Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with car and automotive

R Kelly is trapped in my trunk!

zerobyproxy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:23:27 -0800

I cannot unlock the trunk on my car! I have a 2004 Honda Accord. This morning, I put some stuff in the trunk and, in closing it, must have forced the locking mechanism to mis-align. I have used the latch (inside the car), the key fob, and the key in the lock itself. None work. I tried lifting the trunk while pressing the fob. I tried sitting on the trunk while pressing the fob. Nothing.

My backseat lowers, so I got my stuff out of the trunk and was able to watch the locking mechanism move when I pressed the fob. I just don't know what I should be looking for or trying when I crawl into the trunk to try to fix it.

Any ideas of where to start?

What went wrong when I tried to replace my car battery?

jacobm — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:28:41 -0800

I just changed my car's old dead battery with a new, just purchased one following the directions here. Even though I clamped the connectors down hard enough that I can't move either of them, the car seems to be completely dead --- it doesn't appear to be getting any power whatsoever. Any ideas what could be wrong? Long extended explanation, just in case people are interested / think there's a larger problem:

We have two cars, and one of them hardly ever gets used. Last time I used it was in May, after it had been sitting unused for probably several months. When I left home, it had trouble starting up (but ran fine once it started); and I needed a jump to get it started coming back. I tried to start it again the next day, and it wouldn't start.

So I ignored the problem until today. Tried to start it up again, and got some lights to turn on, but the engine wouldn't go. I jumped it with the good car, and it ran fine; I let it run for about 40 minutes (with the engine running above idle for at least 15 minutes that time). Then I turned the car off and immediately on again, but it still didn't start --- if anything, it seemed more dead than before.

I concluded the battery couldn't hold a charge, so I went and bought a new one. I followed the directions, but the car is now completely unresponsive; I see no evidence that it's drawing any power whatsoever.

I'm assuming I installed the battery incorrectly. Does that sound plausible, and if so what should I do about it? If not, what should I try instead?

Rattle underneath my car?

semp — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:26:46 -0800

Is my car safe to drive? I have a '02 Kia Rio (2WD automatic if it matters) which has been faithful to me the past two years. Nearly all of the maintence required items (brakes, tires, etc) were either replaced when I bought it two years ago or after. Besides the fact that my car hums a bit louder than others when the AC is on, I'd say it has always felt/sounded like a normal car... until about two weeks ago.

I went on a small road trip two weeks ago, and there I had a problem where my car would not accelerate as quickly as usual. The last day of the trip I put in in reverse, and when I stepped on the gas it outright stalled. I drove home, talked to a mechanic about it, and he suggested it might've been something that just happened because I was on a slope or a myraid of other reasons, but if I had the problem again to give him a call. I haven't had the problem again, but within the past week I have developed a rattle which may or may not be related. It sounds like it's coming from underneath my car, possibly in the back passenger side area. It reminds me mostly of a wobbly metal fan slowing down after you turn it off, and it happens when breaking and when the car is in reverse (I'm beginning to attribute it to the car going at a very slow speed).

Now, I know that no one can see my car, but I'm hoping that I can get some generalized advice. I'm getting ready to take a road trip this weekend with some friends. I have noticed no difference in the driving (it now accelerates just fine, and otherwise sounds and vibrates as normal) of my car besides that. The previously mentioned mechanic took a 4-day weekend and is unreachable for advice. Since I will have my friends with me, however, I don't want to strand them in the middle of Chicago. Has anyone had any similar experiences with their car that they can hint at what I might get looked at? Also, if there are any car aficionados or mechanics out there, do you know if it would be safe to drive several hours?

Help me bounce in style!

Glitter Ninja — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:39:36 -0800

Where can I find tasteful, simplistic chic seat covers that aren't too plain? The engine in my mustang died- it's a sad day. I just received a '94 camry LE, but no one gave me the chance to totally clean out my car, so a lot of things, including my (cheap but) very effective seat covers and a ceramic flower-embossed disk on a ribbon that you would load up with essential oils is now long gone. It's tied with a red ribbon and came in a gift set- if you remember those, by the way, can you tell me where you got it?

