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	1,750 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	10 months
18 badges		location	Cambridge, MA		seen	20 hours ago

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105 Comments

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Nov 16	comment	Low power, bad gas mileage, smelly exhaust after engine work ...so timing belt is currently off 1-2 notches, or was of 1-2 notches and has since been corrected?
Nov 14	comment	Quickly pull key out - weird noise (Golf) When this noise happens, if you do nothing (i.e. don't turn the key to the "on" position) will it go on indefinitely, or does it only happen for a little while? If so, how long? If it's a brief noise, my gut says it's no problem, could be a coolant after-run pump, or part of the anti-shudder system that helps shut off your diesel engine smoothly, or any one of a number of other things,
Nov 14	comment	Hard Start in cold weather temp sensors? Coolant temp, intake air temp if so equipped...maybe you're not getting enough starting enrichment ("choke") because the computer isn't getting the right temperature. This wouldn't explain the hard cranking, but might explain why you have to crank for 3-5 seconds before it fires.
Nov 13	comment	Greater warranty or lower miles? again, i suggest you edit your question to include the year, make, model, and mileage of both cars so that you might get some answers based on experience with those actual vehicles. This is fundamentally a question of risk tolerance--you want a warranty because you don't want to be on the hook if something goes wrong. Well, what's the likelihood that something goes wrong? It depends on the car.
Nov 13	comment	Greater warranty or lower miles? the color seems to be a complicating factor that only you can place a value on. What year, make, model car are we talking about? Some cars are more likely to need work than others. What are the actual (not relative) mileages? A car with 200k miles compared to one with 230k miles is a wash.
Nov 13	comment	How do you remove or even get to the car battery on a 2012 Honda Odyssey? I'm with @SamJones. It is conventional to connect the "good" battery at both terminals, and it definitely helps avoid connection problems, but you should be able to use any suitable grounding point on the "good" car in place of the battery negative post. That's what I'd try first if my car looked like yours.
Nov 8	comment	Alternative to Bajaj Pulsar 180 UG4 stock headlamp Do think about some LED driving lamps. That'd be my first choice--I put them on my motorcycle. Having many lights (headlight plus two driving lights) helps other vehicles see me better, too.
Nov 8	comment	All weather tires vs winter tires on well-plowed roads Having moved from an area with plenty of snow (western New York) to an area with less (Boston), I still switch to dedicated snows in the winter. I have to say, it's very comforting when in traffic in the snow to know that I can stop and turn better than the vehicles around me. Also, I use high-performance summer tires that are downright scary in even a little slush...
Nov 8	comment	How are digital speedometer readings typically calculated? @Anonymous, my experience with VWAG cars (VWs and Audis) is that the analog speedo reads fast, while the digital odometer and trip computer read pretty accurately. Your comments seem right in line with what I see in VWAG vehicles I've driven.
Oct 30	comment	How to save fuel on downhill slopes on a motorcycle: clutch or neutral? -1 your "slightly longer in neutral" statement is based on incorrect information. In neutral the chain (or driveshaft) is still turning (it's connected directly to the wheel), and the transmission is still turning (the clutch decouples the transmission from the engine, not the transmission from the wheel)
Oct 30	comment	How to save fuel on downhill slopes on a motorcycle: clutch or neutral? +1 for "not worth it." It should also be noted that modern fuel injected vehicles (some motorcycles included) shut off the fuel delivery when in "overrun" (i.e. when heading downhill in gear with the throttle closed), so there is no savings to be had by shifting to neutral or pulling in the clutch--in fact, more fuel would be consumed if you did shift in to neutral or pull in the clutch.
Oct 28	comment	Why don't my wipers clean the windshield very well? +1 @mikes. The washer fluid is great stuff.
Oct 26	comment	How to increase braking power in fully loaded Wagon-R I strongly disagree about the true track pads. They should not be used on the street in any circumstance. It's not just the first 10 minutes of driving that can be terrifying, it's any time the pads cool--a few minutes of highway driving with no brake applications would be enough to make them have very little bite. They would then be very dangerous in an emergency. I don't think it's much of a concern for the OP, however, as brake pad selections for the Wagon R may be limited. Others reading this post should be advised, however.
Oct 26	comment	How to increase braking power in fully loaded Wagon-R @Namshum, I'd first look to see if you can swap the rear drum brakes for disc brakes, and see if you can find a slightly wider tire that fits. Also you can look at higher temp brake pad compounds as others have suggested.
Oct 25	comment	How do I find the correct pins in a CAN-BUS connector? if you find anything out, be sure to post your own answer!
Oct 25	comment	How to increase braking power in fully loaded Wagon-R Racing/"high performance" parts are not necessarily appropriate here. High performance summer and high performance all season tires are not appropriate for all road conditions. True track/racing brake pads need to come up to temperature before they develop any "bite", and can be quite terrifying and dangerous when cold, definitely not appropriate for road-going vehicles.
Oct 25	comment	How do I find the correct pins in a CAN-BUS connector? Have you asked over on advrider.com? There may be some GS eggheads that could help.
Oct 24	comment	Mercedes C320 2003 tires & rims @MarkJohnson, it's definitely best not to change the rolling diameter by much, and they generally don't list fitments that do change the diameter significantly, but this is not the sole consideration. There are wider tires that would not result in significant changes to the rolling diameter: 245/40-17 for example is pretty close to 225/45-17, yet no fitments are listed wider than 225. This is why I infer that wider tires, by virtue of being wider, might be a problem for this car.
Oct 22	comment	What Could Cause a Sudden Loud Noise When Driving on Highway? I don't think it's likely to be the source of your noise, but in the frequently helpful spirit of "check the last thing you touched," you may want to look at your power steering fluid level. Low fluid can make for noisy PS systems, and if you just had the system open, it's worth checking. Maybe the system was incompletely bled when you topped up the PS fluid.
Oct 19	comment	Is it better to drive across a speed bump at a right angle or slightly skewed? @RayCheng, good comment. I don't doubt your experience at all. My answer was more targeted at the dynamic effects of going over a bump at speed, where the behavior of the suspension comes into play. If you go over very slowly, these dynamic effects don't come into play--it's pure geometry. If you have a very low car, or a car with a long overhang in the front, the geometry of the car may dictate that the only way you can clear the bump--no matter how slowly you drive--is to drive at an angle, which can effectively decrease the length of the front overhang.