Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

robr2

It just died. It cranks and runs for a second or so and it just dies. Off to check on it now.

houdini1

robr2 said:

It just died. It cranks and runs for a second or so and it just dies. Off to check on it now.

Bad gasoline or fuel filter?

fezo

Certainly sounds like a fuel issue. Likely not a pump which is a good thing.

If I knew I could get those kind of miles on a Passat I'd have one.

isellhondas

robr2 said:

Well I am sitting in a VW dealership in Stratford, CT. The Passat decided to die on I95 about 20 miles north of where Bradd lives. This is gonna be fun.....

Good luck. I hope it's something simple and cheap to fix!

robr2

The problem was the fuel pump. It was fixed when I arrived at the dealer and I am now home. LONG DAY. I woke at 4 AM and on the road by 5 AM to make Norwalk CT by 9. Luckily my 9 AM had to move to 3 PM. 

bwia

robr2 said:

Well no word from the dealership yet. I was able to rent a car and still make my sales calls. The AAA tow truck driver said I was the 168th call they got in the Fairfield area since 6 AM. 

The Passat is a 2005 with 122K miles on the clock. It has been a super reliable car with mostly maintenance costs. My goal was to run it to 150K. 

Bradd - got your message. Thanks. I can drive the rental home to Boston if my car isn't ready. 

Yikes, perhaps it's time for a new Subaru, the official car of Massachusetts.  However, I  hope you make it home safely.

nyccarguy

Norwalk? Now that's CLOSE to me. Like 15 minutes from my house:)

driver100

robr2 said:

The problem was the fuel pump. It was fixed when I arrived at the dealer and I am now home. LONG DAY. I woke at 4 AM and on the road by 5 AM to make Norwalk CT by 9. Luckily my 9 AM had to move to 3 PM. 

Good, a fuel pump was about the best senario possible.

fezo

So much for my diagnostics. I was betting on a fuel filter, but mostly because it's cheaper to do than a pump...

driver100

fezo said:

So much for my diagnostics. I was betting on a fuel filter, but mostly because it's cheaper to do than a pump...

You were close...you were in the right area.

It seems to me with my limited mechanical knowledge, when it is a filter the car will still probably sputter a bit, they don't go all at once. I used to spend so many hours getting cars fixed, and waiting and hoping the news wouldn't be too bad at the local garage, that I may have developed my fear of out of warranty cars at that time.

Speaking of warranties, did I hear an ad for the new Genesis that says they have a warranty for the life of the car, no mileage restriction?

robr2

nyccarguy said:

Norwalk? Now that's CLOSE to me. Like 15 minutes from my house:)

I was in Stamford today Springdale (near the twin rinks) and Cove-East Side as well as downtown to stop at my bank. I have a couple of different "milk runs" I do in Fairfield/Westchester. Stamford to Norwalk to Bridgeport and the other is Scarsdale, NY to Danbury to Waterbury. I sometimes do both with an overnight in between - it all depends if I want to spend a stupid amount on a lousy hotel.

robr2

fezo said:

So much for my diagnostics. I was betting on a fuel filter, but mostly because it's cheaper to do than a pump...

They pulled the filter first and it was fine. I was hoping it was the filter as well as I didn't change it when I did the 120K service recently. I was lazy and it's sitting in a box in the garage. I'll get to it this weekend.

venture

iPhone battery life

Way off topic, but we've been down that road before.

Is anyone noticing that the battery life has been suddenly and drastically reduced lately? My wife has an iPhone 5s and she has to charge it twice a day even though she doesn't use it a lot. No Facebook, etc. Just calls and texting mainly. I know there was a recall on the battery of some phones, but hers has been fine until now.

My oldest daughter (who, as funny as it may seem, works for Verizon wireless) is having the same problem. I know there was a software release lately (March 9 I think), but don't know if my wife's was updated. It seems it was since this problem just started recently.

qbrozen

My wife's phone seems worse than mine. My iphone5 would last maybe 10 hours with average use, and would go down to about 45% battery just sitting in my pocket all day. My wife says hers is more like 6 hours. I replaced mine a couple of weeks ago with a 6 Plus. HUGE difference. On a day I don't use it (in meetings all day, for example), I unplug in the morning and when I get home that night, it still has 98%! I now go 2 full days with average use before plugging it in.

fezo

I'm still on an iPhone 4S with no complaints. Of course by habit I keep it pretty well charged. If I use it all day without paying attention to the battery it can get mighty low. In emergency extrnal batteries are a wonderful invention.

