#advice

TTAC Commentator TrailerTrash writes:

It’s coming. My next car has been determined to be a hatch AND a stick. And here is the problem…my wife does not want a stick again. The Ozark hills require a little room for error at hill stopping. She has promised to consider one, IF it has the clutch feel that is not as brutal as out last (Cherokee).I have narrowed it down to a few cars. My choices show the need for speed…

Janet writes:

Please be patient. I know nothing about the internal workings of cars. Is there a difference between a head gasket and valve cover gasket or valve gasket cover? My mechanic tells me my head gasket is leaking slightly and needs to be watched: I was down 1/2 gallon of coolant since August. Back in 2008 a different mechanic replaced the valve cover gasket (or valve gasket cover?) because the car was hesitating and running rough: I had tried Dry Gas thinking it was a bad tank of gas but that did not alleviate the problem.

Are we talking about 2 different parts? Would you please explain the function(s)? Is it/are they visible when I open the hood of my car? Thank you.

It was the best of cars. It was the worst of cars. A silver 2001 Saab 9-5 was slowly making it’s way through the auction lane. It was a base model… and yet loaded. This silver 9-5 base came with a leather interior, sunroof, a 9 speaker Harman-Kradon stereo system, and heated seats for the front and rear. It was also a museum piece. No interior wear. No paint chips. The only thing worn on it was the Saab emblem in front… which is typical. 60+ dealers were in the lane that day. But most were looking at the usual finance fodder. I bought the Saab for $2250 (plus $115 fee) and weighed my options.

Jordan writes:

Dear Sajeev and Steve,

I am at the point where the little niggles my 240 wagon possesses are no longer a part of its charm. For replacement (which, in actuality I will keep it, but take it off of the daily roster,) I have decided that I want a Panther. My budget is capped at 13k, and even that is a bit rich for my tastes. I know for sure that I do not want some jacked-up P71, so I am leaning heavily toward the Grand Marquis/Town Car. Which one would be the best? Should I stay above the `03 model year? I am looking to make my move after the first of the year, so I hope my asking to make this speedy doesn’t make me seem like a jerk. Thank you in advance!

Steve writes:

My wife’s beloved ’04 Lexus RX330 has a decided pulsation when the brakes are applied at highway speed coming down from the mountains. Do understand that I try not to overuse the brakes in mountain driving– I will downshift the 5-sp AT whenever it will help. I figured it has warped rotors. It did this at about 30k and they replaced the rotors under warranty. I’ve not noticed this on flat ground, but given the car I’m not into aggressive driving with this vehicle.

Andrew writes:

I’m a 21-year-old college student with a 2001 Chevy Cavalier with the 2.2L and 5-speed. I bought the car when I started college with 40,000 miles on it and I have driven it to 70,000 miles without any problems, despite not always being nice to it. But now the suspension — I think it’s coming from the front — is starting to make a good bit of noise.

TTAC commentator Bucksnort writes:

Sajeev and Steve: This is another request for sports/sporty car buying advice along the lines of the recent query from Jing. I live in the mountains in Colorado where snow is measure in feet, not inches and am 235 miles from any upscale German and Japanese dealer. There is a full complement of local US and basic Japanese dealers, no Korean or European. The sports car must share a garage bay with a lawn tractor mounted snow-blower in the winter so size in an issue. I don’t really need an AWD sports car since none of them have any ground clearance anyway and the extra driveshaft and differential are tantamount to carrying around a permanent fat broad. My other two vehicles, a lifted Jeep Rubicon and an Expedition, can easily handle the snow via ground clearance, lugged/siped tires, or just by crushing it.

Alex writes:

I have a 2000 Honda Accord Coupe EX-V6, 253k miles, original automatic transmission. I’ve had 2 motor mounts replaced, a heater core, and otherwise just standard maintenance (transmission service every 50k miles, new belts every 100k, along with new water pump; new alternator whenever I burn the old one out). Last year, the tranny started whining, giving the inevitable death wail of the Honda slushbox. But it’s still going strong, the wail has stopped, and the transmission fluid looks and smells as clean as ever. My wife and I are looking into buying a 2009 Honda Fit Sport to replace it. The question: do I sell this bad boy or keep it, and do I wait till it dies to buy the Fit (or Pontiac Vibe, or something else)? Full disclosure: my father in law is a GM mechanic, who would love it if I bought a GM.