I've been searching the web all night, but the majority of seat covers I see are one-colour, unappealing fabrics, animal print, or camo. I'm still searching amazon without much luck. Is there somewhere I can find chic, elegant, not loud-ugly and not terribly expensive seat covers for my car? Velour-style fabric is fine, but I don't want any fabric that's actually textured, or pink zebra print, or decorated with Tinkerbell. Some things I like are organic and circular patterns with soft coordinated colours- the inside of my car is mostly dark grey and I'd like something to compliment, but not match. Does anyone have a good source for tasteful auto interior decoration? Your help is much appreciated!

It took me three years to decorate the mustang the way I wanted it- I'm hoping it won't take so long this time :)

My 1994 Toyota Camry died while driving, any ideas why?

jackofsaxons — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:43:50 -0800

My 1994 Toyota Camry died while driving, any ideas why? On my way home from work my car died while idling at a light, and wouldn't stay running unless I kept the goosing the gas pedal. It also sounded like it was having trouble turning over when I as trying to start it again. To get it going again, I had to gun the gas and pop it into drive, and give it more gas than usual.

I'm going to have someone look at it but I was wondering if anyone could posit a theory on what the heck happened.

When gas goes above 4 bucks a gallon, it's the premium cars who hurt the most...

rileyray3000 — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:39:11 -0800

I want to use cheap gas in my 2006 Audi A4. Will this void my warranty? Basically with gas so high, filling up on premium is more of a pain than it used to be. I'm looking for any savings I can 30 cents a gallon difference in California wouldn't be bad. That said, I OWN the car and don't lease it so I don't want to ruin it. I plan on giving the car to my nephew when the warranty runs out in 2010 to be a cool uncle.

That said I would need to know

1) if it really hurts the car in any real way

2) If I DO use cheap gas, is there a computer or sensor doohickey that will tell the Audi people when I bring it in for scheduled maintenance

3) If they CAN tell somehow, will this void my warranty?

Any automotive or Audi experience will be appreciated.

Gimme brakes

dancinglamb — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:33:18 -0800

Teach me the best way to drive to save my brakes I just had to replace the front brake pads -- for the second time -- on my beloved '05 Volvo XC90. It has just a hair over 37,000 miles on it. When I asked what the deal was in having to replace the pads again so recently (they were fully replaced at about 12-14k), the service guy commented that a lot of it has to do with 'how a person drives, where they drive, and what's in the car when they're driving'.

Any truth to this? For the record, I do mostly "Mom driving" (stop and go, 20-45pmh) around town, although it's not unusual for me to do longer runs on weekends on highways at higher ( consistent, 65-75mph) speeds. With regard to what's in the car, well, mostly, me, two little kids, sometimes a couple dogs, etc. It's not like I'm hauling anything truly interesting. It's a no-brainer that it's the stop and go nonsense that's killing me and my brakes. But at over $500 a pop, I need suggestions on how to make these babies last.

My baby (car) has a secret (compartment)

xo — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:47:36 -0800

My hatchback car (Honda Fit) doesn't have a separately-locking trunk or glovebox. Can I add a lock-box or secret compartment somewhere inside the car for stashing a few items, for those times I must turn over my keys (parking garage, valet)? Ideally I'd only be securing/concealing 3 deck-of-cards-sized items: iPod, GPS, EZPass. There are no official Honda accessories that do this, nor can I find any Fit-fanatic mods that have addressed it.

Help me TASTEFULLY "pimp" my car audio.

CommonSense — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:27:31 -0800

I'd like to modernize my 2001 Honda Accord's audio system -- satellite, HD Radio, Bluetooth handsfree, and on-screen iPod controls/track display. Help! My dream of moving up to a sexy new car with all the latest gadgets has been quashed again, for the perennial reason that I just plain can't afford it. So what I'd like to do is dull the pain somewhat by at least upgrading what I've got in my 2001 Honda Accord.

Right now I have the stock AM/FM/CD deck, with no AUX IN (so I can't even do a low-fi iPod connection). I use a small FM transmitter for the iPod, but most of the time it's such a hassle that I don't feel like bothering.

