Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Sinks Grove, West Virginia

Sinks Grove, WV Car Consumer Discussions

Re: well, the lawsuit is official [tpe]

by gagrice on Thu Jan 03 06:45:51 PST 2008

Why would CARB engage in some "game" to facillitate the auto manufacturers being able to charge more for their cars? The more crap forced onto the auto mfg, the higher the cost to the consumer. I don't need air bags in the 2nd and third row of my SUV. Yet I am forced to have them. By the time CARB, EPA and NHTSA get through with their mandated add-ons a car weighs about 25% more than it needs to. Every time they add emissions devices to bring a vehicle closer to PZEV the gas mileage drops for that vehicle. That raises the CO2 output. Example: 2001 VW Jetta TDI rated 38 MPG under new formula 5.6 tons CO2 2005 VW Jetta TDI rated 34 MPG under new formula 6.2 tons CO2 Same car engine and transmission. with added devices to raise the emissions rating by ONE lousy point. Now it dumps .6 of a ton more CO2. And as you have stated. The Supreme court gave the EPA the right to regulate CO2. Not CARB or any other state wannabe. So when this current frivolous waste of money on suing the EPA gets to the Supreme court they will just have to reiterate that the control of CO2 is with the EPA. The last case was brought by the losers in Massachusetts. If CARB and Jerry Brown are sue happy they should sue the states of the Midwest. They have cut down most of the hardwood forests to grow corn. Or maybe go International and sue Brazil for cutting down the rain forest. When I was a kid Orange County was all orange groves. A great Carbon Sink. Now it is all paved and part of the warming problem. Plenty of opportunities for sue happy goobers.

Re: Consumer Reports? [rlt2]

by jackseric on Fri Sep 15 10:09:38 PDT 2006

I love most of the fit and finish of my Torrent. However, there are a few things that I think were poorly done and could be better. Have you had to climb into the back of yours yet? Put your knee down just about anywhere behind the rear seat, and pay attention to how everything flexes and bows in and out. Particularly so with the trim to the sides of the liftgate's latch plate. It sinks in if you push on it with just your hand! In my last suv ('98 Dodge Durango) I transported a small load of bricks in the back... I would never even think about it in this Torrent for fear of breaking something. That being said... I love my Torrent because it's smoother and quieter than my Durango was. I love my Torrent because it handles so much better than my Durango did. But most of all, I love my Torrent because my gas mileage in my Durango averaged between 11 and 13 MPG, and my Torrent is averaging just under 22MPG and 90% of my driving is either stop and go traffic... or going between 75-85mph on the freeway. That kicks some serious butt! (Hehe, before my break in... when I was trying to take it easy on my Torrent... I didn't drive over 70mph. I once got 25.5MPG in regular weekend driving. So Consumer Reports can kiss my a$$. Besides... everyone knows CR is all just paid advertising anyway. With all but a small handful of cars, they've always ripped apart anything GM...)

Re: Biting edges, sipes, groves... [nedzel]

by wwest on Tue Nov 22 20:03:09 PST 2005

The point I've been trying very hard to get across is that for any surface your tire can "sink" into even slightly, winter tires will be ecellent. But anytime what you're facing is a slippery hard surface, packed snow or ice, those "edges" in winter treads will always be determental to good traction.

Re: For what you Get - I love this Car...oops SUV! [jnt]

by poncho167 on Tue Sep 13 08:06:17 PDT 2005

GM has a big line-up of descent, excellent cars, for many years. They still have to get their marketing together to get more interest from consumers. The perception of quality from decades past for the American automakers has been tough to overcome, and the reality is that now-a-days there is no longer a gap between foreign and domestic automobiles in quality. For the most part Korean cars have overcome their perception of quality problems with the Sonata out-ranking the Camery and others in initial quality. Volkswagon is now the one sinking in the American market with its poor perception of quality from recent years.

Could It Be a Lemon, or What?

