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Is it advisible to have the enghine oil level above the higher higher of your dipstick. Read somewhere that it's not good for the engine. should stay within the two markers on the dipstick

Anyone used this new coolant product yet? Saw it in the HOTSTUFF and MOTORING.

Need to occasionally give my engine bay a good degreasing and cleaning. any brudders got cheap & good & professional lobang to do so?

Just fixed a vacuum gauge for my Estima (Toyota 2AZ-FE) It has a tendency to go into a rapid flutter (fluctuation is about 5 in Hg) though it goes through the normal movements in response to the throttle Is this normal? There are times when the flutter is absent and the needle just moves smoothly. Can't notice any pattern

I noticed that if I constantly high rev and max speed on my drives up north, the engine oil tend to decrease a bit. First I thought it was leaking but on inspection, there was no visible trace of a leakage. Any info welcome.

There's a JDM Primera using the 2L VVL engine making 204hp and 204nm torque.

Strange thing happened this morning... while reversing to park my car in office carpark, the car just died after a few metres... mine's a auto tranny car... had to off everything and pause for awhile before able to restart.. anyone have any idea what's wrong? I thought I smelt something burnt in the car intermittently, but not too sure... sigh Shag, could it be due to the leak we saw on Saturday?? Never happened before till this morning... hope nothing serious... otherwise auto tranny problem means $$$$

Dear all members, I will be going for my 2nd servicing tomorrow, just to check with you all where to get Mobil Oil Engine Oil cheap? Do let me know ASAP, thanks!

I notice engine oil comes in different grade, 15W50, 20W50, 5W40 etc.. how to i decode it? what does the 15 means? W50 means ? Which is better than another ? Thanks to all the experts :-)

my engine compartment are full with greese and oil stain. do we need to clean the engine gasket or what? does clean make better performances

Hi all! Am quite new in this forum. One question: Possible to change to synthetic engine oil instead of mineral oil during the 5K servicing? Does that mean that it is bad for car engine if change back to mineral next time? thanks

It's wierd. After cooling down (left for more than 2 hours)....my engine will start at the first crank. Then I drive it (in the carpark - MSCP) and as I drive...within a minute, the engine starts to have fluctuations in the revolutions. It will go above 2000rpm without throttle input, and fall to almost 1000....then rise and fall....gradually bottoming out below 700rpm where the engine proceeds to die. And then it refuses to start! Yesterday..before going to the esplanade, I had to push the car into a lot, so as not to block traffic in the carpark. Thankfully, there was a lot on the level which my car stalled. I then had to keep cranking....for more than 15mins (more than 10s of cranking...then resting it for a minute.) Finally.....I decided to crank for a longer period at least 20-30s. And the engine finally starts! ....and I leave it to run idle for a minute. Then I proceed to switch it off.....and then I restart...and it starts on the first crank. We drive to the esplanade without incident. In fact..the car feels very responsive...and more powerful (I don't know why...) And after seeing the fireworks....the same thing happens ! And with the engine fluctuating again! I pushed the car into the nearest lot (up a slight slope - Marina Sq carpark) After a few more failed attempts...for some wierd reason, I decide to crank it again for as long as it takes to start....and again...around 30 secs of cranking allows the engine to start! With everyone looking at me I decided to rev the engine to see if there was any other problems. Nothing again. And we proceed home without incident....and with the car being very responsive. Anyone saw a Black Presea....intermitently speeding (way above speed limit) last night?... Anyway....I hope that it starts today Anyone with any ideas as to why it behaves like that?? Could it be....too much petrol (the fuel attendant overfilled my tank earlier that day)?

Been hearing lots of creaking sounds from my car recently. Went to Yap Bros. and they diagnosed it to be my engine mounting cracking Not very sure about this. He quoted me around 350 to get it changed. Can anyone advise? How much will it cost and where's a good place to get this done? Issit really the engine mounts?

