Certainly sounds like a transmission issue. Perhaps having a computer scan done on the car, looking for transmission trouble codes, might give you some direction on how to approach the problem.
Hopefully someone else can chime in, but is your car still under the powertrain warranty?
It could be a multitude of problems. The high idle at start up sounds like an idle air control problem, vacuum leak or a faulty sensor. I'd probably take it to the dealership and have them do diagnostics on the car.
I have a problem on my 2007 525xi automatic. Yesterday I was going to work, then I wanted to make an overrun and it never shift to the next gear, the engine was running at 6000 RPM... as if I was in manual mode. I then spent in manual mode and I had to go this way, the automatic mode unresponsive. When I stop and go, the transitions between gears where made painfully with a strong shot coming from the back each times... as if the differential is badly hung. At the end of my day, wanted to backward, nothing ... as if it was in neutral position. For cons, I was able to go forward , but only till the third gear and I had to go home by the highway at 30Mph at 4500RPM! Someone there had the same experience? Later on I'll try the transmission reset as I’ve seen on other forums so I hope to be successful caus I'm stuck with my girlfriend's old RAV4 for our Christmas family/friends tour!!! Many thanks for your advices.
2007 Chevrolet Optra 4 cylinder 1.6L fuel injected auto transmission 79,000 km. Car jerks while starting after a long park, especially in mornings. But after about 10 secs. running, car is fine. Brought to chevy service center and another workshop and following were done: changed engine and transmission mounts; changed spark plugs and lead wires; changed fuel pump, cleand fuel lines and injectors; changed EGR and PCV; changed camshaft cover gasket; changed transmission and engine oils; Still problem exists. I'm here in Dubai and it's not too cold. ave. temp. around 20 deg.C.
had this problem on a 1970 chevelle with new style 350 with 4 barrel holley carb my problem turned out to be electric fuel pump was mounted to far to back of car so i purchased new pump and mounted it frame under front door and solved my problem don't know if this helps you but i hope so i was also holding great fuel pressure it would just drop off at times like on incline then would regain after awhile so i hope this will help you
We have a 95 Blazer that is having some issues and we were wondering if you could help us out? We know that it has a bad cam and 2 bad lifters, due to these issues, would this cause the truck to cut off while driving down the road? Please, help us with this question... Thank you.
Not sure exactly what you mean by a "bad" camshaft---I presume you mean wearing out, and thus creating noisy valve lifters and perhaps a drop in power.
This condition wouldn't actually keep an engine from running, though, no.
I love my truck have had no problems other than the frustration of shifting into first. I have to slide into second then back to first to avoid having to push pretty hard into first. Then there is the fact that downshifting to first is impossible until almost a dead stop. Who would design a tranny like that. I find myself having to slam on the brakes or lug thru second. I would like to hear any insight into this pitiful design
My 1994 Chev Conversion Van just started leaking tranny fluid into the passenger side front. I am pretty sure it must be the heater core...since I can't afford to fix that right now, I was wondering how one would go about by-passing that for a short time. I crawled under there yesterday, thinking I could just disconnect hoses at the firewall, and with the right size fitting hook the two together before they go into the heater core. But...with the A/C hoses and all the rest, I cannot tell which is what! One would think you could find a decent blow-apart picture in a mechanic manual of the heating & cooling hoses... but no, and I have been through them all or as many as I could find at the library etc. Any ideas or manuals any one else knows of would be so appreciated any help at all...Happy Trails.
Heater core, is part of engine cooling, and has antifreeze/water coolant in it. If there is transmission fluid as part of that, then you have a real big problem, in that your transmission cooler (which is small separate section of the radiator), is leaking into the radiator coolant, which is then also leaking thru the heater core into your vehicle. That would ruin your transmission.
I think you would be better off taking your vehicle and having a trained mechanic figure out what is really wrong with your vehicle, as opposed to guessing/speculating.
I'm going to assume you are leaking coolant, not tranny fluid, into the passenger foot well.
Most heater cores are relatively cheap. As little as $50 or so. Now it might be a real mess, with a lot of labor to get to it. But if the core can be reached quickly from the inside, it might not cost that much to have it fixed.
