r/Cartalk Mar 31 '26

Mod Post Report all app developers

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We've been banning around five people a week for advertising their AI vibe coded apps that put a OBD2 code in and spits out generic or dangerously misleading results. Many claim to be free or claim they just want help testing them. Many are based out of countries you probably don't want your personal information getting sent to, like VIN numbers, etc. REPORT THESE POSTS FOR BREAKING SUBREDDIT RULES and the report them again as SPAM so Reddit Admins are notified.


r/Cartalk 2h ago

Fuel issues Does anyone actually make a quality mechanical fuel pump or am I doomed ro replace these little dicks every six-to-nine months?

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I'm absolutely losing my mind over this. '75 Oldsmobile 98 with a 455BBO. I'm going to be on my sixth pump in the three years I've owned it.

- First pump, an AutoZone brand the previous owner installed, rapidly disassembled istelf on the highway

- Second and third pumps, both NAPA brand, seized after trying to accelerate from a stop.

- Fourth pump, a Carter, had the spring tear off the diaphragm. I guess Carter was bought by a holdings company that ran their quality into the ground.

- Fifth pump, a Precision brand from O'Reilly's, at least hasn't left me stranded, but ​now has a tear in the diaphragm and is leaking fuel out of the weep hole. Adding insult to injury, my issues with loading up during prolonged stops has all but disappeared since this started, which makes me think this pump was also providing too much fuel pressure.

This is honestly driving me mad. Where on Earth can someone find a mechanical fuel pump that fulfills the seemingly two impossible tasks of providing the correct fuel pressure and not failing after six months?


r/Cartalk 13h ago

Car event I went to GIRLS CAN LIKE CARS TOO!

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I hate how I go to a car meet with me bf (only girl) and I’m tryna talk to people about their cars because I’m into cars. Everyone either ignores me or walk away. My bf has a G8 and I’m currently working on getting a colbolt ss or a G8 aswell. Like girls can be into cars too, I may not know as much as them but I know a good amount (engines, hp, mods, etc) I may not be a mechanic but I know enough to have a convo with people about cars bruh. I felt like because I’m a girl people don’t care about what I have to say.


r/Cartalk 16h ago

Vehicle ID needed saw this out at dinner

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only caught a glimpse of it and it was too far to take a good photo of…

no badges on the car or wording on the emblem but it looks like a metallic blue circle?

if anyone has any sort of clue what brand this is that would be awesome!!!


r/Cartalk 6h ago

Car Meme Meme drop from Poland

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r/Cartalk 1d ago

Electrical Tesla fan attempts to cover the interior camera

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Gets pulled over by his own car instead😂


r/Cartalk 7h ago

Weird Noise Any ideas on cause of this squeaking from both front wheels?

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(sorry about the wind)


r/Cartalk 11h ago

DIY body damage help Need a mirror cap for my car

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I bought a car off Facebook, a few issues I have fixed myself but I'm wondering if I'd be able to 3d print a mirror cap to save some money on it. Would it make sense to 3d print it or would that be an unreliable fix and should just shell out the extra money for the actual piece?


r/Cartalk 41m ago

Weird Noise Is a timing chain really a better buy than a timing belt?

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A seller told me this week that a timing chain means I can basically forget about that part of the engine, while a belt is an automatic walk-away for him. I’m looking at a Japanese hatchback around 120,000 km and another similar-aged car with a chain, but the belt car has the much clearer service history. Is the chain actually the safer used-car choice, or is that too simplistic?


r/Cartalk 8h ago

General Tech OEM vs Aftermarket parts, your experiences?

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OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer

OEM part are expensive, sometimes unreasonably.

I live in a (very) hot country so parts related to car cooling system/AC, OEM is almost a must if you heavily rely on the car.

-Personally I have replaced headlights with aftermarket ones, very happy

-CV axels boot, literally costs only 10% of OEM boots 😳

- Nissan Altima full head gasket cover, also working fine since 3 years

Those are the good ones.

Bad experience with aftermarket parts:

-Engine mounts: failed after less than 2 years (light driving)
-Horn, relace the original one with aftermarket (because it sounded very bad) and the aftermarket ones lasted only about a year and half.
- Taillight (one side) replaced with aftermarket and whenever I use the turn signal on that replaced side, it turns on and off very fast in a weird way.

