What are you doing today?

JoeV said:
Car shopping today. It's been 8 years since we've done it. Pretty brutal when done right.:twak:
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DD went through car shopping yesterday, and came home with a prize.
Literally... A 32" flat screen TV. They got that by spinning the wheel at the dealers. hahahaha...It landed on the camera, but the guy had no more.
He said pick what you want, and she picked the TV.

Came home with a 2011 Certified 100,000 mi 6 year factory Bumper to Bumper warranty!... Dodge Ram 1500 4.7L V8 crew cab 6' bed.

She traded in her clanker Dodge Ram Truck 5.7 fake hemi that Dodge had sludge problems with that model engine.
They took the 2003 as a trade, and the dealer said they could care less how it looked or if it even ran. They brought it last night with the title, and they barely made it there. The trans was sslipping and the idiot lights and abs and * check engine lights were lite . It's a shame that she has a car payment just a year after paying off the old one.

I was here on line and monitoring what she and her BF were looking at...then I was the bank transfer man arranging money to make the down payments...and getting the Ins co. and Vin # from the old truck.

It's a shame because she changed the oil and filter every 3 / 4 K miles.
Chrysler will not admit the engine was a problem with that size, and even people having the same issues under warranty, the manufacturer says that people did not service and change the oil as specified.

Same BS like Toyota said the cars accelerated and could not stop because people pushed on the gas pedal instead of the brake. HELLOoooooo...
People in the acceleration have been driving for over 30 to 50 years. I would think that they should know the difference between the go and the stop pedals. hahahahahahaha
 
"She-who-must-be-obeyed" selected the Hyundai Tuscon Limited over the Honda CRV EXL. When I asked her "If money were not an issue, which vehicle would you want in the garage for the next 6-8 years," she said the Tuscon Limited because it had more stylish exterior lines and a more "contemporary feeling" interior space (whatever that means).

Being a woman, I chose to not challenge that logic, and proceeded to negotiate the deal for her using apathy as my sword...it worked. The more uninterested I appeared with their offers and feature descriptions, the more things they added to the deal and the lower the price became. When they stopped delivering goodies to the deal, I stood up and said that we were going to revisit the Honda one more time to be sure we were making the right choice, at which point they added 3 years of free oil changes and tire rotations. I caved at that point and said we had a deal, and told them to run her credit and see what kind of interest rate she could get. She has a 834 credit score, and the sales manager came back with a 2.99% rate. Knowing he was trying to make up from the financing kickback for what he gave away in the deal (we researched the rates vs credit scores ahead of time, and knew what his game was), I told him we would get back to him tomorrow after checking with our bank for a better rate (We put down 1/3 of the total), and magically he found a bank with 1.09% so we would not leave. Honda had .9% on their 2013 units, but the pickings were slim. So, the Tuscon sits in the garage, the wife is happy, and life moves on.

Now I need to decide what I'm going to do with my 3/4 ton 2003 Chevy Express van. It's starting to give me problems, so it's probably time to replace it.
 
JoeV said:
"She-who-must-be-obeyed" selected the Hyundai Tuscon Limited over the Honda CRV EXL. When I asked her "If money were not an issue, which vehicle would you want in the garage for the next 6-8 years," she said the Tuscon Limited because it had more stylish exterior lines and a more "contemporary feeling" interior space (whatever that means).

Being a woman, I chose to not challenge that logic, and proceeded to negotiate the deal for her using apathy as my sword...it worked. The more uninterested I appeared with their offers and feature descriptions, the more things they added to the deal and the lower the price became. When they stopped delivering goodies to the deal, I stood up and said that we were going to revisit the Honda one more time to be sure we were making the right choice, at which point they added 3 years of free oil changes and tire rotations. I caved at that point and said we had a deal, and told them to run her credit and see what kind of interest rate she could get. She has a 834 credit score, and the sales manager came back with a 2.99% rate. Knowing he was trying to make up from the financing kickback for what he gave away in the deal (we researched the rates vs credit scores ahead of time, and knew what his game was), I told him we would get back to him tomorrow after checking with our bank for a better rate (We put down 1/3 of the total), and magically he found a bank with 1.09% so we would not leave. Honda had .9% on their 2013 units, but the pickings were slim. So, the Tuscon sits in the garage, the wife is happy, and life moves on.

Now I need to decide what I'm going to do with my 3/4 ton 2003 Chevy Express van. It's starting to give me problems, so it's probably time to replace it.
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Really Good Choice Joe!

