Bought a car today...

The Oxygen sensors "sniff" the car's exhaust to make sure there's the right amount of oxygen in the mix. There's supposed to be a certain amount of oxygen and if there's not the right amount, the oxygen sensors tell the computer that so it can modify the fuel/air mixture and make whatever other adjustments are needed. If the sensor goes bad, the light comes on. The car will usually drive like normal with the check engine light on, but it won't pass the smog check because the computer's not getting the correct oxygen information, and thus isn't making the adjustments to run as cleanly as possible. The car could possibly still put out low enough numbers to pass the smog check, but if the light's on you'll automatically fail.
 
That said, there are things besides the oxygen sensors that can make the light come on, so don't just assume it's the oxygen sensors. The knock sensor is pretty important, too.
 
So, in short what you're telling him is:

1 - It's not necessarily the oxygen sensor causing the light to come on
2 - You can NOT remove the Oxygen sensor if you wanna beable to licence your car
 
AFAIK, if any engine management or other drivetrain sensor fails the check engine light will come on. This is why you need to read the codes RDX mentions above. The code will tell you what sensor has failed and you can work back from that to see if there are other problems that need addressing.
 
The O2 sensor can also light up from lousy spark plugs and wires. Or a thrown O2 sensor can screw with your air/fuel mix, and toast your plugs, which can really confuse the issue.
 
Took the Maxima out a bit.

The creaking noise in the back is apparently a loose muffler mount.

I had a really hard time keeping the RPMs constant. If I tried to keep it at, say, 1500, to put the clutch in, I would let it go down to idle, then push it too hard and over-rev, then overcompensate and let it go back down to idle. I think it might be because the gas pedal is much more sensitive than the boats.

But, I have gotten the hang of the clutch. I found that if I keep my heel on the floor and kinda roll the pedal across my foot, I can be very precise with it. I can do it without having to rev the engine at all, it just takes a good 5 seconds to get rolling. So I really need to get the hang of both pedals, so I can do it quickly.
 
That comes with practice.

I learned how to drive a stick in a 1994 Ford Ranger with a 4.0 V6. First time I drove the 1981 Honda, I "barely" tapped the gas to barely take it off idle... and it went to 4,000 RPM. The 1.8 CVCC four-banger builds revs a little more quickly than the 4.0 pushrod V6 truck engine.
 
Altron said:
Took the Maxima out a bit.

The creaking noise in the back is apparently a loose muffler mount.

I had a really hard time keeping the RPMs constant. If I tried to keep it at, say, 1500, to put the clutch in, I would let it go down to idle, then push it too hard and over-rev, then overcompensate and let it go back down to idle. I think it might be because the gas pedal is much more sensitive than the boats.

But, I have gotten the hang of the clutch. I found that if I keep my heel on the floor and kinda roll the pedal across my foot, I can be very precise with it. I can do it without having to rev the engine at all, it just takes a good 5 seconds to get rolling. So I really need to get the hang of both pedals, so I can do it quickly.
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Cool. Now learn how to double-clutch and heel-and-toe. ;)
 
I can keep it at a steady RPM if I concentrate, but I can't do it without looking at the tach.
 
Close your eyes and learn to do it with your ears. Or turn off the damn stereo and learn to feel the vibration through the seat of your pants.
 
It's not that I can't tell what the RPMs are, it's that I can't keep my foot dead still without concentrating on doing it. I'm so used to the super high gearing in my car, where I can coast a lot of the time, and where I might rev it to 1500 for a few seconds, then let it idle a bit, then give it some gas, and so on. The gas pedal is just so sensitive...
 
If you feel the gas pedal too sensitive, you can try moving your seat to the back a bit. This will make it harder for you to step full on the gas pedal.
 
Today was my first day of Maximizing!

I finally got tired of almost a year and a half of driving it only on back roads, or only at night when there wasn't traffic, or only in empty parking lots.

