Hmm, to gamble on it or nah maybe not?

Post Reply New Topic

Didn't you answer that question just earlier? That whole thing about the wrong oil?
Next time some moron will strip the plug threads in the pan. Oh. And a lot of young people who work in those shops don't know how to drive a manual, so bad things happen when they get confused by 3 pedals.
Then next time first guy will drain your oil and leave at the end of his shift, and the next guy will just send you home with no oil in your engine, assuming the first guy finished.
The things they do will give you nightmares.

At the inspection a year ago some lackey went to town on my lugs with the impact gun, they were so overtightened that I nearly s**t myself trying to break them loose with a breaker bar when time came for me to do tire rotation. Per spec it only needed 76 foot pounds. That must have been over 200 as my weight wasn't enough!

Do not let anyone else touch your car!

You have a turbo engine, it's not like you'll be running anything other than synthetic anyway.
TBH there is nothing wrong with quality conventional oil (blends are pretty much just conventional oil) in naturally aspirated engines otherwise, in fact that's what a lot of dealer serviced cars under warranty get per manufacturer's specs. In terms of chemistry synthetic is a bit of a misnomer anyway...

It's not worth the 15 bucks to find a place to do it and deal with the mess. Most people Don't change their own oil for that reason.

And IF they have a clear space in their garage, unless they're car fanatics or live in a really run down house, people won't risk oil stains in their garage if they can avoid it - doesn't look good when they go to resell their home for $x.x Million.

Why would some oil change guy at any of the quick places drive my car? You drive it in one end of the shop over a pit, they change it, you drive it out.

The mechanics at the shop I usually have oil changed at do drive my car, but it's usually the owner, and if not, always someone that can competently drive manual.

You don't comprehend it or you don't get why? It literally has nothing to do with gay sex.

I'm filling it as full as it will possibly go. Maximizes the distance I can travel without having to stop to fill up again - which is another ~30-50km. More important to have extra fuel in the Winter, too, just in case I get stuck in traffic to wait out an accident or snow removal.

In cold weather you should always keep1/2 tank of gas in the vehicle.In case you get stranded and to prevent condensation in the tank.
It’s very bad on in tank fuel pumps to go below a 1/4 of a tank, the pump uses the gas as a coolant and if you don’t have a good fuel filter you are more likely to pick up trash in the bottom of tank.

Turns out they used the correct weight oil after all. It was noted on the invoice - the line item from their system was the closest one they had that they were able to select.. which is weird since they sell that oil.

Turns out the tuning box had come unplugged when closing the engine cover and that tripped the CEL.

The outcome is all the same, doubt, having to return to check, the unplugging and the CEL itself. When you do it yourself the validation loop is much shorter, as you just check your own work and you know what you definitely did right.

BTW a $20 OBD-II interface for a phone app is super nice to have, especially if you can get a sensor address map file for your model. You can read sensors in real-time, not just trouble codes.

Dude, you don’t get it. No one in my neighbourhood changes their own oil. 2800-3200sf houses on postage stamp sized properties that are worth about $1.7M or so. There’s no “back 40,” to drive a car onto and change oil and I very highly doubt anyone is doing it inside their garage as most are used for storage & parking only, not dirty mechanical work. We drive to a local shop and let them deal with the mess.

Nooooo idea if there’s any kind of phone app for scans. I have an obd2 scanner from years ago that I use to check codes on my 2013 Dodge Dart, but I don’t think it’ll work on this JDM van. Probably have to find some Japanese scanner. And then I bet I have a hard time finding one that displays in English. Also, no idea how a phone app would connect to an obd2/whatever number they are now port.

i like the potential interior volume of the van, in case you need to live in it. it has possibilities should you run into some $spare duckie$ for customization, you could have a decent improvised camping/glamping vehicle on your hands in that case.

The cargo space is huuuuuuge.. I bet I’ll very rarely ever utilize it all. I just did a quick Costco trip and a 2/3-3/4 full cart barely covered much floor space at all - maybe like 1/8th or so. Then there’s the height.

Might sleep in it on kiteboard weekends vs drive back and forth, but probably never camperize it. Leaving it open to be able to put full sheets of 4x8 material in it so will probably just use hooks & cargo nets to secure tool boxes & 5 gallon buckets so everything can easily shift out of the way to make room for sheets. I think. Time will tell if I build any sort of racking or storage, but definitely not going to build a camper out of it. Tools, materials, sporting goods - yes. Foamie & sleeping bag, sure.

