Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

ab348

If it was battery acid you would know pretty quickly though. It burns when you touch it and would probably eat right thru that Honda sheetmetal pretty quickly if left untouched for a while.

Maybe there's a colony of bees inhabiting it...

isellhondas

I beleive some modern batteries use sort of a gel so maybe that's it?

I didn't think of a overcharged battery boiling over but that CAN happen too.

I would stop trying to guess and get it into a shop or else poke around under the hood.

crkyolfrt

He says his back is not too good, so having a shop look at might be his only option if his wife doesn't want to.

I've never seen the gel. It could be clear. If he is overcharging he should not put that off. He could put a meter on his battery, and if it is charging greater than 15 volts at idle, (after driving 10 minutes somewhere) and goes up to 16+ I'd go straight to the shop. I would use as few lights as possible and not turn on the radio etc either.

One thing I have found is that with a liquid, the source isn't necessarily directly above if there is anything at all in between. It can be a long way away if it flows down a unibody crease.

Another thing it might be is A/C refrigerant. The oil in it could be considered sticky.

He'll have to let us know if he tasted it (not recommended) but I'm curious how he determined it was sugary. My initial impression was he was describing the consistency of, assumedly heavily laden with sugar.

Sure is a mystery though.

tommister2

To me, that is a lot of money for something with almost 70k miles. I couldn't do it. Isn't that brand new Honda Pilot money? Or at least close to it, depending on which package you choose....

crkyolfrt

Those things must have been super dear when new?

I wonder why the running boards quit working so soon? My first thought was because of a bad wiring connection, but the truck is still too new to blame it on that. Damaged at some point? My second thought was the vast amount that can go wrong on a vehicle with so many toys if they are starting to fail already. Third thought was the number of gallons of gas that thing has burned in its 69k miles. Wow. Forth was thinking how well GM's big Isuzu diesel would suit it. Maybe a bit too front heavy though.

Having an interior so new and clean smelling without having needed to be 'cleaned' is a real prop though.

Try to find out if it towed anything big. That could be used as a bargaining tool if you decide to pursue it. Good luck.

roadburner

rb - how many miles? what options? A 40k-mile example with no sport or nav trades for $19k-$20k. So my $25,500 offer would be OTD, certified, personally.

qbrozen; the 2007 335i manual has 34,260 miles on it. It has the Cold Wather, Premium, and Sport packages. The only other options are Comfort Access and the USB/iPod adapter. It also has four new Bridgestone RE050A RFTs. White with an extremely pale yellow leather that BMW calls "Lemon" :P
So, still $25,500 CPO'd and OTD?

steine13

He could put a meter on his battery, and if it is charging greater than 15 volts at idle, (after driving 10 minutes somewhere) and goes up to 16+ I'd go straight to the shop. I would use as few lights as possible and not turn on the radio etc either.

I second that, except I'd use as much electricity as possible to knock the voltage down... lights on, blower on etc.

The more current has to be supplied by the alternator, the lower the voltage will be.

I will confess that in my blameless youth, I'd often "analyze" fluids dripped from my car by taste. Dip the finger, wipe on a tissue, touch to the tongue, figure out the taste, wipe off tongue -- and you know what it is. Surely it's not "good for you" but the ingested amount is in the microgram range and nothing to worry about.

It drives me nuts when there's a problem with my car and i don't know waht it is.

Cheers -m

andre1969

He'll have to let us know if he tasted it (not recommended) but I'm curious how he determined it was sugary. My initial impression was he was describing the consistency of, assumedly heavily laden with sugar.

I didn't even think of tasting it but yeah, not recommended! Maybe it had a little grit in it, like when you put sugar in something and it doesn't totally disolve? Or perhaps a bit of a sweet smell to it?

crkyolfrt

The reason I mentioned turning stuff off, was so that lamps etc don't get blown out from too much voltage. I think the alternator is still going to be putting out enough to harm things, no matter how many high draw items you turn on. The more stuff on, the more you will just load the alternator.

But I am open-minded to this scenario if someone can explain otherwise?

Yes, I too have (and still do he sheepishly admits) done the dip finger, wipe, taste spit spit spit thing lol But have never done it if it looked like battery acid or road kill, lol

isellhondas

Once time I sold a used car to a Chinese guy who had a car to trade in.

