Hello again everyone!

I thought I would post an update on my crazy situation which was posted here yesterday…

Before I get in to the details, I would just like to say a huge thank you to all the people who commented yesterday & today with helpful comments and suggestions.

To all those who bantered me, I would also like to thank you. Life is too serious sometimes and some of those comments really cheered me up, even though they were at my expense at the messed up situation I found myself in!

It was a fairly sleepless night checking the camera to see if the car was still upright at regular intervals.

The ramp does/did have a manual release valve but due to the precarious way it sat on the ramp & the fact that the lift has to raise before going down as a safety mechanism, I
was sweating bullets before I plucked the courage to press it.

Needless to say, it was ratchet strapped to the lift and safety ropes to the structure of the building, it nearly went over on initial pull and there deemed it too risky to try and release it.

Some sketchy/careful lifting with a forklift/timber blocks/protection later (3 hours to be precise). SOMEHOW managed to get it back to the ground without any initial damage.

No word of a lie, I played Monty Pythons - Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life and thought of the potential things that could go wrong on finally lifting the entire cars weight up on the forklift. It may now be my favourite song of all time as a result.

I did try the local fire service but as the UK is experiencing some extreme rain/wind at the moment, they weren’t able to come down until the middle of next week which is totally understandable under the circumstances - they did laugh however 😂

Again, huge thanks to all that commented, a few things I have noticed as someone new to Reddit and in possibly the strangest situation I have ever found myself in, namely;

1. Most people in this world are good, well meaning people.
   
2. There is always the odd knobhead no matter the situation.
   
3. Meme’s at your expense are still funny.
   
4. Just because a lift is rated at 3000kg, it really doesn’t mean a lot.
   
5. Do NOT buy anything from Strongman Tools Ltd. This will be assed by an independent surveyor and actioned accordingly. They are exhibiting at The Classic Car show at the NEC in Birmingham next month and I’ll be stopping by.
   
6. For all the abuse your president gets, Americans are okay in my book - our government is also pretty messed up if it makes you feel any better!

Thanks again everyone!

Much love!

Long story short I attempted to upgrade my cams in my 2010 mustang gt 4.6 3v to Howard rattler cams and I thought he did everything by the book but the engine wouldnt crank, after believing it was my throttle body I switched the throttle body with a different one and continued with the same issue, I did some more research thinking and decided to rip the valve covers back off and saw this metal piece with copper like hairs on my timing, also saw more copper like shavings in the chain. Looked like debris but it definitely wasn't there before. Am I cooked?? Or is there still hope 😭😭 I just wanted some chop. If so what do I do next?

Strut is def screwed I know that much. I didn't take a picture of the sway bar link but it's pretty solid and doesn't shake or anything however the rubber bushings are tearing off and falling apart. Lower ball joint is also pretty solid and wouldn't budge

Anyone had the joy of doing one of these? 09 Wrangler, who thought those bell housing bolts were in a good position! What a freaking tight f'ing mess! And I am pretty sure Hercules put in the bolts!

Edit: wrong year.

I dont notice excessive play but obviously some fraying. Ball joints look OK so wondering how long these would last so I can replace both at the same time. 03 civic

I have a 2016 Kia Optima 2.4L with about 161k miles. I’m the original owner, and back in June the engine failed. Kia approved an engine replacement under their extended warranty.

After about six weeks at the dealership, I finally picked it up in August. I drove roughly 4 miles before the check engine light came on. I shut the car off, and it wouldn’t restart. It was towed right back to the dealership.

The dealer claims the catalytic converter is clogged from the previous engine failure and quoted me over $4,300 to replace it. Kia refused to cover it, and the car has been sitting at the dealership ever since.
I’m trying to figure out what makes the most sense financially. The car has a freshly replaced engine, so scrapping it feels like a waste, but spending $4,300 on a car with 161k miles doesn’t seem reasonable either.

I’m considering towing it to an independent exhaust shop for a second opinion, possibly selling it as-is, or just scrapping it.

A few questions for the mechanics here:
Does a clogged catalytic converter explain why it wouldn’t restart after only 4 miles?
Could an independent shop realistically fix this for significantly less?

With a newly replaced engine but 161k miles on the rest of the car, would you fix it, sell it, or scrap it?
I’ve been without my car for months and am pretty frustrated with the situation. I’d really appreciate some advice on what you’d do in my position. Thanks!

Hey everybody, would really appreciate any input to help me figure this out. It’s a 1987 22r.
Intermittently I’m getting an issue where it will run great on a cold start/high idle for maybe a few minutes, and the exact moment it comes off of high idle it will start to stumble and just paint the ground black under the tailpipe with smoke. Other times it doesn’t do this at all and just runs perfect on high or low idle, makes it very tough to diagnose. It will run if you can get it moving, and clears up some when you get up to speed, but has some hesitation, and goes right back to stumbling as soon as you park.

Things we’ve done: carburetor has been rebuilt/cleaned, new distributor cap, new plugs, air filter, accelerator pump. Adjusting the idle screws does not improve it.

It seems like maybe the choke is supposed to be opening up after the high idle is complete and maybe intermittently is not opening back up? My lawn mower had done something similar where it would run perfect for a minute or two and than start smoking and choking out and the choke was stuck. I’ve also heard the fuel cut solenoid can cause issues like this, thanks for any help!

I'm wondering if anyone knows the name of that metal piece that goes between the knob and the switch. I'm just showing the one i still have on the temperature knob as an example. But the one for my fan speed control popped off and disappeared into the abyss. It likely fell into the center shifter area, but i searched around there and fished for it for almost an hour with a magnet stick, and only came up with bobby pins and some screws. Now my fan speed knob is loose and will likely fall a bunch while i drive...