And the heater hoses under the hood will be hot, after the motor warms up. They usually are two different sizes, 3/4 inch and 5/8 inch. Sometime both are same size.
Had both PS hoses and fittings replaced on my '03 530i in July 2008. Bought the car new, so it took 5+ years for any leaks to appear.
Had a total cooling system overhaul with all components replaced in Nov 2010. Radiator, fan, shroud, expansion tank, water pump, thermostat, etc. all replaced. Since I had this performed just recently, I have noticed a pretty good leak from the PS hose around the lower fitting.
Question is whether or not the PS hoses must be disconnected in order to perform the cooling system replacement. Given the nature of this current leak, the techs at my indie BMW shop would HAVE to have noticed something in November. I noticed the PS fluid on the floor in mid December. Fluid dripped onto the under engine "tray" for some period before it was of sufficient quantity to make it to the floor of my garage, so no idea when it actually started.
Taking it into the indie shop tomorrow, as the dealer that performed the original work while under CPO Warranty wanted to charge me $159 just to put it on the rack to look at it. At least my guys did not charge me to find the problem and even topped of the ATF fluid. Don't want to "accuse" them of not sufficiently tightening the pressure clamps on the hose (if that is the prob), but if these hoses needed to be disconnected to do the cooling overhaul, then I want them to do the right thinkg by me.
Any thoughts as a sanity check before I take the car in tomorrow will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
BTW, just turned 84,000 miles. Placed into service Jan 2003. My concern from the previous post is that the new PS hoses should not be leaking so soon after replacement. Dealer tells me that the work/parts warranted for only 2 years, so the leak happened some time after the cooling system overhaul I mentioned above and they cannot replace under warranty.
I hooked an OBD II reader up to my 2009 Chevy Uplander and got the code P1174-manufacturer control fuel and air metering. I get a pinging sound during accleration and steady speed. Is it the O2 sensor or injectors? Obviously it is not a cracked hose that I am sucking air through.
I t sounds like you have a pretty good shop your dealing with, do ya wanna mess that up. Trust is the biggest issue between shops and customers. Personnally if my customer doesn't trust me in what I say I do not want him in my shop. If good BMW shops were a dime a dozen, which there not I would trust my tech, go at him with this attitude and he will work with you. There is nothing better than a good customer exspecially with the high end vehicles. Doing what he has allredy done for free tells you this about him. Myself being a one man shop when I say anything to my customers, I know what I;m talking about because I did the work. I'd say trust your Tech!! Scanman
"a one man shop " A business question .........When you replace a part with one from a parts store, do you not mark it up so as to make a profit on that part? If so, and that part is faulty - do you charge for replacing the faulty part or absorb it because you made a profit on the faulty part to begin with?
I'm not a mechanic, but I think how it works is he doesn't mark up a part, but he is able to buy a part at a discount. And he then sells it to you at list price, the price you would have paid if you walked into a dealer or parts store.
In general, I think a mechanic would provide the save 'warranty' support that the place selling him the part provides. I can't see a mechanic providing more warranty on a part than is provided to him. Why should he? He does not have any control over the quality of a part.
I would hope if a part truly fails in its 'warranty' period, he would replace it free, or at least at a reduced labor rate.
I know it's not his fault, but when he purchases the part at his price and charges me list, why should he make a profit on a poor part? When he adds his "profit" to the price of a part, he takes ownership and responsibility for the reliabiltiy of that part because he profits by it. The customer is not in the business of financing quality control of auto parts.
And what happens when the second part fails? Seen that happen before. In fact it was an AC Delco evaporator. Talk about eating the labor tearing a dash apart twice....lovely.
I warranty my labor on the repair job. Where the part comes from makes no difference. Since I provide the part, the warranty is in my hands.
Now mind you, the warranty I provide on my repairs is fairly limited. So if a part is covered under the manufacturer's warranty, then I will warranty the part and not the labor, should it be outside my repair warranty. That being said, it is very often I can get the parts store to cover the labor on warranty, as they like my business. :shades: Confused yet? To add to the confusion, if I replace a big ticket item, such as an engine or transmission, then the manufacturer may have a labor warranty on it that covers it for a specified time. I have a tendency to purchase reman engines from places that provide an "anywhere" warranty.
