Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Palmer, Alaska

My name is Dave Palmer & I own 1994 Ford Ranger. With a 4 cyl in it & I had the same prob with it starting that Ya'lll R having. And I found it 2 B the Module's ground. The Mod looked ok & didn't give any code into the computer. But I pulled the Mod off & checked the back & it was all caroded. I cleaned all of it off & cleaned the three mounting holes because they were also full of crud. Then I replaced the insulating jelly & reinstalled it & have had no problems since. I checked every idea from this sight first. Then went to a friend who owns & runs a repair shop here in North Adams Ma. He has a Computer Program He pays for that he types in a problem & it runs many different sens & it gives every option to try before you spend hundereds of dollers & spend hours looking. It's a real time saver. But if any of Ya'll want 2 try this idea of the Mod B my guest I've done it on 2 other Ranges & it's worked well. So good luck

But there is a big difference between toyota's case and Renault / Nissan's case. Nissan, like I said, have their share of recalls (even honda have some sizeable recalls too recently, especially their fit model), but the point is, they don't do what toyota does, that is, cover-up, buy time, minimize, to save money over lives, like their internal memo boast, save $100 million. And so on. Also Nissan's recall case is much smaller compared to toyota, and far less serious, not so life threatening. Nissan and Carlos Ghosn are in fact famous for being very open during the days when they are trying to turn around in 1999. And its not surprising because the way Carlos Ghosn does things is very different compared to the more traditionally closed, secretive Japanese CEOs. Looking at the scope of recalls, their nature, I believe now Nissan's quality is way better than toyota's and perhaps similar to honda's, considering the size and scope of Nissan's recalls is similar to honda's. toyota's scope and seriousness of their recalls should put their rankings way below Nissan and honda. Thats why I am deeply suspicious of those jd power / cr rankings that consistently put toyota near the top. Its like if a kid failed many of his / her tests, and also caught misbehaving often, but yet the school still put that kid's ranking at no.1 or even 3 of the whole class. That defies common sense right ? Somethings wrong man. Maybe the kid often buy gifts for the head teacher ? Significant is the fact that Nissan is now the top Japanese car manufacturer in China, where unlike Japan, people don't feel drawn to toyota because toyota is still 100% Japanese whereas Nissan is a mix of Japanese and non-Japanese. Moreover Nissan's board of directors appear to have a number of Americans. The Chinese, as some members here note, are not particularly fond of the Japanese. But the fact that Nissan have become the biggest Japanese car maker there today proves their quality must have been pretty good. Otherwise, the Chinese have no special emotional incentives to buy Japanese cars. There are American sounding names like Colin Dodge, Andrew Palmer on Nissan's executive committee and board of directors. I don't think these names are French. toyota ? 100% Japanese, honda, also 100% Japanese. I like companies who say they like diversity and mean it. Nissan's board composition proves its not just small talk : http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/DOCUMENT/PDF/AR/2009/AR09E_P26_Executive.pdf

�Can we compete with (first-tier luxury) brands Mercedes, Lexus and BMW without RWD? Yes,� Gary Robinson, assistant manager-Acura product planning, tells Ward�s Tuesday during an Acura media event. Robinson does not discuss the program�s cancellation, but new Honda CEO Takanobu Ito rocked the Acura faithful last week when he reportedly announced work had been halted on a RWD initiative. Analysts and industry watchers blame Acura�s prolonged near-luxury status on its lack of RWD platforms and V-8 engines. �It would be meaningless to emulate what other companies have been doing for more than five decades,� Ito reportedly said of nixing RWD and a V-8. Development of the latter had been championed by former Honda CEO Takeo Fukui. �Just when it seems like things were looking up for Acura�the news has been steadily getting worse for the past six months or so,� Jeff Palmer, founder of the enthusiast website Temple of VTEC, says in a posted response to Ito. �The cumulative effect of this series of blows is taking its toll on Acura's brand credibility amongst enthusiasts, which arguably drive a brand's overall image.� Robinson says Ito�s remarks were not defeatist in any way, just his way of saying Acura wants to carve out its own version of luxury instead of following competitors it interesting to note in your posts and in j2j, that the Acura brass never said that they were not a top tier luxury brand but CAN compete with them, meaning they are on the same level! again, I noticed that the OPINION based bias and statement that they are a near-luxury brand is thought about in the ENTHUSIAST COMMUNITY; meaning, the sport performance community doesn't think they are luxury because they don't have a race car focus like Infiniti and BMW do! NEWS FLASH, their is more to luxury then high sport performance engines and handling; if this is the judgment of what is and what is not top tier luxury then Acura, Lexus, Mercedes, and Audi would not be considered top-tier since their companies do not have a enthusiast focus/mission for their product line! God forbid if these four companies are more focused on building and producing much more well rounded in all category luxury vehicles! I mean they just dumped a 305HP V6 engine into the TL with AWD and manual option! that might not be able to beat a BMW 3-series on paper but it should at least be able to keep up with it ;) I'm still looking for confirmation directly from Honda and Acura that they canceled the RWD/V8! I've posted on several Acura owner blogs and will wait to find out more info before reporting back!

