So My Beloveded Has Been Driving a Matrix for the Last 3 Years
9And I’ve been changing oil and tires and stuff an everthin is fine. Bam it got cold and P0177 error then the next day P0977 error. So have to change the intake manifold gasket because some dip shit designer decided to save $.05 a car and used viton instead of silicone. And some other dip shit engineer put the transmission harness connector directly underneath the positive battery terminal and it got battery scuz all over it.
Then I decided it’s been 150000mi I’ll change the spark plugs since I’ve the top of the motor pulled apart anyway. VTEC engines need a stupid thin wall spark plug socket. So I’m still not done with the damn thing.
The only positive thing is now I don’t have bitch about having to buy a special spark plug wrench to work on the Prius. And extra strength tylenol and ibuprophen is not totally killing the pain.
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4:20 somewhere.
@f00l oh I wish.
@daveinwarsh
Hey, @cranky1950, lookin’ good there!
Nice overalls.
… then it’s not that bad.
@narfcake Hahahahahahahahahaha!
@narfcake It’s still stupid though. And Ford trucks you need to lift the cab from the frame to drop the trans. I’m just sore it was a long day and my kid was in my tool box and nothing was where it was supposed to be. It’s just enough to make you cranky.
@cranky1950
How about:
For every month that the kid does not touch your toolbox and does not touch your tools, the kid gets one decent tool of his/her own.
Every time the kid touches your toolbox, the kid loses one of his/her owned tools and also loses some privileges or other personal items.
@f00l Life doesn’t work that way. He has a tool box, mine usually has the tools he has lost.
@cranky1950 I have the same issue…and I am glad my son wants to use tools instead of spending his time playing video games or being a tool…so we put up with it. Why is it always my 10mm wrenchs tho?
@tightwad
@narfcake not to mention the $120 Utica torque wrench that walked off.
@cranky1950 @narfcake while I don’t fix cars (although I did spent a number of years spraying rustolium on the roof, could break into it in under 3 minutes and it lasted 25 years and 3 months, so that has to count for something. Right?) my entire toolbox got stolen right after I finally had put in there every single tool I owned. Unfortunately every single connector, screw, the pieces I needed to fix to the 1864 family melodeon (precursor to the pump organ) etc. that was used to put together my furniture I took apart to put in storage was in there too. Having the tool you need gone is a major PITA.
@narfcake What car is that ? Subaru? I want to make sure I avoid it if I can
@capguncowboy Audi and VW. There’s a nickname for that.
/image Audi assume the position
@narfcake Never buy a German car that’s out of warranty.
@cranky1950 It’s probably a reason why so many are leased instead of purchased.
@capguncowboy Subaru’s are not bad for the first 100 150 thousand miles, then all bets are off. The engine mounts on a subaru are actually easy to loosen. But still most don’t realize that those rally results are with a new vehicle every event, if you beat a Subaru transmission, most boy racers find they get about 10-20000 miles.
@cranky1950
I had a friend who used to buy really old BMW’s every year or two.
They would be one or two owner vehicles, but a mess. Lots of miles. He would get them for near nothing.
Then he would fix them. Drive them for a year or two. Sell them for enough to cover the entire cost of ownership. (After fixing up the replacement.)
But this was a few decades ago.
He’s gone now. So I don’t know if that would still work.
They people he bought from and sold to loved him and would bring him cookies and stuff at the holidays.
He didn’t have kids. So he had some time to do all this, and kinda loved it.
@narfcake All the shit mentioned in this thread is why I loved working on my (departed) 1990 Dodge pickup, and to this day look forward to wrenching on my '71 Challenger. I could reach everything from the top (though for the truck sometimes needed a stepstool; it was a W250 so tall), nearly all standard tools, change the rear axle pumpkin in an hour or two (to change ratios), drop the complete engine and trans and front suspension out the bottom in a few hours, most of that disconnecting fuel and electrical connections.
New cars suck to work on, in general and in comparison to the older ones. Too many regulations to meet, and too many often conflicting pressures on design for ease of maintenance and repair to be priorities.
Whatever they pay late model Dodge mechanics, it ain’t enough.
@walarney That’s true especially now that they are using Fiat stuff more and more.
@cranky1950
So which models of moderne vehicles don’t suck as personal maintenance projects?
I feel your pain. Every once in a while, I can’t find a tool and it drives me insane. For example, I don’t know what the fuck happened to my 7/16 wrench. I had it one day and then never saw it again.
I take pride in my tools and I try my best to keep organized. However, every time I work on a project, I always end up running over on time and I’m rushed to get everything put away. The top of my toolbox ends up being a catch-all for everything until I finally getting around to reorganizing it.
I do mini-bikes as a hobby and I’ve met some really cool old guys over the years. A while back, a cool old guy named Ogy posted up some pictures of a bike he was working on. The bike looks great, but what really caught my eye was his tools and the organization of everything! Holy shit! He’s meticulous!
I’m ashamed of my garage and my lack of cleanliness and organization. To keep my honor, I’ll have to commit Seppeku with a torque wrench
Seriously, it’s crazy
@capguncowboy It looks good, but there’s also the distinct possibility a man who organizes his tools with such method and precision is a sociopath. It’d be worth following up with photos of his backyard, maybe get cadaver sniffing dogs out there, too.
