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New River, AZ Car Consumer Discussions

Oil usage and electricity problems

by mstwan68 on Wed Dec 02 05:58:45 PST 2009

Well people.... I'm back!!! After the replacement of the alternator about 6 weeks ago, it seemed that my PAC was back to good as new since no more flickering lights or car stalling...WRONG!! The flickering started gradually 6 days ago and has progressed back to the same state as it was before the alternator was replaced. We drove the PAC for the holidays. Got the oil and other liquids topped off before we left and everything appeared to be fine. We drove 270 miles from our front door and began to smell oil only to stop at a gas station and discover that the car was EMPTY of oil!!! We put 4 quarts in it and continued the additional 450 miles to our destination. When we arrived we checked the oil and it was full. The first 270 miles were all straight highway, no hills. The remaining 450 was over, around and through the mountains since I-40 has been closed due to rock slide. On the trip back, the oil was checked prior to departure and we went over the river and through the woods and around the mountains and arived at the destination we originally stopped at on the way to check the oil. The oil was fine. We drive the next 250 miles of straight highway and began to smell oil. Pulling over to check and guess what.... The car was low on oil!! We added 2 quarts and arrived home taking it to the Chrysler dealer the next day. We had reported the problem after the holiday before we came back so they were expecting us. Now, here's the kicker ladies and gentlemen...The printed up a copy of what 'Chrysler' has deemed check points for any problem and started down the list only to get to the part about the PCV and tell us that maybe something is sticking(The valves are new! They replaced them 3 months ago!) and that the only way for them to check this is to drive the car. Now, I'm no mechanic, but the way it seems to me is that if we are losing all on a straight highway driving 3 hours at a time, then for them to drive it over several days to get to the 200 mile marker is NOT going to show them what they need to see. Frustrated because this was there suggestion. We told them ok, there are over 40,000 miles on the car; I drive the PAC to and from work and babysitter each day which puts about 15 miles a day on the car. They are now wanting to add mileage that may not show them a problem and I have a problem with this. Is there no other way they could test this? This is all so meaningless!! We haven't even gotten to talking about the flickering lights again!!! We've decided to let them drive but told them, somebody needs to take a road trip and get it all done in one day with their little gadget to check codes, that will probably NOT show up. They didn't before so I don't know why they think this will be different. I'll keep you all posted.

Re: big Ford/CAW vote this weekend [fezo]

by lemko on Mon Nov 02 06:33:18 PST 2009

Wasn't Zenith made in Glenview, Illinois? Heck, RCA had a HUGE plant across the river in Camden, NJ. One of television's pioneers DuMont was manufactured in New Jersey. Philco, of course, was in Philadelphia!

Re: Any one interested? [oldfarmer50]

by graphicguy on Wed Oct 21 06:04:49 PDT 2009

oldfarmer....those are my thoughts, too. Any new vehicle, given as a gift to a loved one, is a generous one, regardless of the mark, its cost, etc. For awhile, I used to use my AMEX for all of my travel expenses (as I was traveling a lot at the time). I don't know if AMEX still does it, but you could accumulate points for each dollar charged. I used to turn those points into gift cards that I'd hand to my then spouse as a gift. Most times I used the points to get a $1,000 gift certificate to Saks 5th Ave, or some other place designated by AMEX as a participating establishment. At Christmas, I would give her the gift certificate along with something much less expensive for her to open on Christmas morning. She was happy, until she learned that I got the gift certificates essentially for free. That happiness turned to nonchalance and apathy at that point. To me, I didn't see the difference between laying out $1,000, or using points for a $1,000 gift certificate. Same way with giving a new vehicle as a gift. Does it really matter whether you spent $20,000 for a PT Cruiser or $100,000 for a MB? Both are still generous gifts, regardless. Richard.....around these parts, Northern KY is known as part of the Greater Cincinnati area. Some Kentuckians don't like that designation. Truth told, if I ever buy another home, I'd consider moving to the other side of the river. The northern part of KY is much more progressive than southwest Ohio is, and they don't have nearly as many "hang ups" either. Most of the pictures you see broadcast during sporting events of Cincinnati are usually taken from the northern Kentucky area.

Re: 2005 Pathfinder Transmission Vibration [mypathsucks]

by 99accent on Mon Oct 05 09:16:38 PDT 2009

TO TIDESTER, these type engine need a steady maintanence oil and filter air filters changes and timing belts at 60 K If you dont do it they fail just llike most engines then things get costly so maybe a new engine might be the right way to go.or just have the timing belt done and keep your fingers crossed.

manual lock hubs Vr's automatic hubs

by 99accent on Sun Sep 27 12:52:09 PDT 2009

Are the older outside manual type lock Hubs on the front wheels better than the new auto lock hubs?

