Cars

[Craig P.]

Re: Cars

It doesn't get the 70 MPG in BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY LET'S GO RACIN' BOYS mode. They probably got the 70 MPG from a test that simulates daily driving.

Sure, but if you can get a great BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY LET'S GO RACIN' BOYS mode and get 70 mpg daily-driving it, that's pretty awesome.

 

[hockeyplayer1015]

Re: Cars

And. Done.

Picking up my 2014 VW Touareg TDI tomorrow. Yikes!!

 

[RaceBoarder]

Re: Cars

Sure, but if you can get a great BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY LET'S GO RACIN' BOYS mode and get 70 mpg daily-driving it, that's pretty awesome.

This was the point I was getting at... Way cool to have all that power available, but still be able to sip gas when needed...

 

[brookyone]

Re: Cars

Speaking of MPG, power and BMW...recently bought a BMW C600 Sport urban assault two wheeler.

Bring on the scooter riding jokes / insults...it's a riot to ride, and comfortable for an old fart.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Cars

Speaking of MPG, power and BMW...recently bought a BMW C600 Sport urban assault two wheeler.

Bring on the scooter riding jokes / insults...it's a riot to ride, and comfortable for an old fart.

Only thing I have to say, is that it's not a real bike.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Cars

So last week, on Monday the 16th, I had to get my car jump started. It was a cold day, the battery was four-days old. After it was jumped I've been using the vehicle without incident until this morning. I started my car at home, stopped at the gas station and turned off my car. After filling up, my car wouldn't restart. My brother came, gave me a jump start, then I let the car run for a while, and it did without issue; the headlights didn't dim or anything.

After that I was looking for an autoshop that would open, but none of the ones close by opened until 9:00. So I reluctantly drive into the office, which is in Minneapolis, because I can only be so late. After arriving at the parking ramp, I turned off my car and then tried to restart it immediately just to know if I was going to have a problem - the car has been running at that point for nearly 90 minutes, so I was cautiously hopeful. Nothing happened, I may as well had not even had a battery in the car.

To those who might have experience, does this sound like a battery or alternator issue? Could it even be something like a solenoid? I'm thinking it's battery or alternator related because my remote door locks wouldn't even respond after turning off my car. I don't have a volt meter.

Thanks.

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

Re: Cars

To those who might have experience, does this sound like a battery or alternator issue? Could it even be something like a solenoid? I'm thinking it's battery or alternator related because my remote door locks wouldn't even respond after turning off my car. I don't have a volt meter.

Sounds like alternator to me. Doesn't seem like the battery is being charged like it should be. Most newer vehicles will "shut down" due to low voltage to save the computer.

 

[walrus]

Sounds like alternator to me. Doesn't seem like the battery is being charged like it should be. Most newer vehicles will "shut down" due to low voltage to save the computer.

No idiot light came on?

 

[goldy_331]

Re: Cars

No idiot light came on?

It might have, but the black electrician's tape over it made it hard to tell.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Cars

No idiot light came on?

No, no idiot light appeared.

 

[brookyone]

Re: Cars

First thing I'd do is have the battery tested, which is quick and easy...and cheap. Bad / defective batteries do happen. Not common but not unprecedented. Does sound more like a failure in the charging system. If the battery is good the running time you allowed is long enough to charge sufficiently for a restart...if the charging system were working properly.

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: Cars

I would guess battery before alternator, even if the battery is brand new. My only experience with a bumb alternator was that it was obvious something was not working rather than the surprises you've had with the car not re-starting.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: Cars

So last week, on Monday the 16th, I had to get my car jump started. It was a cold day, the battery was four-days old. After it was jumped I've been using the vehicle without incident until this morning. I started my car at home, stopped at the gas station and turned off my car. After filling up, my car wouldn't restart. My brother came, gave me a jump start, then I let the car run for a while, and it did without issue; the headlights didn't dim or anything.

After that I was looking for an autoshop that would open, but none of the ones close by opened until 9:00. So I reluctantly drive into the office, which is in Minneapolis, because I can only be so late. After arriving at the parking ramp, I turned off my car and then tried to restart it immediately just to know if I was going to have a problem - the car has been running at that point for nearly 90 minutes, so I was cautiously hopeful. Nothing happened, I may as well had not even had a battery in the car.

