The "Ask a Mechanic" Thread (merged)

[landrydirty30skins]

Depends on the car. Me personally, I don't like to go over 5k even with synthetic but I know many manufacturerer's specify much higher mileage intervals nowadays. Depends a lot on the driving, too. The more stop and go/short trips and dusty roads you drive on, the better it is to change it sooner. If you don't have particularly harsh commuting habits then I'd just go by the manufacturer recommendations. I still use dino oil in all my cars and change every 2-3k miles. I would say 5k is a good number for quality synthetics like Mobil1.

agreed. 5k is plenty good. Mobil 1 is the best, just try and stay close to your dealers mileage interval for oil changes because thats where they will bite you if your nowhere close to what they say, and when it comes to your engine, theres no such thing as overkill

[RememberOsaka]

you could take your Lexus to a Toyota Dealer. They do the same work

Do you know what the cost difference is?

[landrydirty30skins]

Do you know what the cost difference is?

it will pretty much be the same since they are made by the same ppl

[skinfan2k]

Do you know what the cost difference is?

I take my lexus to Toyota of Bowie and the premium oil change is 49.95 compared to Lexus of Silver Spring which is about $110!

[KAOSkins]

I got a rear view mirror emergency. Got my windshield replaced about a month ago and of course they had to reglue the rear view mirror. Woke up this morning to start packing for a road trip to Durango, CO and there was my mirror on the floor. The monsoon has started so it's been humid the last few days and I figure that's probably why it waited until such an opportune time to fall off. How can I reattach it without having to wait the day or so for it set before driving? I don't like the idea of having to go on an 8 hour trip without it so I would be up for a solution that might be more permanent than you would want if you had more time. I don't figure superglue would work but does anybody think some sort of epoxy might do? Thanks!

[twa]

most parts stores sell a little pack of mirror adhesive ....10 minute job if that(60 sec bond)
you will need a razor blade and a clean rag

[sideshow24]

I got a rear view mirror emergency. Got my windshield replaced about a month ago and of course they had to reglue the rear view mirror. Woke up this morning to start packing for a road trip to Durango, CO and there was my mirror on the floor. The monsoon has started so it's been humid the last few days and I figure that's probably why it waited until such an opportune time to fall off. How can I reattach it without having to wait the day or so for it set before driving? I don't like the idea of having to go on an 8 hour trip without it so I would be up for a solution that might be more permanent than you would want if you had more time. I don't figure superglue would work but does anybody think some sort of epoxy might do? Thanks!

Went the superglue route, don't do it because it will just fall off again. Hit the auto parts store and get the adhesive made just for rear view mirrors. Mine came with a little vial of surface cleaner(probably just denatured alcohol). It only takes a few minutes to do and you are ready to drive away. So long as you don't pull on it (that's what she said) within about half hour you'll be good to go for the long haul.

[KAOSkins]

Autozone on my way out of town then, thanks guys.

[skinfan2k]

Hey Springfield, do you still work at your shop? Could i bring my car to Springfield lol?

So how much would it cost to get brake service done along with Replace Brake Shoes/Turn Drums?

[SpringfieldSkins]

question for the mechanics

why wont a brake caliper installed on the wrong side work easily despite fitting and functioning the same as the other? (yes another DIY customer screwup)
add

where is Springfields?.....married life is interfering with taking care of business

Brake calipers won't work on the wrong side because of where the bleeder valve is positioned. Calipers come with no brake fluid in them (as I'm sure you're aware) and when you install the calipers you need to purge all of the air from the brake caliper. This is known as bleeding. Bleeder valves on all calipers are located on the top of the caliper. The reason being that air rises and brake fluid (or anything heavier than air) sinks.

If you install a caliper on the wrong side, you get a bleeder valve that is located on the bottom of the caliper. Thus you can't possibly purge all of the air from the caliper. What this means is that there will be air in the hydraulic system of the brakes and you'll have a soft brake pedal or (more likely) a brake pedal that fades all the way to the floor.

Thus, all brake calipers are designed with a left and right side. Most of the time they will look exactly identical otherwise.


Sorry for my absence.

---------- Post added July-11th-2011 at 09:31 PM ----------

What oil change interval would you recommend for Mobile 1 ?

I think that I had a long explanation about oil very early in this thread.

