I'm awake and pissed off, not a good combo if you have my attention.

[nofi]

drafting does not work unless you are right on the guys rear bumper. i can't imagine my vega going that fast. at the end it used a quart a day! did not burn it or drip it, don't know where it went.

[Pilgrim]

We (The Smokin' Crocs) have a song that includes Volvo's and Subaru's and just about every other major car company. Its called the Door Handle Blues. Its about the 80's Aussie Ford Falcons and how their door handle used to always break.

The Audi type 44 chassis (5000 - 100 - 200 series) were fantastic cars but their front door handles broke a LOT.  The problem was complex lock linkage inside the door.  Resistance built up as the pivot points got dry, resulting in people pulling so hard on the handles that they broke.  The fix was to take off the door panel every 2-3 years and use white lithium or similar to grease each pivot point.  If you did that, you could open the doors with two fingertips and never break a handle.

[Highlander]

Hmm... screwy neutral faults...

I recently changed the radio in my wife's car - all audio died - plugged in the replacement (s/h as she wanted it compatible with the steering wheel switches) and no change - gutted... then she mentioned that the rear drivers side window had also stopped working... did some online searches and it turns out there is a dodgy wiring conduit between the chassis and that door, which causes the radio to lose all four speakers... still got to rewire that area but all I had to do for a "quick-fix" was to "adjust" the flexy conduit...

[patman]

Alrighty...

Speaking of gig-wagons...has anyone found a fix for old aluminum wheels that leak air?  my Saturn aluminum rims are driving me nuts...

[Highlander]

That sounds a bit like the issue with alloys... once the protective coating gives way (chips etc) air seeps out from beneath the chips - strip and re-coat should do it - check out an alloys specialist...

[Pilgrim]

Alrighty...

Speaking of gig-wagons...has anyone found a fix for old aluminum wheels that leak air?  my Saturn aluminum rims are driving me nuts...

1) Clean up the rims so the beads can seal.
2) Replace valves.
3) If no joy, install tubes.

[patman]

had a gas station tear down this particular rim and clean...didn't really do any good.  I was told that tubes were "unsafe", because if they failed, it would be all-at-once, as in a blowout. Odd thing is...it's only the two rims on the driver's side. I had tubes in an old volkswagon, and they seemed to work fine.

[Dave W]

Any update, Scott?

[Pilgrim]

had a gas station tear down this particular rim and clean...didn't really do any good.  I was told that tubes were "unsafe", because if they failed, it would be all-at-once, as in a blowout. Odd thing is...it's only the two rims on the driver's side. I had tubes in an old volkswagon, and they seemed to work fine.

Shoot some slime into that puppy!!

[Rob]

Shoot some slime into that puppy!!

[godofthunder]

  With all that is going on with the family I have had zero time to devote to this. I have been using a borrowed vehicle. Today I need my van to pick up some work so I figured I should take a look under the hood, even though the dealer had it for THREE days and could find nothing wrong.The first thing I check are the battery connections. The grounds is lose........................not just lose but so lose I can pull it right off! f***ing morons and I'm kicking myself for not checking this sooner. Keeping my fingers crossed I have about a hour round trip this afternoon.

Any update, Scott?

[Pilgrim]

my rule for working on vehicles...figure out the simplest thing that could cause the problem and start there. you did good.

[jumbodbassman]

The Audi type 44 chassis (5000 - 100 - 200 series) were fantastic cars but their front door handles broke a LOT.  The problem was complex lock linkage inside the door.  Resistance built up as the pivot points got dry, resulting in people pulling so hard on the handles that they broke.  The fix was to take off the door panel every 2-3 years and use white lithium or similar to grease each pivot point.  If you did that, you could open the doors with two fingertips and never break a handle.

I had an 84 5000 and i can attest to replacing the door handle every 2 years....  window motor lasted not more longer

[jumbodbassman]

The wife has already made this suggestion. To small for my purpose.

tribeca is pretty large.  i fit a lot of stuff,  you just need to plan it out the first few times...

[godofthunder]

 At one point in my life I was a pretty good shade tree mechanic. I worked on my cars when I was a teen. At the old house I had two Farmall H tractors to twist a wrench on. It's rare these days that I look under the hood. Nice to know i haven't lost my touch  

my rule for working on vehicles...figure out the simplest thing that could cause the problem and start there. you did good.