I have my own auto question...

[Pheidippides]

Big-O, actually. The service guy claimed he called me to let me know before I picked up the car. Um, no.

When I was 16, my family piled into our van (a large Econoline) to go down to Disneyland. My dad had just had Big O change up the tires and such.

I had just got my license so I got to drive for a bit. Just outside of Baker, CA, the car started shaking more than I thought was normal - or at least more than I was comfortable dealing with - so I turned the van back over to my dad. Who promptly agreed there was something wrong and took the exit to Baker...on the exit ramp for which our right front tire when bounding down the road without us.

I wish I could say that Big O owned up to screwing up whatever it was we had to have fixed that they had screwed up (I've long since forgotten) but of course they didn't.

[Surfah]

When I was 16, my family piled into our van (a large Econoline) to go down to Disneyland. My dad had just had Big O change up the tires and such.

I had just got my license so I got to drive for a bit. Just outside of Baker, CA, the car started shaking more than I thought was normal - or at least more than I was comfortable dealing with - so I turned the van back over to my dad. Who promptly agreed there was something wrong and took the exit to Baker...on the exit ramp for which our right front tire when bounding down the road without us.

I wish I could say that Big O owned up to screwing up whatever it was we had to have fixed that they had screwed up (I've long since forgotten) but of course they didn't.

People love to get their car fixed/tuned up right before road trips. I highly advise against this. Obviously if it's something like a wheel bearing it needs to be fixed ASAP. But if your car is due for routine service like transmission, coolant, oil, etc. just wait until you get back.

I worked at the Auto Spa in HS. Flystripper probably knows this place, but we were kind of a one stop shop that had everything. I worked at the quick lube place but next door was Big O and a full service car wash. I saw a couple cars come back on the back of a wrecker. Still I don't trust the dealer any more than I trust Jiffy Lube or Wal-Mart, at least for routine maintenance. The techs doing that kind of work at any of these places are equivalent from my experience.

[Moliere]

I find it interesting that everytime I take my car in for routine maintenance, without fail, two weeks later something goes out on the car.....hmmmmm

[Pheidippides]

People love to get their car fixed/tuned up right before road trips. I highly advise against this. Obviously if it's something like a wheel bearing it needs to be fixed ASAP. But if your car is due for routine service like transmission, coolant, oil, etc. just wait until you get back.

I worked at the Auto Spa in HS. Flystripper probably knows this place, but we were kind of a one stop shop that had everything. I worked at the quick lube place but next door was Big O and a full service car wash. I saw a couple cars come back on the back of a wrecker. Still I don't trust the dealer any more than I trust Jiffy Lube or Wal-Mart, at least for routine maintenance. The techs doing that kind of work at any of these places are equivalent from my experience.

There is a reason why I do my own routine maintenance.

[Surfah]

There is a reason why I do my own routine maintenance.

It's not worth my time to do my own for routine stuff like oil. I just be sure to check everything after. But I do a lot of my own work otherwise like brakes.

[Donuthole]

So I have done a little research on my own and I do not think the sound I am hearing is from a bad wheel bearing. The first thing that clued me off is that the sound was not happening before the tires were rotated. Why would rotating the tires be the straw that suddenly makes a bad wheel bearing audible? Additionally, the sound gets louder with acceleration and softer with deceleration. This shouldn't happen with a wheel bearing, per my research. Finally, the sound doesn't sound anything like the descriptions of a bad wheel bearing or any of the internet videos of bad wheel bearings.

It sounds to me a lot more like the whining is from uneven tread wear. I'm going to swing back by and have the bearings checked by another technician while I watch.

[Surfah]

So I have done a little research on my own and I do not think the sound I am hearing is from a bad wheel bearing. The first thing that clued me off is that the sound was not happening before the tires were rotated. Why would rotating the tires be the straw that suddenly makes a bad wheel bearing audible? Additionally, the sound gets louder with acceleration and softer with deceleration. This shouldn't happen with a wheel bearing, per my research. Finally, the sound doesn't sound anything like the descriptions of a bad wheel bearing or any of the internet videos of bad wheel bearings.

It sounds to me a lot more like the whining is from uneven tread wear. I'm going to swing back by and have the bearings checked by another technician while I watch.

