The Automotive Thread

[ptatohed]

I believe the G35 and G37 were available in stick shift (6MT). Is the replacement (Q50, is it?) still offered in stick? What about the Maxima? I know the Maxima SE (and GXE) was offered in stick shift for many generations, but maybe not the current gen? Lastly, isn't the Mazda 6 available in stick?

 

[Just Some Guy P.E.]

Six-speed standard shift IS 250: http://www.carmax.com/enus/view-car/default.html?id=11448838&AVi=0&No=0&Rp=R&D=90&zip=73034&N=4294962903+283&Q=703a76b3-0ba4-44d2-ba5a-63810818a5ff&Ep=search:results:results%20page

My Lexus IS with a 5-speed standard shift:

And inline 6-cylinder:

 

[Supe]

The IS is a little smaller than I had hoped and I wasn't a big fan of the styling. I was not a fan of just about anything in the G37. On paper it seemed good, but I did drive one, and it was a pig. I guess 4200 lbs curb weight will do that to you.

Potato: Trying to avoid another FWD car, of which the Mazda and Maxima are both.

Dex: There are a few I6 RWD cars out there, including BMW's, but they are off my list unless I found the screaminest deal in the world on an M3.

I am staying on the lookout for a decent S4 to look into further, but am about to cut my losses on the manual trans and be on the lookout for a pristine STS-V. Being that wealthy old farts were the primary new owners, there are a number out there that are low miles, sub $20K, not thrashed on, but are all in the Florida Retirement Triangle (i.e. connect the dots between Naples, Orlando, Tampa.) As much as I LOATHE not having a manual, I do sit in an hour+ of bumper to bumper traffic every day.

 

[knight1fox3]

+1 for the G35. That's what I drive and really like it.

 

[Road Guy]

So dumb question......

Been running the ac in the car all day... What's a "normal" amount of condensation to drip from the car?

Been running all day and it's a steady drip. It's cold water so I am assuming it's from the condenser...

I don't recall running the ac that much last year so I honestly don't really know??(this car)

Sometimes I hate owning fucking old cars...

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

with as wet as it's been here lately, I'm not surprised on the condensation.

 

[Supe]

It's not uncommon to have a small pool/lake under the car on hot/humid days.

 

[jeb6294]

I've had giant puddles under my truck the last few days since it's been so humid. I was putting new side steps on over the weekend and checked just to make sure and it was plain ol' water. Should be the only place that you'd get water from a car is A/C condensation. Everything else is a specific color.

 

[Road Guy]

Yeah I guess that's what it was, it was just really weird because it look like a steady stream of water for about 15 minutes

I am probably just paranoid because I'm driving the old beast up to Yellowstone and Montana in a couple weeks

 

[Flyer_PE]

^My previous truck ('99 GMC Sierra) would dump a hell of a lot of water from the AC on humid days. I wondered if it was something goofy with the routing of the drain line that caused to have that much water drain out of the system after it was parked.

 

[csb]

Yeah I guess that's what it was, it was just really weird because it look like a steady stream of water for about 15 minutes

I am probably just paranoid because I'm driving the old beast up to Yellowstone and Montana in a couple weeks

If you need a AAAPlus tow, I know a number you could use.

 

[Road Guy]

I was assuming you would just come get us?

 

[knight1fox3]

I was assuming you would just come get us?

As long as she brings that bike trailer. What's the weight limit on that again?

 

[csb]

70 pounds

 

[MetsFan]

You would think as an engineer I would know not to put metal caps on metal valve stems... The Touareg told me the tire pressure was low on one of the tires this morning. When I went to take off the cap, it wouldn't budge. I went to grab some pliers and still no dice. Now I'm going to have to resort to other means of taking them off. Hopefully, I won't have to shell out $$$ for four new TPMS.

