Atlas

And your type encourages violence against people who don't think like you. Wear the shoe when it fits! Can you count the number of wars started in the name of Atheism? I can't -- because it's zero.

Our state gas tax is $0.49/gallon and $0.46/gallon estimated from the carbon tax system still doesn't explain the full price we pay up here. Part of it has to do with refining locations, the lack of a pipeline system (compared to the Midwest, East, South). The oil that comes out the ground in this region gets sold. Not like Texas where they can pump light sweet crude, refine it in Texas, and distribute it cheaply and regionally via pipeline. Our kWh rate is about $0.14 here on the wet side. Makes for cheap electricity for our EV. Not as cheap as inland NW where they're plugged into Grand Coulee, but close. We do have high taxes here, and the reason is, as you said. High expenses. Despite the cost of living here, it remains wildly popular

No, I'm not sure where you got that idea. I didn't say it or imply it.

And that's the difference. I don't wish to hunt anybody down for what they believe. I look at a lot of people and don't see intelligent design. If man is made in God's image, we're cooked.

Indoctrinated? I don't consider myself unworthy while kowtowing to Space Daddy, nor do I attend meetings every week and give money for someone to tell me how to live my life. Remember, only YOU control your emotions.

Still well over $4 for gas and diesel still about $5. Upper left, USA

I sure hope you find the man who does that for you, Grumps.

I hate automatic climate control, and having dual-zones is the worthless icing on top. It's a truck cab, not a multi-level mansion. Give me back 3 knobs. Vent setting, temperature, and fan speed. That's all I need. If a passenger is too hot or cold, they can ask to change the settings, or walk-- I don't care. In my experience, it's true: Changing anything while the system is in "auto" mode causes it to no longer be in "auto" mode. I think the owner's manual is a bit word-salad and should use the descriptors "static" and "dynamic". All controls are dynamic (changing) in true "auto" mode. Auto mode is disabled when any single control other than temperature setting is manually changed. The controls then retain their last setting as static (automatic, but not dynamic). The system will continue heating or cooling at your target temperature with a fixed vent position and fan speed if you've changed something that knocks it out of automatic mode. I understand the fan setting in the infotainment to be a maximum for auto mode. It can use any of the lower fan speeds as necessary, but if you fire up the truck on a hot day and set "auto" mode to freeze you out, it can only use the maximum fan speed selected in infotainment. I have mine set to medium because high is just too loud/obnoxious. I think this also controls the remote start HVAC fan speed. That's another level of dumb. I'd use it more if I parked the truck outside but I don't. I rarely use auto mode. For heating, I have it set on floor vents only, A/C turned off, set to 72 degrees. For cooling, I use bi-level vent mode (dash and floor vents, not defrost vents) set to 'LO' temperature (minimum) on whatever fan speed depending on how warm I am when I get in the truck and then adjust later. Again, why can't we just have 3 knobs (at least as an option for those of us who prefer simplicity)

I'm so glad we have AI in our lives...

Sounds like you're attempting the re-ndex procedure for the window, but you've encountered some trouble. It may because the original issue wasn't fixed first. If the window was returning to the down position when using the auto-UP feature, some kind of resistance is likely telling it to retreat. These have pinch protection so they will retreat downward if they think something is stuck between the window and door frame. Take a good look at the channels and weatherstrips and guides for the window and see if anything is causing extra resistance. It could also be the regulator going out, in which case, reindexing won't fix it.

I've owned a lot of different cars. I tend to turn them over every 2-3 years. I've kept a vehicle for 10 years and there's no trophy at the end. Just an old vehicle. Turning vehicles frequently isn't the financial disaster that some imagine. Sure, it's an expensive way to own a vehicle but what is life if you're not having fun and doing the things you want to do? Some people spend $20k to travel across the world to look at pictures on a wall, or rocks. Can't trade that in, all you get in return is a memory. Those are great, too, I'm not saying experiences aren't important, but the financial judgement of some just doesn't hold up. I've taken a different approach to new vehicle ownership which is I try to find the 1@, the aged inventory, cars a dealer wants to get rid of to make room for a more profitable unit or one that attracts more traffic. Something I'm happy with but isn't loaded to the hilt. It might already be aged a model year and has incentives and cash piled on the hood which typically wipes out a good chunk of years 1-3 depreciation. When it's time for something different, I generally trade. Most people say this is horrible practice, but actually, trading works well with newer, higher value vehicles that can still qualify for "new car" bank loans (1-5 years old) versus old stuff. Doing it in a state where a tax credit is applied to the trade value is also a good way to stay almost tax-neutral in a transaction, only paying tax on the difference. In the end, I compare my expense to turn a vehicle to what a comparable lease rate would be on that same vehicle. In most cases I beat the best lease deals and what I'm doing is essentially leasing and providing my own capital to do it. The interest or money factor is the opportunity cost to me, which, if I were to invest that money instead, it's actually not cheap. At the end of the day, I spend money to keep newer vehicles around and myself entertained with such, and I do so shamelessly because it's my money. And I recommend others spend (or save) theirs as they see fit!