Bottom line is, a person should be certain of the warranty they get when they have a repair done. Get it in writing.
Now, then there is the people who want to bring their own parts in. No labor warranty. Period. I don't care if it came from the same parts house as I use, if the customer supplies the part, if I will install it, they have the warranty from the part. That is all. Why is that? Because if I buy the part, I have leverage with the parts store on my labor. If the customer buys the part, the parts store might warranty my work, but it will be a lot of work to get it.
You may go to 5 different repair shops and get 5 different warranty information.
We used to have a saying about "cheap" lifetime warranty parts. You spend a lifetime replacing them. And that goes back to the part being replaced for free, but not the labor.
I warranty any and all jobs with my standard warranty as long as I recieve and charge my standard prices, of course when I give discounts like to friends for instance parts at cost then its like joe customer coming in and asking me to rplace this part in his hand it his aprt he warrantys it not me. I allways warranty my labor 90 days 4000 mi which ever occurs first, If a part fails its not my fault, but if I made money on a part no matter how much as lomg as the markup was standard in my shop i warranty with m,y standard warranty ,no if and butts about it! Then you have this parts that have a lifetime warranty, thats just a sales pitch for parts company or tire and brake companys to get the customer thru the door, when the cust. does have a problem they find out how good those warranty are, first it just the part and if you wear a brake pad down to the metal they say you went past the lifetime warranty and that makes the part non-warrantyable, I have seen that thru parts companys.
So let me get this straight---if you replace my heater core at 10 hours labor and the new core was defective, then you eat the 10 hours to do it again, no questions asked?
Good advice... I do trust them, as they did not touch a thing during the original assessment pending analysis from the dealer that did the original work. After hearing that the dealer wanted to lighten my wallet by $159 just to put it on the rack, I returned to my indie and he was right on with the final assessment... a fitting/clamp had gotten loose and he tighted for me. Did not even want to charge me, so I offered $50 for their time, expertise and willingness to help out. I will continue my relationship with them and recommend them to anyone with a BMW off of warranty.
BTW, they just performed a $2,000+ total cooling system overhaul, so they have demonstrated that they do great work. Rare to find a shop that works on German cars who values me as a customer. Will send them referrals at every chance!
I was reading a Hyundai forum, and there is a girl who is having an unusual amount of trouble with excessive static shock in her Elantra. I have suggested the usual things to try...use moisturizer, avoid synthetic clothing, use a thimble on door metal and hold it there throughout the process of getting out, and someone else mentioned recovering her seats with leather which is bound to help but will be expensive. The car is a 3 month old 2010. Hyundai is saying they will not install grd straps to the chassis because of increased lightning strike potentially harming the car's electronics.
So this raised a few questions for me. She claims she has not had this level of trouble with static in any of her previous cars or at home. So my question is, is there a situation with a car in which it has all the electronics etc etc etc but is it possible that somewhere AC current from the alternator is not getting properly converted to DC by way of a rectifier issue? But I don't mean that as a blank question of ignorance, as obviously we know current must be successfully running as DC or the car wouldn't work, and she says the rest of the car is fine in every way. But I am just putting it out there to hopefully some electronic tech engineers that might know of a situation in which one car (not any particular brand or model, but just any one car) could have an issue in its electrics, that could allow a greater chance of static build-up than another car? Could be as simple as a crucial grounding circuit that is not maintaining a consistent ground, and if so, what is your best guess as to where to first check?
Does anyone remember when Mazda used to put a static shock touch tab on the door? I wonder how that worked and I wonder why they don't do that anymore? If static is handled in some other universally known way on cars nowadays, then THAT could be where the fault lies in this woman's Elantra. Her dealer was no help of course.
She could touch the car frame with her knuckles before entering and exiting. The knuckle is far less sensitive than her fingertips and she may not even notice the shock at all.
I think she should also pay attention to her shoes' sole material.
