Me when listening: The compression on cyclinder 3 is 0.5% down.
What's made you smile today?
- Thread starter angel
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What's made you smile today?
I think the only real 'reliability' in any car, comes down to preventative maintenance in reality. The Japanese brand owners tend to be more into the idea, so they allegedly keep up with the servicing more - I think that's all there is to it. That, and the companies themselves are much more keen to approve recalls / do 'good will' to maintain their reputation as reliable versus some other manufacturers. I think then on the other end of the spectrum, there's people with 'unreliable' or cheap brands people look down on who possibly feel like their car is destined to be unreliable, so they scramble to ensure they get the servicing done.. and surprise surprise, the cars tend to run fine for a long time with less hassle than the brand reputation might suggest - that was my experience with Fiat tbh, expected so little at the start but the little Panda always punched above its weight.
I think a lot of the kinds of people (speaking from my personal small sample of peers over the years) who have this idea of 'german car supremacy' are the ones who abuse them, neglect to service them and want to save every penny when they do with cheap, nasty (but readily available aftermarket of third party pattern parts) are the ones whose cars suffer the most unreliability. Not just exclusive to those brands though, was just watching a video last night where a Lexus master tech tore down a 66,000 2017 NX because it had not a single oil change in its lifetime. Not unreliable, but a reliable car made unreliable by neglect.
Honestly... for the sake of an oil and filter change (something like £100 for dealer parts on my current car, much less on offers from Halfords / AutoDoc) much, much cheaper and less hassle than major engine repairs or replacement.
That's the very one that rolled on last night! I quite like his coverage, seems very fair. He reviews (from a mechanical perspective) other brands as well, recently did the new VW bus and in the past, a very good explanation of how the Tesla system works and what puts it so far ahead of the competition (as well as the many basics of car making it still gets wrong). He knows so much about Toyota but also isn't afraid to criticise them, and clearly isn't sponsored by them or getting any special treatment... unlike that Mat Watson Carwow guy. He's so bought out by the big brands I had to stop watching his videos!
Its not that i care for Toyota, but he's a good watch, he's learned good mannerisms from his garage managerial work and converted that to youtube. He comes across as fair and measured, not seeking attention like some of the youtubers.
Yeah, back in 2015 I started watching Scotty Kilmer and Chris Fix - both know their stuff, but as Scotty has gotten more popular with the click bait titles and more just Q&A (opinion much of the time) I went off him a bit. More quantity than quality content these days, as much as I enjoy him in small doses. Chris Fix was always interesting but usually a lot of sponsored content, a lot of OTT steps and that so stopped watching him. CarCareNut is quite good, he's also not afraid to explain how he makes decisions around giving up, or not proceeding with work etc - despite customers having a lot of pride in older / high mileage cars and the likes. He has a good video from last year on reading wiring diagrams too etc. Surprisingly, there were a few people on the Toyota/Lexus forums who were quite anti CarCareNut... but can't please em all!
I have watched both Scotty and Chris Fix, they're ok, but not really my cup of tea. I too watched the wiring video from CarCareNut, it seems we run on the same Youtube algorithm!
I like how he does a lot of bigger jobs, and explains the financials involved.
I get this...but at the same time literally cannot win when it comes to sorting the cars.
So I get comments like "I'm sure the car will be getting something fixed you not booked one of them in for something.." like it's a hobby. Yes dearest I love spending money on nothing... I'm sure the brake discs that looked like they'd been in the sea were fine..as was the Bluetooth roll bar and the none functional heater.
Then "when it's really cold the car is slow and it's hard to change gear". Both of these are C3 things, as the shift cables are routed in such a way the collect water so if it's minus 5 they don't shift particularly smoothly. Also at cold start it restricts boost..I have noticed these things and filed under "they all do that sir.." although may silicon grease shift cables..but then she's like "erm why haven't you fixed this?"
I've been watching Rainman Ray for quite some time now, both before and after he started his own workshop, and find him very entertaining. His older stuff, before he had his own setup, reminds me very much what it was like to work in that Firestone Tyre and Auto store in Reading. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7qMMY6UJHpNakTDMz6vVXQ
I also quite enjoy Hub Nut https://www.youtube.com/HubNut, especially when he's featuring his Citroen 2CV.
Wowsers! I just watched this one by Raiman Ray, he says "Coolant is not supposed to be draining out of the oil pan". How on earth?