What I'd like to have, ideally, is satellite (probably Sirius, though I'm not 100% decided yet), HD Radio, Bluetooth (so I can do the handsfree thing with my Sony Ericsson P990i), and "real" iPod integration -- not just an AUX IN, but something that plugs into the dock connector and hopefully, allows control of the iPod from the buttons on the deck, and maybe even on-screen artist/title display as well.

The big limiting factor here is that I have NO CLUE how to install car audio, so I'm limited to in-store installation at Worst Buy/Circuit City/etc. Given how incompetent these people are at computer support (I may be biased; I do Mac-specific consulting and am extra-resentful of their shoddy attempts to do Mac support), I'm leery of them doing extensive car audio work. But I know absolutely nothing about it, so I don't have much choice.

This sucks, because it rules out online vendors, where the selection is MUCH better and the prices are better. But I guess I'll make do with what I have.

I don't need to pimp out the speakers, add extra bass, etc. I'm pretty sure the stock speakers will be fine for me. (It's CAR audio, for crissake; it can only be so good.) I'd prefer a relatively sane, streamlined design; I don't need tacky, gaudy colors or a bunch of preposterous animations on the screen that scream "STEAL ME!"

It seems like you have to buy a "receiver," then buy a BUNCH of add-ons for satellite, HD Radio, etc. How can I best minimize all this nickel-and-diming and get a system that's right for me?

How do I find a good insurance company?

raf — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:13:49 -0800

How do I find a car insurance company that has good service and won't screw me over if something happens? My Progressive insurance is up for renewal in a month or so. I'm thinking of shopping around. I got a quote from Geico, which for less insurance was about 20% higher than Progressive. That spooked me a bit (probably for no reason) into thinking that perhaps Geico has better service than Progressive.

Have people here had good claims experience with Geico, Progressive, &c? Should I be looking for a "name brand" insurer like Allstate? What about AAA? I'd love to hear about people's experiences. Even better, if there are unbiased consumer surveys out there, I'd love pointers.

Basically my concern is that I'm not that price sensitive; I'd rather have a company that's not going to be impossible to work with if something happens. But since I won't know whether they do until something happens, I don't have full information about companies when I buy. How do I make certain I don't get screwed?

Baby, you can geek my car.

Netzapper — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 16:06:25 -0800

I drive a Subaru. I'd like to have digital access to its internal state in a format and on a bus that I can read with something like a linux PC, in real time. I'd like to know RPM, speed, sensor readings, etc (essentially everything that this can display). Can I buy or build a doohickey that will do this? I really don't want to spend $1k on an advanced engine management system when all I really want is data that, apparently, is readily available over the OBD port.

I've found a couple of open-source projects related to OBD, but none of them explicitly discuss realtime data acquisition. Likewise, while I'm sure the hardware would let me access the data, I can't find protocol descriptions for the non-standard Subaru extensions necessary for OBD data other than that mandated by law. I don't even know where to begin reverse engineering this.

My broke down car

eggerspretty — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 17:55:08 -0800

I need help deciding whether to fix my older car or buy a new one. I have a 1999 Mazda Protege with 120k on it, a huge dent in the front passanger quarter panel, bad tires, bad brakes, brad struts, and little burn marks through out it. (The burn marks are from the previous owner.) It recently broke down with severe transmission problems. The mechanic (who is very trusted) said it would cost at least $2000 to fix. The problem is: I am upside down in it - I owe about $3600 on it (2 years at about $150 a month). If I buy a new car, I will have to take on at least $300 a month in car payments, plus pay off the broken car I can't drive - I'm not sure I can afford this. BUT I'm not sure it is smart to just fix the old car. What should I do?

A wireless automotive kill switch?

tomble — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 05:57:59 -0800

I'm planning on installing a kill switch in my car, and thinking about wireless options. Rather than installing a mechanical switch, I was wondering if there is any sort of system where, for example, a keytag worn on the belt would disable the kill switch when it got within range.

So, I get out of the car, walk away, the car is immobilised. I get into the car, and bingo, the ignition works. Is this doable? I've done a bit of searching but I'm not entirely sure what search terms I need to find such a thing.

