I've had success at the Pick-n-Pull on 99 in Lynwood. I've picked up small parts for my '93 Subaru there on multiple occasions (she's not pretty, but still going strong!)
They'll ask you the make and model you're after and tell you where you can find them in the lot. Then you can indeed take your toolbox and scour the whole lot. Prices were cheap for mirrors, visors, shift knobs and headlight stuff - bulbs, wiring and mounting rigs. I always got out of there for less than $20 and I think they charge you a buck to enter. I can't tell you about Jeeps as I've never looked for them.
There's also a hot dog shop attached to the entrance (called "Junkyard Dogs," of course) that's also cheap and tasty.

Used auto parts are all but impossible to find, as far as I know, in King County these days. The Brightwater Sewage Treatment Plant in Woodinville used to be a sprawling salvage yard called Fitz's, that shut down suddenly about a decade ago.

I was told, and this may just be urban myth, but I heard it a number of times, that the owners of several local car dealers got together and bought Fitz's to shut it down and eliminate competition.

Last time I even tried to get parts for an old domestic rig in the greater Seattle area I went to Whitfield's off Highway 9 in Snohomish. That was easily a dozen years ago. A quick google search makes it look like they may not be in business anymore, but I drove by a month ago and there were still plenty of cars out there. Unsure if they are just rusting in the rain, or still part of an active salvage lot.

I do know that Gundies way up in Whatcom County is still going strong, and has just about everything you could ever want, but it's a hell of a drive from Seattle. They are the only functioning wrecking yard I know of still in operation in the greater Puget Sound area. http://www.gundies.com/ Their website says that they offer free delivery to Seattle and Portland.

Also, just FYI, and you may know this, the days of taking your toolbox and "browsing" the wrecking yard are long gone. F***ing lawyers ruined it. They can look up and check if they have a specific part, and if they do, they'll pull it for you, but I don't know any commercial yard that still lets you go out onto the lot.

The only exception to this that I've ever encountered is Lummi Auto Recyclers, out on the Lummi Reservation in Whatcom County. This place isn't so much a wrecking yard as it is a few acres of broken down cars in the grass and bushes. There, you still do take your tools and go pick. You then go to the trailer at the front of the property and haggle with the friendly folks who run the place. It's like Mexico, it's kind of expected that you'll haggle on the price. I went out there three years ago for a truck part, they said $30, I said $10, we settled on $20.

They don't have a website, just a phone number: (360) 758-2061 and the address is 2544 Cagey Road, Bellingham. Also, I don't know how familiar you are with Native American culture, but they operate on "Indian Time." They're open when they're open, they're shut when they're shut. Call before you go.

Also, if you can't find it locally, try Ebay Motors. I found an impossible to find rag joint for my 73 Ford in New Jersey on ebay motors.

Sorry I don't have any King County resources for you. Whatcom County is the only place I know of that has any of this stuff left. You would think there might be something in Pierce County, but I'm not as familiar with that neck of the woods. Perhaps somebody else here on Qland knows of a Seattle-area resource that I don't. Otherwise, you might plan a trip North.

Good luck.

Yes. This also means that when you put this "car" (van? I have no idea what to call a Cube) on the dynamometer, it's gonna reveal @3% less torque and hp than another Cube not made for the Cali market.

I'm not sure either makes a huge difference (EPA standards aren't as tough, but they're close and are increasing with time), but if it makes you happy, then that's really what matters...seriously...buying a car is a big deal and little things like this can be the difference between loving and hating the thing.

It depends on how messed up the side of the car is and how good you want it look when you're done. "Someone I know" hit a birch tree backing out of a driveway in Kirkland and completely ripped the mirror off the side of a Ford Taurus, taking large chunks of the side of the door with it. It was mangled super bad and cost several hundred dollars to fix. Really that car should have been designed to let the mirror break away with less damage, but I digress.

On the other hand, you can do it yourself for cheap if you don't care what it looks like. Until recently, I owned a piece of shit 1973 Ford pickup. It was parked on the street in front of my house one day some asshole drove by and knocked the driver's side mirror off. For the police report I got an estimate from a local shop of $175, that was on the high end, but the mechanic ended up having a spare mirror lying around that he sold me for $20. I drilled a new set of pilot holes in the door and bolted it on. It looked like shit, but it was fixed and street legal for $20.