Three painful hours later, a deal was struck!

Suddently he got a pained expression on his face as he remembered he had filled up his gas tank the day before. The car he was buying had, I think a quarter tank.

He wanted me to syphon the tank into a can he had and then put that into the car he was buying.

" I have can, and I have hose...you suck hose?"

" No. you can suck on the hose"

" No. no. no. no...you suck hose"

" No, I know what happens..I don't care if you do this but YOU are going to be the guy on the hose!"

He passed.

Anyone besides me get a snootful of gas?

Sandman6472

Funny, the battery is less than a year old. Thanks Craig.

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

Sandman6472

The new car will replace her Mazda...it's not for me. I was just venting about "me" wanting something more "back friendly & "fun". Appreciate that you can relate to it all...but the spinal stuff makes me not want to drive...but I want a nicer car. Strange dilemma I'm in, but now that I finally let it all out...felt great...I'll keep my Civic & just drive when I have to. And now with this leak, it definitely needs to be fixed!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

isellhondas

Be sure to let us know what it was that was leaking!

stickguy

I have your solution. there is an almost endless supply of old volvos, audis, saabs, etc. that don't run but have great seats. Buy one of these and park it in the garage, then sit in it when you want to experience your luxury car. Hey, if you don't really have to drive, who cares if it runs!

Sandman6472

Just spoke with my mechanic...he'll take it in on Monday at 7 a m to check/fix this problem. This is the 1st real expense I've had with the car in 4.5 years of ownership. And my miles are all city/suburbia miles so even though it's only got 30.8k now, those were probably tougher than all highway ones. We'll see Monday!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

stickguy

35K for a 4 YO chebbie with 7oK on the clock? Not something I would be up for! You can get a darned nice car, brand new with warranty, for that kind of coin.

Also, I thought at one point you eliminated this style of big Chevy (wallowy ride or something?) what changed with that?

but, at least it gets good MPG!

Sandman6472

Ha ha ha ha...think I'll pass. Maybe I will pass it down to my son when he moves back from St. Louis. He asked me if he could take it back to St. Louis the minute he deplaned last month but explained that right now, mom & I can't share a car & my daughter who came back home to save $ needs her car for her work. Many decisions to make...I hate making decisions. And now with my series of epidurals starting next Friday & my new retirement decisions...he'll just have to wait.

Don't wanna be the adult anymore...at least for awhile!!!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

Sandman6472

Skip the GMC and buy brand new...even the MDX if you must...but $30k for a 70k used? No frickin' way!!! I'd seriously consider the RDX and even the Mazda twins. Remember your remorse now about your Pilot & really think about what you want to drive for the next 4+ years as a dd. Especially if your other 1/2 is going to buy next year also, that's a huge chunk of change & then you've got college coming along soon afterwards. Do y'all have a mortgage also? Sorry, it's just that fiscal side of me coming out.

Good luck with whatever you do but there are a lot of other factors to consider here. And also, I'm at a different stage of life than y'all now with my last graduating from grad school in April, me not working & having no mortgage for many years. My thoughts are geared towards retirement savings & the later years of my life. Different ages have different thoughts & needs.

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

isellhondas

Besides me ever see a car battery explode?

It's a loud and wicked event!

Sandman6472

Saw one at a gas station and it was indeed very loud...scared the sh-t out of us. Luckily it wasn't parked near the pumps!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

akangl

Skip the GMC and buy brand new...even the MDX if you must...but $30k for a 70k used? No frickin' way!!! I'd seriously consider the RDX and even the Mazda twins. Remember your remorse now about your Pilot & really think about what you want to drive for the next 4+ years as a dd. Especially if your other 1/2 is going to buy next year also, that's a huge chunk of change & then you've got college coming along soon afterwards. Do y'all have a mortgage also? Sorry, it's just that fiscal side of me coming out.

Yeah after a lot of thought I'm going to pass on the Yukon. It was really the first one I've driven that I liked, most have a horrid ride. I just can't stomach $30k for a car that age/miles. This is the reason I don't buy the day I look, I make myself think about it. Too many times I've bought something and regretted it.

No mortgage, we are leasing, sold our house a little over 2 years ago. We didn't buy again because we aren't going to be in state long enough to make it worth it and the housing market is still pretty shakey. Several of our friends sold around the same time we did and refuse to buy again.

