Ace-Garageguy

1) Engineer substitutes sub-spec part: Poor engineering decision 2) Engineer fails to change part number: Poor engineering decision 3) No internal quality assurance or testing in place to catch it prior to production: Poor engineering / management decisions 4) Problem begins to manifest itself in the field. Rather than deal with it head on, management sweeps it under rug: Poor management decision 5) No significant attempt to correct problem until AFTER multiple death and injury claims, and legal actions: Poor management decision I rest my case.

1) I see a Neon every other day. I found a one-owner with just over 100K on the clock for a good friend who needed a "backup" car for $2000. She LOVES it. The little bugger handles better than just about any of its contemporaries, and except for a little buzziness, it's easily the equal for comfort and fuel economy of the comparable NEW cars I rented recently on a multi-state trip. Because they WERE considered by the masses to be disposable, the junkyards are chock full of cheap Neon parts, and barring a moron event, it will be running for as long as I live. 2) You're absolutely right. The sheeple have been brainwashed to KNOW that old cars are unreliable junk, and BORING, so the 3-year replacement cycle reigns. The manufacturers only need to get their over-styled, over-complex body-part-extensions to run reliably for 3 years. And anybody who cant build a NEW vehicle that works well for 3 years has no business being in the business. 3) Yup. Maintenance and competent repairs when necessary make ALL the difference. But many electronic components will NOT be supported in the future for most of the now-new vehicles. Keeping one running will be much like keeping an old Windows 95 computer functional.

I said earlier I think that was the high-point for Mopar truck styling in recent memory, and I have significant experience both driving and working on them. Good trucks. The one I know best went to 200,000 miles before needing anything other than oil changes, when its lower balljoints got to the point of requiring replacement. The interior still looks almost new. And from a crash-repair standpoint, the things are a pleasure to work on. Everything comes apart and goes back together just like it looks like it would, which is something rarely found on contemporary vehicles.

I'm sure your numbers don't lie. Interpreted correctly, numbers reveal truth. Still, a string of poor engineering and management decisions that took a switch that could have been pretty much bulletproof for about an extra 25 cents per vehicle, and turned it into a debacle that may ultimately cost the company 10 BILLION dollars doesn't really inspire confidence in the OTHER decisions being made there. For instance, the LS series of engines is well respected, but the guys who know engines inside (among them...me) are aware of design shortcomings that frankly defy all logic. I simply do not believe that the current crop of ANYTHING will be running with very minimal repairs after 250.000 miles, as many of my older vehicles have been able to do.

It was the best Fiat 128 knockoff with a pot-metal crankshaft ever made. Honest.

Well, the flakes in Testors "One Coat" lacquers are about the same size as the metallic particles in "metallic" paint for REAL cars. This makes them about 25 times bigger than they SHOULD BE for "metallic" paint finishes in 1/25 scale, 8 times bigger than they should be in 1/8 scale, etc. However, the size does make them PROPORTIONALLY about right for the huge dune-buggy / bass-boat flake seen on old dragsters and customs, if represented in 1/25 scale.

WHAT !!! BLASPHEMY !!! Seriously, I've owned almost as many Fiat X1/9s as I've owned Corvairs. They're LOVELY little cars as long as you don't mind tinkering with them constantly. Never had to get any of the Fiats towed (or the Corvairs for that matter), and both cars respond to tuning happily and acquit themselves nicely in competition.

Reported problems do not always result in recalls. These are two related but independent issues. And the number of vehicles affected by a recall are not necessarily representative of the number of complaints or incidents resulting in the recall. Once a significant problem shows up in the field, its potential to be life-threatening or financially disastrous is evaluated by engineering and legal teams, and a decision is made as to the scope of the recall. A recall could be initiated from a very FEW actual incidents or reported problems, if the POTENTIAL for disaster is determined to be great enough. If J.D. Power's "representative" sample of owners of vehicles haven't personally experienced the problem, it won't show up on the radar (according to their own explanation of their methodology). NOTE: Here's some information that will be helpful to anyone interested in corporate disaster preparedness... http://www.na-businesspress.com/JMPP/ShepherdIJ_Web17_1_.pdf

Well, no. The J.D. Power ratings that Carl asked about are based on owner interviews and questionnaires, not recall numbers. Because the VAST majority of new-car-buyers are functionally ignorant about vehicle design and engineering, the results are rather like pollng pool boys to recommend brain surgeons.

