Who`s buying me a flush floor 4 post lift for xmas + the 12 ft height extension on the garage ;-).
I am getting old and I am not as enthusiastic about working on my back.
Who`s buying me a flush floor 4 post lift for xmas + the 12 ft height extension on the garage ;-).
I am getting old and I am not as enthusiastic about working on my back.
It’s a good rant that brings up many questions that need to be answered. I think more government investment in renewable resources is one answer. Tax breaks for solar energy at the Federal level and government investment. Some states allow you to sell excess power generated back to the electric company but others do not. Georgia and Florida are two I am most knowledgeable about and both states make it inhospitable for people to use solar panels, and they are states that get a lot of sun year round. Using solar panels that can be cheaper if mass produced and incentivized would take some of the burden off power producing plants. Using solar generation at peoples place of work such as large factories could allow people to charge their cars at work instead of at home. Large parking lots could be covered with solar panels on roofs over the parking lot. A place like the Pentagon that has thousands of workers and cars would be ideal. We have to start somewhere and we can’t rely on private investment to do it all. The government is responsible for the boom in electric cars by giving huge tax incentives to buy the cars, now they have to step up and provide the electricity.
I agree about the diesel hybrid vehicles being the best of both worlds, but for some unknown reason carmakers have balked at this idea. Again the government could provide incentives to produce this type of vehicle just as they did with electric vehicles.
Electric cars are going to get more efficient as more research goes into them. Tesla batteries have gotten much better over 10 years and with more competition I see better and more efficient batteries and cars coming shortly. The main problem I see is the rare earth elements used it electric car production. China has 99% of the rare earth metals and this could cause major problems in the future especially since China is moving toward electric cars faster than the US to combat it’s pollution problems.
Burning more coal to produce electricity is not the answer for the long term and with nuclear facilities being taken off line faster than new ones being built or even planned something has to give. I don’t have a solution for this. Way over my pay grade.
There are tons of problems with increasing electric vehicles but I think it is worth it if we can wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. Replacing gasoline with coal burning electric plants is not a good solution. This is a Federal problem and needs to be addressed at that level. The current administration is not going to address it. They want more off shore drilling and “clean coal”. Lol. Maybe when Trump goes back to the Apprentice something might get done. We need forward thinkers like the ones who planned and built the interstate road system, not the ones who want to spend tax dollars on a futile wall.
The problem with the EGR on diesel cars comes when you drive short drives a lot. It has it`s own cleaning system with often a particle filter. This is engage around every full tank of diesel fuel. So if you don`t run for longer drives during a full tank it will simply skip that cleaning schedule. When the cleaning system is engaged you feel a little reduced power from the engine. When it engage is often above 50mph and takes about 20-30 minutes to do the cleaning schedule finished. It`s strange that you are not able to engage this cleaning schedule by your self. But the manufactures claims it`s engaged so often so it would not be a problem in the longrun if it`s skips some. It`s engage when the motor is warmed up and have been run for some time over 50mph until it`s starts. So the easiest way is to take the vehical for a long drive on speed over 50mph at least every second full tank of diesel. Or even better once every full tank. That`s the problem with owning a diesel vehical that it`s not suited to be driven short length and at lower speeds. What was mentioned that to put load and high rpm is also a good thing to do once and a while when the engine is warm. If you have an automatic transmission. See if you can lock it in second gear and idle the motor over 3000rpm. So are you not speeding over the limits. And do this during 10-15 minutes so can it self clean the engine some.
Had a Mitsubishi Lancer with a 2.4l GDI gasoline engine. With direct injectors known to clogg up and started run uneven. It was recommended to a warm engine to run in second gear and idle between 4000-5000rpm. And drive it during 15min this way. This was to a engine that has not clogged up to much then it`s needed to be cleaned. And just maintain as clean as possible engine.
This reminds me to get my car for a long drive
That must be a really short list. I can`t even see it.
I agree about the middle ground-(after the warrantee is over,to,let`s say 100k miles). That`s where the real $$$ in service and repairs is at.
Even a "cheap" repair is costly at $135.00/hr. in labor costs. And the cost of parts. Ouch!
I wouldn`t even dream of buying a used 4-5 year old car without getting a factory extended warrantee. A Dodge mechanic told me that the new ZF 8-speeds have no recommended factory maintenance intervals. They don`t even have a trans dipstick so you can check the fluid. It gets checked electronically at the dealer. What would that cost when it pukes? That would easily cover the cost of the warrantee. Nowadays the mechanicals are very stout. The problems seem to be in the electronics and ancillary mechanical systems-(steering racks, air suspension systems,etc.)
I`ve no desire to work on cars anymore. I used to do it all,almost anything mechanical,including clutches, rear ends, etc. I used to have my wife pump the brake pedal for me until I got a power bleeder.
I`m to the point of when the warrantee is over, the car is replaced.
And the guys that can still DYI it all, you have my respect and admiration.
Zf transmissons haven`t had dipsticks in two decades. I don`t think anyone makes a automatic transmission with a dipstick anymore. All these manufacturers want to make their vehicles sound like they are very low maintenance. This doesn`t mean that one can`t or shouldn`t Change their transmission fluid regardless. I myself do a drain and fill on all my cars every year. I think lifetime fluids is a bunch of crap.
Yes, change your transmission fluid. Mercedes went from every 30k to lifetime and the back to every 39k. Now 70k, I think
a drain and fill is usually somewhere of half or less of the capacity. It`s only around $35-40 a year per car, Pretty cheap imo. I do it with the coolant too. All easy enough to do when I have the cars up on all four jackstands to clean the undercarriage. Not saying anyone has to follow that regime. This way I always remember when it was done last, and that I`m not procrastinating to the point of waiting too long.
Cpleroad- Note that I`m not being critical, just surprised And, heh heh...I do think to myself "eh, I spend too much time under them already just doing the Maintenance Washes" so maybe I`m working at not finding more things to do under there. AND...you undoubtedly put a lot more miles on yours than we do on ours (the ones we actually drive....still have too many cars around here IMO).
I didn`t think you were being critical. I was just explaining my reasoning behind it. We probably don`t put more miles on our personal cars. I just treat maintenance by time and not mileage. The wife`s company car on the other hand gets 35-45 thousand miles a year. Our cars all together get about 7500 miles a year. We are more on your path than we`ve ever been on. These 3 cars are probably not going away for at least another 10 years .
Accumulatorette put that many on her Daily back when we were teaching, but I bet it takes a long time for us to do 7500 these days.
Heh heh, generally speaking, that statement might be worrisomeWe are more on your path than we`ve ever been on...
Well *that* does indeed sound like us! (I`m discounting the only 10 years a bit since you`re a lot younger than we are, we really might not ever buy anything else..or so I think today but we`ll see.)These 3 cars are probably not going away for at least another 10 years .
Rekindled some hate today. Almost two hours to replace the batteries in the ML today. Yes two. Under the passenger seat no less. No wonder the dealer charges $500 just to replace the main battery. Most of the time was the aux battery and the cage that holds it. Classic German engineering.
I recently went through the hassle of “registering” the battery in my BMW. I decided to do it myself instead of paying the dealership $150 for 5 minutes of work. I bought the Carly app and OBDII device and it was very easy. I also used the app to code my BMW to do a few neat tricks. Well worth the money.
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