The other day some of us were discussing automotive batteries. Hybrids and regular.
I got all smug about my 2000 Silverado I bought new in October ’99. Original battery, never a problem.
Yeah, right. You guessed it. JINX
Went to the beach today for a little ride, thankfully parked above the high tide line in the sugarsand. Played some new CDs, which I have never done down there, before.
Time to go home, DOH!!!
Called my neighbor, who was kind enough not to laugh too hard when he picked me up. Made it to the parts store just before closing.
I guess I had it coming….BUT life is good and I’m lucky.
I’m not flippin’ you off………just counting cubits
Replies
Way back in the "good old days" (early 70s) you were lucky to get two years out of a battery, especially up here in the Frozen North. But battery technology really has improved to the point where 6-8 years from a battery is almost "normal", and 10 isn't unheard of.
Strangely, the old air-cooled VWs used to get years from a battery, back when the battery lived under the back seat. I guess the cooler, less stressful environment was better for it.Of course, the fact that the motor was so gutless that the starter motor didn't have to work real hard probably helped too.
I learned on a Beetle - what a wonderful little car. Of course, that was when I lived at sea level, so I don't know how they performed on hills.
"Of course, that was when I lived at sea level, so I don't know how they performed on hills."Now you do, right?Years ago, we had Olga, a 40 hp VW bus. Olga wouldn't go over 60 unless she was falling off a cliff, and it was a good idea to pack a snack before trying to get to 60, but she was unstoppable. We moved across country and carried about 100 pounds more than she weighed (curb weight was 1995 pounds, total weight on a truck scale in the Midwest was something like 4100 pounds), while going 50 mph or better on the flats, but going up the mountains (Sierra Nevada and Rockies) mean going 15 mph. You could sure enjoy the countryside in detail - like walking.
"Now you do, right?"
No, I could only guess. When I came west I drove a Datsun. I hit Wyoming with no speed limit, floored the pedal and got up to 40 :)
if you were headed west you could say you were doing 80......
all that wind and dust and another 10 years you'll be able to cross Wyoming on the flats in Nebraska
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
I learned on a Beetle - what a wonderful little car. Of course, that was when I lived at sea level, so I don't know how they performed on hills.
My early vehicles were mostly VWs, two bugs and two Kombi vans. The '66 van carried many odd loads, up to one ton.
I used that Kombi in the high Sierras of Mexico when I worked on a small mining operation there. It climbed very well with a good load, up steep dirt roads in first gear at atitudes of 5,000 to 8,000 ft. The excellent ground clearance helped too.
My '66 Kombi was the first of that type that anyone in Durango had seen. The Texan I worked with looked down his nose at it, until he saw how easily it handled the steep dirt roads, then he wanted to drive it all the time.
I bet you had a copy of the VW owners' bible: "How to keep your volkswagon alive- a manual for the compleat idiot."
I knew nothing about cars, but after reading it, I was motivated to do all sorts of stuff to my 69 bug. Great car, except for the lack of heat.
I bet you had a copy of the VW owners' bible: "How to keep your volkswagon alive- a manual for the compleat idiot."
I wish I'd known about that book. I'd surely have had a copy. Sounds like you had a good time, doing maintenance and improvements.
I had some basic knowledge about auto mechanics from previous cars, particularly about the ignition and fuel systems. In addition to a spark plug wrench, I always had a screw driver, a set of feeler guages and a point file close at hand. Not far away were a fresh set of plugs, points and condenser, along with some other metric wrenches.
I also had some good karma with mechanical things, I guess, because I always seemed to understand, by logic and intuition, how to get a stubborn machine running again.
That was then, forty years ago when cars were simpler to work on, if less reliable. I enjoyed that challenge and the confidence it gave me as a young man.
That was then, forty years ago when cars were simpler to work on, if less reliable. I enjoyed that challenge and the confidence it gave me as a young man.
I felt the same way. After changing the exhaust system, fixing the brakes, etc. on my car, I had the confidence, not to mention naivete, to build a house too.
Cars today are way too complicated for me. I can check the oil, but that's about it. I suppose I could still build a house though.
Cars today are way too complicated for me.
We're not alone. Trained mechanics can't work on them either, not without their computer diagnostics systems, hooked up and running perfectly.