I read about this being a function of some newer cars, perhaps the Prius?

I don't want a standard remote clicker thing, but something that takes nothing more than my presence to activate.

Can you recommend a car repair shop in Richmond, BC, Canada?

graytona — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 18:32:05 -0800

Can you recommend a car repair shop in Richmond, BC, Canada? 1987 Nissan Sentra on the fritz again. Searching for that mythical beast, the "honest" mechanic.

Right now I've got a dead 1987 Nissan duck in my driveway, and I'm at a loss for where to have it towed. I'm in Richmond, BC, Canada. For what it's worth, I believe my current problem is electrical in nature. I'm looking for a go-to place where I can be a regular. Preferably not a dealership; they're pricy.

Rationale for posting: I have had 2 extremely bad experiences with repair shops in the area; with your help I'd like to sail smoothly henceforth.

DealorNoDealFilter: 1985 Porsche 944 for $6.5k?

vanoakenfold — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 11:47:39 -0800

Without knowing any drivetrain/mechanical details other than what you could see from the exterior (details within) and that it last passed inspection in April 2006, would you buy a bright red 1985 Porsche 944 for $6500? I am debating about buying this sucker, just for the resale value, possibly even parting it out. Even if I could make back exactly $6500 through various means, I'd consider it worth the hassle even for bragging rights of having owned a Porsche at one time and the pictures to prove it.

I don't know anything about the drivetrain or mechanical aspects, but as I said it passed inspection this past April. The body is in excellent condition with 2 or 3 tiny hail dings on the hood, a 1/4" poked-in hole on the barely noticeable running-board thing along the passenger side, decent enough interior with no dash cracks that I can tell, nice window seals, original wheels and nice tires, nothing particularly unusual when checking out underneath.

Based solely on the above information, and that the owner (private seller) is moving soon and doesn't want to tow it, would you plop down $6500 for it outright (I've got the cash)? I don't even know how to drive a standard, but my brother will teach me, and my father has agreed to test drive it for me. Barring that future information, what do you say? What would be the max you'd put down for it, with the purposes of getting your money back by turning around to sell it again for profit?

Replace my car's window regulator & motor?

scallion — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 11:50:20 -0800

GearheadFilter: How foolish would I be to try and replace a window regulator and motor by myself? It's a '97 Honda Accord. I have no specific experience with the mechanics or repair of cars, but I am savvy with tools and the building, or taking-apart slash putting-back-together of things in general. I don't really want to pay the money that I'm finding it will cost to take it somewhere to get it fixed (part + labor). It's the driver's side front window, and I can order the piece that needs replacing online and do it myself.

I understand that I'll need to pull the inside door panel off, and I've found instructions online on how to do the whole thing. Does anyone have any experience with this? Do I need any specific automotive tools to deal with the wiring or the electrics/electronics? What nasty surprises await me once I get in there? Am I just asking for trouble in trying to tackle this myself? I know that this is why there are experienced professionals out there, but come on, what ever happened to the DIY sense of adventure?

Overnight charger hacks?

ab3 — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:59:46 -0800

My new car won't charge my ipod or phone when the car is turned off. Is there anything I can do to change that? The new vehicle is a Nissan Murano, and it obviously turns power off to the cigarette lighter jacks when the car is off. My old vehicle, a Ford Explorer, allowed me to charge my ipod 24/7, on or off. Is there any product i can buy or any kind of hardware hack that will let me keep power on to the jacks when the engine is off, without draining the battery?

Seat belt Problems

KevinSkomsvold — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 18:10:05 -0800

I have a 2002 Suzuki Esteem Wagon and the rear seat belts no longer retract. We have two child safety seats and are constantly taking them in and out of the car. Last night when I tried to put one of the child car seats back in, the seat belt wouldn't retract. Its stuck all the way out. I don't have an owners manual so I'm not sure if there is a release latch (couldn't find one). Aside from tearing the panel out, any ideas?