As for Rob's fuel problem I was doing the opposite thing from what a dealer would do - look for the cheapest possibility. Is that a fuel pump that's in the tank? That makes for a fun repair. Out comes a gas drenched mechanic smoking a cigarette and wanting to explain everything on great detail.

dino001

venture said:

iPhone battery life

Way off topic, but we've been down that road before.

Is anyone noticing that the battery life has been suddenly and drastically reduced lately? My wife has an iPhone 5s and she has to charge it twice a day even though she doesn't use it a lot. No Facebook, etc. Just calls and texting mainly. I know there was a recall on the battery of some phones, but hers has been fine until now.

My oldest daughter (who, as funny as it may seem, works for Verizon wireless) is having the same problem. I know there was a software release lately (March 9 I think), but don't know if my wife's was updated. It seems it was since this problem just started recently.

I think it's the new iOS. It's getting more and more bloated, sapping battery life, even in the background (too much stuff). I'd go on line and check some of those tips about reducing amount of energy used by phone by rearranging and managing the apps and work on adjusting some usage habits. For example, the apps don't really close when you use Home button, or "hand-close", but are put on standby - too many of those and your battery is working overtime needlessly. To really close them, you need to double press "Home" and the scroll apps through and push them away. Just one example, I'm sure there are more.

I also know some people who refuse to update their OS on their older iPhones. There is some risk in that, but I can appreciate why.

graphicguy

I noted the iPhone battery drain issue, too. I concur. iOS has turned into a pig. I have an iPhone 6. And, I have another several months on my contract. I think I'm going to be moving away from iPhone into an Android for that reason when my contract is up.

venture

dino001 said:

venture said:

iPhone battery life

Way off topic, but we've been down that road before.

Is anyone noticing that the battery life has been suddenly and drastically reduced lately? My wife has an iPhone 5s and she has to charge it twice a day even though she doesn't use it a lot. No Facebook, etc. Just calls and texting mainly. I know there was a recall on the battery of some phones, but hers has been fine until now.

My oldest daughter (who, as funny as it may seem, works for Verizon wireless) is having the same problem. I know there was a software release lately (March 9 I think), but don't know if my wife's was updated. It seems it was since this problem just started recently.

I think it's the new iOS. It's getting more and more bloated, sapping battery life, even in the background (too much stuff). I'd go on line and check some of those tips about reducing amount of energy used by phone by rearranging and managing the apps and work on adjusting some usage habits. For example, the apps don't really close when you use Home button, or "hand-close", but are put on standby - too many of those and your battery is working overtime needlessly. To really close them, you need to double press "Home" and the scroll apps through and push them away. Just one example, I'm sure there are more.

I also know some people who refuse to update their OS on their older iPhones. There is some risk in that, but I can appreciate why.

Yeah. I looked at all the things about closing apps. Some say to do it, some say to not do it. Closing any that you aren't using seems to be the right thing. Who knows?

The point though is she has not changed her usage, but it has been getting drained very quickly in the last week or two. Yesterday, when she got home from work it was at 27% and she is at school all day. Nothing has changed except her battery goes south.

I tried to talk her into an Android the last time she upgraded, but she had to have an iPhone.

dino001

venture said:

The point though is she has not changed her usage, but it has been getting drained very quickly in the last week or two. Yesterday, when she got home from work it was at 27% and she is at school all day. Nothing has changed except her battery goes south.

I could be battery going bad, indeed. However, the point of the new OS is also that with same usage, it now saps more power from older devices, because it's built for the new ones, which are more efficient. So, I was just talking about an attempt to mitigate the damage and salvage the situation by adjusting the usage habits, provided nothing is really wrong with the battery. I would also investigate if there are some battery tests out there (either DIY, or paid service) that could determine if there is a hardware (battery) problem.

dino001

graphicguy said:

I noted the iPhone battery drain issue, too. I concur. iOS has turned into a pig. I have an iPhone 6. And, I have another several months on my contract. I think I'm going to be moving away from iPhone into an Android for that reason when my contract is up.

