Blu-ray.com Car Maintenance, Repair, Detailing, and DIY Thread

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Originally Posted by sk33tr

Trying to diagnose an issue on my mom's car.

wouldn't crank-
took it to have the battery checked. battery was bad so bought a new one and put it in

ran fine for a while with no issues

later, wouldn't crank, again-
had the alternator checked. alternator was bad so bought a new one and put it in

ran fine for a while with no issues

now, it's not cranking again-
checked all relevant fuses and all are ok. NO idea what's going on with it. i really don't want to have to take it in to be checked by a pro mechanic and the serviced because neither of us have the money right now. she doesn't drive the car all that often (retired) as it doesn't even have 20k miles on it (it's a 2011 altima). but she's afraid to be without a car in case a family member needs help or something.


but it's just blowing my mind as to what i could be.

any thoughts?

You say she doesn't drive it often. How often? Are we talking once a week? A couple times a month? Any chance she's got a cellphone charger plugged in that has a power indicator light? Yeah, it's not much but it can and will drain the battery over time. The next time it goes dead tell her just to get out of the car, shut the door and wait for you to get there. Do nothing but hook up the jumper cables and inspect the car for any interior lights she may be accidentally leaving on.

Sincerely, Mike the former tow truck driver.

[VictoryAtNight]

Bought a new radiator, thermostat and temperature sensor for my truck. My brother installed them yesterday.
Paid almost $230 in parts, including 2-gallons coolant.
Slight alteration to new radiator bracket. Truck is running nice and cool.

DSCN5332_x410.jpg
Old parts that I need to throw away.

[Mike16]

Originally Posted by VictoryAtNight

Bought a new radiator, thermostat and temperature sensor for my truck. My brother installed them yesterday.
Paid almost $230 in parts, including 2-gallons coolant.
Slight alteration to new radiator bracket. Truck is running nice and cool.

Attachment 201971
Old parts that I need to throw away.

No new hoses? Unless they were recently replaced, I always replace the hoses (AND clamps) when I replace a radiator. Just makes sense IMO.

[VictoryAtNight]

Originally Posted by Mike16

No new hoses? Unless they were recently replaced, I always replace the hoses (AND clamps) when I replace a radiator. Just makes sense IMO.

Yeah I feel like an idiot and I should have bought both top and bottom hoses. I’ll replace them when I flush the coolant in the future. My brother installed new hose clamps for me.
After watching my brother do the repairs, I think I can do the hoses myself.

[sk33tr]

Originally Posted by VictoryAtNight

[Show spoiler]

Bought a new radiator, thermostat and temperature sensor for my truck. My brother installed them yesterday.
Paid almost $230 in parts, including 2-gallons coolant.
Slight alteration to new radiator bracket. Truck is running nice and cool.

Attachment 201971
Old parts that I need to throw away.

no telling how much more you'd have paid a mechanic to do it. probably at the very least twice as much.

Originally Posted by Mike16

No new hoses? Unless they were recently replaced, I always replace the hoses (AND clamps) when I replace a radiator. Just makes sense IMO.

yes!

cheap insurance. i also used to change the plug wires every time i changed the spark plugs on my older vehicles. it wasn't absolutely needed every time, but i did it anyway in case there was some unforeseen issue with any of the old wires. i don't have to do that now as i don't have spark plug wires, per se. but unfortunately what i now have is much more expensive (~$40/ea vs ~$50/set).

[VictoryAtNight]

Originally Posted by sk33tr

no telling how much more you'd have paid a mechanic to do it. probably at the very least twice as much.

I'm very grateful for being able to save money.
I may be visiting my brother again this weekend. I want him to take a look at my Civic.

[VictoryAtNight]

DSCN5345_x410.jpg
Pic of old part which was removed.

My brother replaced my ignition distributor on my Honda yesterday. He also adjusted it using the timing gun. New part cost about $180.
I reused the old distributor cap and rotor, but I plan on replacing it later.

[MaCruz]

Anyone wash their cars using a pressure washer/foam cannon combination?

Trying to go back to the old hobbies I used to love doing. Need to find an escape when I just want 'me' time.

[sk33tr]

Originally Posted by MaCruz

Anyone wash their cars using a pressure washer/foam cannon combination?

Trying to go back to the old hobbies I used to love doing. Need to find an escape when I just want 'me' time.

i used my pressure washer with some liquid soap in the reservoir to wash mine, one time. it did a decent job, but i still needed to do some hand washing. but i tend to wait a good while between washings so mine can get quite dirty at time, lol. but i do like using it for rinsing. it makes it go much quicker.

it's also good for cleaning out the bed and up in the wheel wells.

[MaCruz]

Originally Posted by sk33tr

i used my pressure washer with some liquid soap in the reservoir to wash mine, one time. it did a decent job, but i still needed to do some hand washing. but i tend to wait a good while between washings so mine can get quite dirty at time, lol. but i do like using it for rinsing. it makes it go much quicker.

it's also good for cleaning out the bed and up in the wheel wells.

Did a bunch of lawn work during the spring time and wanted to do some pressure washing on the driveway/sidewalks. When I was you tubing some videos I started watching people using foam cannons and that got my interest.

I've been doing the 2 bucket, sometimes 3 bucket method car wash for over a decade but never went the pressure/foam cannon route. I ordered the Sun Joe SPX3000 electronic pressure washer which will be arriving today, and ordered the Amazon foam cannon that people rave about online. Hopefully I'll give that a try this weekend since my car doesn't get washed often like it used to. More like once or twice every 2 months. Just busy with life, but keeping the cars in the garage at home and work makes the cleaning process easier since I don't need to clay annually or wash weekly. Too damn hot for that, plus it's been raining.

[TheHills44060]

Installed a P3 boost gauge in the A4.

[VictoryAtNight]

Almost $75 for a refurbished starter for my truck. I got back $18 for the core charge.

It took less than 30-minutes for my brother to remove and install the (slightly) new part. He didn't have to remove the front, passenger tire because the truck has a lift kit. It looked easy.

[sk33tr]

need to replace the shift lever sensor. only cost $18.99 on ebay and should be here in a few days.

[Show spoiler]

watched a video on youtube about how to change it..shouldn't take more than 15 minutes, 30 at the most. and the guy in the video says he paid $40 for his.

and if you take it to a dealer or mechanic, they want about $600 to replace the entire shift assembly mechanism.

[noeljon]

I just washed my Sportsman XP 1000. I also ordered some atv parts including bushings, bearings, ball joints and braces. Need to prepare my small machine for the next trail run.