I have no idea how one might measure whether a particular car is storing extra positive electrons that would react with her negative charge as she enters the car. I'd have to presume that the potential charges are with her and not the car.
The knuckle sounds like a good idea. I had heard of thimble and finger use. Apparently even tho the thimble is attached to the finger, the poke is dealt with better? I don't know as I have never tried it myself.
Do you remember when Mazda did that on their doors? The fact that they don't do it anymore leads me to think that static issues are handled elsewhere somehow. I don't recall about static issues much for over a decade so makes me wonder about it being addressed in some other way now.
I do not think it has anything to do with the electronics. Even a totally messed up charging system could not charge a car, or any part of a car to the potential needed to cause a static discharge.
Keep in mind that static shocks are caused by high voltages, much greater than 1000V, but at very low currents (microamps or less).
Accumulation of charge can happen on any insulated/isolated body, which a car is since it's sitting on rubber wheels. You need a source for the charge buildup (body sliding across the seat, for instance), and a low enough leakage rate that allows the charge to accumulate to the point where it can arc-over to another conductor. A high relative humidity (Florida) can provide enough leakage such that a charge buildup does not occur. It all depends on how fast the charges (electrons, ions) are being deposited onto the insulated surface verses how fast they are bleeding off.
It's probably just due to the seating being different from her old car. She's building up more static from sliding or rubbing across the seating surface. Installing ground straps won't make any difference since the root cause is the static buildup on her, not the car. I've found that if I keep one hand on a metal door part while exiting the static buildup is greatly reduced. It not much of a problem with leather seats, but with cloth it can be.
The poster needs to try spraying her seats, which are probably cloth, with an antistatic product such as Cling. Also using it on a coat and skirt or slacks typically worn in the car will help dissipate the static built up. Dryer sheets may also leave coatings that help reduce static cling.
The static is the result of 3 things: two nonconductors and friction. The car's electical system has nothing to do with it.
I'm not sure where she lives, but I mentioned to her to pop by here and read some suggestions. So far she has tried every single one of them, including the spraying her seat etc with static guard type stuff. She said it only lasts 30 minutes i think she said. Someone there posted a great tip on making your own fabric static guard.
I wasn't positive that electrical components didn't contribute in some way though. Have you seen under the hood of a new car especially, dust that is drawn to plastic items especially around electrical components? It doesn't have to be electrical components, but often there will be more (static drawn) dust there than on carbed or fuel intake ductwork. So I didn't want to assume there might not have been some connection.
Somewhere I could have sworn I have read that a car going down a road can build static charge from the tires spinning against the road. Conditions had to be just right. Might have been BS too tho, don't know.
Hi all, I am the one whom is having the issue with static electricity in my 2010 Elantra. I have been reading all of your post and wanted to say Thank you for all the help everyone is trying to provide. Seems like a really great forum and very helpful at that. Well to start off, I live in Dallas/Ft Worth area in Texas. I know that sliding across the seats also to a certain extent would normally build up static and I get in and out of my car all day long as I work in Hospice going from house to house. I do realize this does not help any at all. I have tried many many things to help eliminate the static. It was suggested in the beginning that my shoes may be causing the problem so I switched to another pair and that did not seem to help much at all. I have tried spraying the static spray on my seats as well and it tamed but not gone by no means. I have tried the dryer sheets under the seats and carrying a whole box in my car with little success as well. I tried flipping my floor mats to the rubber side and that did nothing at all. I have tried the moisturizer on my skin and nothing. I have tried a deep moisturizer in my hair and nothing. I have went out and bought a brand new washer and dryer, thinking maybe that was the issue. I use 3 different things for static for my clothes now but it doesn't help. I have used seat covers as well. The problem is not only with my seat but the whole car on the inside. Front seats and back seats. My daughters hair normally sticks up the whole time she is in my car. My mother, which has long beautiful very thick healthy hair, not saying mine is unhealthy but it is very fine. My daughters hair is the same as my mothers and not fine. The problem isn't only with being shocked here and there. You can feel static all around your body like your inside some invisible force. Sounds kinda weird but it's the only way I know how to explain it. If it were me or my shoes then is shouldn't affect anyone else the way it does. I have never had such an issue with any other vehicle. I can't be the only one that is having this issue. I love the car other than this issue and haven't had any other issues except a bulb burning out. Also the it seems to shock others when I am now where around the car. It has shocked my husband and two different people trying to find and fix this issue at the dealership. I am so fed up with this issue I even had them appraise the car so I could trade the car in on another one and of course the dealership offered me only 10.5 on a car that I owe 14.7 on. We are betting it's more of a combination of the cheap materials used for the seats and some electrical device in the car where they took the cheap way out on the properly shielding the wire. I can try the homemade remedy of the static spray and see if that helps.....Wish me luck
I had another thought on this. I don't know if it would help or not...putting it out there. Is static not more prone to happen if electrons are are irregularly arranged at randon throughout a car? If so, there is an electronic device sold for cars that hooks into your electric system. The purpose of the device is to resist rust corrosion in those States that use road salt etc. I can't explain here and now how it works as I forget the details, but i think it had something to do with altering electrons in and around the car, and in so doing this, changed the ability for salt and corrosion to allow metal panels/bits to corrode with electrolysis.
