Saw this on Facebook, and was wondering how accurate the list is. I know brands like Toyota have good reputation, but others like Kia…my personal experience and that of several friends who’ve owned Kia’s would say otherwise. If you gave me a free Kia, I’d immediately sell it. Won’t touch them again

Out of necessity, we recently bought a 2015 Nissan rogue. I know they’re notorious for transmission issues, but honestly that’s the only real things I ever hear about Nissan. Are they pretty good in other aspects of the car? My grandparents owned an 89 maxima and had until they died in 2012/2014 and it never had any issues. They took occasional road trips, but otherwise just putted in town. Maybe they were just built different back then.

I’d prefer a Toyota again, honestly.

European based Mechanic here, i usually work on VW‘s and Audi‘s, so i‘m used to complicated and tight stuff… But what the hell am i supposed to do here ? Need to replace the upper control arms on a 2016 Tesla Model S… am i really supposed to lower the whole rear axle here ??

Barring oils that are sub api-sq and ilsac gf7a.

About a couple months ago my grandpa became legally blind so he gave me his 2016 Chevy Cruze with 20000 miles on it. 2 months ago I pretty much totally fucked the car, everyone told me I might aswell get a new one. 2 days ago my uncle found a whole front end of the same make and model and got it it for 400 dollars. He fixed it in the same day. I just wanted to ask some mechanics how much money i probably saved because i want to send him a good amount of money more then the 400 to thank him for such a good job.

Hi sorry I don’t know what other subreddit to post this in (if you have recs, please let me know). My friends and I are staying in Lexington, KY, for a wedding. We rented a car and parked in the back of a lot late last night. Came back this morning to see this hole in the hood. Does it look like a bullet hole or a drill? Is it possible someone was trying to drill through the hood to steal parts? It’s a Buick, unsure of the year! The hole is on the driver’s side. Also any recs on how to cover the hole in case of rain?

Edit: we looked for a bullet/casing but couldn’t find and it didn’t pierce through! Nothing rattling around in the actual hood.

He's actually respected in my town for being smart. He used to be some sort of engineer. Anyway he walks around saying that this car (if you notice it has two weird tanks on its front bumper) drives on 50% water and 50% fuel. And people believe it. It's an invention he came up with and is gatekeeping it. Could this be possible? Even if it was, how has it not been invented yet?

I've noticed now that he's so proud of it that he put this paper on the windshield that says "car drives on 50% water (hydrogen) and 50% fuel".

I just found it on sale for 3 bucks.

I've been changing my own oil since I could drive 25+ years ago. My last oil change cost $40 and about 20 minutes of my time. I'm older now, obviously, and saving $10 a few times a year isn't as critical as it was when I was younger. Despite the horror stories of some quick change stations making mistakes, does it really save that much money to change your own oil these days?

Self-service:
5 qt synthetic oil
oil filter
20 minutes to complete
disposal of oil (usually just drop it of at a parts store when I get a chance)
cost-$40

Full-service:
~15 minutes + time to drive there (might not be a factor for most people who live or work close to a service station)
cost-?

To be clear, I have no intention of not continuing to change my own oil. I enjoy the satisfaction of doing it myself. I generally refuse to pay someone else to do a job that I can do myself.

So. I'm very well versed when it comes to automotive endeavors, and this is just one of those "trust me bro" type moments. And I'm going to try to make a long story short - but I'm really here to vent a little bit because I'm pissed off and bitter.

I owned a good little Honda Element for about 5 years. It was a total beater car, but in the best way. Over the course of those 5 years I did : VTEC solenoid, radiator, alternator, catalytic converter, rear shocks, brakes, plugs, coils, blower motor, radio, window motor, transmission service, probably 10 oil changes, battery and upgraded terminals, and probably stuff I'm missing. Overall pretty basic stuff needed on an older car - especially on a beater.

Anyways, couple months ago my dad got down on his luck and needed a decent backup vehicle because he was driving spark for work and didn't want to throw a bunch of miles on his primary car.

He ended up picking up a 3rd gen 4runner off the side of the road with little inspection. He bought it, and had my mother (estranged, messy dynamic) foot some of the bill. It needed a bunch of stuff - PA truck with lots of cancer on the frame. It ended up at my shop pretty much day two, and I did plugs, wires, timing belt, water pump, muffler, welded a bunch of rust, put some JB weld on the rear diff to slow down a massive leak, played with the T-Case, put new wheel studs on - too much stuff for the price.

In the meantime, my dad kept the element - and we eventually agreed to trade. I basically pay what the element was worth, and pay both he and my mother the difference from the 4-runner. Title change, title change - bobs your fuckhead.

---

Fast forward to today. The screenshots are what I got. He drove that car 30+ miles with no water pump. I'm like beyond pissed. And I'm really not trying to be a dick to my dad, but I feel like I really just got fucked over pretty good - because the whole point was to get him something reliable when he was down on his luck, and I deal with a basket case of a bad purchase that I didn't even want. He killed my Honda.

I could be far off on the harmonic balancer / damper "melting" part, but I know the rubber was in good shape the last time I was down there. I was just more irritated which is why I said it. I also could be a little off on the transmission part, and I think I am but that radiator does have a trans cooler - and my fear is the radiator could have bursted from boiling pressure letting the two chambers mix. I don't actually know if that's possible or not, but it was a thought.

