Its about 8 yrs old... so no. :-P At least we have a family mechanic who is very honest, problem is getting it to him an hour away. (car is in a garage, not sure how to get it out to tow it) This sucks because I was planning on getting a new car soon (Honda Fit!) and giving my current one to my parents, not quite there yet financially though.
I have yet to check the car myself as well. Do you recommend a set of tests I should perform that would give a better indication of a problem?
The best one is to try and replicate the problem, and observe everything that's going on, that normally gives you some big hints, and look for anything unusual other than the problem that may be related. Also, stand NEXT TO the front of the car, and have Liddi do what she was doing before, see if you can locate the source of the noise, and listen to exactly what type of noise it is beyond a Squeak, that can be informative. Check fluids, particularly the transmission fluid and brake fluid, and of course, look under the car for any leaks or spills. Check the brakes themselves - does the pedal feel right? Does the handbrake feel right? That's all I got off the top of my head without more data.
Sometimes opening the hood and listening to the engine while it's running can help too. Are there unusual rattles? Whines? Can you localize the squeak? Does it last the entire time while you are pressing the accelerator, or does it go away?
Put it in neutral and release the parking brake to see if you can roll it a little bit too.
Each thing will answer a question. Since it's revving, it sounds like the throttle is working OK and the gas lines and spark plugs are alright (if it's fuel injected, the injectors are working too). Rolling will tell you that the brakes aren't seized shut or something.
Grumpy and sick for no reason. Yesterday, I felt perfectly fine all day until I was brushing my teeth and out of nowhere (I didn't hit the back of my throat, I didn't feel ill, nothing), I threw up. Ever since my stomach's been super rocky, and it's hard to keep food down. Feeling awful and not knowing why is consequently making me grumpy. Not to mention I feel stupidly and irrationally emotional, and all I want right now is my best friend but she's two hours away and not able to visit and I've bugged my other best friend way too much already this week or so and feel like a needy jerk. Then I think I'm being dumb for fretting about things too much (and the fact that I should just deal with it because it's not even like there's a problem, I just feel crappy JUST BECAUSE, and bothering people for that is selfish and dumb) and I feel stupid for being emotional and feeling crappy in the first place. /vent, just because I need to get it off my chest.
Alright guys, its official, I'm the dumbest person in the world. I am a perfect example of your stereotypical horrible female driver. x_x
Andrew so cleverly discovered that my parking brake was indeed on. I've never used the dang thing before, so me being a dumbass didn't realize it was up. They must've done it at the shop last night and forgot to put it down, and I didn't notice.
I've never used the dang thing before, so me being a dumbass didn't realize it was up.
Don't do that. If your car is parked, you should have the parking brake on(In fact, you should be putting it on BEFORE you put the car in park), just putting it in park is not enough, and if you're parking on hills, can over time damage the transmission - because the Park gear is basically just a little pin that locks up the transmission called a "Parking Pawl". If you just use that, especially when you're parked on an incline, puts constant stress on the driveline and transmission, and will wear them out much faster. It can also bend the parking pawl, which means that your car will roll when put in park, or it can break it off entirely(if bent enough, or your car is pushed hard enough when in park), at which point you have a chunk of metal floating around in your transmission, which will do it no end of badness.
Sometimes opening the hood and listening to the engine while it's running can help too. Are there unusual rattles? Whines? Can you localize the squeak? Does it last the entire time while you are pressing the accelerator, or does it go away?
While for diagnosising normal sounds this a great suggestion, for the case why isn't my car going THIS IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND SHOULDN"T BE ATTEMPTED. Reason being is you don't wanna be near the car when whatever mysteriously stopped suddenly lets go and you find yourself on the business end of a 3000+lb death sled. Even the most basic car in America generally make 100 kilowatts of power. To put that in perspective a toaster is about 1 kilowatt and you can make yourself plenty dead with one of those.
Not saying don't every try to fix your own car, or chewing you out SquadronROE. But please be careful, cars are extremely dangerous even when stationary.
So, I'm talking with my sister about the cabinet I'm re-finishing, and I say to her about how I've stopped using my powertools on it for the day, because it turns out that while I couldn't see it in the light downstairs, there is actually a not-insignificant amount of smoke coming from my powered scraper, simply because the blade on it is heating up so much trying to cut through 40 year old lead based paint, and whatever other older paint is beneath that, that it's causing the paint to smoke and burn.
