₦airaland Forum

Trac: There are! The Cadillacs and the Impalas. I'm sure there might be more.

Lincoln Continentals, Cadillac Deville, most large American Ford sedans etc.

Are you interested in buying one?




Car-Doctor.

ibrodex: i need an auto electrictian to do a quick fix in my golf3 car.
please if you know anyone u can call 08022281411 for details.

Quick fix, quick breakdown.

Where is your location and what's wrong with your car?



Car-Doctor.

[quote author=dan_dollar]@car doctor, is it normal to feel gear changes in honda? Or are the changes suposed to be noticed only with d change in the sound of the engine?[/quote]Yes you should feel the gear changes as you accelerate as long as it doesn't change with violent jerk.

Car-Doctor.

awolols: i must have been guessing wrongly.
oweing to the fact that many of our cars are imported from yankee and one cant really say when to do a change. in this case when and how would one know when to do a change and what is the recommended mileage assuming mileage has never been rolled back?
pls treat as urgent

Stylz69 just gave you the best tip.

If you buy an imported tokunbo or Naija used car, the best thing to do regardless of service history or not is to ensure that you put everything back in the right order and to the correct specifications.

Start by Changing your engine oil and filter to manufacturer recommended specifications.

Change your transmission oil to the manufacturer's recommended specifications.

Drain and refill your radiator with a good quality recommended coolant.

Brake fluids and power steering fluids may not be too necessary at this stage but could be included.

This gives you reasonable peace of mind knowing that you have had your car reset to its original factory settings.

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Coincidentally, a 2007 model sienna was brought into my workshop this morning with slipping transmission issues. It turned out that the owner had just bought it from a car dealer in Kano about two weeks ago.

Everything seemed ok in what was supposed to be a good car until last night while driving in town he noticed that he had lost the final drive on the car and the gearbox was slipping when he tries to accelerate.

The condition got worse as he made his way to my workshop this morning.

A quick scan revealed that shift solenoids "B" and "" were stuck open.

A check on the tranny oil condition also revealed that the oil was burnt and had turned black.

He informed me that the car was serviced before he bought it and also had an oil change on the gearbox.

"which oil?" I asked. Abro, he said.

Well, bad news. The sienna 2007 transmissions are designed to operate with the manufacturer specific Toyota WS.

Running the gearbox without the recommended tranny fluid obviously led to it packing up.

New gearbox in sight and that should set him back around N400k.


Car-Doctor.

Its not all about being able to scan a car and pulling out the codes. Its more about being able to interpret the codes and translate them into solutions. That's where the Challenge is.

There is a very technical aspect of it that should the wrong turn be taken it could result into more issues that could be time consuming in resolving and may leave a big hole in your pocket while the problem persists.

You must understand the inner workings of every system in your powertran operations as well as other supported modules built into your car for you to achieve the desired results.

I will still recommend a better education on the technical theoretical mechanics and electrics of the automobile before venturing into the unknown with a scanner. It may not always be as simple as it appears.

Car-Doctor.

Seems like this guy wants to build a spacecraft. Lol

By the way, what car do you want to modify?

Welldone Gbola, Kunle. Emma, Ben and co on the Automedics team. Its been long awaited and we at Autobrite Automotive Solutions Ltd are standing well behind you guys.

I've got a few candidates who are already interested. I Will send their details asap.

Please furnish me with more info. Thanks


Car-Doctor.

^^^

How do you answer a question like "Is the d light normal?"

There must be a Depth to the enquiry to ascertain what the real concern is. Anyway, I leave you to it.

Cat-Doctor.

aluta2: Model-honda CRV
Year-2000
Engine type-I4
Pls what engine oil and Gear oil is suitable for the car, the battery head was remove the radio was asking for code. Pls what can I do to solve the issue.

Mobil xhp should be ok for your engine. Being a 2000, your transmission should be using the honda ATF-Z1. Any other atf may damage your gearbox.

As for the radio code, you should find the code in your car manual booklet if it was written down by the previous owner or the code strip is still attached. Its a four number code. If not, then you will have to decode it by a car radio code expert.

Car-Doctor.

bravolad: It depicts lack of maintenance culture among car owners. If you sit at a location to observe cars that pass by, you would notice that about 60% or more of the cars require attention. People have this attitude of "if it is not broken don't fix it". Most times you would notice that for a particular part of a car to brake down, it would have shown signs of weakness but owners will ignore it & then look helpless when it stops. It surprises me why people buy cars they cannot maintain.