by riteguy on Mon May 02 23:30:46 PDT 2005

2004 Sprinter 2500 SHC 158” Wheelbase, GVW 8550 lbs, 102” High Roof Version/Inside Height 73” Ordered Mar 2004 from Union Dodge, Garden Grove, Delivered Jun 2004, Outfitted as a plumbing van from Jun thru Sep 2004, and put in service Sep 2004. Good Points :) Great visibility out of front window Very roomy – room to standup in the back Great gas mileage – 18 city/21 hwy (actual) Turning radius – made a tighter turn than a small pickup truck Union Dodge of Garden Grove Service department has done a good job in most instances of taking care of downtimes in a speedy manner, thanks to Lynette. Bad Points :mad: Brakes growl due to semi-metalic pads Poor road tracking during high winds Car manual poorly written Customer service via their 800 helpline is a poor excuse for customer service. I’ve been asked to take 2 different market surveys on how I like the Sprinter for a pretty good sum of money. If Daimler/Chrysler would just sink that money into satisfying existing customers and let them tell their story, I think they would get more for their money. No Sprinter parts are stocked locally by dealer, which means that almost every part must be shipped in. No tilt steering wheel – the Germans feel it’s better to tilt the drivers seat. There are certain locations the seat goes that make the drivers side mirror unusable. At least 10 times within it's first year this van had to be taken out of service for repairs that should not have been necessary. Max speed is 80 mph indicated/75 mph actual. Feel that Daimler/Chrysler corporate isn’t handling the support of the Sprinter the way they should. Is it a Freightliner, a Mercedes, or a Dodge? History (Mileage listed first) :sick: 0050 – EGR valve failure – vehicle would limp around at no more than 40 mph. Daimler/Chrysler knew of the problem, but would not replace it until the unit failed. Glad I wasn’t on a road trip!! 0174 – Replace broken front grill & license plate holder. Dirt debris noticed in both rear sealed tail lights – no fix available at this time. 1964 – Brakes growling – unable to duplicate for technician. Buzzing in cab – buzzing was EGR valve which had been recalled – replace 2nd EGR valve. 0220 – Drivers side mirror won’t tilt back far enough to see behind van – no fix is available. Check engine light came on – found an unplugged sensor. 2714 – Brakes growling – unable to duplicate noise for technician. Transmission leak – Replaced 3 “O” rings on trans drain plug. 3927 – Right rear door top right hinge broken making access to the back of the van impossible – Replace. Brakes growling and noticed by mechanic. Ordered rotors, pads & sensors for front brakes. 4421 – Replace front brakes – growling eliminated. Speedometer error. Noticed that GPS and road side radar indicating slower speed than my speedometer – technician determined it was within 6% margin of error allowed by federal government and no change was necessary. I believe the actual error is between 5-6%. No adjustment is available. 6496 – Red oil warning light on instrument panel illuminated – discovered in the manual that diesel oil usage is normal at a rate of .5% fuel consumption. Add diesel oil. Brakes growling again – per Starline (a helpline for the dealer) this is normal for semi-metallic brake pads. Valve stem recall – replace valve stem in all tires. 7118 – A/C hose rupture. Low pressure s.o.p. a/c hose found to be rubbing on radiator supports causing hose to rupture. Replaced left/right rear tail light housing assemblies collecting debris. 8426 – Right rear door top right hinge broken – 2nd time – making access to the back of the van impossible – replace. :cry: While I resist looking into the Lemon Law :lemon: for rights as a purchaser, the defects continue. :cry:

GregoryC1

by shipo on Sun May 30 22:07:31 PDT 2004

Ohhh, the rapier wit! ;-) "But on the other side of the issue, your opinion does not mean that the product does not perform a needed function in the upper cylinder area." A needed function, says who? Certainly not the engineers who developed engines that power 100% of the cars now sold here in the U.S. Wait, wait, it seems I jumped the gun. "I know that an "upper cylinder lubricant" in needed, because there is no lead in the fuel to lubricate the valve faces, stems and piston rings lands." Ahhh, so, there is the answer to my question; says you. It seems that you’ve spent too much time reading the Turtle Wax hype of their product and/or the hype of the various retailers that sell MMO, and not enough time actually thinking about their claims. I’ll take each of your three areas of concern one at a time. 1) Lubricating the valve faces (and by extension I assume you mean the valve seats as well, yes, no?): Since the start of the 1975 model year, most gasoline fueled cars (and all gasoline fueled cars since the early 1980s) sold here in the U.S. have been required by law to burn unleaded fuel. The way the manufacturers altered their engines to accept this new fuel was to change the metallurgy of the valves and the valve seats. The new metals were so hard that they were basically immune to the effects of combustion and as such needed nothing to keep the interface between valve and seat lubricated. Since that time I have yet to see a single valve/valve seat failure in a car that required unleaded fuel. 2) Valve stems (and by extension I assume you mean the valve guides as well, yes, no?): Valve stems and guides are lubricated by engine oil and as such, do not need any upper cylinder lubrication. 3) Piston rings lands [sic]: Ummm, I'm starting to get the impression that you have never even looked inside an engine, or for that matter even understand how they work. What little lubrication that the piston rings themselves as well as their adjacent lands require is provided once again by engine oil. As for the piston ring lands, I don't think that I have ever seen any apparent wear on a ring land on any piston that I have ever taken out of an engine, and that goes back to engines built before 1975 as well. In fact, while I may be wrong on this issue, I don’t think that any of the lands (there are typically three per piston) normally have any contact with the cylinder wall, and if they don't touch the wall, they certainly don't need much lubrication at all. On the other hand, if the lands start touching the cylinder wall, your engine has problems WAY beyond anything that MMO (or any other lubricant for that matter) can deal with. "Carbon will stick to hot dry surfaces, thus locking the rings into the lands of the piston, and valves into their guides." Your credibility is sinking rapidly; you must have gotten this stuff from some marketing hype from somewhere. The piston ring lands are the area of the piston between the rings and above the top ring, and as I have already stated, what little lubrication they need (if any at all) they get from engine oil. What I assume the author of the above dubious statement meant was "thus locking the rings into the groves of the piston", and as I have already stated, the rings get all of the lubrication they need from engine oil. Ditto the valves and their guides. While we are on the subject of carbon buildup, since the advent of the leadless environment; with the lead gone, all of the necessary lead scavengers were no longer needed as well, which produced a fuel that burned much cleaner. Thirty years later we are burning fuel that combined with the latest engines, produce less carbon and other combustion byproducts after 100,000 miles than a typical engine of 1970 produced in 1,000 miles. "You are entitled to your opinion on this subject, even though you are wrong!" Hehe, I could actually be insulted by that statement, however, since it seems that you are only trying to convince yourself that you haven't been wasting you money on MMO I'll let it pass. ;-) Best Regards, Shipo