r/Cartalk 4h ago

Body How screwed are we? Husband backed up into tree.

Thumbnail
gallery
40 Upvotes

So yeah this happened to my sweet, sweet Sienna. Never had anything like this happen before and not sure what to do and how severe this is but it looks bad.

I just checked our insurance and we have accident forgiveness and all perils coverage with a $500 deductible.

Advice on what to do? Sorry im very shaken up about this any help is appreciated.

UPDATE: thanks to everyone that responded, for the advice and some laughs. We managed to source a hatch from a local auto parts recycler! Hopefully we can get this repair done ourselves!


r/Cartalk 5h ago

Electrical Jumper cables were put on the wrong terminals.

48 Upvotes

Lesson learned. Don't let someone else put jumper cables on your car.

Some stranger asked me to help them jump their car. So I pulled over there and helped them, they already had their hood open and cables connected. I pulled over and popped my hood release. He attached the cables to my battery while I was locking my hood up.

But he put them on wrong. The handles of the jumper cables on both cars were smoking. Even started melting a bit. They were on for probably about 10-15 seconds.

I didn't think anything of it really until I parked my car a minute later and tried to lock it. My car won't beep anymore to show the alarm is active, it still locks, and the remote-start activated from me pressing the lock button repeatedly.

How much of an issue did this just create? Did this guy just fuck me over on accident?


r/Cartalk 23h ago

Tire Damage Client overfilled his tires

Thumbnail
gallery
561 Upvotes

Client brought his car in for an engine swap. While we were waiting a couple of days to get the engine, the car was just sitting in the lot. We had no idea his tires were aired up to over 150 PSI until one blew out and ripped the fender completely open.😭😭 btw its like 90-100+ degrees outside


r/Cartalk 2h ago

My Classic Car ā€˜81 MK1

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

4 Upvotes

r/Cartalk 9h ago

DIY body damage help Customer states

Post image
16 Upvotes

Customer states my car has a warning light when I go to backup, check and advise.


r/Cartalk 1d ago

Weird Noise Accidentally drove through water in a downpour. Is it fucked?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

294 Upvotes

r/Cartalk 6h ago

Body Is the rust bad?

Thumbnail
gallery
6 Upvotes

Hey is the rust on the frame bad? I found this sweet Lexus GX470 with 90,000 miles listed for 22k. The rust is what’s turning me away? What do you guys think?


r/Cartalk 3h ago

Engine What should I do 2024 camaro 1ss

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone,
I’m looking for some honest advice from people who have experience with these cars.
I have a 2024 Camaro SS with about 30,000 miles. Recently, after doing a pull, the car started shaking badly, the check engine light began flashing, and the dealer diagnosed it with a failed lifter and damaged camshaft. They’re replacing everything under warranty, and the service advisor even told me I’m ā€œbasically getting a new engineā€ because of how many parts are being replaced.
Here’s where I’m struggling:
This happened at only 30k miles, which really shook my confidence in the car. I love this Camaro and had planned on keeping it for a long time, but now I’m worried that this could be the start of future engine problems once the warranty expires.

What do yall think I should do change it or keep it?


r/Cartalk 1d ago

Car show sharing Reminiscing about the time I drove an RS5 deep into the arctic circle.

Thumbnail
gallery
106 Upvotes

-21C!! Shame I have never driven anywhere this cool since :(


r/Cartalk 4h ago

Weird Noise Save the battery?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2 Upvotes

not sure what would be the best way to remove the battery, the fucking dome lights are working šŸ¤¦šŸ¼ā€ā™€ļø


r/Cartalk 1h ago

Weird Noise Weird noise coming from under my glove box when I turn left.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

• Upvotes

2006 Toyota Tacoma. Is it the AC? Just started happening 2 days ago.


r/Cartalk 2h ago

Engine Cooling 2012 Dodge Ram Overheating When Idle

1 Upvotes

110k miles. Only owner. Coolant/Anti-Freeze is full. It's 110 degrees here, so I left it running while I went into daycare to get my kids. When I came out, the temp gauge was maxed and the coolant symbol was on. Turned it off for 30 minutes. After the wife got the kids, I started it and drove it home without the AC. It never got over 3/4ths temp. No abnormal amount of liquid on the ground after driving it home, nor 30 minutes later. Don't know if it matter, but Freon was refilled 2 months ago.

I can go to a shop tomorrow when it opens, but I would like to know what I can check tonight. What should I be looking/hearing for?


r/Cartalk 3h ago

Vehicle ID needed What type of car is this?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1 Upvotes

IĀ found an abandoned car while hiking in the hills outside of Santee, California, near the Santee Boulders/Weston neighborhood. I’m trying to figure out what make/model it is.

