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

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
9
votes
5 answers

Wobbly Steering-wheel after changing Rims/Tires?

I've just recently swapped Summer Tires/Rims for my Winter set on my own for the first time. As it should be an easy concept, I went to a "U-Wrench" type shop where you rent a stall with a lift/tools for fairly cheap. I swapped the tires quite…
Lando
  • 215
  • 1
  • 2
  • 5
9
votes
1 answer

Why should I clean bug and bird debris off my car?

I have a relatively new car with nice clean paint. I've read and been told that cleaning bugs and bird debris off of my car quickly is important because it can damage the paint. Do I really need to wash it off quickly? Can it really damage the…
Cellivar
  • 629
  • 1
  • 5
  • 24
9
votes
5 answers

Are recommended tire pressures the same for non-stock tires?

This post on the TireRack blog http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/docs-advice-on-tires/what-is-the-best-tire-pressure-for-my-new-tires recommends that tires be inflated to the vehicle manufacturers specifications (usually printed on a sticker on the…
Egghead99
  • 193
  • 1
  • 1
  • 4
9
votes
1 answer

Why the different the colors of terminal corrosion on the battery?

I have a 2001 Ford Windstar. When I went to clean the battery terminals: the one with the RED cover over it was a bright blue color; the other had normal white corrosion. I do not know why the this corrosion problem would show different colors. BTW,…
Sharon Maxon
  • 93
  • 1
  • 5
9
votes
3 answers

Does revving a car when cold make it warm up faster?

As winter comes along, I've always thought that revving the car would make it warm up faster, so the heating works better to clear the icy/steamed up windows. Does revving my car at idle to about 2-3k when cold (less than 5C outside) make it warm up…
George
  • 6,605
  • 38
  • 86
  • 123
9
votes
2 answers

Test Gasoline for Water Content

I live in a small town, and the Gas station there has a bad reputation for gas quality. With rumors like peoples gas tanks freezing solid and such. Is there a quick, safe, cheap way to test for water content in gasoline so we can put the final word…
Kratz
  • 193
  • 1
  • 1
  • 5
9
votes
4 answers

Is it important to fix paint deterioration?

I have a 2006 Honda Civic, and the paint on the roof is beginning to deteriorate. It looks as though maybe the top coat is discoloring and coming off, revealing the coat underneath, which seems to be intact. The affected area is currently about 7"…
Nate Eldredge
  • 1,068
  • 2
  • 14
  • 26
9
votes
3 answers

Engine never warms up (actually: it cools down) at highway speeds

I have a 1997 Caravan (base model) and normally on my drive to work and my highway drives in rush-hour, the engine warms up just fine. I took a road trip for work, about an hour and fifteen minutes of driving at basically 60-80mph the whole way. The…
Robbie
  • 567
  • 3
  • 7
  • 18
9
votes
4 answers

Portable jumpstart kits: why aren't regular car batteries this small?

I was looking at the details of this jumpstart product: It claims to be 2 lbs and 14.2 x 12 x 3.5 inches, which I think is for the outer black canvas case, so I would guess the actual device is less than 9.5 x 5.5 x 3 inches. I assume this is a…
Digital Trauma
  • 1,176
  • 2
  • 13
  • 23
9
votes
2 answers

Motorcycle transmission occasionally pops out of gear

I'm having an issue where the transmission will occasionally downshift by itself during a fast acceleration. I have a 2005 Suzuki Vstrom 650 and it's been a great bike so far. At pretty high revs, 9k-10k or so, it will occasionally go from 2nd ->…
Kevin Evans
  • 1,206
  • 4
  • 13
  • 36
9
votes
3 answers

Oil in coolant - how much trouble am I in?

I have oil in my coolant reservoir. Could it just be the head gasket or is it almost certainly the entire engine or might it be something else entirely? Thanks in advance...
ConsultUtah
  • 205
  • 1
  • 3
  • 6
9
votes
3 answers

Roof paint peeling badly, with rust -- what to do?

I've got a 97 Dodge Grand Caravan that's generally in pretty good shape, but the roof has started peeling badly, and a few spots have accumulated some rust. This is an old car with limited value, so I'm not interested in putting a lot of money into…
Jordan Magnuson
  • 245
  • 1
  • 3
  • 6
9
votes
6 answers

Does wheelspinning damage my car?

Apart from the tires, if I pull off quickly and I wheel spin, do I cause any damage to the internals of the car? Obviously I don't mean reving it to 4k+ and then dumping the clutch, I mean speeding off from idle speed. 2003 Opel Agila 1.2
George
  • 6,605
  • 38
  • 86
  • 123
9
votes
4 answers

Effects of leaky exhaust valves

While rebuilding my valves, I noticed that 4 out of 6 exhaust valves on one side of the V6 engine were leaking after lapping and I had to relap them. I determined that by doing a water test. I am guessing they were leaking even before (IOW that the…
amphibient
  • 6,777
  • 42
  • 102
  • 139
9
votes
2 answers

How does a clutch work?

I understand how a clutch can separate the flywheel from the clutch disk so that power is disconnected from the engine. When that happens, does the input shaft (along with the countershaft) stop immediately? If they are moving, they should have…
user3407319
  • 977
  • 5
  • 12
  • 19
1 2 3
…
99 100