Car Trouble

Faye · Luna Sierra Age: 42 Gender: Joined: 28 Apr 2004

When I turned 16 I got this 1988 Chevy Silverado that had a 215,00 miles on it. We paid 500 dollars for it, and it has ran since June of 1999 with about 2500 dollars worth of fixes. Currently it has 1 power window and one in which you pull down with you hands. Has power locks, but if I use them I cant get into the truck. No AC( which is hell living in Texas), no radio, no cruise control, and no cigarette lighter/power outlet. It has many other things wrong with is, but I would be here all day listing them.

Last Saturday night I attempted to start it and it wouldnt turn over. And through some varius testing and personal opinions I deduced that it was the starter that was only about 6 months old. I had to work all week so I came back to it Friday night and decided to take the starter off and take it to get tested. Now I know practically nothing about cars. The only things I do know are things that this truck has taught me. I have never worked on a car before, in fact I dont even know how to change my oil. But I decided to take off the starter. After all it is only 2 bolts and a couple of wires..... how hard could it be.

Well.... after about an hour and a half I pull the starter off onto my chest. No one botherd to warn me that the starter weighed about 60 pounds. After cringing in pain and catching by breath for the next 30 minutes I take it to get it tested and, of course, it works fine. Which increases my frusteration ten fold. At this point it is to late and to dark to put it back on and quite frankly I didnt want to mess with it.

Today my cousin, who works on cars regularly, came over to help me out with it. In 5 minutes he has the starter back on and has already figured out the problem...... My battery was dead. He hooks up his car with the jumper cables and we wait about 15 minutes for it to charge. It starts up perfectly.

I can take a computer apart and put it back together with my eyes closed but I cant figure out whats wrong with my truck for the life of me.... and when I do figure it out.... I am usually wrong.

Hopefully I will not have to worry about it any more for if all goes well I will be signing the papers on a 1999 Nissan Altima on Tuesday.

Shino · Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 8:01 am Post subject:

When your car doesn't start, it's usually one of 4 things...

Ignition switch... If nothing is happening, that's probably it.

Starter... All your lights and accessories are on, but all you hear is a slight clicking sound when you turn the key.

Battery... Lights are off, or lights could be on. If they are on and the car doesn't turn over, then you will see them dim off and then on again when you release the ignition. If the battery still has some charge left, the engine may try to turn over the first 1 or 2 times you turn the key.

Alternator... This one has similar symptoms as the battery. Basically, you have to make a guess on which one it is. Mainly b/c your battery will be dead... but is it dead b/c the battery will no longer hold a charge, or is it dead b/c the alternator is no longer charging it. If you aren't sure, the best way to check is to bring the battery in to get checked, and if it is holding a charge, it's probably your alternator.

Alternators are pretty easy to change... just like the starter... 2 bolts and some wires. Difference is you need to deal with the belt and making sure that afterward, you tighten the pully (if you have one) so that the belt is tight enough.

Starters are not too bad, you figured out that yourself. Just b/c it took you 1.5 hours, don't feel bad. That's pretty damn good for someone who says they know nothing about cars.

Batteries are of course easy to change

Ingnition switches... never tried... not sure I would want to.

Faye · Luna Sierra Age: 42 Gender: Joined: 28 Apr 2004

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! It just made me think I had it fixed. It would not start this morning when I got ready to go to work... Devil

.... After a screaming fit of rage and destroying everything in a 3 block radius, I decided to call my mom to take me to work.

Everyone is telling me that my battery has a bad cell or something. However the machine they test it with at Autozone seems to think the battery is fine. As a result they refuse to give me a new one even though it is clearly under warranty and obviously doesnt work because it wont hold a charge. And just for good measure I repeat my earlier action on the local Autozone..... Devil

.....

I dont care if it is going to cost me out the wazzoo. I am going to buy a new car this week. I am tired of this damn thing.

Shino · Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 1:37 pm Post subject:

It's your alternator

Daijaga · Chosen of Luck Gender: Joined: 17 Dec 2003

Shhh, hes getting a Nissan Altima with about 3x the interior space of my cavalier, and we can ride to atlanta in it in September.

Shino · Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 7:41 am Post subject:

dood... if he's getting a new car, he's getting a new car... that's cool

I just am letting him know what the problem is Wiggle

Personally if I had a Chevy with 215000 miles on it, I would expect it to die... you have already gotten 115000 miles more then you should have. Laughing

Faye · Luna Sierra Age: 42 Gender: Joined: 28 Apr 2004

It actually has 240000 miles on it now..... it had 215000 when my mom bought it.

I would agree with you on Chevy cars Shino, but most Chevy trucks I have delt with have been damn good vehicles. For everything that has gone wrong on my truck, they have only been little things. It is even still running the original 350 V8 engine. They are relativly cheap to work on and to be perfectly honest, I wouldnt trade the experience for the world. I have learned a lot from this truck and I am going to be sad when I have to roll it into the lake because no one will buy the damn thing.

Shino · Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 11:23 am Post subject:

So are you going to get a new car or replace the alternator (which would cost you ~$100 if you did it yourself)

Faye · Luna Sierra Age: 42 Gender: Joined: 28 Apr 2004

I am going to buy a car. I have already entered negotiations on the Altima and I was fixing to go take it for a test drive. With any luck I will post some pics of my new car later today.

Faye · Luna Sierra Age: 42 Gender: Joined: 28 Apr 2004

All right. I must have a giant I'm stupid sign floating above my head. I hate car dealerships. They expect me to pay 8800 dollars on a car that is falling apart on the inside and on top of that they want me to pay a 11.9% intrest. I told the guy that if he wanted to sell me that car than he was going to have to come down to at least 8,200 and drop the intrest to 7%. They really must think that I was born yesterday to offer me that.

It looks like we will have to wait a bit for the pictures, I am going to do some more shopping around and wait to see if this guy calls me back.