The "Ask a Mechanic" Thread

[SkinnedAussie]

Either truly breaks and you are driving nowhere,just a passenger to the scene of the crash

'Hello, 911'

'Yeah, I want to report a motor vehicle accident'.

'Where?'

'I don't know yet, but it could be at any moment. Can you hold the line?'

[kubstix]

Okay mechanics, so it turned out the distributor just needed to be rotated a tad as the cap was not making proper contact. So engine runs beautiful but vibrates at certain parts of the transmission. The transmission is perfectly fine so I'm thinking maybe the throttle valve cable needs to be adjusted properly? Is this correct? The engine is shifting gears very early and it's almost like the engine is not reved high enough to sustain 3rd or 4th gear going 20mph.

[twa]

Turning the distributor is adjusting the timing,which could still be a bit of if you are not using a timing light(and effect shifting).

The shifting could also be a vacuum leak(if that model has vacuum module and not electronic)

I'm assuming you are refering to erratic shifts

if ya ain't got a light you can simply trial and error it I guess.

Edited March 9, 2010 by twa

[Springfield]

My lower control arm and inner tie rod are both busted, should I drive my car?

Like twa was saying, if they were truly "busted", you wouldn't be going anywhere.

What has probably happened is those two pieces have play in them. You can tell this because the wheel/tire isn't stable when bolted up. If the car us up in the air, you'll be able to move the wheel left and right and/or up and down without it affecting the rest of the suspension.

If they have play, I'd have them replaced at your soonest convenience. The play will only get worse and could end up breaking in which case you'd lose pretty much all steering.

[zCommander]

My lower control arm and inner tie rod are both busted, should I drive my car?

You can but will hinder your ability to control the car properly. Get them replaced ASAP they are not that expensive. Labor on the other hand can be and you will need to get an alignment afterwords.

Edited March 9, 2010 by zskins

[twa]

The play will only get worse and could end up breaking in which case you'd lose pretty much all steering.

Steering is overrated anyway,who needs it.

[zCommander]

Steering is overrated anyway,who needs it.

Ask Fred Flintstone. He never had a need for a steering wheel. Not sure why they even had one on his car?

And they had it on the wrong side of the car on top of that :pfft:

Edited March 9, 2010 by zskins

[Springfield]

Steering is overrated anyway,who needs it.

...as long as you can stop the car.

[SkinnedAussie]

Ask Fred Flintstone. He never had a need for a steering wheel. Not sure why they even had one on his car?

And they had it on the wrong side of the car on top of that :pfft:

Not for us down here it isn't.

Next you'll be trying to tell us that Fred drove on the wrong side of the road as well!

[Elessar78]

SA, when you guys go into a spin or do donuts down there is it in a counter clockwise motion?

Also, are you Australian? If so, how does an Aussie choose to become a Redskins fan? Which football is tougher? Ours or Aussie rules?

[SkinnedAussie]

More often than not, donuts (circle work) are done in a clockwise direction. The more experienced drivers are ambidextrous. However, our (dirt track) speedways run in a counter clockwise direction.

Yes, I'm born and bred Aussie. Many years ago, I used to have a mild interest in the NFL, occasionally watching tapes of 49er's games which a mate had sent to him. It was one particularly wet summer's morning that I was holed up in a caravan when I happened to flick on the TV and the SB was on. Nothing much else was on, so sat and watched the Broncos take a 10 point lead over the Redskins. However, that 2nd quarter was what did it for me, and I've been a 'Skins fan ever since.

**EDIT - To finish the question, IMO, Aussie Rules is tougher in that you don't have the ability to sub on and off when the ball changes sides. Then again, we don't have 300+lbers slamming into us trying to kill us either. You really can't compare the toughest of Aussie Rules over the NFL as one is tougher than the other in certain aspects.

Edited March 9, 2010 by SkinnedAussie

[squatch66]

what is the best place to get your car aligned? i have an 05 mazda 3 and i dont really trust the local goodyear or firestone to do a proper alignment. should i take it to the dealer?

