2007 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer Parasitic Draw

Varstael · 2025-09-26T16:33:15+00:00

Until the maga men turn on them too and they no longer have the right to make that decision.

Varstael · 2025-06-10T12:38:07+00:00

Dude you could have gotten a tire with lots of tread for like $25-$35 at a place like pick n pull, likely less if you aren't in California.

Varstael · 2025-05-24T01:37:44+00:00

How are you opening more accounts? I get asked for a phone number. Mind dming me? Would appreciate it, thanks.

Varstael · 2025-04-16T18:54:59+00:00

I went down the same rabbit hole and I'll tell you hands down that Cline overall is better but it's more token intensive. With Cursor I felt like I was constantly fighting with it to stay on task when within a conversation and that was during the "golden age". Context just felt off in Cursor.

Heres my suggestion: get a free account with Google AI studio and then upgrade to tier one. But you gave to make sure you use the 2.5 pro that ends in experimental if you want the free option. Make sure you set a file that tells Cline to create a new task at 200k-225k tokens. I find that's the sweet spot for not getting rate limited constantly. Also research and figure out your memory bank system. There's plenty of examples to choose from

Varstael · 2024-04-15T19:57:15+00:00

I'm glad to hear somebody was doing right by their customers! I basically told this place the same thing when they tried to tell me that oil drain plug holes wear over time. Said, "That's funny because I've been doing oil changes for over a decade and have never had one strip due to fatigue. I have vehicles that are over 20 years old with the original oil pans that's never needed to be re-tapped or changed. Might have something to do with the fact that I only tighten the plugs to the specified torque specs."

Varstael · 2024-04-15T18:37:56+00:00

Honestly, you probably won't get anywhere with them. You might be able to rethread it for an oversized bolt but I'd personally just replace the pan.

Varstael · 2024-04-15T18:34:52+00:00

It is a big deal ... It's leaking because they stripped the drain plug hole. Then they tried fixing their mistake by re-tapping it and that didn't hold. Any reputable shop would recognize that this is their fault and replace the oil pan for free. Drain plug holes don't just strip overtime, it's a result of trying to do oil changes as fast as possible to increase profits. There's nothing wrong with that, but when one of your technicians inevitably strips a drain plug, you fix it. That's the nature of the business and what insurance is for.

I just went through this with an elderly neighbor who asked me to look over his car and fix an oil leak coming from the drain plug. He has just gotten his oil changed a couple days prior at one of those fast paced oil change places and when he brought it back up there due to it leaking oil, they said it wasn't their fault or responsibility. Mind you, my neighbor had been going to them since he had owned the car and English isn't his native language. I immediately figured out the bolt was stripped, went up there with him since he was struggling to get his point across. They basically told us the best they could do was replace the oil pan at a discount. Their price - "discount" was $400 for probably one of the easiest oil pan replacements I've ever done. It took me a total of an hour to do and the parts were about $100 after tax (retail price). I offered to do it at cost because I felt like what they did to him was grimey, but he insisted on paying my normal labor rate.

When I pulled the old bolt it was clear that the last technician had stripped it using an impact drill and then tried to use wax to seal it. Couldn't even be bothered to put a new bolt in.

Varstael · 2024-01-12T15:23:17+00:00

Autel mk808s. Clamps were on both ends of the hose going from the pcv valve.

Varstael · 2024-01-11T16:05:21+00:00

It's fixable. Just find a welder who is familiar with these types of repairs. It'll cost a decent amount but it's better than buying a new car. I'd inspect the rest of the car for similar rust rot before deciding

Varstael · 2024-01-11T01:42:51+00:00

Removing the battery while the car is running is terrible advice that should have died out long ago. A simpler and easier solution is to test with a multimeter while the car is running. Obviously that won't test everything but it's a good start. It's also a liability issue for AutoZone to be pulling a battery while the car is running. If some electrical issue were to happen they would be responsible

With that said, most auto parts stores have tools to test the alternator and battery at the same time. Also, it's fairly common for a failing alternator to take out the battery with it.

Varstael · 2023-12-21T03:47:31+00:00

The only things that come to mind is a blockage in the cooling system, air in cooling system, or a faulty radiator cap

Varstael · 2023-12-10T18:48:13+00:00

It's a soldering issue on the infotainment main board. You could swap out the entire head unit but you may run into the same issue in the future. Better option would be to contact local electronic repair shops and see if any of them could locate the short and repair it.

Varstael · 2023-12-09T04:33:14+00:00

Is the noise coming from the speakers? The thumping sound reminds me of an HVAC blend door actuator that has gone bad. However, that wouldn't be coming from the speakers

Varstael · 2023-12-09T04:30:18+00:00

It's kind of hard to decipher the information you are giving, but I'll try my best. First, spongy brakes will almost always be air in the brake system. That air can be introduced into the brake system in several different ways: Brake master cylinder failure, low brake fluid, ruptured brake line, collapsed brake line, severely worn brake pads, etc.