Re: Very negative close today [ljflx]

by cyclone4 on Thu Sep 24 07:33:52 PDT 2009

Len, 2001gs430, and TagMan: Here are my ideas/comments. Len first of all, I totally agree with you about inflation fears. It is a bunch of BS. The fundamentals are indeed bearish for a lot of commodities. Adding to the bearishness in the grains will be an absolutely humongous (largest ever) corn and soybean crop this season. The weather, after a late planting was phenomenal for the the Midwest Cornbelt. Some traders/meteorologists/manipulators have been spewing out early freeze scares ever since the first of September. Instead, we have had fantastic warm and generally dry weather that was ideal for the corn crop (planted quite late in some places. The cool summer has also resulted in a slow pace in its growing cycle) to help reach maturity and therefore be free of frost damage. The soybean crop is already mature enough to be free of any frost damage. People will be amazed how huge this bean and corn crop will turn out to be. We needed a big bean crop due to a shortage of supplies. Anyway, this along with a lot of other commodities is anything but inflationary. That in itself bodes well for the stock market. However, I just felt that we have come up too much and too fast so, I decided to take nice profits. But Len, I respect your opinion so much that I may be way off base in my thinking that there will be a 700 point correction on the Dow. Thus, I will be itching to get back in again sometime in late October or November after hopefully some sort of a correction. I agree with TagMan that there will be some nervous times in October, but I also agree with you that the earnings for a lot of companies will be decent. Now as far as Natural Gas goes, this is a totally different animal and basically has a "mind of its own". After crashing to incredible levels of down around 2.50 early this month, there was a very sudden and impressive bounce. It is now trading at about 3.80. For those that don't know that is a $13,000 bounce per contract if one bought the low ( I wish I had, but I am petrified with this market) in early September. I strongly believe that the reason for the big bounce was the release of the upcoming winter forecast by various private weather companies including us. I really do not like making seasonal long range forecasts but customers demand it so we try to do our best. As some of you may know the National Weather Service is going for a warmer than normal winter for much of the Midwest while they are going for near normal for the Northeast. These two regions are by far the most important in determining Natural Gas usage. Based on this, the NWS outlook is bearish for Natural Gas. They are basing their forecast on a moderate to strong El Nino continuing well into the late fall and winter. There is a very strong correlation between moderate/strong El Ninos and a mild to warm winter for the areas of the nation that count. However, in our opinion, this El Nino has been weak and we are of the opinion that it will continue to be weak or perhaps even totally croak later this fall or winter. That does not necessarily mean it will be a cold winter but it gives us a chance for a colder than normal winter again in the areas that count (Chicago to New York). Officially, we are going for a colder than normal winter from about IL eastward to the East Coast. This contradicts the outlook from the NWS, but I actually hope they are right (the older I get the more I hate cold winters). The other thing that I have been monitoring closely is the incredible lack of sunspots on the sun for the past 2-3 years. The sun should have emerged from the sunspot minimum cycle (about an 11 year cycle) a year ago. But it has been a "dead sun". Some of you may be wondering what all this means. A sunspot is actually a cooler spot on the sun and it looks dark on a telescope. So, if lots of sunspots means cooler, then why am I concerned about a lack of sunspots (implying warmer)? If there are a lot of sunspots on the sun that also means that there is a lot of convection taking place and the result is that more energy is spewed out toward the planets. But with few or no sunspots, there is less energy spewed out. There is quite a bit of concern now that we are entering a long period (several decades of solar inactivity). IF this is indeed the case, then there is no doubt that there will be global cooling. Similar periods in past history of a quiet sun have resulted in significant cooling. One of these periods back in the late 1600s and 1700s was named the Maunder Minimum and coincided with the Little Ice Age. It became quite common at that time for the Thames River in London to freeze over during the winter. Glaciers started to expand around the globe. There have been other periods of solar inactivity since then but of shorter duration. The lack of sunspots on the sun now does not necessarily mean that this winter will be a cold one but it does not hurt the chances. What it does mean is that if it continues like this for several decades, there will be an overall cooling. It is more of a long term effect. Hopefully, if this is indeed a long term pattern of a quiet sun, man made (greenhouse gases) Global Warming will somewhat counteract it. Sorry for the long post, but I thought you folks would find this stuff of interest.