Car problems

[NW-Bound]

I bought a new Chevy in Jan 2, 2020. Just looked up the email sent from Onstar on 12/30/2020. It said the odometer read 3,374. That's 65 miles/week. I am surprised it's that much.

The odometer now read 5,700 mi or so. That includes an 1000-mi round trip to go see my friend in CA a couple of months ago.

 

[Out of Steam]

There are days when I don't drive but not many. I'm still averaging at least 1800 to 2000 miles a month so far this year, unless I'm taking one of my trips out west, then it's much more. Probably not typical for someone in my age group.

I average 1200-1500 miles of driving monthly, though I've driven well over 2000 miles in the past month.

 

[Scuba]

Just a quick update - our mechanic looked at my Lexus briefly this afternoon. No diagnosis yet. He didn’t sound very encouraging about it being a minor issue though. Hopefully we will find out more on Monday.

We decided to wait until the Lexus is diagnosed before we bring the Solara in. We are trying to minimize its use, but can use it sparingly with the “check engine” light on, we hope!

 

[Car-Guy]

Just a quick update - our mechanic looked at my Lexus briefly this afternoon. No diagnosis yet. He didn’t sound very encouraging about it being a minor issue though. Hopefully we will find out more on Monday.

We decided to wait until the Lexus is diagnosed before we bring the Solara in. We are trying to minimize its use, but can use it sparingly with the “check engine” light on, we hope!

Well if the Solara is running and all "seems fine" you "should" be okay. (No unusual noise, normal idle, oil pressure reads okay). I assume you have checked your oil levels and it's not time for an oil change since that will usually turn on a CEL? If all of that is ok, then you might want to clear the CEL code and see if it comes back. I've thrown numerous codes on many cars and just cleared them and "often" (not always) they never come back. I've had pretty good luck with that "BUT" YMMV. Oh, and write down the code for possible future reference for your mechanic.

Sometimes just disconnecting the battery for a minute will clear a code on some models and there are some tricks that can be used on some other models. Best to use a ODBII scanner so you can get the code(s) and clear them without trying that stuff. Scanners are cheap (and easy enough to use that a caveman can do it)

I've heard many auto part dealers will do a free scan check and give you the codes (and suggest what parts to buy but they may not clear the code depending on local laws/practices. Never used that service myself.

PM me if you have specific questions and I'll try to help.

 

[38Chevy454]

You can go to an auto parts store and have the Solara code read, it won't affect anything. Just give you information as to what the check engine light (CEL) is saying is out of spec. Most all CEL are easy to put in a search and find out what it represents. The car's computer is setting the CEL because some parameter is out of normal range. That is what the CEL represents, just an indicator that some sensor or input is not in the normal range it is supposed to be. BTW, many (most??) of the codes are really related to emissions functions, and not a true mechanical problem on your car.

You can still drive the car as needed while the Lexus is getting figured out. The only thing that is bad is if the CEL is flashing, then you should stop driving until you know what it represents. Flashing means a worse issue that could cause damage. Emphasis is on could, so just beware.

 

[Badger]

Just a quick update - our mechanic looked at my Lexus briefly this afternoon. No diagnosis yet. He didn’t sound very encouraging about it being a minor issue though. Hopefully we will find out more on Monday.

We decided to wait until the Lexus is diagnosed before we bring the Solara in. We are trying to minimize its use, but can use it sparingly with the “check engine” light on, we hope!

If you live near an Auto Zone store they have the diagnostic equipment to check your "check engine" light for you for free just like they will check batteries, install windshield wipers and they have even done some other diagnostics for me for free. There is no need to go to the dealer unless there is some kind of proprietary reason (i doubt that for a Solara).

Cheers!

 

[Scuba]

Thanks for the advice on getting to the reason for the CEL. Great information!

 

[ncbill]

Agree that $500 is a crazy price. But it is against code to add a second receptacle to the circuit, those are dedicated to the circuit, as they are expected to use close to full current.

But, you could have a manual switch installed (Double-Pole, Double throw switch or relay), flip it to power the dryer, flip it back to charge the EV - only one on at a time.

Seems one would still need an electrician, unless their dryer is in the garage.

-ERD50

I suspect it's cheaper just to buy the smart plug I posted ($399 on eBay) and skip the electrician.

 

[ncbill]

I don't know why you retirees are in such a hurry to charge your EVs.

Even a 120V wall outlet will get you 4 miles of range per hour. That's almost 100 miles per day.

