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Lawnmower2020

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    2014 LT-Z71, 2016 Corvette, 2015 MINI

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  1. This probably won't help you guys, but BMW had a very clever solution to exactly this problem. Have your cake and eat it too, as it were. In some models -- mine was an E39 4.4L -- they included a heated thermostat. It had a small heating coil in the wax pellet that was energized in unusually hot conditions so that the normal 200F thermostat instantly became a 180F thermostat, thereby increasing the flow through the radiator dramatically. As a side effect, it simultaneously increased the cooling capacity of the transmission cooler. In all the time I owned that car, I was aware of it activating only a handful of times, and that was during high-90s and stop-go traffic. But it worked like a champ. You have the high temps for emissions AND the cooling capacity of a lower tstat. Of course the chances that one of those BMW tstats would fit a GM product is pretty small, but then, that might be a machine shop visit away. Oddly enough, they were surprisingly cheap as a replacement part. Someone should tell the Ford guys that they should use the passenger compartment heater, set on max heat and fan, as supplemental cooling as the Ford engineers intended. Here's one source for the electrically adjustable thermostat.
  2. Just FYI, standard USB 1 and 2 ports supply 5VDC +- 5% at 500mA. USB3 supplies 5VDC +0.25V -0.55V for "low current" applications, up to 900mA. There's also a spec for USB charging (i.e. non-data) ports that are specified to supply 5VDC +-5% at either 1.5A or 3.0A. I would expect that the USB in the truck conforms to standard USB2 and can supply only 500mA which is sort of underwhelming for device charging purposes. Therefore you will be better off buying a specialized 5V USB charger that plugs into the 12VDC power socket in the truck. This would also explain the admonition against trying to use a mechanical HDD. It might work, but probably would not as 2.5W is below what most 2.5" drives would need to spin up. I have confirmed that it does work with a low power SSD connected through an Apricorn "SATAWire".
  3. Well, "Nerd", you are SO far off base here that you ought to do everyone a favor and just edit the post to say "oops" because, so far, you've posted NOTHING that's right. The inverter puts out a "modified sine" -- basically a square wave with a variable pulse width for regulation -- that some loads will tolerate and others will not. Induction motors, which at this power level would be most likely shaded-pole types will NOT be happy at all with it and will probably trip it off. Universal motors, small ones, will tolerate it okay. Most electronics tolerate it well. Electronics with "power factor correction" may or may not tolerate it. Anything labelled over 150W will trip it off. Bottom line, it's okay for (most) laptop chargers, etc. Forget drills, saws, fans, immersion heaters.....
  4. Those of you with this problem should report it on NHTSA's web site. If the steering suffers a lockup or loss of ability to control the wheels at 65 mph it would not be hilarity that ensues. It sounds to me that this has the makings of a recall, particularly with the tacit admission -- they're redesigning something, right? -- from GM that there's a problem. With enough reports of the problem it's much easier to get the recall ball rolling.
  5. I do. It just sits at the editor. Push it again, it actually posts a second copy of everything, but still sits at the editor. It never exits the editor. Beats me! Back to your regularly scheduled programming........
  6. BTW, the service manager at my dealership was pleasantly chatty last week and I asked him about his experience with intake carbon buildup. Said he's seen a few of them in the DI engines so far with mileage over 30K. I didn't ask him whether GM was paying for the cleanup, but got the feeling that they were covering it. I'm thinking of SeaFoam directly into the intake every oil change... [why in blazes does this post the same text two or more times without exiting the editor after pushing the "post" button?]
  7. Jeebus that's a lot of oil in that (1L plastic?) bottle. Holy cow. I find it a little hard to believe that this engine has a properly functioning PCV system. That much looks like it would gunk up an engine in no time at all. It would probably collect in the recesses of the intake tuning features.
  8. Well.... At 100C the viscosity of the 5W-30 is 26% higher than the viscosity of 0W-20 for the same Mobil1 product line. Is 26% huge or not? I think it's certainly enough of a difference to have an effect on pumping and windage losses, but since we have no idea how large those are in the overall scheme of things, it may or may not be visible in actual use. As long as GM is okay with the film strength in the thinner product, I'll prolly stick with their recommendations. On the other hand, If I were pulling a heavy trailer cross-country in mid-July, I might get wild and crazy with something a bit thicker at the higher oil temperatures you'd expect to encounter.
