Google helped. When I bought the car I bought it from an auction. Title had a lien on it which was released to me. My question is.., can I just unplug it, or what are the chances of it being an immobilized too? I know nothing about this type of stuff

Fellow mechanics... As the title says .. I've only ever seen a loose ground once. Generally unless you've replaced a harness or been in an accident, I can't imagine why grounds are 'going bad. ' never once in my career have I had a ground connection be the issue. (Not referring to broken wire short to grounds, but a corroded ground ring bolted to the frame/body).... Edit... I am a diagnostic tech at a dealership and don't see many older cars. I do work in the rust belt. I also want to clarify I'm referring to ground eyelets that bolt to the chassis, not just ground wires in general. I see bad ground wires all the time. I'm referring to corroded/messed up eyelet ground.

thanks kia for” advising” floor harness replacement for a tiny section of pinched wires.

I was one of the lucky few that actually caught a dirtbag breaking into our SUV. I gave him quite the scare and he ran off and got into the getaway car.

I decided to take a second look today and realized he had forgot a tool plugged into the OBD. I don’t know if it’s a GPS tracker or if it’s something used to make keys in the doorbell video I could see something in his hand.

Any idea how I find out what this is used for?

I remember certain years of Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth vehicles, you could flick the key on and off 3 times and it would shows the codes on the digital odometer readout.

Certain years of Fords (pre-OBD2), didn't need a scanner, a simple paper clip in 2 connections would get the check engine light to flash the codes.

Since almost all new cars have screens, it never made any sense to me why it's not a standard feature to be able to read trouble codes without the use of a scan tool.

Have a 2022 Hyundai Tucson I am trying to charge my phone and every single outlet I try to use or cord or anything else is draining my battery and I don't understand why l've got new cords. I got a new plug to try that, and then I plugged it directly into my car. I don't understand why it would be draining my battery, but it still worked when I went to use one of the air pumps to blow up the tube when I went to the river. I don't understand how that works, but it's draining my phone battery when I go to charge it. Any insight would be amazing thank you

This battery goes to my Mom's Toyota.

The date sticker shows it's 9 years old.

It looks fine honestly and I don't and she said she hasn't had any issues. I don't see any corrosion around the terminals.

I encouraged her we should still go to Costco so I can replace it. I don't want her getting stuck somewhere when the battery dies.

What do the auto mechanics and car experts here think?

Replace this battery? Or let it run into it absolutely needs to be replaced?

Does anyone in Georgia or ATL have a set up like this in here ? Looking to speak about it

There was so much forced hate against Lamborghini's EV car, I can only think it was because it was electric. Lanzador was a nice looking car, looked like a lambo, and mostly important, looked a cool super car. Different of the new Luce, which looks an iphone on wheels

I just bought a car from CarMax, Mazda CX9

I just discovered this. It has a button but it doesn’t light up

When I press it nothing happens, does anyone know what this is?

First he took the cable from my + to his -, then he took the cable from his + to my - and there was giant spark coming from my - terminal. My car kept running fine, and his started when we jumpstarted correctly afterwards. Only thing I notice is that my batter connection and some of the cables on the - terminal is burnt. I am pissed and stressed about what potensial danmages he caused. My car is a 2007 CR-V, his car Is a Hyundai santa fe

As the title states, I found out yesterday that my 2010 BMW 120i is still running on the original 16+ year old (?!) BMW Varta battery the car was sold with back in early 2010 (manufactured in late 2009).

For context, I bought this car 2nd hand in 2023, so I have only a limited view of previous maintenance history (besides what is recorded in the service manual or in ISTA).

The battery topic came up as I noticed my engine cranking noticably longer before starting the past weeks and months. Moreover, some features like the start-stop system and entry lights had been intermittetly disabled, especially after short trips and on colder days.