Except ivermectin didn't do that either. Nor did any of the other miracle cures and witches brews which pseudo-science was peddling back then. The vaccine wasn't a cure at all. It was, and always has been, a vaccine. It has shown to reduce severity and prevent transmission. And like all vaccines, it has side effects in some populations. The difference with this vaccine is, it's had the hell politicized out of it. But anyway, the point is repeatable and reliable results obtained through structured testing (scientific method) across wide populations. That's not political, or genius, or anything else, it's how we arrive at conclusions with valid data.

I think all they're saying is the test/cure/whatever for Lyme's disease also needs to be held up to rigorous testing via scientific methods, i.e. the results need to be repeatable and reliable. Nothing wrong about that. Remember Covid? And the dimwits who insisted Ivermectin was a cure? They even pointed to a case or two where someone had covid, then they took ivermectin, and the covid went away. It was a miracle cure ...right?! They could prove it! Except ivermectin as a "cure" rapidly fell apart in actual clinical trials, i.e. trial by scientific method.

Yeah lots of nicer parks have a "10 year" rule. As if the daily rate at those places wouldn't keep the riffraff out anyway. Our first motorhome was about 10 years old when we bought it, but we kept it in tippy-top shape. Never had a problem. I understand the intent, but there are some RV park rules I really don't understand. Like the luxury parks that won't allow Super C's. Whatevs, there are other places to stay. But it's still a stupid rule. I can't do casinos, some people love them but I won't set foot in one if I don't have to. Even if it's free or very cheap to stay in one of their attached RV parks.

Motorhomes or RV's in general aren't for everyone. They're a lot of work and a lot of expense to keep them in good shape over time. That doesn't sound relaxing or much like vacation to most people, I hear that. The only way to get value out of them is to use the hell out of them, and you'll still lose money and put in a crapload of work. But yes, they're fun in the moment. We're headed to chase the sun for a few weeks...nothing like sitting outside on New Year's day in shorts and a t-shirt, feeling good, and getting in plenty of hiking.

I don't think it's any secret that for-profit companies might put cost above best outcomes in many if not most situations, specific examples not needed. Simply driving a vehicle is putting cost above best outcome because every mile and hour on an engine equates to increased wear, but we need the vehicle to get ourselves around. Using an engine, for the most part, is detrimental to its longevity. Speaking of Cummins, I've got an L9 in a motorhome. I've never put a true synthetic in it. I've run Delvac 1300 15w40 since it was new and change the oil at least once per year, or between 5-8k if we're doing a lot of traveling. It tows heavy all over the West Coast (mountain passes). It's a motorhome and 99% of them don't live to see 200k, the rest of the vehicle ages out/ falls apart, so I've never obsessed too much about what oil to use or how often to change. 5-8k is probably still overkill...I think the factory service interval on CK4 oil is 15k? It's long. I'm borderline on the fuel filters. Book says change them every 18 months, which I've done. Getting ready to put another 2500 miles on it so, do I change before the trip or after the trip. We're about at time, but way less on the miles. Takes one of the 63041NN spin-ons and a Detroit cartridge filter. The stupid Detroit thing is like $60 by itself. I hate to over-service on that one, but at the same time, there's so much juju around high pressure diesel injection and basically needing to keep the system sterile that it gets under my skin. I'm just rambling, keeping up with the general spirit of the the thread at this point