You may find out it's not much better out there, if not worse. The smartphone development in a phase when software features are coming much faster than the hardware's energy storage limitations, which results in a constant battle between the theoretical content abilities and equipment ability to actually deliver it when needed (battery dead phone is no good even if can do all those amazing things). It's almost comical watching all those "cordless" people looking for the nearest receptacle. This similar to PCs back in the day, when software was coming faster than hardware and new versions of Word, or CorelDraw (not to mention true graphic processors) barely worked on new computers and made older ones unusable and you had to upgrade just to keep up with your other business partners. Today the PC hardware is so much ahead of the software, it's embarrassing - the programs are just scratching abilities of the much advertised 64-bit processors or multicore operations. You can have a five-year PC that still works reasonably well on majority of the programs. It's only high-end gaming or graphic processing that still benefit from shorter upgrade cycles. Even in engineering analysis today's s $500-$1000 machine is more than sufficient for 99% of the analyses run, which was not the case even 5 years ago, when you really felt a difference between $2500 workstation and a $800 consumer machine.

robr2

fezo said:

As for Rob's fuel problem I was doing the opposite thing from what a dealer would do - look for the cheapest possibility. Is that a fuel pump that's in the tank? That makes for a fun repair. Out comes a gas drenched mechanic smoking a cigarette and wanting to explain everything on great detail.

Yes the fuel pump is in the tank. Book time to replace it is about 1.75 hours. They charged me an hour of diagnosis time (check fuse, check power at pump, et al).

abacomike

I've noticed a big difference in battery drainage when I bought my iPhone 6.  I traded in my iPhone 4S.  The 4S had to be charged every day but my 6 only every other day.  Apple Genius told me a few things to manage battery use better:

*manually adjust the brightness of your screen to a setting that is the lowest level you are comfortable with.  He told me many people have the brightness setting all the way up which drains the battery faster.

*minimize alerts on your apps.  Every time an alert goes off, it drains the battery.  As an example, I have all my audio alerts turned off except for governmental emergency alerts and text alerts.  My email accounts are on visual alerts only - the locked screen displays the alert visually for 10 seconds and then the alert turns off.

*physically close all apps all the time.  When an app is on stand-by (shows up as open when you access your screen, it is constantly draining the battery.  But if it is closed by pushing the app up, it does not use the battery.

*he recommended that I let the charge level of the battery drop to 20% before charging it.  Full charges are better for your battery than partial charges (such as charging the battery with a 50 or 60 % charge).

*slow, trickle charges (using the plug into an AC outlet) are better for longer battery life than fast direct DC charging (like charging your phone in your car which is charging quickly because it is DC).  I've noticed that when I plug my iPhone 6 into my car to use as an iPod, it simultaneously charges the phone battery using DC current and tends to heat up quickly.  He told me it is because the phone is on a faster charging cycle because it is charging directly from a DC source.

*turn your phone off at night.  It not only saves battery charge, but is healthier for the phone's processor.  When you turn your phone off, it goes into a recycle status which sort of "cleans and clears" the processor.  Obviously if you use your phone at home if you have no landline, that would be unwise to do.  It allows your iPhone to "reset" itself.

those were just a few suggestions he had for battery life.

qbrozen

my issue with switching to Android at this point is losing the rather significant investment I already have in Apple Apps.

robr2

I started using the Waze app in the past week. That is a battery suck and one really needs to manually shut it off when not in use.

abacomike

One of the biggest drainers of battery charge are app games.  "Scramble With Friends" and "Words With Friends" are my two highest battery drainers.  

nyccarguy

robr2 said:

I started using the Waze app in the past week. That is a battery suck and one really needs to manually shut it off when not in use.

WAZE is fantastic. But oh Momma does it drain the phone's battery. On my 32 miles drive home, it can deplete the phone's battery life something like 40% (iPhone 4).

imidazol97

nyccarguy said:

WAZE is fantastic. But oh Momma does it drain the phone's battery. On my 32 miles drive home, it can deplete the phone's battery life something like 40% (iPhone 4).

