I have another Ford Duratec question for Sajeev, knowing his enthusiasm [So to speak – SM] for this engine. My 12 1/2 year old daily driver, my first “real” car that I have been driving for 2/3 of my driving years – a ‘98.5 Contour SVT – has a major problem.
I was at Summit Point on Friday, and had oil starvation-no warning-just puff of smoke out exhaust, a loss of power and a noise, then engine quit – clutch in rolled off track just in time for oil to start gushing out. Oil kept dripping the next hour or two. Cannot visibly see damage, but dipstick is stuck. Mechanic today (5 days later) tried to turn over the engine to see if it would spin and if compression – said no compression and it spun a few times then he heard a bang and it locked up. Did zero disassembly.
Question 1 – is that an appropriate way to see if an engine is done for, especially knowing there is no oil in the crankcase?
Question 2 – is it worth finding someone to do a 3.0 upgrade (I don’t have the expertise, knowledge, time, or place to even fathom taking this on)?
Dodge’s re-boot of its product lineup is largely complete, and with new and refreshed vehicles heading to dealerships soon, it’s released pricing on its new lineup. Dodge’s new pricing list can be found here, or hit the jump for highlights.
What’s that up in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the blue oval! Yes, everyone favorite car company is flying high. Fresh off the news that it made $1.7 billion between July and September and that they paid off some more of their big debts, people are talking big of Ford. “They’re in the best shape that they’ve been in for years,” said Shelly Lombard of Gimme Credit (I checked it out, they have their own website) via TMCnet.com. But Ford, through whatever reason, but I reckon it’s fiscal prudence, is staying cautious. (Read More…)
Given that European luxury brands have generally had their way with Detroit-based competitors in the US market, it should come as no surprise that Cadillac has failed to make any appreciable headway in the European market. The brand has been launched and re-launched in Europe four times in the last twelve years, according to Autocar, and its latest relaunch was supposed to boost sales to 20,000 per year by 2010. Despite that ambitious goal, Cadillac has fallen flat with European buyers, having moved about 1,300 units this year. As a result, the latest re-launch of Cadillac has been accompanied by dramatically scaled-back expectations: 2,500 units per year within the next “several” years (Cadillac expects the new ATS to make up about 1,500 units of this volume). Only limited numbers of CTS sedans and wagons will be converted to right-hand drive for the UK, and diesel engines for the CTS range are on hold. But even with a more modest approach to Europe, Cadillac is widely expected to keep struggling in Europe. After all, Lexus spent some $2.8b attacking the European luxury market, but sales which peaked at 60k in 2007 have retreated to a mere 30k units. As Cadillac gets stuck into its fourth re-launch, analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer is not optimistic
The brand Cadillac has no fascination for Europeans and no customer base. Why should I go from Audi, BMW, Volvo or Mercedes to Cadillac? Lexus has shown us how much investment is needed to do that… My forecast is, they (Cadillac) will not be in the market in Europe by 2020. Some people might buy one in the U.S. and export it to Europe. That’s it
A federal magistrate on October 20 set the schedule for a five-day jury trial to decide whether red light camera vendor Redflex Traffic Systems owes the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota $3 million. US Magistrate Judge Susan Richard Nelson set a February 1, 2012 date for the showdown with motions and pleadings to be served by February 1, 2011.
The city is furious that it had to refund $2.6 million in red light camera tickets after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled the program was illegal (view decision). The city wants to extract that money back from the Australian ticketing firm, but Redflex is fighting the suit.
Ever heard of a Chinese city by the name of Ordos? Neither have I, and it’s my sixth year in China by now. Google maps says it is in Inner Mongolia, China, halfway between the buzzing cities of Hohot and Yinchuan. Ordos just started its 2010 International Auto Show, going from September 30 to October 4. And what do they sell there, you ask, ox carts?
Meanwhile in India, things look much better. No total sales are in yet, but market leader Maruti Suzuki posted a 39 percent gain in sales to 118,908 vehicles in October from 85,415 a year earlier, reports The Nikkei [sub]. This was the strongest October in Maruti Suzuki’s recorded history. (Read More…)
As expected and predicted, October new car sales in Japan were a disaster. Japan’s domestic sales of new cars, trucks and buses declined 26.7 percent from a year earlier, down for the second straight month. Japan is going through a big withdrawal after the Japanese government withdrew incentives. (Read More…)
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