Grumpy Bear

$4 a gallon. Well news to pump didn't take long. 36 cent a gallon jump in five seconds after the news broke.

This biggest difference in a HM oil is in contains some "Seal Conditioner". DEXOS oils and most shelf oils are "Dry" oils which over time harden seals. "Seal Conditioner" is more times than not, an Ester. Addition will soften the seals over time but will not repair one that leaks or has cracked. Esters also provide some cleaning but these HM oils don't contain enough to solve out hard deposits. Just the soft stuff. Also a function of an Ester. Ester's are not 'allowed' as a 'co-base" by license. Weird, right? A certain amount is allowed as an additive. Bunch of game playing is what it is. It's why HM oils don't have a DEXOS approval. DEXOS is a license 'with' a specification but is not a specification. Never was, never will be. It's GM's slot machine always paying the house. Use what you like.

We have a deposit on one. Dizzy is going to need a replacement sooner that later. We live equidistant from two towns 40 miles apart and the range of this the vehicle is in that sweet spot. Plus it's plastic and sans paint! I have 220 V in the garage so a station is not much of a lift. Wife wants the square back SUV variant and I want the extended battery. No frills salt truck for those mindless runs to town that eat up fuel economy on the gas burners and waist them away in winter salt. Plus I can sit my beer on it without worrying about a scratch. No midwinter, on my back in the snow oil changes. I figure it is the cheapest way into dipping a toe into the EV market. Plus it serves a utility.

Hey Atlas, thanks for taking us along. I love this stuff.

Six inches of rain over three days. That's our average July total! We got half that in about ten minutes yesterday. Ground is soaked and every sprinkle turns into a river. Sump pumps are getting a workout. If you want some, bring a bucket, bring a barrel. Bring a truck.

I'm suborn like that Ed. There's a plaque in my doctor office that says, "Don't quit, take a break." Works for allot of things. Reality is, the wife loves her SUV and even given it's issues, she'd buy another if she found one with low enough miles. Then again she has me to maintain it. Most of what ails this thing is GM shooting themselves in the foot and by extension the buyer. Besides a ridiculous breather system the cat warm up strategy, IMHO, is the dumbest thing I've ever seen an OEM do to a vehicle they warranty. On cold start it r-e-t-a-r-d-s the ignition to like -17* ATDC and dump fuel like kicking over a pail to force combustion in the CAT's for rapid warm up. This literally hoses the oil off cylinder walls and creates enough varnish precursors to stick rings in even well maintained engines. THEN if that wasn't bad enough they recommend using a wanting fluid specification at equally stupid interval. Common to all GDI motors I'm aware of is this silly practice of driving the HPFP off the cam giving a leaking pump direct and unchecked access to the crankcase. And sir, eventually they ALL leak. Your job is to "catch it if you can". Yes, these are the same people that removed dipsticks from engines and transmissions in belief Joe Average wasn't capable of checking, reading and maintain his own vehicles fluids. Sadly and in large they were correct. Most people these days can't tell a sparkplug from a fire plug. Great ideas one and all. Every move and every error calculated to defend themselves from the law and their own customers.

Just did an injector/HPFP replacement on Pepper at 192,400 miles; close enough to 200K, RIGHT? (If 200K is considered life end and to me it isn't). But hey, to each his own. Have never run a catch can on this vehicle. Back side of every valve looked like a new valve spray painted semigloss black. Port walls looked 'neat' (all a normal result of passive EGR via VVT) Zero build up even in AFM cylinders. Just color. It uses no measurable oil and never has. At 155,000 I put her on E-85 and a borescope of the cylinders at plug change showed very clean pistons and valve faces. The replaced injector tips looked new. (It was the pump piston seal that was leaking). Oh well, have six good backups. Still gets 28 mpg on gas (highway average) and over 20 (highway) on alky. UOA's look good and runs as good now as it did when I bought it. Better in fact. What improvement would a Catch Can provide this motor? And given all this I expect that IF I installed one I'd see some water/gas/oil vapor accumulation. Byproducts of normal combustion. Having said that, IF my motor used an appreciable amount of oil I'd consider it a useful 'crutch' until I had the situation corrected OR if bore polished, until I junked it or rebuilt it to stave off repeated plug fouling. I'm not telling you what I THINK. But what its DONE.

Love the look. I'm a SCSB lover myself. Two items. 1.) A spacer changes scrub radius but this also changes when we use wheels of different offsets. A little isn't a big deal. 2.) Steel wheels, alloy wheels all have different thickness. Same effect on the stud and lug nut as a spacer. When hub centric the wheel isn't supported by the stud. It's supported by the hub. The stud just keeps it all together.

No, but don't skimp on safe!

Open the doors for a few minutes to let out the heat. When you start up crack the windows until the air from the vents in cooler. Purge the heat held in the ducts from the dash acting as an insulator. Run the recirc once the windows are up. Pennies make a dollar. Use all the tricks. Even if you have tint, in an area like yours use those reflective sun screens. Educate yourself. Use your Fluke and an thermocouple on interior temps. Hang it from the mirror. See how even the angle you park at has an impact.

