Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Sand Fork, West Virginia

Sand Fork, WV Car Consumer Discussions

Re: Motorcycle... [ateixeira]

by Mr_Shiftright on Wed Nov 21 09:26:56 PST 2007

I think scooters are far more dangerous than motorcycles. Those little wheels, steep steering rake and "chair seating" make for very poor response characteristics and poor handling. Ditto any motorcycle with extended forks and high bars----DEATH TRAP! I rode big bikes for over 20 years with nary a scrape. The trick is constant, chipmunk-like vigilance. If it's not another car, it's a hole in the road, sand on mountain turns, wet leaves, manhole covers---you name it. Seeing how most motorcyclists drive on Hwy 17, it's no wonder they get killed. With rare exception, most drive very recklessly, considering that they will lose in any encounter with a car. But you keep your head up and eyes peeled, and you're okay on a bike.

bearings and clutch

by bellyrole on Sun Jan 08 03:07:11 PST 2006

i bought my 1999 tracker with 83000 miles on it the first problem i had was the gears would grind in second and third so i replaced the completet clutch and clutch fork.well come to find out it was the clutch fork that made every thing go bad when we got it apart the pivot rod punctured all the way through the fork this is why the gears would grind and ruin the throw out bearing.well two months later it did the same thing.clutch fork again.this time we took a dremmel tool and made the hole bigger around the fork on the outside of the tranny. that way you did not have to pull tranny.we took the fork and cut out the center and reinfoced with steel and a nut and drilled nut. now no problem with clutch except it ruined the throw out bearing again.when i get the time and money will pull tranny and change.i have read alot here about gear grinding when shifting. well theres your answer it is bad clutch forks.what happens is when the rod goes through the fork it puts extreme pressure on the bearing and causes it to put a groove on the bearing shaft.which that can be fixed with liquid steel and sanded.what makes me mad is that gm has to know about the forks,but why tell us when they can make alot of moneyon repairs.allso the rear bearings are a bad design i have had both sides go out.as for light flickering it is in the alternator bearings, i had the bearings replace for 30.00 if you get belt squeel it the alt bearings.this is on the non serpentine belt models

Additional 2004.5 Kia Spectra observations.....

by spectraman on Thu Nov 04 12:07:09 PST 2004

Here's a composite of info from various posts I put up on the Edmunds Spectra/Cerato board over the past few months. -SM -------------------------------------- After 3 months / 4000 miles of driving on my new Spectra EX, here are my experiences so far. - Dealership experience has been very good. 1 minor repair was performed (3rd brake light LED replaced) quickly and to my satisfaction. The overall sales and follow-up experience has been very professional and positive. The dealer has very nice Customer Rewards program that pretty much takes care of basic maintenance like oil changes and tire rotations for the first year or so. The dealer (Dick Scott Kia) also follows up with the customer post-purchase and service visits. - Initial build quality has been excellent! All interior and exterior panels are straight and uniform in color. All options and features work flawlessly. - Interior noise levels are excellent. No evidence of excessive droning at 70+ mph as reported by Edmunds. My car *is* equipped with the 4-speed automatic though. - No squeaks or rattles yet, and that's saying something when driving on Michigan roads! :-) - Acceleration is good, esp. when you put your foot down. I've noticed a little "dead spot" in the acceleration curve between 1st and 2nd when accelerating gently. If I'm not in a hurry, I just let it pass. If I know that I've got to get moving a little faster (like pulling out in traffic) I know to just press the accelerator down a little harder/faster. - The car is just chock full of little extras that there's too many to list. All I know is that I'm still discovering little comfort and convenience features scattered through out the car. With my last new car being a '93 Plymouth Acclaim, I'm really amazed at how many new "smart" features cars come with these days incorporated in to the electrical circuitry.   - Pricing was excellent! I was able to take a fully loaded Sand Beige (gold) EX out-the-door for $14,373 (tax and dest included!) using the $1,500 incentive offered. The only big option missing on my car was ABS. My car included all EX options plus floormats, moonroof, spoiler, and alloy wheels. The dealer also through in some way cool hand-painted pin stripes from a local pin stripe artisan. It really finishes off the car! Other observations: - The turning radius on the Spectra car is phenomenal! I was able to move the car from one side my subdivision road to the other by simply turning the wheel all the way. No stopping and backing up and repositioning was necessary. No other vehicle I've driven has been able to do this in the same area. - While reading the owners manual, I just found out that the front seat belts have pre-tensioners that work with an ignitable activator (like an air bag). Another name for these are "pyrotechnic pretensioners". - The factory 6-speaker CD stereo kicks! I've run several hard-rock and country CDs through the system, and it handles it all with good treble and bass response. The middle range could use a little more punch, but that would require an equalizer to be added to the unit. - The car is extremely air tight. No wind noise from any of the windows or the moon roof. My ears pop when I close the last window or roof and have the ventilation on - Heat and A/C ducts for the rear passengers are under the front driver and passenger seats. There's a small forked two-orifice duct under each of the front seats. From what I could see, it only blows out air when the floor setting (and probably the mixed/split setting as well) is used. The upper vent setting does not appear to route air to these ducts. - The sun visors extend when flipped to the side. So if the sun is in the rear corner of the window, the visor will slide back on the rod to block it. My wife found this by accident, thinking she broke the visor. But the driver's side does it too, and it doesn't feel broken or flimsy when extended, so this is definitely a feature. The owner's manual doesn't mention that this exists. - The dome light dims slowly when closing the last door and the ignition's turned off. Close the door when the car's running, and it snaps on and off immediately. - The dome light comes on when you unlock the doors with the key FOB. - The front doors have "puddle lights" built into them. - When unlocking either front door with the key, you can unlock all four doors by twisting the key one additional time. Lock the door with the key, and all four doors lock. - I thought the glove box didn't have a light the first time I opened it up at night in the driveway, which sort of disappointed me. Later my daughter up the glove box (while driving at night with the headlights on) and there was a light! I now know that the light is tied into the headlight circuit. An unorthodox approach, but I guess it makes sense for the most part. - The lighted power lock and windows buttons on all of the door panels is convenient at night Finally, here's a very good article from the Detroit News Auto Review team: Kia's Spectra grows up By Paul & Anita Lienert / Special to The Detroit News http://info.detnews.com/autosconsumer/autoreviews/index.cfm?id=16- 022   So far, everyone I've shown the car to has been very surprised at the overall quality of the new Spectra. The only verdict out at this point is the longevity of quality. Will it hold up over the long haul? Time will tell.....