I don't know if it worked as intended, but I have little doubt it does alter electron direction on the car or maybe unifies their direction. The question to the thread though, is if this could somehow reduce static buildup in her interior. If not, though, then what about it having an affect on aligning positive charged electrons, so that if her seats for example could be confirmed grounded, then she could purposely discharge the static buildup, by touching a metal part of the car that forces discharge to happen at intervals she chooses rather than over a period of time in which case the charge acquires greater voltage due to extra movement within the car. She could at random, and certainly before getting in or out, touch and discharge to a specific location with a more predictable and smaller spark?
One thing you can try is to increase the humidity inside the car. Try soaking a towel and putting it in a pail or bowl and letting it dry inside the car. You'll need to keep it moist while the ambient humidity is low. I don't think those static guard products will help for long as you say since they evaporate quickly. It's quite common for us to get a pretty good static shock when exiting our Trailblazer with cloth seats, but my Pontiac has leather and it doesn't happen with it, nor with my old Dodge Durango which also has leather. "Also the it seems to shock others when I am now where around the car" That's because it's not you, but the static build up caused by low humidity and insulating materials rubbing together. When the humidity goes up in Dallas, which we all know it will, the problem will likely go away or be greatly reduced. One thing though, make sure you ground yourself before filling the tank. A static discharge can cause fuel vapors to ignite. You can do this by touching a metal post or something prior to handling the fill nozzle. Some fuel pumps now even have a metal pad on them to touch prior to filling.
Why don't you try a portable air ionizer? Ionizers are used in areas where static buildup could damage sensitive electronic components to reduce the chance of static buildup. I think they make some that are powered from a 12V source in a car. They may be called air purifiers but, if so, make sure it claims to work by ionizing the air (and not just blowing the air through a filter).
I don't think static electricity can be created by a car just sitting there. You really need the interference of a human to create the electrical differential necessary. If electrons were randomly flying off the car, it would be radioactive.
It would seem her car is especially charged. I like the idea of a wet towel in tray to help put moisture in the car. While not practical or as needed in snow climates, great idea for Dallas (although I hear a bit winter snow storm is originating down there and is gonna do a huge sweep right up the east/central to north east right up into Cda in the next days). If she does do the wet towel, I would bleach it every once in awhile to kill mold.
But both hers and her passenger's hair stands on end in the car. The longer they are in there, the more static charged it becomes. Assuming they don't squirm in their seats, then you would think if you could find a central place to discharge the static at random, you would think that would settle things down a bit in there. I forgot to ask her if she has tried to reach down and touch the metal portion of the seat bracket where it attaches to the floor pan. Usually you can find a portion of metal somewhere to touch. Shouldn't be too hidden on an Elantra. I also was going to suggest wearing a wrist strap wire that she could alligator clip to that seat bracket and see if that helped as a test. Although she would have to be careful to make it such that she doesn't get tangled in it. But as a temporary test it might tell us something.
Comparing to the same car at a dealer I thought was a good idea too.
