2001 Ford F-150 5.4L 4WD

Came to reddit because I haven't dealt with this issue before. Initial issue was humming/whirring that I can hear at all speeds but increases in loudness and frequency at highway speeds. Initially suspected bearings, but there doesn't seem to be any play in any of them.

Then I noticed drive shaft ujoints had play, so replaced those today. Lower speed noise is better but still there. I decided to jack up the rear end and put her in drive, and there is definitely some vibration after giving it a little gas, but I noticed both wheels move up and down in their revolution. Does that mean my diff is bad? Thanks for the help.

I have a 2016 Ford Focus ST with ~75,000 miles and the brakes just started squealing. Only at low speed and mostly on cold start, but pretty loud. I have purchased new pads and rotors but when I went to replace them today, the brakes looked pretty fine still? 5mm+ of pad material, but rotors look a bit scored and shiny. Are these ready for replacement (or past) or do I still have some life in them? TYIA

Edit: thanks all! I'll dig back in there in a couple days and report back on inner pad thicknesses and pin stiction

Golf Mk4 gti 2001
My best friends son lent me his spare car that he’s been fixing up because he’s lovely and my own car has broke down…but the second I put the key in the door I’ve broken it…
Steps I took:
-pressed key button to unlock car
-passenger door would not open
-I used key stick in drivers door to unlock car again
-I get in car and open passenger door from inside
-alarm goes off
-I turn alarm off with key button
-key in ignition and immobiliser stopping car turning on. (Immobiliser with flashing key symbol)

We’ve tried lots of things this evening but no luck. Only one set of key.
Any and all ideas appreciated!

Edit to say: the dashboard says ‘immobiliser’ every time. And have given it loads of gas.

Anyone know what this noise is? Found an old post on here with the same exact noise, someone said it could be alternator, power steering pump, or a pulley about to go bad, i know my belt tensioner needs replaced but hoping someone could narrow it down for me?

2004 Tacoma Prerunner 3.4L V6 extended cab

My inner tie rods won’t come off my steering rack shaft on both sides, there isn’t a lock washer behind the tie rod so I’m guessing it’s just cranked on with hella locktite. I’ve sprayed penetrants, I’ve wrenched it with all my fuckin might which really torqued the whole steering rack. I rented the green pipe tool from Oreilly’s and tried a breaker bar to a point, hooked it up to a 60v Dewalt impact and it started to tear into the Oreilly’s tool. I don’t really know what else to try, I don’t want to use heat yet because if that doesn’t work I just boiled my grease.

Hi all,

I have a 2018 Toyota Camry 4-cyl 2.5 L. The check engine might came on yesterday for a little while and then went off. Took it to the parts store to have it scanned and they came back with P26CB for the engine coolant pump. Later, I looked under the hood and noticed that the cap has this hole in it and the fluid looks low. That cap should not look like that, correct? Is that normal wear? I’m assuming I need to find this part and replace it. And lastly, where should the fluid level sit when the car is cold and I think this looks to be the correct type to buy? Thanks for reading and any feedback you can provide.

Hi ! This is a long story, I’m writing this to make the right decision regarding a serious repair on a car that’s been dragging for more than 3 months at a mechanic.
My Toyota landcruiser 90s series from 1999( engine 5VZFe) apparently has a low compression cylinder caused by a burnt valve according to my mechanic.

The issue is, that mechanic towed my car to his shop in JUNE, on my call, as he had good reviews on google and my car needed a critical fix. He gave me an approx price range and repair time, and at first, as it’s a big expensive intervention, I took some time to think it through.
We agreed on starting the repairs in July and I specified that it was my only vehicle and I needed it fixed asap, still understanding it’s a big repair so I was okay with the time he needed to to it right.

Well, I waited for more than a month, called on September 1st to have news and been told the car would be ready the following week. I was thrilled. And very quickly disappointed when 2 weeks passed and not a single call or follow up whatsoever. Called again, it’ll be ready next week. And I am now in this never ending loop of not getting any follow up or exact quote for the repair and being told it’s almost done week after week.

