Car ?'s

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BeardedWonder

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Saw a few car threads on FOH, but long dead. I keep up with the Home Improvement thread and thought to start up a general, whatever you got ?'s about your car thread. From airing up tires to adjusting valve lashing. What ever it may be...
mech.jpg
 
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Lanx

Oye Ve
<Prior Amod>
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Having moved to a colder state, I learned you need a car battery with more cold cranking amps(cca), batteri s have sizes like,aa,AAA,c,d but they are annoying as shit to find out, if you already have an aftermarket battery with the size already on there, great, if you have a factory battery with zero markings, use this tool
Battery Group Size | How to Choose Your Battery | Autobatteries.com

It'll also tell you the recommended cca, a 10mm socket is usually what you need to disconnect.

I usually have the cars carry around a jump starter cuz I'm a boy scout, even that was no use.
 

BeardedWonder

Lord Nagafen Raider
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I drive an old school car. The higher the CCA's, better with the old motors. Ran into the same problems with old tractors, too. We'd have to upgrade the old alternators to keep a high charge but worth it on a cold day and the battery has a 800 CCA charge.
 

A5150Ylee

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I drive an old school car. The higher the CCA's, better with the old motors. Ran into the same problems with old tractors, too. We'd have to upgrade the old alternators to keep a high charge but worth it on a cold day and the battery has a 800 CCA charge.

I was always told to pick the size that fits in the tray, and select the battery with the most CCA's. I've always had V8's so my batteries were always in the 800-850 range. I worked at a company where the forklift died, they tried to jump start it with 4 different cars before I said my battery could do it. They didn't want to try a 5th car, but 800 CCAs will crank a forklift. It was fun to berate them for not having a 'real' car that could at least crank a I4 propane engine.
 
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BeardedWonder

Lord Nagafen Raider
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Does anyone have any suggestions / experience on old school cars and how to make the tail lights illuminate brighter? Got stopped during the day because the officer told me that he couldn't see my tail lights brighten when making a stop. Changed out the old bulbs and "flasher" to LED tail lights but they don't seem to be brighter during the day.
 

A5150Ylee

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Does anyone have any suggestions / experience on old school cars and how to make the tail lights illuminate brighter? Got stopped during the day because the officer told me that he couldn't see my tail lights brighten when making a stop. Changed out the old bulbs and "flasher" to LED tail lights but they don't seem to be brighter during the day.

If new bulbs are still not bright, you may have a partial short or some kind of extra load on the wires to reduce the voltage. I'd suggest hooking up a voltmeter and see if you're getting the full 12v back there. If you're not, you need to chase down the electrical gremlins causing it. If you are, maybe replacement lenses would be better? Or maybe mode the lights to double or triple load in more LEDs.
 
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BeardedWonder

Lord Nagafen Raider
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I thinks that's my next step, and need to bust out the multimeter and start chasing down ground points.
If new bulbs are still not bright, you may have a partial short or some kind of extra load on the wires to reduce the voltage. I'd suggest hooking up a voltmeter and see if you're getting the full 12v back there. If you're not, you need to chase down the electrical gremlins causing it. If you are, maybe replacement lenses would be better? Or maybe mode the lights to double or triple load in more LEDs.
 

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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Good luck. Nothing makes a person want to kill themselves like trying to find an electrical problem in a car.
 
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BeardedWonder

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Good luck. Nothing makes a person want to kill themselves like trying to find an electrical problem in a car.
There's a company out there that sells complete wiring harness that are made for old school cars. Few hundred bucks and two days of work and I could eliminate the gremlins.

Christine.jpg
 
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Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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Does anyone have any suggestions / experience on old school cars and how to make the tail lights illuminate brighter? Got stopped during the day because the officer told me that he couldn't see my tail lights brighten when making a stop. Changed out the old bulbs and "flasher" to LED tail lights but they don't seem to be brighter during the day.

High on the list would be a ground/lack of ground issue someplace. From super simple to ruper pull all your hair out trying to find it.
 
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BeardedWonder

Lord Nagafen Raider
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High on the list would be a ground/lack of ground issue someplace. From super simple to ruper pull all your hair out trying to find it.
They look fine at night. This pic is just with the running lights on. I'm thinking it was just standard back in the day. I've gotten pulled over twice because of this. Both cops state that the law requires people to see your brake lights, when braking, from 200' away. I proved to them that they work and that my car might be exempt from this because the year of manufacture. Hadn't been ticketed for it yet.
Gal.jpg
 

Szeth

Trakanon Raider
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Anyone have experience talking car salesmen down? I obviously know 99% of what they tell you is bullshit. Looking to get a new Honda, and the guys telling me he can only go about $1000 under the msrp. I'm looking to buy very quickly, and plan to pay it off in 4 years... I want to talk off another $1000 and get all weather mats and remote start. What're the chances I can make that happen?
 

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
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You're already flushing lots of money down the toilet by buying new, but if you're going to do it, it may be worth waiting until the last day of the month. A lot of times they have quotas to earn a bonus from the car company and are willing to sell at a loss to meet them. Then again if they have already met their quota, you're not going to get shit.
 

Szeth

Trakanon Raider
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987
Honda doesn't offer 0% APR at all (allegedly) and they have .9% APR for the next two weeks as a President's Day sale. And yeah I know buying new is throwing away money... but the situation is unique this time around, otherwise I'd run my current Honda into the ground.
 

Cutlery

Kill All the White People
<Gold Donor>
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Not so much a question, but a brag.

I have a 2004 Dodge Ram with 189k miles on it. A couple weeks ago, the rear axle started just roaring, I figured the differential probably went out on it. Brought it to my local shop, they call me back and say "Yep, pinion bearing broken. We're gonna order the rebuild kit for it, and also redo the axle bearings just in case there's anything still floating around in there. It's under warranty of course, so we'll give you a call when it's done."

Lifetime powertrain warranty on '04 Rams. They don't do that anymore. I wonder why :emoji_slight_smile:

IMG_20180209_164952820.jpg
 
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Lanx

Oye Ve
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That only applies to original owner? I assume

Not so much a question, but a brag.

I have a 2004 Dodge Ram with 189k miles on it. A couple weeks ago, the rear axle started just roaring, I figured the differential probably went out on it. Brought it to my local shop, they call me back and say "Yep, pinion bearing broken. We're gonna order the rebuild kit for it, and also redo the axle bearings just in case there's anything still floating around in there. It's under warranty of course, so we'll give you a call when it's done."

Lifetime powertrain warranty on '04 Rams. They don't do that anymore. I wonder why :emoji_slight_smile:
View attachment 161918
 

A5150Ylee

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Not so much a question, but a brag.

I have a 2004 Dodge Ram with 189k miles on it. A couple weeks ago, the rear axle started just roaring, I figured the differential probably went out on it. Brought it to my local shop, they call me back and say "Yep, pinion bearing broken. We're gonna order the rebuild kit for it, and also redo the axle bearings just in case there's anything still floating around in there. It's under warranty of course, so we'll give you a call when it's done."

Lifetime powertrain warranty on '04 Rams. They don't do that anymore. I wonder why :emoji_slight_smile:
View attachment 161918

I got a lifetime warranty on my 2012 Ram. I haven't needed it yet for anything major, but I drive cars until the wheels fall off. I expect them to hate me in the years to come.
 

A5150Ylee

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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I got a lifetime warranty on my 2012 Ram. I haven't needed it yet for anything major, but I drive cars until the wheels fall off. I expect them to hate me in the years to come.

Mine can be transferred one time to a different owner.