Also, this is probably covered by insurance if you carry comprehensive. If not, Kirkland Auto Body does great work and offers good prices for cash customers. I've taken several cars to them and the price has always been reasonable and the repairs perfect. 639 9th Avenue, Kirkland, WA 98033 / (425) 822-8030 http://bit.ly/JkvCWT

In many cars it closes off the outside air vents, so the cabin air is recirculated through the air conditioner. If it's 100F outside, you can cool the interior of a hot car more quickly if you start with air that's already been cooled a bit.

What's the bike?

Craigslist is the go to place for local bike sales.

I think this means higher fan setting and therefore, faster cooling of the passenger compartment.

I recently sold my 73 F-350 after it caught on fire. I decided I'd had enough. But, in the several years I owned it, the guys at "Ford Truck Enthusiasts" http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/index.php were super helpful.

At one point I had to track down an obscure part called a rag joint to rebuild the steering column, they helped me find it on ebay in New Jersey and gave advice on how to install it.

Also, you probably already know this, but it's important to put a bio kit on the rig before you start running biodiesel. The bio eats away small hoses and seals, so you need to replace them with bio-proof materials before you run anything other than standard #2 petro diesel. My uncle took his Benz to a good shop in Ballard who did this, I can ask him the name of the place if you want.

Go to the high school parking lot on the weekend, when it is deserted, and have them practice acceleration, braking, turning, parking, and just getting the general feel of a car, about the size they are likely to drive and operate.

You can pick up orange cones (either above board at Odd Lotts/Bigg Lotts or through other underhanded means) and set up a few narrow passes to either drive through or to parallel park inside after they become more confident.

Don't overload them with too much experience the first time. But don't let them speed nor operate around any other vehicles. You're not an official drivers training officer and so, you legally have no defense if there's an accident.

Also, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BUYING 3-5 YELLOW MAGNETIC SIGNS "NEW DRIVER" FOR YOUR CAR. See my other comment elsewhere in this thread. HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

A large parking lot with no obstructions will have limited value, except in very initial aspects of learning to set the vehicle up for driving (seat and mirrors, etc.) and beginning exploration in forward and backward motion. The real learning comes in learning to stay within a lane and having a sense of the vehicle in space (laterally in the lane and speed) as you train your gaze at distance while moving.

I tend to believe that parents do not make the best instructors of their own children in driving skills. Don't take that the wrong way. It's just that there is a very complex relationship between parent and child and it can really get in the way of imparting knowledge in an unemotional manner when learning this important a skill. If driver's education is not available through the school system I would highly recommend finding a driving school that has good reputation. After skills has been acquired you probably could accompany in a back seat drive-along so you can see your child's ability. Being aware of their developed skills would then make you a better adult chaperone when they take to real roads with you in the front seat beside them.

If you disable it make sure you get all cords that go to the battery. Otherwise you can continue to drain power even though Its not arming. Usually doesn't become a major issue unless you're not driving for a while and your car won't start

I'll be the one person in favor of keeping the alarm, solely based on my own experience.

My 1996 Ford Explorer was broken into once. In broad daylight. In my driveway. When I was home. In LAKE FOREST PARK. They actually managed to pop out the tempered glass of a side back window without breaking it. I was impressed.

The car alarm was the only thing that stopped them. I heard it and ran outside, and they were just peeling out in a getaway car.

Just another anecdote for your stack.

Take a look at a list of the cars most frequently stolen and their model date.

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=434545

You will be surprised what is stolen and how the top cars account for the majority of thefts, mostly due to the high resale value of parts.

For the age and model of cars you have, your most likely crook is an underage teen who snatches it for joyriding. As long as your locks are working, if he can't get in, he'll just try the next beat up car on your block.

If you disable your car alarm, I'll take my metal windchimes down! I hate, loathe, and despise car alarms and it always seems to me that someone locks or unlocks their car and makes that horrible loud squeek right when I'm walking by it...they can't really be doing that on purpose just to see me jump, can they?

I had what I thought was a high end alarm system installed in my truck back when it was fairly new. Years later, I was not using it very much and had stopped carrying the keyfob device to control it. Then one day I left my lights on when I parked the vehicle. When I had to jump the truck to get it started the alarm started going off. Somehow in the the gradual power down process and jumpstart the alarm had become activated. Nothing I could do would shut it up and I ended up cutting the alarm siren wires. Then the anti-start circuitry kicked in and kept me from keeping the engine running.

