the owner was diligent about changing the oil.
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5,000mi oil changes. Especially on a turbocharged vehicle and ESPECIALLY on a diesel. Turbo's torture oil. And if your hooning it on a highway. Idle the car when you pull off to let the turbo cool off. Otherwise you'll cook the oil settling in the turbo and causes coking. Which ruins the bearing surfaces.
Make sure to know your oil spec. Don't grab cheap 5w-30 if your car has a specific oil spec, say VW 5w-30 507.00 oil. You'll be paying yourself to buy it.
You can however, cheat with some oils. Motorcycles for example. If your bike takes 10w-40. And practically every Japanese bike made from the 70's and onward does (if it's not a v twin) take a look at Rotella t6 15w-40 diesel oil. Just check the back of the jug to see what oil specs it's been rated for. In this example it's JASO MA/MA2 so it's safe for wet clutches. Great for flat tappets, as it has plenty of zinc. And it's affordable high quality & high heat resistant so it doesn't matter if it's air cooled or water cooled. It's rated for so many standards that I run it in a 440 Mopar magnum and my bikes. So a 5 gallon bucket bought in the beginning of the year provides multiple oil changes for more than one vehicle.
If you have a manual transmission. Please check what type of synchros you have. Make sure your gear oil is safe to use with brass synchro's if you have an older vehicle. It won't immediately cause a problem. But it will eventually degrade. Many oils are. But can be formulated with steel synchros in mind, which are common on cars with dual mass flywheels.
 
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Autistic Gunspergings said:
Oh, and if you actually change your own oil then consider a drain plug. Fumotos have a good reputation. They're like 40 bucks but tool free oil changes that are less messy (okay except maybe a jack) are pretty fucking cool actually. Just make sure it doesn't stick out beneath the frame or you run the risk of debris or particularly bad potholes/bumps hitting it.
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As an alternative I use a mightyvac pump through the dipstick.
 
What I do bruh, was riding with my pardner and the transmission started boiling the engine fluid.
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PunkinMan said:
What I do bruh, was riding with my pardner and the transmission started boiling the engine fluid.
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I'm guessing your car has an automatic transmission with one of those rectangular block looking thing that functions as the transmission/engine coolant heat exchanger? If so, chances are the heat exchanger broke internally letting transmission fluid mix with engine coolant. Whatever you do, don't start or drive it. Drain your engine coolant and transmission fluid, flush your engine coolant loop with distilled water, and replace the heat exchanger. To avoid the issue completely, you can air cool your transmission fluid with a smaller radiator.
 
I honestly feel bad for people in the rust belt having to do vehicle rust repair. You buy a new truck and the rockers and cab corners get shot after 3 years. Why doesn’t the rust belt use sand like the northwest?
 
Opinions on fresh water flood damaged cars? I am aware it's stupid but I need someone to reinforce that fact because this car is beautiful, brand new, with all the options, and hard to find.
 
Google.com said:
Opinions on fresh water flood damaged cars? I am aware it's stupid but I need someone to reinforce that fact because this car is beautiful, brand new, with all the options, and hard to find.
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Are you able to see how high the waterline reached? Depending on the car that would be the deciding factor.
 
Car Won't Crank said:
Are you able to see how high the waterline reached? Depending on the car that would be the deciding factor.
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I am able to see a little bit of mud and dirt build up to just under the gap on the bottom of the doors but barely anything on the doors itself inside or out. Inside it just looks like the carpet was damp but I think they might have vacuumed it to get the water out. Everything is pretty much 100% clean inside, almost suspiciously so but it looks like someone spilled a drink or something on one of the seats and it's a bit dirty there so I don't think they did a full cleaning of the car between the flood and auction.

I'm not seeing too much important thats located that far down most the modules and computers and such are higher up, I am thinking maybe one of the wiring harnesses are damaged. At first I thought they had the center console panel off maybe because they couldn't get it to shift? But the little override switch to force it to shift into neutral is somewhere else and it's still covered. The fuse panel that powers the instrument cluster on this car is also pretty low and since that's still working I am thinking the water level wasn't that high.

My optimistic theory is that some wiring harness under the carpet is donezo and insurance totaled it because the labor cost would have been too high to take apart all the shit ontop of it. My unoptimistic theory is that the driver tried to go through a 'puddle' that turned out to be not a puddle and the engines fucked somehow.

Edit: I got a copy of the vehicle records and I cant find any bad weather in the state on the days before or after the accident report reporting the flood.
 
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Sneeds said:
I honestly feel bad for people in the rust belt having to do vehicle rust repair. You buy a new truck and the rockers and cab corners get shot after 3 years. Why doesn’t the rust belt use sand like the northwest?
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Because then you wouldn't be able to drive 90mph in January without instantly dying, they use a mix of potassium salt and sand, and the more expensive (but more effective) magnesium chloride salt + sand when it'll be below 15deg on a vital road surface.
 
