So I had some exhaust issues with my car a couple of weeks ago and brought it to the dealership. Since the car sounded like the muffler exploded, I thought it was a much more serious problem than it turned out to be, apparently some bolts just came loose near the catalytic converter. Here's the problem. When the service dude called me to authorize the repair, he said a wheel bearing needed to be replaced. This pissed me off for two reasons. One, because you obviously don't need to take a wheel off in order to repair an exhaust system. Two, the price seemed outrageous (about $330 if I remember correctly, also included an alignment). So my question is, how do I know if I actually need a wheel bearing or not? The car drives fine. I've had bearings replaced after taking the car to the shop when the car wasn't driving right. Is there something I should be looking for that can indicate if it needs to be done? Okay, I actually have a second question. My car has two tweeters in the front, along with four speakers. Both of them are the originals, while the speakers were replaced. The tweeter on the passenger side has developed an annoying habit of distorting music as of late. I thought it was my ipod, but I switched to a radio talk show and the pundits voice was almost drowned out by the sound, its awful. So it seems that highs tend to trigger it. The strange thing is that it doesn't always happen. Sometimes the stereo plays just fine. It also seems to distort when its colder out. What the hell could this be? Btw, the car is a 1997 Mercury Sable, not sure if that makes a difference.
*sigh* In my defense, it was daylight out and I had flipped the dome light on to find something on the floor of my truck, so it's not like I could see that the light was on when I walked away. Went to start my truck this morning, it just barely started due to the battery being drained. How long do I need to drive it for the alternator to charge it back up? It's starting fine now, after about 20-30 minutes of road time, but I'm worried about when it gets cold. This is the first time in 16 years of driving I've ever done this. Don't judge me.
Sometimes it IS required to remove a wheel to work on the exhaust, whether it's just for easier access to the pieces parts or whether it's to not spray sparks onto the rubber should they be doing anything with a torch. Typically the way I tell if I need to replace the bearings is that you can hear a growl from that area as you drive, one that doesn't change with gear selection, but is related to car speed. As to the cost, it depends on the car, but it can be a somewhat simple but involved job... I've seen it cost anywhere from $200-$400 bucks, so your quote seems reasonable.
Pretty much exactly what Nettdata said. In most car applications 200-400 for the bearing in reasonable. If it is a truck 300-600 maybe more. The problem with wheel bearings from say 1995 on is that they are a whole hub assembly, that makes for very easy of installation by robots, but since it comes as one assembly it makes it alot more expensive then just the bearings them selves.
You'll be fine. 20-30 minutes of driving should charge the battery up good as new, provided that your alternator is functioning properly.
Anyone know how (if possible) to check the check engine light codes without a reader on a 99 Jetta? It came on for no apparent reason, and I would like to find out whats up with it. Hopefully tomorrow Ill be able to take it to a shop/store and get them to read the codes for me.
A friend of mine had one, and most of the time it came on because his wife put gas in the car and didn't put the gas cap back on right. Or notice the light.
So my engine coolant has been getting mighty dirty lately. I figured it was just time for a radiator flush. And then on lark I took my oil cap off and it was coated with milky white coolant residue. This explains that goddamned misfire coming back, and my mystery coolant leak. I'm really hoping it's just a gasket, but my luck is against me. Happy fucking thanksgiving.
Maybe a simple question... When I back up slowly with the wheels cut all the way, I get a feeling in the front end like the tire is scraping along the ground sideways instead of rolling. It also isn't constant - it feels like something is getting wound up and then letting go, the way I'd imagine it would feel if the rubber on the tire were rolling over on the rim, and eventually hitting a point where the pressure of the tire overcomes friction and the tire slips along the pavement. Wind up... slip. Wind up... slip. The problem doesn't seem as significant going forward, but I can still sense it (I think). Maybe related, I'm getting a vague "thump thump thump" from the front right wheel, I can only hear it at slow speeds but it's definitely related to wheel speed. Bringing it to the shop next week, just looking for thoughts? edit: could tire separation be causing both problems?
It's called suspension geometry, and we spend literally thousands of dollars in little rods and special bushing to eliminate that in our race cars. Never mind the days of tweaking everything until it's just right. It's perfectly normal to have that kind of thing happen while you have the steering fully cranked. It's a function of camber, toe, suspension travel, ride height, and a whole lot of other stuff. The reason why it's not constant is that the tires are not solid, they have a flexible and moving surface (the tire treads). So the tire basically gets to the point where the sideways forces are greater than the treads traction to the ground, and it slides sideways instead of rolls. Eventually it releases the forces applied to the treads (think of bending a rubber eraser a bit and then letting it go), and the sideways forces aren't enough to overcome the traction/stickiness in the tire treads. And that cycle repeats itself until you uncrank the wheel. That's also one of the main reasons race cars use slicks (no tire treads) instead of treaded tires; it applies more contact area to the road for more traction, and it eliminates all of that squirming that the tire treads induce, thereby giving you a better feel for what the car is doing and giving you more control. The only time we use treaded tires is in the rain, so the treads allow the water to escape rather than hydroplane.
