Answers to your car questions
QUESTION
There is another factor to be considered in the octane requirements debate. I have a 1963 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk and I am a member of the Hamilton chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club. My car has a standard Studebaker 289 V8 engine that had been untouched since it was delivered from the factory – South Bend in my case. This model however was also assembled in Hamilton. My car runs quite well on regular grade gasoline. We have been told however, that older cars, like ours, cannot tolerate gasoline that has any alcohol in it, as it has some damaging effects on seals in the engine. It is therefore recommended that we should always use premium gasoline as it is the grade that, in most stations, does not contain alcohol, while the regular and mid-grades do.
Tom Roden, Grimsby, Ontario
ANSWER
I think that I have seen your 1963 Studebaker at the car show on the Casablanca parking lot. They were and still are great car designs, ahead of its time and even to this day, I know people who worked at the Studebaker plant in Hamilton. It is believed that ethanol in today’s fuel tanks are not good for the older cars. Alcohol is a highly corrosive substance when it is transformed into ethanol, which is hard on many internal parts of older engines. That being said, only some gas stations will sell ethanol free gasoline but you might have to ask the attendant which gas other than the highgrade premium gas does not contain ethanol. In the US it is very difficult to even find gasoline that does not contain ethanol even in their highest-grade gasoline.
QUESTION
I have a 2017 Honda Accord with fortyone thousand kilometres, which I bought new, April 1st 2017. About 1 1/2 years later, I had a problem getting the car out of park position. It made loud noises and went whooo, whooo, whooo until I shut off the ignition. This happened three or four times and finally the car went into reverse. I don’t remember how it finally got into reverse and running. I believe I contacted the Dealer but they do not have any record of it. About six months later, I was parked on my driveway, which is on an incline and the car again would not shift out of park into reverse. This time it didn’t make any noise. About two weeks ago, my wife and I had lunch from a drive-thru and parked in the parking lot. When I started the car, I had the same problem - it would not shift into reverse and again made the loud noise. I shut the ignition off twice and the third time, the car went into gear. My problem is that the warranty expired three months ago. I have bought about twelve vehicles from this dealer in the last twenty years and they have treated me very well. I have not had any problems with any of the vehicles that I have previously purchased and would highly recommend Honda to anyone. Would you have any idea what this problem may be? Should I take it back to the dealer for evaluation and hold my breath?
Doug from Cambridge
ANSWER
It is a known fact that sometimes automobiles with automatic transmissions will be difficult to shift out of park on a steep incline because of the pressure exerted on the parking pawl when it is engaged in the output shaft of the transmission. This scenario makes it very difficult to shift from park to any drive gear without force and a loud bang when it is released. This can sometimes cause the parking pawl to actually break resulting in an expensive fix. To avoid this, any time that you are parking on a steep incline, make sure that you keep your foot on the brake pedal and then apply the parking brake first before you put the car into the park position. When you go to remove the vehicle, place your foot on the brake pedal first; then start the car; then move the gear shifter out of park and then release the parking brake. Parking on an incline may be the reason why you experienced the difficulty of moving the gearshift out of the park position. This may not be why you experienced a problem when the car was not on an incline. That problem might be with the gear shifter lock out mechanism or switch, which may need to be adjusted or replaced. The whooo sound that you hear would be difficult to diagnose in this column but either way, your dealer knows your vehicle and I would not hesitate to take it back to them for a diagnosis. Dealers will sometimes extend warranty if need be, to those that have been good and loyal customers like yourself.
To my readers: Please indicate the town, city or village that you live in. Be advised that not all emails can be answered. Send your questions (including address) by email to: dennis.osullivan@cogeco.ca