As the company that had put it in was no longer in business, I called another local very well-known car extras business that installs alarms and described my dilemma (alarm manufacturer, etc.). Here I was with my vehicle parked in front of an elementary school at end of day and totally screwed. I eventually got passed to an installer who said, "If they put it in according to the manufacturer's guidelines you should do this... "
I followed the directions as given and after finding a few wires and cutting them, VIOLA, the vehicle could be started and run without problem.

My immediate thought was, "WHAT????, THE CROOKS DON'T KNOW THIS?"
Yeah, right.

When I had the dealer do some under dash and other work on the electrical system (fixing an unrelated problem) I had the guy find and cut out the entire system so it never gave me any other trouble.

Since you say it's a 2001 Outback, you're not worried about your neighborhood, and a main concern is in at trailheads where help is very unlikely to be summoned (they turn off automatically after a few minutes...), I'd definitely lean towards disabling it.

Most car alarms strike me as a very bad hassle:reward ratio. Of course, if you're forced to park your nice car on the street and you know there are pretty consistently car prowls in the area and it's close enough to your house (or work) that you may actually hear it, maybe the ratio is better. But this doesn't sound like your situation.

As someone who has lived and worked downtown for about 10 years I have probably seen hundreds (thousands?) of car alarms go off. Less than 1% of the time there is an actual human being fidgeting with the car. And out of these rare instances, at no point have I ever thought to call the police (nor have I seen anyone else intervene in any way).

Usually my thought is more like, "Wow, that car alarm sucks, sucks to be that guy," because it is probably someone who just accidentally set it off. Since it is so common and (for me) 100% of the time a non-event, I'd say your chances of getting help summoned downtown are about the same as at the trailheads.

My Toyota claims to have an alarm but I've never set it off. I'm told if someone breaks any glass or yanks on a door handle really hard or tries to use a slim jim on it, some alarm will go off. There is a blinking red light on the inside when it's parked so yay? I definitely wouldn't hear it at home and probably wouldn't hear it at work, but it's there -- it was part of the "safety and security" option package that included the backup camera (best thing ever). I guess I like my alarm but I am not 100% sure it exists, which is probably part of why I like it.

The only time my car has ever been broken into I had accidentally left it unlocked in my locked apartment garage. They stole my backpack, but were nice enough to leave my textbooks and notebooks. I park downtown all the time, but usually in garages. I never leave anything laying out in my car so it looks 100% empty to anyone walking by.

Anecdotes you say? One day in Belltown I saw 2 cars parallel parked on the street very close to each others' bumpers sit there setting each car's alarm off over and over. They didn't have the same timer before automatically turning off and re-arming so they worked themselves into an infinite loop. After about 20 minutes some guy bursted out of the coffee shop they were parked in front of wearing an apron, ninja kicked the hood of the front one open, and yanked the power off the battery all in one swift motion that took about 3 seconds total. He left the hood open and walked back into the coffee shop, some people on the street and a couple people on balconies cheered him.

I put almost anything into my 86 Toyota pickup and used to use used motorcycle oil on a dodge van I had. 300k miles so far. But the 22R motor is a miracle of Japanese engineering.

You probably don't need to change your oil more than every 5K miles and good filters last over 10K IME. The 3500 mile thing is more about jiffy lube selling its service rather than good mechanical protocol. City fleet (and many other fleet) vehicles are often only changed at 5-7K miles. I’ve heard of 10K intervals and longer on newer vehicles.

Do you have an owner's manual? The manufacturer's recommendations are a good guideline but even those tend to err on the side of more maintenance rather than less.

I feel very differently about my motorcycles and for those I use specific oils and change them based on very different schedules since they usually rev higher and run hotter, are older and need more of the old timey additives which are not in modern oils and, in general, are far more precious to me than any car.

I change my oil at the beginning of the season, but that's because my bike is 40 and I don't race it. Other stuff that I do is: grease the zerks on its frame and lube the chain once a season, check the oil (it's old, it burns and leaks, so I check it at least once a week), check the tires (again, once a week), check the brake pads once at the beginning and end of the season, check chain tension when I remember. I wash my air filter socks when they need it, which is wholly dependent on how much and where I've been riding. It's pretty much like a car, except it's much easier to see all the pieces.