To those who might have experience, does this sound like a battery or alternator issue? Could it even be something like a solenoid? I'm thinking it's battery or alternator related because my remote door locks wouldn't even respond after turning off my car. I don't have a volt meter.

Thanks.

St. C-It could be also something like some device draining the battery every so often. I had a similar episode a few years ago-it was a sporadic thing-eventually left it at a dealer who played with it for a week and found a seat heater was coming on at random times and not shutting off-and draining the battery at an unbelievable rate. The hardest probelms to find are the ones that occur randomly. If a relative new(and tested battery) is failing-it is often either the charging system, alternator, or a drain somewhere often from some sort of short. I am by no means a car expert-i just like to drive them-but I have so many of them that at some time I have had almost everything go wrong that could go wrong. Good luck!!

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Cars

It ended up being a loose connection on the positive terminal. I had the terminal connector tightened as much as it could go, so I didn't think to check how well it gripped the post itself. I stopped by Batteries Plus to get the battery tested (10 volts) after my brother applied a voltmeter and things looked good for the alternator (14.13 at idle to 14.29 revved), and they spotted the problem. The bracket/housing for the connector had a small loop that acted as a spacer at the terminal clamping point. They sliced it out for me, reconnected the terminal and everything started up no problem. And they did it for free.

This is the fourth battery I've installed in the car, the second from this brand, and I've never had any issue like this before. The only conclusion I can make is that this battery's terminal post must be slightly skinnier than previous batteries. Weird.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: Cars

It ended up being a loose connection on the positive terminal. I had the terminal connector tightened as much as it could go, so I didn't think to check how well it gripped the post itself. I stopped by Batteries Plus to get the battery tested (10 volts) after my brother applied a voltmeter and things looked good (14.13 at idle to 14.29 revved), and they spotted the problem. The bracket/housing for the connector had a small loop that acted as a spacer at the terminal clamping point. They sliced it out for me, reconnected the terminal and everything started up no problem. And they did it for free.

This is the fourth battery I've installed in the car, the second from this brand, and I've never had any issue like this before. The only conclusion I can make is that this battery's terminal post must be slightly skinnier than previous batteries. Weird.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

Glad it was resolved painlessly(and cheaply). We never think how dependent we are on our cars starting up-until they don't. Once I lose faith in the reliability of a car-it is hard for me to regain it.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Cars

Speaking of idiot lights, my truck has annoyingly taken it further. I have a 2013 Ram. It has the information center screen in the gauge cluster, and now it keeps flashing with "low tire pressure" warnings. They keep popping up after I dismiss them. The truly stupid part, I can put air in the tires and they don't go away. Apparently they don't go away unless a dealer resets it. I haven't done a ton of research into it, but this is what I was told by someone who should know. I refuse to go to the **** dealer, to just have them level off the air in my tires. Also, it says I need to change my oil, umm no, I have changed it twice since that stupid oil change gauge was reset, again, I'm pretty sure I can't reset that myself.

I'm off to do some more research, to see if there is any way for me to get rid of this BS without having to deal with the **** dealer.

edit: I think I can reset oil life, found that procedure...
edit2: apparently tire pressure is supposed to reset automatically Mine definitely isn't doing that, even though the pressure is at the recommended value. Dammit. This must be the "have to go to the dealer part". This **** should be able to be disabled, I don't need a ****ing computer to tell my my tire pressure is low.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Cars

Speaking of idiot lights, my truck has annoyingly taken it further. I have a 2013 Ram. It has the information center screen in the gauge cluster, and now it keeps flashing with "low tire pressure" warnings. They keep popping up after I dismiss them. The truly stupid part, I can put air in the tires and they don't go away. Apparently they don't go away unless a dealer resets it. I haven't done a ton of research into it, but this is what I was told by someone who should know. I refuse to go to the **** dealer, to just have them level off the air in my tires. Also, it says I need to change my oil, umm no, I have changed it twice since that stupid oil change gauge was reset, again, I'm pretty sure I can't reset that myself.

