Autopia a threat?

[imported_ewiesner]

I have always heard about steam cleaning an engine... My car is very new and has a lower shield on the engine, so I don`t think its worth trying on the engine now... Thinking about trying it on the wheel wells though.



I`ve never used anything like this before, it is made by Eureka and kina looks like a wattering pot. Should I avoid using it on my car?

[Preachers Sheets]

You could use it for the engine bay. How safe that plastic is; I don`t know, I heard those steam cleaners get pretty hot.



You can use it on the wheel wells but be careful once again with the plastic shroud that you probaly have, it should be all set but just make sure.



The main reason why I would like to have a steam cleaner is one of the more forgotten parts of detailing. Cleaning under the car, like lift the car up and steam clean everything. The frame, the axles, the lower control arms, shocks, around the gas tank, all lines and hoses. Salt and dirt gets under there and not many people have access to get that grime out. It just keeps getting worse and worse, you can really prevent alot of trouble with that steam cleaner like rust on the inside of the body panels, rust on the frame and worst of all, that friggin salt that is dying for a full course meal of anything that has metal in it.



I don`t use my car in the winter months because I rather not have a car than a car exposed to salt. After is rains a few times after the salt is dumped in the roads like sand mounds Betsy will peek out of her cover and go for a nice walk.

[GoFast908Z]

This week I can`t get onto the site because my computer keeps telling me its a high risk site and is blocking a malicious virus from it. I`ve rebooted, done a full virus/malware/spyware scan, tried different browsers, and I still can`t get in. Does anyone know whats going on? Everything checks out ok on my end. In fact I was in socal for the last week, and it worked before I left and when I came back I have this problem...

[BigAl3]

I`m waiting till this gets resolved before I start going back, even though I have the Norton AV. hopefully this gets dealt with ASAP!

[imported_Kevin Brown]

I`m waiting till this gets resolved before I start going back, even though I have the Norton AV. hopefully this gets dealt with ASAP!

Yeah, as it stands, it only seems to be helping the other forums anyway.
So I am checking TID and MOL a lot more now, and have since removed autopia from my bookmarks bar.

OH WELL!!!

[imported_Flash Gordon]

Yes, the new owners are really having a rough go of this forum thing. Its been 1 comical goof after another :redface:

[imported_Kevin Brown]

Yes, the new owners are really having a rough go of this forum thing. Its been 1 comical goof after another :redface:

yes- it`s what I envision happening to ME if I were to ever start a detailing forum... Boo Hoo

Its especially a bummer since that forum was so well established.

[muttgrunt]

I really hate to talk about any other sites at a place like TID due to conflicts of interest and such, but autopia is a real mess. The biggest and most established US based detailing site is going down the drains. Sure, people will argue it`s been going down-hill for some time, and while that`s a debate that can always continue, it is simple to see the new ownership has had it`s problems keeping things running. While I`m sure a place like TID/PAC is enjoying a little more traffic due to the problems, I`m sure its not the scenario they really wanted: to be popular because of another place`s problems.

Regardless, I think this site has a lot of potential because of the community they`ve helped to build. I just returned from out of town yesterday after a week, so its time for me to start getting back into the swing of things :)

[Puckman]

Well said Marc.

[imported_gewb]

If you must visit the site, I recommend using a non-Windows operating system, preferably one that you run "live" from the CD/DVD drive, with no hard drive access.

Regards,
GEWB

[imported_Luster]

Best to stay away until problems are resolved!

[GoFast908Z]

Wow, so there really is an issue there! I`m relieved it wasn`t on my end! Though that does suck. Autopia had its good and bad points, but it was a good resource. This community here is more friendly though :)

[kingspoint]

Yes I have been trying to access autopia also but i am having a hard time. My antivirus says that the site has a trojan something.

[Junebug]

I`ve had some issues getting in this week, and today, my computer (at work) just stopped it cold with a "high risk" warning. I saw over on Detailing Bliss that there was some bad stuff on Autopia that was killing hard drives. I hate to see the place fall apart like that and I think it may be due to some cost cutting and not going the extra mile making sure it was safe.

I think detailing forum traffic is down across the board, at least on the ones I go to, must be the general economy thing. It`s hard to stay upbeat now.

JB

[imported_Pats300zx]

Just got this message this morning when I tried to go to the site. I have no clue why the admins are not addressing this or putting something out for other Autopia members.

Safe Browsing
Diagnostic page for autopia.org

What is the current listing status for autopia.org?

Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.

Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 4 time(s) over the past 90 days.

What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 606 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 255 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2010-09-01, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2010-09-01.

Malicious software includes 8 scripting exploit(s), 8 trojan(s), 6 exploit(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 3 new process(es) on the target machine.

Malicious software is hosted on 8 domain(s), including plotecco.co.cc/, autourl.in/, browserservices.in/.

1 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including plotecco.co.cc/.

This site was hosted on 2 network(s) including AS31815 (MEDIATEMPLE), AS26496 (PAH).

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

Over the past 90 days, autopia.org appeared to function as an intermediary for the infection of 1 site(s) including stumbleupon.com/.

Has this site hosted malware?

No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

How did this happen?

In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.

Next steps: