The Peckish Synapse

[Atlas]

13 minutes ago, KARNUT said:

I’m done the politics here. There’s no common ground. The TDS is real and there’s no cure. 

 

There's no common ground with those on the far-right who excuse that kind of lying, corruption, and grifting. Stay away from politics, Stan. If you can't be truthful and can't distinguish right from wrong, nobody wants you to be part of the discussion.

[KARNUT]

2 minutes ago, Atlas said:

 

There's no common ground with those on the far-right who excuse that kind of lying, corruption, and grifting. Stay away from politics, Stan. If you can't be truthful and can't distinguish right from wrong, nobody wants you to be part of the discussion.

New nasty man. There no discussion just nastiness. Have at it. 

[KARNUT]

33 minutes ago, customboss said:

You were right Stan. You are correct!! Right!

That’s nothing new.

[Atlas]

4 minutes ago, KARNUT said:

New nasty man. There no discussion just nastiness. Have at it. 

 

Are you done this time? Done like the last 17 times you've exited the forum in a huff, said you were never coming back, told us we were all being ignored, or that you were "done" with a certain topic, only to reply 5 more times?

[KARNUT]

35 minutes ago, Atlas said:

 

Are you done this time? Done like the last 17 times you've exited the forum in a huff, said you were never coming back, told us we were all being ignored, or that you were "done" with a certain topic, only to reply 5 more times?

Hey nasty man. This is where you’re delusional. I said I’m done with political discussion in this forum. It’s been infected with some people who don’t want to find common ground. When the obvious is pointed out they get nasty. Just like you. 

[PhilB]

1 hour ago, KARNUT said:

The TDS is real and there’s no cure.

This is part of the op-ed in the 12/29/2025 STL Post-Dispatch, that Customboss is referring to.  It was written by Janet Y Jackson, a columnist and editorial board member.  So the next time you post TDS, you're really referring to yourself.

Who really has 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' in America today?

President Donald Trump and his supporters have concocted an acronym they call “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” (TDS) which they define as obsession with criticizing everything Trump.

The reality is that this acronym doesn’t describe those of us with a fervent disgust of all things Trump. In fact, it better describes those who support Trump's every whim, regardless of its effect on the American people or the Constitution.

 

[customboss]

2 hours ago, KARNUT said:

don’t want to find common ground.

Oh my. How do you find common ground with a grifter as prez? 

[Grumpy Bear]

Getting back on the Tracks

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/the-japanese-four-cylinder-engine-that-outlasts-every-german-rival/ar-AA1X5VJO?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=fa422a5470a641a4eb2147fa48664b64&ei=8

 

 

Having benchmarks for longevity are handy. The K series I4 Honda sets that mark for daily driver Joe Average maintainer service coming in at 300K. Annal caretakers and adult drivers of a more finnicky nature 500K. 

 

At the other end of the spectrum BMW and VW 2.4 I4 Turbos see in the neighborhood of 150 K as a good engine life. 200K for the elite souls. 

 

Design philosophy and execution have a good deal to do with this but so does maintenance philosophy and fluids/filter choices.

 

*************************************

 

So....what can it mean that guys, my father, uncle, cousin and myself, ran FE Fords, 352, 360 & 390 well past 300K, a few double that, on mineral oils and 1-2K oil changes? 

 

People tell me that "Todays" motors are far superior and "Todays" oils are so much better and people "Today" are so much smarter and yet motor failures and endless OEM lawsuits indicate otherwise. 

 

GM has had good motors. Buick 3800 or GM LS and even Chevy Gen 1 SBC 327's.

 

Chrysler hand the Slant 225 I6, AMC the 232 I-6 and Ford the 300 I6, all million mile motors. 

 

When a car or truck rotted out or was wrecked and the powertrain was mint, we found a unit in good shape with a bad powertrain and kept transplanting. I've seen motors of that era outlast a half dozen body/chassis.

 

Yea, we are so much better off now.  

[OnTheReel]

7 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

 

 

Yea, we are so much better off now.  

All of this modern automotive “longevity” goes along especially well with the current state of finance. 8 year car loans on an engine that won’t last 4. Let the negative equity games begin!

[Atlas]

10 hours ago, OnTheReel said:

All of this modern automotive “longevity” goes along especially well with the current state of finance. 8 year car loans on an engine that won’t last 4. Let the negative equity games begin!

 

Enter Extended warranties and gap coverage, tack those on to that 6% 84 month loan.

 

Don't forget the $2k ceramic screw job to "protect your investment". Bonus points if there's a travel trailer of 5'er financed at 10% for 15 or 20 years to drag behind it.

 

I think painting all modern engines with a broad stroke of inherent unreliability/defect is a bit broad. Not entirely untrue, but there are some factors to consider.

 

One, access has greatly increased to TSB's, forums, recalls, etc so we are now all aware that every car made under the sun has some sort of problem for someone, and automakers are now documenting these problems with increased frequency and visibility for reasons of legal defense against an increasingly angry/litigious buyer.

 

Name one modern engine you think will go the distance.