I heard a list of highest power-draining apps listed by a talk show host in Columbus. WAZE was one of them.

venture

imidazol97 said:

nyccarguy said:

WAZE is fantastic. But oh Momma does it drain the phone's battery. On my 32 miles drive home, it can deplete the phone's battery life something like 40% (iPhone 4).

I heard a list of highest power-draining apps listed by a talk show host in Columbus. WAZE was one of them.

I installed WAZE this morning to see what the fuss was. Within 2 minutes I had a call from Rachael telling me how to lower my credit card rate. I uninstalled it then blocked Rachael's number. Coincidence?

stickguy

I recently installed waze. Figured it would suck juice. But I never open it.

stickguy

I'm also obsessed with swiping up and away all my apps every tine I am done looking at the phone.

robr2

venture said:

imidazol97 said:

nyccarguy said:

WAZE is fantastic. But oh Momma does it drain the phone's battery. On my 32 miles drive home, it can deplete the phone's battery life something like 40% (iPhone 4).

I heard a list of highest power-draining apps listed by a talk show host in Columbus. WAZE was one of them.

I installed WAZE this morning to see what the fuss was. Within 2 minutes I had a call from Rachael telling me how to lower my credit card rate. I uninstalled it then blocked Rachael's number. Coincidence?

Very much a coincidence. Rachel has been calling my cell and home phone for months.

The nice thing about WAZE is that you get very quick real time updates. The point collecting and road goodies are a bit of a game but hey IT'S FREE!!

isellhondas

Are you guys clearing your iPhones? I never knew until someone showed me how to do this and unless you do this often it'll affect battery life big time.

Turn on your phone. Tap the bottom button twice and on each panel that appears swipe upward with your finger until they are all gone. I try to remember to do this every two or three days.

stickguy

That's the swiping I do constantly. Probably why I tend to have respectable battery life.

abacomike

stickguy said:

That's the swiping I do constantly. Probably why I tend to have respectable battery life.

That "swiping" is what closes apps.  The more apps that remain open, the lower your battery charge life.  It makes no sense to keep apps open on your phone unless you are using them.

Michaell

The things you learn .. I've got an iPhone 6. Didn't know about the double tap and swipe to close. I probably had a dozen apps open. Not anymore!

houdini1

Michaell said:

The things you learn .. I've got an iPhone 6. Didn't know about the double tap and swipe to close. I probably had a dozen apps open. Not anymore!

Me too. I had at least 10 open and my wife had 5 or 6. Closed now. Thanks guys.

venture

robr2 said:

venture said:

imidazol97 said:

nyccarguy said:

WAZE is fantastic. But oh Momma does it drain the phone's battery. On my 32 miles drive home, it can deplete the phone's battery life something like 40% (iPhone 4).

I heard a list of highest power-draining apps listed by a talk show host in Columbus. WAZE was one of them.

I installed WAZE this morning to see what the fuss was. Within 2 minutes I had a call from Rachael telling me how to lower my credit card rate. I uninstalled it then blocked Rachael's number. Coincidence?

Very much a coincidence. Rachel has been calling my cell and home phone for months.

The nice thing about WAZE is that you get very quick real time updates. The point collecting and road goodies are a bit of a game but hey IT'S FREE!!

Rachael has called me almost every day for months - even though that was my final notice. This is the first time she ever called on my cell.

abacomike

houdini1 said:

The things you learn .. I've got an iPhone 6. Didn't know about the double tap and swipe to close. I probably had a dozen apps open. Not anymore!

Me too. I had at least 10 open and my wife had 5 or 6. Closed now. Thanks guys.

The real problem here is "lack of training" on the proper and effective use of the phone you buy from your wireless carrier or directly from the manufacturer.  I bought my iPhone 6 directly from Apple that is set up for T-Mobil as the phone's carrier.

The phone came in a box with earphones and a charger cord with plug.  There were no manuals on its use.  To learn how to use the phone, you have to go online to the Apple site and read for hours on how to use the phone "or" you can call Apple Care.  Even Apple Care does not explain to you how to properly close an App to save your battery charge.  I learned how to use my Apple 4S by making an appointment with the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store.  When they came out with the new IOS update for the iPhone 5 which updated the Apple 4 and 4S phones, it changed the way you close an App.  You now had to swipe it "up" to close an App.  So I learned through one-on-one training as well as direct contact with Apple Care over the phone.

