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Hot Springs, SD Car Consumer Discussions

Re: Winter Storage [kennygoodboy]

by 911c4s on Fri Nov 14 17:45:18 PST 2008

I store my 911 every year. This is what I do (after extensive research and asking the dealer). Inflate tires to 50psi; clean car thoroughly in and out (make sure its dry before you put it away. I usually drive it around for an hour and get it nice and hot and get the water out of everywhere). I fill the gas tank and then put Stabilizer in the fuel tank. I connect car to a porsche trickle charger. (some say dont lock the car since that will engage the alarm and that drains the battery - i think thats unnecessary. I also put a leather treatment on the seats to keep them moist so as not to crack from the cold (im in canada, my garage gets pretty cold and dry). I close all the vents to keep the cold air out of the cabin - this helps with keeping interior leather moist. I also use a porsche cover on the car to protect from salt or scratches when moving things in and out of garage. Oh and Ive been told you shouldnt leave it in gear. The best thing to do is to put a brick under the tires and dont engage the emerg brake or leave it in gear. You can use what you want from this but this is the "full storage list" i received. I do it all except I lock the car. There are also 2 schools of thought. Start the car once in a while to get the oil hot etc. and the more popular one is to not start the car until spring at all. The idea is that some experts say that since the car is cold and drained of oil the cold start is very harsh on the car and should be avoided. I never start the car until spring. Its always worked well for me on all 3 of my porsches. Then again, my friend does absolutely nothing except put a cover on the car and his runs fine. I prefer to do the whole ritual. Makes it seem so special to me when I put it away. My wife thinks Im nuts about the car and the procedure..which makes me think I must be right...

Re: update since the repair [catmando1]

by booboo6 on Fri Oct 24 21:57:19 PDT 2008

I didn't realize the problem is still ongoing. It's not the coolant sensor. I'd bet on that. I bought extra one to put in my car because the suspicious one was impossible to measure when in the car. It was not expensive part. In the '01/'02 Saturn, the sensor you see under the top water hose at the block IS the coolant sensor AS WELL AS the sensor for feeding the temperature gauge. If the temperature gauge reads normally, don't bother with the coolant sensor. Running rich is a good clue moving on the problem. Are all the plugs same looking? I think 1-3 and 2-4 are paired on sparks. If all plugs look foul, then I would suspect over rich, vs. no-fire or misfire due to one coil pack going bad messing up the affected cylinders only. OK on highway and climbing issues... how's the hot idle? That could give it away too. Fact is, if idle is good, but highway and high demand conditions (hill climbing) are bad (i.e. higher performance conditions only), you may have insufficient fuel flow rather than spark problem. If it leans out and misburns, you will also get fouling, not due to over-rich mix, but rather unburnable mix. In sufficient fuel flow as in clogged fuel filter, bad fuel pump is what I'm saying. If a vacuum leak, it'll show up at idle. Vacuum problem not much of an issue when you open the throttle and bleed down the vacuum anyway, making leaks less important. I think you have some clues now to give it a whirl. As a quick painless test, don't overlook the simple PCV valve. It is reverse spring loaded to prevent flow during idle as PCV will mess up your idle, but it is to open at low vacuum conditions. If you have missing dipstick or other potential leaks, that could affect your open-throttle air mix. A simple test is to plug up the PCV connection and preclude any PCV action just to discard this possible problem.

Replacement of dried out elastic guides inside convertible mechanism

by blsmeister on Fri Oct 24 12:16:27 PDT 2008

My 2000 GLS Cabrio convertible top is wearing well on the outside (Poo Poo!), but I noticed the black elastic straps that guide and hold the roof when retracted need to be replaced. These elastic straps are located between the outside top and the insulated header. Eight years of hot and freezing tempatures have severed these elastic straps. I visited Asbuty Auto Tops in Asbury Park, NJ and the owner can replace them at a minimal cost, but we can't figure out the Original Equipment Manufactures origianl installation placement. My vehicle has 36,000 K on it and I intend on keeping itfor a while. I enjoy breaking it out in the spring and driving until autumn. If you can take the time to glance at your configuration of these elastics and write back with their placement it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Re: Climate control issue [scottyd1]