The J.D. Power ratings are basically meaningless, but sheeple have been very effectively brainwashed to accept that these ratings actually mean something. Read through how the results are complied, and it's pretty obvious. (This one rates vehicles by problems reported in the FIRST 90 DAYS of ownership. Even a Yugo could do OK here.) (Quoted from https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/how-do-jd-power-reliability-ratings-work ) 1) J.D. Power Initial Quality Study The most widely reported survey is the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS). The study looks at the number of issues that customers experience in the first 90 days of ownership. For the 2017 study, the company talked to 80,000 consumers about their new vehicles. The results are reported in the number of problems per 100 vehicles. (This one rates 3-year old vehicles based on problems reported in the LAST YEAR of ownership.) 2) J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study Through the Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS), J.D. Power rates 3-year-old vehicles by analyzing the number and types of problems reported by original owners in the last 12 months of ownership. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obviously, if these quotes are accurate indications of actual practice, there's an almost 2-year gap in the life of the vehicle that isn't even looked at. And statistics can be interpreted several ways, usually. Don't forget that even a tiny edge in fewer-reported-problems would make one vehicle a winner. Also remember that the results are compiled from talking to a "representative" number of owners. Owners by and large know pretty much nothing about how cars work, and the guy with a Chevy pickup isn't really very likely to know anything about the ignition switch problem in other product lines. Here's more to read... https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/best-cars-blog/2015/08/understanding-jd-power-reliability-ratings-for-car-buying

Glad they were honest enough to refund money for a "fix" that didn't fix anything. Good to know there are folks out there who do the right thing. A competent driveline shop will also check to insure the LAST guys who worked on the shaft assembled it correctly. If the parts aren't marked and reassembled in the original relationship to each other, even though the new UJs fix the ORIGINAL problem, a vibration can remain from a repair-shop-induced out-of-balance condition. I see this stuff ALL THE TIME...which accounts for my constant carping about incompetence in the car "repair" biz. Here's another relevant thread. Be sure to notice the part about the internal rubber isolator. http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/71742-2001-133k-vibration-55-a.html

This is the most relevant response I've found so far on one of the Toyo forums...http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/71980-vibration-please-help.html I had a similar vibration issue on an 02 2 wheel drive. The problem started with worn out u-joints. This is my daughters car and she is away at school. I had a local shop there replace the u-joints and the problem was better but still there. I then sent the truck to the local Toyota dealer and they replaced the joints again with no improvement. I had her bring the car home and gave her my 09 4 runner to drive. The truck had a substantial vibration between 60 and 70 MPH. It was a drive train vibration so I pulled the drivshaft and took it to Drive Line Service of Atlanta. They told me that Toyota shafts are known for this issue. They had to replace the joints and they used select fit clips to properly tension the joints and rebalance the shaft. They told me they do all the Toyota driveshafts for the local dealers there. This took out 90% of the vibration. I then replaced the rear trans mount I thought it felt soft. I also rebalanced the tires on a late model precision balancer a friend of mine had. This fixed the issue. I have replaced many u-joints in the past and not had any issues. The Toyota shaft is a 2 piece unit bonded together with rubber one shaft inside the other. That makes it a fairly heavy shaft and it is critical it runs on true center. The driveshaft boys knew what they were talking about and got it running smooth.

ANNOUNCING TWO NEW "Country Classic" FLAVORS FROM CAMPBELL'S...Squirrel Noodle and Bunny Noodle soups. M'm! M'm! GOOD.

Singer gets it, and they got it right...

I agree there's a LOT of useful information on the web, but to determine what's good and what's crapp usually takes significant prior knowledge of the subject, or something very closely related. The dwerb in the above video makes statements that tell me he's a know-nothing wannabe, maybe owned one, so thinks he's an expert. He's not.

The OP has a 2WD vehicle. The splined slip joint in the driveshaft is on the 4WD, if I'm not mistaken.

