Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Stack Exchange
Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
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5 answers

What is the life expectancy of a Honda Civic Hybrid Continuously Variable Transmission?

I have a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid with continuously variable transmission (CVT). At the 90k tuneup, the mechanic added 3.5 quarts of the regular automatic transmission fluid. At 110,000 miles, the transmission died, General consensus online holds…
Abe
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Strange noise from timing belt area

I just changed the timing belt and water pump on my 98 Mazda 626. After I got everything reassembled I started up the engine. I had been running the engine for a few minutes, revved it up to around 3k rpms a few times and started and stopped it a…
Robert S. Barnes
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Why are spare wheels smaller than normal wheels?

I want to purchase a VW Ameo Highline. It comes with stock tyres (185/60 R15), and alloy rims. The spare wheel, however, is a standard steel rim (non-alloy) with 175/70 R14 tyres. The dealer explained this to me as an international norm, that a…
Girish
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How do I weigh mileage against time when it comes to scheduled maintenance?

My 2001 Honda Civic's manual indicates that my timing belt should be replaced every 110,000 miles or 84 months. I bought the car in July 2001 and have around 49,000 miles on it. A dealer mechanic said (when fixing a seat belt recall) that it is time…
Ryan
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How to determine injector size for custom engine?

I've got a 2.5 L engine here for which I do not know the performance specs (yet), because it's customized. I need to select injectors for this build, but there seems to be only one equation on the interweb to get the injector size, and this takes…
Bart
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7 answers

Is it normal for the oil to be dark in color right after an "oil change" in a 10-year old diesel car?

I took my 2002 Jetta TDI wagon to a neighborhood shop about 10 miles, 24 hours ago. They supposedly changed the oil, but the color is very dark, almost black. Definitely not light-colored/transparent. The oil change was performed along with other…
Adam Monsen
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4 answers

How to assess battery charge level and alternator performance?

What diagnostics can be done to to assess battery charge level? I'm interested both in one-off tests like can be done in car service and also continuous monitoring during normal use. Car panels usually have warning lights for battery/charging…
Pēteris Caune
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Reusing self locking nuts

I am in the progress of doing some work on the suspension. Can I reuse the nuts on the bolts holding critical parts (struts, tie rod, etc.) if I clean the threads and apply thread locker? My aim with this question is to understand the reason for the…
Martin
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4 answers

Are belt conditioners safe?

A service advisor at a vehicle repair shop recommended belt conditioner to help ensure longevity of rubber belts (timing, serpentine, etc.) and as a possible inexpensive fix to various engine noises. Belt conditioner comes in a spray bottle, and you…
Amazon Dies In Darkness
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Trouble installing new bolts into rusted welded nuts

I've got a 2007 Pontiac Torrent that I (mostly) installed a hitch on. The hitch mounts to 8 points. 6 points are existing welded in nuts. 4 of these welded nuts are causing me trouble. They've rusted so badly I can't get a bolt through them... They…
starholme
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Diesel runaway - stopped miraculously by itself

A little background (Little longer, please excuse): Few days before while we were driving Maruti Suzuki Dzire vdi (Engine: Fiat Multijet 1.3 DDIS, CRDI engine) around 40kmph. All of sudden there was a noise from engine and while we attempted to…
Narayanan
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what is the process for replacing 12V car battery?

What is the process for replacing the 12V battery? How would I clean the contacts of the terminals? My OEM battery in 2008 Jetta SE 2.5L appears rather clean, including the terminals, but I recall that my older second-hand car had huge deposits on…
cnst
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9 answers

Timing Belt need replacing? Unknown mileage

I bought my car used, and unfortunately I have no idea when the timing belt was last changed. I decided to open the timing belt cover today to take a look. The top of the belt seemed a bit shiny but I'm not really sure what's considered normal or…
Jay
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2 answers

Accelerator pedal stuck briefly - how to make sure it doesn't happen again?

While reversing into my drive the accelerator pedal briefly got stuck - luckily in the "up" position, not the "down" position, but given the hump in my drive that needs a little gas to get over, it still led to causing an embarrassing traffic hold…
user56reinstatemonica8
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Oil change with front wheels on ramps?

From the obsessive compulsive department: I've been changing my own oil by driving up on a pair of ramps, draining and filling. Based on a slight overfill condition after adding the specified amount of oil and returning the vehicle to level, I know…
Mark Johnson
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