Bought a car today...

I'm getting my baby an oil change and maybe a wash for our 1 year 6,000 mile anniversary tomarrow.
 
I have 2 years with my car and I've only put 15,000km on it. So beh, Altron ain't that bad.
 
I have a relatively short commute, and I rarely take highway trips. And, for the first two months, I only had a permit, so I didn't put a lot of miles on it. I used to drive 20 miles a week (last winter) then 50 (last spring) then 100 (last summer) and now I'm up to 200+ a week.
 
Took her into the shop.

Pulled my head out of my ass and started taking it to the place where most of the work had been done. The mechanic was like "Hey, isn't that Brant's old car? He was a really good guy." in reference to the previous owner.

They replaced the flasher for the turn signal. I'm pretty happy, except that the new part isn't exactly in spec with the old one. The hazards and old turn signals are very slow (never seen a car flash slower), and the new turn signals are average speed. Not that "strobe" kinda effect that some cheap cars have, but I miss the old slow calm pace. Where they lit up, stayed lit, then turned off. Now they turn off as soon as they light up. The only other issue is that the right one takes a second or two to light up once I push the stalk. Whatever.

As for the heat, I'm not exactly sure what they did. My understanding is that the something having to do with vacuum was shot, and it would be expensive to fix. Unfourtunately, it was explained to my mother, so I didn't hear it straight from the guy who did it. Basically, instead of being able to select between Off (nothing), A/C (cold air from top vents), Vents (ambient air from top vents), Heater (ambient air from bottom vents), and Defrost (ambient air from windshield vents), he bypassed it so that I now have Off (nothing), A/C (hot air from top vents), Vents (hot air from top vents), Heater (hot air from bottom vents), and Defrost (hot air from windshield vents)

So, now I get heat, I can select whether I want top or bottom vents, but I lost my vents and my A/C. However, it is reversible, so I'll be able to take it back in the spring and get my A/C back, at the cost of losing my heat.
 
Turn signals shouldn't stay on they should FLASH consistantly or else it gets confusing and looks like the person is tapping their brakes.
 
They used to be on for about 2 seconds, off for about 2 seconds. Now it's down to on for one second, off for one second.
 
You can buy "flashers" with different delay rates.On that year of vehicle it would be a simple plug'n'play tp replace it.
 
Ok, vacuum problem is this. The heater controls aren't cabled to the different flaps and valves in the HVAC system. What GM did was to draw off the engine vacuum. There's hoses instead of cables going all about underneath there. Makes for easier controls, and eliminates binding if the lead has to take a sharp turn, but it leave the system at the mercy of air leaks. Probably, you've got a valve with a leak. In itself not expensive, but you've probably got to remove the entire dash to get to it.
 
Professur said:
Ok, vacuum problem is this. The heater controls aren't cabled to the different flaps and valves in the HVAC system. What GM did was to draw off the engine vacuum. There's hoses instead of cables going all about underneath there. Makes for easier controls, and eliminates binding if the lead has to take a sharp turn, but it leave the system at the mercy of air leaks. Probably, you've got a valve with a leak. In itself not expensive, but you've probably got to remove the entire dash to get to it.
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That only applies to cars with AC AFAIK, and I've never seen any car with AC that didn't have vacuum actuated controls.
 
Altron said:
They used to be on for about 2 seconds, off for about 2 seconds. Now it's down to on for one second, off for one second.
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On 2, off 2 is too slow. Most people aren't going to pay attention to your lights for more than two full seconds at a time.
 
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