Hi! there, everyone, Get to know your engine's usable rev range and drive accordingly. (Look it up; between peak torque and peak power revs is the best guide.) There's no point revving the backside off your unit if you are simply going 1,500 rpm over peak power. Don't just go by the tacho: the rev counter's red line is often well past peak power. Have some mechanical sympathy, too. Don't drive flat-out from cold or switch off a red-hot engine without letting it tickover briefly. Finally, remember the throttle is progressive. Be smooth with the power and you'll get a smooth behaving car. Harsh acceleration will unsettle the chassis. Be safe & drive well Rgds Paul Yong

Nowadays the engine bay is actually quite "hi-tech" ... E.g. my car's spark plug cables are all electrical cables ... not hi-tension cables .. How can I do a engine wash ? I see a lot of sands/dust settling on the surface and area like near the gaskets, etc ... Please advise :-) Andrew

Was at Kah Motor today and the sales girl told me that the 1.7L VTEC engine servicing interval is as follow: - Spark Plug: 25,000km - Engine Oil/Oil Filter: 20,000km ... How true is it ?

Skodaman, you wrote: If SOG want to do it, I can help to organise, but will be cheaper if all decide on the same color. I will suggest RED as that will look more sporty. Okay this one u r more familiar... let us get an indication of how many Skodians here are keen. For non Skoda owners, just an overview for you, do join us if you have an engine cover under the front bonnet which you like it coloured. We intend to engage a spray painter to do for us at one go to have economies of scale... hence we can only decide one colour. Indicative interests (and colour prefered) 1. Skodaman (RED) 2. Fabiaman (RED also) 3. 4. 5. Note thsi is only indicative as the number of keen parties (more the better) is needed for Skodaman to negotiate for a better quote.

Is it true that the lower the viscosity of the engine oil, the sooner you would have to replace it assuming driving situation/condition remains unchanged? For eg: Mobil 1 is rated at 5W-50 while the Tri Syn is rated at 0W-40. Does this mean that it is wiser that the Tri Syn be replaced at a sooner interval than Mobil 1 Silver? Ok to use Mobil 1 Silver on relatively new cars? (10 months old)

Hey Robin, Why the change in Nick? What do those numbers stand for?

hi, u noe there will be times where we have to stay in the car for a short while with engine, air-con and our sound system on as well without the car moving at all....u shd know when.. what is the car source at that moment and what is it depleting??? is it my car battery?? or issit something else? will there be any harmful impact is my car in a long run??

After much much delay .... I've finally made it here :-P To those that I know: HELLO To those that I dunno: HELLO TOO Anyway, I am driving a '99 Nissan Sunny VIP Recently, I observe some rhythmic, consistent mechanical sound coming from the engine block, left hand side. Initially, I suspect it's the pulley and belt, but on closer observations, it doesn't seems like it ... it seems to come from inside the engine block. It can even be heard at idle ! BTW, Engine mount looks ok .... Any expert can shed some light here ?