Okay. So intuitively that's going to vary a lot from car to car which is probably why I haven't experienced it to this degree before. Either it's gotten worse in the last few months or I've gotten more sensitive to it - I've had this car for almost 2 years now and really haven't been bothered by it before. It's actually significant enough that it makes me uncomfortable. Sounds like I just need to get used to it. Car is going to the shop for unrelated issues. Thanks for the info.
Doesn't hurt to have the alignment checked. Could be you have something that's worn out and allowing more play in the movement.
So i slid into a parked bus (long story, I'm too pissed off to get into it) here are some pictures though Spoiler OEM price on a trunk lid is $460 and the dented weather strip is $79 Beyond the $600 or so after markup and crap how much should I expect to pay on labour to get this crap fixed? And if anyone from the Greater Toronto Area has a tip on the best place to take this other than the stealership, that'd be appreciated. I know very little about cars, and even less about the costs in getting them fixed.
Not a question but wanted to post my all time favorite cruising song. Sweet pictures of hot rods, not really my thing I'm more of a muscle car guy. Great song about a car though.
Well, it's winter here in Minnesota and the remote start on my F-150 decided to stop working over the summer. The little button pad still locks and unlocks the doors and the lights flash when I hit the remote start button, but nothing happens. I'm not sure where to start. Do they hook it up to the ignition or the starter? What am I looking for? Will there be some resistor-type looking plugin that I should be looking for? I did run my battery dead over the summer if that matters any. (That's what happens when you have a dozen cases of beer, a few tents, and a pasture with no electricity).
I'm sure that someone who knows far more will come along, but have you checked all your fuses? There might be an in-line fuse as well. It would be a simple fix, and shouldn't take you too long to track down.
As I said in the R&R thread, I need to get a new car. Since I live in New England and will probably be keeping my next car for 5-6 years, I really want something that has all wheel drive. Right now I'm looking at two different cars--a 2008 Infiniti G35x with 31K miles, and a 2010 Subaru Legacy 3.6 R Premium with 16K miles. There is a $100 difference in price between the two. I'm torn between them for a number of different reasons. The Infiniti is an awesome car. It's got a 306hp V6, AWD, and all the nice bells and whistles (except navigation--which I'm not broken up about)--Bluetooth, Sirius, heated leather seats, dual-zone climate control, HID headlights, and a good stock audio system, among other things. On the downside, while there is a rear seat pass-through, the seats do not fold down, which cuts back on how much stuff I can put in the car. It will work fine for a couple pairs of skis, but not much else. Not a big drawback, but one I need to address. Also, with more bells and whistles comes a higher price tag if anything should go wrong with them. The Subaru is a very nice car as well. 256hp boxer six--it won't move like the Infiniti, but compared to my Mazda 6s that I have now, it'll be faster. It's also got an amazing AWD system--if it snows, it goes...no worries. The drawback lies in the amenities inside the car. The one I'm looking at does have Bluetooth, but Sirius is a dealer add-on, and the audio system is anemic--only 4 speakers. I can always improve the audio system later on, but there's an added cost associated with that. Since I mentioned it with the Infiniti, the Legacy does have split folding rear seats, which is nice. Every review I've read on both cars has come to the conclusion that they're both a good choice. The bulk of my driving is to-and-from work--25 miles one way, which works out to almost 3 hours round trip some days. So, what I'm looking for is some "What would you do?" opinions. The Infiniti has, for all intents and purposes, twice the mileage, but comes with all of the amenities I want. The Subaru is newer and has fewer miles, but it lacks some of the creature comforts that would be nice when commuting as much as I do. Thanks in advance for any input.
Go with the Infiniti!!! I have an 08 G37s and I absolutely love it. Every time I step on the gas it's like an adrenaline rush, so much power, so much awesome!! I've only heard good things about the 'x' models too, except that modding them is difficult for some reason. I've driven my buddies g35 also and the two are almost the same car except mine has a 3.7 and yours has a 3.5, same style, same handling, relatively same performance. The rear seat pass through that you mentioned is kind of a PITA, but honestly, how much stuff are you going to be fitting into your car? As for the audio, I'm pretty sure all Inifiniti come stock with a Bose system, which is really good (although some hate Bose for some reason), can't beat 6 speaker premium sound. On the flip side, most of the people I know with G's in the north put theirs away for the winter time and I know the NE is getting hammered with snow, and very few people want to put their car's through that. Subaru's are built for stuff like that, but they aren't as thrilling to drive in my opinion. But the lack of little things kind of add up, like the Bluetooth, audio, etc. If you need to plow through feet of snow to make it to the slopes, I'd say go with the Subaru. If you want style, performance, and the nice AWD and can sacrifice the snow plowing ability a little bit, take the G.
Man, it was that third exclamation mark that convinced me. As I said in PM, the real thing that needs to be considered is total cost of ownership, with gas being cheaper on the Subaru, even after the cost of modifying it to what you want in terms of sound system and such combined with intangibles like dumb kids far more likely to try and rob a luxury car.