7/4/2026 Maintenance Update I gave Jason a bit of a blank check (within reason). If you find something, fix it don't tell me about it (within reason). AC clutch crapped out. I've been hearing if for near a year and milked for all it was worth. Used unit going in. We'll see on the belt and tensioner. We have an understanding on what this truck is and what I'm willing yet to do. Added to the list I gave him. So far few surprises. Not much longer.

I haven't been able to get on BITOG this week. Thinks I'm a robot and kicks me out. They have no idea how right they are.

AMC's rarest muscle car was faster than any Corvette My bestie in high school owned one and I got to ride in it every Saturday night. What a rocket. It's stable mate in his collection was a 66 Impala SS.

Hummm....let me know my little guineapig. They've been on a roll recently, right? https://contentassets.autozone.com/safety_data_sheet/USA/1580931.pdf

While you are waiting on parts... On my last few vehicles I've been installing full ceramic UVA/UVB/Infrared blocking window tint even over the solar glass my 2015 was fitted with. At high sun angles on cloudless days this is HUGE reduction in compressor load (interior heat from radiation) and your personal comfort. The new generations of Refrigerant are not as efficient as they once were. I can't see my breath (meat locker style) but I can run the system on very low settings on very hot days and be quite comfortable. It keeps up well and if you use the recirculation until cooled down, it does so fairly quickly. If ultra humid stay in recirc. The blend door has a minimum; you won't suffocate.

What a wonderful result! Great story telling to. You are quite multifaceted sir. I'd keep it. Four is my limit too and yet we have five as well. One assigned the 'salt car' to do all those tasks you hate to ask of your 'Save for Good" crowd. Don't forget the antifreeze. The Iron 4.3 is a favorite of mine.

$3.63 today. Inching down. Plenty still over $4.20

Looks about right given the data provided. Could it be better? Perhaps. But in spec isn't going to get it that way under warranty.

Looks like the entire state is burning.

I Wouldn't Know Where to Begin Oh I know where I would begin but I'm just one of over eight billion people on this rock. Eight billion versions of where the goal post is. How large it should be. How far to kick from. What ball is the right ball. Elevation. Age.....are you getting the point? It isn't about disagreeing with one individual. It's about agreeing only with one individual. One's self. Agreement comes when multiple people hold the same point. THAT is the goal of an education. Building the Social Contract. That thing that allows us to all read this sentence. We've agreed on the alphabet and how to arrange those letters into words we agree upon whose meanings hold true for everyone entering into that contract. Those words arranged into a sentence form an idea and several sentences strung together in a paragraph convey an argument for or against or inform the reader of a state, condition or perhaps reveal a things nature. Paint a word picture. Make oneself known. This contract is not limited to words although they are often explained by words. Things like numbers and their usefulness. Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Music, Art and so on. The frequency of middle C (C4) is 261.63 Hz is a first principle, not a suggestion. We build on that to make music we all can enjoy even if we all can not compose or play. You don't have to master it to make it enjoyable and useful. So why is the Beginning so difficult? Why is agreement so elusive? Everyone "Signs" the contract (when receiving that education in obtaining it) but fewer and fewer in this world have any intention of living by that contract. They find exploiting that contract more advantageous. Disruption. With intent. Without intent. In Ignorance. In your face. With a double dog dare you. With a hold my beer. In resistance to that contract and in spite how it looks on us. It permeates the very air we breath. In this way the contract is subject to advantage. Abide by it when it serves you, disregard it when it doesn't. Unpredictable and self-serving. Corrosive.....Toxic........ It says a lot about a persons character to disregard the contract, the truth, first principles. None of it good. ******************************************************** https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/character-vs-personality-who-we-are-and-who-we-aspire-to-be/ Just an interesting article.

Gasgacinch, James Gaskets. Good stuff. High tac to help hold the gasket in place while assembling parts. Fills minor surface imperfections. Slightly elastic. Gasoline / coolant / oil proof. Very handy stuff. Nothing like RTV.

I have one station in my area back to Prewar E-85 pricing. $2.199. Everyone one else and every other grade still 86 cents to a buck higher. This chart is Shell V Power Nitro Plus 93 at my cheapest source and with my 4% COSTCO discount card. Dating back to 9/11/2024

Now I know which ones not to be interested in. Thanks! You've got this.

Local Weather tells us that we tied a record in June for hottest single day on record since the 1930 "Dust Bowl" period. We also set a record for number of consecutive days of 100F or more F heat index for June. July is going to start with a three day string of 100+ heat index days. We may get some relief on Saturday but even that day is a Level 1 risk. I can't imagine what it is like for those east of us that are 10 degrees hotter. Whew! Saw some guys in a grocery store parking lot yesterday hand patching pot holes in mid afternoon covered head to toe in dark heavy clothing and hats. Nothing but eyeballs to be seen. Working like madmen. Not a water bottle in sight. That's nuts.

$3.65 for Regular in a few places.