Topic: What did you do to your car today?

[Ex-airbalancer]

Killed the battery by leaving interior lights on.  Started it with the Stanley booster pack last night to visit the grocery store.  Today, I'm heading to my brother's to put it on the battery charger.  Can't charge here as we have the outlets that cycle on/off.

The school board my wife works for does that with the plugs in the staff parking lots.  They're only on for 5 minutes per hour!  And then the teachers have to PAY for parking as "you get energized parking spaces."  What a scam.

Does a car need more than 5 mins per hour ?

[Bubba]

Killed the battery by leaving interior lights on.  Started it with the Stanley booster pack last night to visit the grocery store.  Today, I'm heading to my brother's to put it on the battery charger.  Can't charge here as we have the outlets that cycle on/off.

The school board my wife works for does that with the plugs in the staff parking lots.  They're only on for 5 minutes per hour!  And then the teachers have to PAY for parking as "you get energized parking spaces."  What a scam.

Does a car need more than 5 mins per hour ?

Depends on the weather.  Our plugs stay on longer in colder weather.  To charge a battery, however, I want a plug on 100% of the time.

[EV Dan]

You probably have to register the cables you used, though, LOL


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Looks like we've got our next Hercules certified thread. Random strangers will be browsing the site and coming across things like:
"Today I've taken apart half my dashboard to replace a freakin cabin air filter"
- "But did you register it?" 

[johngenx]

At -30C, 5min per hour for your block heater is a joke.  It might help a little, and if it were free, then yeah, whatever.  But having to pay the kind of parking rates that people that buy parking in downtown office buildings do?  Nope, that's just a rip off.

What would be better is if the plug ins came on for an hour from 4:00 to 5:00.  But that would cost more, as now the plugs are on for five minutes an hour from 9:00am to 3:00pm, so a grand total of 25 minutes a day.  My wife rarely leaves before 5:00, so for at least the last two hours she's there, her car gets no power to the block heater.

[johngenx]

- "But did you register it?" 

2020 BMW models will have registered air in their tires.  Otherwise, you don't get "smooth no-bump ride."

[Bubba]

Killed the battery by leaving interior lights on.  Started it with the Stanley booster pack last night to visit the grocery store.  Today, I'm heading to my brother's to put it on the battery charger.  Can't charge here as we have the outlets that cycle on/off.

Varcon battery charger that my Dad purchased in the 60s.  Still works.

[EV Dan]

Killed the battery by leaving interior lights on.  Started it with the Stanley booster pack last night to visit the grocery store.  Today, I'm heading to my brother's to put it on the battery charger.  Can't charge here as we have the outlets that cycle on/off.

Varcon battery charger that my Dad purchased in the 60s.  Still works.

Wow. A motor oil can from the 60's is cool. A working charger from the 60's is freaking amazing!

[Solstice2006]

Not exactly the right thread, but close enough.  Didn't want to create a new thread. 

My father in law has a 2017 Ford Escape Titanium.  We went to their house Tuesday for supper.  Noticed it wasn't in the driveway, he said he dropped it off for service at 8am.  For an oil change, and has an issue that when the car comes to a stop, the engine shuts off, but doesn't restart automatically, he has to push the button.  He hasn't received an update all day, calls the dealership after supper, they are closed!  They kept the vehicle the whole day with no updates. 

He went to the dealership Wednesday morning, and they were still working on a fix.  So they gave him a Chevrolet Cruze (yeah that's right from Ford dealership) as a loaner vehicle.  Near the end of the day, they called him, stating they still need the vehicle.  He went back, and asked for a more equivalent loaner vehicle.  Don't know what that is yet. 

All I can say is what a bunch of morons.  This is their 3rd Escape from the same dealership.  They also have an F-150 from the same dealer.   Not sure if their vans were from there.  But at least 4 vehicles purchased and serviced at this dealership, and this is the treatment he gets.

The dealership should have loaned him an Edge, try to impress them with that, something they will want for next vehicle purchase...

On the flip side, my neighbor does all the service himself.  But his wife's Equinox had a recall.  They were out of Equinoxes to loan her, gave her a 2016 Cadillac SRX for 2 days.  So a guy that bought one used vehicle at a dealership, and does no service there, gets a nice loaner...   

I will update, as I may visit them to watch the Canada WJC gold game there.

Update

So Wednesday afternoon when he went back.  They said they couldn't find a problem.  Apparently, the service advisor wrote the problem down wrong.  She wrote that the car shut off when coming to a stop.  Should have added that it didn't restart.  Regardless, they should have done several test drives with it, they would have easily found the problem.

