I recently read (don't ask me where, it was a couple of months ago) that brakes last longer with harder+shorter pressure than with softer+longer pressure. Opinions? -- Cheers, Bev "I don't trust carry-out food. When you find hair in my cooking you don't hafta worry about where it came...

AC condensers (the part that's in front of the radiator) can be purchased in bare aluminum or painted black. The purpose is to transfer heat to the air. It seems to me that for maximum heat transfer the best choice would be the bare aluminum. If it has paint on it it seems like the paint would...

We're having a conversation among friends when one casually mentions his wife's rotors "warped". The other jumps on him and declares that street-use rotors don't warp (in general). An Internet search bears him out, as MANY articles say rotor warp is a myth. Googling, we find that brake torque...

I did an oil change on this 2001 VW New Beetle with a 2.0 liter engine. It was purchased used by a family member and this was the first time we gave it a good look. What is this plug shown in the link below and does it need to be plugged into something? Everything seems to be running...

I know there are techs in all three groups, hence the cross posting.... The other day, the day it got clobbered by the storm, it was 96 degrees in Keene NH. That's ~35 miles from home. Since it was nice I decided to take the roof off the Supra and use it for my daily rounds. Everything was fine...

1987 Dodge Dakota 3.9L carbed I recently posted on rec.autos.tech about the problems I was having with an MSD 5900 Blaster ignition and an MSD 8202 Baster 2 coil. It seems I could use one or the other with no problem, either the MSD ignition with the stock coil or the MSD coil with the stock...

any reason not to buy an aftermarket O2 sensor over the factory O2 sensor? tia

And come up with a Cheap-Ass alarm. On the Mazda, I don't want to go to the trouble or expense of installing a real alarm, but I want something. Honking the horn and flashing the flashers would be good enough. I want the horn to 'beep', so a flasher unit and a relay or two would be good. There's...

Assuming that: - the oil pump moves a fixed volume of oil per rotation; - the oil level never drops so low that the pickup is even partially starved; - oil is not compressible; why is it that the system oil pressure drops as the crankcase oil level drops? I have two hypotheses. One is that it is...

The local news has been running this story and some questions come to mind. I notice most of those shown at the local "rally" for this snake oil MLM-Pyramid scheme seemed to be older folks. Are there really that many pathologically stupid geezers, in addition to various other brainless goobers?...

Hey guys... Got a question inspired by recent events - As in yesterday morning recent. I'm heading for the home stretch of my newspaper route, tooling along at about 40-ish through a series of gentle S-turns posted for the double-nickel, when I round a left-hand bend, and catch sight of a deer up...

I plan on buying a new 2008 Accord coupe V6 to replace my aging 97 VTEC-4 Accord coupe. I am considering for this new car to maintain it using synthetic oil and strictly use Honda stock oil filters. My 97 Accord with the 2.2l VTEC four is doing fine at 210K with Jiffy lube quality oil and filters...

I've noticed that my '92 BMW 535 has a problem with low oil pressure when parked at an incline. I made two runs getting sand today, and to get the trailer in the right position I had to park the car in the steep area of the driveway. Both times the oil pressure light was on when I started the car,...

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" >> campaign that was going around last April or May! >> >> The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't >> continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. >> >> It was more of an inconvenience to us...

On my 1991 Plymouth Sundance RS 2.5 TBI, I bought a K&N air filter from Autozone (they had to special order it) and have been running it for a little while to see how it performed. K&N claims that you get better air flow with them. Unfortunately, during the time I've been using it, I haven't...

I'm helping a friend replace worn brake pads on an '02 Audi A6 wagon. The dealer wants $275 for a rear wheel kit. That's pretty pricey (I think my factory Porsche pads are cheaper). Who makes (and who sells) aftermarket parts of reasonable quality? Some cars are pretty finiky about brake pads,...

If you already use natural gas for home appliances, why not run your car on natural gas? Would it be less expensive fuel? Only asking. cuhulin

In a mailing list I belong to, one of the other members commented how much better European taillights are than "American" taillights becasue the Eurpopeans use amber signal lights. Is there any basis for this belief? I've never had any trouble identifying the intention of other motorist in US...

What is synthetic motor oil? Is a synthetic blend a good buy? How many _fully_ synthetic motor oils are there on the market? If an oil is labeled "synthetic" does that indicate it is - fully synthetic? Are the "synthetic" motor oils - overpriced like gasoline?

First, a thank you to all who contributed to making my Ford Contour last to 156K before I traded it in. Now I've got a 2004 Ford Taurus, purchased in February at 20K miles (Certified pre-owned, 6 years/75K warranty). I'm ready for my first oil change. Having a debate with the dealer mechanic. I...