Ahhh! Peace at last!

[djb383]

CP, where did you mount the ScanGauge? Sweet ride, Dude!

[ColonelPanic]

Thanks! And... I've hooked it up for testing purposes but I don't have much of a place to put it. The only place it will really fit is here...It works fine in this car but it is just a bit too large. Plus I need that space since that is where the ashtray was supposed to go and I'd like to keep it there for when I need to throw stuff away. Keeps me from throwing gum wrappers/misc. other small garbage items on the floor like I did with the Vibe. And to the right of it, the Sirius will eventually go once I get the nerve up to scratch up my paint on the trunk or roof by sticking the antenna up there. I'm probably gonna have to sell this one. Later down the road, the Scangauge II may show up in this thing, it is about 1/4 of the size so I may have slightly better luck with mounting.I hate losing the scangauge. That thing was so great to have! *sobbing!*

[djb383]

CP, I notice the ScanGauge is indicating 182F coolant temp. Is that about where it runs when the engine is fully warmed up?

[ColonelPanic]

Ya'know, I don't for the life of me remember. I was out for a short test drive when that pic was taken. The car had been sitting for a while, IIRC, so I don't recall if it was at NOT at that point or not.The few times I have had it plugged in, it seems to have run hotter than that, so it may have a 195 degree thermostat in it. I do have one pic showing 190 and I recall seeing it read 200 before... Time for me to go do some testing, I'll check it later today. Should be hot as heck so I'll plug it in before I head out. I just haven't had it connected and paid attention long enough to have valid data thus far.

[ColonelPanic]

Yep, tis true. It looks like it runs at 190 degrees normally. On the Sirius front, I completed my install tonight, let me know what you guys think. My poor Sportster has seen better days! It is scratched and beat all to hell. The remote is gone, the knob doesn't work right - you have to push down on it really hard. I was having problems with my '0' key but I cleaned out around it good, I probably spilled something around it when it was in the Vibe. It is a pretty clean install, I think. The #1 thing I wanted was to make sure I could keep using my ashtray so I could keep throwing my trash there instead of elsewhere in the car, and it had better not interfere with the operation of the lil' storage bin under the climate controls. #2, it needed to be completely non-permanent and should leave no signs of damage. #3, no interior trim was to come off, no exceptions.The cradle is velcroed down so it is completely removable, leaving only the antenna cable as you can see here.As you can see, this poor thing really has seen better days! I need a new tuner but I'm ticked that they no longer sell a Sirius tuner with a green display! I could get the Sportster Replay and use the same mounting kit/etc and it would work well, but it would severely clash with my interior lighting. I've got a good thing going with this one that lights up green as you'll see below. I think I'll be buying Kari the Sportster Replay and taking her mint condition first generation Sportster like mine in exchange. I didn't remove any of the interior trim to run the antenna cable, I just tucked the cable under the door sill trim. Which was a real pain in some places - the trim is screwed down so it was a pretty tight fit. But I managed to get it run back to the trunk and then ran it back through the split folding rear seat.Yes, I chose to mount the antenna inside. I refuse to stick it to the metal outside for fear of the paint getting scratched up like it did on the Vibe! With that car, it wasn't too bad - it was way up on the roof, next to the roof rack so it wasn't easy to spot. Here, it'd be obvious where I took the antenna off, whether that be roof or trunk. So I decided to risk losing some reception in favor of saving my paint. Yes, you may say it is just a Hyundai and all, but I still care this car very much and want to keep it looking good for a very long time. So, the center child seat anchor cover on the package shelf was a good enough place as any to mount the antenna. It too is held on by velcro. The cool thing here is that you can't see it in the mirror thanks to the center rear headrest.I took it for a spin far enough to get out of the range of the repeater, and found myself out in the sticks... Had full satellite signal the whole way. No dropouts! I think it will be more than sufficient around town too, since we have a strong repeater here that seems to cover quite a bit of ground. We'll see what happens, I'm really hoping this works since I dread having to mount the thing outside. Although yes, I know it would work a heckuva lot better outside. But so far, it is working just fine inside, just as good here as it did on the Vibe's roof next to the roof rack.I'm just using the built-in FM transmitter tuned to 87.7 MHz for this, works sufficient for this purpose. Sounds quite good, as always.Here's a few more pics, see why I like the green lighting? Say what you want about my green, I luv it.

[binary]

That stereo reminds me of a Blaupunkt... if I spelled that correctly.. :S

[ToolGuy]

A little late to the party but congrats CP!

[ColonelPanic]

Thanks, ToolGuy! Better late than never. lol! It happened again....Once again, another thousand miles accumulated as the lil' Accent runs up and down the road with no complaints. Just feed it a relatively small amount of petrol every now and then and it's happy. This is such a great little car.

