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So I'm not 100% sure on this, but this BMW 750i X-Drive was in for an oil change (needed 9.5 quarts but that's besides the point) and we noticed there are coolant hoses going into the engine computers - of which there are two. This is a 4.4 Liter Twin Power engine. Is it controlled by two ECUs like the old school V12s? Also it has the turbos in the valley like a powerstroke. And in other BMW news - the worst exhaust I've ever seen. It's actually welded - well boogered, sorta. That thing before the fart can is a catalytic converter. 
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Jan 4, 2016 21:10
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veedubfreak posted:How many people have lots of fun asbestos in their lungs from working on old cars with drum brakes. I'm pretty sure I sucked up a few lung fulls in the years I worked on bug brakes. Imagine all the shops cleaning drum brakes with compressed air! It's an asbestos nightmare.
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Jan 5, 2016 20:49
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Godholio posted:Goddamn, that is the ugliest dash I've ever seen. It's nothing compared to what it's inside of: 
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Jan 6, 2016 00:17
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I'd REALLY like to know more about the broken... um air chisel accessory there. I went to the first day of a Hunter alignment class today, and he talked about special air hammer things that can get rusted suspension parts unstuck like magic. The techs at my shop have been using acetylene and propane torches on rusted parts which I'm told is bad for a large number of reasons.
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Feb 9, 2016 01:01
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The Prius C is a little unusual compared to other Toyota and Lexus hybrids. It has a conventional automatic transmission shifter. It works the same exact way complete with brake pedal interlock. The lower models of the C also have a normal ignition key - works just like in a normal car.
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Feb 12, 2016 19:31
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jammyozzy posted:I've never owned a 6 speed car and everything I have owned puts reverse right below 5th. Cue my unconscious mind screaming at me "nooooooooooo!" every time I drive something 6 speed and actually go for 6th. You'd REALLY hate driving my Scirocco then. Not only is reverse far away from where you expect - you have to push the entire shifter down to get past the lockout for it. It is even more tricky on a 30+ year old worn out linkage. 
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Feb 13, 2016 13:33
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dissss posted:What's the problem with pushing the stick down to select reverse? My MS3 is the same pattern as that and I don't have an issue with it (it's much easier than my dads old S15 200SX where reverse was hanging out down the bottom right next to 6th) I had to drive a friend's 08 Elantra with a 5 speed. I could NOT get it into reverse to save my freaking life. The reverse lockout was a little collar at the bottom of the shift knob.  Made me feel so dumb.Throatwarbler posted:The gearshit that confused me was the Suzuki Lianos/Chevy/Daewoo Lacetti/Buick Excelle from the old Top Gear star in a reasonably priced car, on the AUTOMATIC, you have to press down on the shifter to push it past N to P or R on the PRNDL. This is so that you don't...confuse down for up and accidentally throw it in P when you want L2? Boy those were the best cars to rent with no one to tell you how the shifter works I tell you what I think the Mitsubishi Galant was like this for a year or two. There's no button like on a normal automatic shifter. Confusing as hell.
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Feb 14, 2016 01:41
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2 for 1 special today in Horrible Mechanical Failures... A non-repairable puncture. Well, four - kinda.  Here's a 2000 Camry with 53,000 on it. It was towed in and the customer says it needs a battery - just clicks. Yeah - you don't need a battery dude.  You need a NEW ENGINE. You kinda have to keep oil in these ya know. We do know the oil was changed at least once - it had a Motorcraft oil filter on it.
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Feb 15, 2016 21:46
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The work order said Courtesy check - with a note "Ignition cut out" The other clue is that there is not a key for the vehicle. Go outside. Find that the note meant LITERALLY CUT OUT and attacked with a screwdriver. Also one of the back windows was smashed out. 