It is now mid October, I paid a visit to the shop and the mechanic told me my car was all put back together and he was “just” waiting for the new head gasket to finish it
??? And I saw my car in the parking lot with every piece put back in and I don’t know what to think, it does not add up and the car just seems untouched and rotting in the parking lot…
When I confronted him on the delays, he told me I was too hesitant at first (reminder, still gave my go since JULY) and that he put 4 more projects before me by the time I made my decision and that was why I had to wait… all while never calling or updating me on anything (I always had to call myself to get expedited updates and “it’ll be ready next week”).

All this to say, I don’t know if I’m at right to call for “unreasonable time” under the Queensland law and take my car to another shop and not pay anything to this mechanic as he seems to not be doing anything and lying about working on it from the start ? Or is it normal and expected for a big repair like that ? Also I am working FiFo so only in town one week per month and 1h30 from the shop without a car, that’s why it is not easy for me to visit in person, but still I did it twice since all this started…

Any advice would be much much appreciated 🙏

I just followed the instructions step by step and it looks good. But nothing is working here! No light, no vibrations, no sound. What did I do wrong? I even moved the small red botton far right corner and it is not reacting at all

So I was driving and stopped in traffic when all of a sudden to engage the clutch for first gear it fell down to the ground so I cruised all the way home when I tried to engage the clutch again it did into second gear but the pedal to the ground basically and then when I got home I saw my brake fluid was very low so I topped it off and when I put it in reverse gear the pedal fell all the way down and was stuck and saw it was leaking fluid below any ideas ?

I want to try and fix this myself but it'll be a few weeks until I can dedicate a weekend to it. In the meantime, is it OK to just periodically top off the coolant in the reservoir when I notice it low? I get a few drips under my car each time it's parked but no overheating at all.

Only drive about 10 miles a day, all side streets no freeways.

To be fair, the entire vehicle is a massive pile of garbage already, and not worth the price of the pump. I'm just curious how unwise it would be to buy a pump that's literally 1/10 of the original.

1998 Chevy blazer rwd ls with a 4.3l vortex v6 and auto transmission

Hi there - looking for advice as I am not sure how to handle this.

I took my car - BMW X1 2019 - to a local mechanic mid August as I got a 'whistling' sound coming from the engine and a 'Drive train' message on my dash. From a quick google search it said it could be a failing turbo - but what do I know ?

I dopped the car on a Monday and for 2 weeks was told nobody looked at it as they had staffing issues. I was annoyed but had my daughters car to drive so I wasnt too put out. Finally on the following Wednesday (2.5 weeks after dropping it off) I got a call to say the car needed brake fluid, Engine mount and bushings. Ok - Do what you need to do. They do the work and on the Monday when I called to see how everything was going and when I could get my car back I was told that the 'Engine blew'!! Black smoke everywhere and they had to do a manual stop on the car to prevent it from blowing out. I couldn't believe it.

They tried to tell me that I had no engine oil in the car which is incorrect. The car was serviced in January and as I dont have a dipstick, there wasnt any light on indicating that the oil was low.

3 days later - after calling down in person and trying to get an update - I was told that the engine in fact hadn't blown itself out and they can work on it to fix it. A week later I was told that they had the parts needed and would sort it out.

At this stage I still dont know how or why this engine went the way it did or what the issue was only that they said it was lack of oil - either I hadnt filled it or the engine was losing oil (again I cant see how that was possible).

I asked several times was it the turbo, could it be the turbo etc. and was told no - the turbo was fine for a while I could get more time out of it and didnt have to do anything with that and that the car would be ready to take home in a week.

Roll on a few days later when I got a phone call to say the turbo blew and the engine was completely dismantled. They would have to get a new turbo and were trying to source a reconditioned one for me as the main dealer price was outragous.

A week later I was told they had to go main dealer as they couldnt get a reconditioned one and then a further week later was told they would be able to get a reconditioned one and they werent going with the main dealer at all.