[kostby]

In another unpublished excerpt from the Secret Life of Curby the Hyundai, Curby, a.k.a. the PanicFreeAccent, is thinking to itself..."Two THOUSAND MILES, already?""I'm getting to be a grown-up car so fast, CP!""Hmmm. Another week or so, and I'll be in for my first oil change! Then I'll BE a GROWN UP CAR, and not a baby.""I don't know what you're doing around my dashboard, but THAT TICKLES!""OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooOOOOOOOO!""You'd better watch where you put that thing, or I'm likely to blow coolant all over your parking space!""Why don't you post about me in the Racing Forum?""Remember last week, when I blew the doors off a Honda hybrid!""For my next conquest, I'm gonna drift past that Geo Metro in the turn lane!""Hang on, CP! Cut the wheel, right NOW! SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!""You didn't know a car name Curby (It rhymes with Herbie--are you listening Disney Imagineers???) could be so much fun, did you?""VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOM!"To be continued...

[joatmon]

this one's my favoriteQuote, originally posted by kostby »In another unpublished excerpt from the Secret Life of Curby the Hyundai, Curby, a.k.a. the PanicFreeAccent, is thinking to itself......"mwuahahaha this human that thinks he owns me is thinking I am a nice car""How long shall I wait before I reveal my true nature?"... To be continued..

[ColonelPanic]

Quote »"mwuahahaha this human that thinks he owns me is thinking I am a nice car""How long shall I wait before I reveal my true nature?"(removed)!Now now, there isn't an evil bolt in this thing's body! Its too cute for that sort of thing!

[jeffgtx]

oh good lawd....... wait until curby gets wind that he called it cute!!!!! i hope he doesn't have wifi internet access.

[ColonelPanic]

Oh, not the first time it has been called "cute."

[ColonelPanic]

*pointless bump!*Just got back from getting my winders tinted. I remain legal, 35% all the way around, Llumar film. Had the same guy who tinted the Vibe do this one, man is he ever meticulous! It took about 3 hours to tint this itty bitty car, he took his time and did a great job. This guy tints out of his garage in his spare time, and these two tint jobs I've had him do are far better than the crap job the average tint shops have given to me previously. He takes time to do it right, makes sure he doesn't screw up your car in the process, and it's just cool to be able to stand around and watch him do his thing. I don't see how he does it. $130 after my repeat customer discount. Not too shabby! Thought about the windshield strip, but it already has tint up there in the glass so I didn't bother. BT (before tint! ) The last time I'll see the car like this... After:The back window was done in one big piece. Luckily this car has a relatively flat rear window. The hardest part was the two of us struggling to get the 3rd brake light assembly put back in. It came out easy, but it didn't go back in easy, they must have installed it at the factory prior to putting in the glass.I think it turned out pretty alright if I don't say so myself.

[Kari]

Looks good!

[tnpartsguy]

Curby looks good in 'shades'!!

[BlueCrush]

Looks Great! 35% is perfect IMO.

[slvrvibes]

3 hours is a long time, but if he gets the job done well, then it is worth the wait. Nice job.

[ColonelPanic]

Thanks fer all the positive feedback. Yep, the wait was well worth it. I'm keeping this car until it is paid for, so an extra amount of time spent now will be worth it in the long run. 3 hours was good, I do believe it was over that to have him tint the Vibe, maybe 4 hours, I don't recall. Nonetheless, I've waited longer - the first tint job I had done, the goobers at that crappy tint shop made me leave the car there from Friday to Tuesday to get the job done, and allegedly they had worked on it over the weekend! And it still looked like dump! Things dried up nicely today, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect job! Just the right shade for my tastes too, not too dark, not too light. I call this "Accent... Merzbow style!" LOL!Ok, enough already. I did take a crapload of pics of this thing today but I'll stop here. I bet I look like a real doofus too, going around taking pics of a lil' $14K Hyundai all the time, almost acting as if I was proud of the thing! What can I say, I love this lil' car. I never would have thought this, it goes against the way I used to feel about transportation appliances: I've learned how something small, simple, and cost effective can be enjoyed just the same as something more expensive, fast, and flashy. Sounds crazy, I know.