Bikes are more fuel efficient in that you can get more miles per gallon and thus release less C02, but they release more hydrocarbons, CO, and nitrogen oxides than cars because the engines aren't as efficient, even with catalytic converters. Mythbusters investigated this, and are actually publishing a paper about it. Here's a summary: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/09/mythbusters-motorcycle-emissions.html They declare the bike vs. car thing at best a wash.

Bikes are a hell of a lot of fun, though.

I own or ahve owned at least 20 motorcycles. currently own two with one on the way.

Maintenance sechedules vary. What is the bike? Year, model, displacement is handy. 2 stroke or 4 stroke?

Bikes tend to get better mileage but many also tend to put out more emissions than a 72 valiant. 2 strokes are flat out eco-killers. Modern fuel infected bikes are better.

Big ass and older bikes around 1000cc should be in the vacinity of 40mpg and many newer bikes around 500cc or smaller can get 60mpg or better.

I put tends of thousands of miles on my bikes every year (well, not this year) and change oil regularly using synth and synth blends for some bikes and dino for others. I rearely go more than 3K miles and on older bikes like Thunderbolts and Eldorados for instance you may want to change the oil every 1000 miles (a bit extreme but these bikes are special).

There's plenty of regular maintenance to do on a motorcycle, much like with a car. One big difference if you have a chain driven motorcycle is to keep your drive train maintained through periodic inspection, lubing, adjusting, and replacing wear parts. Of course the owner's manual will have a comprehensive overview of the maintenance schedule. Here's an example from a 2012 Kawasaki Ninja (pdf document).  This particular bike recommends changing oil once a year or once every 7500 miles once it is broken in, whichever comes first.  I'd think if you were changing your oil yearly that you'd want to do so before the riding season begins, though I'd be interested to hear what other folks do.

In my experience, my 250 cc motorcycle gets about 60 mpg in regular city riding.  For a single occupancy vehicle, this is certainly more efficient than a small car and competitive with the best hybrid cars.  Bigger motorcycles get lower gas mileage, but they still tend to be comparable to small cars.  As a rider, it is certainly my opinion that more of us should be considering motorycles over cars for single occupancy vehicles, though I may be a bit biased.

You'll be fine, dump it in. Oil is oil. The only real concern is if you have pre-existing oil leaks and run a thinner oil than usual (the 5w20) you may see a little of that 5w20 leak out. It's not gonna be a big deal, just check that dipstick and keep it full.

Git er dun

Here are a few things off the top of my head. Hopefully others can fill in the rest:

1) Get the license plate number, and call your local Police Department's NON-EMERGENCY phone number. Call them and say this: "Hello, this is NOT AN EMERGENCY. I am buying a vehicle and I would like you to run the plate to make sure it has not been reported stolen please." They will be happy you checked with them. If you buy a stolen car, you're up a creek, so check first. Best to do this in advance or in private, so you don't rub the seller the wrong way.

2) Yes, the State of Washington will charge tax. I believe you pay this at the time of registration/title transfer.

3) If you are paying cash, meet in the lobby of a bank. Preferably your bank, but the seller's bank is better than nothing. Ask the seller if they are willing to take a cashier's check. It's up to them.

4) Ask for the VIN and run a carfax check on it. Avoid buying vehicles that have any accidents on the record, and avoid older vehicles that have spent any significant portion of their life in a snowy city that salts the roads. Salt kills cars. I would never buy a car from New England, Minnesota, Denver or Canada. A car from Seattle or a similar city that rarely salts roads is better.

5) The willingness of a private party seller to hold the car while you gather your liquid assets will vary. The general expectation is that "it's not a deal, until it's a deal." If you agree to buy the car for X dollars in five days, be prepared for the fact that if the seller gets an offer equal to or greater than X tomorrow, they will probably sell the car to the person who shows up first with the cash.

