And these are the rankings for regular tires. There's some overlap with the gas saving tires.
Attachment 46841

But the Michelin all season at only rated to 118 mph.

True. The Primacys are rated at 130 mph and get an even higher score.

When is the last time you drove 118 mph? Is speed rating on an all season tire really a top concern?

No.

You should seriously consider replacing the original tires on the car with a tire that has the same speed rating. The manufacturer presumably knew what they wanted on the car.

Monday.

You're right, not a top concern, for everybody except xoB. I think a better guide for tire replacement is how you use your car. You've said as much yourself; no cars come equipped with snow tires, yet they're the right tire for the job, irrespective of the speed rating and original equipment.

The way I drive in my current car, nothing close to 118 mph is needed, so that's an irrelevant condition for me.

Exactly. A guy tried to sell me z-rated tires for my S-10 pickup.

Hell, that thing cut engine spark at 94 mph.

Just taken the Dodge! to the shop, 25K miles in a year almost to the day.
I just passed 40K on the Fit in 26 months, so that's 45K a year between the two!

At least you'll drive them into the ground before they have a chance to rust.

Did I mention that the car stalled again about two weeks ago, a month or so after switching that sensor?

So I widened my search of potential problems. I tried to take the Idle Air Control valve off to check it and possibly clean it. I had trouble because the phillips head screws are difficult to reach, and lock washers make them very hard to remove. I could feel that I was stripping them, so I stopped. Instead, I took off the entire throttle body, to which the IAC vavle was attached. Brought it inside, clamped it in my bench vise, and used vice grips to remove those now slightly stripped phillips head screws. I took the IAC valve apart, and cleaned it thoroughly. Also cleaned the throttle body. Both were a little dirty but not too bad.

Then I replaced the air filter. I had thought it wasn't dirty, but when I compared the new air filter to the old, the old was clearly pretty dirty.

A week went by with no stalling, but the cold start up idle is slower than it should be now. It's at about 800, which is normal for warm idle, but pretty slow for cold idle. Once it warms up, the idle stays at 800 and feels good. I'm hoping it's just that the computer needs to learn how to react to a clean IAC and it will fix itself after a while driving it.

Then on Sunday, I pulled the Exhaust Gas Recirculator to make sure it was clean. It was slightly dirty, but not bad. The valve seemed to open and close properly. But I cleaned it anyway and it's really nice now.

I keep being impressed with myself when I take all this stuff apart and put it back together and the engine fires up.

I think now I just drive it around for a while and see if it stalls again. It seems to go a month or two between stalls.

One thing I recently realized is that it only stalls for me. Something about the way my wife drives doesn't seem to bug it. So either my driving style is really hard for it, or moving my seat back sends some sort of electric signal to fuck it up, or perhaps most likely, my key chain is too heavy and it's messing up the ignition switch intermittently. How do I test for that? Wiggle the keys when it's stalling?
Attachment 46933

take all that crap off the key and drive it with only the key in the ignition switch.

If it were the ignition being befouled by your key, wouldn't it be more of a go or no go situation? I mean, the car would be either on, or off, no intermittence?

That's what I'm wondering too.

I would think it would be either on or off, unless I'm going over bumps or something, and then it might flicker. But the stalling/very low idle issue is most noticeable standing still. Where I think it would be on or off, not flickering. So I think it's probably not keys in the ignition. It can't hurt to jiggle them next time it's acting up. I also plan to unplug the throttle position sensor next time it's acting up and see what that does.

Hopefully the clean air filter and throttle, IAC valve, and EGR valve cleaning did the trick.

Maybe the car starts okay with the weight on it, but when he swings around a corner or goes over a bump, the added strain is enough to kill it? Edit: Okay, maybe at idle, the long vibration is what eventually shakes it loose? I dunno, I'm pulling stuff out of my ass here. But the fact that it never stalls for your wife, only you, seems to me to be a very important piece of information.

I agree with V, just separate the car key from the keychain for awhile. Easier than surgically shortening your legs to keep the seat forward, anyway.

Congratulations, you are now as qualified as most professional mechanics.

:D

So what was Car Chip monitoring? And what did Car Chip record with the stall?