This lack of training on the phone's proper use reminds me of when I became a father and my wife became a mother.  We had no training on parenting or caring for a baby.  I remember sitting in a chair with my wife listening to our first baby breathe in her crib as she slept having all kinds of anxieties.  When our second child was born, we knew how to care for him and slept much better at night With no worries or concerns.  Same with my iPhone - had to learn over many months how it works and how new IOS updates changed the workings of my phone.  By the time I bought my iPhone 6, it was easier to use because I had all the training and experiences with my 4S.

ab348

I like my Apple devices for the most part but a lot of the "tips and tricks" you need to know to use them effectively really are not very intuitive. For example, I find the whole swiping & pinching business with all the variations to do different things totally confusing. And on my iPad, responding to a post here with a quoted block of text ()for example) I cannot figure out a way to highlight just a section of the quote to delete it. I'm sure there is one but I can't figure it out. And Maps, Google Streetview, etc, is hopeless in the iPad.

robr2

ab348 said:

I like my Apple devices for the most part but a lot of the "tips and tricks" you need to know to use them effectively really are not very intuitive. For example, I find the whole swiping & pinching business with all the variations to do different things totally confusing. And on my iPad, responding to a post here with a quoted block of text ()for example) I cannot figure out a way to highlight just a section of the quote to delete it. I'm sure there is one but I can't figure it out. And Maps, Google Streetview, etc, is hopeless in the iPad.

Double tap the first word and then stretch the pin to the right and down to the last word. It will then ask copy, cut.

abacomike

ab348 said:

I like my Apple devices for the most part but a lot of the "tips and tricks" you need to know to use them effectively really are not very intuitive. For example, I find the whole swiping & pinching business with all the variations to do different things totally confusing. And on my iPad, responding to a post here with a quoted block of text ()for example) I cannot figure out a way to highlight just a section of the quote to delete it. I'm sure there is one but I can't figure it out. And Maps, Google Streetview, etc, is hopeless in the iPad.

Intuitiveness is a word that is not in the "Apple" dictionary!  One has to go into the Apple Store and meet with a "geek" in their Genius Bar once you have pages of questions to ask and have answered.

The only reason I used the trade in value of my iPhone 4S to buy a year's extension of my Apple Care warranty is because every time they update IOS, there's a good chance you will need professional help from their Apple Care geeks.

So so you can figure out how technologically challenged I am.  Luckily I learn quickly.

venture

My daughter - the one who works at Verizon Wireless - called and said they are having dozens of people going into the store every day complaining about the sudden battery depletion since the OS "upgrade".

Nothing the customers are doing has changed. Suddenly changing habits won't help. It's a software glitch according to the geeks at Verizon.

Hopefully they get it fixed before my wife drives me nuttier. I guess you most of you guys are luckier than others.

houdini1

abacomike said:

ab348 said:

I like my Apple devices for the most part but a lot of the "tips and tricks" you need to know to use them effectively really are not very intuitive. For example, I find the whole swiping & pinching business with all the variations to do different things totally confusing. And on my iPad, responding to a post here with a quoted block of text ()for example) I cannot figure out a way to highlight just a section of the quote to delete it. I'm sure there is one but I can't figure it out. And Maps, Google Streetview, etc, is hopeless in the iPad.

Intuitiveness is a word that is not in the "Apple" dictionary!  One has to go into the Apple Store and meet with a "geek" in their Genius Bar once you have pages of questions to ask and have answered.

The only reason I used the trade in value of my iPhone 4S to buy a year's extension of my Apple Care warranty is because every time they update IOS, there's a good chance you will need professional help from their Apple Care geeks.

So so you can figure out how technologically challenged I am.  Luckily I learn quickly.

That same swiping up trick works on my ipad too !

robr2

venture said:

My daughter - the one who works at Verizon Wireless - called and said they are having dozens of people going into the store every day complaining about the sudden battery depletion since the OS "upgrade".

Nothing the customers are doing has changed. Suddenly changing habits won't help. It's a software glitch according to the geeks at Verizon.