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Feb 25, 2016 02:23
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A customer came in. Invoice said: FRONT BRAKE ROTORS REAR BRAKE ROTORS PA STATE SAFETY AND EMISSIONS INSPECTION COURTESY CHECK Order Notes: Customer installed own pads and now it makes grinding noise, thinks it needs rotors now. There seems to be a SLIGHT issue with the inner pad here...  That's right - the backing plate of that inner pad is against the rotor. It finally happened. I didn't think I'd ever see it - but there it is.
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Apr 18, 2016 11:55
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I work in a shop where I attempt to hide my usage of the torque wrench before someone comes over, laughs at me and uses an impact to tighten another axle nut. *BRRRRT* "HAHAHA THAT'S TORQUED TO SPEC!"
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Apr 19, 2016 23:01
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When I lived up in the mountains in Colorado, I'd shut my car off at the top of this HUGE hill leading into the next town. This was about 3.5 miles. There were 5 traffic lights in the town. If they were all green, I could easily coast all the way to the other side of the town. I only actually did it twice, despite trying every week day for two years. It was all more about the traffic lights rather than MPGs. Another good one is when you drive down Pikes Peak. The downhill from the summit is rather steep. They stop you part way down to make sure your brakes are okay by measuring them with an IR thermometer. If you're over 300F they make you stop for one hour. My temperature last time? 60F - I only had to use the brakes once. Everything else was engine-off engine braking. What did I get? A pack of smarties from the ranger. OH YEAH! (Fluke actually uses the Pikes Peak brake check as a case study for their IR thermometers on their website)
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Jul 19, 2016 17:04
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Data Graham posted:Wait, does it stay at acceleration rpm forever? Or does it move to "optimal cruise rpm" when you don't want to accelerate? The accelerator is even more disconnected from the drivetrain on a Prius than it is on a CVT automatic. That's because the Prius can mix in any proportion of electric drive depending on how much its got in the battery. On the Prius C, the engineers actually talked about how they made an effort to make the engine sound more like it was responding to the pedal than it did in earlier models in a SAE paper. The most batshit thing a Prius transmission does is how it implements overdrive. Prius enthusiasts (yes) call it "heretic mode" - Toyota calls it "power recirculation mode" - at highway speeds - the gas engine is spinning all the time. To make overdrive happen, one of the motor generators takes power off the output of the differential, and drives the other motor generator with that power together with the engine - which in effect slows the engine to a more efficient RPM. Seems kind of like a perpetual motion machine.
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Jul 21, 2016 13:52
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My entire life has become fighting corroded TPMS stems.
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Jul 24, 2016 22:38
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Does that thing even have brakes?
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Aug 11, 2016 01:09
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And the tire BECAME the Michelin Man.
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Aug 17, 2016 01:58
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So this is a 2011 Chevrolet Traverse with 106,000 miles. The engine is the 3.6 direct injection. Came in for check engine light, code was P0300. So I said - yeah - start with spark plugs and an injection cleaning because these engines are known for carbon build-up. Boy I thought I was talking out of my rear end to get the injector cleaning sale - the intake valves seem to have a real problem:  This is the best I could manage with dumping injector cleaner and various other chemicals down and trying to brush and blow it all out. After that, I put it back together and did that induction cleaning... twice.  EDIT: also - the intake tube was full of oil. There's a resonator chamber in the air intake hose - that was full of goo. Changed out the PCV valves too after finding that. 0toShifty fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Aug 19, 2016 |
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Aug 19, 2016 03:35
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DefaultPeanut posted:Looks like the cone and first row of blades are there, meaning it seems it was not blades that caused the damage I know there is pressurized air fed into a cavity for preventing icing around the mouth of the engine - did that rupture in a fantastic way? The engine possibly had a compressor stall - basically a highly destructive backfire which blows all the compressed air/fuel out the front of the engine. It's very odd for it to happen at altitude though unless it ate a HUGE bird.
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Aug 29, 2016 02:49
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Fork in the road - more common than you think!
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Sep 15, 2016 12:10
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Fix the flat tire, Frank! 2014 Lexus IS350 F-sport. How about NO! It was leaking out of one of the bubbles forming in the worn areas. Yeah, new tire time! I SUGGEST AN ALIGNMENT! hahahhaha no back it out, it's a lease!