I realized that by doing that, I was only making myself intimidated. Like, honestly, it's not that fucking hard to do. I stalled five times today. Whoopity fucking doo. The world didn't end. I had a few rough shifts, and the car shook, and I'm still alive. I just wasn't confident in myself, and I was striving to be -perfect- at it. Probably because the only person I've ever seen drive a manual for an extended amount of time is my dad, and he's been driving 'em for like 35 years and has probably gone a million miles. I can't drive like him. But, I don't need to. I'm sure I'll get better in time. Hell, a week ago, I was completely unable to get the car moving up a hill. Today, I did it without a hitch.

Most people who own manual transmissions bought them with no prior experience and had nothing to practice on, so they've learned quickly out of necessity. I had such easy access to a stress-free practice car for such a long time that I learned really slowly.

I decided that by driving it to work today, my first time driving it when there were other cars around, I wouldn't be afraid of it any more. And, I'm not. There's certainly a learning curve, and from a mechanical perspective, it's almost like learning to drive again. You start out driving a car and it's almost like you develop a part of your brain dedicated to controlling speed, measuring distances, deciding when to accelerate and when to brake and when to turn, so that when you're driving you do stuff like that reflexively. Now I'm developing another part of my brain that is thinking about how fast I'm going, keeping track of what gear I'm in, and most importantly listening to the tone of the engine. Is it making it's quiet near-stall sound? It's loud "upshift now, damnit!" whine? It's "Dumbass, your rev is too low for this gear at this speed"

I'm enjoying all the extra power and control I get from it. And, it kinda keeps my speed on a leash too. For casual cruising, I try to get in a high gear and keep the revs at like 2k, and it's a bitch to accelerate from there without downshifting, so I don't unconsciously speed as much.

And the power is sick. I can chirp the tires in first and in second. Second gear is my favorite. I can go from rolling along at 10mph idling in second to 45mph screaming at 5k rpm in second faster than you can say "oh SHIT!"

I was at a light and I stalled, and this asshole behind me laid two elbows on the horn (even tho it was two lanes and he could have easily gone around, except that the asshole he was, he had crept his SUV within inches of my bumper so he could shine his bright blue HIDs into my face). It's fuel injected but it still takes time to push the clutch all the way down, turn off the car, and get it to turn over again, and this asshole was just being a complete fucking toolbag. It got me really jumpy so once the motor was going again, I revved it a lot, which gave me a very hard but kinda cool launch. I revved too high and put the clutch in way too fast, because the guy behind me was really stressing me out, and the road was wet, so like the front tires spun and started kicking up these big clouds of steam, and then the thing just took off. It was kinda cool.
 
and he's been driving 'em for like 35 years and has probably gone a million miles.
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So has my sister and she still can't. She continues to buy them though because she thinks she can. I ignore the wrong gear choices and the occasional grinding (in other words I don't cringe openly ;) ) but it drives our brother nuts. :lol: She does usually remember to push the clutch in at a stop before it actually stalls though.

Hey, speaking of my sister, I'm going to be visiting her in Mount Holly in a few weeks. Where's that Best Buy (or is it Circuit City) that you work at? If I get time and have the energy I'll try to look you up.
 
Bad news... Boat inspection expires this month, and it failed for emissions. Is there anything I can do to a late 80s computerized Q-Jet to make the damn thing pass? Everything past the cat is solid relatively new stuff, but the cat is this rusty stock thing, as are the crosspipe and headers. I don't want to spend money, because the car is barely worth anything. Any quick tweaks you guys know of?
 
What about it failed smog? CO2 emissions? Visual inspection? etc.

How old are the spark plugs, wire, distributor cap and rotor, and coil? Air filter?

The computerized part sucks... good luck adjusting all the stuff that can be adjusted on the carb on the '62 Fairlane.
 
SouthernN'Proud said:
Let the engine sufficiently warm up before you go for inspection. Cool engines always emit more gunk than warm ones.
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Depends on the year. Anything later than about '95 they just check the computer for codes. Don't matter how warm it is anymore.

Edit: Oops, didn't read enough, I thought we were still talking about the new ride.
Inky's right, need to know what failed. Note that hydrocarbons is just as likely to be a lean condition as a rich condition, maybe more.
 
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