Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

snakeweasel

venture said:

I came home for lunch today after working a while at the baseball field. I made a sandwich. There was cheddar cheese in a plastic pouch thing that I put on the sandwich. It took a while to get the pouch thingy open after tearing off the strip above the closure. I thought I was going to have to get two pair of pliers.

Those of you who don't eat sliced cheese out of a pouch and only use cheese from a yak named Imogene who live in the hills of Switzerland and have it delivered directly to your refrigerator on a powder puff, won't understand.

Only Troglodytes eat cheese from a yak named Imogene, true lovers of fine Swiss mountain yak cheese get their cheese from a yak named Arjeta.

cdnpinhead

carnaught said:

Just look what this board has deteriorated to - tsk, tsk, tsk…..

Compared to what?

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:

You guys are cracking me up! Reminds me of the scene in My Cousin Vinny abut the faucet dripping and arguing about it.

Or me and my friend.....we've been arguing for 10 years whether you cut a muffin vertically or horizontally.
He say horizontal so he can eat the favored top on it's own, I say vertically so when you heat it it will be done equally on both halves.

Why am I getting images of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck arguing about if it's duck season or rabbit season?

roadburner

@stickguy said:
a fun light story. my son texted Sunday asking what the trick was to replace the LED bulb in a recessed can fixture. He said there was no way to unscrew the cover (glass or plastic, not sure) to get in and replace a bulb. apparently (and news to me) they sell them as sealed units and you just unplug an replace the whole unit (popping it out since it it held in by V springs). He sent me a picture of the top portion (that goes in the ceiling). Had a red snap in plug which he said all the ones he saw online had. But there was also a thick electric wire running into the can itself (was hard to see how it all worked in a phone picture).

Told him to take the picture to the store and ask them. Next I heard he figured something out, bought a new unit, and plugged it in. and it did not work.

turns out, after some investigation, somebody had turned of a light switch by the front door (a dimmer) that the fixture was connected to. Turned that back on, and the original one worked again.

told him he got lucky. learned something about his lighting, could return the new one so no cost for parts, and did not get embarrassed by paying a lot to "a guy" to come out and turn his light switch back on.

He’s just lucky he didn’t burn the house down. Electricity is SO dangerous!

jmonroe1

laurasdada said:

Perhaps folks have to call the "Open the packaging guy."

With the way they had my phone charging cables wrapped, I could be talked into that the next time.

jmonroe

carnaught

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:

You guys are cracking me up! Reminds me of the scene in My Cousin Vinny abut the faucet dripping and arguing about it.

Or me and my friend.....we've been arguing for 10 years whether you cut a muffin vertically or horizontally.
He say horizontal so he can eat the favored top on it's own, I say vertically so when you heat it it will be done equally on both halves.

Why am I getting images of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck arguing about if it's duck season or rabbit season?

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when they just sold muffin tops, not the muffin stems. They tried over and over to get rid of them and the stems were treated like garbage and no one would take them, not even dump sites.

snakeweasel

Last year I went to get the brakes done on the Sonata, both front and back. Well we had a little issue with the b=job done on the back brakes as they seemed to be holding on when accelerating so we took it back. The mechanic adjusted the brakes so that it didn't drag anymore or so we thought. Well just this last weekend the left rear brake started grinding, not only that I could hear it grinding for a while as I accelerated. So apparently its been dragging ever so lightly over the last year. Anyhow the cars over at the mechanic right now and I am hoping they will do the right thing.

abacomike

My twin brother has had pain in his upper left quadrant of his back for a few days - similar to the pain he had 20 years ago when he suffered 2 blocked cardiac arteries. He went in for an angiogram this morning and they found a cardiac artery 100% blocked and they put in a stent - his 3rd one.

I spoke with him a few minutes ago and he is still groggy. My nephew (his son) is an interventionist cardiologist in Raleigh and has been trying to get him to emergency since the weekend - but after waiting in the ER last Thursday for 4 hours with only an EKG administered and no end in his waiting, he went home.