Going to look at the CX-9 Monday, also the Acura dealer just took in an 08 MDX with 29k on the clock. Only problem with the used MDX is they want $4k over retail book for it and I know they won't come down much, I'm not paying $36k for a 3 year old MDX. Same goes for the 07 Pilot EX-L they have, 41k miles and they want $26k.....I paid $30k for mine in 07.

Used car prices are so out of line here, really makes it hard to "save" by buying used.

On another note........my MDX still isn't here yet. If its not here by Feb 7th I'm going to just find something else. I did drive an '11 Explorer yesterday....

[Deleted User]

I'm starting to look around for something to replace the Civic - after two back surgeries last year, I'm hoping to find something easier to get in and out of. Looking for a used SUV or mid-sized truck, 4Runner and Tacoma are at the top of the list, but I'm open to suggestions as well. Would like to stay around the $18K range if at all possible, not really sure how high of miles I'm comfortable with, but having fun initially seeing what's out there :shades:

stever

I did drive an '11 Explorer yesterday

How was it? Was it a Limited?

stickguy

if you otherwise like the Civic, look at a CRV. problem though is they tend to be silly priced used.

akangl

How was it? Was it a Limited?

It was a pretty stripped down XLT, nice looking in person, it was the dark red color.

A few things I noticed about it right away, the terrain management system had a fault, so wasn't working at all. The driving position is very odd, the steering wheel is more forward on the bottom then the top, kinda bugged me. The cloth seats were horrid, really Ford could have done much better.

It drove nice, but my impression was it was basically like a 7 pass Edge and I liked the Edge better. I think Ford could have done a much better job then they did. The dealer said they have a Limited coming in on the 10th, I may stop by and take a look at it, see if the leather is better then the cloth.

I may not though, I'm hoping to have a vehicle by Feb 7th, but so far no sign of my MDX. Going to call my salesguy today and see what's up.

stever

Thanks; other reports I've seen indicate that Limiteds are mostly all that's available.

stickguy

It does seem like the relationship to the edge that the tahoe and suburban have, just with different styling.

if you don't need the 3rd row, then why spend extra?

akangl

if you don't need the 3rd row, then why spend extra?

That's been a tough decision for me, with 2 teenagers that are getting more and more active with more friends, I hate to give up the 3rd row. I don't use it all the time, but its nice to have.

I called my salesguy to inquire about the MDX, but he hasn't returned my call yet. I hate the system at the Acura dealer, calls are routed through a call center and forwarded to the salesman's cell phone. Had to leave a voicemail this time, usually he picks up.

isellhondas

Are you in Fairbanks?

I'm in Seattle and I used to get quite a few inquiries from Alaska.

It was a PITA to do an Alaskan deal so we made sure it was worth it to us and we still did quite a few.

I would just tell your local dealer..." Do I have to go to Washington to buy it?"

They know what it'll cost you to go get it or have it shipped and will often adjust their prices to match.

It must be nice to have a captive audience.

qbrozen

In that case, you are probably pretty close with $25,500 plus TTL. $21k is about the trade number with those miles and options.

akangl

Are you in Fairbanks?

I'm in Seattle and I used to get quite a few inquiries from Alaska.

I'm near Anchorage and from what I've seen its pretty costly to ship these days. I know 5 years ago it was $1500 from Seattle to Anchorage for a 1-ton truck. I'd imagine its a lot more now.

Still no word from my salesguy. I'll stop by there on Monday when I'm in the area, see what's up with the MDX. They are selling them fast, so my 2 other choices are already gone. That will mean if mine is delayed, either wait, settle for a color I'm not thrilled with, or find a different car. I need to have a car in the next week and a half, my knee can't take much more of the Ford's stiff clutch.

crkyolfrt

"my knee can't take much more of the Ford's stiff clutch."

but just think of how defined your calves must be getting

akangl

but just think of how defined your calves must be getting

LOL, maybe ONE of them. Truely the stiffest clutch I've ever dealt with, but I don't have to drive the truck again in the near future thankfully.

tommister2

I had one explode in my face. Extremely loud and powerful. Sent battery bits into my neighbor's yard. Luckily I had the water hose out and was able to flush my face right away. Still had to go to the ER.

