The Car Forum!

Hi all, I hope that you’ve all had a good week.  I’ve had a good one.  It’s time for that monthly Q&A for cars.  Here we go.

Forum user Sherry has two questions.  We’ll go one at a time.

1. “What is a Johnson rod and what do I do if Zayz tells me it is dragging?”  First of all, there is NO such thing as a Johnson Rod!  Good try, Zayz!  Ignore him – you have nothing to worry about unless your drive shaft is dragging.  In that case, you won’t be going anywhere!
2. “Okay, seriously.  What is wrong with your transmission when your back wheels go forward?”  There are many things that could cause this.  One likely possibility is that it may be your differential, not your transmission.  The differential is what puts the power down to the ground.  Bring this up to your mechanic if this happens.  If you have a manual transmission in your car, it could be that you need a new clutch.  If it is, in fact, your transmission, it’s most likely you’ve stripped the gears, so the car can’t go forwards.

Forum user Zayzee has two questions here.  I’m sensing a theme here…

1. “What is the total cost in dollars to build a Humvee, ship it to Iraq, watch it fall into the hands of ISIS, then send a plane to bomb and destroy it?  I assume that a question re a Humvee falls within your guidelines of being a car related question.”  I guess it does, technically.  HUMMER stopped making the HUMVEE back in 2010 when GM killed the brand.  HUMVEEs were made by AM General, an also-defunct company.  The cost of an unarmored HUMVEE was $65,000, and the price of an armored HUMVEE was $140,000.  I don’t know the exact price of how much it would cost to send one to Iraq, but I’m guessing it’s in the vicinity of $10,000 or so.  Sending a plane with a bomb to destroy it is ridiculously expensive.  Most bombs designed for that kind of damage are about $100,000 each, and the cost to fly a plane/drone to find and drop the bomb is probably close to, if not $100,000 as well.
2. “What are the two most popular car colors of 2014…first and second?”  Well, Zayzee, 2014 isn’t up yet, but so far it seems that black and white are.

Forum user Papa has a good question:  “Now that the Lincoln Town Car is discontinued, what is the most popular car used for Livery?”  There are a couple of popular vehicles for livery service now.  The Cadillac XTS, Lincoln MKS, Lincoln MKT, Lexus GS, and the Chevrolet Suburban round out the top 5.  Cadillac came out with the XTS right about the same time the Lincoln Town Car went out of production, so many livery services use the XTS for it’s fuel economy, space, and gadgetry.  The Lincoln MKT is good for it’s generous space, just like the Suburban.

Rounding this good salvo of reader questions is a tricky one from forum user Grandma.  She wants to know, “If someone shoots your car with invisible ink, what is the best way to get it off?”  Wow, that’s a tricky question.  I really don’t know the answer to that.  I’d call a paint/body shop and see what they recommend.  I’m guessing you’ll have to take it in and let them do their magic.  I’ve never heard of that before, and I couldn’t find anything on any car forums out in the vast expanses of the internet.  Sorry that I couldn’t help with that question.

I hope you have a nice weekend!