Piston Slap: Cracking the Code, Sans The (OBD-II) Code? (Part II)

TTAC commentator Igozoom writes:

Hi Sajeev,

I’ve been reading your postings for years and decided to actually share my (maddening) issues with you.

I have a 2006 Mazda3 S five-door (five-speed manual, 2.3-liter) that I purchased new in December 2005. It only has 101,000 miles on the clock but has had a few significant problems along the way despite regular maintenance. However, the most recent issue has me stumped.

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Piston Slap: MAP-ping Engine Load

TTAC regular David Holzman writes:

When my scan gauge says my engine is under 99% load, and I’ve only pushed the gas pedal about halfway down, does that mean, as I suspect, that I can floor it and I’m not going to get more than a drop more power out of it?

And, in a modern car (’08 Civic, stick), will the computer control prevent me from wasting gas by pushing the gas pedal beyond the point where I’ve reached 99% load?

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Exclusive: Say Goodbye to Chip Tuning – Open CAN Bus Going Away in Two Model Cycles

According to someone that I consider to be an impeccably reliable source, you can say goodbye to being able to fiddle with your car’s electronic control devices to make it go faster because chip tuning and the open CAN bus that allows it are going away.

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Piston Slap: Better Than Onomatopoeias?

TTAC commentator Toy Maker writes:

Hi again Sajeev,

Steven Lang’s post buying quality tools piked my interest again on getting myself an OBDII scanner. But which one is right for me? Even the Autel brand mentioned by Steve have readers ranging from $30 to the $350 Autel MD802 mentioned in Steve’s post.

I don’t plan on working on my cars much, just want to use more than onomatopoeias to converse with my mechanics. (Nice. – SM)

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  • Carson D I was thinking that this is such a nice car, and it is a bit of a shame that you use it so little. Then I remembered that I still have a car that I purchased new in 2007 which now has 78,000 miles and is sitting in a parking space I moved it to so my parents could park in its space when they visited about a month ago. That your 2019 Golf Sportwagen had headliner and water intrusion issues is a stark reminder that people who still buy VWs are like those people who still vote for bail reform politicians after they've been assaulted by someone who'd already been arrested for violent acts half a dozen times in two months. I knew two people who bought new Jetta Sportwagens who suffered spooling mesh headliners that became jammed, unfurled and frayed combined with leaking two-plane sunroofs...in 2009! They were also involved in a class action lawsuit about 'mandatory optional' equipment that they paid for that the cars weren't actually equipped with. I think it was Bluetooth links.
  • Bd2 Engine problems have been fully remedied, please have no further concerns. All customers are satisfied, check Google and Reddit for further information. Salutations and please have a nice day.
  • Wjtinfwb Keep it. A good car you're not tired of is like a great dog. Irreplaceable. After 45 years of car ownership, there's just a few I wish I never sold and realized my total proceeds from selling those few cars was less than 75k dollars. Not a lot of Lexus that you'd say are irreplaceable, but a solid GS is one of them.
  • Add Lightness Lots of Eye rolling with the Urus.Less eye rolling with the equally useless (or should I say underutilized) LM002.
  • Tim You can't buy Fisker for $27 million. All that buys is the shares, which are basically worthless at this point. To buy the company you have to ante up the $1.3 billion owed to its creditors, otherwise they'll just take it away from you in a few weeks.For all we know the house may also be leveraged to the hilt. That seems to be how this guy rolls.Still, if I had to choose, I'd choose the house. I hate EVs.