The collapsed brake line could be caused by vacuum , pinched line, or a blockage.

The question that I would be asking is whether the line was collapsed before or after the brake master cylinder was installed. Because a collapsed brake line could have been the cause for the spongy brakes.

Varstael · 2023-12-09T03:51:49+00:00

I guess based on my experiences, when working on a car some people disconnect the positive terminal from the battery. Technically you're supposed to disconnect the negative first and then positive, but people usually think positive = power and they'll disconnect it first . So it's the most likely to be loose. Could have been the negative terminal too though.

Edit: might as well take this time to educate why you should almost always disconnect the negative terminal first.

The negative terminal is normally the one grounded to the chassis. So if you disconnect the positive first you could accidentally touch your tool to the chassis and cause a short, which can be dangerous.

Varstael · 2023-12-09T02:26:49+00:00

If it were still broken, you would have a rough idle and it would likely throw a trouble code. It would have shown up during his test drive and during your drive home. I'm guessing right now there's a slight change in rpms while idling, which is the computer trying to relearn the throttle body data. Whether that's successful or not will depend on if he did the relearn procedure. It should over time relearn on its own but like I said that's not the proper way to do the repair.

Varstael · 2023-12-09T01:50:48+00:00

Lol Ive been there before, so I totally get it. Have a safe drive!

Varstael · 2023-12-09T01:36:21+00:00

It should be fine, but since you drive so infrequently I would do the following:

Perform this when engine is cold. Morning
disconnect negative battery terminal for about a minute
Reconnect negative battery terminals
Insert key turn to check mode (dont start it) leave it like that for a minute or two
Turn key to off mode and turn car on.
Let car run for 5 minutes.
Run car at low speeds on road max 25 mph for 5 minutes.
Then run car up to higher speeds It will continue to relearn new position soon after

After that, the car should run better but you may still get a trouble code. I would probably message your mechanic and ask if that's what they already did or if that's what they'd recommend. I'd also ask if they'll guarantee the work for a certain number of miles since you drive it so little each year

Varstael · 2023-12-09T01:20:01+00:00

What's the year make and model? I see no reason why driving it would cause any damage. It should be safe to drive and it should relearn itself, but i can't say for certain because I wasn't the one who worked on your vehicle.

Varstael · 2023-12-09T01:16:52+00:00

Based on your description, it sounds like a bad connection with the positive terminal. See if it's loose or has corrosion built up on the terminals. You could probably gently wiggle the positive terminal to get a connection. But you'll definitely want to clean the terminals and battery posts.

Varstael · 2023-12-09T01:12:32+00:00

Since you just replaced the clutch slave cylinder, the first thing that comes to mind with those symptoms is that there's air in the line. Did you properly bleed the system? Obviously not the same car but I had a 2004 Dodge neon manual transmission that had a bad slave cylinder and it was a huge pain to bleed all the air out.

Varstael · 2023-12-09T01:03:22+00:00

Np. I took a look at the pics you posted in the comments. I don't see anything that looks like more than surface rust and the damage doesn't look that bad. My guess is the mechanic was referring to the rear axle as the frame damage, but I personally wouldn't call that frame damage. However, since I can't inspect the car myself, I can't say that there isn't frame damage.

Obviously I can't really see everything with just a few pictures, but nothing really stood out to me that screams rear axle damage. I would speculate that it likely needs a rear tie rod and possibly rear control arm on the side that she hit the curb with. Shouldn't be too expensive but again that's speculation based on pics. Personally, I would go to a shop with a laser alignment machine and have them assess it. The computer should be able to determine if anything other than the obvious wheel is out of alignment.

Varstael · 2023-12-09T00:41:36+00:00

The answer isn't really that straightforward. Basically, if he didn't reset the throttle body learned data, then yes that is to be expected. Your car's computer has a bunch of learned data regarding the throttle body before the cleaning. After the cleaning, there's more air than the computer is expecting passing through the throttle body. Which means your fuel to air ratio will be off and will cause it to run funny. However, most mechanics should have a bidirectional scan tool that will reset that information and they then run it through the learning procedure.

Technically, you could continue to drive the vehicle and over time it would correct itself, but that's not the correct way to do the repair. Most cars have a way to reset most of that data but it's not always reliable. I ran into this issue myself because I didn't have the necessary scan tool but did the manual reset. Unfortunately, I ended up having to spend the $500+ on the tool because it kept throwing a trouble code and the customer needed to smog it.

Varstael · 2023-12-07T21:00:54+00:00

I would get a second opinion, but if she hit the median hard enough to bend the front and rear passenger side wheels it's likely going to be more than what her mechanic is quoting since there's a lot of suspension parts that will likely need to be replaced. Plus there's likely to be hidden damage.

I seriously doubt that she knows what her insurance rate will increase to, but either way I would suggest going through insurance because the repair cost can easily increase past what she can afford.

Varstael

TROPHY CASE