The cause? A bad starter solenoid I had just installed. It was shorted to ground.

breld

So, I guess you could say we decided there are other ways to save the planet than driving a hybrid.

We traded the Insight in yesterday for a CPO 2008 328xi - Monaco Blue with the Lemon/Black interior; Premium pkg, Sport pkg, Cold Weather, Xenons and the iPod adapter.

The dealer 60 miles away with the manual trannie 325xiT came within $800 of the deal we wanted, so we were prepared to go down and get that one. But before we did, we went to a nearby BMW dealer to check out what else was out there and fell in love with this 328xi. We had been focused on finding a manual, and this one is an automatic, but we just loved the overall package - the options, the colors, etc.

After looking at that one, we were still heading down to look at and consider the wagon, but halfway there, my fiance and I decided that we really just wanted the blue sedan, so turned around and went back to Denver to make that deal.

Obviously I can't say this was a great financial decision with a straight face, but between the strong trade on the Honda (the BMW dealership also sells Hondas, so I think they were in a good position to take it on), and a $3k tax credit for the hybrid purchase, our overall loss was not too bad. And we're back into something we love driving.

The BMW CPO incentives are pretty good - you get the choice of 1 of 3 things: a low interest rate, the extended maintenance plan, or your first three payments comp'd (up to $500 per month). After working the numbers, we went with the lower interest rate - opting for the other two choices still requires you to finance through BMW, at a really high rate.

Roadburner - regarding that 335 your looking at, I'll say that the clincher on our purchase was, in fact, the "lemon" interior. We love the look of it, particularly because of the contrasting black pieces (doors, seatbacks, etc.). Of course, we also like the contrast with the Monaco Blue exterior - the one you're looking at is white, right?

Michael - thanks for the advice on the salesman at Schomp. I did ask for John Friend, and he was great to work with (as is most everyone at Schomp).

Have a great rest of your weekend everyone!

isellhondas

Back when I managed an auto center for Sears, we had a bunch of Diehards that weren't vented properly.

As a result, we had several explode under customer's hoods. What a mess that makes!

One night, after the store closed, I was taking inventory in our battery line with another guy that worked for me. We had several batteries cooking away behind us on our line charger. Wthout warning, one exploded right behind us! It made an M-80 sound like a cap gun!

The guy working with me took off running across the parking lot! I had to go catch him. he had acid on his clothes so I made him hang onto a pole while I hosed him down. A piece of the plastic broke a window.

So, whenever you jump start a car, turn your head away. the slightest spark can cause a bettery to explode. It's pretty rare but it does happen.

It's not the acid that will put your eyes out, it's the pieces of plastic.

isellhondas

I never really liked the new (or old) Insights. They were bouncy, difficult to see out of the rear and lousy headroom in the back seats.

Good cars, but not my cup of tea.

breld

Yeah, we tend to move fast on purchasing cars, but the Insight purchase was pretty impulsive. It was everything we expected it to be - a practical car with excellent gas mileage. And we thought that was a good choice for commuting, which in many ways it was.

mark156

I've got 10 batteries in the motorhome (2 chassis, 8 house). The 2 chassis batteries are maintenance free while the 8 house batteries are the flooded type. I have to check/add distilled water once a month.

I'm going to the hardware store and buy a pair of safety glasses!!!

They say a car tire exploding can hurt you, a motorhome tire exploding can kill you. So, I guess I need to wear a helmet when checking the tires! LOL! :sick:

Mark3156

andre1969

I kinda like the new Insight, because it looks practical like the Prius, but it's cheaper and not near as ugly. Never sat in one, but I've heard that, alas, they're pretty tight inside.

isellhondas

Just checking a battery puts you in no danger. Jumping one and making a spark can trigger an explosion.

Pretty doubtful anyone can get hurt by an exploding car tire but back in the days of split rims (I was there) it was a much different story.

I won't bore anyone with any split rim stories although I do have a couple.

andre1969

I won't bore anyone with any split rim stories although I do have a couple.

I think the 1974 Travco motorhome I came kinda close to buying about 10 years ago had something called a split rim. I remember it had odd-sized tires, a 17.5"

stickguy

I had a summer job years ago in college doing warehouse work, and one of the guys that was a perm. employee also did something at a garage. Shortly after I left I heard that he got killed while mounting a tire and it exploded. Not sure of the details though.

lilengineerboy

I kinda like the new Insight, because it looks practical like the Prius, but it's cheaper and not near as ugly. Never sat in one, but I've heard that, alas, they're pretty tight inside.