I've become dependent on the computer too, but I still have a library card which gets regular use. Ironically, my library card is a plastic key chain thing with a SKU on it.
Now that Auto Zone offers tools for loan and free diagnostics, I have started working on cars again. Hook it up and I figure from there.
Due to being broke, I just did a valve job on a 5.4 Triton after it dropped a valve and put a hole in the piston. Replaced all 4 ball joints on MIL's pickup. Idler arm and some other front end part on one sons truck, brake job and new rotors on the others.
Nothing has changed mechanically, only the fuel distribution method and monitoring. The pistons still pis, the cam cams and the crank still cranks. Better methods of manufacture and materials make these failures way less common than in years past.
My '91 Toyota pickup has been so reliable that I hardly ever get under the hood anymore. Solid lifters mean that I adjust the valves once a year, when I also change the plugs.
Other than that, I install new brake pads every couple of years, a free swap from Autozone.
When it needed a clutch, after 200,000 miles, I looked at the service manual to see if I could do it on jack stands.
There were a few things that needed some serious leverage and others that were real awkward, lying down.
So, being that I'd never replaced a clutch or dropped a tranny while lying on my back, I called a local shop which had sent out a flyer, offering a cheap price for a clutch job.
I supplied the OEM parts and they did the labor for $150. Turned out that their guy spent the entire morning on that clutch, with every conceiveable tool and my shop manual close by. I was really happy that I hadn't tried it on jack stands in the garage.
BTW, many old time independent parts stores have specialty tools to loan to guys like us who buy stuff from them. You just have to ask.
So how'd you replace the piston without yanking the engine? Or did you pull it?
Edited 7/10/2009 11:44 am by Hudson Valley Carpenter
I was able to jack it up and get the pan off and the piston out. Had to remove the crossmember, its a 4X4.
I wish I'd had the money to put the rings in all cylinders, but where do you stop? A longblock from the rebuilder was $2800, I spent about $800 or so on the valve job. First overhead cam motor I ever worked on, 2 chains on 3 gears.
I was able to jack it up and get the pan off and the piston out. Had to remove the crossmember, its a 4X4.
I imagine that you were glad that the crossmember was bolted in, not welded.
I had to do a "field" piston replacement like that once, on an old Chevy six. Unbeknownst to me, it had a leaky manifold gasket which leaned out the mixture to one of the central pistons.
I was late to work one morning, bookin' up the NYS Thruway at about ninety when the piston holed out, slowing me to about sixty and sending a cloud of white smoke out the tail pipe. I made it to work but that was it.
Fortunately one of the guys on the job was sympathetic and had some tools. So after work, we disconnected the driveshaft and the motor mounts, then jacked that engine up until it was finally high enough for the pan to clear the frame's welded front cross member.
It took about three days, after work, to get it all done and back together.
I wish I'd stayed in touch with that very helpful and friendly guy.
..like my bus....a motorized mule...could carry all kinds of stuff, sure footed, but, at it's own pace
Hey Pedro, I drove one of your cousins, the twin carb version....
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
Good choice on the parking spot!
It's like the standard rule from the old days roaming the mountains in beat up 4x4s: Always park pointed down a hill!
Yup, Living here at the shore I've seen too many "surprised" folks come back from their 'long walks on the beach' and they weren't showing any 'sense of humor'.
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
Tide?Wazzat?
Laundry detergent, right?;)One story here is a guy rented his Boston Whaler to folks from Nebraska for the week.
they tied up directly to the pier instead of at the float - in high tide.Another guy told him, Hey Chris, I saw your Whaler standing at attention tied up over at Camden...
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
"Tide?Wazzat?
