Ask GTP About Your Car Problems/General Questions

Well I just tightened as much as I could, but the car will not crank at all, just keeps clicking.
That sounds more like a dead battery than anything. Although that's kind of weird that it would just die like that...
 
I'm not sure, my lights and electronics all work fine at the moment.
It might have enough juice to turn the lights and all that one but not enough to engage the starter and crank it over.
 
It might have enough juice to turn the lights and all that one but not enough to engage the starter and crank it over.

Jesus, now that I think about it. Since I was throwing water, it could if got on the battery or altenator. Could that have cause a problem?
 
Could have interfered with electronics but most are pretty well covered up. I've pressure washed complete engines before so I'm not sure. Maybe the distributor/coils got wet.
 
Hi guys, I drive a 2001 Mitsubishi Galant (v6, FWD, ~185k miles)

I've been hearing a strange clicking, almost like a faint card in bike spokes type sound. But instead if it being a thift-thift-thift like a card, it's more of a tick-tick-tick. I believe it may be a rock(s), but I want to make sure it isn't something else.

It's been coming from the left front (could be coming from RF too, but I've only actually heard it myself from the LF) off and on for the past couple of days. It only happens when the wheels are in motion, and progressively gets fast as the wheels turn faster, and then stops once it gets past around 30. All the tires are fully inflated, and I just had routine maintenence done on it a few weeks ago.

I've ruled out engine or brakes, as it only happens when the car is in motion, and will still do it while coasting or even going at a slow idle-like speed. And it happens whether or not I'm on or off the brakes.

Also, it is amplified when I turn right (tire is under load) and almost non-existent when I turn left (tire not under load).

I've looked at the tires several times, and dug out any pebbles and debris I could find, but it still persisted. However, on my way back home today, it stopped after taking off from a stoplight and it didn't return.

Again, I believe (and hope) it's just rocks, but with the car having 185k on it and being my first car I've become paranoid about anything that may be wrong.
 
@Bhowe83

Homokinetic joint. One of the ball bearings is dying on you.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constant-velocity_joint
Hmm, I thought it may be the CV Joint too, but I thought CV Joints when going bad predominantly only made noise while turning the wheel. This happens at any steering angle, and if anything lessens when taking slow turns.

Also, after watching some videos on CV Joint failure, the sounds didn't really match up. You can only really here the noise that my car is making if you have the windows down and there is no other ambient sound. My passenger couldn't hear the sound either.


Although if it was a ball bearing dying on me, what would it cost roughly to replace it, and what would the consequences be of not replacing it in the near future?
 
If it is a cv joint the sound will become louder over time.

If one of the joints goes, you have 4 of them, 2 on each axle, you'll end up going nowhere because you will lose all drive to the wheels. The joint themselves aren't all that expensive, but to replace them requires a bit of mechanical skills.
Also you will need to figure out which one it is since there is little point in replacing all 4 when only 1 is dying. If you are lucky you have one where all the grease has come out, which makes it easy to identify it as the culprit.

The cheapest and easiest solution is finding out which side it is and then get a complete axle from the junkyard.
 
If it is a cv joint the sound will become louder over time.

If one of the joints goes, you have 4 of them, 2 on each axle, you'll end up going nowhere because you will lose all drive to the wheels. The joint themselves aren't all that expensive, but to replace them requires a bit of mechanical skills.
Also you will need to figure out which one it is since there is little point in replacing all 4 when only 1 is dying. If you are lucky you have one where all the grease has come out, which makes it easy to identify it as the culprit.

The cheapest and easiest solution is finding out which side it is and then get a complete axle from the junkyard.
Alright, thanks for the help
 
I have quite a bit of vacuum fluid leaking from my rear main valve converter. Can this be replaced without removing the rod bearings from the upper control spindle?
 
Well, since a few days, there is a problem with my car. When I want to accelerate between 1000 and 1750 RPM, which is not a problem with a 3.0L V6 the engine starts to stutter. Once over 2000 RPM, the car accelerates normally. I don't think there is powerloss once over the 2000 RPM.
 
