this is the mandalay bay parking garage. not my car...probably a 2005 or so.
only time I've ever seen my color combination in the wild.
2014-10-28
2014-09-12
five ways to keep your beater car on the road forever
https://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/five-ways-to-keep-your-beater-car-on-the-road-forever-213015805.html
there's an interesting idea here that i've never considered ... steering wheel cover ... i may look into that at some point ... the wheel on the continual car is starting to show some degradation at the L thumb.
there's an interesting idea here that i've never considered ... steering wheel cover ... i may look into that at some point ... the wheel on the continual car is starting to show some degradation at the L thumb.
2014-08-18
132,175 mile service
an abortive MS river trip has me back in vegas early ... i roll over 132,000 just as i cross the city limit ... god's way of saying that it's time for, yet another, oil change.
my dealer recommends a "major service" due to dirty fluids (their term and descriptions, not mine). i pass because it's not in the owner's manual for this time/mileage.
(saw a line item for the amount the oil change is supposed to cost me: $78 out the door. with my coupon for a $25 oil change [$29 OTD], this is a $53 savings ... still at $25, that oil change is a bit pricey ... i've had packages that have averaged $18, so it could be that the coupons are going up in price ... i may look more aggressively at buying packages.)
my dealer recommends a "major service" due to dirty fluids (their term and descriptions, not mine). i pass because it's not in the owner's manual for this time/mileage.
(saw a line item for the amount the oil change is supposed to cost me: $78 out the door. with my coupon for a $25 oil change [$29 OTD], this is a $53 savings ... still at $25, that oil change is a bit pricey ... i've had packages that have averaged $18, so it could be that the coupons are going up in price ... i may look more aggressively at buying packages.)
2014-07-30
rotated tires 129,500 miles
didn't have the time/place to do it in CO, but snuck it into costco before i headed onto the river. date, calendar placement and mileage are approximate but accurate to within 5%.
no cost, comes with the original tire purchase and keeps my tires within warranty (as termed by costco).
no cost, comes with the original tire purchase and keeps my tires within warranty (as termed by costco).
2014-07-24
128,089 mile service
driving my boat to the top of the MS river ... unfortunately, while we're in denver on the way out (and i'm in WY fly fishing) the car starts showing unusual behavior ... when you first start it in the morning, it acts like it doesn't want to stop. the brake pedal goes all the way to the floor without the expected amount of coincident braking.
the boulder shop can't reproduce the problem, but my brother's in town so i pop the hood and he takes a look when we get back from the great wild.
in less than 60 seconds, he spots a missing PCV valve (and line). odd that the shop didn't even bother to look under the hood for it.
as long as it's in the shop, i'll change my oil too, although it's due in another 1,000 miles ... it's easier to change here/now than in MN. it also means that my car shuttler won't have to do it on the MN/LA run.
the oil change is already paid for as part of my package (last one!). the PCV valve and line run me $62.
the boulder shop can't reproduce the problem, but my brother's in town so i pop the hood and he takes a look when we get back from the great wild.
in less than 60 seconds, he spots a missing PCV valve (and line). odd that the shop didn't even bother to look under the hood for it.
as long as it's in the shop, i'll change my oil too, although it's due in another 1,000 miles ... it's easier to change here/now than in MN. it also means that my car shuttler won't have to do it on the MN/LA run.
the oil change is already paid for as part of my package (last one!). the PCV valve and line run me $62.
2014-07-03
126,069 mile service
lots of driving has brought me to another oil change. this time at larry h. miller chrysler dodge jeep ram in denver -- which i'm pretty sure used to be known as PRO. able to sneak it in just a few minutes before close.
a couple things of note:
a couple things of note:
- i had 35 miles of stop and go driving in 110 degree heat to get here ... my water gauge was creeping ever-so-slightly up ... i haven't had any trouble with my car overheating, but i wasn't going to start, so i did the stop-and-go part with the AC off ... i also noticed a small gauge climb when i was towing my kayak uphill in 109 degree heat ... i asked them to top off the coolant, which i'm pretty sure they did ... i hope that's "enough," and this isn't signs of things to come.