DIL has the Sahara I think they call it ..it's a SUV ...She leased it
Jim Jr has a sonata...and DIL had the Genesis previously. Only thing was it was a rear wheel drive. ( we have always had rear wheel drive...we just throw a few cinder blocks in the trunk for weight in the snow ) hahaha

They both get Tires For Life as long as they get the oil changes at the dealer here in town. They ( Hyundai )make a very good reliable vehicle.
 
Cooksie said:
I've been singing the blues here for the last two days, more car woes :censored:.
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Oh! NOoooooo!!!! Cooksie.

Now what?? It seems like it's a disease lately.

GD's got a coolant antifreeze leak. That I could inspect and hopefully fix if we can find where it's leaking from.

Then her check engine light came back on.

Next door neighbors kids car won't go into 5th gear. Just a cable shifter adjustment hopefully.

I told them it's probably cheaper for us to all get a horse. haaaaaaa.
 
A horse sounds pretty good right now! Mine would probably develop some dreaded disease and die though :mrgreen:. I think it is in the air because all the car repair places are overflowing with problems.

First problem, the car just died. The guys at the repair place ran all the diagnostics and couldn't find anything wrong, but they said the battery was low and put in a new one. I was skeptical, but he said that with all the electrical chit nowadays it was possible that the low battery was the cause. Shelled out about $300 for that :bonk:

About 5 days later, won't start, no clicks, no nothing. Wait a while, it starts, runs for about 2 to 3 minutes, dies. The guy with the tow truck had to use brute strength to roll it out of the garage and into position to load it on his vehicle. He was sure hoping it would start and run long enough to get it on his truck....but no go.

I took it to the dealer this time. He called back a little while ago, and said it's a fuse block problem. I've never heard of that, but whatever, another $650.

How many horses can I buy for $950 :horsepoop-1: and can I get one with good A/C :biggrin:
 
I will trade you for my 16 yr. old truck that the rear brake line going to the axle rusted out on. Had to drop the gas tank to get to the nearest fitting and the metal line for the gas tank started leaking as well. Had to take a sawzall and cut the one bolt for the tank straps since the quick nut broke and just kept spinning. So now i have 3 things to fix instead of the original one. And the fuel filter won't come apart but did start crushing from 2 of us wrenching on it to try to get the gas line off. Sprayed up my little tube cutter and I see a new line and an inline filter going in there. Worst part is I had a spare fuel filter on the shelf for it.:mrgreen:
 
Cooksie said:
A horse sounds pretty good right now! Mine would probably develop some dreaded disease and die though :mrgreen:. I think it is in the air because all the car repair places are overflowing with problems.

First problem, the car just died. The guys at the repair place ran all the diagnostics and couldn't find anything wrong, but they said the battery was low and put in a new one. I was skeptical, but he said that with all the electrical chit nowadays it was possible that the low battery was the cause. Shelled out about $300 for that :bonk:

About 5 days later, won't start, no clicks, no nothing. Wait a while, it starts, runs for about 2 to 3 minutes, dies. The guy with the tow truck had to use brute strength to roll it out of the garage and into position to load it on his vehicle. He was sure hoping it would start and run long enough to get it on his truck....but no go.

I took it to the dealer this time. He called back a little while ago, and said it's a fuse block problem. I've never heard of that, but whatever, another $650.

How many horses can I buy for $950 :horsepoop-1: and can I get one with good A/C :biggrin:
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Happened to my neighbor next door with the what they call "The PCM" or known as the Power Control Module. It is the connectors and plugs that go to the different components of the vehicle such as the engine relays and relays like the fuel pump. What happens, is the contacts get deteriorated actually from the gasses of the acid from the battery itself.
We were able to save his by cleaning the contacts for the electric fuel pump in and on the PCM. Was doing the same thing. Starts one time and not the other.
Chrysler Models are well known for that.
Good luck with that, and you should be OK after that. That is what is called an intermittent problem.

For $950.00 you can get the rear end of a horse. It's called "A Horses @$$!" hahahahahahaha
 
Mountain man said:
I will trade you for my 16 yr. old truck that the rear brake line going to the axle rusted out on. Had to drop the gas tank to get to the nearest fitting and the metal line for the gas tank started leaking as well. Had to take a sawzall and cut the one bolt for the tank straps since the quick nut broke and just kept spinning. So now i have 3 things to fix instead of the original one. And the fuel filter won't come apart but did start crushing from 2 of us wrenching on it to try to get the gas line off. Sprayed up my little tube cutter and I see a new line and an inline filter going in there. Worst part is I had a spare fuel filter on the shelf for it.:mrgreen:
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16 years ago they didn't use stainless steel brake lines.