 

[Supe]

You would think as an engineer I would know not to put metal caps on metal valve stems... The Touareg told me the tire pressure was low on one of the tires this morning. When I went to take off the cap, it wouldn't budge. I went to grab some pliers and still no dice. Now I'm going to have to resort to other means of taking them off. Hopefully, I won't have to shell out $$$ for four new TPMS.

Spray some penetrating oil around the cap, let it soak for a few hours, and take a propane torch and slowly start heating up the cap (just sort of wick the flame onto it every few seconds). It should break free with a twist at that point. You can wrap a wet rag around the valve stem if you're worried about it. I've had to do that once or twice since NHRA mandates metal valve stems/caps on the drag cars.

 

[MetsFan]

You would think as an engineer I would know not to put metal caps on metal valve stems... The Touareg told me the tire pressure was low on one of the tires this morning. When I went to take off the cap, it wouldn't budge. I went to grab some pliers and still no dice. Now I'm going to have to resort to other means of taking them off. Hopefully, I won't have to shell out $$$ for four new TPMS.

Spray some penetrating oil around the cap, let it soak for a few hours, and take a propane torch and slowly start heating up the cap (just sort of wick the flame onto it every few seconds). It should break free with a twist at that point. You can wrap a wet rag around the valve stem if you're worried about it. I've had to do that once or twice since NHRA mandates metal valve stems/caps on the drag cars.

Thanks man, I'll give that a shot tonight if I have time.

 

[MetsFan]

We'll I didn't get a chance to borrow my buddy's torch, so I figured I would try to go slowly after letting them soak for a few hours. I got three out with no problems and then on the last one I started hearing air come out. F... I snapped the threads off the stem along with the seal.

I ended up calling AAA to help me put the spare on. I guess I'm lucky I only snapped one of them.

In other news, the adaptive cornering lights on the bimmer failed. What a crappy car day.

 

[Supe]

We'll I didn't get a chance to borrow my buddy's torch, so I figured I would try to go slowly after letting them soak for a few hours. I got three out with no problems and then on the last one I started hearing air come out. F... I snapped the threads off the stem along with the seal.

I ended up calling AAA to help me put the spare on. I guess I'm lucky I only snapped one of them.

In other news, something on the bimmer failed. What a typical day in the life of a BMW owner.

Fixed.

Sorry to hear about both, though. Hopefully you have one of the normal TPMS sensors that can go on any of the four corners, not one of the retarded ones that have to be individually synched. I have a bad TPMS on at least one of my front tires that needs fixed before my next inspection.

In other news, my POS Saturn is a bigger POS than even I had imagined. They put these little plastic covers over the roof rack mounts, which are recessed into the roof. Those broke off after being embrittled by the sun years ago, and are removed entirely if you use a rack. Well, I just realized driving home yesterday as I looked up at my headliner - they're not sealed even in the folds of the sheet metal where they recess. End result? Water-stained headliner below all four of the damned things.

 

[P-E]

We'll I didn't get a chance to borrow my buddy's torch, so I figured I would try to go slowly after letting them soak for a few hours. I got three out with no problems and then on the last one I started hearing air come out. F... I snapped the threads off the stem along with the seal.

I ended up calling AAA to help me put the spare on. I guess I'm lucky I only snapped one of them.

In other news, something on the bimmer failed. What a typical day in the life of a BMW owner.

Fixed.

Sorry to hear about both, though. Hopefully you have one of the normal TPMS sensors that can go on any of the four corners, not one of the retarded ones that have to be individually synched. I have a bad TPMS on at least one of my front tires that needs fixed before my next inspection.

In other news, my POS Saturn is a bigger POS than even I had imagined. They put these little plastic covers over the roof rack mounts, which are recessed into the roof. Those broke off after being embrittled by the sun years ago, and are removed entirely if you use a rack. Well, I just realized driving home yesterday as I looked up at my headliner - they're not sealed even in the folds of the sheet metal where they recess. End result? Water-stained headliner below all four of the damned things.

Bad car no donut