It looks like it was pushed off the side of the mountain, as it's located right in the valley between two small hills.

If anyone recognizes the body lines, hatch shape, or any other identifying features, I’d really appreciate your help. Even if you have a few guesses, let me know why you think it might be that model.

Let me know if you have any questions; I’ll do my best to help.Ā 

Thanks!


r/Cartalk 4h ago

I need help fixing something 94 vette si fuego !

1 Upvotes

how the hell are the dome lights working, what is the best way to remove battery and no I did not do this

ok im too stupid to figure out how to put the video, the car was charged wrong and sat on fire melting the battery and fuse box, steerin, comp

#corvette


r/Cartalk 4h ago

Engine Toyota avensis engine misfire?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1 Upvotes

Hello, I've attached a video of my car making this noise but yesterday it started juddering while in idle. The engine light came on so I parked up. I've since changed spark plugs and no luck, does this sound like an engine misfire or something more?

It's a 2004 Toyota avensis


r/Cartalk 4h ago

I need help fixing something Delica fuse box

Post image
1 Upvotes

Hey!

My headlights are out on my 98 Delica. High beams and side lights work so I'm assuming fuse.

This is the fuse box, it looks like some are missing which is confusing to me, but I also want to know how to take out the black fuses. The one with lots of dust wiped off it the one I need to remove.

The rectangle gap on the right (according to the guide on the fuse box) is meant to hold 4 more fuses weirdly.


r/Cartalk 4h ago

I need help fixing something Toyota Avalon 2011 Bumper Fastener Kit Recs?

0 Upvotes

Need a kit of fasteners to load a new front bumper cover on. I see lots of kits on carparts.com, and I’m generally under the impression that nylon is fine. Any specific recommendations or is a simple set of 20 or so fasteners good?

Examples:

https://www.carparts.com/details/Toyota/Avalon/A-Premium/Clips_-and-_Fasteners/2011/Limited/PRMAPRCF825.html

https://www.carparts.com/details/Toyota/Avalon/A-Premium/Clips_-and-_Fasteners/2011/Limited/PRMAPRCF1306.html


r/Cartalk 9h ago

How do I do it? How to get past the fear of breaking something?

2 Upvotes

I am looking to learn more about cars and start doing some of my own work/maintenance on my car, both to save some $ on mechanics bills and also because I like learning how things work and it seems like a fun hobby. However, I find myself stopping myself from trying out of a fear of breaking something. For example, I recently had a leak in my rear passenger side footwell and I'm pretty sure it's something with the vapor barrier - it looks like a very easy fix, but the idea of taking the door apart makes me worried I won't be able to put it back on or that I will break something and make the whole issue work. Same thing with relatively trivial maintenance like changing my own oil - I know the 'steps' but I worry about messing up when jacking the car up or accidentally draining the transmission fluid or any number of random things because I don't really know what I'm doing. I know the only way to learn is by doing, but does anyone have any tips on breaking past the fear of messing up and making everything worse and A) costing myself lots of extra money and B) breaking my car?


r/Cartalk 5h ago

Transmission Smells after brand new transmission installation

0 Upvotes

I'm looking to see if this is relatively normal or not

I just got a brand new Toyota transmission put into my 2019 Toyota Camry SE this week (Sunday 7/19) after it's been out of commission since March of this year. I've been waiting for a while for it to become available.

It drives amazingly now with no more issues, but I've noticed a smell when I get into the car now that goes away after I start driving and air gets circulating. I don't know exactly how to describe it, but it reminds me of oil or gas. Definitely some type of chemical; I really only notice it when I first get into the car in the morning, for example before it's even been started, after it's been sitting, or at the end of a work shift.

The smell definitely was never there beforehand..

Any personal experience with anything similar to this or any input on it would be appreciated.

Forgive me for not having much insight on this. I am just a girl.


r/Cartalk 6h ago

Electrical 2010 Civic - alternator voltage drops

1 Upvotes

2010 Honda Civic EX, 4-cyl 1.8L VTEC

I replaced the battery a month ago because I kept having to jump-start it- not every time, but frequently, maybe 1-2 times weekly. It was fine for a month, now I keep having to jump it again. It handles long trips fine, I drove it 90 minutes last night and it started up in the morning.

Took it to the shop, they say alternator output drops from 14.3V to 12.5V when under high electrical load (A/C, lights, maybe more).

Is this likely just a bad alternator & I should replace it? or should I look at the Electrical Load Detector first to see if it's causing that drop? Or something else I should look at first?


r/Cartalk 7h ago

Tire Damage Can a Wheel Lift + Dolly setup actually damage alloy rims? Tow company claims it’s "physically impossible."