Comments
It could be a multitude of problems. The high idle at start up sounds like an idle air control problem, vacuum leak or a faulty sensor. I'd probably take it to the dealership and have them do diagnostics on the car.
4 cylinder 1.6L fuel injected
auto transmission
79,000 km.
Car jerks while starting after a long park, especially in mornings. But after about 10 secs. running, car is fine. Brought to chevy service center and another workshop and following were done: changed engine and transmission mounts; changed spark plugs and lead wires; changed fuel pump, cleand fuel lines and injectors; changed EGR and PCV; changed camshaft cover gasket; changed transmission and engine oils; Still problem exists. I'm here in Dubai and it's not too cold. ave. temp. around 20 deg.C.
We have a 95 Blazer that is having some issues and we were wondering if you could help us out? We know that it has a bad cam and 2 bad lifters, due to these issues, would this cause the truck to cut off while driving down the road? Please, help us with this question... Thank you.
This condition wouldn't actually keep an engine from running, though, no.
I love my truck have had no problems other than the frustration of shifting into first. I have to slide into second then back to first to avoid having to push pretty hard into first. Then there is the fact that downshifting to first is impossible until almost a dead stop. Who would design a tranny like that. I find myself having to slam on the brakes or lug thru second. I would like to hear any insight into this pitiful design
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I am pretty sure it must be the heater core...since I can't afford to fix that right now, I was wondering how one would go about by-passing that for a short time.
I crawled under there yesterday, thinking I could just disconnect hoses at the firewall, and with the right size fitting hook the two together before they go into the heater core.
But...with the A/C hoses and all the rest, I cannot tell which is what!
One would think you could find a decent blow-apart picture in a mechanic manual of the heating & cooling hoses... but no, and I have been through them all or as many as I could find at the library etc.
Any ideas or manuals any one else knows of would be so appreciated any help at all...Happy Trails.
I think you would be better off taking your vehicle and having a trained mechanic figure out what is really wrong with your vehicle, as opposed to guessing/speculating.
Most heater cores are relatively cheap. As little as $50 or so. Now it might be a real mess, with a lot of labor to get to it. But if the core can be reached quickly from the inside, it might not cost that much to have it fixed.
And the heater hoses under the hood will be hot, after the motor warms up. They usually are two different sizes, 3/4 inch and 5/8 inch. Sometime both are same size.
Had a total cooling system overhaul with all components replaced in Nov 2010. Radiator, fan, shroud, expansion tank, water pump, thermostat, etc. all replaced. Since I had this performed just recently, I have noticed a pretty good leak from the PS hose around the lower fitting.
Question is whether or not the PS hoses must be disconnected in order to perform the cooling system replacement. Given the nature of this current leak, the techs at my indie BMW shop would HAVE to have noticed something in November. I noticed the PS fluid on the floor in mid December. Fluid dripped onto the under engine "tray" for some period before it was of sufficient quantity to make it to the floor of my garage, so no idea when it actually started.
Taking it into the indie shop tomorrow, as the dealer that performed the original work while under CPO Warranty wanted to charge me $159 just to put it on the rack to look at it. At least my guys did not charge me to find the problem and even topped of the ATF fluid. Don't want to "accuse" them of not sufficiently tightening the pressure clamps on the hose (if that is the prob), but if these hoses needed to be disconnected to do the cooling overhaul, then I want them to do the right thinkg by me.
Any thoughts as a sanity check before I take the car in tomorrow will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
Hope it is only a matter of tightening a clamp!
In general, I think a mechanic would provide the save 'warranty' support that the place selling him the part provides. I can't see a mechanic providing more warranty on a part than is provided to him. Why should he? He does not have any control over the quality of a part.
I would hope if a part truly fails in its 'warranty' period, he would replace it free, or at least at a reduced labor rate.
Now mind you, the warranty I provide on my repairs is fairly limited. So if a part is covered under the manufacturer's warranty, then I will warranty the part and not the labor, should it be outside my repair warranty. That being said, it is very often I can get the parts store to cover the labor on warranty, as they like my business. :shades:
Confused yet?