Well, since a few days, there is a problem with my car. When I want to accelerate between 1000 and 1750 RPM, which is not a problem with a 3.0L V6 the engine starts to stutter. Once over 2000 RPM, the car accelerates normally. I don't think there is powerloss once over the 2000 RPM.

What make and year of vehicle ?
Possiblly a simple thing like bad spark plug wire(s), plugs or spark related....hard to say anything without more info. I've had bad wires cause rough low rpm operation before... They would literally glow on the dark where the bad spots were.
 
Ford Mondeo ST220 from 2002. It can't an electrical problem. If it was the motor warning light should come on and it doesn't.
It could be, according to somebody, a dirty gasoline filter. Not sure if this is correcth though.
 
Ford Mondeo ST220 from 2002. It can't an electrical problem. If it was the motor warning light should come on and it doesn't.
It could be, according to somebody, a dirty gasoline filter. Not sure if this is correcth though.
Change it. Worth trying.
 
Next week tuesday.

I met somebody today whose brother buys and sells car - import, export - and his brother is very much interested in my car, probably for import.
 
So, my car does this thing where as I'm driving along, air comes through the vents even when the A/C isn't on. Normally it's a rush of warm air (makes sense since this is Florida in the tail end of summer), but earlier today there was also a very light flow of cool air coming through as well, again without the A/C on. I have a feeling it's not supposed to do that...

The car in question is an '02 PT Cruiser with the 2.4L non-turbo Inline 4. It also only happens when I'm on the highway at 70+ mph.
 
I have a auto question. My grandmother's car is a 1st gen Hyundai Santa Fe. The car wouldn't start & we thought it was the battery, but the battery was tested & it is still good. The lights still turn on. Is it the starter, or something else?
 
I have a auto question. My grandmother's car is a 1st gen Hyundai Santa Fe. The car wouldn't start & we thought it was the battery, but the battery was tested & it is still good. The lights still turn on. Is it the starter, or something else?
That's a very abstract description. Does the it crank?
 
So last week I left the lights on in my car and didn't realize it for two days. When I went to check it, it was completely dead (as you'd expect). My roommate jumped me, I went to the store, everything worked great. I went out to it the next morning, and it wouldn't start again. I still have a couple things I need to check, but is it possible that the battery is on its last legs? It doesn't have enough power to start but can run lights and that sort of thing, it takes off fine with a jump.
 
So, my car does this thing where as I'm driving along, air comes through the vents even when the A/C isn't on. Normally it's a rush of warm air (makes sense since this is Florida in the tail end of summer), but earlier today there was also a very light flow of cool air coming through as well, again without the A/C on. I have a feeling it's not supposed to do that...

The car in question is an '02 PT Cruiser with the 2.4L non-turbo Inline 4. It also only happens when I'm on the highway at 70+ mph.

My car does that as well.
Even with the fan off you can control the temp of air seeping from the vents.

Probably just a ram air thing.
 
So last week I left the lights on in my car and didn't realize it for two days. When I went to check it, it was completely dead (as you'd expect). My roommate jumped me, I went to the store, everything worked great. I went out to it the next morning, and it wouldn't start again. I still have a couple things I need to check, but is it possible that the battery is on its last legs? It doesn't have enough power to start but can run lights and that sort of thing, it takes off fine with a jump.

How long was the vehicle running for (I'm assuming not very long if you just went to a store)? It might be that the battery needs charging if it was heavily drained. You'd need to be driving the car for a sustained period to bring the charge level up to be sufficient for starting just charging on the alternator. Try charging the battery on an external charger.

No, it doesn't try to crank, or even click while trying to start. Lights work, but the car doesn't do anything when trying to start it.

Could be a faulty starter, could also be faulty wiring. Easiest way to find out if it's the starter is remove it and bench test it using a 12V power source.
 
So last week I left the lights on in my car and didn't realize it for two days. When I went to check it, it was completely dead (as you'd expect). My roommate jumped me, I went to the store, everything worked great. I went out to it the next morning, and it wouldn't start again. I still have a couple things I need to check, but is it possible that the battery is on its last legs? It doesn't have enough power to start but can run lights and that sort of thing, it takes off fine with a jump.