Oil change place damaged my car. What do I do?

agropyron — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 11:34:57 -0800

Local oil change shop damaged my car. What should I do? A few weeks ago while I was getting an oil change, one of the oil changer guys fell on my 1996 Civic and put a minor dent in the hood. The shop manager told me "We're really sorry. Go to X Auto and they will fix your hood for you, on us. " I went to X Auto, and they gave me a written estimate for $1200. I brought the estimate back to the oil change shop. Now the shop manager is telling me that he's calling various junk yards to find a hood that's in perfect condition.

Given that:
1. I do not want a new hood if the paint doesn't match perfectly
2. I would rather get some form of cash compensation for the damage

What should I do? I did mention to the guy that I'd be willing to take a check for the repairs instead of having him pay $1200, and he kind of ignored my suggestion.

Also, is there anything I should be doing to protect myself? Demand a written statement of Car Damage Culpability?

What kind of car is the safest to drive?

procrastination — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 11:51:33 -0800

What kind of car is the safest to drive? There are lots of studies on which cars are best in a crash, but I suspect that some cars crash less often than others, so I am interested in statistics that take the rate of accidents as well as crashworthiness into account. My girlfriend is shopping for a new (used) car and her sister, who often has a skewed view of risk, is insisting she get an SUV because it is bound to be safest in an accident. I suspect that while an SUV might be better in a crash, they might crash more often due to longer braking distance, higher rollover risk, and generally being less manuverable. Can anyone help with death or injury statistics by model or make of car? Are there any other indicators that would be useful to examine, such as insurance rates?

car issues

jare2003 — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 10:00:12 -0800

CarRepairFilter: I have two problems with my 1992 Honda Accord, with about 175k miles. Runs great, but two minor issues: power windows and an idling issue. 1) The power windows - using the driver's control panel, the driver's side works fine, but the passenger's side window only goes down - it doesn't go up. This would be less weird if the passenger side control didnt work both up and down --- so basically, the passanger side window works fine except for that it wont go up with the driver side control, only the passanger side. this started only about a week ago.

2) When i'm idling at a stoplight, sometimes the car will rev up - this happen if im in neutral or first or anything - it will rev up to 1k rpms, then settle back down, and then rev up again. sometimes giving it a little gas makes the problem stop, and it only happens sometimes.

any thoughts?

Automotive woes. In need of guru.

gummo — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 08:32:59 -0800

I need an automotive guru. I'm losing my mind. See if these symptoms add up to anything to you. I've got a wobble in the front end. Here's what I know so far...(it's a bit of a saga) If you figure it out, I'll buy you a beer. 1. My 99 Jeep Grand Cherokee was in need of brakes. Got a brake job done at a cheap brakes only type place. About 1000 miles later, I had what felt like a warped rotor. There was a pulsation only when braking, and it varied with speed. I took it back to the brake place, and I did have warped front rotors. They also said there was a Tech Service Bulletin stating that I might have bad calipers, which could cause pulsation. They wanted $500. I don't believe in coincedences. These same calipers have been fine for 70000 miles. Only after my brake job do I now have brake problems. No dice. I had them turn the rotors and I left. The same prob returned. The brake place blamed my calipers again, but I only let them turn my rotors again. (I also had new shocks put on since I needed them anyway and bad shocks were a potential culprit, I was told.) The prob returned and I took the car to Jeep Service. They said the prob was bad aftermarket pads causing excessive heat which was warping my rotors, and that my calipers were fine. They put factory spec pads on, turned the rotors again, and the problem has not returned for over 2000 miles.