Clutch pedal squeal / squeek

by tjump42 on Tue Jul 06 12:42:29 PDT 2004

I've a 2k Dak QC 4x4, got approaching 100k on it with nil issues for which I am very grateful. Truck has seen a number of road trips out west ( I live in Austin, TX ) and beach trips and just keeps rolling over the miles. Truck is always cleaned promptly after returning from the beach ( promptly being within 48 hours, usually within 2 hours ) - but it is hard to believe that I've gotten it PERFECTLY cleaned each time. Sometime in the last year the clutch pedal has started to induce a wrong sound - a squeal or a squeek - but only when it is dry / warm. Totally silent and smooth freshly cleaned, or if it's raining. Do some downtown driving in hot/dry weather and then it starts. It's a pretty significant should, louder outside the truck than inside, and I can feel a friction induced into the pedal motion that makes it much harder to balance the truck on the clutch on an incline or similar. I'm concerned something significant it wearing out, but having a hard time getting my mainteance shop to pinpoint it ... it's not the kind of thing they'll see if I drop the truck in the AM fork pickup in the PM. So, I'm wondering, any words of wisdom for the experienced out there? I'm concerned that something is getting worn out in a bad way, from lefover sand or rock, or just salt-spray exposure. Thanks in advance, -t

by asta on Thu Sep 14 00:36:12 PDT 2000

chiefdoc2 - what is the URL to track your quad order online? I've called D/C chrysler service with the number BooKitty gave me and I always get a live operator (there's a switch!) who just comes back and says it's in production and will ship the first week of October. Operator says it will take 19 days to ship to my dealer in Southern California. bsparx - thanks for the excellent info! I live in an urban area (Los Angeles/Orange County) so obviously on-road performance is important (although the way they're tearing up the LA roads you better have 4x4 just to go to the friggin' market these days! Talk about lousy road crews). My off-road usage will mostly snow (mountain driving in the sierras and off-road in snowy areas) and desert/sand ala Baja. I am around construction sites, so a good tough tread and sidewall are important. Speed is not an issue as I'm not a racing guy and rarely will get the truck up beyond 75-80 highway. Never go more than 25 off-road, less in black ice and snow for safety, obviously. Your last point about putting appearance factors last is extemely important. As is the safety issue, as we all know re the headlines. I don't know why people don't give more consideration to tires? I From your comments, it sounds like a P-rated tire (do the BFG's only come in LT?) would be the way to go. Wish I knew a way of testing each brand I'm looking at in real-world conditions. Guess I need to start writing for C&D or Edmunds Online to pull that one off without forking out any cash! ;) Dave.