--- hi guys... i'm reposting this thread from the delphi forums... hoping for a better suggestion/s here... thks!!! -------- err... the first poster that's me sdfr. ta! hey dudes need some help here. I've put in a cone filter with diy heat shield and a FSE PBV set to 3 bar, set of RPM jetracing cables and plats (that's all the mods in my engine bay). My plats are burnt out already after 13k km only. previously i had iridiums with FSE at 2.7bar, same thing 13k km all burnt out. (the car is a proton wira 1.5 manual). anyone got this problem with either the proton or the lancer? i hear this is due to too lean mix. The thing is I wanna know which mod is causing this -- the cone filter or the PBV? I'm guessing the cone filter but am not sure. Anyway the PBV have just been set up to 3.2 bar (and I changed to cheap plugs since i'm gonna be throwing them away after 8-10,000 km anyway!) since my car uses an OEM ECU, i can't tune the fueling or the timing unless i go the piggyback way (not something i'm seriously considering at the moment). I don't mind my changing the plugs more often, but i think it may be causing damage to the internal combustion chamber and pistons as well. any suggestions? any help appreciated. thx! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edited 5/20/2002 5:51:34 AM ET by SDFR From: LANCERCK May-20 6:59 pm To: SDFR (2 of 20) 8478.2 in reply to 8478.1 Hi, me also have abt the same setup as u except I dun have the PBV. My iridium plugs' insulator broke down at abt 25k kms, so I have to change them all as the sparks created r flying all round inside the combustion chamber, causing power to drop, rougher engine. And I've also send my car for a tune up and also the diagnosis is that my engine is running lean. I'm using a plug that's 1 notch cooler than recommended (IW20 instead of IW16). Plug tip is still very good but the ceramic insulations got broken down. My guess is that lean burn produce a lot of heat, thereby causing the plugs to break down faster. Chers Cheers From: SDFR May-20 8:41 pm To: VTEC2295 (4 of 20) 8478.4 in reply to 8478.3 No no man. I think my problem is more serious than what you wrote. See, platinums should last at least 20K if taken care of. THe shop i took it to, the mechanic try his best to save my plats. He clean with the steel brush / scrub. But one or two is totally gone, have to change. remember, 13k km, the tip of the plug like kanna eaten by metal cockroach like dat. it's quite bad. From: SDFR May-20 8:44 pm To: LANCERCK (5 of 20) 8478.5 in reply to 8478.2 hi man thks for your input. since your idirium last quite long (25k sounds ok ) so it seems more likely the PBV liao, altho I really don't understand. since i put the pbv my consumption gone up a bit, so if i'm regularly using more petrol (due to the pbv) how come the engine run lean? btw wat cone filter u use? From: EX6 May-21 12:42 am To: SDFR (7 of 20) 8478.7 in reply to 8478.4 Hi, Longlife platinum can last at least 100,000km. My OE platinum plugs in my car are 92,000km already and still going strong. An aussie magazine conducted a dyno test for over ten brands of spark plugs. Ironically, the worst performance plug is the most expensive iridium and the cheapest Champhion copper plug is the best. From: LANCERCK May-21 9:11 am To: SDFR (9 of 20) 8478.9 in reply to 8478.5 Me oso not too sure how ur engine runs lean. As for my cone, I was using the RPM brand as bundled by Mcwell. Just changed to a K&N recently. Will monitor my new set of iridium. Cheers

A guy over at other forum is promoting the Royal Racing Synthetic oil. Never heard Agip has any development with SPC leh. Anyone knows about the quality and performance of this oil? Could a $34 oil be 'on par' or even better than those branded ones? Share your views. >Currently i am selling this 100% fully synthetic "IT" oil( ROYAL RACING) that was ?>made in spore by the joint venture of SPC & Agip at $34. 4L pack >The oil is rated as SAE 5W-50. >.Superb lubrication in 4-stroke motor oil under most severe temperature and shear >applications. >.Excellent cleanliness and low wear rates in piston, rings, bearing and cam lifters. >Specifications: >.API SJ/CF/CD/EC-1 >.ACEA A2-98, A3-98, B2-98, B3-98 >.CCMC G5/PD2 >Mercedes Benz 229.1 >VW 501/505 >PORSCHE & BMW approved > >I had been using this oil on my year 95 corona till now i don't experience any >problem.The quality of the oil is on par with some of the well known brand sold >here or in fact it is better.Another advantage is the cost is much more lower.

Hi, What does overhauling of an engine actually do to the engine? Does it actually improve anything or just a last min desperate measure to "extend" the life span of the engine..? Appreciate any feedback here. Thanks

Hi, Read from the Toyota forum that by improving the earthing/grounding of various components in the engine compartment (by linking them using audio DC cables to the -ve pole of the car battery), gives various improvements to the performance of the car, like improved torque from idling up or mid range (cant recall), better idling, cleaner exhaust emission, etc, I wonder if this has been proven and if there are any short/long term negative effects, apparently, one of the forum-ers has done it, posted some pics too, he got the idea & instructions from some jap sites, thanks for replying