[twa]

what is the best place to get your car aligned? i have an 05 mazda 3 and i dont really trust the local goodyear or firestone to do a proper alignment. should i take it to the dealer?

Someone that specializes in alignments,I agree on not using Firestone or Goodyear.

I could recommend a number here,but they are not chains...so no help

[Springfield]

what is the best place to get your car aligned? i have an 05 mazda 3 and i dont really trust the local goodyear or firestone to do a proper alignment. should i take it to the dealer?

Honestly, with all the new alignment equipment out these days, it's not hard at all. In my opinion, Hunter makes the best alignment equipment out there. If somebody is aligning your vehicle with a new(er) Hunter machine, you'll be set.

PS: Don't go for that "lifetime alignment" deal. It's not worth it.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

2003 Grand Caravan. Never had any problems in the past besides a flat tire. But the warning/malfunction light came on over the weekend.

I looked in the manual and it said if there's a steady light, then it means something's probably a little loose and could be as simple as the gas cap. If it's a blinking malfunction light...then it needs to get serviced right away.

Do you guys know anything about this? I was wondering if it was just an automatic service thing, like hit 'X' miles and the light goes on to get it serviced.

Car seems to run fine, no smells or emissions from just sitting in the car.

[Skin'Em84]

Steering is overrated anyway,who needs it.

seriously, I installed a rudder on my car, saves on all those tie rods and control arms and whatnot.

[Veretax]

Okay here's one. I have a 2000 Chevy Impala ( with the 3.6 L V6 Engine).... We went to Princeton yesterday for shopping at several stores car worked fine. But when we got out of walmart, the ignition wouldn't turn with the key in it. (Like it literally was frozen in the 12 O'clock position). I had a guy from Walmart take a look and he said he thought it was a switch (maybe a ten dollar part he said at advance) and that they go bad all the time.

We ended up having to get the thing towed because I couldn't get it fixed last night.

Anyhow, any suggestions on how to attack this problem?

[twa]

Anyhow, any suggestions on how to attack this problem?

you could try flushing the lock cylinder out with wd-40 and trying a spare key.

I'm assuming you already tried wiggling the steering wheel back and forth??

You likely will need a new key cylinder which is more than 10 bucks,but sometimes flushing it out works

directions

http://www.2carpros.com/forum/2000-chevy-impala-ignition-switch-issues-vt68221.html

(the disconnecting the battery part is important since it has pass key security)

perhaps call the dealer and see if there is a recall...springfield might know,it seems a common problem.

[Veretax]

you could try flushing the lock cylinder out with wd-40 and trying a spare key.

I'm assuming you already tried wiggling the steering wheel back and forth??

You likely will need a new key cylinder which is more than 10 bucks,but sometimes flushing it out works

directions

http://www.2carpros.com/forum/2000-chevy-impala-ignition-switch-issues-vt68221.html

(the disconnecting the battery part is important since it has pass key security)

perhaps call the dealer and see if there is a recall...springfield might know,it seems a common problem.

WD-40 into the locking mechanism? that's an interesting thought. Yeah we tried moving the steering, it wasn't locked up and i could move it in either direction fairly far, didn't make a difference. Although We did try my wife's key while we were still stuck. The mechanism would seem to sense the key was there as the lights would change as they normally do internally, but it still would not turn.

Edited April 10, 2010 by Veretax

[Veretax]

I don't normally like to double post, but wanted to tell you guys how it went.

First we thought that trying some WD-40 was worth trying. It didn't work so much, and the locking mechanism remained locked up, so about 4 o clock my neighbor and I set out to see if we could fix this problem. So after about an hour taking off some of the cosmetic pieces of the dash, top and bottom, removing a support beneath the steering column, we finally got the ignition out.

It took a little while to figure out how to get the lock out, and we thought before we started doing too much to go price the part, and make sure it was in stock, it was but I wanted to make sure it was a compettive price (was about $189 at advance for the part plus some grease I think it was to help keep it from corroding).