 

I think the GM 2.7 is here to stay. Laugh if you will but I don't think GM will let this one be a mistake underpinning all of its midsize pickups and a big handful of its fullsizes as well.

 

[OnTheReel]

5 hours ago, Atlas said:

 

Enter Extended warranties and gap coverage, tack those on to that 6% 84 month loan.

 

Don't forget the $2k ceramic screw job to "protect your investment". Bonus points if there's a travel trailer of 5'er financed at 10% for 15 or 20 years to drag behind it.

 

I think painting all modern engines with a broad stroke of inherent unreliability/defect is a bit broad. Not entirely untrue, but there are some factors to consider.

 

One, access has greatly increased to TSB's, forums, recalls, etc so we are now all aware that every car made under the sun has some sort of problem for someone, and automakers are now documenting these problems with increased frequency and visibility for reasons of legal defense against an increasingly angry/litigious buyer.

 

Name one modern engine you think will go the distance.

 

I think the GM 2.7 is here to stay. Laugh if you will but I don't think GM will let this one be a mistake underpinning all of its midsize pickups and a big handful of its fullsizes as well.

 

I think the 2.7 is probably the best motor GM has in the trucks right now. Mainly because they forgot how to build the V8s correctly.

Funny, my 2019 Silverado was a not a great vehicle and totally broke my loyalty to GM, but the 6.2 always ran perfectly and made it to 112k and presumably still counting. Now GM apparently can’t build that motor to last 10% as long. But nevermind fixing that because they are already looking ahead to the next platform which will probably be even worse.
 

That’s my issue with everything. No quality anymore. Everything is designed to 1) be as cheap as possible to build, and 2) extract the most money possible out of you. Both at time of sale and in the future with repairs, replacements and subscriptions. It’s a game I don’t care to play anymore. 
 

Most modern engines can be made reliable but it takes an owner who cares and sometimes even sacrificing the warranty to do what’s right.

Things were not like this in the 80s and 90s. 

[Atlas]

2 hours ago, OnTheReel said:

Things were not like this in the 80s and 90s. 

 

I hear you on the corporate enpoopification of products over time. There's a lot of that, from cars to everything else we consume.

 

I think hindsight re: 80's and 90's is rosier than the actual era in which we lived. There was a LOT of junk coming out of those decades, whole cars, and engines. Sure, sure, there were some good ones too. In the case of GM engines, the good engines were usually in vehicles that otherwise fell apart by 100k. Specifically, crappy transmissions, or everything else was junky including brittle plastic interiors and cruddy electronics.

[asilverblazer]

19 hours ago, OnTheReel said:

That’s my issue with everything. No quality anymore. Everything is designed to 1) be as cheap as possible to build, and 2) extract the most money possible out of you. Both at time of sale and in the future with repairs, replacements and subscriptions. It’s a game I don’t care to play anymore.

That's capitalism, good luck getting out of that one. 

 

19 hours ago, OnTheReel said:

Things were not like this in the 80s and 90s. 

Sure they were, it's just that they are getting better at the game.

Edited March 4 by asilverblazer

[OnTheReel]

8 hours ago, asilverblazer said:

That's capitalism, good luck getting out of that one. 

 

Sure they were, it's just that they are getting better at the game.

Maybe so but at least they would fake it before. Think covid wound up being the final nail in my new car buying coffin. All the local dealers exposed themselves as degenerates and all the carmakers started building complete shite, if they were able to build anything at all. Things haven’t really been the same since and I wish them all the worst.

[Grumpy Bear]

A lack of depth perception. I think we all suffer from it. A forest for the trees sort of thing I expect. Devil is good at his job. 

 

Margins. Wage growth versus cost growth. Inflation isn't the rise in price. It's the inability of wages to keep pace with the cost of goods. If cost of goods outstrips wages just a quarter point over a hundred years buying power shrinks by 20% and it has been much worse than that. I has driven a household from on wage earner doing 40 hours to two or more wage earners with multiple jobs and still falling behind. 

 

Ridiculous expectations for corporate margin growth drive true inflation. Putting downward pressure on research, materials science and hard assets. Wage stagnation v product pricing. 

 

Ma and Pa Kettle needing more to run a house because no one is home doing what needs doing and fighting the decline in product quality coupled with increasing pricing driven by, (go back to the previous two paragraphs) Dog chasing his own tail thinking it is the tail of another dog. Depth perception. 

 

Liars telling lies about what is driving poverty while parachutes get larger and more golden for a few and the sheep get fleeced.

 

There is no reset. In fact over history this has been under acceleration force. In the time of Christ a 12 hour work day was paid 1 denarius. About 74 cents a day in todays US dollars. 6 cents an hour. I was making north of $30 an hour when I retired and the wife has now 166% of that. People bought homes at 6 cents an hour and can't at $50 if only one is working. 

 

Of course they build JUNK. Junk cars, junk homes, junk appliances, junk food.....Ops, that's another topic. 

 

Man hasn't fixed this in over six thousand years. And yet we believe it can be fixed by our collective will. Depth Perception.