Car ?'s

Sludig

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Burns said:
The "tune up" is usually the colloquial name for replacing plugs and wires, along with the rest of the service recommendations that come along with that. Which is different than getting your car "tuned" on a dyno, which changes the computer programing for timing, fuel/O2 mix, and some other things (I'm not sure how they "tune" 70's carb monsters).

I'd look up a video for replacing spark plugs/wires in your vehicle to see if it's something you can do yourself. Some cars have the engine all covered up and sideways, so reaching into the back plugs is a pain in the ass, but if it's not, it should be like a 30 min job. I cant remember the brand of plugs/wires I last bought, but you should be able to find people talking about brands on any of the enthusiasts websites (like rennlist.com, corvetteforum.com, etc.).

Did you toss a bottle of fuel injector cleaner into the last tank of gas, by chance? If it was me, I would do plugs and wires first, with a bottle or two of injector cleaner (one per tank of gas). If you have been using premium octane, I would hope that the injectors are just mildly coated with carbon. I don't know how likely it is to get bad gas, but (afaik) if the cylinder is misfiring, it can lead to much higher carbon build up, setting up a bit of a feedback loop.
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Coils and plugs I could easily do myself. But again wife is irate/panicks and goes for the get it done now no matter the cost route.

She did the injector bottle already yes and the car is run on premium. (Mazda's skyactive claim can use lower stuff at a HP hit but I didnt like the thought.)
 
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mkopec

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I think fuel injector cleaning is a bunch of BS anyway. Unless your car was sitting for some prolonged period of time (a year or more) and the gasoline varnished or fuel filter failed its highly unlikely you need a injector cleaner. Gasoline itself is a solvent and cleans shit itself.
 
Fucker

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mkopec said:
I think fuel injector cleaning is a bunch of BS anyway. Unless your car was sitting for some prolonged period of time (a year or more) and the gasoline varnished or fuel filter failed its highly unlikely you need a injector cleaner. Gasoline itself is a solvent and cleans shit itself.
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It works, but it doesn't fix anything that is broken. I ran a bottle through mine and it cleared the lean run condition it had. Granted, it wasn't off by much, but it was off. Can check it with code scanner.
 
BrutulTM

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Sludig said:
Oh and this is after her bumkin work mechanic said he couldn't work on it somehow because it was a Mazda lol.... this isn't jag/bmw with anything super proprietary.
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Unfortunately pretty much all cars have all kinds of proprietary tools these days not to mention having to subscribe to the diagnostic scanners for different brands of cars. The day of the 1-man shops where they can fix any kind of car is pretty much over. My buddy who is a mechanic says he has about 5 years left and then he's going to look for some kind of government desk job because his body can't take it anymore and it's just too expensive to keep up with all the subscriptions and special tools for all the different kinds of cars. He already turns down half the stuff I bring to him because it takes special tools that he doesn't want to buy and then maybe never use again.
 
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Burns

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mkopec said:
I think fuel injector cleaning is a bunch of BS anyway. Unless your car was sitting for some prolonged period of time (a year or more) and the gasoline varnished or fuel filter failed its highly unlikely you need a injector cleaner. Gasoline itself is a solvent and cleans shit itself.
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There are people using borescopes and teardowns to show what these additives do. Now whether the visual differences actually help the engine run better, can be debatable.

Bobistheoilguy.com did a teardown on an engine after using some Gumout on it, and it showed some noticeable differences (the website has a wealth of information on motor oil, with a smattering of other engine related things):

Testing the efficacy of Gumout One-N-Done with ASTM 5500 - Bob is the Oil Guy

bobistheoilguy.com

The forums probably have a ton of info on it too (they seem to like Techron and certain Gumout versions; also say Seafoam is trash):

Fuels and Fuel Additives: Gasoline and Diesel

Discussions about Fuels and Fuel Additives.
bobistheoilguy.com
 
TJT

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BrutulTM said:
Unfortunately pretty much all cars have all kinds of proprietary tools these days not to mention having to subscribe to the diagnostic scanners for different brands of cars. The day of the 1-man shops where they can fix any kind of car is pretty much over. My buddy who is a mechanic says he has about 5 years left and then he's going to look for some kind of government desk job because his body can't take it anymore and it's just too expensive to keep up with all the subscriptions and special tools for all the different kinds of cars. He already turns down half the stuff I bring to him because it takes special tools that he doesn't want to buy and then maybe never use again.
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Yeah, a guy a see at the pub sometimes is in this position. He's a young buck but he's been working a a Mercedes place for the past 5 years and now realizes he's stuck working on them. Unless he makes another buy in for some other car's bullshit. Which he of course doesn't want to do. He has loads of Benz only things and like 2 different subscriptions for their software.

Pretty shitty.
 
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Lambourne

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Some minor misfires here and there won't throw a check engine light but the computer it will see and store the issue anyway. Take the plugs out after the car has sat overnight and see if any of them are damp, if they are you have a leaking/bad injector. Just about all cars are now direct injection and the tolerances on those injectors are far smaller than on port injected engines from 15-20 years ago. It needs to spray in the exactly the right pattern or it won't ignite properly, there's only a combustible mixture in part of the cylinder nowadays.

Sounds like old man talk but I think gasoline engines have gotten way too complicated, too many expensive parts with low fault tolerances. I have a 1999 7 series and the engine on that is simple compared to anything sold today, in any price range.
 
Big Phoenix

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I swear the car market is one of the most retarded aspects of commerce on this planet.

