There was a killer traffic jam on the way into the Holland Tunnel from the NJ [turnpike] last weekend. I covered a mile and a half in about 40 minutes. At the start of that jam, my 99 Accord (manual and 159k) began overheating. When the scan gauge said the temp was 231, I put the heater on full blast, and kept it there, which brought the temp down below 216. (In normal driving, the temp stays within a few degrees of 182.)
In Manhattan, I tried putting water in the radiator, but it only took about 2 cups before it was full. Leaving Manhattan, traffic was thick but not stop and go on the West Side, and the temp remained in the 190s-200s (I can’t remember if I had the heater on or not at this point), and once the highway was clear, the temp remained below 190 and mostly around 182 without the heater on all the way back to Boston–as it had been from DC to the Holland. Haven’t had any trouble driving around town since. Car has a 3 month old t’stat. I took it in, and they couldn’t get it to overheat. Any ideas?
I just put my 1992 Ford Thunderbird (V-6, stripper, ex-rental car) on craigslist, but I don’t know if I can really bring myself to part with it.
The automatic transmission is dying for the second time. Leaking badly, hesitates before going into gear, tries to downshift from fourth to third at 50-55mph, makes a weird sound that I can’t even describe except to say that it sounds like something is spinning way faster than it should. Its latest trick is a neat one: sometimes the whole front end will shudder while turning at low speed.
Is there any hope for the patient? Can the automatic be salvaged, or is a manual transplant possible? Practical? Sane?
Hi Sajeev, I own a 2002 Honda Civic Si Coupe 5spd. It has almost 140,000KM on it and I am trying to keep it in good health out of warranty. Recently I decided to go through all my service receipts to see what has been done so far to the car. I noticed (shockingly) that the manual transmission fluid has not yet been changed. There is a side note in the service guide to do this every 96,000KM or 36 months. But this service isn’t part of their regular A,B,C,D and E type service packages. Nobody in the service department EVER reminded me about this while owning the car. Furthermore, when I called my Honda dealer to ask about its importance, the service advisor put me on hold for several minutes to get second opinions.
Here’s what happened to my 2003 Murano with 145k on the clock: the “service engine” light came on. So I took the car to dealer. They said the oil was low, and they put car on computer and said it needs a new engine, for a mere $7,000. I thought they were joking: they claim the computer says the engine is failing internally and there is nothing they can do about it. I had the oil changed and by my calculations, the car is consuming about a quart of oil every 1,400 miles.
In a previous Piston Slap, David Holzman and I discussed:
DH: Are old car reviews doomed to vastly underrate the cars relative to how they drove when new—unless they’ve recently been overhauled?
SM: Yes. I talked to the owner of the 1996 Explorer I reviewed, mentioning the correlation between a terrible ride and 13-year-old shocks. He’s less than thrilled with the idea, even though he hates the ride. So who in their right mind proactively replaces shocks on an old car?
And now, an update:
This Explorer got an upgrade from original Motorcraft shocks to a set of five (yes, five) new dampers from Bilstein. So what changed since the original review?
Sajeev, My oldest son has been bitten by automotive wanderlust. He is about to go off to college this fall and has decided that his grandfathers’ hand-me-down 4 cylinder 2000 Accord with only 30,000-ish miles is just not cool enough. Also, it needs new tires and a battery.
So he has cast his wondering eyes on a 5-speed 2000 VW Golf GLS 2.0L hatch listed in AutoTrader. It looks like a nice enough car but then I start thinking about VW’s reputation for reliability vs Honda, not to mention the size of the potential repair bills and I start to do what any normal parent would do—worry. Should I be worried? If the B&B here can’t convince him to stay with Honda is there anything I should have him be on the look out for trouble-wise on the Golf?
Per AutoTrader Ad, here are some noteworthy facts on the Golf:
Hello Sajeev, I’d like to ping your automotive wisdom with the following question. Soon I’ll be looking for a new car to replace my leased Corolla. I love power moonroofs (which my Corolla also has). My next car will be a long-term keeper, and even though I’d love to equip it with a roof orifice, I’m not sure about the longer-term reliability of power moonroofs. Are they known to start leaking, to require expensive repairs? Or is it better to buy a car without a moonroof and then have a manual sunroof installed; and would it void the car’s warranty?
I’d like to keep my next car until it falls apart — 10 years or longer. Thanks muchly for your time.
Recently we took our 2005 Murano with 75,000 miles on it into the mechanic for the 70k maintenance. It was making a bit more noise than we thought it should and the mechanic says from a cold start this morning it sound even worse. He says the oil stick did not register and he believes it is 2 qts down. We put in synthetic about 7k miles ago. He suggests while it is in ‘decent’ shape (after an oil change and oil treatment/flush) we should consider trading it in.