[ColonelPanic]

Well, that took me long enough! I just sent in the 4th payment for thius bad boy last week and......inspired by merzbow! hehehe Oh well, only 10% of the warranty chipped away. 10% of unused warranty that is - only services so far have been three oil changes and a tire rotation. Uhh, is this my car? Where's the big storm cloud over my head that used to follow me around from car to car? I haven't had a new one go this long without needing something fixed. Good job, Hyundai. I know, 10K without trouble is nothing to a lot of you guys but this is "hell has frozen over" territory for me. (removed) Still feels as good as it did the day I drove it off the lot. Didn't have any squeaks or rattles then, doesn't have any now. The paint is still in quite good shape considering how often it's on the interstate. The worst damage was from yours truly scraping the underside of the bumper by pulling up too far to and scraping on a curb, then chipping some paint from the door edge by slamming it into a steenkin' cart corral. Totally my fault! The engine is still smooth, doesn't make a lot of a racket. The only thing that has changed is my mileage, now that the car is broken in I'm able to see that 36 MPG highway estimate, sometimes above 37 now that I'm not running the A/C as much. Not bad for an auto, I'm pleased to be able to take the lazy way out and have a nice, smooth automatic get me more MPG's than the shift-it-yourself Accent and Rio guys. It may not go fast in a hurry, but the 4-wheel discs sure will stop it quick. Had my first experience where the ABS kicked in last week during a rainy rush hour commute, worked GREAT! Kept me from sliding into someone or something, I think it's safe to say. Really modulates the brakes rapidly, sounded like a machine gun going off under the hood instead of the slow clunk... clunk... clunk... clunk... that I had with my last two ABS-equipped cars with their older systems. I'm so glad to have ABS back again. The measly lil' 15" Kumhos are also really keeping it planted on the pavement in wet weather too, good tires. This is gonna be fun in the winter. Oh yeah, the heated mirrors fricken rock!!! lol... Many times, the mirrors will be fogged up bad when I go to leave work at night... But hit the rear defroster switch and they're clear, usually by the time I'm out of the parking lot. Wow, that's magic! All the simple things such as the mirrors can really make a big difference. I'm still impressed, and after a long time behind the wheel, I'm still glad of the decision I made. Can't beat this car for the money, quite an impressive little ride. I'd recommend one to anybody.

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[ToolGuy]

Glad to hear no issues! And yes, heated mirrors are awesome! Had them on my 2000 Blazer, never had them since but miss them. My Corvette has them but go figure, it will never see a day that it needs them!

[drunkenmaxx]

not trying to go off topic, but my maxx has the heated mirrors and i was wondering about how they turn on. so they work in unison with the rear defroster?

[ToolGuy]

Yep both of my cars turn on with the rear defroster!

[ColonelPanic]

Son of suck! Last night, we had something like 5 inches of rain that fell, and of course, I had to be a dumbass and be out driving through that crap. Well, it could have been worse. I could have been like the car in the attached pic. Anywho, I encountered some water that was deep enough that it was at least the level of the bottom grille on the front bumper. But I didn't even know it, it was pouring down like hell and I couldn't see squat, my car just happened to run into it. Thank god Hyundai put the intake way up by the hood. So, no hydrolock. But I did get a tons of belt squealin' and steaming from underneath the car when I drove through that stuff. Each time I'd step on the gas, squeal! Not sure which belt was doing it, probably all (this car actually has separate belts instead of one serpentine belt.) I finally got away from downtown and got a chance to investigate the damage. The squealing went away, the A/C compressor worked, the voltmeter showed the alternator charging fine, the power steering seemed ok. It was running fine, no warning lights on, no codes set. I had a small amount of grass and dirt in the radiator, I cleaned that up later last night. Sprayed the area out good with water at the car wash. There was a pretty long stick stuck in the plastic splash sheild underneath the engine on the right side of the engine where the belts are, took some effort to get that out but I managed to do that. I thought I was good to go, nothing really looks like it had been exposed a lot of water in the engine bay... There were a few stray pieces of grass here or there that I found today, which I had cleaned up but aside from that, nothing...But today, of couse, my luck ran out. Now, I get a "click" coming from the front when I put the car in drive and each time I step on the gas. Like every time the engine gets a load on it, it makes that clicking noise. Sounds like you're tapping on plastic or something, a bit difficult to explain. I can't really hear it from outside the car if I have the doors/windows open, but you can hear it pretty clear from inside the car. Anybody have a guess on what it would be? Could water have effed up a motor mount or something such as that? Damn. My poor lil' car, I feel so bad about right now. Guess I'll be calling the dealer on Monday and see when they can get me in to have a look at it. Warranty ain't gonna cover this, whatever it is. If it's expensive enough, I guess insurance will have to get involved.It's been really rough here in the area... http://www.wlky.com/news/9918194/detail.html I guess if all I have is a slight noise after all that others have been through, I shouldn't be *****ing.