Used truck with close to two years worth of miles on it listed for sale for more than a premium trim brand new 0 mile truck.

1703383420931.png
 
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Burren

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Big Phoenix said:
I swear the car market is one of the most retarded aspects of commerce on this planet.

Used truck with close to two years worth of miles on it listed for sale for more than a premium trim brand new 0 mile truck.

View attachment 505542
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Blows me away that those little trucks, that don't drive well at all, cost so much.
 
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Burns

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Burren said:
Blows me away that those little trucks, that don't drive well at all, cost so much.
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Toyota is the premo truck brand that commands premo truck prices. From my very small sample size of driving a 2010ish Tundra VS 2018ish F150, that rep is well deserved (also driven a handful of older trucks from Chevy/Ford that were all worse than the Tundra).

Big Phoenix Big Phoenix : Dealers are going to Dealer. Different dealers have different tactics on how they do their sales and sometimes it looks pretty crazy when you compare their various asking prices. A dealer is never* going to give someone a "good" deal, regardless of who they are.

*There are unicorn deals, but you will die of old age before you see one, when you are actually in the market to buy.
 
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Fucker

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Burns said:
Toyota is the premo truck brand that commands premo truck prices. From my very small sample size of driving a 2010ish Tundra VS 2018ish F150, that rep is well deserved (also driven a handful of older trucks from Chevy/Ford that were all worse than the Tundra).

Big Phoenix Big Phoenix : Dealers are going to Dealer. Different dealers have different tactics on how they do their sales and sometimes it looks pretty crazy when you compare their various asking prices. A dealer is never* going to give someone a "good" deal, regardless of who they are.

*There are unicorn deals, but you will die of old age before you see one, when you are actually in the market to buy.
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Tacoma isn't the same as the Tundra. It is much smaller and rides like a skateboard.
 
Big Phoenix

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Burns said:
Big Phoenix Big Phoenix Big Phoenix Big Phoenix : Dealers are going to Dealer. Different dealers have different tactics on how they do their sales and sometimes it looks pretty crazy when you compare their various asking prices. A dealer is never* going to give someone a "good" deal, regardless of who they are.
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Sure but you would think websites like autotrader making prices so visible would cause the consumer to react accordingly making pricing the used more than the new unfeasible. Is it just a testament to how dumb consumers are?

Also id like to replace my 2005 Tacoma and these prices are annoying.
 
Sludig

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Big Phoenix said:
Sure but you would think websites like autotrader making prices so visible would cause the consumer to react accordingly making pricing the used more than the new unfeasible. Is it just a testament to how dumb consumers are?

Also id like to replace my 2005 Tacoma and these prices are annoying.
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The 24 looks like a decent upgrade unlike the tundra, so imo wait
 
Big Phoenix

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Sludig said:
The 24 looks like a decent upgrade unlike the tundra, so imo wait
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Its also going to be $3000-4000 more at a minimum v a 23 and after doing a bit of reading not so sure about the upgrade outside of the visuals.

Same mpg yet has a smaller tank, same tow capacity etc. As much as ive enjoyed my current Tacoma, spending $45000+ on a mid sized truck with the mpg it gets(yeah theres a hybrid coming but id be very surprised to see that go for under $50000 for the 4x4 trd version) its a very hard pill to swallow.
 
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Palum

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Big Phoenix said:
Its also going to be $3000-4000 more at a minimum v a 23 and after doing a bit of reading not so sure about the upgrade outside of the visuals.

Same mpg yet has a smaller tank, same tow capacity etc. As much as ive enjoyed my current Tacoma, spending $45000+ on a mid sized truck with the mpg it gets(yeah theres a hybrid coming but id be very surprised to see that go for under $50000 for the 4x4 trd version) its a very hard pill to swallow.
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It's so hard right now. I don't see how prices can go much higher, but then again we thought that about housing as well. Vehicle pricing is increasingly what can be financed rather than real prices now. I think car prices have to continue to come down as the economy collapses, but on the other hand we know that they will drop rates even risking hyperinflation to save the Biden campaign.

I just don't see the value proposition in any new car prices right now, they seem 10-20% too high generally and for trucks like 30-50%.
 
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Fucker

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Big Phoenix said:
Its also going to be $3000-4000 more at a minimum v a 23 and after doing a bit of reading not so sure about the upgrade outside of the visuals.

Same mpg yet has a smaller tank, same tow capacity etc. As much as ive enjoyed my current Tacoma, spending $45000+ on a mid sized truck with the mpg it gets(yeah theres a hybrid coming but id be very surprised to see that go for under $50000 for the 4x4 trd version) its a very hard pill to swallow.
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+ dealer markup, which will be a lot, because everyone and their brother wants one.
 
Sludig

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re my wife's car this is what the dealer sent


Good Morning! My shop foreman got with me this morning. While he was waiting for the spark plug to arrive he wanted to break the concern down more and find what caused it. Once he got it broken down even more he noticed that there was puddle of fuel found in all combustion chambers. He took a fuel sample and found a substance like sugar in the gas. He went ahead and drained all the current fuel, drained the fuel pump and sucked all the residue from the old gas inside out, and he took it and put some good fuel back in the vehicle so the same concern wouldn't happen again. He said he wanted to check that because that concern only happens when there is bad fuel in the vehicle. My Shop foreman also wanted to replace the Fuel Injectors because with finding the sugar like substance, there could've been damaged later down the line to the injectors. The injectors were done at no additional cost to you, as well as draining/ refilling the fuel tank. He wanted me to mention thl
 
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