Cars & Bikes, Driving & Riding

Postby **Tomas** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 3:49 pm

Thanks to you both. I'll check the cap. No warning light (yet). Service appointment next week...

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 4:50 pm

Catalytic converter smells more like rotten eggs than anything. But I could see someone call it propane.

Mine is bad but I'm not worried about it. The smell is the worst when getting to the top of a hill.

Postby **Tomas** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 5:59 pm

Catalytic converter smells more like rotten eggs than anything. But I could see someone call it propane.

Mine is bad but I'm not worried about it. The smell is the worst when getting to the top of a hill.

Yes, I think I can call it rotten eggs (it was simply a smell I had not associated with cars before). I will know more next week - but does it make sense (catalytic converter-wise) that I don't smell anything when the car is moving, but the puff of bad air comes after the car comes to a stop (either right before I turn it off while parking or when waiting for the green light)?

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:16 pm

That would make sense, as the blower would be pulling in air from the engine bay, so odors would sneak through.

Postby **Willie Kool** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:18 pm

does it make sense (catalytic converter-wise) that I don't smell anything when the car is moving, but the puff of bad air comes after the car comes to a stop (either right before I turn it off while parking or when waiting for the green light)?

Sure. When you stop, the exhaust isn't being swept away. When you're moving, the guy behind you is probably getting the smell.

Postby **Shyster** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 7:17 pm

I call those vehicles "fartmobiles."

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 11:24 pm

I call those vehicles "fartmobiles."

A new catalytic converter for my car is $350, and I need two of them. Dealwithit.jpg

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 2:39 pm

I ordered cryogenic rotors and new pads for my car from JCWhitney because of their Labor Day sale, and just received a notice that most of the parts are out of stock. Never mind the fact that the god damn website still shows them all as being in stock. After repeatedly explaining to the guy that I was okay with keeping my order on hold until the parts were back in stock (3-4 weeks), he processes the cancellation on the out of stock parts and tells me to just re-order them when they come back in stock.

The entire point of the conversation was for me to not pay full price for the parts, so it looks as though I'll be purchasing the parts elsewhere. What an incompetent CSR.

Postby **dodint** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 2:46 pm

I have cryogenic rotors on the MINI, like them a lot so far. Time will tell with these, though.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 3:01 pm

I have cryogenic rotors on the MINI, like them a lot so far. Time will tell with these, though.

That's good to hear. I'm going back to ceramic pads because these semi-metallics leave far too much **** on the rotors, so I figured I'd splurge on cryos.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Sep 06, 2018 1:34 pm

So, I'm having the body shop who repaired my car also replace my window motor and regulator. They just called me to tell me that the same dealership that shipped a **** up fender also shipped them a broken regulator/motor assembly. This is the same dealership that I take my car to for oil changes, which will be ending once my promotion is over. How **** hard is it to not break **** when shipping things 20 minutes away via car carrier?

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:30 pm

Postby **Silentom** » Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:31 pm

What a tard.

Postby **MR25** » Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:49 pm

Why the hell did those two trucks keep going well after the light changed?

Postby **tifosi77** » Thu Sep 06, 2018 4:42 pm

I'm guessing at least the driver of the second white truck was rubbernecking and didn't see the light changed. Perhaps the first guy was oogling as well, but he'd have been okay in clearing the intersection.

Postby **dodint** » Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:01 am

@slappybrown

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/c ... 90611.html

Postby **NTP66** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 8:08 am

Got my car back from having the window motor/regulator assembly replaced. The door rattled the entire way home, so I took the damn thing apart. Whoever replaced the assembly didn't actually torque down the three bolts holding the motor to the frame; they were barely attached. So, I torqued them down, and now there's no rattle. I think I'm all good, then go to test the auto-down/up, and it doesn't work. For ****'s sake, come on now. I try running the reset procedure that sometimes works, but it doesn't. I also now hear the motor clicking if I hold the button down and the window has already opened or closed fully, which doesn't happen on any other window. It's little **** like this that drives me nuts.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 8:25 am