And we don't drive our cars but once or twice a week, and the trip is only 10-20 miles round trip.

Maybe typical retired people spend more time out on the road than we do.

Even at only 24A (30A dryer outlet @ 80%) the lower-cost EVs (under 250 miles) can be recharged in around 8 hours.

So if you get back home with almost nothing left in the tank your EV can still be fully charged by the next morning.

 

[ERD50]

I suspect it's cheaper just to buy the smart plug I posted ($399 on eBay) and skip the electrician.

But unless your dryer is in the garage, you'll need an electrician anyway, right?

But if the dryer is in the garage, yes, that box is probably cheaper than en electrician time/materials. But my point is, someone probably makes a simpler version of that that's just a user selected switch for fewer $, and no electrician required.

It could even be 'smart' w/o needing to be too fancy. A relay in place of the manual switch, and a current sensor on the dryer side that shuts off the EV side when the dryer current is sensed.

I don't really see the need to get so fancy to try to balance current to the EV, I doubt the dryer is run all that much at the same time the EV needs charging, so trying to optimize that just doesn't seem to gain much in real life.

-ERD50

 

[ocean view]

OP - I know you are concerned about having two cars running reliably, but aren’t you having shoulder surgery in the near future? I don’t think you will be driving for several weeks, if not months. One reliable vehicle should be fine while you recuperate.

 

[Sunset]

...... in January, we spent around $5K on each of our cars to completely rebuild their front ends. It was expensive but we thought we’d be keeping both for a few more years and wanted to avoid buying a car in today’s market.

Now that the Lexus has broken down twice on busy roadways and had to be towed in, we are rethinking whether we should continue to fix a car with 177K miles on it, even though it still looks very nice and until this year, it had no major problems. We’ll see what the new diagnosis is after having to have it towed in again today.

The Solara has only 129K miles, but the Lexus is a nicer car so we had decided we preferred to keep the Lexus if we have to cut down to one car. Good to know the “check engine” light isn’t necessarily an expensive fix. We will get a diagnosis of that next week.

.....

Maybe you are very unlucky, but this makes my alarm bells ring.... what is common for 2 pretty reliable cars to require rebuilding of the front ends
Other than maybe the same repair shop ?

If they are both taken to the same repair place, I'd be looking for a new repair shop.

 

[Scuba]

OP - I know you are concerned about having two cars running reliably, but aren’t you having shoulder surgery in the near future? I don’t think you will be driving for several weeks, if not months. One reliable vehicle should be fine while you recuperate.

Excellent point. I agree. I probably won’t be able to drive for 2-3 months post surgery so we have some time.

 

[Scuba]

Maybe you are very unlucky, but this makes my alarm bells ring.... what is common for 2 pretty reliable cars to require rebuilding of the front ends

Other than maybe the same repair shop ?



If they are both taken to the same repair place, I'd be looking for a new repair shop.

We initially took each car to the dealership to get a diagnosis. Two different dealerships. Then we took the dealer diagnoses to the same independent shop. The Lexus dealer had also recommended a new transmission for my car. Total cost at dealer for new transmission and rebuilt front end was a whopping $15K. Independent shop said no transmission was needed but he agreed the front end was shot and fixed it for $4,500.

The Toyota dealer (different ownership from Lexus dealer) quoted around $6K for DH’s front end repairs and independent shop agreed with diagnosis but did it for around $4K. The Toyota dealership provided excellent videos documenting the various problems with DH’s car.

The reason we took both cars into the dealers for diagnosis in the first place is that we had noticed they were not driving like they should.

We didn’t give the independent shop the cost associated with the estimates, but did give him the diagnoses from the two dealerships.

 

[Scuba]

New update on Lexus - apparently the radiator failed, causing the engine to overheat. All the gauges stopped working so we were not aware it was overheating - there wasn’t any steam coming out of the hood or any other indication except that the A/C wouldn’t blow cold air. Although we didn’t drive it very long in this condition, apparently the length of time we did drive it to attempt to get it into the shop caused one of the valves to fail. The repair recommended is an engine and radiator replacement. Cost will be around $4K. The mechanic said usually the engines he can get have around 80K miles on them so it won’t be new, but should extend the life of the car significantly.

We may still sell the car once it is fixed, but decided to spend the $4K. The alternative is selling a car that doesn’t run to the junkyard or to someone who knows how to do this kind of work, but obviously the price we could get for it would be very low since it doesn’t run without the repair.

Hate to spend another $4K on such an old car, but it will buy us some time to figure this out.