Again, if there's an accepted standard of operation for vehicles in Nigeria imposed by legislation, such as Emission tests, MOT etc. these incidents of Constance vehicle break down will be reduce. In Nigeria, any thing that has four tyres goes on the road unchallenged by law enforcement agencies.

Have you also notice that most cars on the Nigerian roads have one form of dent or the other yet such vehicles are put on the road. You could travel round the United Kingdom without seeing a vehicle with dent or one broken down.

Well on point. Most aabuja car owners find it difficult to maintain their cars. Can't really explain the reason but it seem like they Don't cut their coats according to their sizes or just sheer paranoia of being ripped off by quacks.

Sometime ago, I had a customer drive into the workshop in a 2008 Infinity sports car wearing a N200k suit with hat and swagger stick to match. He could easily have passed for a Niger delta prince whose dad owns an oil well but wouldn't pay N5k for a simple scan on his car to ascertain why the car is giving him problems as the check engine light was on. His claim was that 5k was too much for a scan. He eventually carried his wahala away. Just one of too many but God help us.


Car-Doctor.

In Lagos? You are lucky you got back to your car with the water for your radiator and found all the tyres still in place.

Lagos na wah but Abuja is catching up too on this phenomenom.

Car-Doctor.

Simple. They just Don't want you to know the truth.

andre82: I have a friend with a 1999 camry (pencil light) with a mileage of 251011. When he drives without the ac the car moves superbly but as soon as the ac is on, the car drags and seems 2be on a heavy load. Most especially wen climbing a hilly road stretch, we noticed that if we switch off the ac compressor, the car climb faster than when it is on. When the car stops but still in Drive (with ac), the rpm drops to 500 and car vibrates a little and requires more power to take off again. The engine still steams in the morning and regular oil change is done. We noticed it consumes a bit more fuel than necessary. Pls, auto gurus, what do you advise cos my friend is thinking of disposing the car. Thank you.

This particular problem occurs when the compressor is bad or the cooling system has had an ac gas refill beyond the capacity that the compressor can handle.

The compressor can weigh the engine down severely and increase the demand on the engine to drive it. That could also increase the fuel consumption of your car and may eventually damage the compressor or wear your engine out due to the high revs demanded from the engine especially on uphill climbs.

It may also be due to low oil in the compressor.

If your compressor, condenser and expansion valve are still ok, have your ac system regassed with the right amount of gas (not more than 2 1/2 cans of the regular rf134 gas) and the right quantity of oil (about 250ml) filled in after a full discharge and cleaning out of the ac system.

That should cure your problem.

Car-Doctor.

awolols: What would you say about dexron II for a 2003-12 honda accord

Do you want to damage your gearbox? I just recommended the best oil for your gearbox and it seems like you diddnt read the write up.

Car-Doctor.

arcis: @op, which ATF can I use for my mitsubishi carisma 1998 model? Kindly help me out.

Dexron 3 should be suitable for most cars manufactured circa 1998. I would recommend Oando ATF Dexron 3 and make sure you buy directly from the petrol station as there are adultrated ones circulating in the markets.


Car-doctor.

Interesting write up.


Car-Doctor.

ping2ping: Please car-doctor, what does it mean to "flash" or "reflash" an auto transmission? I see this a lot but wouldn't know what exactly that means.

Could you please educate us

I hope you are not confusing flush with flash. Anyway here's the two.

"Flushing"your auto transmission means flushing out the old traanny fluid and replacing with a fresh and new ATF.

The process requires a special equipment to do that so that all the oil in the gearbox is expelled and a fresh one introduced into the gearbox while the engine is running to engage the auto transmission oil pump.

The purpose is to completeley empty out the oil in the torque converter which usually remains when you carry out a normal oil drain.

"Flashing" can only be done on auto transmissions that are controlled by a TCM (Transmission Control Module).

Obviously, this is a computer designed and programmed to control the transmission's functions and jsut like any computer, could lose its memory and begin to malfunction.

"Flashing"is the process of removing the corrupt program and reinstalling the original program or an updated version. This is usually done using a manufacturer specific scan tool or programming device. Kinda like formatting your laptop computer.


Car-Doctor.