Got my car back from having the window motor/regulator assembly replaced. The door rattled the entire way home, so I took the damn thing apart. Whoever replaced the assembly didn't actually torque down the three bolts holding the motor to the frame; they were barely attached. So, I torqued them down, and now there's no rattle. I think I'm all good, then go to test the auto-down/up, and it doesn't work. For ****'s sake, come on now. I try running the reset procedure that sometimes works, but it doesn't. I also now hear the motor clicking if I hold the button down and the window has already opened or closed fully, which doesn't happen on any other window. It's little **** like this that drives me nuts.

Infuriating. You know the mechanic did the same thing as you, figured the window worked if he/she loosened the screws, then sent it off as complete. Probably didn't test drive it and thus didn't notice the rattle. I'm surprised a reset didn't work. Most likely issue is they replaced the motor, but forgot to reprogram the microprocessor to learn the new start/stop points. On one of my wife's cars, you had to hold the window lock button and the window down button together. This triggered the motor to learn the number of pulses from fully closed to fully open. Your car may vary.

Dealerships, man.

When we had a deer hit our car (and door), the mechanic replaced the entire door assembly. Sure, if we go to resell it and somebody pays close attention to the paint, they'll notice. But unless they are anal about it, you can't even tell that any work was done on the car.

Postby **NTP66** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 8:34 am

This was an independent body shop, the same one that repaired my car after the accident. I'm hoping that this was just an honest mistake and they simply forgot to torque it down. Honda has a very specific reset procedure according to the service manual (like 12 steps, including opening and closing doors - it's absurd), so I'm going to try that tonight. If that works, I won't care about the clicking sound because I won't ever have to hold that button down. I'm already scheduled for an oil change at my Acura dealership in two weeks, and am going to ask them to use their Honda tool to reset the window memory function just to be safe.

Regarding your paint thing, the worst is having the accident listed on the car's history, IMO. The body shop blended the paint so damn well on my car that you'd never be able to tell, but it's in black and white on the vehicle report now. It's one reason I'm pursuing a diminished value claim (thanks, @dodint). I may be screwed there, too, since PA is third-party only and the girl who hit me was an excluded driver, so Geico denied the initial claim.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 8:58 am

I thought I remember you mentioning dealership before, my bad. Pretty sure you have to not only reset the motor, but have it relearn a) the start point of either open or closed and b) the number of motor pulses from open to closed or vise versa.

Yes, the claim will show up in the vehicle's history. If I sell it privately, there are people that either 1) don't check the facts, 2) realize it was a deer and only caused cosmetic damage and thus will look past it.

Postby **NTP66** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 9:00 am

This is Honda's reset procedure (without the tool):

The only thing missing is having to do an Irish jib between steps 8 and 9.

Postby **skullman80** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 9:10 am

in other wife news.. before the new job offer came in .. went and got her into a 2019 Subaru Impreza hatchback last weekend. No more pushing her up the hill in the winter to get her to work. I have a Crosstrek and her car is literally a smaller version of mine and rides a bit lower to the ground. Either way... I can now feel safe with her driving to work. She had a chevy sonic.. which obviously sucked in the snow.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 9:20 am

Yeah that's a crazy procedure. My wife's Saab was much easier.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:15 pm

https://twitter.com/AhLovejoy/status/10 ... 9030751232

Oops.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:32 pm

Similar thing happened when we were hiking in the Adirondacks over Labor Day weekend. A truck had smashed an Audi SUV that was parked on the side of the road. People typically hike for days in the Adirondacks. Our hike was only 4 hours, and the Audi was still there when we came back to our car. I can't imagine backpacking in the mountains, coming back 2-3 days later wanting a decent shower and meal, then seeing your car totaled. I believe they had a Quebec license plate to boot, so they were in for an extended vacation.