Don't believe everything every jackleg on youtube says. Driveshafts don't just "get out of balance". That's pure idiocy. It takes physical damage, or shitting a weight, or incorrect assembly by shop morons. Speaking of morons...this one is letting a perfectly good vehicle "total out" because it has some tailgate damage. The guy's an idiot, has no clue, and says an out of balance driveshaft can screw your engine bearings. Yup, idiot. AND...the 4WD and the 2WD driveshafts are TOTALLY DIFFERENT DESIGNS AND HAVE DIFFERENT FAILURE MODES. Most likely, the wizard who did the seal on this one put the shaft back together with the UJs out of phase or a roller either missing or trapped under a cap, and then blamed a mystery vibration AFTERWARDS on a "balance" problem instead of his own incompetence.

Please don't get me wrong...I love animals. Pretty much ALL animals. I used to even catch rats in the no-harm traps and relocate them to wooded areas miles from housing. But over the last 50 years, I've taken a different attitude towards destructive or invasive species. Raccoons in the attic of my last house did many thousands of dollars worth of damage, and after trying to relocate them peacefully for months, I finally just terminated them...but I let the big kinda friendly one that chows down on the cat food every night just be a raccoon. He doesn't know any better, apparently assumes if someone leaves food out it MUST be OK to eat it, and that's OK by me. When he gets in the attic here though, it will be a different story. Far as the Canada geese go, the lake that supports the two breeding pairs here is about an acre, and seems to be enough open water so they don't foul it. We get a LOT of migratory geese in the fall and spring though, and the grass all gets eaten, and the streets and sidewalks get pretty disgusting in places. Still, seeing the little ones grow up every year seems to me to be worth the mess.

Anyone for squirrel-on-a-stick?

Universal joints would be the first thing to look at. ASSUMING the first shop did the joint replacement CORRECTLY (it IS possible to fubar a joint during replacement), the next thing on the 2WD 4-Runner to look at, if I remember correctly, is an integral rubber "isolator" inside the driveshaft. If it fails, which is fairly common on these, the shaft will run out-of-true at speed, essentially whipping around a little, and create a vibration. In that case it needs to be replaced or reworked by a VERY competent driveline shop. The isolator is not designed to be replaced, and is bonded between the inner and outer sections of the shaft (again, if I remember correctly). OR...it's just barely possible the shaft could have slung a balance weight, or it could have been bent somehow. High-centering, even relatively gently, can bend a shaft enough to cause a mild vibration. There's a SLIM possibility that the slip-joint at the rear of the gearbox where the driveshaft is splined to the trans output shaft is worn, but it's HIGHLY unlikely, and would usually be accompanied by a leaking seal. Rear ends don't "go bad". When they wear significantly (and rear ends usually last hundreds of thousands of miles), vibration usually is NOT a symptom. Bearing failures announce themselves with a grinding roar that gets worse over time, and are also often accompanied by leaking seals. A bent axle or wheel CAN manifest itself as a vibration, however. A REALLY bad pinion bearing could conceivably cause a driveline vibration (this happened to my own Chevy truck at about 250,000 miles), but will almost certainly be accompanied by a wet nose on the pumpkin, where the seal is leaking. I'd suggest you find a COMPETENT driveline shop and get their input, and/or research some of the Toyo forums online.

Which brings up another salient point. Most vehicles converted to battery-electric aren't really very satisfactory. Only when the structure is designed from a clean sheet of paper is it possible to optimize the location and installation of the (still) massively heavy battery packs. A vehicle originally designed for IC engine power, especially a smallish sports-car, is at a huge disadvantage when retrofitted as a plug-in electric. Short range and long recharge times are common, as is the tendency for the performance to drop off markedly after 50% discharge is reached. Cold weather and actually USING the high torque that's on tap for acceleration all conspire to rapidly drain the batteries too (as do using heat and AC) and to relegate conversions to the curiosity end of the vehicle spectrum...not something you can really use, and use hard.

There you go, spreading that "evolution" nonsense again.

Interesting. We must just have a particularly mean strain of doves here. Speaking of acorns...I've noticed something new (at least I hadn't noticed it before) with robins. There will often be very large flocks on the streets under oak trees, eating the acorn innards that have been crushed by passing cars. The bluejays like the cat food I put out for the feral ones that live under the house (as do the possums and raccoons). The squirrels aren't getting into the bird feeders this year, but I've gone to some effort to make them rodent-deterrent. We have a now year-round flock of Canadas (two breeding families) a couple blocks away in an office park that has two lakes, and they do make a mess. I keep thinking one might make a nice Christmas dinner. There's one solitary blue heron over there too.

Nope. 1963.