I am interested to see what are you good and bad experiences with aftermarket parts?


r/Cartalk 1h ago

I need help fixing something 2021 Hyundai Elantra

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My car makes a loud, very aggressive sound in the mornings when putting it in reverse, the sound goes away as the car drives, but can hear noises when hitting bumps. Shop said it was struts/sway bar links. Got those fixed and replaced but noise still here… any suggestions on what it may be? Already put $700 in so a little irritated shop told me wrong…


r/Cartalk 20h ago

Safety Question Is this a serious issue?

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I have a 2009 Camry with 148,000 miles on it that I’ve had for 6 years. I will be using it a lot more than usual for a new job and I got an oil change from a company. They did an inspection and came back saying the front CV axles are torn at the clamps, leaking grease, and I should replace them. Is this a serious safety issue? Do I really need to replace them? I don’t have a ton of money right now and I don’t know much about cars so I would love any feedback, thank you!


r/Cartalk 8h ago

Shop Talk Modern navigation apps just piss me off

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I will start this by mentioning I'm not a "man yells at cloud" boomer. I'm turning 20 and I'm NOT challenged by technology.

I HATE how bloated phone navigation is. The goal of safety is to make the phone something that shouldn't be a distraction AT ALL, and modern phone apps absolutely fail this. Here are some examples:

- Waze can list you events listed by users (car accidents, police, etc). Great, right? What isn't is it basically telling you "HEY IS THIS STILL HERE??? CLICK IF IT'S STILL HERE" brother, I am DRIVING. I don't want to seek out a car for no reason, then look down on my phone to click "yes" and have animations and sound effects. I know, yes I'm amazing now show me the map.

- Google's "we found a better route". Oh boy I have SO MANY ISSUES with this. Basically, now you can tell Google to NOT take toll roads, and it shows you routes with no toll roads. Cool, right? So you start driving, and then it "finds a better route" by going through 15€ in tolls, to save ~20 minutes. I wouldn't have issues if it didn't fucking default to picking the faster route within a few seconds. You're actually looking at the road and didn't hear it say "fuck you I'm rerouting" because of garbage sound mixing (more on that later)? Yeah, you're gonna pay the toll companies or waste a ton of time

- Also at least on my phone/radio setup the sound mixing sounds ass. Basically if I want to hear where to turn it implies blasting my ears with music volume levels that'd make some recall the early 2000s tuner car era.

- Also the UI just... Isn't good for actually being in a situation where you drive? Waze has you look down, swipe up, and scroll all the way down to "stop navigation" when you want to turn the nav off. Google is better but not perfect.

Meanwhile I have an old TomTom unit that basically just works like this:

- Type address

- set it to avoid certain roads if needed

- start navigation

- tells you where to turn, and where the speed cameras are if you pay for it (TomTom, I expect my device with "lifetime updates" to NOT have speed cameras paywalled, thanks I hate it)

And when you're done? You just turn it off. And the UI is made by people that realized that it should be easy to use because it's going in a car and you need a no-nonsense interface for it. and it also tells you how far the next rest stop/fuel station is, and has a button to add a stop in the navigation.

WHY. CANNOT. GOOGLE. DO THIS.


r/Cartalk 20h ago

Automotive Tools Triple-bag air jack on a lowered Civic: fast lift, abrupt lowering

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Got a lowered Civic Si sitting on coilovers. I picked up a VEVOR triple-bag pneumatic jack a few months ago and have been using it about twice a month for tire rotations and brake work. It slides under the car easily and raises it in about five seconds once connected to the compressor.

The fast lift is convenient, but lowering is less controlled than I’d like. The release valve feels close to on or off rather than gradual.

I also noticed the jack starting to move sideways when I tried it on sloped, uneven asphalt, so I won’t use it there again. I use jack stands before doing any work under the car.

Anyone else using this style of air jack on a lowered car? Does yours lower gradually, or does the release valve feel abrupt too?


r/Cartalk 1d ago

Shop Talk If you ever felt you don't belong somewhere. Remember that this Buick is stuck in Poland on somebody's front porch abandoned

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r/Cartalk 16h ago

I need help fixing something Can any one tell me what this is?

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Cars a 2015 Nissan pathfinder sv
My rear driver side tire blew today and destroyed the lining behind it and a hose. Can anyone tell me what hose this is? It smells like gas.


r/Cartalk 1d ago

Body Will this buff out?

