I've seen FAR too many questions being asked on this forum by owners who want ideas of what may be wrong with their cars. There are many of us on this board who are willing and able to come to their assistance. However, many of us are becoming more and more reluctant to reply to these questions because our answer suddenly become meaningless in the face of the "new disclosures".
BUT, how often have we seen a simple question asked, WITH NO OTHER BACK UP INFORMATION? We who give the answers make certain assumptions (like the car is otherwise stock?).
It isn't till we get near the bottom of the first page of the thread and sometimes the second page or on a subsequent post, that we see statements like:
"Oh, BTW, I have a VAFC".
"And now it seems that the S/C belt is a bit loose".
"Those aftermarket springs seem to be pitted."
"I have a CAI".
"I had to ask the mechanic what torque he used to put the wheel back on with".
DID IT NOT OCCUR TO YOU THAT JUST MAYBE, THESE LITTLE TIDBITS OF INFORMATION MIGHT HAVE BEEN PERTINENT TO YOUR ORIGINAL PROBLEM?
PLEASE! IF YOU EXPECT A CREDIBLE REPLY TO YOUR QUESTION, TELL US ALL THE DETAILS OF YOUR CAR!

Oh, and ya gotta love this one:
"I have this noise. Can anyone tell me what's wrong with my car?"

 

My back end keeps making this loud, booming noise...can you tell me what's wrong?

 

<37 posts later>

Oh, I forgot to mention it usually (but not always) happens when I eat something spicy...

 

 

 

Garbage in = Garbage out

 

This is SO true. Unfortunately, many question askers don't realize this and I hate to think that my suggestions are leading people astray.

 

Kudos for continuing to try and help. UTH has always been my favorite forum, but I find myself visiting less lately. Time for some new rules and FAQ?

UL

 

I think a FAQ would help significantly (if we can get a lot of the common problems listed), but I'll still see a lot of "See the FAQ!" posts in the future...at least that will cut down on the thread lengths.

 

I try to move out as many thread that don't belong in this forum as possible. Some fall into a grey area. I can't find/read every thread but if you think something doesn't belong just let me know I have no problems moving it out.