Try using an external trickle charger and charge it for a couple of days. DO NOT try leaving the car running and using the alternator to charge the battery as you can risk burning out your alternator. They are only designed to replace power lost at startup or small electrical draw, not to recharge a dead battery.

But if your battery went completely dead, you might need to get a new one. Regular wet cell car batteries pretty much lose their ability to hold a charge when they get below 50% or so.
 
Hi there got a 1995 EG Civic , problem I got at the moment is when i shut engine down and disconnect the key from ignition the rear tail lights still goes on, is it possible brake light switch or just some fuses?
 
Hi there got a 1995 EG Civic , problem I got at the moment is when i shut engine down and disconnect the key from ignition the rear tail lights still goes on, is it possible brake light switch or just some fuses?
If you keep your foot on the pedal the brake lights will light up no matter whether the ignition is on or off. It's a safety thing. If they light up when you're not pressing the brake then the brake light switch would be the first thing to look at.
 
So my Mom's car has been having issues this week. She's got an '04 PT Cruiser turbo.

Just driving along, everything was fine, stopped at a red light. SES light came on and chimed. Light turned green, car didn't want to go. It moved, but would just chug along at 5-10 mph, wouldn't go any higher.

She was about an hour from home so it wasn't towed to our regular mechanic. Car ran fine for them, they weren't able to recreate the chugging/loss of power issue. They were able to scan the car and get the SES codes, there were 3:

P0138 - Bank 1 sensor 2 high voltage
P0175 - High condition
P040 - Cam position sensor circuit failure (code and/or description is probably wrong on this one, I don't have the car so I can't rescan it.)

They didn't know what was wrong and couldn't replicate the problem. Since the car seemed to run fine, my parents picked the car up and drove it back home. Talked to our local mechanic and he said next time it happens to bring it in.

Well my Mom went out the next day and it happened again. Chugging, loss of power. Had it towed to our regular garage this time and now they are trying to replicate the problem but can't. They are working on diagnosing it today.

Any ideas of what can be wrong? I haven't seen the car, only what she told me by phone. Sounds like it is related to O2 sensor/emissions.
 
So my Mom's car has been having issues this week. She's got an '04 PT Cruiser turbo.

Just driving along, everything was fine, stopped at a red light. SES light came on and chimed. Light turned green, car didn't want to go. It moved, but would just chug along at 5-10 mph, wouldn't go any higher.

She was about an hour from home so it wasn't towed to our regular mechanic. Car ran fine for them, they weren't able to recreate the chugging/loss of power issue. They were able to scan the car and get the SES codes, there were 3:

P0138 - Bank 1 sensor 2 high voltage
P0175 - High condition
P040 - Cam position sensor circuit failure (code and/or description is probably wrong on this one, I don't have the car so I can't rescan it.)

They didn't know what was wrong and couldn't replicate the problem. Since the car seemed to run fine, my parents picked the car up and drove it back home. Talked to our local mechanic and he said next time it happens to bring it in.

Well my Mom went out the next day and it happened again. Chugging, loss of power. Had it towed to our regular garage this time and now they are trying to replicate the problem but can't. They are working on diagnosing it today.

Any ideas of what can be wrong? I haven't seen the car, only what she told me by phone. Sounds like it is related to O2 sensor/emissions.
It's not the O2 sensor. The map sensor and PCM on Chryslers use info from O2 sensor 1 for timing and air/fuel mixture. Sensor 2 simply monitors the cat. Honestly it looks like whatever the problem is didn't throw a code at all. The sensors in question need to be checked with a break-out box. The fuel pressure needs checked when the problem is happening, or sortly thereafter to see eliminate the fuel pump as a problem. Which come to think of it, a hot and dying fuel pump will behave exactly as you have described, so that's defninitely a must to check out. It could alos be a faulty map sensor or throttle position sensor. I just woke up so I'm running out of ideas lol, but as a Dodge owner a couple times over I can tell you that this is pretty typical of a 10 year old Chrysler. If it was me the first thing I would check would be that fuel pump. Sometimes they die fast and dramatic, other times not so much. Best of luck and keep us posted, I'm curious as to what the issue ends up to be.
 
Back