- the inspection showed the left rear strut seaping (sic) ... first time that's ever been mentioned ... not surprising since i notice seepage in the trunk lifts (and that's essentially exactly the same mechanism) ... i'm pretty sure struts are covered by my service contract (although when look at it, i only see the front struts mentioned by name).
used another of my oil change package coupons.
2014-05-29
123,804 miles -- new tires (again)
services have been hinting at the need for new tires for some time now ... and i was planning on getting a new set before i hit the MS river this summer anyway ... but that didn't keep me from being shocked by a noticeable tumor on the outside of a tire that i noticed when filling up immediately after my most recent run from denver. (i should have taken a pic of it, but forgot to.)
my best guess is that was from a pothole somewhere, but i don't remember hitting anything hard enough to do that kind of damage (and this is complicated by the fact that my bother and my accomplice were traveling with me ... we hit the car on fill-ups like a team of 60s full-service gas station attendants, so i'm not always the one checking the tires ... it could have been there for miles), with maybe the exception of temporary rumble strips put out by the UT DOT. there's no telling how far i drove on those tires ... or how much further i could have gone ... they were holding air just fine.
an extremely good honda repair shop in the bay area says flat-out that you should just buy your tires from costco if you can, so i did. the online website showed two possibilities, neither of which were actually at the store closest to my house ...
what they did have was a bridgestone and a michelin.
i tried poking around on my phone to compare the two, but quickly got mired ... for 100 bucks less, i could get 5,000 more miles of warranty on the bridgestones, so i went with those.
the cruiser is a heavy car and a tire wearer. in order to keep my tire warranty effective, i need to rotate the set (free) every 7,500 miles ... i'll probably just do it every other oil change instead, just to keep track of things.
my last set of tires was 70,000 miles ago. it wouldn't surprise me if these don't make the 65,000 they're warrantied for.
need to get an alignment, tout de suite. (speaking of which, the tire techs said that the alignment on my car was way off ... but i had one done not long ago ... hmm.)
$544 TVC
(aligned 6/12 with about 150 miles on them.)
my best guess is that was from a pothole somewhere, but i don't remember hitting anything hard enough to do that kind of damage (and this is complicated by the fact that my bother and my accomplice were traveling with me ... we hit the car on fill-ups like a team of 60s full-service gas station attendants, so i'm not always the one checking the tires ... it could have been there for miles), with maybe the exception of temporary rumble strips put out by the UT DOT. there's no telling how far i drove on those tires ... or how much further i could have gone ... they were holding air just fine.
an extremely good honda repair shop in the bay area says flat-out that you should just buy your tires from costco if you can, so i did. the online website showed two possibilities, neither of which were actually at the store closest to my house ...
what they did have was a bridgestone and a michelin.
i tried poking around on my phone to compare the two, but quickly got mired ... for 100 bucks less, i could get 5,000 more miles of warranty on the bridgestones, so i went with those.
the cruiser is a heavy car and a tire wearer. in order to keep my tire warranty effective, i need to rotate the set (free) every 7,500 miles ... i'll probably just do it every other oil change instead, just to keep track of things.
my last set of tires was 70,000 miles ago. it wouldn't surprise me if these don't make the 65,000 they're warrantied for.
need to get an alignment, tout de suite. (speaking of which, the tire techs said that the alignment on my car was way off ... but i had one done not long ago ... hmm.)
$544 TVC
(aligned 6/12 with about 150 miles on them.)
2014-05-28
2014-05-27
123,003 mile service
through a series of unusual circumstances, i've been racking up the miles. in just two and half weeks i have 3000 miles and another oil change.
back at valley chrysler in boulder ... this one's already paid for in the package i bought last time. aside from (again) telling me that my tires are shot, there are no problems.
$0 TVC
back at valley chrysler in boulder ... this one's already paid for in the package i bought last time. aside from (again) telling me that my tires are shot, there are no problems.