The thing that jumped out to me with the data from this "stall" was that the voltage was fluctuating a little bit on this trip in a way that it doesn't normally. Almost like the alternator is flaking out on me.

Here is the data from the trip when it *almost* stalled. At the point of the green arrow, I was stuck behind some slow cars, and felt the engine stumble. Because I was still moving, I didn't want to shift into neutral and give it gas, but I also couldn't give it gas without rear ending the car in front of me. It almost stalled, and in fact the oil light even came on because the engine was going so slowly the oil pump wasn't pumping hard enough. A couple other lights came on too, but they all went out a moment later. When we came to a light and stopped a couple blocks later, I shifted into neutral and gave it some gas throughout the red light. I repeated this behavior for the next couple minutes of the trip.
Attachment 46981
Attachment 46982
Attachment 46983
Attachment 46984

And this is the voltage. In other trips, the voltage remains steady at around 14 volts, but on this trip, it was fluctuating. You would expect it to drop a lot when the RPMs went down to 200 or so, but it was dropping even before then.

Attachment 46985

Just for comparison's sake, this was a trip in the car the previous day, and the voltage then.

Attachment 46986

So what could cause intermittent voltage changes? If the alternator intermittently craps out, what's causing that? I don't hear any belts slipping and squealing, so I doubt it's that.

Voltage regulator? Alternator diode(s)?

I don't know much about alternators. I'll need to read up. Assuming the alternator is the problem.

Voltage in that last attachment (18 Feb) is ideal voltage for all vehicle electronics. Ideal voltage is typically anything from 12.6 to 14. Apparently voltage is a little higher (maybe 14.5) on 18 Feb implying the battery required more recharging current. Which is the alternator working just fine.

On 19 Feb, the first thing that concerns me is the idle dropping to less than 750 RPM. That should not happen. At 750 RPM and lower, the alternator really does not output much current. In fact an alternator often outputs near zero current if RPMs are well less than 800. (BTW, maximum output current starts at maybe 1500 RPMs which means racing an engine any faster does not recharge a battery any faster).

A sudden marked voltage drop on 19 Feb could be a drop much lower than the graph indicates. But that typically would not cause problems as long as voltage remains above 9 volts. Battery (without alternator) should provide enough power. However, is there any reason why neither alternator nor battery maintains above 9 volts? One possible reason is an intermittent ignition key switch. Or an intermittent relay that should but does not hold battery connected.

500 RPMs is a defect. During those 500 RPM periods, was the engine not surging or stumbling? Fact that the engine idled at 500 RPMs is itself an engine defect even if the engine did not stumble. A perfect example of viewing a 100% defect even though the engine appears to be working just fine (not stumbling).

So an interesting question. Is low voltage somehow causing the engine to idle below 800? Or is idle below 800 causes a significantly lower voltage? An example of trying to solve a closed loop system.

I had ordered an LED light array meant to go in your car's trunk instead of the little wimpy incandescent light bulb that came with the car originally. It uses less electricity than the old incandescent and is much much brighter. Pretty cool, actually. Only $4 on Ebay.

Attachment 47060

Installation was easy. You just take out the old light bulb (quickly before it has a chance to heat up and burn your fingers.)

Attachment 47064

And then put the appropriately shaped light bulb adapter into the socket. Connect the light array, peel off the adhesive backing and stick it to the underside of the trunk. The light output is pretty impressive.

Attachment 47063

So bright, and uses less power.

But I was too smart for my own good. Apparently the Camry has a circuit board in the back that checks the resistance of the light bulb circuits, and if they go outside certain parameters, it turns on a warning light in your dashboard that your tail light is out. The resistance is so low on these LEDs that the circuit board thinks there is a problem. I'm getting a warning light on the dashboard.

:mad:

Attachment 47065

:mad:

With the trunk closed, and the light off, the Camry is concerned the bulb may be bad? WTF? :confused:

I think it has a memory. I popped the trunk with the engine running the other day, and the light came on shortly after.

I dunno. I checked all the tail lights and blinkers and reverse lights and they all work. And this warning light came on shortly after I installed the LEDs, so I think that has to be it.

