Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Stack Exchange
Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
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Does revving a car when cold make it warm up faster?

As winter comes along, I've always thought that revving the car would make it warm up faster, so the heating works better to clear the icy/steamed up windows. Does revving my car at idle to about 2-3k when cold (less than 5C outside) make it warm up…
George
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Test Gasoline for Water Content

I live in a small town, and the Gas station there has a bad reputation for gas quality. With rumors like peoples gas tanks freezing solid and such. Is there a quick, safe, cheap way to test for water content in gasoline so we can put the final word…
Kratz
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Is it important to fix paint deterioration?

I have a 2006 Honda Civic, and the paint on the roof is beginning to deteriorate. It looks as though maybe the top coat is discoloring and coming off, revealing the coat underneath, which seems to be intact. The affected area is currently about 7"…
Nate Eldredge
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Engine never warms up (actually: it cools down) at highway speeds

I have a 1997 Caravan (base model) and normally on my drive to work and my highway drives in rush-hour, the engine warms up just fine. I took a road trip for work, about an hour and fifteen minutes of driving at basically 60-80mph the whole way. The…
Robbie
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Portable jumpstart kits: why aren't regular car batteries this small?

I was looking at the details of this jumpstart product: It claims to be 2 lbs and 14.2 x 12 x 3.5 inches, which I think is for the outer black canvas case, so I would guess the actual device is less than 9.5 x 5.5 x 3 inches. I assume this is a…
Digital Trauma
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Motorcycle transmission occasionally pops out of gear

I'm having an issue where the transmission will occasionally downshift by itself during a fast acceleration. I have a 2005 Suzuki Vstrom 650 and it's been a great bike so far. At pretty high revs, 9k-10k or so, it will occasionally go from 2nd ->…
Kevin Evans
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Oil in coolant - how much trouble am I in?

I have oil in my coolant reservoir. Could it just be the head gasket or is it almost certainly the entire engine or might it be something else entirely? Thanks in advance...
ConsultUtah
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Roof paint peeling badly, with rust -- what to do?

I've got a 97 Dodge Grand Caravan that's generally in pretty good shape, but the roof has started peeling badly, and a few spots have accumulated some rust. This is an old car with limited value, so I'm not interested in putting a lot of money into…
Jordan Magnuson
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Does wheelspinning damage my car?

Apart from the tires, if I pull off quickly and I wheel spin, do I cause any damage to the internals of the car? Obviously I don't mean reving it to 4k+ and then dumping the clutch, I mean speeding off from idle speed. 2003 Opel Agila 1.2
George
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Effects of leaky exhaust valves

While rebuilding my valves, I noticed that 4 out of 6 exhaust valves on one side of the V6 engine were leaking after lapping and I had to relap them. I determined that by doing a water test. I am guessing they were leaking even before (IOW that the…
amphibient
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How does a clutch work?

I understand how a clutch can separate the flywheel from the clutch disk so that power is disconnected from the engine. When that happens, does the input shaft (along with the countershaft) stop immediately? If they are moving, they should have…
user3407319
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I drove my car about 1 km before realising that I didn't release the handbrake. Will this cause any big problems to my car?

Luckily, I drove slowly, about 20-40km/h. When I reached home, I realised that I did not release my handbrake. Will there be a big problem?
Amirah madz
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Do you really need to cool down your turbo after hard driving?

Vehicle: 2012 Subaru Sti I have been driving turbocharged cars for a while now and I have blatantly accepted that before shutting down you must let your car idle for a few minutes after driving hard to allow the turbo to cool down. This process will…
tqrecords
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Acceptable amount of slack in a timing chain with high mileage?

1995 Chevy S-10 Blazer - 4.3 L Vortec V6 (vin W with PCM) - 230,000 miles original owner. FWIW, this model car/engine does not have timing chain inspection and/or changing as part of the routine maintenance schedule like cars with timing belts. …
Sparky
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Red vs black vs grey RTV - what's in a color?

When buying gasket maker at my local auto-supplies store some time back, I was unsure about whether or not the color of the tube made any difference. The only thing I could see was a different temperature rating on the tube itself. At the time I…
Zaid
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