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

my sedan (factory alloy wheels with relatively low-profile tires) was towed using a front Wheel Lift and rear Dollies.

When I picked up the vehicle, all four rims had new scuffs and gouges along the outer lips/spokes. (The release form was signed acknowledging the damage upon pickup).

However, when I reached out to the towing company, the general manager claimed:

Her argument is basically that because the equipment is designed to contact the tires, it's physically impossible for them to scratch or damage alloy wheels.

I wanted to ask mechanics, tow truck operators, or anyone with experience: Is this true in real-world conditions?

Specifically:

  1. Wheel Lift (Front): How do the metal L-arms/scoops, metal ratchet buckles, or chain hooks interact with low-profile tires/wheels during installation, transport, or removal? Can metal contact the rim if the operator is rushed or in a tight spot?
  2. Dollies (Rear): How are dollies installed and removed? Does using the metal pry bar/lever to lift the wheels onto the dolly frame carry any risk of scraping the rim face or lip?
  3. Have any of you seen wheel/rim damage caused by wheel-lift or dolly setups before?

I'm trying to understand if her explanation is just a "textbook ideal scenario" versus how these rigs actually operate in the field.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Here are some photos of the wheels/damage:Ā https://ibb.co/zHT4CR8g

https://ibb.co/LDk287V8

https://ibb.co/CKSX05sD

https://ibb.co/00CJtx8

To be completely honest, I’m not claiming the wheels were in 100% showroom condition beforehand. I definitely had some minor pre-existing curb rash on a couple of rims from parallel parking over time.

Edit: added photos


r/Cartalk 15h ago

My Project Car First car modification suggestions !!

Post image
5 Upvotes

I’m getting my first car in a few weeks and i want tips to make it look better. I’m getting a manual blue 2013 mitsubishi lancer (car in photo) and i want to make to look good and sound sexy. I’ll have about 2.5k left over to spend on the car and i’m not too sure if wanna put a new exhaust / tip on it or mod something else on it. If anyone has any tips or suggestions please lmk.


r/Cartalk 7h ago

Air Conditioning What’s wrong with my ac

1 Upvotes

It seems as if my AC decides to blow hot air when it’s hotter than 90 degrees outside, which in Texas is literally all the time. It’s not super hot air though, maybe like room temperature? But when it’s under 90 degrees outside, my ac works perfectly fine, and blows cold air. I talked to someone about it, and they said to recharge my ac, but when I look that up people say it’s not a great fix, or that it’s only temporary. Has anyone else had this problem? I’m scared to get quoted 1k at the mechanic if they tell me to replace the entire part, because I wouldn’t know if that’s bs or not.


r/Cartalk 7h ago

Stock audio Sound Problem on New Headunit. Need help!

Thumbnail
gallery
0 Upvotes

Hi, guys, I try to make it as short as possible. My parents have a Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart 2010. There is no Rockford Soundsystem in the car. Like 4 years ago, they upgraded the standard radio to a headunit. And also installed a rear camera and a DAB+ Radio console.. The headunit worked, but the buttons on the steering wheels didn't work, and carplay also didn't work, or not correctly... I think it was just because of a missing cable at least for the steering wheel buttons. it was this headunit- https://www.car-media.ch/shop/de/produkt/cartec-px-5-ultra-android-10-autoradio-fuer-mitsubishi-lancer-2008-2016

Then we bought this headunit because they wanted a bigger screen and also wanted the buttons on the steering wheels to work again: - https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005012041121471.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.4.7c1cjI9qjI9qn4&algo_pvid=506a5c79-0423-4fb9-960d-a0099a0a02b7&algo_exp_id=506a5c79-0423-4fb9-960d-a0099a0a02b7-3&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%22-1%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%2C%22fromPage%22%3A%22search%22%7D&pdp_npi=6%40dis%21CHF%211034.02%21485.99%21%21%211276.10%21599.77%21%402103890917816222048441272ea07f%2112000057354991945%21sea%21CH%21778897608%21X%211%210%21n_tag%3A-29919%3Bd%3Ada2f21db%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895&curPageLogUid=UQ1bcwb9hLG0&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A%7Cx_object_id%3A1005012041121471%7C_p_origin_prod%3A

So a few days ago I installed it for my parents (the last one a car mechanic installed it), and everything worked fine. GPS, microphone, WLAN, DAB+ Console for Radio, carplay, buttons on the steering wheel also worked, Music from the USB stick worked etc.. Everything worked fine, the only thing I couldn't do is the rear camera, because of a cable had to be soldered to a 12-volt cable, which I couldn't do myself, so the car mechanic did it quickly. The DAB+ Console is also routet to a 12 Volt cable i think.