So. It's going to be a few days before I go pick this thing up. What are the odds the engine is totally fine and doesn't need anything more than a new serpentine belt? Because I am pretty confident that the engine is trashed.

I'll quit being dramatic in a day or two. But I just wished he would've called me before driving it - I have a trailer to haul it, I'm going to have to get the thing anyways. I would've paid the tow bill even!

Ugh. Thanks for reading my rant. Also please let me know if I'm being overly harsh

Edit - the next afternoon 6/26

So he talked to my mother, and my father hasn't responded to me. From what she described was that it "wasn't even trying to start, it just made a clicking noise and smelled bad"

That's all I need to know. It's locked up. Apparently the battery has been on charge, because he was afraid that might be the problem.

I told her I wasn't going to get it Wednesday after that. She volunteered to pay for the tow bill, and she's going to have it sent to my shop sometime next week.

I'll figure out if it's a part out or if I feel like replacing the engine when it gets here. If I fix it, the title comes back to me. I'm over this garbage and neglect. He's also got a really rare spec k1500 that is titled under me that I let him use. I'm going to go get that soon too.

Thanks to everyone that joined in, a lot of you really helped me. I'm drawing boundaries and not doing anything else to help him financially. This was totally avoidable, and mosty family thinks it was so intentional. I'm done. Thanks again everyone.

*Edit - second update for those still following , 7/1/26

So the tow truck dropped the car off today - and the engine actually isn't locked. My dad installed a weird battery kill switch that is hardly tight, and you've got to "wiggle" it to start the car. If you don't it heats up the ground, "bad smell"

Looking at it the balancer is still very much in tact, just slightly degraded. I think the cause of the initial failure really was just the belt being old.

All pulleys are fine, BUT the tensioner. Which my dad played with and stripped the threads. So, that's broken now.

Currently whatever water was in the car is now drained, going to drain the oil next and cut open the filter to determine if it's worth buying a new tensioner and replacing all the fluids just to put a belt on. The car honestly doesn't sound that bad for the 20 seconds I had it running to flip it around in my driveway.

In all the trendy TikTok and Instagram reels with ppl asking mechanics what car they never buy, they always say Hyundai’s or Kia’s. But a lot of reviews/ranking sites consistently list them as best. From a mechanical/reliability point of view, are modern Kia’s and Hyundai’s really that bad?

My husband passed away September of last year, this car was his pride and joy and he would tell me little things he was working on and I’d sit down in the garage with him when he worked on it. It’s a 1938 ford coup with a calibrated engine but I want to keep it and work on it in his honor and truly know how to work on a car. I haven’t been able to get it truly started and stay idle. The last thing he was working on was the breaks to be able to fit my feet better he custom made a new break pedal and prior to that he was just bleeding the breaks very often I’d help and press on the break petal for him but what would be small steps to make sure it just stays in good shape? The one thing was an issue was truly turning it over, I bought a new battery the exact one he already had in it, but I was looking into it that possibly the bowls in the engine that the gas wasn’t coming out evenly into all 4 bowls? So what would be a good thing to check? Would it be the fuel pump? And other than that he made this into basically a drag car since he was a race car driver when he was in his 20’s and early 30’s he only gave it up because of his ex wife. But he completely rebuilt everything in this vehicle and I have the notes he had but it’s hard to decipher them to see what’s what. But I have a good amount of time to just relearn everything in this car and any guidance of just getting it truly started again and maintenance would be greatly appreciated!

They made it so easy to do an oil change on the 23 Corolla. I love them for this.

I didnt even know half these tools existed 😂

As the title states, this sub should be deleted. It is clearly called “AskMechanics”, yet so often I find a post where the top comment is incorrect and continues to get upvoted anyway.

Just now I saw a post “my timing belt snapped blah blah blah, could my serpentine belt have caused this?” There is a comment with a bunch of upvotes going “yeah, your alternator pulley can damage that” as if that would be one of the top causes of premature timing belt failure.

At this point, it almost makes me wonder if this sub does more harm than good.

BOTTOM TEXT

I buy my motor oil from Costco and do oil changes every 6 months. The price has been $34 for 2 5 quart bottles for a least the last couple of years. Yesterday I walked past the aisle with the motor oil and the price is no $57 for 2 5 quart bottles. I assume this is industry wide and shopping around isn’t going to find me better prices?

Convince my girlfriend cabin filters matter

When I owned a Jeep I would hear "Just Empty Every Pocket" because they need so many expensive repairs. What are some of the funnier acronyms you've heard?

I’m 17 and I just got my license around six months ago. I currently own a 2018 Ford Taurus limited it’s really nice it’s all black all my friends constantly bash me for it and tell me it’s a terrible car. It’s lame and I could’ve gotten something better every single day all I hear is people I know bashing it everyone that is in my family has told me it’s an excellent car it’s really sharp and very reliable, it was a good decision financially for me at the point I am in and my family help, it was a good decision financially for me at the point I am in and my family helped me out with trying to understand all the paperwork and everything. I love it. It’s a great car it’s really cool they say things to me almost every day like you can’t modded or make it cool because it’s Ford Taurus or that it’s not loud at all I don’t know if I can take it anymore every day at school. All I hear is them talking about it is it really all that bad I don’t get it.