At this stage I had more than enough and called to see what the hell was going on and was presented with a bill (not yet fully completed) of 4.5k !!!!!!!!

They told me everything up to the point of the turbo blowing was 2k as that was wear and tear and needed to be done anyway. The turbo and labour was another 2.5k

I am sick and feel this is outragous. From my side it seems that they misdiagnosed the fact that the turbo was failing and so allowed the turbo to pull oil into the engine and so it "blew" and then continued to misdiagnose the turbo until the finally blew.

IS there anything I can do here? How can it be that I have to pay this crazy bill when I feel I am basically paying for a full engine rebuild that was not my fault at all. The car didnt cause me an ounce of trouble since I day I bought it until the day I heard the whistling noise from the engine.

Is this crazy - am I being taken for a ride - or are there any mechanics out there that can explain what happened here?? It is now 9 weeks they have my car and I was told it should be ready next week.

Please help !!

Hi, I drive a 2011 Subaru Outback and she had some coolant/radiator issues this summer and overheated once, I got it all checked out and fixed but I’m still a bit paranoid. Last night my oil light came on (yellow) and I checked the dipstick and under my phone flashlight it looked a bit tan and opaque. I immediately was freaked out, and also in the dark my coolant looked a bit filmy. I added more oil because the level was quite low and I’m used to my car eating up some oil. Today I checked in the daylight and it looked like the images I have attached. Coolant is overall hard to tell because it’s green lol. Does this seem like a problem? Is a long drive (4hrs round trip) a bad idea? Did my phone flashlight just trick me last night, or is the coolant buried under all the new oil I added? I appreciate any and all advice

Can anyone recommend a product that’s like a sheet of material or a mat that will soak up oil and not let anything soak through? Can’t leave oil stains in my driveway and I’m currently using cardboard, but just wondering if there’s anything that works better

My car is a manual 2007 honda civic coupe ex. The car will start off a jump but won’t start up directly after its turned off (ran for 30+ minutes).

I checked battery with multimeter 15mins after car was parked and it read 12.7 volts. And was replaced in march of this year. All terminals are clean and connections tightened

So it seems like its not the battery or alternator as I drove it for 30+ minutes with no problem. Im at a loss. Please help.

Note:
I did do some work on the headlight before this i have aftermarket projector halos with h1 bulbs and I replaced the driver side bulb and connector as the connector corroded but if I messed up the wiring that shouldnt prevent car from starting right?

I moved up to Michigan few years ago, there's a place down the street that does the service for 150 bucks and wondering if it's worth it as Michigan winters can be brutal with the salt. Right at 165K on it. Could maybe just buy some fluid film or similar product and spray it on after I clean off the dirt

I asked the mechanic to put on new rear brakes and he said he resurfaced the rotors also. Is this what they’re supposed to look like or did he charge me for nothing?

Firestone replaced my battery and starter relay fuse. Battery and fuse are both new but my alternator is also new as well I bought that from Amazon. I was told it could be the Amazon alternator even though it’s new? How is this possible

I’ve noticed moisture build up under and behind my seats. Anyone have any idea what’s causing this? 2016 Toyota Tacoma SR5 3.5L V6

Came for a tire replacement and when he opened the rim i saw these worn out control arms.

Is it smart to use valvoline 's restore and protect oil in a low mileage, older car?

Would it do any harm of i use it on a 2006 Honda civic to save gas and prolong my engine? It has about 140,000 km. My fuel consumption hasn't been the greatest. I've read that vavoline R&P can improve gas mileage, but i think all the reviews were on high mileage vehicles.

Thanks,

Edit: fuel consumption: 14/100km

Edit 2: I see many people change the oil earlier with this oil. Should I change the oil sooner with this oil, or wait for the reminder to come on?

Box came opened a little, package inside was too like it was dropped on the floor. Are the discs still okay to use? I need them to sort my car literally tomorrow/Sunday so I don't want to return them. Thanks!