Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Bitter]

1 hour ago, RevoltTrain said:

Hard to snip snip videos out on mobile. But my big worry is exactly our infrastructure here stateside. Hell. I don't know what my office would do for us. There's days I've gotta drive 400 miles one direction to get to a jobsite. Then stay on site for 2 or so hours, and flip a trip back. What're they gonna have to start doing down the line? Sending us a night early to somewhere with a charger, making stops along the way. Go on site, find somewhere to charge again. Start heading home, and stop along the way again? Seems rough for people in positions like me where it's just go go go go go 24/7

In China electric taxi's can swap batteries in like 10 minutes or less at stations made out of shipping containers. We need things like that here instead of just slow charging. For you a range extended gasoline/electric vehicle would be make sense with current infrastructure. It would run on battery as much as possible then switch to a small gas engine to power a generator to drive the electric motors, charge at the job site, then run back on as much electric as possible till the gas takes over. It's better than running all gas all the time and it gets you the range needed with your time constraints. If the job site has 220V and the vehicle can use faster charging at that voltage then you might be able to get some usable charge there before returning.

Realistically, an electric vehicle does not make sense for your use case with current infrastructure and your employer would be stupid to switch to an all electric fleet right now. 

For me a range extended electric vehicle with high range WOULD make sense. I primarily drive my daily car to and from work about 30 miles round trip and can charge it at home overnight. I sometimes need to make longer trips where I would run out of electric range and I would not be in areas with fast charging readily available (rural areas). Being able to use existing gasoline infrastructure would be necessary until fast charging or battery swapping is a wide spread thing. We'll get there but it'll take a while.

[AlwaysFSX]

4 hours ago, Bitter said:

Oh and just because it never ends, lost right channel sound when turning left twice for some reason.

What a fun, odd issue.

[bcredeur97]

4 hours ago, Bitter said:

Car drove home successfully, just the nagging issue about the tire to address next week and the motor mount should be in as well.

Sadly, changing to a 180F thermostat did lower my heat on the highway, combined with the thicker aftermarket radiator my peak vent temp has dropped by almost 20F. However, idling vent temp has gone up, the old 190F thermostat was sticking and not fully opening till almost 205F and the fan comes on at exactly 200F so anytime I wasn't on the move the fan was on blowing cold air through the radiator. Pretty useless, had the 190 stat actually been 190 it would have worked out. It's supposed to be colder the new few weeks, if I'm really unhappy with the temps I may try to track down a 190 stat again but this time boil it in water at home to make sure it opens at the correct temp before installing it.

Oh and just because it never ends, lost right channel sound when turning left twice for some reason. Couldn't diagnose it because it came back in after a minute. Probably a loose wire down at the amp or behind the radio so I'll check that out on a lunch at work next week. A minor annoyance compared to my recent struggles lol.

I went for a 180F thermostat once and I only left it in about a month before I decided I didn't think it was worth it. You do get heat sooner because it opens sooner, but then it's hard to get it above 185 or so without driving like a complete madlad so you never get the real hot air. 

Stick to the OEM's/190's or so for road vehicles is my vote and then big rad to keep it there. 

 

Also my sister's volvo the drivers side audio sometimes doesn't work lol 

4 hours ago, RevoltTrain said:

Hard to snip snip videos out on mobile. But my big worry is exactly our infrastructure here stateside. Hell. I don't know what my office would do for us. There's days I've gotta drive 400 miles one direction to get to a jobsite. Then stay on site for 2 or so hours, and flip a trip back. What're they gonna have to start doing down the line? Sending us a night early to somewhere with a charger, making stops along the way. Go on site, find somewhere to charge again. Start heading home, and stop along the way again? Seems rough for people in positions like me where it's just go go go go go 24/7

I still think it'll be electric around big towns/hubs and then everything in between will be gas/diesel still. 

Most of the problem with like smog and such is around big cities anyway.

[bcredeur97]

I bought a dipstick for the Touareg since it doesn’t come with one.

 

holy crap when they say diesel makes oil black quick they aren’t joking lol 

 

like 2500 miles in and it’s jet black 

[iDeFecZx]

2 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

I bought a dipstick for the Touareg since it doesn’t come with one.

 

holy crap when they say diesel makes oil black quick they aren’t joking lol 

 

like 2500 miles in and it’s jet black 

Seen some already black with oil less than 100 miles old. Dirty diesels

[AlwaysFSX]

4 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

I bought a dipstick for the Touareg since it doesn’t come with one.