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Sep 18, 2016 00:25
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Had an 04 Civic in because the tailights and parking lights didn't work. Found the fuse blown. New fuse blows right away. Dug into the car, traced all the wiring. Couldn't find any issues. Disconnected every single bulb. Still blows the fuse the second it goes in. After about an hour the customer calls and says that his kid put a quarter into the radio's CD slot - could that have anything to do with it? WTF dude? No! Then punched the dash near the radio. Radio clock just shut off. Put a new fuse in. Parking lights magically work! Radio dead now. The customer thought it was an okay trade and went on his way.
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Sep 25, 2016 00:43
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I know this is not an unusual mechanical failure - it's a Sebring after all. CUSTOMER COMPLAINT: When steering, car does not go in direction steered. Also a clicking noise from the front right. Go outside and see this:  Had to have the car towed into the shop because whatever dick towed it in put it far away in the parking lot nose in facing downhill. Axle popped out of the transmission. The only thing holding it at that angle is the brake hose. Get this: this car has only 49,500 miles on it. The tow driver had a wheel-lift truck and he was able to back it into the shop and get it spotted on my lift so well that I was able to lift it directly off of the truck! Believe it or not - he lifted it by the front wheels. 
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Oct 5, 2016 00:09
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I had permanent c-clamps holding my down pipe onto my manifold for many years on one of my Sciroccos. It's pretty much just like the factory part!
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Oct 6, 2016 22:36
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FuzzKill posted:Horrible design failure? Isn't this booster (and the Escape one) covered by some extended warranty? That's the one that whistles like a steam train when you push the pedal fairly hard, right?
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Oct 9, 2016 02:17
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BlackMK4 posted:That's pretty much how it always works when you're dealing with the original manufacturer. They can't guarantee there wasn't collateral damage so it's not worth the liability. Can you imagine a service writer arguing with the typical Mercedes customer over collateral damage? No wonder they do that.
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Jan 28, 2017 23:42
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Root Bear posted:And finally: The right rear wheel well of a 2007 Ford Escape 4x4 with a clunking noise in the rear that sure sounded like a loose and/or broken shock mount. I failed a state inspection on an escape that had this issue. One of those rare times that you realize why a safety inspection can be a good thing.
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Feb 26, 2017 19:35
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Nocheez posted:I feel like a horrible failure of a mechanic. It took two tries to get my belts changed on a 98 CR-V. Then I drove to work this morning and noticed my power steering was, at best, "trying" to work. Thankfully that one was serviceable from the top and I don't have to do the entire job for a third time. To be fair - Honda's ideas of belt setups are very questionable sometimes.
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Mar 15, 2017 17:38
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MomJeans420 posted:Someone goes to jiffy lube, jiffy lube somehow strips the drain plug and fixes it with whatever the gently caress this is, next time they get their oil changed by someone who's not a complete retard they notice it. It reminds me of that poo poo people use to ghetto patch holes in walls. This is an anti-tampering measure called Warranty Seal. You can also put a line of it between the oil filter and its flange. Oil-outs are a huge expense for shops. The drain plug is sealed with this to make sure someone didn't empty the oil themselves in an attempt to get a brand new engine on the shop's dime. The shop's insurance adjuster will look to make sure the seal is intact before approving a claim on an oil-out. But you don't need to glob the poo poo out of it like this guy did!
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Aug 4, 2017 15:40
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It's probably more to make the mechanic double-check - because who's going to put that paint on and not think about the plug being tight? (or even just being there) I don't think many places do this. Jiffy Lube and Firestone/Tires Plus are the only ones I've seen do it.
