Any car mechanics out there?

“Jeep resale is always good.. Why I just cannot comprehend. I guess its just a jeep thing. Honda's usually keep a good resale value.
I almost forgot. Rotors: its not always the mechanic using too much torque,If the mechanic knows what he or she is doing the impact will only go to a certain degree of torque. Its the rotors themselves, many times they stack them too high at the warehouse and they warp before you ever even get them on the vehicle.
But you are correct in saying that it can be a possiablilty of the mechanic torquing too much.”

“Do you think it would be possible to do that by hand?”

“It can be done by hand. It is also important to be careful to tighten the lugs nuts by hand first. The using the torque stick or torque wrench tighten one then three thenfive then two and then four. In oother words go around the wheel tightening every other one till all have been hit. If you got six nuts per wheel rather than five do 1,3,5 then 2,4,6. If you got only four lugs per whell do two on opposite sides of center then two other two. This helps to tighten all evenly and avoid rotor warp.

(If rotor warp is caused by stacking them too high at the factory, wouldn't that show up immediately on installing the rotor? If ots from overtightening, it can show up soon after any wheel change.)”

“(If rotor warp is caused by stacking them too high at the factory, wouldn't that show up immediately on installing the rotor?
Answer to your question.. Yes it shows up as soon as we put them on.. sometimes we have to send them back and get another set, and another. It usually runs in batches.”

“You would think they would learn not to stack them so high.

All the more reason to go with beefier after market rotors.”

“I always tighten in a pattern, like you described, AJ. I don't have a torque wrench though. I usually stop tightening when a firm push won't tighten the nuts any further. I never have any trouble getting the lug nuts off by hand (unlike when I get the car back from a tire place) so I never worried that I might be overtightening them.

I guess I finally have good justification for a torque wrench now!”

“I think you are doing it correctly and will probably never overtorque using your method.

But as I said before, watch the guys at the tire shop and if they just wail away at your nuts with the air wrench, use it to reshape thier skull, cause its gonna cost you new rotors sooner than later. Insist that they use a torque stick or torgue wrench and follow the pattern I laid out before. REMEMBER, it's not thier car and most don;t care, so you have to.”

“OK, thanks...”

“I had to do a break job on my old truck once and the lugs were so tight I had to heat them up with a torch. Fortunately the rotors were fine. I never will go back to that tire place again.”

“er that should be brake job.”

“I have a short section of galvanized pipe that I use to increase the torque when I'm removing lug nuts after a visit to the tire place. I just slip the pipe over the end of the lug wrench a few inches, grab the other end of the pipe, and pull. I've never failed to get a lug nut off that way.”

“I actually did that first. I ended up bending the pipe. It broke the socket too.”

“You broke the socket of a cast lug wrench? Or were you using a socket wrench to take the lug nuts off?”

“I was using a regular socket wrench socket with a breaker bar. After that I used an impact socket.”

“Yow. I broke a socket once too. Freaked me out.”

“After that I only use 6 point sockets on nuts and bolts that require a lot of torque to get them off.”

“Yep. After you get married, your wife will ask you why you keep buying socket sets when you already have one.

"Well dear, I gotta have regular, deep well, 6-point, impact...don't even get me started on English and metric..."”

“And then there's the small set that stays in the car as well.”

“But dear, it was free with this other tool!”

“fixed my car myself once in Germany. car didn't start. after the people at work helped me push it to get started, I drove it to the junk yard. Bought the starter (?? really don't know how you call it in english, we called light machine, and I know the car don't start if it doesn't work) Anyway I installed it myself while it was freezing cold and snowing. I will never ever forget that.

I was pretty proud of that back then. Wouldn't know what to do now though. :)”

“The battery? or the starter motor?”

“it wasn't the battery, duhhhh!!! I would've known that. it was a little engine looking thing, that was pretty hard to reach. starter motor?? hmm...maybe. it wasn't tinny though, just not huge and not really heavy, maybe a 2lb”

“Generator? A generator would have a pulley on the front with a belt on that to turn it. The starter would probably be near the bottom of the engine, with a couple of big electrical cables on it.”

“I hear Roam Around is good with cars! :)”

“that's it. it's a generator. i remember the belt that was a #&%!$ to get back on.

remember those are cars over 17 years ago. stuff prolly changed. :)”

“I had a 65 Mustang that ate an engine. A buddy had a 68 Mustang that didn't fit between two trees. He gave me the engine out of his (now) thinner car. When I installed it (in the back yard under a chain hoist outdoors in90 degree whether, I could only find three of the bolts that hold the bell housing to the block. I figured three of four is OK so I left it go at that and put in the two top ones and one bottom one. BIG MISTAKE. Later, in November after the bottom one worked loose and the engine tilted toward the back (it was weighted that way and the tranny holds up the back of the block) I blew the clutch at a stop light on the McGrath-O'Brien highway in SOmmerville outside Boston (my first year in law school). I got the car towed to the parking lot behind my apartment and a buddy of mine and I dropped the exhaust system, parking brake cables etc and tranmsission out of the car and replaced the clutch all while lying on our backs under the car on jaack stands in the parking lot in 33 degree cold damp Boston air. The most fun was balancing the transmission on a scissor jack while trying to get the transmission shaft to line up with the throw out bearing.