And when you put the old bulb back in, what happens?

I don't know yet.

We just took two cars to a band performance and I followed the Camry. Turns out one of the five brake lights is out. Don't know how I missed that last night.

So it wasn't my LEDs!

That's good, were you eyeballing the lights last night or relying on cheap help. :haha:

Thinking back on it, I think I was standing too close to the car when I checked it. I could see that the tail lights all worked by looking up and down the line of lights, and when my wife hit the brakes, I didn't notice the pattern of lights that got brighter wasn't symmetrical because I couldn't take it all in at once. There are 5 brake lights.

Following in the car, I was 100 feet back, and could more easily see. Even so, it was a subtle difference and I don't know if a cop would notice unless he was looking for a reason to pull our car over.

I switched the cars in the driveway so we'll be driving the legal car, and I'll pick up a bulb and install it on Saturday.

if you have 4 of 5 working tail lights, you're probably legal.

Don't give 'em a reason.

It's my motto.

Right, if they hassle you make it for something you can argue in court, not some cut and dried bullshit like an equipment violation. Oh, and have your papers in order and with you.

We're legal now. And my daughter did all the work with me talking her through it. I even showed her how the owners manual explains the process. Nice little bonding.

I bet she remembers that experience forever. Good for you.

Damnit glatt, next they'll be wanting to vote and drive horseless carriages. ;)

Invest in buggy whips and corsets. Retro is the new "in".

How many does it take to replace a light bulb? Any kid knows that. None. If it starts, then nothing is wrong. That's why god invented parents.

Just spotted a self driving car in the wild. As it made a turn when the light changed, the drivers hands were not on the wheel
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/12/aba6e2av.jpg

But that's not proof, I see a lot of people driving without their hands on the wheel. :lol2:

Was that in DC or VA, glatt?

The car pulled up to a red light in Mountain View, CA, and came to a stop. When the light turned green, it turned to the right, and while the steering wheel was turning, I couldn't see the driver's hands on the wheel. I'm pretty sure the car was driving itself.

Yah. Scroll down a bit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car

OK, CA and UT are crawling with them as that's where Google is... um, well, er, "guiding" the DMVs and legislatures in drafting the laws which will become models for the rest of the states.

Another car question.

I've got a cousin for whom I have power of attorney. Just moved him into an assisted living facility. I want to sell his car, but need to get the piece of shit Ford running before that can happen.

2009 Ford Focus

Won't start. Won't turn over. Not even a clicking sound coming from the starter. But the fucking car alarm is going off the entire time. And the flashers flash. And all the lights on the instrument panel are blinking. It's like the car is possessed. I thought initially the button cell battery in the key was dead, so I replaced that with a new one. The doors don't unlock with the key remote, even with a fresh battery. So I unlock with the metal key manually. Get in, and the car starts beeping at me. I try to start the car, and a second or two later the car starts honking non-stop.

The neighbors say that it used to do this for my cousin too.

He has dementia, and had lost his keys. I found paperwork from Ford that they made a new key for him. And I think the car had worked for him after that. But I don't know and can't ask him.

I feel like this is a bad key/alarm/ignition lockout issue, but could be totally wrong.

I'm at the point where I'm thinking of having the car towed to the dealership, but thought I'd solicit advice here first.

Anyone want to buy a fucking Ford?

It could be that the battery has enough charge to operate accessory lights and alarm; but, not the door locking motors or starter. See if the headlights turn on to full brightness and maintain for a bit.

If the gear shift lever isn't fully engaged in Park the car may not start. That circuit connection could also be faulty. You could try starting it while manipulating the shift lever. You could also see if this is a car that will start in Neutral.

With the key in run position (where it would be while driving) can you shift the car out of park? If so, I would guess that the key wasn't the problem.

Also, check the main power connection at the starter solenoid. If the connection, or the solenoid itself is bad this could result in your described condition.

Maybe. Not too up on the modern Fords. Or modern anything.

I was wrong about the year. It's a 2012. And I see he paid for an extended warranty and a service plan, so I'll take a look at the cables and check the shifter too, but won't worry about this too much.