I'm in a similar situation with my 2200sf house. I do have a 2 car garage and my own driveway though. I'm sure I annoy the s**t out of my neighbors, but I give precious little f***s. It's not like I like their combination of Range Rovers, Maseratis, and pumping hip-hop which I sometimes hear as late as 3AM. No taste.

I change oil with no mess, but I'm sure they hate seeing my crack whenever I crawl around the car. Or when my cars are taped up with painters tape and newspapers when I'm touching up paint.

The best known OBD-II interface app is probably Torque (Pro). My dad gets updates and I just back up and sideload the .apk onto my phone, 'cause I can, and 'cause I'm cheap, and 'cause I'm a cool pirate.
If you're on Android here's the link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... l=US&pli=1
If you're on iShit I think it exists but you'll find it yourself.

Then you need to find yourself the physical interface. I have a very old Bluetooth one, pairing is a pain, but once it's going it's great. You should be able to find it on Amazon for ~$20. Read reviews to make sure it works with the app you want to use.

Sensor maps are found on the Internet in .csv plaintext format.

I've never met a single soul who bought the new Dodge Dart. I think I've only seen a couple on the road over the years. I know it's Alfa-based thanks to Stellantis, but if it got none of the good looks but all of the unreliability... I can see how it might be a hard sell.

Last edited by r00tb33r on 07 Dec 2022, 1:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

at least it has room for a decent inflateabed and perhaps something to heat and cool food?

iPhone. I’m not a programmer, don’t pretend to be, don’t want to be - less than zero interest in android customization stuff and figuring out how to combine oddball downloads from all over the internet to try to make a scan tool work. That’s why I use one that I just plug in and press a button or two and it does its thing.

The biggest factor that will make my car harder to sell is that it’s a manual transmission. (6spd) It’s been extremely reliable - not much to go wrong with a naturally aspirated 2.0l 4cyl 6MT with no a/c. 137k kms on it now and I just had rear brakes, spark plugs & drive belt done. Speakers are upgraded to the Mopar ones. (Rockford Fosgate I think) Thule roof rack (but I’m keeping the box for the van) Couple tiny issues might need attention in the future, couple stains on the seat, a rock chip in the windshield etc but the car is really, REALLY, good - which is why if one of my neighbours kids wants to buy it I’ll sell it to them for $1k less than market because I know I’m not offloading any problems and won’t hear an earful for selling a lemon. It’s a great car.

Also, I only bought it because it was dirt cheap. $12k brand new marked down from $18k because it sat on the lot for 4 years with no buyer because it’s a base model with no a/c and a manual transmission. The only option in it is power windows. The BEST thing about it is the sound system - even the base 4 speaker system is Very Impressive.

Easily!

I wouldn’t even have to install a stove or fridge. I could just get a little propane bbq and cook outside & use a cooler with ice. I know several car/van/RV dwellers and some make do with a single burner gas stove and a small igloo cooler with a bit of ice in it to keep dairy for a few days.

Rather than an air mattress I might give some thought to how I could rig up a stand/mounting points to string a hammock inside it. Then I could still have tools/sporting goods on the floor and sleep in the airspace above.

Last edited by goldfish21 on 07 Dec 2022, 1:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

now that's thinking 3-dimensionally

Maybe it's good for you, but maybe not so brilliant for family trips.
No one will even think to consider driving the manual or sitting on the wrong side.

How's the noise level? In cab-over vehicles the engine practically keeps you company in the interior, especially when it's diesel.

Not sure if you had considered how much it probably comes up short in passive safety. In same year Sienna you'd have found side curtain airbags.

Why do I care about family trips ? I mean, I’ve been on them and taken road trips etc but as an adult it’s either solo, maybe with one friend, or once I drove both my parents to Kelowna and back in a day to attend a funeral.

I’m a 40yo gay guy with no kids soooo, I don’t exactly need a family hauler.

BUT, it does have 3 seats across the front - and the last 2 days in a row I’ve driven 3 of us to lunch. And it came with a little bench seat that has 3 seatbelts that I could install. These things come with up to 10 seats.

Noise is tolerable. Makes some Diesel engine music and turbo psssshhh sounds during acceleration. Not so bad though.

Meh, never had to rely on an airbag in 24 years of driving & exactly Zero airbags on my motorcycle so w/e. The weight savings and extra cargo space are a good trade off.