So it appears that Discount rental handles all their loaner vehicles.  Their customer service was just as bad as the Ford dealer.  He was told they would call Wednesday afternoon to swap out the vehicle, that never happened.  He called Thursday morning, they said at 10am it would be ready (needed to be cleaned).  He gets there at 11am, it was still being cleaned!  He gets a 2017 GMC Terrain SLE.  Another GM vehicle. 

Ford told him they need his vehicle till Tuesday.  As the lead technician took a vacation day on Friday, and doesn't work weekends!  I couldn't believe it!  Your telling me he is the only one that can fix this?  They are screwed if he quits!

[84im]

Last year when I took my BMW 128i  vert in for a servicing the BMW dealership offered me a brand new series 2 vert as a loaner.  I said I'd rather have an SUV, so they offered me a new loaded X1.

I didn't buy that new 2016 X1, but I did end up buying a used 2015 X1 from them........Smart dealership.

[Bubba]

The old battery charger was working fine, but I bought a new one that could get the job done more quickly.

[KD]

Planned on taking the f-150 in this morning to get the wiper switch/relay replaced, but it seems to have fixed itself. Last thursday during the deep freeze the wipers were stuck on in the lowest intermittent setting and would not shut off.  It started thursday afternoon, lasted all day friday, and also first thing this morning when i started the truck.  Now the weather has warmed up significantly and it is back to normal operation.   

[OliverD]

Planned on taking the f-150 in this morning to get the wiper switch/relay replaced, but it seems to have fixed itself. Last thursday during the deep freeze the wipers were stuck on in the lowest intermittent setting and would not shut off.  It started thursday afternoon, lasted all day friday, and also first thing this morning when i started the truck.  Now the weather has warmed up significantly and it is back to normal operation.   

This happened to my friend's F-150 recently (within the last year or so). It happened in the summer though so it wasn't even related to cold temperatures.

[carcrazed]

Got the average fuel consumption for the MDX from 18.4 to 10.8 after driving about 300km, mix of 90% highway and 10% city.  I think my wife has developed a case of lead foot after having her G2 for just five months.

[Arthur Dent]

Got the average fuel consumption for the MDX from 18.4 to 10.8 after driving about 300km, mix of 90% highway and 10% city.  I think my wife has developed a case of lead foot after having her G2 for just five months.

I get significantly better mileage than my wife when I drive her F150. 

[johngenx]

Oddly, I too get better fuel economy than my wife if we switch cars for some reason.  I don't drive at lower speeds, but I think I spend less time sitting because I anticipate traffic better.

[tortoise]

Same here.  Now that we have an average fuel gauge I have confirmed that I get way better economy than my wife.  And I don't drive it slow.  When we had a manual I was convinced that she was leaving it in 3rd gear.

Like John I am pretty sure it's because I am better at anticipating traffic where she will stay on the gas right until she has to hit the brakes.

[valuator]

Same here.  Now that we have an average fuel gauge I have confirmed that I get way better economy than my wife.  And I don't drive it slow.  When we had a manual I was convinced that she was leaving it in 3rd gear.

Like John I am pretty sure it's because I am better at anticipating traffic where she will stay on the gas right until she has to hit the brakes.

My wife does the same thing....and I consistently get 2L/100km better than she does in the city.

[valuator]

I will drive the Hyundai Entourage to Moncton!  Pay wholesale price for the BMW!  I love the inline six in the 328!

Hey if you want the car, I'm sure I can arrange a courtesy trade at the dealership for you 

[Gurgie]

Same here.  Now that we have an average fuel gauge I have confirmed that I get way better economy than my wife.  And I don't drive it slow.  When we had a manual I was convinced that she was leaving it in 3rd gear.

Like John I am pretty sure it's because I am better at anticipating traffic where she will stay on the gas right until she has to hit the brakes.

My wife does the same thing....and I consistently get 2L/100km better than she does in the city.

Opposite here, GF does better than me consistently... she's got a lighter foot overall...

[valuator]

I dunno, man.

I understand the happy wife, happy life stuff (sorta), but there are costs to decisions.

If SHE wants a minivan, she needs to decide how bad she wants car or minivan.

I mean...how would she feel if you wanted a new car and forced her to sell hers because of your wants?

Don't do it, man.

You only live once.

Nah, doesn't make any sense to keep the older FGC rather than the newer Subie with remaining warranty...as long as in the long run I get a toy car, it's all good.