You really shouldn't drive around with a check engine light on. The light is on because you have a fault code. Certain codes will prevent the Engine control module from going into closed loop mode. In closed loop mode the ecm is constantly reading sensors and making adjustments to mixture and timing to achieve the best fuel economy and drive ability. In open loop mode, some of the sensor input is ignored and the car runs on the default program and no fine tuning adjustments are made.
Not saying you are wrong--my fuel economy dropped from about 22 city to about 18 city. I already knew what needed to be replaced next, and it would only take 5 minutes to do myself once I found the tool from my strays--the mass air flow sensor--which is a pretty pricey part. It is probably why the control module I replaced a couple years ago had to be replaced again this time around. The car would run okay other than fuel economy--only occasionally sputtering and cutting off if I sat too long in drive at a stop light or drive through. Just wasn't a priority until the CM went completely nuts.
Mine is not check engine light thankfully. Mine is just a light about my traction or something? I don't know, but there is nothing actually wrong with it. There is something wrong with the sensor so it gives me some false messages. Complicated puter stuff, you know? I can't imagine how much it is going to cost to get that problem fixed. Hopefully it's not too expensive.
Meh, I'm not too impressed with the interior. It's not nearly as comfortable as my Infiniti. I still miss that car.
No idea, but I do know that if you search for "causes of death" you get 600M for heart disease. If you search for "deaths from car accidents" you get 1.3M lol
I just checked your stats, and it is 600,000 die from heart disease, so I guess that actually means there are more deaths from car accidents. "About 610,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year–that's 1 in every 4 deaths. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. More than half of the deaths due to heart disease in 2009 were in men." - - - Updated - - - 600 million would be double the entire population of the US.
That's great! Your standard of living just got a nice bump. Paid cash for 2 vehicles 15 years ago - may keep them forever. A good mechanic can be the key to big savings,
If 1.3 million die in car accidents and only 600,000 die from heart disease, how can heart disease be called the number 1 killer? "Nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day. An additional 20-50 million are injured or disabled. More than half of all road traffic deaths occur among young adults ages 15-44." "About 610,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year–that's 1 in every 4 deaths. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. More than half of the deaths due to heart disease in 2009 were in men."
That's always a good feeling. 3 more years on my wife's F150. I switched to a company car last year and my kids trucks are paid for.
When my check engine light comes on I go straight to Autozone. They will put a code reader on it for free. I then google the code and it tells a me what is wrong. Then I can usually find a video that walks me through fixing the problem. It doesn't always work...but usually. But I do have tools, and a very eloquent cursing vocabulary....and it usually takes me all day to do what they do in five minutes.
Paying off a debt like that is one of life's little pleasures. Keep the car at least another 5 years. 60 months X $610 = $36,600. That will be there for you in 5 years if you save it.
And that $36K invested in large cap dividend stocks could easily generate at least a 4% dividend - over 6% without much additional risk. Beyond that a capital gain is the norm over time.
Learn how to use Yahoo Finance. Search "large cap dividend stock list" (don't pay for a list) and plug the symbols into YF. Track "dividend yield" and "% off 52 week low" (among many other criteria). You want to look for depressed high dividend companies that are well capitalized and near their 52 week low. For example Ford, Comcast, some of the oil companies ... . They are down for a reason, but these companies, over time, tend to recover - often with new management. The odds of a capital gain are very good. The odds of pocketing the high dividend while you wait are also good. Google "dividend stock risks" and see what can go wrong. Pick strong companies. As a general rule, very high dividends - over 7% reveal more risk. OTH, VGR paid over 10% yield for many years and is still high yield. Read the news about your stock picks. The sooner you learn how to make your money work for you the better. Be warned, stocks can go below their 52 week low - all the way to zero. Life is a risky business.
Yeah, I doubt that I would do that. I don't really have the money to be playing with it. Thanks though.
Money is never safe - anywhere. Even gold in Fort Knox. “... Last fall, Rob Kirby of Kirby Analytics in Toronto reported that China’s central bank had discovered nearly 6,000 400-ounce gold-plated tungsten bars among those it had recently received from bonded warehouses. It was later learned that at least four counterfeit bars at other locations were found and that all had come from sources within the United States, including Fort Knox, according to the Chinese investigators." http://etfdailynews.com/2012/10/10/...ding-bogus-gold-bullion-gld-iau-ugl-slv-phys/ Makes boring old Ford look more secure - doesn't it?
Awesome. It's a great feeling isn't it? Not to tell you what to do but I'd recommend you keep up the trend of "payments" and put a few hundred bucks in the bank every month now. You're already used to paying $600 a month, pocket some and bank some now. It'll add up pretty quick and you'll be glad you did.
I've done that but the problem was the codes were so generic for mine that I really could have spent a fortune chasing the main culprit. I did the cheap things on the list like change the plugs and wires and cleaned the Mass Air Flow sensor. Even my mechanic did that for a couple rounds and decided he needed to ignore the codes. The misfiring was random so he just chased it around, checking the harmonic balancer, cleaning things, replacing cheap things, etc. until they finally figured out that control module was sometimes working right and sometimes not. Said he talked to a friend who is a mechanic in a dealership garage and they just sort of talked through all the possibilities. Fortunately I wasn't paying by the hour.
Congrats. Both of mine are paid off. Now I just need to fix everything that keeps breaking. That's the next step after the glee wears off