I haven't watched that actual video yet Anthony, however water in the oil used to be often caused by a blown head gasket. Now a days a failed oil cooler is often the culprit because some manufacturers now fit an oil cooler which is actually a heat exchanger between the oil and cooling system If it fails it lets oil and coolant mix which more usually is first noticed as a disgusting oily mixture in the radiator/expansion tank.
I tend to be the same, I sold a car to my sister as a cheap local runabout and was surprised to hear it had been running over to France many times with multiple drivers from in laws side of the family and still going several years later with their "minimal" maintenance.
This is exactly what I'm like, I don't have the radio very loud so I can listen out for unusual noises & as soon as I hear something unusual I'm on it straight away, sometimes I'll hear something that my dad doesn't who has over 40 years in the trade
sometimes he'll say to me I'm sure you just like to give yourself jobs 
he knows I'm a bit OCD with things & then I'll do what I think it is & he'll be like you were right , my top mounts were a good example as they were just starting to knock slightly so I got new ones from Shop4Parts & fitted them along with new old stock Quinton Hazell dampers I got of eBay for £20 each & new outer anti roll bar bushes with new brackets & bolts etc,g I didn't change the springs though as they still have plenty of life in them & I've heard about companies/motor factors getting them mixed up with Sporting springs thinking they are the same but they are 20 mm lower over standard Seicento's, on closer inspection of the old top mounts they were cracking so I'm glad I changed them, the next & final big ish job with the Seicento is the clutch which I'll be getting on with very soon as I want to do it before I drive down to my dad's at end of March so I just need to get a support beam for the engine & I can crack on with it, once the clutch is in & the gearbox is back on I'll leave the support beam on & change the o/s engine mount so then that'll be all 3 mounts renewed.
He takes the plug out of the sump and drains an oil/coolant mixture that looks like a stream of cream. It had 4 million views.
I watched a video, think it was from 'Daves Garage' (another American guy with a bit of an attitude) and he removed the sump, the whole thing was like jelly / cat or dog food... disgusting! Oil mixed with god knows what.. that was the worst I've ever seen inside an engine.
Like you Jock I have seen it with blown head gaskets, but also with the oil coolers on many modern engines, including VW/Audi etc.
However also on a 2010 1.6 Doblo I bought needing repair, previous owner thought it was the head gasket and his garage also, as coolant tank full of mayonnaise, to be honest after fitting three new defective oil coolers on my back at the back of the engine, I wish it had been a head gasket!!!
However another I experienced recently which people need to be aware of with all the recently flooding etc. Was a gearbox in a 2014 Vauxhall Combo 1.3 (Fiat Doblo 1.3 in drag, sorry badge engineered
) that on checking the level, was full of the same mayonnaise, where I assume it had been sat in deep water for a period of time.The result was even after flushing and filling with correct oil the gear syncros are failing causing crashing of gears even on slow engagement, so far the bearings are quiet, but I am on the look out for a reasonable price second hand gearbox.
Any member got one?
I would be tempted to rebuild the old one if I could be sure the necessary parts were available at a fair price.
If he's anything like me it'll be old age affecting his hearing. Without my hearing aids in I'm half deaf - high pitched noises especially, Our burglar alarm "bleeps" on a countdown when you arm it (giving time to exit the house) then gives a high pitched "beep" when it actually arms itself. With the hearing aids I can hear it all clearly. Without, the volume on the warning bleeps is approximately halved and I don't hear the final beep at all. One great thing about the hearing aids is I can hear the birds again! I hadn't realized what I was missing without them. The world is a much more noisy place with them in!sometimes I'll hear something that my dad doesn't who has over 40 years in the trade
One very handy thing I can do is to "forget" to put them in, or just not turn them on, when I don't want Mrs J to "bother" me - very handy!
There was an older gent working with me when I started the final job. He wore hearing aids. One day, the GM came into the shop with both barrels blasting. While he's yelling at Paul and I, Paul reaches for his hearing aids. The GM wants to know what he's doing. Without a beat, Paul says, "Just tired of the bullshit I'm hearing", and he walks away. Naturally, the GM turned on me but I was laughing too hard to care.
He's hearings actually very good considering he's nearly 60, sometimes too good
but he's one of these that's never wrong even when the proofs in the pudding he'll have none of it I wouldn't have him any other way though, it can be quite amusing Wow 60 that's ancient!He's hearings actually very good considering he's nearly 60, sometimes too good