DH bought one of the gadgets recommended in several posts here to figure out why his check engine light is on. It has something to do with air flow to the engine. His air filter is not dirty, has been replaced fairly recently, so may be a sensor that has gone bad. If that’s the case, it shouldn’t be too expensive to fix it. He’s going to talk with the mechanic about this tomorrow.

We have to do about a 450 mile round trip for my shoulder surgery next week, so we need to have reliable transportation for that and given what happened with my car, we aren’t feeling great about driving his car around with several warning lights on - check engine, check VSC, and another one or two signals illuminated on his dash. Hopefully it’s a minor issue that can be repaired this week, or if not, we may rent a car for the trip.

 

[Sunset]

^^^^^^^^^^ Wow.. You folks are really having some terrible luck with your cars.

Rent one for the 450 mile trip.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Agreed, a used engine is probably the way to go. It doesn't take long for an overheated engine to be damaged beyond repair.

As someone who likes to nurse high-mileage cars along, I try to replace radiators every 120K miles or so. You can't trust plastic/aluminum radiators to last the life of a car. New water pump every 60-80k. When those parts fail, they can fail catastrophically.

 

[ncbill]

Agreed, a used engine is probably the way to go. It doesn't take long for an overheated engine to be damaged beyond repair.

As someone who likes to nurse high-mileage cars along, I try to replace radiators every 120K miles or so. You can't trust plastic/aluminum radiators to last the life of a car. New water pump every 60-80k. When those parts fail, they can fail catastrophically.

Cheaper to repair than replace...over the last 3 years I've put $3,000 into an old Camry which was worth only around $1,000 pre-COVID car-craziness.

But for that money got the engine torn apart & most everything replaced under the hood (oil pump, timing belt, water pump, all seals/gaskets/hoses)

Plus a respray (prep & paint) at MAACO to fix the "leper look" of peeling clear coat.

Tip: At MAACO, always get the mid-grade urethane, not the base enamel.

 

[harllee]

Scuba, I would rent a car for your upcoming trip for your surgery-- you don't want to have to stress about your car on the way to the surgery.

 

[Scuba]

I agree 100% about renting a car for my surgery trip. It will be stressful enough without worrying about car problems.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Cheaper to repair than replace...over the last 3 years I've put $3,000 into an old Camry which was worth only around $1,000 pre-COVID car-craziness.

But for that money got the engine torn apart & most everything replaced under the hood (oil pump, timing belt, water pump, all seals/gaskets/hoses)

This car ran hot until it died on the road. We can't diagnose via Internet, but coolant may have contaminated the oil, which means likely bearing damage. Plus possible head damage (warp or crack). I think Scuba's mechanic is probably offering the best option. YMMV.

Edit: This thread prompted me to take a look at the water pump in DW's Prius. It's starting to weep, so I'm ordering a new pump, thermostat and radiator along with other odds and ends.

 

[Scuba]

^^^^^^^^^^ Wow.. You folks are really having some terrible luck with your cars.

Rent one for the 450 mile trip.

Yes we are. I guess that’s what happens when you try to squeeze every last mile out of them. We never realized this before moving here, but we’ve been told that living in the desert where even indoor garages are over 100 degrees for months is hard on cars.

We just didn’t expect problems this early in their lives. Hope DH’s car is a minor fix.

 

[OldShooter]

... it is against code to add a second receptacle to the circuit, those are dedicated to the circuit ...

I don't doubt it but that really wouldn't keep me, DIY, from adding the second receptacle. It's perfectly safe as long as both loads are not active at the same time. For safety's sake I might try both loads and make sure that the breaker pops.

FWIW I have never had an inspector come to the door and announce that he was there to check for code violations. I suppose a very sharp house inspector might spot the issue if we were selling the house, but that is not a worry for me either.

 

[Sunset]

....

FWIW I have never had an inspector come to the door and announce that he was there to check for code violations. I suppose a very sharp house inspector might spot the issue if we were selling the house, but that is not a worry for me either.

When the building inspector came to inspect my water heater install to pass it. He looked around and spotted a tap in a cold water pipe used to give water to the furnace humidifier.
He told me that is not to code, I told him it's original (was) and he let it go but told me to put a proper on in there if I replace it.
Then he turned his head to the rest of the basement, so I quickly asked about the waterheater, and when confirmed it was passed ushered him out of the basement before he found other issues

 

[OldShooter]

... ushered him out of the basement before he found other issues

Yes. Nothing good ever happened to me when I've pulled a permit.