Ngutor: Good day car-doctor. Hope work is good. Please how can one locate you in Abuja. I want to bring my car in for a scan the CIL is on and it's petrol consumption seems very high to me. Car is a 2005 Honda Accord I4. Thank you

My address and phone numbers are below. Thanks.


Car-Doctor.

luvinhubby: Honda has fazed out production of ATF-Z1 and replaced it with ATF-DW1 which is an advanced ATF-Z1 in 2011. Anything you see as Z1 in the market is a cloned China fluid that is worse than our local ABRO and Holts. The first pix is the DW1, notice the replication of same can color and label design but inscription DW1 changed to Z1 in the second pix posted below.

The original ATFz1 is still very much available. You just need to look carefully at the packaging.

Car-Doctor.

ada58: Helo pals pls i need a jeep i can get for 1.5m or below for direct belgium.A jeep that has low maintenance cost & vry economical.I hav Lexus RX 300 in mind.Pls guys sugest 4me.

1.5m for RX300?

High maintenance costs to be cleverly considered for the size of your pocket.

luluspin: Hey friends, I need your thought and opinion about kia cars,I want to know how strong and reliable they are especially kia optima magnetis 2002, would appreciate your response

They are not bad cars at all but they always have issues of poor maintenance by previous owners.

Most of them usually start their lives as company cars and may have also suffered a lot of abuse from drivers and mechanics alike.

Critically check the car extensively for accident damage that was poorly repaired, suspension components for wear, engine and gearbox conditions before you buy.

Although its a small car, the price of parts too can be a bit on the high side.

Car-Doctor.

chagga: pls someone help me mine has high fuel consumption and i was told the catalyst has been removed and that is the cause of the the high fuel consumption. Can someone tell me how i can remedy that

Removal of the catalytic converter can seriously increase your fuel consumption. My concern is why was it removed in the first place?

The check engine light on the dashboard should be on and you need to carry out a diagnostic scan first and then check what codes are showing.

Post the scan results and let us know on the forum.

Car-Doctor.

sleektangaralle: So i have always liked the show love-vendor MY RIDE.

Eventually i tried to modify my little civic joker. Pics below, enjoy.

Its not a joker. Its real.

Very nice job on the modifications. It actually looks like a rally car. Weldone.

Car-Doctor.

ZIM DRILL: come one such thing you can google

but you are lucky today i got the patience

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_control

On Nairaland you need a lot of patience.

Some questions just drive you crazy.

I beg I no wan vex.

Car-Doctor.

linktel: Hello All

I just want to bring an obvious situation to our notice again.I was on a car website,browsing through for car deals till I came across a tokunbo toyota camry for sale,I was interested but I was shocked at the low price,so I called up the contact to correct his mistake and ask for the real price,but to my surprise,the seller said the prices posted was the correct price...I proceeded to ask him why the low price and he said he want to sell it off to bring in more cars..Suspecting a scam,I asked him for the VIN and he said he would send it,up till tomorrow I neva see VIN...

The car in question is a toyota camry 2001 model selling for 650k,seller even agreed 550k...

I want to knw if anyone in the house has purchased cars at auctions or from importers at outragouesly low prices....no yabis abeg

Its all a fraud. Caveat emptor!!!!!!


Car-Doctor.

The one with 666 worries me the most. I won't even board a cab with that number.

Sometime ago, a customer came to my workshop with a black Cadillac Escalade with a 666 number. As soon as I noticed the number, I began to check if he had two horns popping out of his head.

Very funny but its all superstitious.



Car-Doctor.

Very solid car if u maintain it well.

If your check engine light is on then you need to scan your car to know what is wrong.

Its possible water has entered into certain engine components such as the connectors for your o2 sensors or crankshaft sensor as they are the most vulnerable to flood damage.

I can't remember where the ecm for your car is positioned but if its bolted to the floor pan of the car then you must also investigate if you've got water ingress there.

Other possibilities could be that the intake duct could have suck in water while driving through the flood and damaged the airflow meter on its way into the inlet manifold.

The second opinion you got about the air flow meter being damaged is most likely.

Scan the car first sha.

Car-Doctor.

emperorbaffoe: nicknames of cars

Volkswagen Emperoebaffoe. That's the only one I know.

tellwisdom: The car is cute..Is it bullet proof??

No its not.

valendave: Hw much pls

N2.4 million

More pix