Bugs and answers

by stabbur on Wed Aug 02 03:04:54 PDT 2000

I have found a floor scrubbing brush (the kind that you use on your knees - it has a wooden back and nylon bristles) plus soap very helpful in removing the bugs. As most of you know the east has been as wet this year as the west has been dry. On our way west we had heavy rains when we camped just west of Cleveland. Stopped at the Crystal Lake Campground in severe gusting wind, lightning/thunder and rain. A person with stunning blonde hair, an impressive bosom, and lots of makeup directed us to an empty parking area as far from I 90 as possible. Since we had a person killed last year in Vermont when a windstorm dropped a tree on his motor home, I picked a spot away from the thrashing cottonwoods. I filled out no paperwork and my $20 cash will probably never show up in any account. I also noted that she/he had coarse features and the husky voice of a male. This was definitely not a Good Sam type of camping area. The interstate noise was terrible but nothing compared to the main line of Conrail that went by across the small pond. Those intermodal freights hauling semis and containers must travel at 70mph and they run about 30 minutes apart. Sounded like they were coming right through the camper. We awoke time after time with hearts pounding. It poured cold rain all night long. We slept in our lightweight down bags and were warm. Because of the severe weather we had the vents and the windows closed, except for the Jalousy side window we left cracked. I worried that the gusts, must have been 40-50 mph would take the pop top right off the camper and send it across the pond, but it stayed. We had enough condensation by morning so that the windows in the pop top were pretty well fogged and the front of the pop top was quite damp. I spread a small nylon tarp over the bed before folding the top down so that the mattress and sheet would stay dry. That tarp is a good thing to have in a pop top. I also tie it to the boat rack on the top to make an awning for sun or rain. We stake it out with recycled aluminum ski poles. Just pull the hand grips off them by sliding them forcibly through a partially opened vise and remove the baskets the same way. Then put the small end of one inside the large end of another to make tarp poles of various lengths. You can add a third if needed. Cut down the basket and use the resulting donut for the top of the pole to hold the tarp and line. Every ski shop has bent ski poles they don't know what to do with. When we got this pop top in 1995 the front weatherstrip between the pop top and the main camper leaked when we drove fast in heavy rain. We bought some aftermarket auto weatherstrip and put another layer in that opening and have had no trouble since, despite driving through some heavy rain at highway speeds. The coldest temp we encountered was the first night on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. It had rained hard on the first afternoon out, but then cleared to a beautiful evening. We woke up the morning of July 4th with frost on the tent fly, vegetation, and river bags. The water in our drinking water bottles that were next to the packs was not frozen, so I would put the low temperature that morning at 30-32. This campsite was at about 6000 ft elevation. In the camper I would have turned on the furnace. On the river I tell myself that the sun will soon be in the canyon and I adapt. After a couple of days out eating breakfast with the temp around 45 degrees seems very comfortable. (I loaned my gloves to a gal from Tennessee who was adapting more slowly, however.) The hottest we encountered was 106 degrees just east of Valentine Nebraska. When we camped an hour later at Smith Falls State Park it was still blistering hot in the sun where the campsites are located. Fortunately, the Niobrara runs east and west in a steep valley and the north facing slope of the valley has plenty of vegetation. A foot bridge crosses the river here and you can walk to the base of the falls in a few minutes. Here a really nifty microclimate exists. The falls are supplied by water that perks down through the Sand Hills located south of the river and flows out to the north on top of a sandstone formation that has been cut by the river. The falls occur when the water arrives at the ledges the river has cut. I stood under the falls and let the water soak through. The water temp must be in the 60's and the whole area around the falls was delightfully cool. The springs and falls that line the river in this section keep the river temperature nearly constant for much of the year, and certainly make this river a delight for the canoeist when otherwise it would be intolerable. We had set dates to meet friends who canoe for our trips on three of the rivers. Much of the time, we have no schedule, however, and apart from making campground reservations in Moab, UT where things can get very tight on the weekends, we never made any reservations. We were even able to get a campsite at Redfish Lake near Stanley ID for the Friday of the Fourth of July weekend. In order to do so, we arrived by mid morning, however. The night before we had camped at a National Forest campground where a quarter mile trail led to a fine hot spring - no shower needed. Our favorite spots are those non-designated ones in various national forests or BLM land. Once we get west of the Missouri and we look around enough on the gravel roads it is nearly always possible to find a fine campsite - sometimes next to a sparkling creek or some impressive desert wall, and we have it all to ourselves. As we move east, attractive spots are harder to find. A couple of favorites are the Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds at Moline IL, (next to a lock on the Mississippi River) a flood control dam west of Des Moines, and another one east of Minneapolis.