It is also a "light hybrid" as opposed to a "full hybrid" like the Prius. What that means is the engine always has to be on if the car is moving, while the Prius/Camry (and Ford hybrids like the Fusion and Escape) can run without the engine on at all. This helps in-town fuel economy (especially stop and go traffic) a lot. So the Honda is cheaper, but smaller and doesn't get as good mileage.

Its remarkable to me how much Honda lost their MoJo. I was in HS in CA in the late 80s early 90s and a Civic, especially a CRX, was pretty much the pinnacle of HS aged transportation. The Accord and Civic had a ton of aftermarket support and were really fun to drive. By the mid-90s, that was all gone. The current Civic SI has 2/3s the horsepower of a MazdaSpeed3, costs about the same and gets incrementally better fuel economy. The CR-Z is to 2010 as the Fiero was to 1984 (as opposed to what the CRX was to 1984).
I am not saying they aren't getting sales. I am sure the Accord and Civic still do fine, there is just nothing special about them anymore.

corvette

Honda still makes a good car, but their styling on many models is questionable, and they seem to have some sort of paralysis when it comes to adding new features to vehicles, even when marketplace competitiveness demands them (like xenon headlights, six speed automatics, keyless ignition, or sound deadening). I understand wanting to avoid feature creep, but either these features don't cost that much, or their cars are overpriced.

The last time I checked, their OEM accessory remote starter was a separate remote that you had to carry around along with the integrated key/remote. Epic fail... I don't need or want a remote starter but a lot of people do, and having another doohickey on your keyring has to be annoying.

In spite of all that, they still make a dependable vehicle, a lot of people are loyal to them, and their lease prices can't be beat.

crkyolfrt

I commend Honda for not making environmentally-unfriendly car starters less convenient.
And I say that as a NON (but still respectful) -tree-hugging mis-informed/directed enviro freak.

Remote car starters are one of THEE MOST hypocritical environmental statements any car manufacturer could ever make.... In my very obvious not so humble opinion.

How many start their car from the breakfast nook, with the intention of buckling the seatbelt 5 minutes later, but in fact that doesn't happen for 30 to 40 min+.

bolivar

My opinion is that if you live in a house with a two car attached garage, the cars you drive the most should be inside. Which makes a remote start unneeded.

We have a huge amount of crap, but I have two cars in the garage.

crkyolfrt

I am far from being a fan of laws and seemingly common sense regulations, but I am very pro, non-idle laws. They should be enforced as much in a private home-owner's driveway and/or in front of the local variety store, as ticketing left-lane bandits on the freeway...( I say that in the hopes that left-lane banditry gets more attention from everyone's local constabulary, than is usually the case so far).

But a guy can dream of a more perfect world right?

akangl

Sooner then I thought. Hubby and I had some time to kill today while the kids were swimming, so he wanted to see that Yukon. Dealer was closed but we went and looked at it, he loved it, but I still can't stomach the price. After we left there we went to the GMC dealership to see what was on the used lot. Talking to the salesguy he went and pulled a vehicle into the showroom.

The vehicle......a 2011 GMC Acadia SLT1 in carbon black with black leather. He said it fit everything we were looking for and as a bonus it was brand new. He did mention it was caught in the horrible windstorm we had a few weeks ago and had some damage. The damage is mainly pitting to the rear window, nothing major and they are discounting it accordingly.

I was thinking, well, I drove an '08 the other day and didn't like it, so why bother with this one. He got me to drive it and surprisingly it was so much different then the 3 year old one I test drove last week. I really liked this one, it was quiet, smooth, just a very pleasant car. I'm not a big fan of black, but the carbon black is very pretty, even dirty it was pretty.

It has everything I want and nothing I don't want on it. We talked about price and settled on a fair price, much better then I've seen normally for Alaska. I told him I wanted to think about it overnight and would call him tomorrow.

Savings over the MDX.....about $9k.

crkyolfrt

Sounds interesting...in a left-calf-gone-flabby-kinda way..

"but the carbon black is very pretty, even dirty it was pretty. "

ok...now that sounds like infatuation is becoming part of this equation..

But that's ok right?..