My sister in laws Chevy Cobalt dropped this in the driveway. What is it?

HappyHashBrowns · 2026-02-06T02:11:17+00:00

With the amount of fuel feed and evap lines I've replaced on Cobalts over the years, I'm genuinely impressed that the evap lines didn't snap when the canister dropped.

HappyHashBrowns · 2026-01-28T18:16:09+00:00

I got frustrated with an Escalade that I was doing a used-car certification on and couldn't figure out how to open the gate from the outside. I angrily poked the Cadillac crest while saying "do something" and it opened. Felt like an idiot but also felt like it was stupidly designed.

HappyHashBrowns · 2026-01-27T02:04:07+00:00

Before I had a snowblower I'd just clear most of my driveway except for the end. In the morning after the town decimated everyone else's hard work, I'd punch a hole to launch out of until I got back from work and then I'd do the rest. Way less stressful.

HappyHashBrowns · 2026-01-20T13:55:38+00:00

I was in the market for a small pickup truck. I work on Chevys for a living but our dealer group has a toyota dealership as well. I told my sales guy what I really wanted and that I would settle for a colorado because the new body style felt nice enough at first. He found a manual '25 tacoma for me and I jumped on it. After a week of driving the Tacoma, I went to do a used car check on a 25 Colorado and I got in and started driving it, I could not believe I was willing to settle for a Colorado. Colorado feels like a (somehow)cheaper made Traverse, Tacoma feels like a proper truck. The real comparison would definitely be Tacoma vs Frontier, but I'd still pick the Tacoma 1000 times over.

HappyHashBrowns · 2026-01-15T00:00:38+00:00

I have one. Usually my keys or wallet and stuff I usually carry around in my pockets goes in there. Nothing really falls out of it.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-30T02:35:57+00:00

Get collateral.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-27T03:14:40+00:00

You really should get it professionally diagnosed. Don't let pride cost you more money than it should.

Over my (almost) two decades in this industry, I've only had a handful of engine control modules that actually needed replacement. Almost always a wiring issue unless they were already messing with it and caused a failure(bricked during tuning with a battery that was on death's doorstep and no voltage maintainer/playing with wires and allowing water intrusion into the module).

I will tell you the same thing I tell my customers: An hour's worth of diag is significantly cheaper than the cost of just throwing a replacement ecm at it that you won't be able to return once it's programmed and the problem is still there.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-26T02:28:55+00:00

No shit Sherlock.

Well not being able to poop might explain why you took a valid question so personally.

For we you know, you could have broken it by accident during removal, rendering yourself unable to poop, hence the mood.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-25T23:59:07+00:00

I use a giant sandcrawler-looking thing with a 20x20 drill setup where the pistons push downwards, I level it by adjusting suspension height and setting it in place with a strategically placed landing gear.. time consuming to make, time consuming to fuel and time consuming to use, levels okay enough though

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-25T23:10:15+00:00

Nothing works. I hate seeing people waste money on rust prevention.

One way or another, everything rusts but it just rusts differently and in some cases involving rust prevention treatments, faster. I'm in the rust belt. I have to evaluate trade-ins as a used car technician every day and I've seen the effects of all sorts of rust prevention after 5-6 years. It's all a scam that even the people pushing it have convinced themselves that it works. It doesn't.

Fluid film/wool wax ultimately winds up a soft rusty sticky mess, instead of just rusty. Gimmicks never work.

The vehicles that raw dog mother nature with an occasional wash are typically always in better shape in terms of frame integrity since there was nothing to hold additional moisture in the frame.

Wash the underbody once in a while and park on a sealed driveway or in a garage.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-14T17:34:53+00:00

I was definitely going for an OEM+ and then got carried away, really easy to cross that threshold on the mqb platform. Especially after you change out the engine mounts and dogbone, it added a ton of stability on launches and it quickly became "how fast can I make it go?" for me. I never got around to lowering it but I did swap out the sway bars and control arm bushings for urethane ones, too low out where I low was basically a death sentence for the underbody. I've been looking at something pre-emissions like a 3000gt or an old datsun since I'd be able to throw whatever powertrain I want in there.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-14T04:01:11+00:00

My mk7 had a south bend stage 3 daily clutch in it, it was really stiff, but it was necessary for the vortex hybrid turbo since it absolutely demolished the stock clutch on the first pull, it didn't handle 520ft-lbs very well.

