Renault, Nissan and Mercedes: there’s a reliability nightmare combination for you...

One of my customers bought a CPO Fit from her local Honda dealer. The door panel was broken and the CD player seized up after being used for a half hour. The dealer stonewalled her for two months until i pulled the CPO checklist in her paperwork and found both of those had been marked “OK” prior to delivery (they…

Holy shit, that little jeep! Guess they got scared off here by the samurai debacle...

22 year Master tech here.

Those sound like specific state license plate categories. You want to daily your 1965 mustang? Put regular license plates on it.

Looks like a Chevy 1 ton pickup, circa 1994

One caveat: increasing boost *will* cause problems if the wastegate and wastegate piping isn’t sized, programmed and installed to handle the increased boost you’re dialing in. I’ve seen engines on engine dynos spike 10+ lbs of boost over desired spec when either the turbo is too big or the wastegate too small for the…

Nope, put a tune into it that runs the boost up too high for too long and you’ll blow up any modern electronically controlled turbocharged vehicle. Been there, seen that. People who aren’t experienced and sophisticated with the limitations of their specific power train shouldn’t write tunes for such vehicles.

Re: engine tunes that boost turbo pressure and fueling beyond factory spec: look up the “unreasonable use” clause of Magnuson Moss. Such modifications are illegal for road use, violate federal law and are typically billed as “not for street use” by the seller.

As a former service manager for 3 dealerships (NYC, LA and SF area): in theory, sure. In practice? Nope. The manufacturer can deny any warranty claim they feel is improper, for whatever reason. If you get denied, you can appeal to corporate, ask for goodwill, arbitration or sue in court. Bear in mind corporate has a…

The only thing that makes it a new truck is trading it in on a new truck

Ugh, sorry to hear it. I ran into Sunday availability problems too, last time I rented uhaul equipment

For future reference, uhaul will rent you a tow dolly for 50 bucks a day

I owned a shop for some years and I made a lot of money from broken VWs of that era. The mid 90s to the mid 2000s were the worst cars I’ve fixed from any mainstream volume make of that time. Total garbage. Worse than hyundais of that era, higher cost parts of poorer quality, more labor time, more repeat problems due…

Ford survived without a bailout largely by mortgaging themselves to the hilt (to generate operating cash and reserves enough to survive the downturn) before the credit markets froze up entirely. Cutting costs was part of this strategy, but let’s give credit where it’s due, eh?

Side note: please don’t put grease on the reamer or the plug insertion tool. You want the sticky plug to stay in the tire and not come out (possibly at speed, on the highway!).

Just wait until these hit the state police auctions, around the 4 year mark. They’ll probably go for bargain prices...

Yup. If you look up the IIHS crash test of a 1959 Chevy vs a 2009 Chevy, the old car had a huge cloud of red Oklahoma dirt blow out on impact. It gets everywhere over time, and the old cars have lots of pockets to hold it in.

That was truly epic. And Davis got fired for it!

Thanks for the reply. I bought my truck new in 2005, a crewcab 5.9 Cummins long bed dodge. It only gets driven when I’m pulling a 10k trailer or there’s a motorcycle in the bed, so I use it. That said, when consumers can only afford one vehicle, if it’s a truck and they aren’t single it’s going to have some creature…