Hopefully they get it fixed before my wife drives me nuttier. I guess you most of you guys are luckier than others.

According to the google machine, the upgrade to iOS8.2 affected the battery life of iPhone 5 and older models. The Fitness app was upgraded and is now using more battery. iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are not affected.

To stop the fitness app from running, follow these instructions:

"...there are four easy steps to shut off the fitness tracker, which includes going to the Settings of the phone, clicking the Privacy tab, then clicking on the Motion & Fitness tab, then finally choosing the Off option in the Fitness Tracking."

Also"

"However, there might be other factors why the battery drains faster with iOS 8.2. To check on which apps use more battery juice, owners need to go to the Settings -> General -> Usage -> Battery Usage of the Apple device. After finding out the apps that consume too much battery life, they can simply limit the use of such apps in their iPhone or iPad."

laurasdada

I'm so in the habit of swiping up that I often do it when I don't mean to. I may want to switch between apps, but I automatically swipe 'em away!

abacomike

@robr2 said:

"...there are four easy steps to shut off the..."

I followed your advice, rob, and shut off my "Motion and Fitness" tab since I really don't use it and it isn't very accurate. I also followed your advice about tracking battery usage by app. As I thought, My "Scramble With Friends" and "Words with Friends" apps use a big chunk of the "juice". Games are usually the heaviest users of battery charge juice.

You are correct in your comment about the newest upgrade to the IOS. My battery charge life remained about the same on my iPhone 6, however some friends of mine who have 4S and 5S phones have noticed a shorter battery charge life.

As I mentioned in a recent post, the best way to extend a battery charge is to make sure you apps are all closed when not in use. They tend to drain more juice just by remaining open.

stever

All the battery tech has just been incremental over the last several years decades. Can you imagine the disruption that'll come when (if?) "decent" storage arrives for EVs? Be fun to razz the diesel crowd if your EV could go 1,000 miles on a charge, especially if the charge was from "free" solar.

imidazol97

robr2 said:

Double tap the first word and then stretch the pin to the right and down to the last word. It will then ask copy, cut.

That is sounding a lot like the intuitive actions that are part of my Android. The Chrome browser is rich with things like that. My Android works even better than any of my PCs with Firefox or Explorer and the Win 7
Pro operating system (No I won't try 8.0/8.1 for a while).

imidazol97

imidazol97 said:

robr2 said:

Double tap the first word and then stretch the pin to the right and down to the last word. It will then ask copy, cut.

That is sounding a lot like the intuitive actions that are part of my Android. The Chrome browser is rich with things like that. My Android works even better than any of my PCs with Firefox or Explorer and the Win 7
Pro operating system (No I won't try 8.0/8.1 for a while).

As I started learning my Android OS, I found that it's difficult to purge the
excess out of the quotes on Edmunds when I used my phone to read and
reply. Then I learned how to cut the excess. I understood then why so many
posts had all the quotes still embedded when people used their phones
to reply.

venture

robr2 said:

venture said:

My daughter - the one who works at Verizon Wireless - called and said they are having dozens of people going into the store every day complaining about the sudden battery depletion since the OS "upgrade".

Nothing the customers are doing has changed. Suddenly changing habits won't help. It's a software glitch according to the geeks at Verizon.

Hopefully they get it fixed before my wife drives me nuttier. I guess you most of you guys are luckier than others.

According to the google machine, the upgrade to iOS8.2 affected the battery life of iPhone 5 and older models. The Fitness app was upgraded and is now using more battery. iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are not affected.

To stop the fitness app from running, follow these instructions:

"...there are four easy steps to shut off the fitness tracker, which includes going to the Settings of the phone, clicking the Privacy tab, then clicking on the Motion & Fitness tab, then finally choosing the Off option in the Fitness Tracking."

Also"

"However, there might be other factors why the battery drains faster with iOS 8.2. To check on which apps use more battery juice, owners need to go to the Settings -> General -> Usage -> Battery Usage of the Apple device. After finding out the apps that consume too much battery life, they can simply limit the use of such apps in their iPhone or iPad."

Exactly. I originally asked about the 5s.

I'll look at the steps you mentioned and see what shakes out. I hate it when a company improves something that ends up being a headache to their users. (She never leaves an app running BTW).