Fifty Plus (50+) - OT-Anyone have a good On-line

forum for getting advice on car repair issues???

My trusty Bike Mobile with 440k is acting up and my mechanic and I are stumped.....It is a battery charging issue and we've done the traditional troubleshooting and remedies but with no success. I know electrical issues can be the biggest pain to find and resolve but this one just doesn't seem like it could be that hard...but for some reason it is. Even my electrical engineering degree is not helping out.......or maybe it is getting in the way..........

Can anyone here point me towards a good forum on auto repairs where I can seek some experience like I occaisonally get here.

I'd toss the car and just commute by bike but the job demands travel and sometimes taking customers along. Maybe I could investigate into those bike "taxis".

440K? wow

Bike Mobile ?? Anything with 440K I'm blown away with....but what is it? (I'm probably the only doesn't-have-a-clue guy here. :o

You might try http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=64. That's the auto section of a very general discussion forum. There's maybe two or three guys that are pretty sharp.

I was there early enough to grab my own name, so you can tell them roger sent you. Won't help; won't hurt.

Did you change out the battery cables?

Clean both ends of any grounding straps & reattach. This was the solution to my son's BMW that showed every indication of being possessed. It had charging issues even after a new battery & alternator. Also turn lights on, wipers would stop. Lights off, turn on wipers & engine would die. Cleaned, reattached engine to firewall & negative battery ground straps, problem solved. Don

What kind of car and what are the charging issues? Maybe we can help here. (Electrical engineering degree for me also and a car fixin guy too)

The van is a 1991 Toyota Previa. Thanks for the tips. I'm at the point of making sure I troubleshoot everything. It's a super vehicle and runs just great. It doesn't use oil nor does it leak any oil-or any fluids for that matter. It's good on gas mileage, easy on tires (90,000 on the current set) and I really like being able roll my bike into the back of it and strapping it to the side. My golf clubs fit neatly alongside the bike.

With 3 college tuitions I don't have a choice but to keep it running until it just decides to call it quits.

We won't ban you (not that we could) if you slip up and tell us more about what the problem is.

Caruso

Problem solved!!!

It turned out to be a bad starter that was the issue and not the battery or the altenator. It was weird as the car would jump off and start from another car and also after I would charge the battery.

It was hard to diagnose as it happened very infrequently and was totally unpredictable-plus the starter was only a few months old so who would have thought......

Anyway the bikemobile is back up and running again and I have a good start at putting on the next 400,000 miles. Now I'll feel a little better about investing in a 100,000 mile set of tires......