And her comment on the issue was "That's stupid, Just deal with it. It's not going to hurt you, it's just some lead paint fumes." Immediately after that - "Don't look at me like I'm an idiot, it's true." And then an angry rant about how much of an arsehole I am, and how she hates me, everybody hates me, nobody likes talking to me, and so on, because I've always got to be right and nobody else is allowed to know anything.
All because I complained that breathing in the fumes off burning lead-based paint might be harmful.
Can someone explain to me how you can possibly be that fucking stupid, and not forget to breathe?
Another favorite quote from her, in response to me saying I'd rather be intelligent than dumb-but-mostly-content - "Well, I think I could solve my problems if I was really smart, but when have you known someone who was smart AND popular?"
Then again, I'm not the nicest person to her all the time, either - I recall once in school, I was asked (as everyone else was over the course of that class) something your family has lead you to believe in, and why you believe it. My answers were "Eugenics" and "Have you met my sister?"
Not saying don't every try to fix your own car, or chewing you out SquadronROE. But please be careful, cars are extremely dangerous even when stationary.
Very good point, that's a very true statement. Personally if I were doing it I'd not be standing in front of the car (I generally stand off to the side), but even that might be dangerous if it's something like a belt that's about to let go.
Anyway, if you're not quite sure what you're doing and basic troubleshooting doesn't lead you to a good answer... get it to a mechanic. I'm all for paying a professional to do it when I'm obviously out of my league.
I already posted this in the Things of your day thread but this is more appropriate. Some asshole hacked the Sesamae Street Youtube Channel, deleted all of the videos and posted a porn video on it. This lead to the channel being deleted. Fail /b/. Fail.
The American Cancer Society refuses half a million dollars from an atheist group. I thought this sounded a little odd, so I did some digging. They claimed that the reason isn't that atheists have cooties, but that they are not a "corporate sponsor" and therefore can not participate on the national level. I thought that was a rational explanation, though a bit stupid. I mean, it's half a million dollars. But then I found out that their explanation was still total bullshit because there are other non-profits with the same classification as the atheist group.
Comments
This sucks because I was planning on getting a new car soon (Honda Fit!) and giving my current one to my parents, not quite there yet financially though.
When I was driving my very old Honda Civic, I had to see my dad's mechanic friend several times to get the thing fixed.
Put it in neutral and release the parking brake to see if you can roll it a little bit too.
Each thing will answer a question. Since it's revving, it sounds like the throttle is working OK and the gas lines and spark plugs are alright (if it's fuel injected, the injectors are working too). Rolling will tell you that the brakes aren't seized shut or something.
Not to mention I feel stupidly and irrationally emotional, and all I want right now is my best friend but she's two hours away and not able to visit and I've bugged my other best friend way too much already this week or so and feel like a needy jerk. Then I think I'm being dumb for fretting about things too much (and the fact that I should just deal with it because it's not even like there's a problem, I just feel crappy JUST BECAUSE, and bothering people for that is selfish and dumb) and I feel stupid for being emotional and feeling crappy in the first place. /vent, just because I need to get it off my chest.
Andrew so cleverly discovered that my parking brake was indeed on. I've never used the dang thing before, so me being a dumbass didn't realize it was up. They must've done it at the shop last night and forgot to put it down, and I didn't notice.
Rym wins the "whats wrong with Lyddi's car" game.
I drive a stick and always use the my e-brake when I turn it off.
Not saying don't every try to fix your own car, or chewing you out SquadronROE. But please be careful, cars are extremely dangerous even when stationary.
And her comment on the issue was "That's stupid, Just deal with it. It's not going to hurt you, it's just some lead paint fumes."
Immediately after that - "Don't look at me like I'm an idiot, it's true."
And then an angry rant about how much of an arsehole I am, and how she hates me, everybody hates me, nobody likes talking to me, and so on, because I've always got to be right and nobody else is allowed to know anything.
All because I complained that breathing in the fumes off burning lead-based paint might be harmful.
Can someone explain to me how you can possibly be that fucking stupid, and not forget to breathe?
Then again, I'm not the nicest person to her all the time, either - I recall once in school, I was asked (as everyone else was over the course of that class) something your family has lead you to believe in, and why you believe it. My answers were "Eugenics" and "Have you met my sister?"
Anyway, if you're not quite sure what you're doing and basic troubleshooting doesn't lead you to a good answer... get it to a mechanic. I'm all for paying a professional to do it when I'm obviously out of my league.
*sigh*