Had the same on DD's Jeep (1995 Wrangler )..and finally all the lines rusted out and split. It still sits and waits for her BF to replace them all plus the hoses.
Only good thing, is the jeep had been raised with a lift kit 6 inches, and has 33" tires; so it's easy to crawl underneath with lots of room.
Only thing holding up the job, is that green stuff, called MUnnn EEeee!!
 
Whoever came up with the idea of putting the lines on the inside of the frame rail behind the gas tank should be shot! The fuel filter is on there as well but in front of the tank. You can't get no leverage and the front drive shaft is in the way so no using a cheater on it to break it loose. I will give it one more try and then cut it off. With a drip of brake fluid and a piece of rust in my eye I was not in a good mood. Will hit the parts house and dealer today, Friday the 13th.:laugh:
 
Mountain man said:
Whoever came up with the idea of putting the lines on the inside of the frame rail behind the gas tank should be shot! The fuel filter is on there as well but in front of the tank. You can't get no leverage and the front drive shaft is in the way so no using a cheater on it to break it loose. I will give it one more try and then cut it off. With a drip of brake fluid and a piece of rust in my eye I was not in a good mood. Will hit the parts house and dealer today, Friday the 13th.:laugh:
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I say, Get the guy who designed this routing of the line, and let him lay on his back and replace it.
Had to replace a brake hose on a town & country, and it was so designed that to use the attached bracket, you had to remove the tee connector to spin the fitting.
The fix was cut the bracket and make a new bracket after the line was installed.
A two piece that the manufacturer couldn't think of.
 
Good luck with your repairs, MM. Sometimes I think you're better off with an older vehicle that you can work on yourself. The new ones are so crammed full of BS that you have to have really high dollar equipment just to figure out the darn problem.

You're one smart cookie, Jimmy! When the guy called to give me the estimate, I could hear the mechanic in the background saying something about an intermittent short.

As I was googling around to try and learn about "fuse blocks," I came across an automotive forum. They refer to "the dealer" as "the stealer" :yum:. I am grateful that they fixed it (thinking positively here and keeping my fingers crossed), but that does seem like a lot of moo-lah.
 
Cooksie said:
Good luck with your repairs, MM. Sometimes I think you're better off with an older vehicle that you can work on yourself. The new ones are so crammed full of BS that you have to have really high dollar equipment just to figure out the darn problem.

You're one smart cookie, Jimmy! When the guy called to give me the estimate, I could hear the mechanic in the background saying something about an intermittent short.

As I was googling around to try and learn about "fuse blocks," I came across an automotive forum. They refer to "the dealer" as "the stealer" :yum:. I am grateful that they fixed it (thinking positively here and keeping my fingers crossed), but that does seem like a lot of moo-lah.
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It's just experience working on many cars and what makes it easier, is the use of the internet for information.

That part they changed is a Dealer Only Item, and that is why it cost so much. The dealer IS a stealer!! hahahahaha
They can be located as used in a salvage depot, but there again, there is no way the part can be warranted by your mechanic unless it is purchased new.
 
Leni said:
Today it is a matter of staying cool. It may go as high as the 100's today.
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Leni.... Stay Cool. With temps like that, it is all I would worry about doing.

Here it is 2:42 PM and it's 68 degrees and no humidity. I got a pot of chicken soup on the stove cooking. I promised Tina Baby I would satisfy her wish for soup.
 
I used my new Black and Decker weed eater for the first time Saturday. It's dual string/auto feed, so no bumping :clap:. I love it. I was able to cut my time by about 1/2.
 
My poor truck is still sitting in the building leaning to the passenger side as it sits on jack stands. I went and bought the $133 gas line from the stealer and have the new brake line and bolt and clip. Been feeling bad for 2-3 days now and sure ain't working on it in the cold. You have to make your own tool to release the quick clips on the fuel line coming off the pump. The pump was $340 when I replaced it 4 years ago. That was NAPA price. Dealer wanted 700 and did not have one. Hope to finish it when it warms up and I feel better. We only got to 53 today and they want hard frost again tonight.
 
Mountain man said:
My poor truck is still sitting in the building leaning to the passenger side as it sits on jack stands. I went and bought the $133 gas line from the stealer and have the new brake line and bolt and clip. Been feeling bad for 2-3 days now and sure ain't working on it in the cold. You have to make your own tool to release the quick clips on the fuel line coming off the pump. The pump was $340 when I replaced it 4 years ago. That was NAPA price. Dealer wanted 700 and did not have one. Hope to finish it when it warms up and I feel better. We only got to 53 today and they want hard frost again tonight.
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Oh! Boy! .... I feel for ya Mman..
I was up against almost the same thing with GD's "99" Jetta the past two days. Leak on the heater core lines at the firewall...
I was no way gonna crawl under to remove the lower hose to drain it. I used the wet and dry vacuum and sucked out every drop of coolant.
Right from the top.