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Storm damage in Erie Pa.


r/Cartalk 22h ago

Weird Noise What do you actually test on a used car drive?

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I test-drove a mid-2010s Corolla this week and realised my usual routine is basically checking the air con, listening for bad noises and going around the block. It felt fine, but I kept wondering what problems only show up once the car is warm, under harder braking or on rough roads. What’s the one test you always do before buying, and has it actually found a fault for you?


r/Cartalk 18h ago

Automotive Tools 2019 civic rear hub replacement, should I buy this impact gun to do it?

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I'm really frugal (and need reliability in rural Canada) and always use hand tools when I can. I have no impact gun since my ancient pneumatic Ingersol-Rand died years ago. The rear hubs on my wife's civic are on their way out, and the 4 bolts that hold the hub on are pretty rusty. Is it worth buying this impact gun to do the hubs? I assume the front ones will go soon also, it's at 100k miles now on OEM hubs and I'll need to remove the axle nuts. Is the 1/2" gun overkill or should I go for the 3/8" model? Stick to a ratchet and socket?

Thanks for any help here!


r/Cartalk 17h ago

My Classic Car Camaro z/28

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My 1973 z/28 4 speed car. Put a set of vintage gold Moroso valve covered and matching air cleaner. Decently built 350 if you understand the hood you’re cool


r/Cartalk 1d ago

I need help fixing something Rotors decided to give up on a downhill, now the rotor is stuck

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I'm not good with cars but my brakes suddenly stopped while I was driving downhill. The front part of the rotors is stuck, rusted on. Hitting it with a hammer and WD40 is not working and we dont have a crowbar. Help?? Bertha [my 2008 Mazda 5 Grand touring] tends to have the stupidest issues. TT

UPDATE: We got the one off!!! Wd-40 and some prying off with a screwdriver and hammer. Now we're working on the other but its being stubborn. Currently hitting with a BFH like instructed, will report back 🫡 met a neighbor while doing this too, v fun but stressful experience so far. BFH is helping relieve stress.

UPDATE TWO: FINISHED!! We got both rotors off and everything looks good. I definitely need an alignment and a general check but the rotors and pads are replaced! My mechanic friend drove it after installing everything, and there was only a slight shake from the alignment. Here's hoping, my dudes.


r/Cartalk 1d ago

Tuning my car Is it worth upgrading the tech in an older car, or does it ruin the vibe?

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I love the feel of older cars, but driving without modern navigation or a backup camera can be annoying. I'm thinking about installing an aftermarket Android head unit and a reverse camera to modernize my daily driver.

Have you guys done this to your older cars?


r/Cartalk 18h ago

I need help fixing something Branded Title due to False Mileage

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I own a 2019 Honda Accord LX (the 1.5T notorious for blowing a headgasket) with ~126,700 miles. My headgasket, is in fact, blown. Luckily they released a warranty for free headgasket repair as long as your car is under 150k miles and has specific codes (which I do have). Also we did a boro scope check and confirmed coolant on spark plugs 2,3, and 4. We booked an appointment for Tuesday then got a call today saying due to a branded title, our appointment is canceled and ineligible for free repair. They sent over the CarFax and it says that the vehicle was marked with 124,868 miles on 12/20/25, 5 days before the sale to Owner #3 (who sold it to us private-party). On the documented title transfer to Owner #3 on 12/25/25, it says mileage is 124,789 miles. It looks to me like Owner #3 mis input the mileage by roughly 100 miles, and because of that the title was marked branded. And also because of that, I may have to spend hella time and money fixing it up. Is this reversible? We do our own maintenance so I don’t have documented mileage.

(EDIT FOR TLDR)
TLDR; Is a branded title due to a suspected misinput reversible without documentation of current mileage? If not, what should I do? It’s making me ineligible for an important warranty.


r/Cartalk 15h ago

General Tech Stone chips or pitting on powder coated wheels. Any solution?

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Unlike car body, the wheel cannot be installed with paint protection film. Is there any product out there that can protect the surface of the wheel from getting chips?


r/Cartalk 15h ago

Brakes Need a type of cleaning product that can restore a part of the brake rotor for shininess

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Can anyone recommend a brake rotor cleaning product on Amazon that can restore the area with the arrow to look clean and shiny like original?