Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

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Why on earth would you fit such a massive subwoofer?
 
Okay....I found out what the mistery-ghost-car-in-barn is....and its a good one! Up close and clearing away junk from the front end it turns out to be a 71-75 Caddy deville 4 door, doesnt even seem to be in that bad of a nick.....who the hell just leaves that laying around?
 
Okay....I found out what the mistery-ghost-car-in-barn is....and its a good one! Up close and clearing away junk from the front end it turns out to be a 71-75 Caddy deville 4 door, doesnt even seem to be in that bad of a nick.....who the hell just leaves that laying around?

It might be a 75 with the optional Bendix fuel injection system, which was failtastic and has no replacement parts available.
 
My lady friend just got ripped off by her Honda dealership again. The FSM says timing belt and water pump (and all the other nearby easy stuff) is due at 110,000 miles.

They did it at the 60k mile service without any reason to suspect there was a problem (like belt slip)

For those unfamiliar with her Civic's history, the transmission went at 50,000 miles and their comment on the matter was "that's normal."

I'm starting to shop her into W124's and E34's as a replacement (and beating it into her head that indie or specialty shops are the way to go and that she lives in fucking LA so it's not like there's a lack of the thing)
 
They're called stealerships for a reason.

Also, is she certain that she actually got a timing belt change? Or might they have just charged her for it and just claimed they did it instead of doing the work?
 
They're called stealerships for a reason.

Also, is she certain that she actually got a timing belt change? Or might they have just charged her for it and just claimed they did it instead of doing the work?

Considering doing it requires dismantling literally the entire engine and a cheaterbar longer than the car, and she dropped it off at close last night and picked it up at 8AM, I'm going to go out on a limb and say they changed the oil.

Period. Unless they have some illegal Mexicans work through the night (which is a distinct possibility).
 

I meant from GM - and even if you MS'd it, you'd still have to adapt parts from other cars instead of using factory bits.

Chances are good that if the Caddy doesn't have some fatal mechanical failure and it has the Bendix rig, the Bendix EFI died and wasn't repairable at the time.

Considering doing it requires dismantling literally the entire engine and a cheaterbar longer than the car, and she dropped it off at close last night and picked it up at 8AM, I'm going to go out on a limb and say they changed the oil.

Period. Unless they have some illegal Mexicans work through the night (which is a distinct possibility).

Yeah. Moral of story: Always require a shop to show you the removed/replaced parts and tell them of this when you drop the car off. No evidence, no pay.

I once had a shop tell me that my then-Series III needed a timing belt change right away, as he could 'hear' the problem as I pulled into the drive (to ask directions). He'd do it for a 'special' price of only $650, seeing as how it was urgent.

Only problem was that the Series III, like all real Jaguars, uses timing chains, not belts, and the chances of them going bad on the old XK engine is literally unheard of (two double roller oil immersed timing chains). I left two black streaks in his drive as I GTFO of there.

It's a fairly common scam.
 
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Yeah. Moral of story: Always require a shop to show you the removed/replaced parts and tell them of this when you drop the car off. No evidence, no pay.

I don't even let my mechanic buy parts these days. New parts are in the trunk when I drop it off, old parts are in the trunk when I pick it up. The only problem is that she's car-stupid enough that prettymuch any old part would pass as "Oh yeah, this came off your car."
 
Yeah, not much one can do about people like that. You can try to educate them but they rarely listen. They're more than happy to get ripped off so long as they don't have to bother with anything.
 
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Yay! My car sounds like I have a fart can now! Fucking exhaust must have rusted through while I was sitting in the parking lot, because it was fine when I parked it and OBNOXIOUSLY NOISY when I left.
 
$290,000 speeding ticket. For doing 85 in a 50mph zone. In Switzerland. linky
 
My wife had filled up the coolant on her Volvo with water when it got low in the summer. Now the temperature got low instead and the coolant was like snow slush. After unclogging the radiator and engine (took almost an hour with heater fans and short times on idle) it was just to change the antifreeze. And it was -22 celsius outside... From now on, i will check her car every week, god knows what might happen in the future.
 
Yay! My car sounds like I have a fart can now! Fucking exhaust must have rusted through while I was sitting in the parking lot, because it was fine when I parked it and OBNOXIOUSLY NOISY when I left.
Sounds like someone stole the Catalytic Converter off of it.
 
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