2. I got new tires about 2 weeks later just cuz it was time. Discount Tire, who have always been GREAT to me and my family. Everything was fine for a couple days. Then I had what felt like an unbalanced tire. This wobble was always at 45-50 mph. Braking had no effect, and the problem disappeared above or below that speed. (The warped rotor was definitely noticable all the way down to 0 mph). I took the tires in for balance. They said they were out 2 ounces, balanced them, and I left. The prob seemed to go away. Then a couple days later it returned. I took it back, the tires were out of balance again, 2 ounces. After a rebalance, they were fine again. Couple days later, the wobble returned, but it seemed to be intermittent, and to return almost right away. At that point, I started to think my judgement was less than perfect. Every little bump in the road felt like my crazy tires out of balance. I took the car back, they offered new tires, same brand, and I accepted. They also 'ride-balanced' the tires (a lot better I guess). The problem returned. The tire place said they would do anything I wanted, but they didn't believe it was my tires anymore. They recommended I have the front end and allignment checked out. Each time, however, they told me my tires are out of balance, and I found it hard to believe that alignment could screw up my tires in a day or two, by making them out of balance. I didn't know what to do, so I had them replace the tires with brand new tires of a different brand (Yokohama). The problem returned.

3. I took the jeep into an auto shop recommended by the tire place. They checked out the alignment and the front end parts (steering stabilizer, etc... whatever). They said there was nothing wrong with anything in the front of my jeep as far as they can tell.

So that's where I'm at. I have an intermittent wobble. Mostly at 45-50 mph. Sometimes I think I can feel it faster than that. A faster vibration. That could be my imagination at this point. Sometimes everything is perfect, sometimes the wobble is so pronounced that it shakes the steering wheel side to side an inch or more. (Side to side, as in the wheel rotates like when turning. Not as in the steering column moves side to side)

Any ideas? I'm at a loss.

Small Claims Suit Question

geoff. — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 16:16:58 -0800

I got had in a recent car purchase. Basically I'm out $500 after wrestling the other money back. The guy is no longer in this country (Canada) my lawyer says to go ahead and file a small claims suit. Since it is quite a hassle to file a suit, anyone have experience with something like this? All the details inside... Basically bought the car, guy signed over title (didn't notice it was in the dealer section, and the DMV didn't notice right away either) -- he didn't pay taxes on it in the state where he was living in when he moved. He promised to pay taxes on it, etc. but because of other minor problems with the car I felt he didn't tell us about (unreported damage repair, A/C not working) I could have given the car back anyway... not to mention he never signed the title over to us being that he did not pay correct back taxes.

There were several things that made me feel funny about the deal afterwards. When we originally called him after the DMV fiasco, he didn't answer until we left a message. After we left a message he seemed relieved and said he'd take care of it. I think the motivation behind this was that he knew there were a lot of little things he didn't tell us about. Anyway we returned the car with the intention of rebuying it once he got everything clear, but he was extremely jittery about giving us our money back and we spent the good part of the hour getting everything but $500 (which he considered a down payment). This was not uncalled for as he at that point would have basically owned the car and had all our money, I like to congratulate myself on sticking to my guns.

At this point, the next day I left a message, stated I wanted all my $500 back and left a number to call me back with questions and an address to send the check to. He did neither. I sent him a certified letter, he never responded to. Got a lawyer to send a nice lawyer "we're going to sue you" letter that he didn't respond to. I have all the paperwork set, my lawyer says that there is no way he has legal right to that money, and is encouraging me to file a small claims report. The problem is that the county I'm filing it in is over several hours a way, and I'm beginning to think that this amount of money is not worth an international lawsuit.

I don't think this guy is a career conman. He was Iranian and apparently didn't understand our laws (taxes, titles, etc.) or was just a real asshole. Well more likely he knew the car had a lot of minor repairs and because it was a foreign car those minor repairs would have been expensive. I have his USA address, the company he works for still (big, multinational) and everything else. I'm just wondering if it will do any good and was looking for the collective hive to tell me the answer!

Help me start my car.

angry modem — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 14:49:12 -0800

Car won't start. Again. [mi] Some time ago I had my 92 Ford Tempo towed to a shop because it wouldn't start after work. When I'd turn the key, it'd click, but not turn over. At the time, I had a friend come by, and we took off the starter and had it tested (it passed). Put it back on, still no dice. After having it repaired at the shop, they said they replaced the cables.

A week or so afterwards it did it again, but only once. Now it has done it again, and refuses to start at all.

What do you think it is? I can't really afford to take it into a shop right now, so if there's any remote possibility I could take care of this myself, I'd be really glad.

This site gives a few options for what it is, but I'm hoping someone has personal experience of something like this.