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[ColonelPanic]

I hooked my scangauge up and it had a code this morning. Code is "CP is probably an asshat." I'm not ruling anything out at this point but I think the "click" is a fricken DASH RATTLE that so conveniently appeared after I ran through that mess of water and totally freaked out about it... What a coinkydink - or at least I'm hoping that it is.It would appear the awesome 106 lb/ft of torque and 110 hp is causing some mad crazy chassis flex upon acceleration that makes the dash go clicky! If I push forward on the dash, it don't click. Let off of it, it may or may not click. Whew, I've never been so happy to have a rattle in my life!So, I guess it was coming from inside the car. Let's hope so. I'll keep an eye (or ear) on it and see what happens. If it truly is a rattle, quite frankly it's probably going to stay there. Lord knows what all would start rattling after a dealer attempts to fix this one. 10K before it has its first rattle is a pretty good accomplishment, I suppose. I've looked it over again quite thoroughly, haven't found anything odd. I'm especially watching over the oil and transmission fluid to make sure they don't get cloudy after the car sits around for a bit. Yanked the air filter out and all was well, it isn't even remotely dirty but I figure I'll replace it soon anyway. No signs of water getting up to the air box. Real super easy to replace the filter, lift four metal tabs and the air box easily comes apart. Speaking of that, good god... This is the first time I've really paid attention to the intake, it does like eleventeen 90 degree bends! I think if I put an intake on it, I'll probably gain 100 hp! (removed) This convoluted mess is rather amusing. There's a few bends to get it out from the air box around the fuse box, then it straightens out and ends right before the headlight. But then another piece attaches which abruptly angles toward the pasenger side, and does another turn or two and eventually comes up to the duct near the headlight. It's a little hard to see, the ductwork gets hidden but you get the drift.Restriction, I don't think we've met? But I'm glad to meet you, for you helped keep my engine from getting water sucked into it. LOL!So, anyway, I'm thinking I should be ok, at least for now. It'll be a few more days/weeks/months until all the wiring terminals on my ABS sensors or whatever else has become corroded and won't work any longer. (removed)!Scary stuff, so I hope it is over. Nothing stinks more than thinking you may have screwed up the car you love!

[ColonelPanic]

Heh, I had the car in for its first "problem" here recently. Nothing major at all, it was simply the power steering belt slipping just a little bit only when you first fire the car up on a chilly, humid night/morning after the car was sitting for a while. It went away a few seconds after the car had been running. Brought it in, they tightened the belts up, 45 minutes later I was back on the road. No big deal to me...I've been getting follow-up calls from the dealer but I'm always asleep when they call since I work nights, so the ringer on the phone is always off too. Haven't got a chance to talk to them yet. Hyundai is going to send me a survery and they want me to mark completely satisfied, yada yada yada. But today's call from them was "If you give us a completely satisfied score, we'll give you a free oil change." Schweet! I'm there, it's easy enough to bribe me with freebies. But they actually deserve the score too, so it wouldn't be lying or cheating the system any. heh! I wonder if that is every time? If so, it's a shame I still can't find anything else to complain about that isn't right. *sobbing!* I want more free crap!!! Dang, if the Pontiac dealer would have done that every time I had the Vibe in the shop, I'd only have had to pay for like six oil changes over the duration of ownership. LOL! I'd mark that survey completely satisfied no matter what and milk that for all it's worth. But all they did was call me to make sure I was "completely satisfied" for a week straight and then give up. I'm really diggin' this dealer, they is good people. They were kinda stumped as to why I drive 1.5 hours to get to them instead of going to these bozos here that are 10-20 minutes away, so I had to clue them in as to why it's worth it to me to drive the extra distance to get decent service. Hit 12,000 miles tonight too... Got it going back in the shop next week for yet another oil change, and a tire rotation/balance. Oh yeah, got to touch up some rock chips over the weekend... It isn't in too bad of shape, not many on the hood, one spot on the mirror chipped where someone bumped into it, and a place on the driver's door where I was a moron and opened it into a cart corral. When I ordered touch up paint for this car, they handed me a paint marker. Otay, haven't used one of those since I'd been dorking around with model cars. It's a two-part job, one side has base coat, the other has clear coat. I've always SUCKED at doing touch-up paint, me and those brushes never got along. Best case scenario, I'd have a big glob of paint on the metal, usually the end result looked worse than what it would had I left the damage there. arrgh! But with this thing, I was able to get the proper amount of paint right down into chip with great precision, so the spots I touched up looked quite good. Paint matched perfectly too. I was impressed, couldn't believe that I had actually been the one that touched those spots up. I had never seen a paint marker for automotive use before, now I'm thinking there needs to be more out there. Works great for those who are "touch up-ially challenged"

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