Did a oil change and again, used a vacuum tank and vacuum I designed using a 5 gallon spackle bucket and clear hose tubing 5/16 O.D.

My day's of underneath vehicles are limited.
No More Kneeling either. Knees are shot and arthritic.

I made my own fuel line release for the fuel pump assembly with Tina's plastic Tupperware by cutting strips from a pliable bucket she had.
SHhhhhhhh!! She don't know I did that.
Thin metal works too. After the fact, I bought a complete set for 18.00 on Ebay.

I got a lot of those Special Tool # D2319NSTK-30.... and removal clamp # 2974634..hahaha
:yum::yum: that I make myself.:bonk:
The part costs $12.99 and the removal tool costs $87.00 in some instances.

Advance Auto by me, will lend any tools you need free. I needed a inner tie rod removal tool for a VW, and all it was I could have just used my plumbers Basin Wrench to unfasten the huge nut on the inner rod from the Rack and Pinion. Grrrrrrrrr!!!
 
Mountain man said:
My poor truck is still sitting in the building leaning to the passenger side as it sits on jack stands. I went and bought the $133 gas line from the stealer and have the new brake line and bolt and clip. Been feeling bad for 2-3 days now and sure ain't working on it in the cold. You have to make your own tool to release the quick clips on the fuel line coming off the pump. The pump was $340 when I replaced it 4 years ago. That was NAPA price. Dealer wanted 700 and did not have one. Hope to finish it when it warms up and I feel better. We only got to 53 today and they want hard frost again tonight.
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More than double the price, that just ain't right :glare:
 
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Yesterday evening was interesting.

Saturday morning I heard a scuffling sound, so I go to investigate. It was coming from the laundry room. I creeped around looking for what might me causing the sound but couldn't find anything.

Sunday morning, same thing, but I could tell the sound was coming from inside the dryer vent. I get a flashlight and am shining it through the window of the dryer to see if anything has managed to crawl inside the dryer. I'm thinking a snake, so I'm all jumpy. About that time the freezer cut on, and I about peed in my pants. Nothing inside the dryer, and the scuffling sound quit.

Late yesterday evening I hear the sound again. I give the vent a nudge with the broom, and sure enough, I hear the scuffling sound. :idea: I decided to turn the dryer on, hoping that the sound/vibration would scare it, and it would crawl out.

Turned on the dryer, go outside and watch the vent, and sure enough after about 5 minutes something pokes out about 1/2" and then retracts back inside. It was kind of black and triangular. I just knew it was a big ol' snake.

Nothing happens for about 10 minutes. I guess the dryer had to get hot enough to make it uncomfortable. All of a sudden, here it comes. I could tell as it began to emerge that it wasn't a snake. It starting looking more like a squirrel.

And then...Pepe Le Pew waddles out and goes on his way. I was never so shocked!
 
Thanks Leni, Mama, and Ian :flowers:


Leni said:
:yum::yum::yum: That is funny. Better get something to cover that vent or guess what.
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The first thing I did Tuesday morning was research on covers for dryer vents. There all kinds of warnings that say they are fire hazards. I'm going to do it anyway and just make sure to keep it cleaned.
 
I have a cover on mine. It does not completely cover the opening but enough so that it keeps varmits out. I think that you could make a cover out of chicken wire.
 
I have a german shepherd and a jack russel guarding mine. A reminder to all of you folks to pull your dryer out and remove the hose and clean it and vacuum out the discharge pipe where it attaches. Lint fires are deadly. I take the back off my machine and pull the drum every few years and clean it out real good. It cuts down on the electric bill and I don't have to worry about it catching fire.
 
Going to try again to get the old fuel line off the pump on my truck. It is about the most unhandy place to work on something where you are stretched out over the drive shaft and I am too big to sit under it. Thought about dropping the drive shaft or jacking the truck up higher to get more room.:bonk:
 
Well I got it off and the new one back on. Now I have to jack it back up in place and splice the gas line from the new filter to the motor. It will be a tight fit to get it in there before the first bend. Al least that part ain't rusted.
 
Got the tank back up and bolted up. When I cut the old line going to the motor I got doused with gas as the filter must have held the line full. Threw some cat litter down and came in and took a shower. Will try to finish the splice today. I have a small mason job to do for a neighbor lady where her stone wall is falling out around the basement window. Looks like this great weather will continue into next week with a chance of showers Monday but temps in the low 70's.
 
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