Q. I'm 40 years old, live in Boston, and want to get involved in racing. My wife thinks I'm nuts and going through some type of mid-life crisis. My biggest problem is lack of experience and a very small budget. Do you have any suggestions?
A. Racing is certainly one of the best methods in the world to spend your money. There is an old saying, "If you want to make a small fortune in racing, start with a large fortune; if you are lucky you will have a small fortune left." You could start with club racing such as the Sports Car Club of America (www.scca.com). SCCA has sanctioned racers in many locations in the area.
If this turns out to be too expensive, you could try joining a go-kart league. This type of karting is true racing, not "fun" karts for kids. To get a feel for karting, one of the best facilities is F1 Boston (www.f1boston.com). They offer both indoor and outdoor karting. If this still doesn't work there is "sim" racing. Locally developed in Massachusetts, iRacing is a motor sports simulation program (www.iracing.com). I have tried out one of their early programs and this is as close to racing as you can get without a car. Many professional racers load their program to practice racing laps at unfamiliar tracks.
Q. I have a 2002 Chevy Monte Carlo with 100,000 miles. It is due for a transmission fluid change. My question is, do the machines at the fast oil change places (such as Jiffy Lube) do a good job, or should it be done the old way?
A. The transmission flushing machine has one advantage over the conventional method of removing the oil pan and replacing the filter. The flushing machine will remove and replace all the fluid in the transmission. The conventional method changes less than half of the total transmission fluid. Both methods have their advantages.
Q. My 1997 Oldsmobile Cutlass is making a funny noise. It appears to be leaking a little transmission fluid and it makes noise if the fluid is low. I would like to check it but this car has no dipstick. I just bought this car and it has 147,000 miles. Except for this issue, it runs well.
A. Your Oldsmobile, as well as some other General Motors cars, don't use a transmission dipstick, but rather a fluid level screw or plug. With the plug removed, the fluid should be at the bottom of this hole. At this point I would return to where you purchased the car and have them repair the leak. Driving with low transmission fluid will cause a catastrophic failure to the transmission.
Q. I have a 2008 Honda Accord LX. At 19,600 miles, I was told by the dealership that my rear brakes needed to be replaced - which I authorized them to change. When the brakes were changed, I was informed that the front brakes had plenty of life left in them. Additionally, I was told that the rear brakes had no other problem other than the worn brake pads. Given the fact that front brakes do the majority of the work, I find it odd that the rear brakes wore out so soon. Any thoughts?
A. Your e-mail is not the first I have received about what I consider premature rear brake pad wear on Honda Accords. Purely a guess, but I believe that Honda may have switched to a softer pad material. This was most likely done to eliminate brake noise and possibly improve overall braking. When the brakes wear out again, you might want to consider a change to a premium aftermarket brake pad.
Q. I have a 1998 Ford Explorer. The air conditioner blows out very little cold air. Do you think it is the duct door?
A. Some basic items need to be checked including the "state" of charge of the air conditioner system as well as possible fault codes. If the system is low on refrigerant, you will get little or no cold air. If the system is fully charged, the air blend door or its actuator could be a problem.
Q. My 2005 Civic Hybrid with 5-speed manual transmission is popping out of second gear. It will do this as I downshift from third and when shifting up from first. Typically, the acceleration is not hard when it pops out. Light hand pressure will keep it in gear. As I'm holding the shift knob, I can feel vibrations in second gear that are not present in the other gears, as well as a slight back and forth movement as pedal pressure changes. Does any of this sound like it points to a specific problem? Is it a minor problem? Any help would be appreciated.
A. The problem is most likely a worn transmission synchronizer and the transmission will need to be disassembled to be properly repaired. Honda has issued a technical service bulletin for a similar problem concerning third gear. A little research has turned up a possible low cost solution. Drain the transmission fluid and replace it with Honda P/N 08798-9031. This fluid is reported to improve shift quality and possibly may solve the problem with your car.
John Paul is the public affairs manager for AAA Southern New England. He can be reached at jpaul@aaasne.com.
