#PistonSlap

Steve writes:

Hi Sajeev,

For those of us who have entered the OnStar “Push On” contest that is giving away 10 GM vehicles of the winner’s choice and who feel lucky (yeah, right), we have a potential problem. You get a GM vehicle of your choice and $25K to cover taxes, delivery, dealer prep, added dealer markup (in the spirit of the GTO, G8, Camaro…don’t put it past them), etc.

Here are the choices and my first thoughts:

Dan writes:

Sajeev,

I don’t know if this adds up to material for one of your columns but here you go if you want it. I am shopping for a new WRX wagon. These are pretty rare around here, hunted to extinction. I’ve been checking around and the number in inventory at the typical dealership is between zero and two. The local dealership wants to charge me MSRP, as well they might, but they have a new narrative to go with this: the factory was shut down in Fuji and there’s going to be a gap in deliveries. Is this hooey?

Sajeev Answers:

Kiwi writes:

Howdy Sajeev. I’m looking to the general crowd of enthusiasts and experts here to give me some advice. I am most assuredly not a car expert myself.

We have three cars, two of which are a 2000 Toyota Camry (177k miles) and a 2000 Chevy Blazer (78k miles). The Camry is my daily car, and I drive 55 miles round trip to work five days a week (sometimes more as I have night school twice a week). The Blazer is my mother-in-law’s car, and she drives very little, mainly just to pick up my daughter from school a couple of times a week (less than 10 miles round trip), down to the local shops, etc. We are up in the PA/NJ area.

Elorac writes:

Sajeev,

Not sure if this is an appropriate Piston Slap question, but here goes. I’m the owner of a 2009 Infiniti G37S coupe, manual trans, approx 30,000 miles. I’m very happy with the car (aside from a touchy clutch that gets tiresome in slow traffic), but ever since I bought it I’ve felt that I won’t really have gotten my money’s worth until I do some real hooning. I recently received a track day package as a gift, consisting of five half-hour sessions, the first with some manner of instructor. I’ll be attending next week, with just about equal parts excitement and trepidation.

Having never done anything of the sort before, and with little experience with truly “enthusiastic” driving, I’d like to ask you (and the B&B) for any advice you might have, in all aspects of the experience but with a particular emphasis on potential damage to my car’s powertrain innards. As laughable as it may seem, given the context, I do actually care about the long term health of this car, and I’d like to avoid doing anything too grievous to it. A fool’s errand?

Louis writes:

Sajeev,

I recently got involved with helping a female friend who is going through a divorce get a car (in Phoenix, AZ), and it seemed to me that the basic economics of used cars have shifted (“Cash for Clunkers”?) Old used cars with high miles and no warranties appeared to be so expensive that a new car would yield a lower cost per mile driven (as well as a much lower level of risk for a single woman with no mechanical skills). I ended up lending her the money to buy a new 2010 Hyundai Elantra SE.

Still, I’m wondering if it is still possible to achieve a significantly lower cost per mile with a used car than you can get by buying a new one and driving it into the ground. Or, is there now a “poverty penalty”, where people without the cash or credit to buy a new car end up paying more per mile driven?

TTAC’s twitter friend, Ethan, writes:

Hi Sajeev,

You probably remember my original query but this indecision is compounded by my second problem: I love the aforementioned Volvo, but with 185K ticking past on the odometer, the steering rack and other things are letting go.

W.B. writes:

Sajeev,

My ’05 Ranger 4wd w/5spd manual (35K on the odometer) does something strange indeed when I get ready to drive after it’s been parked for several hours. With the parking brake off, I shift to first and lightly engage the clutch. The truck strains against some kind of resistance, as if there were something obstructing the tires or as if I were starting on an incline. Neither of these are ever the case. With a little more gas and a little more clutch engaged, the truck “breaks free” with a loud “clunk,” and then drives normally afterward.

Ronald writes:

Hi Sajeev,

Just about 2 years ago, the steering rack failed on my 1996 Lexus SC400 at 132,000 miles. Reconditioned rack #1 went bad in 3 weeks, and replaced with another. Reconditioned rack #2 also failed in about 2 months, and was replaced with a brand new rack.

Every time I got the car back, the steering feel was horrible even though they claimed they did an alignment (which they ended up doing every time I returned with the car). The last straw came when I was driving up a freeway entry ramp that had the pavement scraped in vertical lines, and the steering felt like a snake undulating left and right. Pissed, I finally took it to a Lexus shop where they performed an alignment and the car seemed to handle better. While satisfactory, it still was not the same as before the rack went bad. However, 2 weeks later the steering wheel was cocked to the left and the car was out of alignment. It went in yet again for an alignment at an independent shop and everything seemed fine – it was done better than by Lexus. Now two weeks after the latest alignment the steering wheel is cocked to the right and I’m beginning to feel the snake undulations again. What is throwing the car out of alignment? I live in Tampa, and the roads where I travel are in good condition, no potholes, I’m not running into curbs, and my wife doesn’t drive the car.