Laundry detergent, right?"Nah, its a football team down south. Used to have a coach an ursine nickname.:)BruceT
Edited 7/9/2009 2:58 am by brucet9
Around the bowl and out the hole
Roll, tide, Roll
Ya gotta be from Jersey!!! Any other coastal reference is called the to the south or north is called "the beach".... Sure do miss th "shore"As long as GOD makes "bad builders" and rich people... I will have a job
I have, no bs, at least 3 different stories about my father in law raving about my wife's Jeep Cherokee and how fantastic and trouble free it's been, followed by, literally within a day or two, a breakdown. I'd tell them but I'm afraid to strand her somewhere with the kids.I hope I didn't say too much already.Bing
"I have, no bs, at least 3 different stories about my father in law raving about my wife's Jeep Cherokee and how fantastic and trouble free it's been, followed by, literally within a day or two, a breakdown. I'd tell them but I'm afraid to strand her somewhere with the kids.I hope I didn't say too much already.Bing"Happened to me a couple of weeks ago, i was driving my 2000 ford ranger and said to myself this thing is running pretty good. Wrong thing to say, next day had to make 4 or 5 stops and on the last one i got in the truck and it wouldn't come out of park. Had it towed and turned out to be a bad brake light switch and a few bad wires, somehow tied into the interlock system. $200 later good as new, now i keep my mouth shut.
but ya just didn't....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
Not fer nuttin' but that's why God invented jumper cables, ain't it?
Don Imus on NY radio, early one Monday morning on my way to work: "There's a traffic jamb on 5th avenue this morning. The Puerto Rico Day Parade was yesterday and it seems they only brought one set of jumper cables".
Update:
The truck is 10 years old but the radio/cd/tape/stereo system has a built in theft protection which I had forgotton about.
The system locks up with any power interuption such as this one, battery replacement. So, I get out the owner's manual, find the section, understand it fairly well and start to implement the 'unlock'. No go.
You have to have the "secret code" that came with the vehicle. I'm an anal type and have ALL paperwork associated with my truck, down to the last gas receipt. I've never had the secret code.
Called a dealer and service rep said I should have what looks like a credit card with said code. Nope, never did. I asked if they, as dealer, could call GM for it, or is it from the VIN...anything......No can do, otherwise someone stealing it could do the same thing.
Tomorrow morning have to go there for them to take it out, get numbers from the back and decipher through their system. Sheesh! I just want to hear some tunes and a little newz when I cruz.
I'll let you know how many dinero. In the meantime, if your rigs are close to new battery time see if your sound system needs the same before it happens.
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
That sounds strange, I have a 2000 Silverado and had the battery go dead and replaced it, but I never needed a code to get the music system back on, weird!
"If all else fails, read the directions"
Radios with a code are an exrta. On my radio there's a blinking light and it says something like "theft protection" to let a theif know that if he steals this radio it won't work.
What the blinking light won't work? That'd certainly stop me from stealing it!
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
Yes. I just checked and on the face of the unit it states "Theft Lock" Delco Electronics. It also has the flashing red LED.
Funny how you see something every day but don't really "see"it.
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
Glad I didn't get one with the code, hope it dosen't cost a arm and leg to get it resolved, luck.
"If all else fails, read the directions"
I got toonz & nooz with my crooz again.....:0)
Went in this morning and they had me fixed up in about 40 minutes. That included replacing a DRL bulb that burned out (free) and greased two fittings on the front end (free) and washed and vacuumed it. $42.50 and complimentary coffee. They also wrote the code in my owners manual and placed in on the receipt. (in case I might need it in another 10 years)
Considering it was pretty much my own fault, not bad. This GM dealership is great. They've always gone above and beyond for me , the DW and friends that use them, as well.
Ocean Crest Chevrolet Cadillac Buick in Warrenton, Oregon.....you guys are tops!
Bobbys, shoulda called me, plenty of time for coffee or a brunch. Next time.
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
Edited 7/8/2009 5:42 pm by oldbeachbum
Edited 7/8/2009 5:42 pm by oldbeachbum
"This GM dealership is great."
Better check and see if they are one of the ones that GM is cutting loose.
I did ask and they assured me that they will be OK. The nearest alternative GM dealer is almost 90 miles out.
The old "Beatle".....a classic. It could climb anything, as long as you weren't in a big hurry. I had a couple and also a new VW Bus in '73. No matter what or where, I could always McGyver them.
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
Im up against it with my lack of planning, I am fixing rot and went to remove a set of stairs, I had it all planned but missed one screw, Went to the top upset it would not come loose forgetting i removed the screws on the bottom. When i unscrewed the top the stairs slid down. I did put a brace in the middle but felt real silly watching the set of stairs slide down. I have boys but they never are around when i need them
yep, who's got the tag line...."Family, always there when they need you!"?
I think of my gang when I see that
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
Try googling for the code. Somehow my wifes Honda went dead. She hardly drives it. Decide to change the battery out.