Oh, well hell, let the mechanic figger it out. Let the glattbrain rest for a minute.:D

Did you come up with anything?

Not yet. I've been too busy.

I'd be looking at the battery and it's connections. the headlight idea is a good place to start, then Pep Boys, Autozone, or one of them, will do a reserve test on it for free. You don't have to take the car, just the battery. You could also try jumping it with your car.

The electrical architecture on newer cars is a nightmare. When they started running signals on the same wire as power it became infinitely more difficult. Every car I've owned I've bought the factory repair manual, but starting with the Chevy manual for my 2006, half the diagnostics say hook up the dealers computer, that costs damn near as much as the car, and walk through these steps. So after this muti-grand computer beeps and whirrs, and bops, it's says, check for a loose gas cap. WTF, couldn't you just tell me that up front?

and you mock my need for an old CJ. :)

Or get the little code reader for about $100. It works on all cars. Cars today with the computer as so much easier to fix as compared to 1960 and 1970 monsters. But that means a $100 tool - that works on all cars including Chevy.

Code readers are wonderful, tells you what system the problem is probably in, although sometimes there's some overlap. However that's not the same a fixing it. OK here's one I've had, P0442 OBD-II Trouble Code. my code reader told me the code p0442 was the reason the check engine light was on, cool. By the way, p0442 is not exclusive to GM.

OK, find the leak and fix it, that should be simple, no electronical wizardry or anything. Where should I look?

Hmm, I can check if the gas cap is tight, but won't know if it faulty. Maybe if I light a match by the gas cap. No, bad move.
Leak in the vapor hose/tube. Well the hose goes from two spots on the tank, up to the engine bay vapor canister. A 0.04" hole, huh?

There's a vent valve and purge valve, one's on the top of the gas tank, between the tank and the body and the other is under the hood in one of the hoses. Wonder which is which, my reader only tells me p0442, and the repair manual says hook it up to the dealer's big buck diagnostic computer. Hmm.

In my case it turned out to be the purge valve that's easy to get at, but no way of knowing whether it's bad or not by looking at it.

Well how about a U1255 OBD Trouble Code?

Got it? Got it. Good.

That's the craziest thing I've read this year.

lol. yeah, I was gonna just let that one go.

Edit: I think it's fair to say that cars are more reliable now and don't need fixing as much as cars back then did. But when they do need fixing, it's exponentially more complicated.

Actually it is not. Ever try to fix a Pinto? It took multiple part replacements before we finally traced the failure to a cam shaft and then to many burned out diaphragms in the carburetor. Nothing would tell you what was wrong. The solution was to just start replacing parts - ie always start with a tune up.

I have traced failures immediately to a defective part by simply viewing a computer code. For example, fuel injectors were on too long. That was immediately traced to a fuel pump that worked just fine - but had insufficient fuel pressure.

View this My check engine light is on discussion. The computer code said exactly what was wrong. Only problem was a mechanic who could not understand how to see a defect clearly identified by a computer code.

Many problems are not complete failures. Most problems are changes (ie worn camshaft, sticky Idle Air Control valve, etc) that cannot be found without a computer. In one case, a partially obstructed nozzle cause an EGR valve to respond slowly. Computer quickly identified that defect that would only get worse with age.

In days before computers, one car would sometimes knock. It was taken back to a dealer multiple times who could find nothing wrong. It took me quite some times to find her problem. Centrifugal advance and vacuum retard plates inside a distributor were sticking. This could only be observed when the car accelerated and since plates did not always stick. Had a computer existed, this problem would have been identified immediately. Distributor removed, cleaned, and all knocking ended. Sometimes it takes courage to disassemble something as complicated as a distributor especially when it is not your own. It took quite some time of driving, playing games of what if, and eventually removing and disassembling that distributor to find the defect. Computer would have identified it immediately.

Computers have clearly made defects now so easy to identify - in some cases before that defect causes a roadside breakdown. Computers have clearly made auto repair easier as now seen by more reliable cars and even by a reduced number of roadside breakdowns.

Are you an auto mechanic, tw? Or were you in the past?

I was a heavy equipment mechanic, and I could have diagnosed that Pinto in about 10 minutes.