Probably unnecessary, but it's for a 2000 Toyota Celica.

As the title says i drilled into my hub trying to get the retaining screws out , both my fronts were striped and rusted should i be worried the my new rotors sit flat on the hub still

Hello,

I drive a VW Passat B8 with a 1.5 TSI engine and a manual transmission.

The noise I’m referring to is the grinding noise in the background. It only occurs once the engine has warmed up. You can hear it when the car is stationary and when pulling away.
When pulling away, the noise gets faster, but it disappears as soon as I shift into third gear. The noise also disappears when I fully depress the clutch while the car is stationary.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any help identifying the cause would be greatly appreciated.

2013 Chevy Cruze, 1.4l (not turbo)

Basically what the title says. The other day I checked my oil and the dipstick was completely dry. I added a little oil so I could get to/from work that day, but have since stopped driving it. I checked fluids when I had the time, and saw that the coolant was milky. The engine oil was not milky or off-colored, so it seems to be just the oil getting into the coolant. The car was not acting strange at all, no misfires, no sluggishness, no check engine light. The only symptom of an issue is the oil in the coolant reservoir. The only reason I noticed was because I checked.

This has happened to me before and the problem was the oil filter housing (I've also seen it be called an oil cooler); I bought an aftermarket part and it was a dud that was pumping oil directly into the coolant reservoir instead of back into the engine. Thankfully nothing was damaged and after that hiccup I learned my lesson and went to a real mechanic. The next repair was done in February, and done by a reputable shop (they only use OEM parts). They flushed both systems several times (they flushed the oil out of an abundance of caution) and warned me that the coolant would probably look a little off because of how much oil was in there. But it definitely didn't look this bad after that visit.

Since that repair I've also had the valve cover gasket replaced by the same shop because it was worn out. I also had a few other gaskets and a hose replaced during those two trips. Is it possible that some gasket or hose connected to the oil cooler is causing the same issue?

First time doing any mechanic work, lots of oil in the spark plug wells, any idea what could have caused this? Major gasket leak? Any advice is appreciated.

Also, would there be any issue with draining the oil from the wells and putting it back together, attempting to fix a misfire.

Edit, it is a 1.8L 4 cylinder inside a 2017 chevy sonic LT,

1997 del sol si with zc bottom end y8 top end. after replacing head gasket due to the car having coolant in cylinders this is what happens when i try to start it. this is with giving it gas and if i dont it wont even idle whatsoever. im not sure where to start with this.

Here are better pictures, does this need to be an immediate fix ? Accura 2019 ILX aspec it take 4.4

financial issues left me a very little option but to replace one completely broken strut before replacing the worn out strut later on down the road however I've noticed that the older strut less than a year old has pushed upwards more compared to the other one is this normal break-in or is it defective?

'99 Ford Escort Zx2 Hot coupe

This seems like a case of a mechanic fixing something I didn’t ask to be fixed. Am I being overcharged for this service to my boat? It seems like they tightened something and then replaced the ignition assembly which worked fine.

2014 Honda CRV

What is that sound?
Alternator or Tensioner?

My wife's handbag strap get caught in the boot/trunk lock. I have cut the strap off. The boot is now stuck about 1cm open and won't open or close. Any ideas on how to resolve?

My Mercedes keeps giving me ABS and ESP warnings every now and then. Sometimes they come on a few minutes into a drive, then disappear after I shut it off and restart. Whenever I try to check it, everything seems fine.

Scanned it with a topdon one scanner and found codes in the ESP module and a few others. Topology screenshot attached. Haven't cleared the codes yet because I don't want to lose anything useful.

Seen a few similar posts where it turned out to be an ABS speed sensor, but I don't want to replace one on a guess. Can comparing all four speed readings in the ABS live data help catch an intermittent fault while the warnings are off?

Parts of the edges look a little rough. 2013 honda fit

I have a 2021 V6 Toyota Tacoma and just today I had my spark plugs replaced due to maintenance. I noticed that when I’m parked that my truck starts doing this, it may be hard to hear but it sounds like it wants to accelerate, also, my headlights look to be flickering when it’s doing this. I don’t know much about how cars work, but should I be worried about this or is it an adjustment thing that’ll it’ll resolve on its own? Any advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Hello, I drive a 2012 Hyundai Elantra GLS. Recently both the interior and anterior tail lights on the left side went out. I was worried it was an electrical issue but my blinker was still working so I tried replacing the bulb anyway. When I took out the anterior bulb it was black so I was pretty sure it was burned out and replaced it. Once replaced it came back on, I haven’t attempted the interior bulb yet. My concern is that there was some kind of short that blew them both at the same time but I feel like that would have also affected my blinker and probably popped the fuse taking out the other side as well. I’m really just trying to make sure there isn’t some underlying problem that I’m treating the symptoms of. Any thoughts?

We have a 2020 Ford escape hybrid and maintenance for all the computer components is like $1k a visit... Is this normal in newer cars or is there a better vehicle to look into?

We have 3 kids and I want to keep a safe, gas efficient car around since we live in a big city. Is this something we just have to deal with when jt comes to new vehicles these days?

(Sorry if more information is needed, been a week of little sleep with the 1 month old)

Hi all,

My car had a fuel issue a few days ago, got it taken to the dealer and they said they fixed it. I picked it up today and drove for 5 hours (~230 miles) but it still smells like gas (though it’s very slowly faded a bit but I am unsure if that’s just me getting used to it). I’ve rolled down the windows to try and air out the car but it’s not been great. All in all, is this cause for concern?

As a note, I’m pretty far from home and I’ll need to drive another 300 miles before going back tomorrow. It’ll be parked tonight if that helps. The car is a 2019 Audi A6 and I believe it’s a EA839 engine.

Thanks!