James writes:

My wife and I are considering replacing one of our cars. I drive a 2007 Honda Fit Sport (125k miles) and she drives a 2002 Subaru Forester (135k). We both have long commutes and I drive 30k per year and she drives over 20k per year.

Her Subaru is well cared for but aging. While is overall has been a pretty good vehicle, we’ve had to make the following, fairly typical, repairs over the last few months:

• New ball joint

• New CV joint.

• Timing Belt/Water pump/Thermostat/Camshaft and crankshaft seals.

• New tires/battery

Recently the CEL has come and gone, reporting that the catalytic converter is not operating optimally. This has been replaced once already in 2007. Thankfully, we’ve had no transmission or head gasket issues thus far with her Subaru.

Raghav writes:

While searching Internet I saw your replies on Toyota Corolla. I too have few problems with Toyota Corolla 2007 model purchased in India, it has 37,000 Km on the odometer. The vehicle is serviced regularly every 10,000 km. The problems are:

1. Engine growling noise steadily increases with the RPM beyond 3,000 and this happens on all gears. What could be the reason?

2. One of the rear shock absorber was leaking and the dealer replaced just the faulty one (under warranty, car had done 27,000 km) and after that I feel the ride quality is poor. Do you think changing only one shock can cause this?

I have taken it to the dealer but their response is vague like (a) sound insulation from engine area must have become weak (b) change tires because side walls have a crack.

TTAC’s resident gasket engineer, gimmeamanual, shares some thoughts on a previous Piston Slap. For starters, let’s go back to the original problem. In his own words:

In the last post, the OP says that they have tracked the leak to the interface between the block and the oil pan. He also mentions a “spacer” as well as RTV. The Duratec 3.0L (D30) engine variants have used two different gasket designs for the oil pan, but I can’t remember which for which years; one design uses metal-backed gasket referred to as an “edge-bonded” gasket (no groove on either the pan or girdle), and one design uses a “press-in-place” design (groove in the oil pan).

Fidgeting between multiple designs for something as “not customer facing” as an oil pan gasket isn’t a very smart move. Then again, perhaps one design is more cost effective, and not likely to draw attention to itself until well past the warranty period? Think about that, next time we talk Corporate beancounting. But wait, there’s more:

The D30 is a split-block design where the oil pan is attached to the girdle, which is in turn attached to the block; the oil pan also bolts into the bottom of the front cover. The block-girdle interface is indeed sealed with RTV, but the girdle-pan interface is sealed with a gasket. Sounds like the metal spacer he is referring to is the metal backbone of the edge-bonded design, but hard to tell without pictures. For the RTV, it’s unclear where this RTV is, but there is RTV at the block/girdle/pan-front cover interface at what is called a T-joint, so named because the vertical “seam” of the front cover-girdle/pan runs into the horizontal “seam” of the pan-girdle-front cover.

Clear as mud? Here’s the punchline:

Jeremy writes:

Dear Sajeev, I am currently in possession of a 1985 Toyota Celica GT, with a clutch that is perpetually engaged. I originally bought the car when I moved across Canada, as a means of securing a cheap ride until I could save up some money for a down payment on a new car. I paid about $1100 for the car about 6 months ago, which had 165 000 verified kms and now has about 180 000. The car is actually in decent shape with very little rust, a clean interior, new front brakes and wheel bearings, new exhaust, spark plugs, bushings, and drove quite nicely up until now. It was not a problem when it moved because my girlfriend would use it for the day, then park it in our condos ‘visitors’ spots which are to be used for no more than 12 hours, a time limit that is strictly enforced.

I purchased a new car well before all of this, a 2011 Ford Focus (don’t laugh, it was a good price with all the options I wanted compared to the other cars I shopped for), so needless to say driving the Celica was a fun place to go on the weekend after a week of econoboxing. I would love to fix the clutch and keep this car, but I have nowhere to work on it, and don’t really want to pay what a garage would charge me to take it apart and fix it.

What do I do with it?

Rich writes:

Sajeev,

My New vs. Used dilemma was posted on 2/4/10. Based on your advice, TTAC member feedback and other research, I have made my decision. Last month I purchased a 2007 Ford Five Hundred SEL 2WD from the local Ford dealer. The car is just off lease with 28K miles, mechanically excellent, interior almost cherry and exterior very good. The dealer was asking for $14K, I offered $12.5K and we agreed to the Edmunds price of $12.7K. It drives pretty much as the critics say, great handling for a large car though a bit short on power. The power deficit is not terrible for everyday driving, I just need to rev it a bit. The motor isn’t tuned for low speed torque; something like GM’s or Ford’s 3.8 would be a better match for this car than the Duratec. The car returned 21 MPG in suburban driving on my first tankful.

Tae-Moo writes:

Sajeev! Your bottomless well of knowledge and practical opinions has turned me into a huge fan of TTAC. With all your knowledge I hope you can answer a very broad but basic question of mine:

Sean writes:

I am looking to purchase either a 2002 Acura RSX automatic with 105,360 miles for $6995 from a dealer or a 2005 Scion tC manual with 86455 miles for $7986. Which car do you think is better and a better deal?