How about this then from Ward's Auto dated 7/29/2009. If you want to see it for yourself, you will need to purchase a subscription to login to their site. Acura Says Can Achieve Tier-1 Status Without RWD By Christie Schweinsberg WardsAuto.com, Jul 29, 2009 3:25 PM ROCHESTER, MI � Despite buzz from Japan that Honda Motor Co. Ltd. has shelved development of a rear-wheel-drive platform for its Acura luxury brand, a U.S. Acura official remains confident. �Can we compete with (first-tier luxury) brands Mercedes, Lexus and BMW without RWD? Yes,� Gary Robinson, assistant manager-Acura product planning, tells Ward�s Tuesday during an Acura media event. Robinson does not discuss the program�s cancellation, but new Honda CEO Takanobu Ito rocked the Acura faithful last week when he reportedly announced work had been halted on a RWD initiative. Analysts and industry watchers blame Acura�s prolonged near-luxury status on its lack of RWD platforms and V-8 engines. �It would be meaningless to emulate what other companies have been doing for more than five decades,� Ito reportedly said of nixing RWD and a V-8. Development of the latter had been championed by former Honda CEO Takeo Fukui. �Just when it seems like things were looking up for Acura�the news has been steadily getting worse for the past six months or so,� Jeff Palmer, founder of the enthusiast website Temple of VTEC, says in a posted response to Ito. �The cumulative effect of this series of blows is taking its toll on Acura's brand credibility amongst enthusiasts, which arguably drive a brand's overall image.� Robinson says Ito�s remarks were not defeatist in any way, just his way of saying Acura wants to carve out its own version of luxury instead of following competitors. Acura TSX V-6 variant signals brand strategy. �I don�t think Ito-san said anything that stood out in one way or another for us, because I think we�re all pretty clear on what the direction for Acura is,� Robinson says, adding Honda founder Soichiro Honda pioneered this sort of thinking. �His thing was about being a renegade and doing things his own way and trying to figure out what was the right thing for the market and the right thing for the customer� not just copying other people,� he says. �So, at Acura, that�s definitely something we�ve been thinking about a lot. What does it mean to make an Acura luxury car? You shouldn�t be like everybody else. We don�t want to be another Lexus; we don�t want to be another BMW; we don�t want to be another Mercedes. �We want somebody who�s shopping those cars to think of us in the same breath, and we want them to have a reason for buying our car that�s different.� Robinson is fuzzy about Acura�s brand direction but says boosting fuel economy is a major focus, noting any technology that improves fuel economy is �something we�re going to be looking at.� Those technologies include direct injection, cylinder deactivation, hybrid-electric vehicles and the possible migration of the 2.3L turbocharged 4-cyl. in the RDX small cross/utility vehicle to other Acura models. Expanding the engine�s use is �another one of those things we�re looking at as an option to improve fuel economy and another one that has the potential to offer both fuel economy and power,� Robinson says. Direct injection, while enabling more efficient combustion, has downsides such as added cost and noise, he says. A nearer-term fuel-economy solution is Acura�s first 6-speed automatic transmission, rolling out in the �10 MDX CUV, as well as the new �10 ZDX 4-door sports coupe, later this year. Compared with the �09 MDX, which mated a 3.7L V-6 engine to a 5-speed automatic transmission, the �10 MDX�s fuel-economy rating is expected to improve by 1 mpg (0.4 km/L) in both city and highway driving to 16-21 mpg (14.7-11.2 L/100 km) city/highway. The 6-speed transmission eventually will make its way into other Acura models, Robinson says. Near-term it also is set to power the ZDX. Despite Acura�s fuel-economy aspirations, don�t expect a diesel engine from the brand. Honda says the 4-cyl. i-DTEC turbodiesel mill, a version of which powers the European Honda Accord, sold as the TSX in the U.S., is delayed. Sources told Ward�s last fall the engine was destined for the TSX. Related Stories New Honda CEO: U.S. Recovery to Take Two Years or More Honda Cancels Acura Diesel Reports of Acura�s Death Greatly Exaggerated, Says Exec American Honda Motor Co. Inc. spokesman Chuck Schifsky says to get the diesel back on track isn�t a simple matter of picking up where development left off. Engineers would need to reevaluate diesel�s position in the U.S. market from the point in time they decide to reinsert the engine into the product pipeline. However, Acura will use its Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive system to enhance its luxury cachet. Already featured on the RL and MDX, the system debuts this fall on the TL sedan, Robinson says. �We like what it�s done for the brand. Our customers like it. It�s been a very good image thing for Acura,� he says. �The technology itself will continue to evolve.� Customer research shows AWD is becoming a must-have feature for luxury buyers, Robinson says, regardless of where they live. Other future strategies include introducing more variants of existing models. That already is taking place with the �10 TSX, going on sale soon. It benefits from Acura�s optional 3.5L V-6 engine, a step up from its standard-equipment 2.4L inline 4-cyl. �All of us now have to look at Civic-, Accord- and CR-V-type vehicles on the Honda side (and) that volume number,� says Schifsky. �I don�t know if we�re ever going to see those kinds of (high-volume) vehicles crop up again.� �Niching the niche of a niche� is any auto maker�s best hope for volume growth and expansion of its lineup, he adds. �We�re in as good a position as anybody to capitalize on that (strategy).� Now back to our regularly scheduled topic. ;)

Sure, it can be. After a couple months of routine "slick" around here, I have been known to take the occasional run to Palmer to visit family during a warm spell just to have a bit of fun on the Parks (Hwy). :D It's all relative. We used to get freezing rain in eastern Oregon that would make the road so slick you could literally push a car sideways while standing off on the graveled shoulder with the car stopped on the asphalt. I have never seen it get that slick here - not once in fifteen years. Of course, down there, the stuff would be melted off by mid-morning the next day. So very few drivers were equipped to deal with it that, for the most part, the roads were abandoned... the holy grail of inclement-weather driving!