 

holy crap when they say diesel makes oil black quick they aren’t joking lol 

 

like 2500 miles in and it’s jet black 

ur killin the trees, man

[bcredeur97]

1 hour ago, AlwaysFSX said:

ur killin the trees, man

 

4 hours ago, iDeFecZx said:

Seen some already black with oil less than 100 miles old. Dirty diesels

What blows my mind is I’m supposed to go 10,000 miles on this oil according to VW 

 

all that particulate isn’t abrasive? 

[Bitter]

8 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

I went for a 180F thermostat once and I only left it in about a month before I decided I didn't think it was worth it. You do get heat sooner because it opens sooner, but then it's hard to get it above 185 or so without driving like a complete madlad so you never get the real hot air. 

Stick to the OEM's/190's or so for road vehicles is my vote and then big rad to keep it there. 

 

Also my sister's volvo the drivers side audio sometimes doesn't work lol 

I still think it'll be electric around big towns/hubs and then everything in between will be gas/diesel still. 

Most of the problem with like smog and such is around big cities anyway.

180 is the OEM temp, 170 is the low temp option. 190 was aftermarket and hard to find, now seems impossible. Mine was opening at like 205 so it was a lil defective.

 

Might try to find one again but not keen on fan running so much. Can't change fan on temp either.

[vetali]

30 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

 

What blows my mind is I’m supposed to go 10,000 miles on this oil according to VW 

 

all that particulate isn’t abrasive? 

I go 3500 on gas oil changes. IDK about diesels because they aren't my thing, I'd probably go 7k-10k on a truck that has 15 quarts. Diesel fuel lubricates. Diesel engines that I've messed with are usually incredibly clean inside.

[Bitter]

I go 5-7K on my daily, 5K or less on my Celica.

[bcredeur97]

40 minutes ago, Bitter said:

180 is the OEM temp, 170 is the low temp option. 190 was aftermarket and hard to find, now seems impossible. Mine was opening at like 205 so it was a lil defective.

 

Might try to find one again but not keen on fan running so much. Can't change fan on temp either.

180 is OEM? Seems low. I think most of my cars have been 190 or so. Maybe I’m completely wrong (very possible) 

32 minutes ago, vetali said:

I go 3500 on gas oil changes. IDK about diesels because they aren't my thing, I'd probably go 7k-10k on a truck that has 15 quarts. Diesel fuel lubricates. Diesel engines that I've messed with are usually incredibly clean inside.

True enough. It’s 8.6 liters I think, I know I have to order 9. It is only a 3.0L motor though. It looks bigger than it is in the engine bay, lol.

 

It’s around or just above $100 just for the oil (for liquimoly anyway). I’ll Might change it early this once just so I know what’s in it, and then prob do 7k intervals or so.

 

not sure what oil the Honda dealership put in it lol, unless they had someone else look at it? Who knows. 

[vetali]

11 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

180 is OEM? Seems low. I think most of my cars have been 190 or so. Maybe I’m completely wrong (very possible) 

True enough. It’s 8.6 liters I think, I know I have to order 9. It is only a 3.0L motor though. It looks bigger than it is in the engine bay, lol.

 

It’s around or just above $100 just for the oil (for liquimoly anyway). I’ll Might change it early this once just so I know what’s in it, and then prob do 7k intervals or so.

 

not sure what oil the Honda dealership put in it lol, unless they had someone else look at it? Who knows. 

Probably 5-30 #sendit

[RevoltTrain]

15 hours ago, Bitter said:

In China electric taxi's can swap batteries in like 10 minutes or less at stations made out of shipping containers. We need things like that here instead of just slow charging. For you a range extended gasoline/electric vehicle would be make sense with current infrastructure. It would run on battery as much as possible then switch to a small gas engine to power a generator to drive the electric motors, charge at the job site, then run back on as much electric as possible till the gas takes over. It's better than running all gas all the time and it gets you the range needed with your time constraints. If the job site has 220V and the vehicle can use faster charging at that voltage then you might be able to get some usable charge there before returning.

Realistically, an electric vehicle does not make sense for your use case with current infrastructure and your employer would be stupid to switch to an all electric fleet right now. 

For me a range extended electric vehicle with high range WOULD make sense. I primarily drive my daily car to and from work about 30 miles round trip and can charge it at home overnight. I sometimes need to make longer trips where I would run out of electric range and I would not be in areas with fast charging readily available (rural areas). Being able to use existing gasoline infrastructure would be necessary until fast charging or battery swapping is a wide spread thing. We'll get there but it'll take a while.