Brandon writes:

Guys, I need some help. In the summer of 2008 with gas prices going up and having a decent bank account due to high school graduation money, I sold my 1989 Prelude Si and bought a brand new Cobalt LS stripper (roll up windows, manual locks and all) to have a more economical and reliable ride since I was going off to college near DC and would regularly travel 350+ miles a weekend. 2 years later I loathe the car and wish for something else, but something fun and practical that I can keep for at least 5 or 6 years until I’ve got a full time job income coming in for sure. I’ll be 21 in a month so insurance price are still a concern, but I’ve got a pretty good income and stable job for a college student.

Drake writes:

Sajeev,

I have a 2007 Fusion with the 3.0 Duratec V6, with 83,000 miles on it. I have owned it since new and 90% of the miles are long highway drives. I have recently discovered that there is an engine oil leak. I have put the engine oil dye from Ford in it to try to pin point where the leak is coming from. It is a small leak, takes a while to get noticed (when the oil finally makes it’s way to the exhaust and smokes a bit).

Local Ford dealer does not have a clue, I have called other larger dealers in the area and had them check for service bulletins and asked if anyone has come across a similar problem and what it may be. No luck. Best that I and a couple of very good mechanic friends can figure is that a head gasket might be leaking.

So, I have traversed the Internet looking for and information about this problem when I came across one of your articles. Thanks!

Steve C. writes:

Currently I own two cars, a daily driver and a completely impractical two seat roadster with no trunk. The daily driver is a 1996 Toyota Corolla that has 145K miles. It has been in my family since new and has received good maintenance. I’ve had the car since 75K miles, doing all of the maintenance myself, and have enjoyed a mostly problem free ownership experience as is usually the case with these cars. However, the car did overheat once about 4 years ago while sitting in traffic due to a fan failure. The coolant actually boiled before I even realized there was a problem. I replaced the fan and thermostat, changed the coolant, and had no problems since.

TTAC Commentator dastanley writes:

Well here I am again on Piston Slap about my 2006 Corolla w/ about 44k miles. This isn’t a burning question (no pun intended), I’m just curious. This time it’s the exhaust – it stinks. I know that the rotten egg smell comes from the catalytic converter, but why? Is the engine running rich and overloading the converter?

The check engine light isn’t on and the gas mileage is about the same, so the computer (apparently) hasn’t detected a problem. I use regular 86 octane fuel (high altitude), mostly Conoco-Phillips with “Pro-Clean”. I’ve been told that the fuel in this region of NM has a high sulfur content, although I can’t confirm that.

The exhaust odor doesn’t bother me when driving around (I’m not following my own car), but every time I pull into the garage, it smells pretty obnoxious and my wife thinks I’ve farted. WTF?

Gregory writes:

So… if ”utes” work so well in Australia, why not North America?

In the NorAm market, we have the Subaru BRAT (1978–1987), Volkswagen Caddy (1980-1996?), Dodge Rampage/Plymouth Scamp (1982-1984), Ford Ranchero (1957-1979), Chevrolet El Camino (1959-1987) and then the Subaru Baja (2003-2006).

To be honest, I’m considering buying a Subaru Baja Turbo. I need a 4-wheeled vehicle for two quite specific needs: 1.) household utilitarian trips, to places like Ikea or Home Depot, to carry the lawn mower to grandma’s, to haul garbage to the dump or to carry fire wood; 2.) road trips with the girlfriend, carrying her bags & bicycle around, long country road drives where we can listen to loud music, hear audio books, shift gears through the twisties, and have audible conversation.

I commute & grocery shop by bicycle or motorcycle, so definitely do not need a 4-wheeled vehicle for those chores. I think a Subaru Baja (or perhaps the new Hyundai i30/ Elantra Touring) would fit. Perhaps a four-door pick-up truck? Other station wagon? Old Land Cruiser?

TTAC Commentator Jems86 writes:

A question for the B&B: Is the test above rigged?

TTAC Commentator SupremeBrougham writes:

Hey Sajeev, I decided that I want to try my hand at throwing a Piston Slap topic your way: my grandparents gave me a 1995 Mercury Mystique LS that has been passed around our family since new. The car has 121k on it, but the motor (V6) has about 40k fewer miles and the trans (auto) now has around 15k total.

Here is my issue. When pulling out from a stop, the engine revs to almost 5000 rpm before shifting gears, regardless of how gentle I am with the gas. I want to have it looked at, but here is where it gets tricky for me. My grandfather, who worked for Ford in Transmission Engineering, and my uncle decided to take on the task of replacing the engine and trans in this car four years ago, as a final hurrah for my grandpa, as he is getting up in years. It took them six months, but they did it. The car went on to two more uncles before coming back to my grandparents, and then on to me. My grandpa gave me the car with the stipulation that I was not to put any more money into it. And if anything was to go wrong with it I am to bring it back for repairs. But I live almost 200 miles away, so that isn’t so easy.