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    Salvage title question

    I briefly considered buying a $600 car that was considered a total loss by the current owner's insurance company and which he bought back from them. The damage was almost entirely cosmetic (dents on some panels, plus a large dent on the driver's door which can now only be opened from the...
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    Got into my first accident last night, hooray

    tl;dr Careless driver hits my car (caught on dashcam). Although I anticipated a nightmare, her insurance pays for the repair without any argument. I get my repaired car back looking better than when I first got it. All is well with the world. I knew it would happen sooner or later. A girl...
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    Bodywork estimate

    My car had some collision repair at some point before I owned it, and the passenger doors and front fender were repainted. The paint doesn't even come close to matching the original color, which is a dark green; it is much more of a blue color. The picture below shows it pretty well: I'm sure...
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    iPad 2 won't boot even after DFU restore

    I have an iPad 2 (model A1397) which was proclaimed to be dead/unfixable by an Apple store (according to the customer). It shows the low battery icon (large battery with three small red lines) and then will eventually jump to the Apple logo for a while, before switching back to the battery...
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    Couple of random questions

    Two things that just popped into my mind: -I recently replaced all pads and rotors and noticed that the slider pins had very little or no grease on them. What sort of grease/lubricant is recommended and where should I buy it? -I'm planning on buying new sway bar links (Moog K5345s) which have...
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    Automatic gear selector hard to move

    2005 Acura MDX, 86K miles. A few days ago, the gear shift started feeling a bit weird - it doesn't click into place like it used to and has a fair bit of resistance. The car is being brought to the dealer tomorrow for some recalls, and I want to know if it's safe to actually drive the car to...
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    New brake pad chipped out of box

    I ordered a set of Akebono pads from Amazon, which came a few days ago. I didn't open the box until today, and saw that one of the pads had a pretty decent chunk taken out of it - the broken piece is in the box. Is it worth returning these for new ones or will they work OK? The chip is about...
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    Help with power steering fluid change

    Last night, I went to change the PS fluid, so I pumped everything out of the reservoir, then undid the hoses from the reservoir and pulled some more out of there. Put it back together, filled it up, and when I started the car to bleed the system, I couldn't turn the wheel (no power assistance at...
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    Changing keyboard layout

    I have a Motorola bluetooth keyboard with a UK layout, which is slightly different to the US layout that I'm used to. It's mostly the same, but a few of the keys, especially the symbols to the right of the letter rows, are all in different places and when I'm typing, I often hit the wrong keys...
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    Help needed with HID ballast

    At some point before I owned the car, the driver's side headlight wiring was hacked to accommodate a cheap aftermarket ballast. I am replacing crappy 6000K bulbs with a pair of 4300K Osrams, and the passenger's side works just fine (original ballast). However, I can't get the driver's side to...
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    Any idea what this noise is?

    http://youtu.be/aZJp0mQlw-A After starting the engine, I hear a chirping noise that changes along with RPM, as in the video above. It is annoying and hopefully nothing too serious. I will likely need to have the alternator replaced because I think it's causing a parasitic drain, and the...
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    My brother needs a new Verizon phone

    He has an original Droid which is now in dire need of replacement. He doesn't need the latest and greatest - he's using the $30 Page Plus plan so no iPhones or LTE phones. I'm looking for something around $200 with good battery life and a good stock ROM (as stable and bloatware-free as...
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    Starter/alternator draining my battery?

    When I bought my car, the previous owner said it had a drain that would kill the battery within five hours. As soon as I got it, I found a small 90mA draw, pulled out the aftermarket bluetooth system and the draw was back to the expected 10mA. After a few weeks, the battery was holding its...
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    Learning to drive manual/should I buy this car?

    A while ago that I decided I wanted to learn to drive a manual, and since no one I know has such a car, I figured it was time to buy my own. I want something with four doors and a four cylinder engine for ~$3500 (no strict budget but around there), and preferably something more exciting than a...
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    Looking for a very basic Linux distro

    I want to switch my desktop over from Win7 to Linux and I'm looking for something that looks like an older Ubuntu version (without the horrible new user interface) and preferably without the tons of unnecessary programs that come preinstalled. I could just download a few-year-old version of...
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    T-Mobile phones with good reception

    I'm using the $30 prepaid 5GB plan with a BlackBerry 9700, and I'm liking it except that I can't get a signal in my house...I blame the phone because in my store today, I was sitting down at my desk with full signal strength, put the phone down on my knee & the phone said "searching for...
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    What's the big deal with FlexView ThinkPads??

    A few weeks ago I got a ThinkPad T42p and got it running again (had been sitting for a few years with no hard drive). I haven't used it much but aside from the high resolution (1600x1200, which is great) what other benefits am I supposed to notice from the IPS display? I've read plenty online...
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    Proper voltage for X6

    I put in an X6 1090T this weekend and it works great but I noticed the temps seemed a bit high (up to 57C under load with stock cooler). It was running at 1.45v according to core temp and overdrive, so I was able to bump it down to about 1.35 using overdrive and it seems OK running F@H. 1.25 was...
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    I need a router recommendation

    Seems like Black Friday has piqued my interest for upgrading our home router. Right now we're using the basic Actiontec MI424WR FiOS router (two years old now) has been solid and performed brilliantly but it's hobbled with wireless G and 100Mbit ethernet, and I'm befuddled that I can't get wired...