Anyway, we got it jumped. Radio dead. Googled. The code was on the inside of the glove box door.
Try that. apparently everyone knew that trick. (but me)
http://www.carspace.com/guides/Honda-Radio-Codes
Edited 7/7/2009 8:43 pm ET by Scrapr
Thanks for the reminder. My 98 F150 has still got the original battery in. Time to carry the jumper cables for sure. That's an honest 11 years.
So far I'm the oldest guy with the oldest battery! 83 and 11.
Who can top that? : > )
The Champ
83? Your profile says construction. What was your specialty?
They tell me, around this forum, that Piffin is almost as old as God... ;0) but he's younger than I and you have almost 20 years on me.
I'm thinking of the many changes you have seen in the building sciences and tool technologies over the years. That would make for some interesting reading. If you'd care to share I'm sure many of us would be interested.
Materials and your personal experiences, likes & dislikes with them and how they affected your work. Or, how you got started and what kept you in the business.
....go test that battery and don't get stuck, as I did....
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
sure feels good to know I'm only middle aged....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
I always tried to find out just when I was in the middle, but, it's a secret and 'they' won't share.
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
Edited 7/8/2009 5:26 pm by oldbeachbum
I ain't the oldest...
ain't the youngest either...
that puts me in the middle...
close enough...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
Thanks, Oldbeachbum, for your interest. I suspect that too much of my history would be pretty boring to most so maybe I'll hit a few spots that I think have some value to some. First off my specialty was sanding and finishing floors. I got going in '55. Carpenters wages were $4.00 /hr then so I paid myself $36.00 for a days work which usually was sanding two ranch homes. Some days I'd sand and finish one ranch home and paid myself the same amount, 36 bucks. Finishing then was a coat of lacquer and buff and vacuum and a coat of varnish. That way you could sand and finish the job in one day. Usually 6 or 700' of hardwood.It didn't take long and I found I couldn't keep up with all the work so I broke in a friend and bought new machines and paid him just like I paid myself. Fast forward a few more years and I had five units running around town and a lot of headaches. Later I had a brother join me and we slowed down to 3 or 4 units. During a slow spell I took a job as a pattern maker for a small, 100 people plastic shop. I stayed with them 11 years and some kind of wanderlust made me quit and soon I was back to floors. Before I forget, I should caution you to look out for Piffin. You say he's younger than you but he's pretty sharp and sometime when you're not paying attention he'll pass you! :>).Yea, there has been changes, for instance they used to use hammers to pound nails, I'm not sure what hammers are for anymore. As far as tools and equipment go they stayed relatively the same all the years that I worked but now, after I retired some stuff is changing. I started with a 10" drum with 1 1/2 horse motor. Now it's an 8" drum with 4 HSP motor. Everything changed. For instance plumbing. From galv. pipe to plastic. Even electric. We used to use the 220 with a 2 wire cord. Hey, have a good one at the beach and beware of the high tide even with a good battery.
Thanks for sharing that. To the Piffin comment, <G> He better not pass me....you know what that would mean.
As a youngster I worked a plastic injection molding machine. I always marveled at the guys making the patterns for the molds. They were real artisans and fabulous woodworkers.
The stuff we made was for home interior decorating and display. A lot of floral type psuedo carving. They did the real McCoy.
eta:
I love the hardwood floors, the laminates leave me cold, in most cases.
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
Edited 7/8/2009 11:27 pm by oldbeachbum
"Thanks for the reminder. My 98 F150 has still got the original battery in. Time to carry the jumper cables for sure. That's an honest 11 years."
In my book it's time for a new battery. Why posh it and end up stuck someplace hoping that someone will be there to give you a jump. You know it will happen when you're late or it's raining or worse.
Yes Link, if I had good sense I guess I would get the new battery now but knowing me I think I'll see how long she'll go. I bought that truck after I was retired and it lives a life of ease as trucks go but also chances are that it will give up some cold morning so I'll just jump in DW's car and go about my business. Thanks for the concern-----Still the Champ
Should have still been under warranty, no?
"Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words." - St. Francis of Assisi
No, I didn't vote for him; but he IS my president. I pray for the his safety, and the safety of his family every day. And I pray that he makes wise decisions.