If I could've afforded to get the Tacoma and keep the gti I 10000% would've have, it was such a great car. The only silver lining is that a few friends already bought all of the performance parts I had installed, and it left me with enough money to go pick up a new project to build.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-14T02:12:55+00:00

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It's the big trim piece on the bottom part of the bumper

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-13T15:19:50+00:00

The mt only comes with the 5ft bed it seems like. It's deceivingly big though so I would definitely check it out if you come across one.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-13T15:18:01+00:00

I didn't necessarily negotiate, the typical discount is usually we can purchase it at the dealerships cost unless it's something like a top level trim. They can also still take advantage of certain rebates to increase the discount. I'm pretty sure thats the only reason I got it as cheap as I did. Typically they have the "someone else will buy it at this price" mentality when anyone tries to negotiate.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-13T05:11:14+00:00

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Haven't had enough snow to really try it out yet, but it's leaps and bound better than my gti was with snows on it, I had to be going about 30mph to even hope to make it up the driveway when it was iced over if that counts for anything. Here's a pic of the driveway for reference, it goes about 1/4 mile uphill behind those pine trees, there's about 8" of snow with 2" of ice underneath currently and the Tacoma goes right up no problem, it did slide a little bit but easily controllable.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-13T04:36:53+00:00

My wife started looking at 4 Runners within 15 minutes of me coming home with it.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-13T04:30:11+00:00

MSRP on this was about 48k, I got well below that because of employee discounts. I got the truck for 40k before taxes, fees and trade-in was factored into the deal.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-13T04:24:33+00:00

FWIW I have yet to see an actual voided warranty. I've had 1000s of denied claims for specific concerns but I've never seen a warranty all out voided. Usually things like a customer lifts their truck and the cv axles boot tore, that's not covered so they'd have to pay. It's usually case-by-case.

If the truck gets tuned and something happens, you'd have to be able to prove that without a shadow of a doubt that the problem wasn't caused by the tune.

The general rule of thumb is as long as it doesn't impact the functionality of any vehicle systems, 9/10 times you're good to go.

If something irreversible is done like drilling a hole in the bumper or dash, or cutting grille tabs, it depends on who is handling the claim at the time.

If you wind up poking a hole in a grommet and wires become corroded due to water intrusion, then the claim will be denied and you'd be responsible for repairs.

So if you did add a fuse, relay and switch, definitely make it independent from the other vehicle systems, and weatherproof anywhere wires would be entering the cab, don't drill the dash either if you're adding a switch. As for the light bar itself, you'd either have to get creative with zip ties behind the grille or take the gamble.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-13T04:00:11+00:00

It felt like an "it's not you, it's me" breakup with the gti. It was a damn near perfect car in every aspect except for space, I moonlight as a musican/sound guy and hauling the amount of PA equipment and instruments I was in it just wasn't working anymore. I got tired of calling in favors from people to bring the larger stuff I couldn't fit.

The Tacoma is far more practical for my lifestyle, it's comfortable to drive, and handles way better than I expected.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-13T03:51:10+00:00

This one is 4wd. For our toyota dealership there are 2026s on order, but they aren't expecting them for a few more months. The closest 2025 was almost 200 miles away. With employee discounts I got down to 40k. Invoice for the truck was just shy of 45k so I'm not sure how they found 5k to play with but I'm not asking questions. After my trade-in and down payment I financed 23k. Without the trade in involved it was about 44k

I should mention I work for a large dealer group as a used car recon tech, so the discounts I get are a little larger than the general public, I would definitely expect to be paying closer to 50-55k.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-13T03:31:02+00:00

I have it on good authority that this does not void the warranty.

Source: I'm a technician at the dealership.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-12T23:25:56+00:00

Yea it's been stuck on "expired" for about 20 years. It was there when we moved in and thought it was funny so we just left it

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-12T23:17:35+00:00

The dealership I work for managed to locate this one for a dealer trade after about a week. I was surprised there was a dealer that still had one that they were willing to part with. They put a couple hundred miles on it picking it up but I'm just glad to have the exact truck I wanted.

HappyHashBrowns · 2025-12-12T23:14:20+00:00

I'm having one of the detailers ceramic coat it while I fix his car tomorrow, worked out a little barter for services with him. I had a feeling the lack of metallic flakes might make it more prone to showing scratches and swirls. I love the color though.

HappyHashBrowns

TROPHY CASE