A coworker of mine some 8 years ago had an Acura MDX where the Check Engine light came on "just after [he] reached 60,000 miles." He took it to the dealer and they said that it does that strictly as a service reminder. It ended up costing him close to $400 because the dealership reset it and performed the proscribed maintenances. He had the SUV listed for sale the next week and bought a Civic. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it's made by the same company.

 

[Craig P.]

Re: Cars

A coworker of mine some 8 years ago had an Acura MDX where the Check Engine light came on "just after [he] reached 60,000 miles." He took it to the dealer and they said that it does that strictly as a service reminder. It ended up costing him close to $400 because the dealership reset it and performed the proscribed maintenances. He had the SUV listed for sale the next week and bought a Civic. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it's made by the same company.

My Civic has a maintenance required indicator that's separate from the CEL. It triggers on oil change intervals, but can be manually reset.

 

[brookyone]

Re: Cars

Speaking of idiot lights, my truck has annoyingly taken it further. I have a 2013 Ram. It has the information center screen in the gauge cluster, and now it keeps flashing with "low tire pressure" warnings. They keep popping up after I dismiss them. The truly stupid part, I can put air in the tires and they don't go away. Apparently they don't go away unless a dealer resets it. I haven't done a ton of research into it, but this is what I was told by someone who should know. I refuse to go to the **** dealer, to just have them level off the air in my tires. Also, it says I need to change my oil, umm no, I have changed it twice since that stupid oil change gauge was reset, again, I'm pretty sure I can't reset that myself.

I'm off to do some more research, to see if there is any way for me to get rid of this BS without having to deal with the **** dealer.

edit: I think I can reset oil life, found that procedure...
edit2: apparently tire pressure is supposed to reset automatically Mine definitely isn't doing that, even though the pressure is at the recommended value. Dammit. This must be the "have to go to the dealer part". This **** should be able to be disabled, I don't need a ****ing computer to tell my my tire pressure is low.

Tire pressure sensors require what the techs call a retrain in some cases. A DRB-III is needed to perform the reset. Once that's done and your tires are inflated properly it shouldn't be a problem anymore. I've known what you describe to happen with extreme cold conditions...and know of a couple people having the same issue in the last week or two. They do not require a retrain every time tire pressure drops below the threshold though. Simply inflating the tires should kill the warning light.

Your oil service interval light can be reset easily by you. Procedure is probably the same or similar to this:

http://youtu.be/TtD-IRC-zlM

 

[SteveP]

Re: Cars

I was in Trento, Italy for two weeks last month at the World University Games and got to do some Italian driving. Most of it was in a Fiat Panda 4x4 diesel with a 5-speed tranny. Looks and sounds like it might be a slug - but not even close. I made a bunch of trips up and down this route from Trento to the US Snowboard team hotel at Monte Bondone and it was an absolute kick thrashing the Fiat around like Jeremy Clarkson!

I took a day trip to Innsbruck with a gas Fiat - not as much fun but still managed to run the Autostrada at between 80-90 mph. I wished I spent the extra Euros to rent an Alfa for the day.

I also spent some time riding shotgun in a Skoda Octavia wagon and as the owner of a Volvo V70R estate I was very impressed. It was loaded with a lot of impressive features, including automatically dimming headlights. A nice feature to have so you don't have to keep flicking the dimmer stalk while in the twistys. Apparently a new one can be had for around 20K Euro. I'm sure if they were sold over here the price would be double.

It was good to see so many of the cars that we see on Top Gear, but don't see on the roads over here. The biggest one for me was the Volvo V40 hatchback. Small cars rule, of course, but I did see Audis, Bimmers and Porsches, a Jeep or two, several Land Rovers and even a Dodge Magnum wagon and a Grand Caravan.

Driving in Italy was pretty much what I expected. Tailgating and passing are not frowned upon, either in town on on the highways. Speed limits are not strictly enforced - in fact, I didn't see any police on the Autostada. Traffic circles aren't hard to get used to, but you do have to keep your head on a swivel. And the biggest difference from US highways - the trucks ALL stay in the right lane. On my drive to and from Innsbruck I didn't see one transport in the left lane, unlike the drive home from Philly along the PA Turnpike.