  9. It's true that GM specifies 5W30 for the 6.2L Corvette variants of the Gen-V engines. According to Mobil's product data sheets there's quite a bit (a lot more than I expected to see) difference in viscosity between 0W-20 M1 Dexos and 5W-30 M1 Dexos: Viscosity at 100C...... 0W-20 = 8.7 5W-30 = 11.0 cSt Viscosity at 40C...... 0W-20 = 44.8 5W-30 = 61.7 cSt Obviously, there's a lot of overlap in viscosity over normal engine operating temperatures, but there's no getting around the fact that temperature for temperature, the 0W-20 is a lot thinner. I just had my truck's 5.3L engine oil changed at the dealer last week. Asked for Mobil1. Guess what they put in: 5W-30. On edit: corrected the temperatures (100C and 40C)
  10. That's a really good question. I'd like to know that too. Also along the same lines, is there a limit on how much weight can sit in the bed in a particular area. IOW, at what point (say pounds per square foot or something similar) might damage to the sheet metal or underlying structure of the bed be at risk for damage? I've been putting plywood or 4x4's or something like that under loads that present a lot of pressure in a small area, but it would be nice to know just how strong the bed structure is.
  11. Totally agree. It's not designed for this purpose and you know what they say about excrement occurring. Otherwise, I like your selection of the Mann product. You do not need any fancy machined aluminum part for this purpose, especially with the weight it entails stuck out on a cantilevered bent bracket like most of the installations here seem to have. That is going to vibrate (I'd NEVER install anything like that in any of the "vibrator" trucks!). It's too much mass stuck out too far, and connected to a mounting point not designed for this purpose. Those long hoses are unsupported through most of their length. Those brackets will break. Right at the bend. You watch. Second point: Why does everyone want the can to be mounted in a "cool" location? That makes no sense to me. If it's "hot", the water, which appears to be the main component of what these capture, will simply evaporate without any ill effects. The oil has a far higher evaporation point and will remain in the can, therefore it won't have to be drained so often. Here is another advantage to the Mann product -- it's plastic. Lower thermal mass, lower heat transfer = more water evaporated back into the intake. That translates to more flexibility in mounting location too. There's no problem draining that little bit of water back into the sump either. 15 minutes at full operating temperature will evaporate it and send it through the engine like it's supposed to. And a question for Spurshot: what did you do with the return/drain tube? Is there a convenient location for it to connect to to drain back into the sump? One last question for others who've done this mod: Do/did you see any significant (for the lack of a better term) oil consumption in your engines before you installed the can? I'm still on the factory fill, but there hasn't been one bit of consumption visible on the dipstick (always measured hot for consistency) in 4K miles. If you're actually pouring "cans full" of liquid away, and it's actually oil in there, shouldn't you be seeing measurable consumption?
  12. I'm not trying to speak for or "defend" (which isn't necesary) PickUPS, but I do think I get where he's coming from, and understand his "working hard". I practice a similar driving style, I think. However, I wouldn't characterize it as "work", but rather development of certain habits that are known to improve overall efficiency. The "work" comes in because applying these habits requires more active involvement than merely pushing on the gas pedal and pointing the truck in the right direction. So, I guess if one characterizes Paying Close Attention To Driving as "work", then I suppose someone might call it work, but I prefer to think of it as responsible use of the vehicle and the fuel it consumes.
  13. It appears that there is some kind of underlying problem with BT connectivity. My experience.... have a phone that connected and worked perfectly in my 2011 for the three years I owned it. Now, in my new 2014, the same phone goes through a cycle of connected-disconnect-connected-disconnect-connected-disconnect-crash phone. By crash phone, I mean that it actually turns the phone OFF without human intervention. It pairs up just fine, but immediately enters this crash and burn scenario 100% of the time. Makes no difference which device initiates the pairing. I have another (older, ironically) phone that works perfectly. Both of the phones are Nokias.
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