Archive for the 'Auto' Category

I was at the Auto Show today in Toronto, it was great. I took lots of photos, you can see them all here.

More photos here

One of the biggest scams in the automotive/mechanic industry is the check engine light — this annoying disease that pops up and doesn’t care to ever leave your sight. A lot of the time, the light comes on because of some intermittent or rare problem, like a cylinder misfiring when your car was starting. So what’s the typical scenario: The light comes on, you go to your mechanic, he/she reads the code ($80), and then tell you “it could be anything, lets do a tune-up” ($150) — before you know it their suggesting new oil caps ($20) and timing belts ($$$).

I drive a 97 Integra, and every so often my check engine light comes on. It happens rarely, when I haven’t driven in a couple days, and I start the car without giving it any gas. Just after the car turns on, I feel a slight, baby rumble – cylinder misfired – check engine light comes on. The first time it happened, I went to the mechanic and they took $80 to read the code – crooks.

So now the real question, how do you shut it off? Most people think disconnecting the battery doesn’t work, and their right. It appears the cars computer system has some time delayed reset. Disconnect the positive terminal of the battery only, wait 10-15 minutes, re-connect and the check engine light should be off.

Most new cars and after-market decks give you the option of attaching an auxiliary device (Line In). In most cases people connect a CD changer, or something else along those lines.

I wanted to connect my Nano to my car, but definitely did not want to pay for an external device, like the Alpine iPod interface. Since my deck gave me the ability to attach a line in, I went to The Source and purchased a shielded Y-Adapter, which is nothing more than a two phono plug (RCA) to stereo plug converter ($15 CAD). So now, I’d connect the iPod using the headphone jack.

You can even be creative in were you put the iPod, here are a few pics:

Note: I needed to buy an extra JVC adapter which was specific to JVC decks ($20 USD via eBay). With the above quick fix, you would need to change songs using your iPod. Obviously since its just a headphone jack connecting to the iPod, you can connect any stereo ouput device (other MP3 players, CD Player, etc.)