Only issue with charging on site is I'm the first few stages of construction. Very very rarely any power on site when we're on site

[Bitter]

7 hours ago, RevoltTrain said:

Only issue with charging on site is I'm the first few stages of construction. Very very rarely any power on site when we're on site

Yeah so doesn't make sense yet.

[Colty]

19 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

 

What blows my mind is I’m supposed to go 10,000 miles on this oil according to VW 

 

all that particulate isn’t abrasive? 

My TDI oil gets black within seconds of starting it up. I change the oil, check the dipstick after letting it idle for a minute to verify oil level is good, and it's already black. 

As far as 10k miles, that is correct. My dad's 2005.5 TDI has 10k intervals, it's at 255k miles. My 2011 TDI Golf has 10k intervals, 185k miles. My GF's 08 2.5l (gas) "Rabbit" has 10k intervals, 205k miles. These things last if you take care of them. 

As long as you use proper spec oil (VW spec 50X.0X for your respective motor), you're all set. Hell, using the correct spec oil stopped a small oil leak my GF's car had. Same weight as I previously used too. 

If you're new to Euro's be sure to start buying from FCP Euro. Lifetime warranty on everything they sell. Now that I've started this, my oil changes are basically free except for return shipping.

[iDeFecZx]

1 hour ago, Colty said:

Lifetime warranty on everything they sell. Now that I've started this, my oil changes are basically free except for return shipping.

Hows that work? They warranty service items?

[bcredeur97]

1 hour ago, Colty said:

My TDI oil gets black within seconds of starting it up. I change the oil, check the dipstick after letting it idle for a minute to verify oil level is good, and it's already black. 

As far as 10k miles, that is correct. My dad's 2005.5 TDI has 10k intervals, it's at 255k miles. My 2011 TDI Golf has 10k intervals, 185k miles. My GF's 08 2.5l (gas) "Rabbit" has 10k intervals, 205k miles. These things last if you take care of them. 

As long as you use proper spec oil (VW spec 50X.0X for your respective motor), you're all set. Hell, using the correct spec oil stopped a small oil leak my GF's car had. Same weight as I previously used too. 

If you're new to Euro's be sure to start buying from FCP Euro. Lifetime warranty on everything they sell. Now that I've started this, my oil changes are basically free except for return shipping.

I usually buy euro car parts from fcp euro or europa parts

that said... free oil changes? You're warrantying oil? That doesn't make any sense lol 

[bcredeur97]

33 minutes ago, iDeFecZx said:

Hows that work? They warranty service items?

I just looked through the documentation on their website and there's no special clause or anything that would prevent you from bottling up your used oil and filter and sending it back to them and getting a full credit towards new oil and filter (you just pay the difference if prices changed)
https://help.fcpeuro.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020952252-How-do-I-return-oil- 

WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? How do they make money with this? 

 

 

too bad they don't sell tires....


They even have official documentation for this and a video:
https://help.fcpeuro.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020952252-How-do-I-return-oil- 

[Bitter]

What the fuck?

[bcredeur97]

11 minutes ago, Bitter said:

What the fuck?

my mind is blown. 

I guess ill change my oil every 3k miles now and only pay for it once? Pfft lol 

[RevoltTrain]

11 hours ago, Bitter said:

Yeah so doesn't make sense yet.

Issa shame, I wouldn't mind if my company swapped my normal ol F150 for for a new Lighting 

[Bitter]

53 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

my mind is blown. 

I guess ill change my oil every 3k miles now and only pay for it once? Pfft lol 

There's got to be a catch.

[Colty]

Too many people to quote for replies, but...

Basically, from what I understand, the word of mouth marketing and recyclable materials make it a good deal for them. Only 15% or less items are actually warrantied. I haven't seen any "catch" yet. I'll just enjoy the nearly free maintenance since they're offering it. 

And yes, me and close friends of mine have warrantied anything and everything. Bushings, brakes (even track brakes which is huge), oil, air filters, ect. 

[Bitter]

If it's anything like us they make money on the used oil too from their recycler.

[Radium_Angel]

Spent the holiday cleaning the Reno. Ran across a useful YT video on cleaning car seats. A Mix of rubbing Alcohol, Dawn Platinum, Hot water and OxyClean. Works great, the crap I pulled out of the seats and floormats beggars belief. Between that and Zeolite the car no longer smells like an ashtray.

I have an Ozone generator coming soon to get the rest.

Washed the car (twice) and it's still filthy on the outside, the rims especially. Still trying to figure out how to get them clean.