All oil turns black due to heat. Once the engine reaches its normal color, it turns black. When it thickens is when you need to worry. That is the sign it’s losing its viscosity.
take it and get the oil changed again check oil before leaving shop check oil every time you put gas in, and report back
Got the oil change this am. Full and clear after. Guy at the oil place said in his opinion I waited too long (he is operating on the 3,000k miles philosophy and I brought it in after 5k). Car has nearly 160k miles and I've always waited 5k miles. Never had an issue until now.
99% of oil change place employees have zero auto care knowledge if they did they could get a real mechanic job
So 3 years ago my 4Runner failed an inspection for emissions. Had the muffler kit and tailpipe kit installed for about $600. My wife told me she heard a weird nose and I get under the vehicle and the weld on the tailpipe failed. Called dealer and they said they can fix it. I spoke with the rep at Walker Exhaust and their parts have a limited lifetime warranty but only for the muffler kit not the tailpipe. Long story short I call the dealer back and tell them they charged me $125 a few years ago for a tailpipe I can get on Amazon for $60. She says to just bring the part and they will put it on. I buy the tailpipe and a gasket. It’s just 2 rusty bolts holding this on. They won’t turn for me. Any advice on taking them off or is should I just take it to the dealer.
heating them up is another old trick to getting stuck bolts loose, which should be easy enough since the car runs
I have a certified preowned 335i (vehicle has 55-58,000 miles on it) that I purchased in June of 2016. While I was driving to work in September. I noticed water on the rear passanger floor. Originally I thought that I could have spilled something back there. So I vaccumed the water and went about my day. The next time I got into my car the water was back. So I talked to a family mechanic and he said that it could be a drainage pipe from the A/C that could be clogged. I scheduled a time to go to the local BMW dealership. I explained to the BMW dealership that this was a time senitive issue. But they only time they could fit me in was 4-5 days away. The day before I was supposed to bring my vehicle in I got into a front in wreck (Not totallying the vehicle). I had to file a claim with my insurance and get that taken car. Originally I was going to try to get the BMW collision center to repair the wreck & figure out my the leaking issue. But my insurance made it clear that the vehicle needed to be taken to a preferred shop. So I took the vehicle to the preferred body shop. What was supposed to be a two weeks repair turned into a two month repair issue by the collision center (I legit heared everything under the sun as far as the progression issues on the vehicle). Around the beginning of November the manager of the collision center got intouch with me to say that the headlight rings on my car were not working properly and that they car needed to be diagnosed by the BMW dealership. They diagnosed my vehicle and said that they found a leak in the fenderwell or grommet. This has now caused electrical damage to the car and needs to be repaired. They also explained that they do not repair water damage to vehicles and said that this should be filed under an insurance claim. I reached out to my insurance company and they sent an estimator out to the dealership where my car is now. The estimator, BMW tech & BMW service manager apparently looked at the vehicle and could not find where the leak was coming from. But did note that electrical damage has been done. But believe that this does not fall under an insurance claim issue.
Do you believe this is a sunroof problem? I don’t really understand how that would case an electrical issue in the front of the car.
The actual cause of the leak ie: the clogged pipe or run channels which is common once it starts to rain that won’t be covered since that’s a maintenance/wear and tear issue , but the resulting damage (electrical issues) would be covered under a comprehensive claim
I love German cars, but I gave them up because of the repair and maintenance costs associated... it’s a pain in the ass to find a mechanic that doesn’t act like they’re spaceships
Oil pan leak, new suspension all around, o2 sensors and cats all need replaced. Luckily I can do the suspension and cats/o2 sensors myself but the fucking oil pan gasket replacement is still $2000
The best hourly rate i can find locally is $140/hr. Its ridiculous so I just end up doing most of it myself
My wife once hit a block of wood that fell off a flatbed truck with a Mini Cooper. 6 weeks old vehicle. Estimate was about 14k to bend the unibody frame back and fix everything from the BMW mechanic. Not enough to be totaled. I was pissed. In other news, I was able to saw off the bolts on my 4Runner to replace my tailpipe and fix that for a fraction of the cost.
Is it okay to use Universal Coolant in cars that call for the old red/pink type? I'm seeing conflicting stories online about how the universal stuff can cause corrosion. I just put a bunch of the universal stuff in my car and now I'm worried that I need to flush it out.
Depends. The old Toyota/Lexus do really need the red/pink stuff. It has to do with how the coolant reacted with the iron blocks. I've seen many different radiators with clear indication of rust forming.
Had this error code recently: Google search revealed many potential culprits. I think it was bigred77 who recommended starting with the cheap stuff first, so that’s what I did. The cheapest option was cleaning the throttle body. Over time gunk builds up in the throttle body making it harder for the flap to open. There is a sensor in there that detects this and gives more power during acceleration to “overcome” this buildup. If it builds up too much you get a check engine light like I did. Bought some throttle body cleaner for $5 and went to work. Sure enough the throttle body was very dirty. It had never been cleaned in the over 200,000 miles I owned the car. Now clean: Error code gone: But my problems weren’t all gone. After I finished I started the car and the engine rev’d like crazy while idle. Apparently the sensor is “off” because it is used to the throttle body being dirty and needing extra power as a result. So I’m sitting in my driveway and my car is acting like I’m getting ready to race someone. You can perform a throttle body “relearn” with a fancy computer hookup. Another way for the Chevy Tahoe was to start and restart the car 3x, then drive for 15 min, under 15 mph. The latter did the trick. Satisfying $5 fix.
Mmmm I do enjoy cleaning something that really needs it and how satisfying it is when it looks and works 10x better.
I didn’t get rich by giving my money away. Why would I turn my car in when it works perfectly fine and I don’t have a car payment?
I have 4 vehicles, the lowest mileage is 158K and the newest is 13 years old, haven’t had a car note in 4 years. To be fair, I’m closer to being poor than I am being rich.... I think
Car shit the bed a few days ago after some "spirited" driving up some country roads. Had to get a tow home. Thank god for AAA. Ran some codes and also looked at datalogs of the engine management computer, it seemed the issue was fuel related. I like to try and diagnose things from the simplest to the most expensive/involved. First I replaced my spark plugs, it turned over but still wasnt running right and was getting a misfire. Swapped to coils to see if the issue followed the coil packs, it didn't. Ran a ECU wipe and relearn. Car was able to drive but performance still wasn't there, turbos were giving out low boost and car would go into 'limp mode' (low power and only 4 cylinders) after a few minutes. Ran more datalogs and saw that there was a large difference between what the ECU was wanting for requested fuel pressure and what it was actually getting. BMW's with turbos have a two fuel pumps for low and high pressure. The high pressure pump on my model I guess is notorious for going out. Drove it a bit more and I think that's the culprit. Bought a remanufactured one today ($600, fuck) and will be replacing it in the coming days. My mechanic wanted $1800 to do it.
What does it mean if the longer I drive on the highway it takes more and more RPMs to maintain the same speed until I eventually get an engine overheating indication?
Seems like a pretty legit source. I’m on the collision side of vehicles and have seen some fucking awful “reconditioned” parts.