So we came back and how do you get the old lock out? Well as the instructions said you have to drill out the spring that holds it in place, but finding that was more difficult. On my car the pin was almost out on the bottom T like section piece of the ignition. But the instructions were basically right other than that. you had to drill out that pin and then get the spring out and it slid right out.

At that point we went to buy the part and got back to work. Getting it to reseat was tricky, but I took a look at the back part inside and realized that it was turned a particular way. Because the button would only stay down in the 'on' position, you have to use a screwdriver (std) to gently turn it to the right slot so it seats right. That worked, we tried to get the key out after we got it in, and that proved a problem, so we pulled the lock back out and looked at it, and decided well let's see if this switch works.

(BTW before you put that sucker in I recommend removing the battery's ground from the battery, we did.) when we hooked the battery up, the lights came on the thing would turn, but it wouldn't start, and the dash lights didn't come on. It was then we realized the switching mechanism (4 brass or metal like pieces that have 2 big leavers one with 3 one with 2 nodes and two other pieces to help complete the circuits, had gotten bumped off so we had to figure out, like a jigsaw puzzle the right way. In hind sight next time I'd take a picture of that part so i could get it back together faster.

Once that was done we started it up and it worked fine. We removed the battery again, remounted the ignition, put the dash components back on and it started fine. Lastly we had to restore the gearshifter to normal settings because the tow driver had loosened it up a bit (there's a clip that is necessary to hold it in place, and another part that was a little loose.)

Then a 15 minute test drive, setting the clock to the bank's clock, and everything seems fine. My wife got the idea to paint nail polish on the old door keys so we could tell them a part, and while you could get the door tumblers rekeyed, I didn't see the point, having two keys is the way things used to be anyways.

SO all in all we were out 189, and it only took about 4-5 hours to actually do the work on this job. It probably would have been faster if we had our tools out and ready to go ahead of time. (Drill bits, a ratchet with an extender, 10 mm I think it was?) things like that.

Anyhow, It was worth doing, and I learned a lot about how my car was put together, but who would have thought this little piece of steel/aluminum that i can cup my hand around would be responsible for keeping it from starting, being stolen. Crazy eh?

[Springfield]

Sorry I didn't get to see this before you actually got everything fixed. Looks like you made do pretty well though. Glad you got it fixed, did it yourself (with the help of a friend) and made the most of your money.

Great quote right here:

Anyhow, It was worth doing, and I learned a lot about how my car was put together, but who would have thought this little piece of steel/aluminum that i can cup my hand around would be responsible for keeping it from starting, being stolen. Crazy eh?

It's all a piece of cake once you realize it's just nuts and bolts!

...and circuits and plastic and drills...

[stoshuaj]

'00 Celica, 1.8 liter

turn the key, hear the click of the solenoid. battery checks ok

changed the starter

now when I attempt to start vehicle, it sounds like the piston from the starter is hitting against the flywheel (i.e.: it's not lined up)

A: since the starter piston is in the retracted position when you install it, is there a way to insure that it will be liined up?

B: is there a way to check the alignment w/out putting all the crap back together?

C. am I missing something and completely screwed?

[twa]

Sounds like ya need to shim the starter

Not familiar with them,but if you can see where the drive meshes with the flywheel you can usually just take a screwdriver and push the drive gear out to check alignment...if not it is trial and error

maybe someone else is more familiar with toyos

http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_5862585_place-shims-behind-starter.html

Edited April 15, 2010 by twa

[Springfield]

Sounds like ya need to shim the starter

I agree with that.

Or you didn't get the starter all the way seated down when you bolted it in... some sort of installation error.

[Veretax]

It's all a piece of cake once you realize it's just nuts and bolts!

...and circuits and plastic and drills...

Thanks, I figured it was worth trying to do myself if all it cost me was time, worse case scenario I could still take it to a mechanic. But having done this my confidence in working on my car has gone up, I may next try to change my own plugs which are probably about due. I think I need to get a special tool/socket to pull them out though.