In a normally operating engine, my opinion is that fully synthetic oil can go 7,500 miles (and likely more). That said, I own a car that has a "maintenance minder". It's a Honda and as all new Honda's are they track "oil life" as a percentage. When the minder is reset, oil life is at 100% and goes down to 0% with a "maintenance required" light coming on at 15% oil life remaining. At that point there is some sort of factory recommended service due (depending on what interval it's at). The oil life is calculated based on several things like engine rotations, operating temperature, speed of vehicle and such.

My oil life typically goes from 100% to 15% in about 4,500 miles. I use fully synthetic oil and change it when the "maintenance required" light comes on. As somebody else said, better safe than sorry. Plus, I would call the use of my vehicle extreme. My drive to work (when I drive instead of walk) is 1 mile, meaning my engine doesn't often get up to operating temperature. I figure it's better to use a fully synthetic oil with shorter intervals considering the type of wear I put on it.

[twa]

Welcome back

how do ya get the wrong caliper to work anyway?

[SpringfieldSkins]

Welcome back

how do ya get the wrong caliper to work anyway?

Take it back to the store and get the correct one?

[twa]

Take it back to the store and get the correct one?

spoken like a true mechanic
but in a emergency flip it over and gravity bleed it

[IONTOP]

Alright, quoting from my other forum because I'm not sure if I'll get a reply:

Bought this car in February, it's a 97 540i in case you missed it in the thread title. And been having the rough idle/backfiring/dumping fuel/no acceleration issue that a lot of people had. Talked to one guy who said he's assuming it's a intake backplate issue (before I got the codes read, just describing my symptoms), so I took it to Autozone to get the codes read and luckily they only found 19.... A couple duplicates, so we'll call it about 13 original problems. They are:

P0135 - Heated O2 sensor, bank 1 sensor 1, sensor heater circuit
P0150 - Heated O2 sensor, bank 2 sensor 1 sensor range/performance condition
P0155 - Heated O2 sensor, bank 2 sensor 1, sensor heater circuit
P0156 - you get the idea, Bank 2 sensor 2
P0300 - Random misfires
P0304-P0308 - Misfires in said cylinders (4-8)
P1174 - Fuel trim adaptation additive bank 1 malfunction
P1186-87 - Sensor heater control circuit

I'm starting to think I have an O2 sensor screwing things up. Although for some reason I'm still skeptical. /sarcasm.

A couple questions about this though:
Could I replace the front sensors and possibly salvage the back ones?
Could I still have a clogged cat and that would possibly be causing these symptoms rather than the O2 sensors (I don't think it's the case given the front O2 sensors are obviously bad)?
Is my car possibly possessed by ghosts or evil GM/Mopar/Ford spirits?
Could it still be the intake backplate as suggested by my first source?

This is my first foreign car I've owned, and obviously the first problems I've had with a foreign car. But I know that on my last car forum any problem I had was typical and easily diagnosed. Also never had a O2 sensor problem (thankfully) so I don't exactly know the symptoms well, although I have had a Cat problem before so I know their kind of the same symptoms (IIRC)

Some other more in depth symptoms:
Upon Cold start:
Reduced gas mileage
Backfiring
Non Responsive accelerator pedal
Super Rich smelling exhaust
Rough idle (Between 750 and 250 bouncing)

During regular driving:
Reduced gas mileage (Drove from Ft. Myers, FL to Greensboro, NC and got 22-23 mpg straight highway, literally came to 5 stoplights my whole trip)
A somewhat of a "rolling vibration" like you can predict the vibration coming, which would be non-existent for 1 second be 50% for a second and full on for a second. I'd best put it as, driving at 5mph on tires that are half filled with concrete while going over the rumble strips on the side of the highway.

Any help would be much appreciated, and also if someone could let me know about what differences I need to know about the year models of E39's AKA I saw 97 and 98 were in one category (albiet for key ordering) and then 99's and up were another category.

And I have 2 choices in who to fix it: A BMW mechanic who is willing to fix it at his house for a substantial discount or a 43 year vet mechanic that is retired and hangs out at Autozone and was recommended by their employees because he's worked on just about all of their cars... The retired person said he'd charge me $30/O2 sensor replaced, which I feel is a really good deal. Seeing as to how I may just have to replace 2, and he lives 2 miles from my house rather than 25. The BMW mechanic seems like he'd do the same, but would be able to diagnose car specific problems better.

[twa]

I would think your o2 issues are a symptom rather than the problem,I'd suggest the BMW mechanic

or an exorcist

should be able to test the plate by spraying carb cleaner or starting fluid on it while running,if the idle changes you have a leak.....naturally this is flammable,so caution should be exercised