by arrie on Mon Oct 20 09:33:24 PDT 2008

scottyd1, I agree it is BS to say problem is with evaporator or condenser. Not blowing heat has nothing to do with either. Missing heated air means that you either do not have hot engine coolant flowing thru the heater core or the air mixture gate that mixes hot and cold air is not working properly. Since you have hot air coming out from driver's side air vents it kind of rules out missing engine coolant flow thru heater core, right? There is one thing to check though with engine coolant. Make sure coolant level in the system is correct. I have posted about this before but your coolant level might be much lower than what the level in the expansion ganister under the hood shows. Mine went down to 2 gallons low and I still had level in the expansion ganister. To check for the coolant level open the expansion ganister gap after a drive when engine is hot just enough to allow the spring loaded valve to open that is built-in the gap. If you see and hear a lot of steam flow from engine to the ganister you might have the same problem I had. When this steam flow stops your coolant level goes down as the engine coolant channels then fill with coolant. I'm writing about this because if your coolant level is on "low limit" there might not be enough to circulate thru the heater core for the rear seat system. There are two heater cores (like A/C evaporators) separate for front and rear systems so only cool air from rear could be caused by marginally filled engine cooling system. This could very well be the problem since front and rear systems have separate controls. One way to check for low cooling system is to rev-up the engine and see if you get hot air out of rear vents. Higher engine speed allows water pump to do a better job even with low coolant level. When my coolant was low I had an odd symptom, which was that air from vents went hot while revving up the engine, like starting from traffic lights. This was very odd when I drive with A/C on all the time. Later when I found the low coolant level it explained what happened. The automatic climate control system controls air temperature to a set point. When I did not have a lot of coolant flow thru heater core with normal engine speed the air mixture gate opened to hot side more than normal to get air temperature to what the system was set to. Then, when I start from stop obviously with higher engine speed coolant flow thru heater core increased and hot air was blown out from vents for a few seconds until the system corrected it. Above does not explain the problem with the driver side front cold air though but I wrote about it because you might have two separate issues, which both I have experienced with my '04 Tahoe LT. Fix for the low engine coolant level obviously is to fill it up. The other problem I had two times was that when I had my A/C on I had hot air coming out from passenger's side but on driver's side it worked fine. The first time this happened I was working on the radio and had to disconnect the climate control module. When I started up the car only hot air was blowing out from passenger side. I thought that I had a bad connection or something and for a fix I disconnected / connected the climate control module again and everything was ok. The second time this happened just like for you. I replaced the battery and right after that only hot air comes out from passenger side vents. And the fix was the same. I disconnect / connect the climate control module and voila, everything works again. I think when changing battery the climate control module gets somehow messed up because the battery connection makes several sparks while screwing that cable connection in the battery. After my second incident I read about the removing fuses and thought how silly I was going to disconnect the climate control module but now when you have done the fuses and it does not fix it perhaps my job was not that silly after all. Disconnecting / connecting the climate control module is easy. 1. You need to remove the bezel around the cluster that also covers around radio and climate control unit. It easily pulls off from some tabs. To take it out you need to have your steering wheel tilted down and gear shifter all the way down, i.e. need to have key in ON position to get gear shifter down. You need to force it a little bit to clear on top of the instrument panel and after it is out turn off the emergency flashers as every time I do it the bezel hits the switch and they are ON. Move gear shifter back to Park and turn key OFF. 2. Unscrew the 4 screws (8 mm socket) from the climate control unit. 3. Squeeze the 2 plastic tabs at each side between removed screws to pull the control unit out. 4. Unplug both harnesses on back side of the control unit and plug them back in. 5. Assembly in reverse order. Before you assemble everything back you can try if it fixed it and if not perhaps you can disconnect / connect the harnesses again. In my case it fixed it after just one try and while I disconnected / connected the harnesses I had the key in OFF position. Before doing any other work I highly recommend checking that coolant level the way I explained because just looking at it in the expansion ganister does not necessarily tell the whole truth. You say though that your problem started right after battery swap so it kind of points to direction of control module needing a good reset by unplugging the harnesses in the back of it. I assume you have the automatic climate control system with 2 zones in front and separate zone for rear seats. My truck is an '04, which is the same I think thru '06. Hope this helps. Arrie

Re: Euro cars [autonomous]

