Car question

[glatt]

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

[xoxoxoBruce]

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

[glatt]

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

[Gravdigr]

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

[glatt]

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.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

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

Monday.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by glatt

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.

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.

[Gravdigr]

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

Hell, that thing cut engine spark at 94 mph.

[Beest]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Yeah, it's probably time to replace all four. Do you have an opinion on Michelin Energy Saver A/S tires? That's the one the Lamb's tire guy is recommending based on how frequently I commute to Houston and back. (I'm at just under 30,000 miles in 16 months...)

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!

[glatt]

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

[glatt]

Originally Posted by glatt

Based on a few different posts at Toyota Nation, where people had this exact same problem, and the ECT sensor was the culprit, I'm fairly confident this is going to fix it. We'll know if the car doesn't stall before the end of March. 2 months is the longest it ever went without stalling. I may be eating my words. We'll see.

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?

[BigV]

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

[Gravdigr]

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?

[glatt]

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.

[Clodfobble]

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.