On the subject of OCI, I posted about the hot mess I'm putting back on the road, the 3.4L Camaro. It went 10 years between oil changes. Not many miles, but many years. I let it warm up and idle with the old oil in it while diagnosing issues and checking basic functions, like making sure the cooling fans kicked on once it hit its ECU-mandated 225 degrees. I took the idea of doing a "hot drain" a little too far. I was short on time, so after shutting it down, I let it cool off for 5 minutes and decided to let that old oil rip. I had a drain pan sitting on the paint shelf of a household ladder to catch the oil. The car was up on the lift. My lift drain happened to be full, so I was using my old standby, ladder and a drain pan. The oil came out roasty-toasty. The paint shelf doesn't quite support the whole drain pan. I wasn't paying attention. The hot oil caused the plastic pan to soften. As the pan became heavier with more oil, you can guess what happened next. Yep. The pan deformed and the edge slumped off the shelf and caused the pan (full of 4.5 quarts of oil) to topple and hit the ground, blasting nasty old oil everywhere. Thankfully I was wearing an old shirt and pants because it blasted me too. I maintain the ability to laugh at my own misfortune, so laugh at my self - while cussing out my situation - I did. But back to the subject. The idea was, get the oil piping hot, hopefully boil out the moisture, get all the crud suspended in the oil, and then drain it out and fill with fresh. The car has been running that new oil for about 150 miles. Now that I think of it, I should have sent a sample of the old stuff in to see what 10 year old oil (in an engine that's been sitting outside) looks like after that long. Missed opportunity. I'm wondering if I should change the oil again after just a few hundred miles. The idea behind that is new oil with a proper detergent package has been cleaning/dissolving any crud in that engine, and has also been running through the last of the car's old nasty gas followed by a bottle of injector cleaner with a few gallons of fresh fuel. The color of the new oil is noticeably darker since pouring it in, although, I know color isn't a great indicator of wear or particulates. But it makes me think it's cleaning. One thing I've noticed is the difference in the smell of the oil. Sequential port injection on an old iron block/head V6 keeps the oil smelling like oil. Not fuel. On all my modern gas cars the oil has a faint smell of fuel (they're all DI). Without any science, I'll probably do this change on superstition. I'll dump the oil (properly, into the lift drain this time) and swap the filter. The new tires got put on yesterday so it's officially-official, back on the road. I'm excited to see how it drives NOT on hard, blocky old tires. I'd like to put a few hundred miles on it and really let it stretch. I've got a nice dry day ahead...

Truly, I'm glad that private conversations are keeping you entertained. But one wonders about the accuracy of that claim when you continue broadcasting from your soapbox unprompted and publicly, again, when nobody seems to be asking you the questions to which you direct your replies. It kinda, sorta, looks like an old man shouting into the wind, if you know what I mean. Go on. Why should we be worried about HTHS? Can I use 5w30 in my lawnmower even though it calls for 10w30? What if I only mow in the summertime? Can I put synthetic in an older engine that existed before synthetics were widely used? Why did Derek from Vice Grip put Rotella 15w40 in everything--except now he uses Valvoline of a lighter weight for most of his wrecks. Why?

I don't think anyone said the world needs to stop making chocolate ice cream or that anyone should quit talking about it. I think some of us are curious why so much of it is being made when nobody's here is really eating it.

Why not drop the pan, change the filter, and do a couple of successive drain/refills while it's warm (thermostat open, if still equipped). It's not that hard, or expensive, and accomplishes replacing 95% of the fluid at once. It's like when people do this with power steering and use a little turkey baster to suck a little bit of fluid out and replace it with new over several oil changes. Jeebus... Pop the dang return line, hang it into a pan, plug the reservoir and have someone keep it full with new fluid while you crank the wheel lock to lock (with the engine off). It takes 10 minutes to do, and then you're done, completely flushed the system with clean fluid which should be good for another 20-30k before you should change it again. Hang a power steering filter on there for a gold star/ bonus points.

That's why a bunch of GM vehicles shipped without heated seats, DFM, and other electronics back in the covid era, don'tcha know. That and all the 5G stuff they were doing back then... Working on this old '94 Camaro, OE parts are still available even though they've been long discontinued. Some parts are still common to other newer vehicles and can be purchased through AC Delco. There's still lots of NOS/New old stock floating around on the internet, eBay, craigslist. And it's still relatively simple, although, getting harder, to find OE recycled parts. The cars of that era that show up in salvage yards typically aren't well kept. The few good examples that do end up there via insurance total are typically picked over very quickly. That's all to say that most "OE" parts aren't hard to find--if one is willing to hunt a little bit. Well, according to US law, there isn't a requirement. Some OE's may choose to only manufacture parts for some models for only 10 years based on demand but that's a business decision which is different from a legal requirement.

There's actually no US law or regulation that requires automakers to supply OE parts for 10 years.

But people want to "science" just how frequently and data which confirms their desire for changing on a shorter interval. I get that. Also, most people aren't that. Changing oil is a necessary chore they try to remember to do on time as part of owning a wheeled appliance with an internal combustion engine. That's where KISS comes in, chemical engineering doctorate not required. But somewhere along the way people people with those credentials made it "safe" for the general population to follow a basic maintenance schedule without questioning the "why" too much. I also see more answers than questions being asked on here about oil change intervals. I think that's where I get confused. Who is the audience for all this information if it's already been answered, and nobody has asked since then?

I hope everyone had a good holiday. Ours was filled with way too much turkey and pie, which is a good problem to have.

Hi Will, welcome. My first thought is u-joints or a transmission mount going bad, or maybe both. There shouldn't be any slack in your u-joints in the driveshaft. If there is, the joints should be replaced immediately.