This sounds silly, but check your tire treads for any rocks or something wedged in them. That could cause the very whine you're hearing.

[Uncle Ted]

So I have done a little research on my own and I do not think the sound I am hearing is from a bad wheel bearing. The first thing that clued me off is that the sound was not happening before the tires were rotated. Why would rotating the tires be the straw that suddenly makes a bad wheel bearing audible? Additionally, the sound gets louder with acceleration and softer with deceleration. This shouldn't happen with a wheel bearing, per my research. Finally, the sound doesn't sound anything like the descriptions of a bad wheel bearing or any of the internet videos of bad wheel bearings.

It sounds to me a lot more like the whining is from uneven tread wear. I'm going to swing back by and have the bearings checked by another technician while I watch.

Do you have a full-time ("all-time") four wheel drive? If so, did you do a five tire rotation (rotated your spare in)? If so, this could be the case. With full-time four wheel drive cars you really should only do a four tire rotation.

[Donuthole]

Do you have a full-time ("all-time") four wheel drive? If so, did you do a five tire rotation (rotated your spare in)? If so, this could be the case. With full-time four wheel drive cars you really should only do a four tire rotation.

Not an AWD. And my spare is a donut (naturally).

[Dwight Schr-ute]

I have my own auto question...

Had a car issue earlier this week that has left me a bit perplexed that I hope someone can offer me some insight.

I was waiting for my daughter's swim practice to finish. Sitting in the parking lot in park with the engine running so the boys could watch their movie. We had been parked for no more than 10 minutes when the van suddenly died. No signs of overheating, plenty of gas, relatively new battery. Tried to restart the car and there was no juice. Just clicks. Just before the car died, my phone, which was plugged into the charger, buzzed twice, as if it had just been plugged in, so it seemed there was a drop in the electrical just before the engine died. Once practice finished, I was able to get a jump and made it home. That was Tuesday. The car has started without a problem several times a day, every day since.

When telling my wife what had happened, she mentioned that something similar had happened a couple of months ago. She when to take something to a friend and ended up talking to her on the front porch for about twenty minutes while my three year old slept in his car seat. She came back to the car to realize the battery was dead. She assumed that she had turned the engine off while leaving the movie playing. She jumped the battery and didn't think anything about it. But after hearing this, she's now sure that she had left the engine running and it died while running.

Does this sound like my alternator is bad/going bad? I've got a mechanic that will come to me for pretty straight forward repairs, but I feel like I need to have a clear idea of the problem before I call him. Any other theories out there? For the record, I've checked the connections for any corrosion/poor connection issues and didn't see any problems.


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[Moliere]

If the alternator is bad, you probably wouldn't be able to start t again without charging the battery first. Is the battery possibly faulty? Have you taken the connections off the battery and cleaned them?

If it were me, I wouldn't take it to a mechanic. I'd just go trade it in for a truck


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[jay santos]

The DS-Moliere rivalry is really shaping up...

[Dwight Schr-ute]

If it were me, I wouldn't take it to a mechanic. I'd just go trade it in for a truck


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Well, that route would definitely secure my death before Pres. Monson, so a Moliere win-win.


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[falafel]

If the alternator is bad, you probably wouldn't be able to start t again without charging the battery first. Is the battery possibly faulty? Have you taken the connections off the battery and cleaned them?

If it were me, I wouldn't take it to a mechanic. I'd just go trade it in for a truck


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Lol at all those Texas Mormon women cramming their 8 kids into the xtra cab.

[Bo Diddley]

Not as much of a question as a rant.

Q!@#%$# rusted bolts!

So with the missus away at girl's camp, I decided to change out the struts in her Pilot. You would not believe the rust on all the bolts. I ended up cutting out the sway bar link on one side, and I'll have to do the same on the other side. It took excruciatingly long.

Now there are two large 24mm rusted strut bolts I have to get out. My cheap impact wrench from Harbor Freight wouldn't budge it even with the help of penetrating oil and a torch.

I should have just taken it to a shop, and probably will now, but I hate to have this thing defeat me. I guess for now I need to go put in a new sway bar link on the one side and consider my next move.