Bobby MSME

Memo to R I appreciate your postings here, because they are full of knowledge and facts. Please keep posting.

You are right on all points., I did DIY oil changes from age 30 when I first owned a home with garage until age 71 when I moved into a condo in Florida with no garage! One of the reasons I did it myself because of couple of bad experiences. One time the oil change shop messed up threads of the inlet port where the oil drain plug fits. The person did not bother to do a few turns by hand before using power wrench, is what I am guessing. They had to rebore the opening and thread it and use an oversize plug. Another time at another quick oil change shop they installed wrong oil filter! As I am dri

Your oil change costs only $30 because you are doing all the labor. The shop has to buy the oil, stock the oil, same with filter. Then they have to do the oil change, and dispose off the used oil & filter. My dealer sends me coupons for full synthetic oil change for $50+tax. For an old fart like me, it is just not worth it to do it myself. I hate getting under the jacked up car. And getting rid of the used oil is another trip somewhere (not legal to dump it in sewer or in garbage pickup).

My 2017 Spark LS has a recall notice in effect to update software. You may want to get that done if not already. My car has no quirks above 20 mph, so I am thinking to bypass this recall which is safety related. I am already the world's safest driver (hahaha my wife does not agree) having had zero accidents in 59 years of driving.

Sounds like a computer/software malfunction... With all the computers and sensors on the car, there are many strange issues. In the old days something like what happened to your 2017 Spark would never happen. I recall one incident when my 7 year old 1957 dodge would not start in the parking lot at work at quitting time. It was cranking alright, but engine would not start. At that time I did not know jack about cars. One of my colleagues opened the distributor cap, and saw that the points were almost shut close. He bent them slightly with pliers and the car st

Good advice! In the old days before internet, and when I was a young man without much money, I bought only cheap used cars usually 7+ years old. My experience with those cars was constant minor problems. So I gave up buying used cars and since 1964 Corvair Monza I bought only new cars. That has worked out very well. I seldom need car repairs and get 7-10 years of trouble free service. The 1964 Corvair was a lemon but all cars since then have been great. Corvair had air cooled engine with a V-belt which twisted 90 degrees going from pulley to pulley. Very bad design! The belt broke on my new ca

I measure tire pressure when car is sitting in shade outside. So yes, in winters I have to add more air than in summers. Tire bursts are caused mostly due to under-inflation, not over-inflation. That is because under-inflation causes tire walls to flex more back and forth and that weakens the tire. Of course older tires will burst more often than newer because of fatigue and wear.

To get better gas mileage: 1. Inflate tires 2-3 psi higher than recommended (ride will be slightly harsher, but not noticeably) 2. Install correct oil grade recommended in user's manual (I think it is 5-30W) I get oil changes at dealer who emails me coupons for full synthetic oil change for $49.95 so I have not memorized recommended grade of oil. 3. Most important, anticipate stops coming ahead and coast there. Do not drive like my ex who is a digital driver meaning her foot is either on gas pedal or break pedal, and never off of both pedals, 4. Do not stomp on g

I noticed this right away in my new 2017 LS with CVT of course. My guess is it is a quirk in the software which controls CVT actions. The software has to correlate several inputs from sensors and gets confused. I learned to not press gas pedal down hard when car is moving forward at slow speed in cruising mode (not pressing gas pedal) and I want to accelerate from that situation. If I press the gas pedal gradually, instead of stomping on it, everything works fine. This quirk does not appear when car is moving above 25 mph.

What year is your latest Spark? I have not noticed any wear on the steering wheel in my 2017 Spark LS. Although a good steering wheel cover is always good idea. The last one was on my 2007 Pontiac G5 and I took my time to do it properly, and it was all suede leather and turned out well.

Short answer is NO. But your wallet will feel a bit lighter. Now if you increased compression in the cylinders, it could help reduce knocking & pinging.

Dealers hide the Sparks in the back parking lots. Anyways that is where I found my new Spark 2017 CVT. Dealers don't like selling a low profit car to a customer who otherwise would buy a higher profit car. I have driven so many new cars in my almost 80 years of life, but except for the 1964 Cadillac Eldorado coupe, this little Spark is more fun to drive. It has taught steering, it is peppy, can park in ridiculously small spaces, I can push it single handedly on flat surface (not needed so far except to move around in my garage) gas mileage is best I ever had, it has less rattles an

I installed Android Auto on my Motorola phone, and soon after my phone started acting up. I removed Android Auto from phone, rebooted phone, and not acting up since then. Merely a coincidence? Could be. Phone was losing sound, so could not hear conversations and recipients could not hear me.

About what I usually do in my 2017 Spark LS CVT. 70 miles round trip to Jacksonville, FL for some Indian food which is not available in my town. Cross country trips are much better in our Chevy HHR. We did 7000 miles in it from Florida to Wash state, then Sun City in AZ and back to Florida. Passed through majority of American states. The worst roads and rest stations were in Illinois.

Are you sure those ignition coils have really failed, or is it the repair shop replacing them as easy fix for misfire? If compression in cyl #2 is up to snuff, then time to check voltage being delivered to that cylinder's ignition coil.

So if you had a trunk release button and you activate it, you still have to get out of the car to take things out or put things in the trunk, right?

Amazing that the cheapest car on the market can actually last past 100k miles. I think poster "oldgearhead" has very high miles on his Spark, but he is highly skilled on car issues, so his car does not count

I have been able to unlock drivers side door lock using the Chevy App, and I am NOT On-Star subscriber.

Pretty much what MrTozzi said. Another option worth looking at would be 2 parallel red stripes on black hood about 2.5" wide each, and 2 parallel black stripes on both sides from wheel well to wheel well.

First car: 1952 Buick Super with a straight 8 Engine! All dates always said "how good the car rides"! I learned to drive on it (8 year old car when I bought it for $100) and it was built like a tank. I was a poor college student in that era and had no $$ to replace the 8 year old battery. If it did not start on first crank, the battery was dead already. But all I needed to do was have a friend push it down the hill from my dorm in Iowa city. Pop the clutch and there she went! It was 5 mpg in city but gas was 19 cents/gallon in Iowa city gas wars so no problem. Driving from Iowa city to Chicago

Manual tranny? I hope you don't drive in traffic a lot. But you are going to be pleasantly surprised how responsive and peppy the Spark is.

I can say fwith certainty, that if it becomes necessary to remove engine & CVT out of the car, I will NOT attempt it! Actually I like my 2017 CVT so much after driving it for 2.5 years, I would not be mad if it started acting up, because I would love to buy another brand new 2020 or later Spark for replacement.

Change tranny oil if your car has undergone SEVERE OPERATING conditions. I would guess at around 36k miles. What is severe operating conditions? These are MY DEFINITIONs: A. lots of stop and go driving in heavy traffic on regular basis B. Driving on steep hilly roads routinely C. Carrying heavy loads or trailers frequently D. If you or other drivers drive in digital mode (foot is always pressing either gas or break pedals) (coasting to oncoming red light is very good for your car & pocket book In absence of above conditions,

My 2017 SPark LS is powered adequately by the bigger engine than some previous years. So yes, these newer Sparks seem to handle highway speeds with ease and seem better suited for the CVT. After 2-1/2 years my Spark sprints out rapidly from standing start.

I am retired with everything (restaurants, stores, medical etc)is within 5 miles from my house, so my car records very low miles. Now 2 years and 4 months old, my Spark 2016 had only 2 oil changes so far. Last one in December 2018 with full synthetic.. Oil looks clear, with no burned smell, and is at full level on the dip-stick. Of course I live in warm climate of Florida, so temps seldom dip below 40F. The car is running like the day I bought it new.