I swore that after I graduated I would never work on my own car again ever because I had to. I would only work on it if I WANTED to. So my daily drivers (99 Chrysler Cirrus and 99 Saturn) get taken to a mechanic. My baby (1951 Chevy DeLuxe Fastback with a stovebolt 6) gets taken care of by me and me alone. But only after I rent a garage to use so I don't have to lay on my back in the driveway with the possibility of a 6,000 pound car coming down on me.”

“You wussies.....
I had to change out my clutch in 10 weather on an iced over gravel driveway.....


Thankfully I have a lot better job these days :)”

“Got my car back last night. $460 total. In addition to the timing belt and water pump, I had them replace the two serpentine belts and thermostat. Hopefully this will be the end of the problems I was having.”

“I just got the damage report on mine. Bad compressor....$1200.

Company vehicle, 2000 model, lease expires this November and I can purchase at book value, which will be very little then.

Bad part is company is balking at repairs. I see a fight coming.”

“I finally sold our old van. It's about time, I was about to donate the thing to a local charity. But this woman got interested in it, and I was so fed up with dealing with the hassle (the tag was stolen off of it sometime in the last few weeks) I gave her a good deal on it just to be rid of it.”

“I'm in the market for a new car.

My current car, which I love, is a '92 Eagle Summit. I think it's on it's last leg, tho. Burning oil like crazy for the last few months. It left it's first small puddle of oil on the drive this weekend. And, yesterday, some strange noise started in the dash, driver's side. Gets louder as I accelerate. Softer as I decelerate. No sound when I'm stopped. I'm thinking it's some sort of belt and that my guages are gonna go. Oh, and there's a belt in the engine that's chirping at me everytime I start the car. Oh, and whenever I start the car up for the first time of the day and hit the gas, it takes a few seconds before the car decides to move, no matter how hard I press the gas. I'm sure I'm forgetting what else has decided to go wrong. But, that sounds like enough to me. lol.

So, I'm shopping. And, I have questions for the car experts in the crowd:

How do 4WD and AWD compare in terms of their affect on the longevity of an engine?

Is it really true that foreign cars typically last longer?

I'm looking at used cars. The two I currently have my eye on are a Jeep Cherokee Sport (2000, 73k miles) and a Subaru Forester (1998, 68k miles). The difference in their prices is $1k. The Subarus retail at a much higher price than the Jeeps so I'm surprised their resale values aren't farther apart. But, they both seem right on wrt the KBB and Edumnds prices. Input?”

“Is 4 or all wheel drive a deciding factor here?

Look at Hondas. Many friends have bought new and used ones and all still have them. Oil changes, new tires, insurance and gass will be almost your only expenses.”

“I like foreign cars.”

“Can you find a mechanic comfortable working on the Subaru?”

“om recently got a used Subaru Forester.
Last time I talked with her, she was very pleased with it.
Consumer Reports thinks it's a pretty nice car also.”

“No. 4WD and AWD are not the deciding factor. It's just something I was curious about.

Am I right to assume that AWD guzzles more gas than 4WD?

BTW, the deciding factor is which car I decide will last the longest.”

“A mechanic?...No, but I stayed a Holiday Inn Express once.”

“The Cherokee is not being produced by Jeep anymore. The Liberty replaiced it.

That may factor into your decision. Also, I have heard mixed reviews on the Cherokee. I have a Wrangler and have no trouble with it (yet)


Toyota and Honda have a few Hybred models out. I don't know if you willbe able to find a used model.”

“Stove - I was thinking of hitting the library today to check out the Consumer Reports info.

Limpy - There's a mechanic in the area that comes highly recommended and works on lots of foreign makes. Subaru is one of them. And, there's a Subaru dealer just a couple miles away.”

“I have no idea whether 4 and all wheel drive cars guzzle more gas.

What are the key things you are looking for?”

“tara - I'm in the market myself. I ruled out the Subarus due to no dealer within 30 miles of me, otherwise I would be looking at the Forrester.
last edited: 11/15/04 12:41:45 PM”

“Which one has more back seat leg room?”

“Stove, don't look at it too hard, it may think you're coming on to it...”

“Subarus and very nice. The last car I bought almost was an Outback”

““Which one has more back seat leg room?”
Bearmagnet
12:40:15 PM
11/15/04
ignore this user

The Cherokee has not back leg room. Trust me, I rode in the back seat from Chicago to Canada in one. Not very fun.”

“bit - Your post doesn't make any sense, now. ;-) (LOVE that edit feature)”

“Then subaru it is! Oh wait, what color are we talking about?”

“Lime Green?”

“lol...”