Car Talk
- Thread starter JHDK
- Start date
This makes me so very happy. First off, Talia completely deserves it. There should be a Talia salon just for her. I mean what are you poor or something Scotch? You take your dog to a salon that she has to share with other dogs? Gross. I was just being all nice to you and saying how you had class and dignity but this is fucking low-class shit right here.
Really though, I would be Larry David if my wife had me drop my dog off at a salon that was specifically built for dogs. Just a not funny version of Larry David.....What the fuck, really? This is how our society works now? We take our dogs to salons? Whatever happened to going in the backyard with the hose and washing your dog that way?
This makes every kid getting a trophy for participating seem rational by comparison.
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2 hundo??? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.
She looks like a million bucks. That is a really nice grooming, but wow that's a lot.
How often does she go to the salon?
By the way, I get a haircut around every 3 months and it costs $35 including the tip.
She looks like a million bucks. That is a really nice grooming, but wow that's a lot.
How often does she go to the salon?
By the way, I get a haircut around every 3 months and it costs $35 including the tip.
Same for me, every 2 months. Tali gets groomed every 6 weeks. It was $185 with tip, but it includes a bath, full cut, nails clipped, and ears/eyes cleaned. That's what we get for having a "non-shedding" dog. Our other dog gets a bath and nails clipped like twice a year.
That's a really random thing to say.
Find our "construction" thread.....He's posted a bunch of pics of the place there.
Think of this as a kind of "Where's Waldo?" for cars. See if you can spot my car (which happens to be the largest I've owned since 1984) in the York Harbor Beach resident parking lot.
Today, I'm working remote from the BMW dealer. On Sunday night, I started the car, and the engine was quite rough. Specifically, it felt like a familiar ailment, where one of the cylinders isn't firing because the ignition coil has fried. !!! WARNING !!! The following will sound like nonsense to most of you.
The engine is a straight-six with direct ignition. Direct ignition is pretty common now, but was pretty advanced when BMW used it in the '90s. In old cars, a distributor and wires would send the high-voltage electrical charge to each cylinder's spark plug. Originally, a spinning rotor in the distributor would contact the "points" for each plug. Then they went to solid-state ignition, where it was electrically sequenced, but still sent through wires. In direct ignition engines, there's a coil just above each cylinder's spark plug. So the high-voltage is generated right at the plug, which is more efficient. But now you have (in my case) 6 little coils that are generating high charges, many times a second. So eventually, they arc or short out. And then you get no spark for that cylinder.
I'm actually hoping that's the problem. Because if it's something else, it could be bad. Anyway, because this was an unscheduled problem, I had to take whatever opening the dealership had. Mrs. Scotch said "Why don't you try that local place that specializes in foreign cars?", so I did, and they are booked until sometime next week. That's why I'm here. But because they already had their schedule booked, I can't get immediate service, nor can I get a loaner. They do have a service that'll drop me off closer to my house, but Mrs. Scotch actually had something come up with her mom, and she's dealing with her. So I'm stuck here, but it's a very nice waiting area. I'm at a bar table with my laptop, connected to secure Wi-Fi. They have free coffee, drinks, and snacks. And I brought a NY bagel from the house.
The engine is a straight-six with direct ignition. Direct ignition is pretty common now, but was pretty advanced when BMW used it in the '90s. In old cars, a distributor and wires would send the high-voltage electrical charge to each cylinder's spark plug. Originally, a spinning rotor in the distributor would contact the "points" for each plug. Then they went to solid-state ignition, where it was electrically sequenced, but still sent through wires. In direct ignition engines, there's a coil just above each cylinder's spark plug. So the high-voltage is generated right at the plug, which is more efficient. But now you have (in my case) 6 little coils that are generating high charges, many times a second. So eventually, they arc or short out. And then you get no spark for that cylinder.
I'm actually hoping that's the problem. Because if it's something else, it could be bad. Anyway, because this was an unscheduled problem, I had to take whatever opening the dealership had. Mrs. Scotch said "Why don't you try that local place that specializes in foreign cars?", so I did, and they are booked until sometime next week. That's why I'm here. But because they already had their schedule booked, I can't get immediate service, nor can I get a loaner. They do have a service that'll drop me off closer to my house, but Mrs. Scotch actually had something come up with her mom, and she's dealing with her. So I'm stuck here, but it's a very nice waiting area. I'm at a bar table with my laptop, connected to secure Wi-Fi. They have free coffee, drinks, and snacks. And I brought a NY bagel from the house.
IdRatherBeSkiing
Sherbert is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
I have yet to have anything really serious come up with my current car. I have had to take it in to service on short notice a couple of times but I have been lucky that the issue was always discovered on a Friday night and I have been able to go in on a Saturday. They will sometimes arrange an Uber for me. They used to have a shuttle but they decommissioned it with COVID. Technically they are supposed to charge me $7/ride for the Uber but most times they waive the fee. When they don't I take the TTC home. One of the pluses in living in a city.
I always assumed the modern cars had almost everything computer controlled. I would assume that anything like a misfiring cylinder would be a software issue. But I don't recall how old your car is.
I always assumed the modern cars had almost everything computer controlled. I would assume that anything like a misfiring cylinder would be a software issue. But I don't recall how old your car is.
Correct. The first thing they do is read the diagnostic code. Most of the time, it will indicate the specific problem. Although there are cases where it reports a symptom but not a single cause.
Software doesn't make a car move. You need electrical/mechanical things to work. This is true for any car, even a new electric one.
Good luck Scotch. Wishing you get back on the road soon
Three engineers - one mechanical, one electrical, and one software engineer
Three engineers - one mechanical, one electrical, and one software engineer are driving down the road when their car breaks down in the middle of a forest. They wonder what to do next.The mechanical engineer says, "I bet it's a snapped timing belt. We just need to replace it."
The electrical engineer chimes in "No it's definitely the battery. It's a power issue. We just need to jump start it."
The software engineer leans back, crosses his arms and after a moment of deep thought offers his solution:
"Why don't we all just get out of the car then get back in?".
This is what A.I. has to say about it:
A car's ignition coil typically produces an output voltage between 20,000 and 100,000 volts
to create the spark needed for the engine. This high voltage is generated by converting the car's 12-volt battery power into the necessary voltage level.
So if you know how to create 100KV with software, you'll be a wealthy man.
The diagnosis confirmed this, for cylinder #5. But of course, there's more. The spark plugs - all 6 - are pretty fouled, and should be replaced. This is not a big surprise, as the car has almost 90k miles, and the plugs would need replacing at 100k anyway. What is surprising is what the parts + labor cost for that is. But again, it'll be once in the lifetime of the car.
However, the estimate was pretty shocking. That's because they add-in all the "recommended" stuff; in my case 4 new tires and a 4-wheel alignment. They said the tires are getting kind-of low, but are not that bad yet. However, they figure I'd want to just go ahead and do it now, so they throw that hefty cost into the estimate. I do not want new tires yet. I want a year to recover.
IdRatherBeSkiing
Sherbert is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Yep, you go in for the $40 oil change and leave hundreds or thousands poorer.
The worst example of this was last spring, where I had prepaid for like 3 years of oil changes (the previous winter). So I thought I'd get my free oil change, free car wash, and drive it home. I needed a set of brakes (pads, rotors, and calipers, maybe $850), a cabin air filter ($100), a radiator flush ($150), and... oh, we found where that oil leak is coming from. New oil filter housing, $900. So a free oil change was $2k.
I can relate. Just dumped $990 into my son's 2005 Corolla today.