Car Won't Crank said:
To avoid the issue completely, you can air cool your transmission fluid with a smaller radiator.
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If you live in the North, this isn't as advisable as the transmission is meant to warm up using engine heat during very cold start/run-ups.
 
BatterHomes&Gardens

Thread 'Vehicle Maintenace General'

Without too much power leveling I've been professionally repairing other peoples shit since 9/11. From apprentice to business owner I have done it all. I specialize in repairing Euro Trash but have worked on a everything. Keep in mind I am American, I know American Euro Trash, all you true and honest Euro Trash drivers are on your own.

What car should you buy?

General rule of thumb, anything before 2013. They still have that reliable old tech in them with a lot less of the smog and fancy shit the new cars have. Lets take Direct Injection for example. It's pretty fucking cool...
Reactions:Informative x 12 Like x 13 Feels x 5 Semper Fidelis x 1 Agree x 1 Thunk-Provoking x 1

Looks like there's a thread for this already.?
 
Sperg_rancher said:
BatterHomes&Gardens

Thread 'Vehicle Maintenace General'

Without too much power leveling I've been professionally repairing other peoples shit since 9/11. From apprentice to business owner I have done it all. I specialize in repairing Euro Trash but have worked on a everything. Keep in mind I am American, I know American Euro Trash, all you true and honest Euro Trash drivers are on your own.

What car should you buy?

General rule of thumb, anything before 2013. They still have that reliable old tech in them with a lot less of the smog and fancy shit the new cars have. Lets take Direct Injection for example. It's pretty fucking cool...
Reactions:Informative x 12 Like x 13 Feels x 5 Semper Fidelis x 1 Agree x 1 Thunk-Provoking x 1

Looks like there's a thread for this already.?
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there are many like it but this one is mine
 
Purple Francis said:
A lot of Hondas had issues like that 14-20 it feels like. I had mine recalled twice, once for injectors, once for paint. They fixed it for free and gave me a rental both times, so I can't complain too much.

Unrelated; spent all day fucking around on my 3rd gen Supra. For the past few weeks I've been working through all the hoses and other rubber gubbins. Coolant hoses, door seals, T-top seals, etc. All of it is turning back in to black sludge from being old as fuck. Only rubber that's good is the belts.

Only found out it was that degraded when the hoses cracked in to pieces removing the radiator. Was only removing the radiator because it had a slow leak, previous owner didn't use correct coolant and stored it outside. The things we do for the pleasure of a old car.
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Commit sacrilege and swap a BMW inline 6 like the N55 or S54 into it. At least you'd still have robust parts support unlike the 7m and 1jz.
 
Anyone do their own rewiring? Considering buying a loaner / project car from a family member, but it needs a rewire from a family of rats that made their home in the thing.
 
I love installing electrical, definitely one of my favorite parts of modding cars. Replacing factory wiring can be a bit more challenging than the usual "fish a pair through this boot, tuck it behind this bracket, zip tie to the existing wiring, then land it on my new fuse box I hid in the center console" type jobs. You're going to want to buy a wiring harness kit for your car as even if the connectors are all in good shape it's more work than it's worth going in and splicing every single wire. Go slowly when taking trim pieces off and expect to break a few little plastic pieces, and make sure you secure wire well and protect against pinching and scraping. It's often a good idea to pick a couple additional things to do in each area when you have it all disassembled to run wires to save yourself time down the road. Finally, clean aggressively while you have everything taken apart as rat piss is very corrosive even years after they are gone.

Enjoy hantavirus, gearhead child.
 
Looking at buying a late 90s/2000 Mercedes Benz diesel sedan

How terrible of an idea is this? What should I look out for?
 
I expect to be having to change the clutch on my husband's car here soon. The car is front wheel drive. I've been watching a number of videos on swapping the clutch on this car. The process seems straightforward, just involved, as there's a lot of shit to remove just to be able to cleanly get at the transmission's mount and bell housing bolts.

2 of the 3 mounts which hold the engine and transmission in the car attach to the transmission, which means I'll have to support the engine while the transmission is out. I don't want to try to hold up the engine from below using a jack on the oil pan, because that seems a high risk of damaging the oil pan from the engine's weight.

Has anyone here used an engine support bar to hold up the engine from above when doing this kind of work? Will a cheap one from Harbor Freight do the trick, or is there a specific expensive brand I should get?
 
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Use a tow strap wrapped around and a chainfall, the engine isn't under that much stress when not moving, but for a fwd being able to easily angle the engine up or down may be critical to getting it off/on.
 
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