$110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

[JoLin]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

Annual safety inspections, glad we don't have those here.

Much as I hate all those regs, it's a matter for debate. I was having my car serviced last summer when a woman who had just moved up from FL (which doesn't require inspections, either) was trying to get her 199X BMW registered and inspected here. She was beside herself because the car needed a couple thou worth of suspension work. Yeah, it was obviously drivable, but it was far from safe. My mechanic is an honest guy. I've been using him exclusively for more than 30 years.

I guess I object to mandatory 'improvements' whose purpose is to act as a crutch for people who refuse to pay attention to what they're doing. You want to offer backup cameras, proximity sensors, automatic braking, etc., etc. as options, be my guest. Forcing them on me is another matter.

 

[hungupthespikes]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

Backup cameras are a must now. The feds have mandated the higher sills for the windows to help keep you in the car. So the new cars have you setting in a bathtub for safety. The result is you can't see out the back worth a darn. The feds fix, backup cameras, good/bad doesn't matter it's coming.

 

[Silly Seville]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

I am so happy to own old cars. (20+ years) I will never buy a new car again. Last one was in '96. Even back then the computer controlled garbage made me nervous, and that was dinosaur technology compared to the big brother gadgets installed on cars today. NO THANKS!

 

[britisher]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

Technology can be a great thing overall, but I think we are so stupid if we put total reliance in technology ahead of our intelligence. Though with that concept, there will be some who will need all the technology they can get.
The tire pressure sensors are Federally mandated as will be the back up radar. Where I find question is which comes first, the Chicken or the Egg? The Federal Government is NOT in the business of dreaming up 'add-on' Safety Measures for vehicles, the manufacturers are. They in turn lobby Government that this sensor or that system is a good thing which will reduce road deaths by x thousand blah, blah. The end result is that Government swallows the argument, introduces the legislation and the consumer is forced to purchase the over-priced technology in their vehicles, which assures the auto makers of greater profits.
Audi, amongst several manufacturers produce cars without an engine dipstick, which is replaced by a sensor and read-out. So we swap a few cents stick of steel for several hundred dollars worth of electronic sensors and gizmo's. I recently found out that the outgoing Chrysler 200 does not have a transmission dipstick either and checking the level is a garage thing?? Given that the tranny is generic, it's likely most Chrysler owners don't know they'll pay dearly to check their transmission fluid level.
I am not a 'knocker' of technology, I just think it has its place and application. ABS is one life saver, we should all be grateful for. I often find that knockers of ABS have no clue about 'cadence braking' and so do not understand what ABS does. It is not about braking but about steering in reality, as the ABS allows you to brake BUT continue to steer safely. Emergency braking without ABS means that steering control is greatly affected. If i'm teaching grandma to suck eggs, I apologise.
Whenever I hear Technology bringing improvements, I always think about the space race. The USA spent a fortune developing the Fisher pen that could write upside down in space. The Russians used pencils!! To me that says it all.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

Many Fords do not have transmission dip sticks, I know my Explorer doesn't

 

[98Shabah]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

I got to deal with this on my '09 Ram, one of the tires was leaking, I got my soapy water out and traced it down to a crack in the aluminum valve stem.. Cost of a replacement? $65. No thanks, I had the tire shop put a rubber stem in it. When I start the truck it dings once at me and then turns on the tire pressure light. I could care less, I'm not so lazy as to never look at my tires. lol.

 

[98Shabah]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

Many Fords do not have transmission dip sticks, I know my Explorer doesn't

I helped a friend replace the transmission in his early 2000s explorer, that was the first I'd dealt with the whole no dipstick thing.. It was a messy job filling that sucker from underneath, I used my lower unit gear oil pump to squirt the fluid up into it. Other than the mess it wasn't bad, it won't let you overfill it due to the way the drain/fill plug in the pan is set up.

 

[jkust]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

Annual safety inspections, glad we don't have those here.

We sure used to though. It amazes me to this day that they were discontinued and the reason given was no improvement to the environment. When in Minnesota does any gov entity disband or tell anything remotely resembling the truth or even use logic? Glad they are no longer.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

I like my anti lock systems on my vehicles, when you live on a mountain in the winter, they do make a big difference in being able to stay on the road and not go off the cliff!

 

[MikDee]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

And tremendously reduced emissions and increased fuel economy, greater horsepower and performance, and greatly lowered deaths per mile driven.

When anyone says they don't build 'em like they used to, I say thank God!

I almost got killed when my new car slowed down to a crawl while making a U-turn on a 2 lane country road in a light rain. Thanks to this new ESC (electronic stability control) device! Even though I panicked and had the pedal to the metal all through the turn, with no response? I can judge from experience how much throttle to use on a rainy road, But the "little robot computer" took over for my safety, almost killing me, & my wife, before I could figure out what was happening? I thought the car was breaking down?

Increased fuel economy, I don't think so! Before TC (traction control), & ESC, I got 5mpg + better mileage! Greater horsepower? With what, a smaller engine overboosted and ready to grenade at a moments notice And now gasoline at a ridiculously high price, just because it is "supposedly" more highly refined to work in these modern engines?

I'm all for modern technology, and improvements within reason, but I think nowadays it's just grossly overdone!

