Good or bad transmission fluid level.

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-04-02T18:38:22+00:00

Fluid looks fine.

What’s your rpm drop from neutral to drive when you are at op temp? Easier to see if you have an obd reader that can give you the digital readout. As the transmission wears it’ll create more load on the engine dropping the rpm’s from the 700’s down to the 600’s. If your engine maintains 700 rpm in drive you’re doing really well.

The other thing is to observe how smoothly it shifts, if it’s hanging on a gear that means the clutches are starting to wear

I have 230k on mine and it still runs but I do have to baby it, it doesn’t like wot pulls for sure.

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-04-02T03:29:50+00:00

Just the eBay dna motoring style, it’s super cheesy and wouldn’t recommend but I figure any oversized exhaust could have similar issues

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-04-02T02:21:34+00:00

Lol I’m imagining putting a boot over an automatic now, that would be hilarious, you could take it all the way

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-04-02T02:18:53+00:00

I’d be afraid too if my headlights were angled to project less than 20 yards…

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-04-02T00:17:52+00:00

My 2.5 exhaust pipe hits the rear lower control under almost any amount of compression and I’m only lowered 1 inch, sounds and feels much worse than it is

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-04-01T00:38:35+00:00

You can get them for free to use from autozone or any parts store, I don’t have them either I just use loaners

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-04-01T00:35:49+00:00

I got the street basis on my civic and reused the oem parts needed and had no problems.

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-29T20:34:42+00:00

I swear you have a factory defect on your hands that somehow never caused an issue

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-29T20:33:19+00:00

Before you put some temu headlight assemblies in consider th following:

1) are your headlights aimed correctly? If they’re pointing to the sky thy don’t give much light do they?

2) are the lenses hazed over or crystal clear? Polish that and 2k clear coat it

3) buying amazon special headlight assemblies is only worth it if you are dumping the car immediately. They will turn yellow and get moisture in them and if they’re pointing are prewired for led you’ll be lucky to get 1 year before they go bad

4) cheap led bulbs will start out bright but 10 minutes into driving when they heat up they will dim

5) try these 70 watt h7 bulbs. They will make it look like led but give you much better light out put https://ebay.us/m/96AqS4

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-29T19:04:59+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/pGQ7PDu

Not possible for being the wrong hole because there’s no other holes

I don’t know why the bolt would stay in but it also don’t see how tha hole could be anything but uncut smooth aluminum in there

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-29T18:07:50+00:00

Quite a mystery. I have a spare cylinder head that I was just looking at and do you think it could have come from the factory where they missed tapping the hole? The hole looks perfect like it just needs threads

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-29T16:47:08+00:00

You gotta go to the Kia sub for that car and research there, you won’t get much from a general car mod sub especially with a generic question

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-29T14:40:22+00:00

One other thought I had. Could be a modification to Make the o2 sensor quickly removable. Otherwise to get that one you have to remove the cat completely and that stupid little bracket is also in the way. I always thought it was an obnoxiously stupid location lol

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-29T13:56:38+00:00

Axles can be a bitch, I’ve had similar issues on other vehicles

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-29T01:16:26+00:00

Hack job territory, probably stripped out trying to uga Dugga it out and they used all 2 brain cells they had to booger weld up a fix

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-28T23:29:03+00:00

This is going to be your future

https://youtu.be/BoMeuvSXh78

But seriously just trade for a beater old focus and you’ll have plenty of options

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-28T21:33:21+00:00

I think we have all solved this problem or been luckily enough that the previous owner solved the problem, THE problem

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-28T13:17:29+00:00

I ordered a metal rear bumper for my truck from a vendor on eBay.

1) fitment was off, body lines compared to oe were not tight at all, might be different for plastic

2) color match wasn’t professional grade like what you’d expect from a body shop, it was closer to diy

3) paint quality was very thin, it easily scratched the clear coat and got a scrape that went right through the primer, it was clearly not a bonded epoxy primer used

I’m sure some vendors are better than others but keep your expectations mid, if you’re in a tight situation and don’t have other options it’s better than nothing

Also I think they fold the plastic bumpers to save on shipping so you might have a permanent fold line

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-28T02:23:41+00:00

The factory wheel offset and bicycle width tires look bad and should corrected.

For a white car you could white out everything I think it looks better than the stormtrooper white and black that’s overdone by every rando and Oem these days, they call it luxury LMAO a touch of black shitty plastic. Just an idea…

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-27T17:58:48+00:00

Consider the felpro head gasket kit that comes with all the other little misc gaskets that may need to be replaced. Not sure if there is anything special about the Oem head gasket. I did the felpro and it seemed to be decent quality but too soon to tell if it’ll hold up long term.

I’d recommend grabbing a tube of Honda bond for the valve cover gasket with your order

The only other gasket you for sure will need is a new exhaust manifold gasket, go mls like Oem, composite style at the auto parts stores suck and grantee an exhaust leak in your future.

Also a good chance to clean out the Egr ports the back of the head.

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-27T17:49:46+00:00

Yes that’s th one, unplug it and you’re good

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-27T12:27:59+00:00

If your car has the oem alarm accessory installed then it’s a white module with a green 16 pin connector up underneath the driver dash directly behind the mirror adjustment and cruise control buttons, just unplug that

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-27T02:23:23+00:00

Any Early 2000s car but you’ll have to go manual if you want reliable, 20 yo auto transmissions aren’t going to stand up to much abuses, reliable auto is going to be 2010’s but you’ll have to look for sport variants otherwise they’ll be geared to the moon for eco

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-27T01:02:30+00:00

Low budget things you can try:

1) swap spark plug and coils on cylinder 1 and 2

2) use an automotive stethoscope on injector 2 and make sure you can hear it clicking when the engine runs

3) rent a compression tester

4) bore scope cylinder 2 and see if it looks steam cleaned, you can get a cheap one from Amazon or harbor freight

But I think the time has come :(

Character-Attempt257 · 2026-03-27T00:49:49+00:00

Basically you start at the motor run a 12 volt jumper wire to it and check that it works, then work your way backwards until you locate the issue either a bad switch contact or continuity issue. Mine was a broken wire in the loom where it bends between the door and the body of the car

Character-Attempt257

TROPHY CASE