What Did You Do To Your Car Today?

[Careener]

Thanks Blur

[Firm]

The local British Car Club in Memphis is surprisingly active, and the weather here this weekend was beautiful, so we joined the club on about an hour long run out to a local lake. Some fantastic roads, scenery, and got to check out a lake that's only about 15 minutes from the house but we'd never been to yet. XKR got to stretch it's legs too after sitting for about 2 months. Wanted to be top-down, but had too many complainers in the car 

[Blizzard]

Plugged it in to charge. It's been awhile because this past weekend we went to the cottage in the Subaru, and for the past few weeks I've taking the commuter train downtown to work (5 km round trip to the park-and-ride) or working from home. Kind of sad seeing the low range at this time of year, but fully anticipated and expected.

[Bridgecity]

Not me, but my dad rolled his Titan about 3 weeks back. Rear let loose on an icy stretch and he went over a steep embankment. Truck was on its roof when bystanders helped him out. Was -30 that day, but he ended up with only a couple bruises.

Truck was an '05, so not worth much. I'm helping him search for a new vehicle. He's still on an acreage so wants something with a box. A Ridgeline would be perfect but he wants to spend as little as possible. He's 79 and realizes he doesn't spend much time behind the wheel anymore and spending big dollars would be a waste. Used Ridgelines are pretty spendy around here. I'm going to look at a Frontier for him this week. The previous gen is a pretty solid truck. Should be able to get into a decent one for 15-20k.

[Tortoise]

What does a Ridgeline go for around your parts?

[Bridgecity]

Older ones (pre-2010) are generally over 10k with 250k+ kms. Newer gens (2016+) are typically around 30k.

The Frontier I'm looking at is a 2016 Pro-4x with 172km. Asking is $18,900. Carfax looks good but it's at a corner used car lot.

[Tortoise]

Damn, that's a lot of money for a 10 year old Ridgeline. 

If it's in good shape, that Frontier seems like a decent bet.

[Firm]

I'd almost prefer the Frontier, while severely dated, it's a good functional truck-truck. Would probably be appreciated by a 79 year old guy who was driving an 05 Titan.

[Bridgecity]

I'd almost prefer the Frontier, while severely dated, it's a good functional truck-truck. Would probably be appreciated by a 79 year old guy who was driving an 05 Titan.

I agree Firm.  However, the Ridgeline is likely a slightly lower step in height (would be easier for Mom) and likely  less risk of losing control on icy roads with a front drive based AWD system in the first place.

Dad had just switched the truck out of 4WD when he lost control and rolled. He thought the road was good but ass end skirted out on him and he couldn't get it back.  And yes, he had dedicated winters.

Anyway, he likes the Frontier (as do I) and will likely end up with one. Solid simple straight forward pickup. Just leave it in 4wd when it's greasy out

[Firm]

Was down with whatever virus for a pretty solid 3 weeks....Worse virus I've ever had as an adult at least. Testing negative for Covid & Flu, so no idea what it was, but it sucks, and I lost about 3 weeks of productivity. Finally feeling decent today, and the weather was nice, so I washed the DTS and give it a topper coat of wax. Then started tackling the paint correction work on the SLK....Got the roof and trunk lid done. Hopefully I can get the rest of it done next weekend, getting tired of it looking like a hooptie.

Friday I took the Green Firebird on a short road trip to a friend's place across the state line in Mississippi..about an hour each way. One of the longer trips I'd had that car on and it drove great, no issues at all. One of the local FM stations was doing a Vince Gill marathon, which was perfect coming out of that Pontiac'Monsoon' Equalizer stereo.   

[GreatBigAbyss]

I remember on the old Autos.ca website there was some talk/concern about CX-5 wipers.  Well, mine started streaking so I replaced them this weekend.  $40 taxes included for a pair of Bosch OEM wiper blades from my local parts store (Fat Guys Auto Parts freaking rocks), and it was probably the easiest wiper install I've ever done.  One button press - no fooling around with adapters.  Took about 10 seconds per wiper arm. 

[Firm]

We went through a cold spell here a couple weeks back, when I was sick, and I noticed that the heat in the DTS was weak on the passenger side. It's dual zone, so I thought it was an issue with the blend door actuator for that side, so a couple weeks back I took part the glove box and lower dash on the passenger side and was able to confirm that the blend door actuator was working properly.
So I did some research and apparently when the heater core starts getting clogged the side furthest from the inlet/outlet pipes usually blocks up first, and the way the dual zone is setup, the passenger side uses the right side of the core, which is furthest from the inlet/outlet pipes....So, today I fought with the extremely tight access to the heater hoses, disconnected them, and then flushed out the heater core, first with water, then let it sit full of white vinegar for an hour, then reverse flushed with water. A shocking about of crud came out...looked like pea gravel, but you could crush it with your fingers, some type of mineral deposits or corrosion I guess. Not the first time I've flushed a heater core, but definitely the most gunk I've ever seen come out of one, there must be something about the design on this car that allows sediment to accumulate in it. I've been religious about flushing the coolant every 3-4 years too, so it's not like it's been neglected.

Anyway, test drive confirmed the fix....scolding hot heat on both sides now.

I also got Mrs.Firms Firebird out today, it hadn't been touched in at least 2, maybe 3, months, so I used it for my Saturday errands. Dang car still drives like new.

[RRocket]

Awesome!

[Bridgecity]

Ya nice work Firm.

Did the passenger side axle on juniors Civic this morning. The inner CV boot was torn so just replaced the assembly. Got the axle from Napa, lifetime warranty but hopefully I don't need to use it. Honda wants about $400 so it was a no brainer considering the little runabout has 275k on it.

The job was surprisingly easy. An hour in total. Three bolts on lower control arm to separate hub, axle nut, pop the axle out, and replace. So simple.

[Firm]

CV jobs are either super easy, or a nightmare, no in between. I did one on a co-workers Malibu Max once, absolutely terrible. Wouldn't release from the trans, and then was a battle to get the new one to lock in right.