To add to the confusion, if I replace a big ticket item, such as an engine or transmission, then the manufacturer may have a labor warranty on it that covers it for a specified time. I have a tendency to purchase reman engines from places that provide an "anywhere" warranty.
Bottom line is, a person should be certain of the warranty they get when they have a repair done. Get it in writing.
Now, then there is the people who want to bring their own parts in. No labor warranty. Period. I don't care if it came from the same parts house as I use, if the customer supplies the part, if I will install it, they have the warranty from the part. That is all. Why is that? Because if I buy the part, I have leverage with the parts store on my labor. If the customer buys the part, the parts store might warranty my work, but it will be a lot of work to get it.
You may go to 5 different repair shops and get 5 different warranty information.
You spend a lifetime replacing them. And that goes back to the part being replaced for free, but not the labor.
BTW, they just performed a $2,000+ total cooling system overhaul, so they have demonstrated that they do great work. Rare to find a shop that works on German cars who values me as a customer. Will send them referrals at every chance!
So this raised a few questions for me. She claims she has not had this level of trouble with static in any of her previous cars or at home. So my question is, is there a situation with a car in which it has all the electronics etc etc etc but is it possible that somewhere AC current from the alternator is not getting properly converted to DC by way of a rectifier issue? But I don't mean that as a blank question of ignorance, as obviously we know current must be successfully running as DC or the car wouldn't work, and she says the rest of the car is fine in every way. But I am just putting it out there to hopefully some electronic tech engineers that might know of a situation in which one car (not any particular brand or model, but just any one car) could have an issue in its electrics, that could allow a greater chance of static build-up than another car? Could be as simple as a crucial grounding circuit that is not maintaining a consistent ground, and if so, what is your best guess as to where to first check?
Does anyone remember when Mazda used to put a static shock touch tab on the door? I wonder how that worked and I wonder why they don't do that anymore? If static is handled in some other universally known way on cars nowadays, then THAT could be where the fault lies in this woman's Elantra. Her dealer was no help of course.
What do you all think on this?
I think she should also pay attention to her shoes' sole material.
I have no idea how one might measure whether a particular car is storing extra positive electrons that would react with her negative charge as she enters the car. I'd have to presume that the potential charges are with her and not the car.
Do you remember when Mazda did that on their doors? The fact that they don't do it anymore leads me to think that static issues are handled elsewhere somehow. I don't recall about static issues much for over a decade so makes me wonder about it being addressed in some other way now.
Keep in mind that static shocks are caused by high voltages, much greater than 1000V, but at very low currents (microamps or less).
Accumulation of charge can happen on any insulated/isolated body, which a car is since it's sitting on rubber wheels. You need a source for the charge buildup (body sliding across the seat, for instance), and a low enough leakage rate that allows the charge to accumulate to the point where it can arc-over to another conductor. A high relative humidity (Florida) can provide enough leakage such that a charge buildup does not occur. It all depends on how fast the charges (electrons, ions) are being deposited onto the insulated surface verses how fast they are bleeding off.
Where is she located?
I've found that if I keep one hand on a metal door part while exiting the static buildup is greatly reduced. It not much of a problem with leather seats, but with cloth it can be.
The static is the result of 3 things: two nonconductors and friction. The car's electical system has nothing to do with it.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I wasn't positive that electrical components didn't contribute in some way though. Have you seen under the hood of a new car especially, dust that is drawn to plastic items especially around electrical components? It doesn't have to be electrical components, but often there will be more (static drawn) dust there than on carbed or fuel intake ductwork. So I didn't want to assume there might not have been some connection.
Somewhere I could have sworn I have read that a car going down a road can build static charge from the tires spinning against the road. Conditions had to be just right. Might have been BS too tho, don't know.
I am the one whom is having the issue with static electricity in my 2010 Elantra. I have been reading all of your post and wanted to say Thank you for all the help everyone is trying to provide. Seems like a really great forum and very helpful at that.
Well to start off, I live in Dallas/Ft Worth area in Texas. I know that sliding across the seats also to a certain extent would normally build up static and I get in and out of my car all day long as I work in Hospice going from house to house. I do realize this does not help any at all. I have tried many many things to help eliminate the static.