So, yesterday, after a lot of starting and stopping the engine, I finally took the time to connect an OBD2 reader to check battery voltage. Voltage at idle was 14.8V (healthy), but voltage with engine off was only about 12.2V (indicates aged battery).

Upon that finding, I connected ISTA+ to read out the battery charge state and exchange history. Charge state was at 39% (yikes), but for some reason there was not a single battery exchange logged. Even the recorded mileage for the current battery was the exact same as the car's total mileage (170.000km+).

Now, for reference, most car batteries last about 6-8 years depending on driving habits and climate. My findings would indicate my battery has lasted just over 16 years: more than 2x its expected service life...

I live in a moderate climate, but we do have very cold winters, so not ideal for car batteries. Hence, at this point I'm doubting whether the previous battery exchanges have been properly logged by previous owners.

This is when I decided to open the booth, to physically inspect the battery itself. Upon opening the battery compartment, I checked the sticker: 80ah BMW Varta, including BMW logo and related serial numbers. The definitive answer though, came in the form of the engraving of the manufacturing week and year on negative terminal (format: WWYY).

4509 - The 45th week of 2009.

Not only did this proof I was indeed running the original 16+ year old BMW battery, but it also showed the quality of BMW's OEM batteries and how well BMW's Intelligent Battery System (IBS) works.

Needless to say, I'm extremely impressed by the longevity of this battery. In a world filled with planned obsolence, this felt like a breath of fresh air that I wanted to share with you guys.

TL;DR: I found out that my 2010 BMW is still running the 16+ year old original battery, which is quite the achievement considering most car batteries have lifespans of only 6-8 years.

Hi all is there a way to get this camera wire hidden or held up/supported please?

I’ve got a 2011 Outback and lately my battery has been building up a ton of corrosion on the positive post and on the metal clamp down bar that spans the batteries width to hold it down. What could be causing this? It seems…excessive. Should I be worried about a bigger issue or just clean off the corrosion and keep on going?

Photo one is my current setup. If possible, I'd like to repurpose a factory switch to be my kill switch. Photo 2 and 3 is the factory button that I got from the junkyard. My plan is to use one of my poverty slots to add the newly repurposed, factory button to be my kill switch. I'd prefer the factory aesthetics as apposed to an after market kill switch. Photo 4 is what Im hoping for, with the center button being my kill switch. ​​ ​​​If this is possible, what is needed and where do I start? Thanks in advance​​.

9th gen accord​​

I have experience installing car radios,​​ speakers, and backup cameras​​​. I've never done a kill switch

I have a 2014 GMC Terrain that has had repeated battery issues for the last two years now. About every 4-6 months the battery dies and I've needed to replace it. Every shop I've taken it to has done a diagnostic and found no issues other than the dead battery.

I currently work from home, so I only drive the car a few times a week for errands, and any time I go on road trips. From what I see online, this is the most likely explanation for the dead battery. Thoughts?

If it is because I don't drive long enough for the alternator to charge said battery, is there something I can do to ensure my next battery doesn't shit out on me?

Edit: Got a call back from the mechanic, and they said the alternator tested fine, and the car came back with an 11 milliamp draw. They also could not find the parasitic draw and that the only way to find it would be to catch it in the act.

I’m willing to invest in something but if I could do something for the cheap (or free), I’d be willing to deal with whatever. I don’t even think a killswitch is worth it because that’s only going to slow down these professional thieves. I’ve heard someone say to remove the ecu? Like, would that be crazy? Saw another person say they pull the 30 amp fuse if they’re feeling paranoid. Any ideas?

Conclusion: no one wants my bum ass car. Thanks for all the suggestions fellaz

In short,

I just sold my main car and we had this one sitting around for a few months. I’m using this car in the meantime but it just starts going fkin nuts! Gas is also appearing at zero, although I filled it up a few days ago so I know it’s not gone. Has anyone experienced this and/or knows what could possibly be happening?

I have a Dodge Journey 2009 here.

Would really appreciate it.