Car Trouble Thread

[JTA]

I have a 2000 Honda Civic. When you accelerate and once the RPM gets up to around 2-3k it makes a steam engine sound (best way I can describe it), sort of like when you force air or liquid through a pipe under a lot of pressure, like a PSHH-PSHH-PSHH-PSHH sound. When you let off the gas it stops. It only happens once you give it a decent amount of gas. Also seems like the car doesn't have the power it once had.

I've been told the catalytic converter might be clogged, which I guess that sort of makes sense, but I'm not a mechanic so I have no idea. Has anyone ever had a similar problem happen to their car?

It seems like the sound is coming from the front of the car, not the rear near the cat converter. I had a similar issue with another car a while back where one of the tubes (?) had a small hole in it, so the engine's vacuum was thrown out of whack causing a similar issue, but no steam engine sound, engine just ran rough. I can't reproduce it when in park.

Any mechanics out therrreeee?

[neoplacebo]

I would say you have another vacuum leak somewhere. Can you duplicate the sound by just working the throttle while the hood is up and the car not moving or does it only happen when you're driving?

[JTA]

I would say you have another vacuum leak somewhere. Can you duplicate the sound by just working the throttle while the hood is up and the car not moving or does it only happen when you're driving?

Seems like it only happens when driving once the RPMs get up to around 2-3k. I Kept it in park and gave it a lot of gas, couldn't duplicate it.

[neoplacebo]

Could be any number of things; maybe best thing is to look on Honda forums for someone else having had that same noise. And there's always the last resort; going to the Honda dealer......

[JTA]

Could be any number of things; maybe best thing is to look on Honda forums for someone else having had that same noise. And there's always the last resort; going to the Honda dealer......

Such is life.

[JTA]

Twas the catalytic converter.

[neoplacebo]

Twas the catalytic converter.

Oooh, I bet that's a 5 or 7 hundred dollar situation.....tell them your cousin gets 85 dollars just for the platinum in them and maybe they'll reconsider.

[Wneglia]

Twas the catalytic converter.

Oooh, I bet that's a 5 or 7 hundred dollar situation.....tell them your cousin gets 85 dollars just for the platinum in them and maybe they'll reconsider.

http://www.carparts.com/details/Honda/C ... jGM3nw_wcB

[JTA]

For body work, is it generally better to take your car to a dealership, or to an independent shop? Cost doesn't matter in my situation (other persons insurance is covering it).

[O Really]

For body work, is it generally better to take your car to a dealership, or to an independent shop? Cost doesn't matter in my situation (other persons insurance is covering it).

Generally, I'd go to the independent shop. In fact, a lot of dealers farm out their body work anyway. And they all use the same estimating software.

[Boatrocker]

I've done it both ways, and didn't see a nickel's worth of difference.

[O Really]

Funny you should bring that up today. I dropped off my truck this morning to get a bumper cover ouchie fixed.

[Mr.B]

"Funny you should bring that up today. I dropped off my truck this morning to get a bumper cover ouchie fixed."

Have you taken a good look at the "bumpers" they're putting on cars & trucks now...? Mostly styrofoam.
Little wonder why they need "covers".

[O Really]

"Funny you should bring that up today. I dropped off my truck this morning to get a bumper cover ouchie fixed."

Have you taken a good look at the "bumpers" they're putting on cars & trucks now...? Mostly styrofoam.
Little wonder why they need "covers".

No styrofoam on this one. It's a steel bar behind but the outside is plastic.

[Mr.B]

"No styrofoam on this one. It's a steel bar behind but the outside is plastic."

I'd be willing to bet there's some formed styrofoam in there somewhere...

I had to have the rear step-bumper replaced on my 1990 F150 truck. The original was a heavy sucker that took a licking when someone rear-ended me.
The replacement bumper was a piece of junk; the steel was so thin it only had one side, and the chrome is either peeling off or rusting.

Materials
Generally, car bumpers are made of a plastic cover reinforced by a bar made of steel, fiberglass composite, plastic or aluminum. In addition to crushable brackets and a bar, bumpers sometimes incorporate polypropylene foam or formed thermoplastic. These additional components act as spacers between the bumper and bar, not as energy absorbers.
Bumpers protect important equipment on your car such as headlights, taillights, hood and exhaust and cooling systems. These components are all expensive to replace, and a bumper can eliminate or reduce the costs of repairing them.

Types
While most bumpers have a standard design to protect important components on a car, some are designed for style. This emphasis on style often reduces a bumper's, resulting in decreased effectiveness in resisting damage during a crash.

[rstrong]

I remember a car show where they had a car sliced in half for people to see the cut-away view. I was surprised to see that the bumpers were filled with Styrofoam. This was in the late 1980s.

I thought it was more for ensuring that water didn't collect inside.

[O Really]

Got my truck back. Looks, at they say in Philly, "beeyoutiful.

[JTA]

Got my truck back. Looks, at they say in Philly, "beeyoutiful.

Nice!

Taking mine in tomorrow for a quote.

[rstrong]

I've always wanted to buy the remains of a car from a car crusher - a car compressed into a bale - and take it to an auto body show to ask for a quote.

A friend at Bristol Aerospace once faced that situation years ago. The Canadian military dropped off the wreckage of a helicopter that had crashed in the woods, with instructions to "fix it."

Bristol: "But.... but.... we can sell get you a brand new helicopter for far less money than it will take to turn this back into a flyable helicopter, and in a lot less time."

Military: "No, you can't. Buying helicopters for the military is a political decision, which has to work its way through parliament. And then it has to be tendered out for competing bids and go through that whole decision process. I assure you; turning this [taps wreckage] back into a helicopter will be faster and will cost the taxpayers less."

[Mr.B]

Sounds like our GAO.....you remember the $500 toilet seats and the $300 hammers....... :-0?>