A Closer Look at Cars and Their Repair Costs

The author's experience with a 10-year-old Honda Civic is that it still looks sharp, even after a decade. The car has a spacious trunk and can carry a lot of gear. While older cars may not have all the latest features, they often have killer air conditioning systems. In fact, one of the benefits of owning an older car like this is that you may never need to change the alternator - unlike modern cars which require frequent replacements.

The author notes that when it comes to maintenance, some things are easy to overlook. For example, a clogged air filter can cause problems with the engine's performance. In fact, the author recently discovered that their car had a clogged air filter, but only noticed when they checked it out electronically. Fortunately, the cost of replacing an air filter is relatively low, and it may even be a good opportunity to buy a used car at a discounted price.

In contrast, some modern cars have more complex systems that can be expensive to repair. The author notes that their friend recently had issues with their 98 Montero, which was having trouble idling when the radiator was cold. A mechanic suggested that there may be a tiny crack in the head gasket or engine block, but recommended driving the car for a while before taking any further action. This advice is sound, as it's often better to drive a car for a short period of time before addressing any issues.

The author notes that some modern sealers, such as those made by Block Leak Sealer Bars, can be effective in sealing small leaks. However, these products may not work well with all types of coolant, and the author advises against using them if you're unsure about what to do. It's also worth noting that Block Leak Sealer Bars can be mixed with water to create a sealant, but this may not always be the most effective solution.

Car Insurance: A Rip-Off?

In addition to car maintenance, there's another expense that's often overlooked: car insurance. The author notes that in New York State, where they grew up, the cost of motorcycle insurance is notoriously high. In fact, the author claims that the quotes they received were $600 per year, which is significantly more than what they paid in taxes.

The author isn't alone in their experience with high car insurance costs in New York State. Many people who have lived in the state over the years report paying exorbitant amounts for insurance premiums. The author notes that this is partly due to the high cost of living and driving conditions in the state, as well as the presence of strict regulations and bureaucratic red tape.

In contrast, some states have much lower car insurance costs than New York State. For example, the author notes that Tennessee and Texas have significantly lower premiums, with prices ranging from $80 to $100 per year for motorcycle insurance. This is a far cry from the high costs in New York State, where people are often paying upwards of $500 per year.