@capguncowboy it’s… they… should’ve sent… a poet…
@capguncowboy looks more like decor than tools.
@cadmore Just to clarify, a true sociopath would have the girl chained up and living in his bomb shelter organize the tools (admittedly, to his exact specification, why of course). Daily.
@Pavlov
You know one?
@capguncowboy Probably has another rollaway of stuff he actualy uses so he doesn’t mess up his work area.
@Pavlov
Do you know any neat-toolrack sociopaths?
Or know any sociopath/prisoner/bomb-shelter combos?
@f00l why do you want to know?
@f00l maybe @capguncowboy has OCD and that’s why his tools are so organized?
@cranky1950
@Pavlov
Need to know.
Making a documentary for pre-schoolers.
Growing Up Sociopath Can Be Fun!
@f00l sociopathic
/image grammar nazi
well well that one was a surprise… and a cat no less lol
if it’s the 1zzfe those plugs were due back at 120,000.
when i did them on my friends vibe(matrix cosplaying as a Pontiac) i had no issues with using my standard spark plug socket.
and a bit nit-picky, but it’s not a VTEC engine. that’s a Honda term, Toyota’s is VVT-i. different names, for similar tech.
Viton is far more robust than silicone. might not be as flexible, but more durable, and certainly not cheaper.
@earlyre Right that’s why it cracks and hardens under temperature before silicone does.
Vtec, VVT-1, Mod8, Vortec same shit different logo
My wife has driven a Vibe for ten years now. Most trouble free vehicle I’ve ever owned. I had no trouble changing the plugs, either. That engine compartment is a work of art for maintenance - pretty much everything is easy to access. My son’s Saturn, now that is a nightmare.
@cranky1950 What does cylinder head design (Vortec) have to do with variable valve timing?
@narfcake All designed after 1990 and use plastic just to piss everyone off. Gotta change the intake manifold gasket on truck because they went with plastic and it has creeped and leaks when the temp goes below 20deg.
How the hell did Ford forget how to make spark plug threads? They’ve only had to do that for the past 130 years.
@cranky1950 Valid points.
/image Ford Triton helicoil
@macromeh Try changing the water pump. It’s almost as stupid as changing the pcv valve on a 1st gen altima. $4 pcv valve $300 labor.
Try changing the plugs on a 2005 legacy gt if you want to do something unnecessarily difficult. Just getting the coils off requires gymnastics, then there’s the fun of assembling sockets and extenders inside the engine because there’s no other way to get in there without lifting the engine.
edit: probably other years too, but I have no interest in finding out. Before this I had a 94 volvo 940, so I expected to be done in 10 minutes, not 2 days.
@Pantheist And that 10 minutes included beverage breaks! Sooooooo easy for routine service.
@narfcake Exactly. It had its problems (highway on ramps weren’t fun), but I miss it sometimes.
@Pantheist Normally aspirated, they took their time. Turbo models held their own, though.
@narfcake Very true. My dad loves the 780 bertone- he has two already and is always looking for a third.
@Pantheist Rare. Times two?! Nice!
/image Volvo 780
/image Volvo 780 turbo
Granted, there is a different Volvo 780 also …
/image Volvo VNL780
@narfcake Haha he likes em. He had one of the previous generation of bertones too (with the 6 cylinder engine), but that thing was a nightmare.
@Pantheist The 262C? Yeah, the B27 isn’t exactly known for it’s reliability or durability. The early 780 got the B28 from the 760-series; those still were meh until it was fully revised into the B280 from late-'87 onwards.
The DeLorean uses a version of the B27.
@narfcake That’s the one. His 780s are a 89 and a 90 or 91. He used to have a third (actually his first) but my mom crashed it about 10 years ago. He still gives her a hard time about that.
Well I bought a 14mm socket and the plugs are done. Now I have to get a new solenoid and pan gasket from Rock Auto and change them out, time to change the fluid again anyway.
@cranky1950 I
RockAuto
@tightwad Yep. No longer at the mercy of local parts stores that can charge double for parts that still have to be shipped in.
@cranky1950 @tightwad @narfcake good luck. They got 3 out of my last 5 orders wrong (once missing parts, twice sent the wrong parts). Love the prices, gave up because of the hassle.
@Pantheist I’ve had one issue before. I ordered one hood release cable. They sent a one bag (of 5) of them.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@narfcake Lucky. They had a tendency to send me parts from other models by the same manufacturer. The worst was the first one because I didn’t check before taking off the old parts then learned my new brakes were about 1/8" too small.
@Pantheist Ouch. Yeah, that would be bad.
To be fair, I’ve had local stores hand out the wrong items too. Or the right box but with the wrong item inside.
I blame the goat for the misspelling in the title. Every time it pops up, I read the word as it’s spelled.
@RiotDemon Don’t you mean as it is spelleded?
@therealjrn
ಠ_ಠ
@RiotDemon Some monthly thread will open up in about two weeks time, y’know.
@narfcake You need to hush, hall monitor.
@therealjrn Tweeking the grammar nannies is my 2nd favorite hobby.
@cranky1950
/image tweeking grammar nazis
@therealjrn The good news is a certain somebody that mentioned he was able to purchase a NES is a much much much stronger candidate.
@narfcake
No good fortune should go unpunished.
@RiotDemon
@cranky1950
Your Preciousious?