Had to replace the battery on the key fob for my 2009 Mazda 5. Of course when I pried the cover off the whole thing fell apart into like 8 tiny pieces. Put them back together in what I thought was the correct configuration... and the panic button was jammed. So the car horn started going off in the street. Pried the fob apart again... horn still going off. Went out with the key, got in, put the key in the ignition, turned it... the car started but the horn is still going off. I popped the hood in hopes of disconnecting the car battery when the alarm finally times out or whatever.

Finally correctly reconstructed the nano-scale 3D jigsaw puzzle that is the key fob and it works now... but seriously, fuck you overly-clever Mazda engineers. My Prius key fob battery change takes about 30 seconds and is pretty foolproof.

Not sure how complex your key fob is but I recently got semi-generic. replacement remotes for our Altima on eBay for dirt cheap

I just got a bunch of extras for the mariner. 20 bucks each when the dealer wants like $140.

www.keylessoption.com

Time for the continued inevitable disintegration of my truck thanks to the ravages of times and the abysmal road network of Lebanon county. This time the patient is the exhaust. Rubber exhaust insulator dry rotted (which happens with a vehicle old enough to vote) and the J-bolt finally broke through it as I went over a speed bump on my way home from work last night. I jerry rigged the bolt back to the insulator with a couple zip ties between the rainstorms to try and keep it from bouncing around too much on the cratered, undulating roads in Lebanon until I can get in to an exhaust shop to get the 15-minute-with-proper-facilities (the bolt holding the insulator was peened and I own no grinder or lift) fix and inevitably find out my entire exhaust cracked or rusted out or somesuch and needs to be replaced.

Had to get the brakes (pads and rotors) replaced on my 2010 Prius with only 86000 miles. :sadface:

...along those same lines, chatting on the hybrid board we've come to the light bulb moment that oil change intervals can also be extended, since maybe the car has traveled 7500 miles, but the engine hasn't been running for that many miles- maybe 50-75% of those, depending on driving conditions and habits.

I figured that out too, but I change the oil more or less when indicated just to clear the warning.

my VW got the 'fix' on friday. haven't really noticed a difference yet. i'll be able to get an accurate gauge of how much MPG i lost in a few weeks i guess. think i need to run a few tanks of gas through it before it settles in. giving me a whopping 6200$. believe that i'll also get a class action settlement deposited into my account quickly as well

Probably going to buy a 2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe. And talking to my insurance guy, we should keep the 2004 Malibu (I doubt I'd get much trading it in since it's showing its age) so we can list that as Lil' Vulture's car because we only carry liability on it. Which sort of makes sense but sort of doesn't but whatevs.

Well we bought the Hyundai. It's a fun car. I warned Lil' Vulture that cars like that tend to attract attention from law enforcement, and since unlike the Malibu it doesn't start rattling like it's going to fall apart when it hits 35 MPH, she need to be attentive to how fast she's going. I was a little troubled that she thought the trip odometer was the speedometer, because she was obviously going faster the 3.4 mph.

(women drivers)

To be fair, the trip odometer was right in the middle of the display, where you'd expect the speed to be. I'm hoping there's a way to reconfigure it.

You should not need to jack up your vehicle, remove your tire, snap off the lining in the wheel well and have to contort your arm in positions only seen by great escape artists and illusionists to replace a damn headlight.

correct, I don't

I take it you don't own a Subaru.

azrider wrote:I take it you don't own a Subaru.

That, my internet friend, is a Subaru tradition. I had an 86 that required some disassembly of the front of the car.

was just looking over my insurance policy, i don't need collision on my 12 year truck do i?

ReadingPhilly wrote:was just looking over my insurance policy, i don't need collision on my 12 year truck do i?

Probably not. How much do you need the truck, and if it blows up tomorrow, can you afford to replace it?

more to the point, what's the price differential between your deductible and the truck's book value? Because that is all you're insuring for at this point.