6) Haggling etiquette. It is almost expected that a little bit of haggling will go on, but don't be a dick about it. If the car is as-advertised, you should pay within a few hundred of what the ad said. Let's say the ad says the car is in good condition and is for sale for $11,500. You show up and see that it is in good condition, but there's a coffee stain on the back seat. You can offer $11,250 or maybe even $11,100. Don't show up and offer $9000. That's a dick move. On the flip side, if the ad says the car is in mint condition, and you show up and see it's got shitty tires and peeling paint, go ahead and offer something really low. But the bottom line is that if the car is generally in the advertised condition, don't try and undercut the asked for price by more than 5-10%.

7) Run it through Kelly Blue Book, but don't rely on Kelly Blue Book alone. Look at craigslist ads and see what comparable vehicles are actually going for in the area. KBB says they incorporate these regional differences, but they don't compensate enough. Example: Subarus command a premium in Seattle, pickup trucks sell for less here than they do elsewhere. Simple supply and demand.

8) Google known issues on the model car you buy. Example: I like Subaru Outbacks. They need head gaskets and timing chains replaced around 100,000 miles. A car that has already had this done is worth more to me than a car that hasn't had it done yet. Find out if there is a known issue on the car you are going to buy and learn if it's been dealt with yet.

9) Ask the seller why they are selling it. I usually say "If you don't mind my asking, why are you selling it." You want to hear things like "I got a promotion at work, and upgraded to a newer one," or "we're having another baby and need a bigger car." You do not want to hear a bunch of hemming and hawing and subject changing. If it's actually a good car, they probably have a good reason for letting it go. Ask.

10) If anything rubs you the wrong way, walk away. You're in charge. You aren't obligated to anything until you shake hands and exchange money. Trust your gut. You're the boss.

Hope this helps.

It seems as though your question has been thoroughly answered. Something that drives me crazy (no pun intended), is when I see Seattleites take a left turn in the wrong direction in a roundabout. What are they thinking?!

Interesting...we must be driving in different neighborhoods, Whenever I encounter a traffic circle, the other drivers don't just drive right on without slowing down--they stop dead and refuse to enter it, without regard to other traffic (or lack of). It's like they've never seen such a monstrosity before and they are totally flummoxed about how to proceed, and they're not going to just yield and merge--they're not budging until they've thoroughly figured this out.

The question has been quite well answered here and LLR indicates complete awareness of the yielding issue.

I wanted to write and mention the interesting point that in the law the right of way is never technically given to anyone, but instead who must yield the right of way is very well defined. I remembered this point from driver's education some 40 or more years ago and found this reference to support that premise. They taught us never to think "I have the right of way" and instead to look for the other driver to yield it. Later it is part of what would be called "defensive driving".

http://www.safemotorist.com/articles/right_of_way.aspx

The correct answer is "The one that is already IN the circle or roundabout has the right of way." If you pull out in front of an oncoming car, you're not only in the wrong, but you're also liable to get broadsided. Wait for traffic to clear, even if you have to come to a halt and hold up other traffic behind you.

This is part of why you have your own insurance. Call your own provider and get a claim number (you won't get charged for it). You'll get to be on the right side of your very own claims adjustor. It's his/her job to wring appropriate money out of the responsible parties in an accident, aka subrogation.

This is useful in many situations--you're probably going to get calls from the guy-who-hit-you's insurance company, wanting your description of the accident, for one. Don't talk to them, as they will fish for a reason that you were partially at fault and thus pay you less. Just tell them to call your guy Vinnie (the name of the claims adjustor I had when I was involved in a 37 car pileup, and he was/is awesome).

Your adjustor will also help you deal with the other insurance company (or structure of the claim, if guy-who-hit-you is also one of their clients) as far as what documentation you'll need to submit for reimbursement and repairs, and also how many estimates you need to get. They can also help you figure out what else you might be able to claim--did you miss work due to the accident or doctor's appointments? You can probably get compensation there. Had to stay in a hotel because you couldn't get home? Compensation.

Dad Griffin was a claims adjustor. He's also an asshole much of the time. A claims adjustor is one of the few careers in life where this is actually a benefit to the consumer. Good luck.

I don't have much helpful advice here, except to say that being in a car accident really jolts your entire body more than people sometimes give it credit for. It wouldn't surprise me if your pain goes away in a couple of days. That being said, potential spinal injuries are nothing to mess around with, so I think your decision to go see a doctor is a good one.

Just wanted to express my sympathies. I hope you feel better soon, and I hope your car is okay and the whole situation is insurance nightmare-free.