Ultimately, if you live in New York State and want to avoid getting ripped off by the state's notoriously expensive car insurance system, it may be worth considering moving to a different state. The author notes that they did just this when they left their home state at age 18, and have been happy ever since.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enrev up your engines okay here we have a rarity a honda that's running a little bit rough now it's sat for quite some time on used in the past and now sometimes start it up shakes a little put it in reverse shakes too much we're gonna analyze and figure out what's wrong these are simple cars there's a lot of room to work here's the engine now this is 2011 civic but it's only got like 45 000 miles because it's sailing around a lot theoretically the spark plugs are good for a lot more than that we'll eventually check them but i put on my thinking cap the first thing you're gonna do with a low mileage honda is check the air filter believe it or not my old photographer at cbs he couldn't get his car inspected so he brought it in i popped the air filter it was full of crud and that was the only thing that was wrong oh we start basic time for the old screwdriver on a key chain and you know what that might be his only problem he's laughing in the background now you certainly say it's dirty but here's the trick there's the sun and we look through it it's still black all right you can't see the sun you need an air filter that's probably the only thing wrong with this car but we're gonna go through the data anyways just to see what's going on we're gonna analyze the whole thing probably won't find anything wrong but what the heck so we'll plug it in and honda's weird they hide stuff this little thing says dlc and it's hiding way up here but there it is now it's plugged in so now you know cares that light turned green that means it's plugged in you turn the key on so we'll do automatic selection not to do anything on this read it can read do a complete diagnosis of it auto scan and we're off to the races all systems now as we can see here it's only got 48 000 miles so i'm really not expecting to find anything weird but oh we'll find out what shape this thing is as far as i'm concerned the engine hasn't even broken in yet really now there's only one thing i found wrong the tire pressure monitoring system which actually sort of makes sense and i'll explain why in a second we'll see what the codes are it says they all have low air pressure failure on the number four and that's rather hilarious because he may not have checked his air filter but he religiously checks his tire pressure with the tire gauge right tire gauge costs five bucks the tpms the tire pressure monitoring system all the sending units aren't working correctly and that's because the car is 11 years old inside the valve stem here there's a little transmitter and it operates on guess what batteries i'm amazed they last 11 years i don't have any batteries that last 11 years and most things you know when they wear out as they do in the case of this what do you got to do you gotta replace the whole unit it's inside the tire unless you have a tire machine which even i don't have because i'm not a tire guy a regular mechanic you have to go someplace they got to take all your tires off take them all apart take the old valve stem out then replace each single one then reprogram them to fit with the computer which of course is going to cost a small fortune so really do you want to spend hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars or you want to buy a little tire pressure gauge and check them every once in a while no other than that it's perfectly fine but we're going to look at live data now start up on the big live data here comes the fun all right we'll start analyzing it all mav sensor's good well we're only in the a's it goes a long way now as you can see this is the air fuel ratio here perfect is 1.00 oh it was there for a second 1.98.99 it's almost perfect even it was one there okay this is a honda it's only got 48 000 miles most of this car isn't even broken in yet so the data shows it's an excellent shape and he says it was oddly bad well probably because the airfield was clogged because you see one three two four no misfires at all okay now it is an automatic transmission so let's check some of that stuff out look at the live data for the transmission it has no codes so there's no trouble codes but we'll see if anything's acting up all right everything looked good current parking neutral there's the engine speed and the input shaft on the transmission of course is a little bit lower because there's some slippage but as you can see here we're in park watch what happens when we put in drive all right now it's zero the zero rpm yeah that's what you want to see that means the torque converter is working the torque converter allows slippage if that data would have been differently you'd have a problem with the torque converter or the main shaft of the transmission this thing ships too good for that but it's a good way to check if you got an older one and it's not shifting correctly it might not be the transmission it could be the torque converter that's where these tools come in handy most guys in the past say well we gotta pull your transmission off the jacket and that's going to be 800 well this checks it real fast get out this baby was made in canada canadians make good cars my matrix is made in canada they know what they're doing i got a ford maverick it was made in canada too typical honda nice and smooth now that the dirty air filter has been taken out chips like a dream i mean this thing isn't even worn in yet look at the difference but in his defense watch this he did look at it it didn't look that bad because see here goes inside here right didn't look bad he thought the air went this way but there goes that way so the dirt is on the intake side which in this case is clean so it wasn't like he didn't even know he said oh that looks good he just didn't realize the dirty side that's on the bottom because the hondas suck them from the bottom up most american vehicles when you see them a lot of them they suck on the side you see so you see the dirt button take them out and check them out and not throw them away and don't be lazy snap all the snaps on i see so many cars don't have them all snapped on make your head spin you got to push pretty hard then it's solid and in place now as you can see people buy these hondas because they're reliable transportation this particular one gets 35 miles a gallon on a highway no it didn't when the air filter was clogged but it's gonna get better gas mileage now and when you check them out they're sharp looking cars this thing's 10 years old it hasn't lost any styles no i don't know how stylish the towel down there is or maybe he sweats a lot it may be a small car it's a pretty spacious trunk in here can carry a lot of stuff on one of these little civics truce philly have gone a long long time from their early clown cars that had a 550cc twin cylinder air-cooled honda motorcycle engine under the hood with a fan blowing on it to cool it they've gone a long way like universes away they've always had killer air conditioning systems look how easy it would be to change the alternator but of course it's a honda you may never have to change the alternator i don't chase too many honda alternators so now you know if your honda's not idling right maybe you just need an air filter don't overlook that i mean we checked it out electronically it is a 10 year old car and we saw what excellent shape it was in maybe you'll find somebody selling one of these and you're checking it out check the air filter and if it's all clogged up and it's not running good maybe you get a really good deal on it used and here's some bonus questions and answers wall wars one says i'm backpacking in australia with my girlfriend at a 98 montero 3.5 v6 350 000 kilometers when the radiator is cold it has pressure when i start it up there's no bubbles i don't see white smoke a mechanic says it might be a tiny crack and a gasket but i shouldn't worry till it get worse what do you recommend okay yeah your mechanic is totally correct if you have an engine that sat all night in the outback you take the radiator cap off and somebody starts the engine you can feel pressure in the radiator you got a hole somewhere in the engine head gasket or something but you say you don't have water in the oil oil in the water you know white smoke yet he says drive it don't worry about it here's what i tell you to do i would say get some really good block leak seal bars leaks here in the united states makes a good one that you can actually mix with the antifreeze put it in now and it might seal the little crack for quite some time now the really good sealers use what's called sodium silicate and that really seals the leaks but unfortunately can you only use sodium silicate with pure water so if you do that you'd have to empty your whole system out take the thermostat out put pure water in put the sodium silicate drive it for a week or two and then after it worked drain out the water and put in 50 water and 50 coolant but the bars leak works pretty good with modern coolant so you might get some of that bars leak sealer put it in and it might seal it for quite some time since it's just starting i've seen that work wonders on that especially if it's a leak in the head gasket between the pistons and the water cooling jackets it will often seal those quite well jack costa says scotty's insurance on motorcycles going up i thought it was cheaper but the quotes i get in new york state are 600 bucks a year only 300 bucks less than i'm paying car insurance okay you're in new york state the land of ripoffs i grew up in niagara falls in new york state and let me tell you i left when i was 18 the taxes there the bureaucrats who control everyone's lives new york state can go to haiti's i am not going to move back there let me tell you they tax the heck out of you get nothing for the tax regular motorcycle places no i just re-up my insurance and it cost me 80 bucks a year same as it cost me in taxes well actually it's five bucks cheaper in tennessee than it was in texas costs nothing here so you're getting ripped off because you live in new york state i remember when i had a motorcycle new york state and it cost me 500 bucks to insure it and that was 45 years ago it's always been a ripoff state so actually 600 bucks a year is cheap now i was paying 545 years ago in new york state the greedy pig state the state of lying hypocrites like cuomo who read books about how great they are and then people find out well he lied about the whole thing so maybe you should leave new york state save yourself some money and some grief in the long run i did and i'm happy so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that bell you\n"