The feedback on Murano repair history that I’ve seen says they have the ability to drive for quite a few more miles than 75k. We had planned to keep it for at least a few more years but the mechanic says he believes we may be at risk of losing an engine in a few thousand miles.
This issue has boggled me from Day 1. I own a 2007 Honda Civic EX Sedan, with the 1.8 litre 4-cylinder, and the oh-so-wonderful Drive-By-Wire throttle system.
My issue is that it is LAZY. Lazy to rev that is. Also, at some points it appears to lose power for just a split second in the middle of a gear. Now at first I thought this was the result of an A/C compressor kicking on (I picked the car up in June 2007). But it has demonstrated this year round.
It doesn’t happen every time though. But it’s enough of an annoyance for me to bring it to the dealership. So my lovely Civic has been there a few times. They can’t figure it out. They’ve reflashed, and cleared the ECU, so that it will learn my driving habits all over again, etc however, it still happens. Can you, or anyone else explain to me how Honda can get this so wrong (And by comparison, a VW GTI with a DBW system can get it oh-so-right)? Can anyone suggest how I can get this remedied? It’s getting more and more of an annoyance. Especially since it IS (was) a new car. I’m not looking to replace the car, since I do plan on keeping it, so that is out of the question.
TTAC Spammer, goodluck.victorian, spams my inbox with:
Hello My name is miss Victoria. I saw your profile today on www.thetruthaboutcars.com and became interested in you.
I will also like to know more about you, and I want you to send a mail to my email address so that i can give you my picture for you to know whom l am. I believe we can move from here. Remember the distance or colour does not matter but love matters allot in life.
My beloved 2005 CL65 AMG (https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/mercedes-cl65-amg/) is about to meet its maker after the lease ends next month. As a soon-to-be-displaced torque junkie coming off a 36-month fix, I must have another AMG-tuned twin turbo V12. Because that’s how I roll: completely high on big-block turbo boost and grinning like an idiot. Never thought MB could outdo themselves after they introduced the 604 HP twin turbo V12 in 2005, but with the new SL65 AMG Black Series, they have seemingly done exactly that.
As much as I have tried to resist that muscular flared carbon fiber intense bodywork that conceals the most powerful engine ever installed by those nutjobs at AMG….after seeing an especially stunning one locally, it has become difficult to justify waiting for prices to drop.
But obviously there are concerns about an expenditure this large, so I wanted your opinion . . .
Sajeev, I drive a 2004 Mazda RX-8 that I bought new. It currently has around 48k miles. As of late the seating has become uncomfortable and I seem to get strange cramps in my hamstrings from how the seat is pushing into my leg.
I’ve looked at some possible cars to replace it with such as the Evo X, etc. Love the Recaros on there and that alone would make me want to switch. However, I still love the RX8 and short of buying another one in R3 guise is there anything I can do to upgrade my seats?
As has become the custom these days, the seats have the side airbags built-in. So I’m not sure what options I have in the aftermarket for this. I know Recaro has the Sportster CS with airbags though I’m not sure how ‘universal’ they truly are. Mazda wants like 4k per seats for the R3 Recaros, so that’s not really an option either.
Also, I’d be ok with going for a seat without airbags, but I don’t know what effect that has on the rest of the SRS system.
I have an S2000 with just over 50,000 miles on the clock. The first thing I did when I bought it three years ago was to change the oil to Mobil 1 10w30 and install the OEM filter. I’ve put about 4,000 highway miles and a few autocrosses on the oil since then, with two or three minor top-offs. I’m planning on changing the brake fluid and coolant this summer (did the transmission and differential last summer). Should I change the oil too, even though it’s still that happy golden color? How about the filter?
My dad’s Ford Thunderbird 30th Anniversary Edition (i.e., 1955-1985) hasn’t been started in about two years. It has 140,000km, never been winter driven and its original save for the radio (I still have the non-functioning original one though). I want to start cleaning it up and fixing a few little things, but to do that I have to get it started and run it.
It has been stored outside, under a cover, in my driveway. I know the oil was replaced and the tank filled up just prior to being put in storage. Prior to storage the battery was removed, the oil and coolant changed and the tank filled with gas.
After prolonged storage, is there any special I should do other than dropping a new battery in it? Are the tires likely to be flat spotted? I also need to fix the antenna, which got bent; any tips on finding a replacement for that would be helpful too!
So the other day I tested a Pontiac G8 GXP, just because I could. I ease away from a traffic light and as I go for the 1-2 shift, it gets hung up. Wouldn’t go into gear. I realize now that what I was experiencing was GM’s dreaded 1-4 skip-shift, except that of course I was trying to go into second, it wanted fourth, and, well, we just weren’t [synchro]meshing. Short of flooring it everywhere (not that I’d mind, just that you can’t always), what’s the best way to deal with – or outright eliminate – the skip-shift? And do any other cars besides GM’s family of V-8 six-speeds have this “feature?”
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