by creakid1 on Sat Nov 24 21:47:51 PST 2007

"Speaking of European, the British weekly, Autocar, rates (using 5 stars) the Ford Focus superior to the Mazda3 and Volvo S40. - Focus hatch: 4.5 stars, "UK's favorite car returns bigger and better than ever" - Volvo S40: 3 stars, "strangely less than the sum of its parts" - Mazda3 hatch: 3 stars, "a good car, but not quite what it should have been" Moral of the story: sometimes you have to leave home to feel appreciated." Not really. Even though the MkII Focus is a slight improvement over the MkI in quietness, ride & handling, it's actually less fun to steer (even with the pure hydraulic pwr steering available on the 1.6 Mazda3/Focus II): creakid1, "Ford Focus 2005 release date" #67, 25 Dec 2004 11:39 am (see post #67) I've seen these MkII overseas & didn't appreciate it being even wider than the 6-ft-wide Lexus LS430. No wonder Top Gear was pessimistic about redesigning the MkI Focus into the MkII when the Golf/Rabbit V (which had the original Focus engineers designing its Control Blade multi-link rear) & the Mazda3 (which was derived from the MkII Focus platform but w/ the roll center lowered in the front & raised in the rear w/ different suspension firmness & plus a different steering rack) disappointed: comp386, "2008 Ford Focus future vehicle" #47, 19 Jan 2007 9:14 am We're the lucky ones that still have the old "Euro" Focus until '07. In fact, our reliable Mazda-engined 2.3 Focus ST, introduced in '05, used the identical suspension as the one in Europe's ST170 (except the lowered springs -- similar change to our pre-'08 GTI V). I've driven the Mazda3 many times, either 2.0 or 2.3, stick or auto, 16"s or 17"s. Let me tell you what -- it's an hyperactive handler w/ the tail that won't stay put when making simulated abrupt lane change on the fwy. I can't imagine how dangerous it can be w/o stability control on slippery days. Besides, not having belt-driven hydraulic steering can only give you limited steering feel. The quick movement from the shock setting is also too nervous for comfort, but I believe that replace'em w/ Gabriel or std S40 shocks should cure the ride discomfort. I still don't like the door armrest being too low after raising the driver seat to just barely support my thighs. The Rabbit suspension is too wallowy to be fun, as immediate change of direction can't be done. What's worse. The Golf IV already lacked steering feel at the limit (which wasn't the case back in gen I, II or III) & the Rabbit V's electric-motor steering assist only makes it even more artificial. You can firm up the suspension for a more responsive handling, but you can't hide the numb steering. At least it's still impressively compact for a comfy limo. & the S40 is simply too numb to have fun, as complains from its hot-hatch version -- the C30 -- is everywhere now. I find its optional sport suspension too uncomfortable, while the std comfy suspension bottoms out the front travel too easily over deeper bumps, just like the early std Focus sold in America. Even the base model has a manual thigh-angle adjuster while the door armrest is so high (I love it!) that this perfect driving position even includes a full-time turn-signal stalk in at your finger tip! The Focus ST was slightly softened after the '05 model year. & that's my favorite, as the firm ride no longer has the unnecessarily abrupt up-&-down motions, while the U.S.-tuned hydraulic steering that still lacked the confident-inspiring resistance back in '05 now (in this '07 I sampled) feels nicely firm above 45mph w/ strong centering action. The only real improvement it needs is sound insulation. Unlike its brothers -- the Mazda3/S40 sedans -- the 4-dr Focus has a decently wide rear-view visibility good for lane change & passing. creakid1, "Ford Focus Sedan" #1939, 20 Oct 2007 10:17 pm see post #1939 & 1940 & see how we agreed :P

Re: A VERY ANNOYING ELECTRICAL PROBLEM [tuggajb]

by dcarrejo on Wed Oct 15 11:29:51 PDT 2008

2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee problems . Does not Work 1. Windows 2. Automatic head light sensor 3. Door locks 4. Temperature Display (not eng) outside temp 5. Map lights stay on (if setting is on auto) 6. Air Conditioner compressor does not turn on 7. All gauges do not work ( work briefly if i press on the brake) I sent my Jeep to a mechanic I had problems my gauges did not work and he said it could be a coil spring or ignition. He serviced my vehicle and changed the ignition. That did not fix the problem but the items listed above do not work. He did a diagnostic check and the computer would not respond. He said my accessory control was most likely bad. He checked the coil spring and said it was good. He said most likely I should take it to the DEALER. Symptoms I would press on the brake my gauges would work briefly. If I would put my turn signal my gauges would work briefly. If I turned my wipers my gauges would work briefly. My windows would roll down if I would stop and turn off my ignition. Now they just don’t work I would be driving and my turn signal warning chime would go off. The jeep has stalled three times but started back up. All the vital stuff works such as Turn signals Head lights I have not had any problems with the transmission or engine it works just fine. Except when it stalled those few times. I can hear a clicking noise under the dash it sounds like a relay clicking. I since have sent it to the dealer (bunch of yahoo's) they have never seen the problem. RIGHT! look on the internet I am not the only one. They diagnosed the problem as the instrument cluster. I tore into the dash this weekend and looked for all the posted possablites and I found no corrosion no spliced wires in the boot of the door. I did find a burned connector for the ac as soon as I touched it was Hot and then the blower turned on. This part is called a Resistor for the blower fan. (OEM INSTALLED RESISTOR SYSTEM FLOW SENSOR (DELCO MODEL #16250779, SERIAL #0304021) I went to the dealer got a quote for the part and casualy asked him if he had a lot of call for this part he said yes. I asked if there was a recall on it he directed to the service deptartment and there is no recall. Funny thing is that they also sell the connector to replace the melted male adaptor. I just want to know if anyone has checked this sensor its located under the passenger dash next to the blower. I just wonder since this Fried under the dash if this has caused some sort of ground or actually fried the computer and I wonder why It did not blow the fuse...Its unplugged for now until I replace it. Since I have disconnected it has not helped the guage issue. I now notice that the window control on the door makes a clicking noise and turns on and off from door to door I am just wonder if this could be a multiude of problems. I used to love my jeep. As the saying goes if you love them you must let them go..