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Aug 4, 2017 18:57
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NitroSpazzz posted:The downside of barn finds... Heater blower wasn't working, ended up being completely full of mouse nest. Wipers are next and that's probably just locked up arms. My current car was parked for many years before I got it. I found 4 mouse nests inside the dashboard. There's at least one more within the heater box. I've been meaning to take it apart and deal with it, but haven't gotten the chance. I got the car in 2011. I've been driving with mouse-piss heat for 6 years 
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Nov 11, 2017 21:10
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Today, I was a horrible mechanical failure. I've been having exhaust problems. My car was loud as hell. I thought I had a hole in the downpipe. I removed the intake and exhaust manifold to make it easier to get to. Turns out there was a chunk of manifold broken off:  Since I don't have another manifold at the moment, I needed to get the car out of the garage and parked to the side of the house. But then I was thinking - do I really need manifolds to run it anyway? My car is on megasquirt, and the fuel rail is attached to the cylinder head. No manifolds required! The MAP sensor is open to the atmosphere, much like the engine would be. I started it up, and naturally it instantly revved up to 9000 and I cut it off. NICE. I got out my laptop and set the rev limiter to fuel cut at 2500 RPM. This worked perfectly, and although it was the loudest thing ever, I could back it out of the garage and park it!  Here's a video of it running with no manifolds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERUpXMB3T5I
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Jan 7, 2018 00:12
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Beach Bum posted:Heard a noise, did you? A bit of squealing, perhaps? Let's take a loo- I saw so many melted idler/tensioner pullies working at the car parts store. It's always impressive.
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Apr 3, 2018 16:32
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My car is made entirely out of hackjobs, but this tops everything now. A couple of months ago I bought a fancy aluminum bracket so I could run a serpentine setup with an alternator from a much newer car. This RACING bracket broke into several pieces and I can't tension the alternator anymore. But $4 walmart ratchet strap can!
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May 6, 2018 03:33
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I can easily buy that. I had to replace rusted out brake lines on a 5 year old Tahoe once. Meanwhile the 35 year old brake lines on my vw are fine.
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May 19, 2018 15:58
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That tire looks like it (was) nearly new! Typical Firestone move!!
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Jul 6, 2018 19:47
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Fermented Tinal posted:Use a grinder to make a slot in the rotor, insert a wide cold chisel, beat. With some luck it'll crack the rest of the way and come off the hub with less fuss. This is loving brilliant - I never would have thought of this!
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Aug 1, 2018 16:28
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Fo3 posted:Back in the 90s I was with a mate in a suzuki carry van when the clutch failed. He just tried to blip the throttle and rev match when changing gears. Having to come to a full stop sucked though - just stall it and then put it into first and use the starter to get going again. I did this a lot. In my first car - it was missing the front motor mount, and most of the engine-to-transmission bolts were gone or sheared off. The engine and transmission were just kinda leaning together. One day it was just too much and the clutch pushrod bent itself. I drove it another 150 miles after that. Used the starter to get going at lights and then floating all other shifting. I drove it from Denver to Colorado Springs and then up 24 past woodland park. To this day I'll still float shifts in any manual car I'm driving. It's really easy- my clutches last forever!
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Aug 17, 2018 14:34
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If you wait a few more years it would probably just dissolve completely on its own!
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Sep 11, 2018 05:43
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I had to jump my Prius C two days ago. The 12v battery is from 2013, so I guess it is getting time to replace it. One of those small lithium jump packs starts it right up though. Jump points are inside a fuse box under the hood. The 12v battery on this car is under the back seat next to the HV battery. At power-on, the 12v battery closes the contactors for the HV battery, these contactors are located inside the HV battery assembley. Then the DC-DC converter will come on and charge up the 12v battery like an alternator. There's safety reasons for doing it all this way - the contactors NEED to open when the car is powered off or has an airbag deployment in a severe accident, so first responders don't have to deal with being electrocuted with >144vdc when going apeshit with the jaws of life on your smashed car.
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Nov 14, 2018 17:03
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stranger danger posted:the future of manual transmissions is a manual CVT where they give you a little lever to change the gear ratio yourself. for enthusiasts Hey if you're gonna do all that ya gotta bring back the ignition advance lever from the Model T
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Mar 14, 2019 06:23
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