$0 TVC
2014-05-09
119,596 mile service
drove back to CO for mother's day ... even though i'm 400 miles early on the change, i wanted to get it done before i drove back to LV.
oil change now. bought an air filter yesterday.
unfortunately t i'm having trouble finding make-up filters in stock at auto parts stores and the dealer -- which means i may have to hoard a few when i finally DO run across them.
a recent service means i don't have to have to change the plugs and wires now.
bought a four-service oil change package for $70, that makes 'em $17.50 apiece which is a good deal.
new dealer for this car, valley chrysler dodge, inc. in boulder. they were fine.
(new tires coming ... i keep getting tire recommendations on my services ... the one thing i've learned over the years is you want to buy all your tires from costco ... cheaper, better warranty, and follow-up services are free.)
$83 for oil change package and filter.
oil change now. bought an air filter yesterday.
unfortunately t i'm having trouble finding make-up filters in stock at auto parts stores and the dealer -- which means i may have to hoard a few when i finally DO run across them.
a recent service means i don't have to have to change the plugs and wires now.
bought a four-service oil change package for $70, that makes 'em $17.50 apiece which is a good deal.
new dealer for this car, valley chrysler dodge, inc. in boulder. they were fine.
(new tires coming ... i keep getting tire recommendations on my services ... the one thing i've learned over the years is you want to buy all your tires from costco ... cheaper, better warranty, and follow-up services are free.)
$83 for oil change package and filter.
2014-04-14
117,700 new tail light
the other day as a valet was pulling out my car (gotta love vegas), i noticed i had a tail light out. not a big deal (and certainly not the first time it happened).
but what's weird was when i did the replacement ... i was curious if the filament would actually be broken, or if the bulb had merely shook loose from its mount ... but instead the entire bulb was shattered ... it looked very much like someone had took a swing at it with a hammer ... but the outside lens was completely and totally normal.
odd.
$7
but what's weird was when i did the replacement ... i was curious if the filament would actually be broken, or if the bulb had merely shook loose from its mount ... but instead the entire bulb was shattered ... it looked very much like someone had took a swing at it with a hammer ... but the outside lens was completely and totally normal.
odd.
$7
2014-04-04
117,316 mile service (and more, unfortunately)
took my car in for the standard oil change, but when the adviser came out to get me he had that surgical "i've got bad news for you, b1" look on his face.
the techs have found oil in the spark plug tubes. (that i believe, you could see very slight oil seepage around the tops of the plugs.) they've also found a problem with the control arms (not the first time this has happened).
the vast majority of these repairs are covered by my service contract, but the new spark plugs (and wires) are not.
(as long as they were doing everything else, they also replaced the engine mounts, again, which surprised me ... i would have expected them to last longer ... but who knows? that other work was sahara ... and anything is possible with those jokers.)
this now puts me well, well ahead of the game with my service contract. (it also has me wondering, a little, if maybe radioactive dave wasn't right with his $0 deductible comment.)
$319, including $100 of service contract deductible
$3570 of SCR
{what was odd is i was given a rental for two days as part of this repair ... i'm almost certain i'm not supposed to -it's certainly not what the contract says- but i took full advantage of it and put 400 miles on my loaned chrysler 200 [with satellite!] ... went to death valley one day, valley of fire the next.}
the techs have found oil in the spark plug tubes. (that i believe, you could see very slight oil seepage around the tops of the plugs.) they've also found a problem with the control arms (not the first time this has happened).
the vast majority of these repairs are covered by my service contract, but the new spark plugs (and wires) are not.
(as long as they were doing everything else, they also replaced the engine mounts, again, which surprised me ... i would have expected them to last longer ... but who knows? that other work was sahara ... and anything is possible with those jokers.)
this now puts me well, well ahead of the game with my service contract. (it also has me wondering, a little, if maybe radioactive dave wasn't right with his $0 deductible comment.)
$319, including $100 of service contract deductible
$3570 of SCR
{what was odd is i was given a rental for two days as part of this repair ... i'm almost certain i'm not supposed to -it's certainly not what the contract says- but i took full advantage of it and put 400 miles on my loaned chrysler 200 [with satellite!] ... went to death valley one day, valley of fire the next.}
2014-02-09
2014-01-06
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