So everything seemed to work fine, but the next day when they drove the car out from the garage, the music didn't play. The player was running but there was no sound coming from the speakers. When they used it later from coming back from grocery shopping or whatever, it worked fine without problems again. The next day the same problem again.. At first I thought it might be because of the garage because it's cold and dark in there, it might trigger something. But then this problem also started to happen when the car was outside, the first song was playing normally and the next song was no sound again.. Then I told them to turn off the headlights when this happens, and after like 5 seconds the music started playing from the speakers again.

I would say most of the time if you turn the headlights of, the music/speakers start to work again. But not always. I thought maybe the battery is to old, then they charged it fully but still the same problems.. So I removed the DAB+ Console (which is conected via USB) and also the other USB cabler which is for the music stick, and I put the music directly on the headunit. And I also removed the ground cable, maybe i thought it has loose connection or something like that..

But also did didn't fix the problem.. Then I put everything back together and now the DAB+ Radio and the USB Music stick also don't work anymore. I tried 3 different music usb sticks, but music can't be found anymore. I tried to make a factory resett but none of the like 20 passwords I put in, didn't work. So I gave up, was close to destroy everything.

I installed a headunit on my honda civic and also on a friends BMW and it worked perfectly. No idea what the problem is here with the music/speaker. I don't think I wire something wrong, otherwise there would be no music at all.

My parents called the car mechanic and he said the headunit gets not enough power. he will add next week a cable to it, to give it more power and it should (hopefully) fix the problem.

But can this really be? He ment there was just a standard radio installed in the car, and now a big tesla type headunit. I'm just scared that the headunit or the car will burn down or something šŸ˜…

I'm just curious if this is really the problem solver.. Or maybe there is a software bug or whatever.
I was always talking wiht chatgpt and claude about this problem, but it also couldn't help me, so that's why I'm asking here.. Maybe someone has an answer for it, or has me the factory codes.

The text below is a summary from chatgpt/claude, just if someone wanna read it. Thank you already.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Vehicle: 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer RalliartOld head unit: Cartec PX5 Ultra (Android 10)New head unit: Chinese Android unit from 1688, "GT6-CAR" platform, model ZF-1259GE, 8+128GB, Qualcomm QCM6125InstallationWiring went smoothly: GPS, CarPlay, mic, WiFi, reverse camera, DAB+ radio and USB music all worked fine after install and a test drive.Problem 1 – Intermittent audio dropoutUSB music AND DAB+ radio lose sound simultaneously (player UI shows "playing", but no audio output)Everything else (GPS, WiFi, CarPlay, mic) keeps working fine during the dropoutInitially seemed tied to cold morning starts from the garage, and would resolve itself after a few minutes of drivingAlready ruled out: USB stick format (FAT32), player app (VLC also affected, not just stock player), "Sound Attenuation" setting (was disabled), ground wire quality (re-crimped and properly bolted, no change), WiFi/Bluetooth/hotspot (disabled, no clear improvement)Breakthrough – reproducible testTurning headlights ON immediately kills audio. Turning headlights OFF immediately restores it. 100% reproducible, tested multiple times, even with the ground wire fully disconnected. This points to a firmware bug: the headlight/ILL signal (presumably meant to trigger night-mode dimming) appears to be incorrectly muting the audio output as well.Problem 2 – currently acuteAfter swapping between two USB sticks and disconnecting/reconnecting cables (ground wire, DAB+ USB dongle), the entire USB subsystem suddenly stopped detecting anything at all — neither the music stick nor the DAB+ dongle. Currently attempting a full cold restart (power disconnected for 5 minutes).Questions for the communityDoes anyone know the GT6-CAR board (or similar Qualcomm QCM6125-based Chinese head units) and how to fix a headlight→audio-mute bug via settings or firmware?Any tips for reliably resetting a completely unresponsive USB controller on these units?


r/Cartalk 8h ago

My Classic Car Condition of rust

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

Recently bought a Honda Civic EK hatch and noticed a few spots that I'm unsure about. I've attached some photos.
I can see a couple of paint chips on the rear wheel arch and what looks like a small amount of surface rust around the door jamb seam.

One thing I'm particularly unsure about is the area near the top of the hatch opening/trunk jamb (in the second and third photos). It has a brownish line on both sides of the car, so I'm wondering if that's actually rust or if it's just seam sealer, factory adhesive, or something that's meant to look like that.

Does that area look normal for an EK, or is it the start of rust?

Also, based on these photos:
-Would you consider this just minor surface rust?

-Is it something that should be repaired sooner rather than later?

-Roughly what would a professional repair cost if its required?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!