 

[oldjeep]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

We sure used to though. It amazes me to this day that they were discontinued and the reason given was no improvement to the environment. When in Minnesota does any gov entity disband or tell anything remotely resembling the truth or even use logic? Glad they are no longer.

Even then it was just a 15 minute tailpipe emissions test, not a safety inspection. As long as the check engine light wasn't on and you were not over the limits out the pipe they didn't care. What they found was that MN weather finishes off most of the cars that are running bad enough to fail the test

 

[briangcc]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

As for NY, it depends on the year of the car as to what exactly is inspected. The information is posted in any garage that completes NY safety inspections.

For example, as long as there's no leaking fluids and I drove the car there, my '78 Trans Am passes. No emissions test, no computer test (since it doesn't have one!), no test for the non-existent catalytic convertor (not required - see age comment), and a bunch of other stuff. Now, my Tundra goes through a thorough inspection including a sniffer test. But only runs $20 or so and wastes about an hour of my time.


As for the valve stem comments, on Toyotas, it doesn't tell you which tire is low, just that you have a low tire. You need to go out and then find the leaker. I had a couple replaced on my '07 and I think it ran me around $80 installed, including tax. That was after they tried the $8 rebuild kit - one worked with the rebuild, the other snapped in two before they could install the rebuild kit so I was stuck paying for a new TPMS stem.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

As for the valve stem comments, on Toyotas, it doesn't tell you which tire is low, just that you have a low tire. You need to go out and then find the leaker. I had a couple replaced on my '07 and I think it ran me around $80 installed, including tax. That was after they tried the $8 rebuild kit - one worked with the rebuild, the other snapped in two before they could install the rebuild kit so I was stuck paying for a new TPMS stem.

Depends on the year of the vehicle most of the time. My 09 Ram is the same way - light doesn't tell you which tire. The 2010+ will tell you the pressure on each tire so that you know which one is the problem.

 

[jkust]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

Even then it was just a 15 minute tailpipe emissions test, not a safety inspection. As long as the check engine light wasn't on and you were not over the limits out the pipe they didn't care. What they found was that MN weather finishes off most of the cars that are running bad enough to fail the test

True, but I was a kid back then and my cars had a hard time passing as they were complete junk. I seem to recall a trick that worked was to give it a bit of gas while they tested so it was above idle. I don't recall why that worked. You almost never see a car in as bad a shape as the late 70's and early 80's cars routinely were here in MN. The way they rusted out was just amazing. I had a car one time that had rear carpet and no floorboards left...literally.

 

[greenbush future]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

The emissions testing was here in MI for about 2-3 years, it ended up costing us and the service stations millions of hard earned $$. It was a waste of time and expense, all because of overbearing entities that were bought and paid for by other overbearing entities. The camera's are very dangerous, making folks even more lazy than they already are. This too will be shown as a waste of $$ when the stat's come out, but they wont stop until the "data" is in. It would be nice to see cars and drivers that do just that, but don't hold your breath.

 

[rivermouse]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

Anyone too lazy to use a 2 dollar air pressure checker deserves to pay out the kazoo for anything that goes wrong with their car in my opinion. The high tech pressure guages and all that crap are just creative ways to waste money......not my money .

 

[coolbri70]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

had to price a sensor for a chevy traverse I worked on today, the parts counter had it at $86, then I gave that to my service writer, who multiplies that by 2 and adds 30 percent. not sure how they come up with this formula but the customer didn't want to buy it so he will go on looking at the tire light it was only $225:facepalm:

 

[Gyrene]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

And tremendously reduced emissions and increased fuel economy, greater horsepower and performance, and greatly lowered deaths per mile driven.

When anyone says they don't build 'em like they used to, I say thank God!

Agree NYBo
Since we're way off topic anyway....
I love how some guys gripe about how easy cars were to work on - to which I reply - Yeah, because you HAD to work on them far more often!
I do not miss setting points, replacing condensor, adjusting valves, adjusting carburetor, ....
As to inspections, NJ went from anal retentive to lenient, and isn't every year any more.

 

[dingbat]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

Agree NYBo
Since we're way off topic anyway....
I love how some guys gripe about how easy cars were to work on - to which I reply - Yeah, because you HAD to work on them far more often!
I do not miss setting points, replacing condensor, adjusting valves, adjusting carburetor, .....

+1...still remember the cry....."electronic ignition systems will be the down fall of the automobile" .....lol

 

[bassman284]

Re: $110 Valve Stem on a Car ????

+1...still remember the cry....."electronic ignition systems will be the down fall of the automobile" .....lol

Hey I hear ya. I was suspicious as hell of those. Heck, you can't use a point file on them, what good are they? I still have a point file. Somewhere. Then came the EFI which, while a bit complicated, sounded not too bad to me.

In 2001, I splurged on a new boat complete with a 4 stroke EFI motor. What fun. I really enjoy knowing that every time I launch it, I just need to touch the starter and it will go, "Vroom! Put-put-put-put." Last year when I took it to the dealer for service I asked when I should change he spark plugs, considering they were about 12 years old. The guy says, "Is it running bad?" I said, "No, it runs great." He says, "Then you don't need plugs." Back in olden times, I changed out plugs and points just about every year. Sometimes I waited longer, but generally regretted it.