It was suggested in the beginning that my shoes may be causing the problem so I switched to another pair and that did not seem to help much at all. I have tried spraying the static spray on my seats as well and it tamed but not gone by no means. I have tried the dryer sheets under the seats and carrying a whole box in my car with little success as well. I tried flipping my floor mats to the rubber side and that did nothing at all. I have tried the moisturizer on my skin and nothing. I have tried a deep moisturizer in my hair and nothing. I have went out and bought a brand new washer and dryer, thinking maybe that was the issue. I use 3 different things for static for my clothes now but it doesn't help. I have used seat covers as well. The problem is not only with my seat but the whole car on the inside. Front seats and back seats. My daughters hair normally sticks up the whole time she is in my car. My mother, which has long beautiful very thick healthy hair, not saying mine is unhealthy but it is very fine. My daughters hair is the same as my mothers and not fine. The problem isn't only with being shocked here and there. You can feel static all around your body like your inside some invisible force. Sounds kinda weird but it's the only way I know how to explain it. If it were me or my shoes then is shouldn't affect anyone else the way it does. I have never had such an issue with any other vehicle. I can't be the only one that is having this issue. I love the car other than this issue and haven't had any other issues except a bulb burning out. Also the it seems to shock others when I am now where around the car. It has shocked my husband and two different people trying to find and fix this issue at the dealership. I am so fed up with this issue I even had them appraise the car so I could trade the car in on another one and of course the dealership offered me only 10.5 on a car that I owe 14.7 on. We are betting it's more of a combination of the cheap materials used for the seats and some electrical device in the car where they took the cheap way out on the properly shielding the wire.
I can try the homemade remedy of the static spray and see if that helps.....Wish me luck
I don't know if it worked as intended, but I have little doubt it does alter electron direction on the car or maybe unifies their direction. The question to the thread though, is if this could somehow reduce static buildup in her interior. If not, though, then what about it having an affect on aligning positive charged electrons, so that if her seats for example could be confirmed grounded, then she could purposely discharge the static buildup, by touching a metal part of the car that forces discharge to happen at intervals she chooses rather than over a period of time in which case the charge acquires greater voltage due to extra movement within the car. She could at random, and certainly before getting in or out, touch and discharge to a specific location with a more predictable and smaller spark?
It's quite common for us to get a pretty good static shock when exiting our Trailblazer with cloth seats, but my Pontiac has leather and it doesn't happen with it, nor with my old Dodge Durango which also has leather.
"Also the it seems to shock others when I am now where around the car" That's because it's not you, but the static build up caused by low humidity and insulating materials rubbing together.
When the humidity goes up in Dallas, which we all know it will, the problem will likely go away or be greatly reduced.
One thing though, make sure you ground yourself before filling the tank. A static discharge can cause fuel vapors to ignite. You can do this by touching a metal post or something prior to handling the fill nozzle. Some fuel pumps now even have a metal pad on them to touch prior to filling.
Why don't you try a portable air ionizer? Ionizers are used in areas where static buildup could damage sensitive electronic components to reduce the chance of static buildup. I think they make some that are powered from a 12V source in a car. They may be called air purifiers but, if so, make sure it claims to work by ionizing the air (and not just blowing the air through a filter).
Car Air Purifier
You don't want that.
If she does do the wet towel, I would bleach it every once in awhile to kill mold.
But both hers and her passenger's hair stands on end in the car. The longer they are in there, the more static charged it becomes. Assuming they don't squirm in their seats, then you would think if you could find a central place to discharge the static at random, you would think that would settle things down a bit in there. I forgot to ask her if she has tried to reach down and touch the metal portion of the seat bracket where it attaches to the floor pan. Usually you can find a portion of metal somewhere to touch. Shouldn't be too hidden on an Elantra. I also was going to suggest wearing a wrist strap wire that she could alligator clip to that seat bracket and see if that helped as a test. Although she would have to be careful to make it such that she doesn't get tangled in it. But as a temporary test it might tell us something.
Comparing to the same car at a dealer I thought was a good idea too.
replaced plugs, wires, coils and tps sensor
edit- and replace fuel filter