But for only the Grace Of God, he survived this bout with his heart even with his stubbornness - it runs in the family!!!

driver100

stickguy said:

it has a remote entry keypad. works like a garage door opener pad. actually pretty convenient. when I washed the car I was wearing sweats and my keys were upstairs. so I could open it with the pad to wipe down the sills and clean the interior.

also convenient for going to the beach or kyacking. someplace where you don't want to have your keys on you, but can't really leave on the shore. just put them under the seat and use the pad to lock the car. then reverse the process when you get back.

That is a cool feature................just don't forget the code.
Our new front door lock on the home has a code instead of a key. No fumbling around for a key, no remembering to take it with, no losing the key somewhere........it's a good invention.

driver100

carnaught said:

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:

You guys are cracking me up! Reminds me of the scene in My Cousin Vinny abut the faucet dripping and arguing about it.

Or me and my friend.....we've been arguing for 10 years whether you cut a muffin vertically or horizontally.
He say horizontal so he can eat the favored top on it's own, I say vertically so when you heat it it will be done equally on both halves.

Why am I getting images of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck arguing about if it's duck season or rabbit season?

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when they just sold muffin tops, not the muffin stems. They tried over and over to get rid of them and the stems were treated like garbage and no one would take them, not even dump sites.

I remember that episode well..............I think the argument about which way to cut a muffin would have made a good Seinfeld episode.

tjc78

I love the keypad on Ford products. Used it all the time on my Grand Marquis.

ab348

driver100 said:

What are the little button things on the door post....window level behind the front door.

Ford SecuriCode… they have had it since the early ‘80s. Ford drivers seem to love it. Oddly, I don’t think any other manufacturers have copied it.

jmonroe1

venture said:

I was at a wine tasting event on Saturday. It was sponsored by Mercedes Benz and, of course, they had some cars sitting around. They had two of the EQS there. The cheaper one is $104,000 and the other one is $111,000.

Once you’re in that deep why go half way? No bragging rights doing that.

jmonroe

imidazol97

Shrinkflation at Walmart last couple of days:

Equate flutacasone nasal spray used to 144 squirts; now 120.
Scotts Triple fertilizer/weed/crab killer used to be 15000 sq ft or 5000 sq ft; now 12000 or 4000 sq ft. bags.

imidazol97

Re shrink packaging. I had to use a knife to dig off the plastic over the
top of the nasal spray pack. I almost jabbed myself with the steak knife
I ended up using to cut it loose.

tjc78

@ab348 said:
Ford SecuriCode… they have had it since the early ‘80s. Ford drivers seem to love it. Oddly, I don’t think any other manufacturers have copied it.

Yep, 1980 introduction on the Thunderbird, Cougar, Mark VI and Town Car.

Nissan Maxima had it in 1984 on both front doors and it also did the windows and moonroof. Not sure when they discontinued it.

jmonroe1

snakeweasel said:

Last year I went to get the brakes done on the Sonata, both front and back. Well we had a little issue with the b=job done on the back brakes as they seemed to be holding on when accelerating so we took it back. The mechanic adjusted the brakes so that it didn't drag anymore or so we thought. Well just this last weekend the left rear brake started grinding, not only that I could hear it grinding for a while as I accelerated. So apparently its been dragging ever so lightly over the last year. Anyhow the cars over at the mechanic right now and I am hoping they will do the right thing.

So your really hoping they send it out to a shop that knows what they’re doing. It sounds like your shop didn’t grow up with drum brakes which is probably what your emergency brake system has.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

imidazol97 said:

Re shrink packaging. I had to use a knife to dig off the plastic over the
top of the nasal spray pack. I almost jabbed myself with the steak knife
I ended up using to cut it loose.

You know we’re in trouble when they start supplying bandaids with packaged products.

jmonroe

explorerx4

First car I had with the keypad was my 83 Turbo Coupe.
The Mustang(91) doesn't have one.
Just installed the FordPass app on my phone.
It displays tire pressures, which is handy since I have a tire with a weird slow leak.
I can see if I need to put air in it before I go into the garage.

qbrozen

I use it on the Escape all the time. When I was driving it, I would just leave the key inside. Wife refuses to do that. She’d rather hunt around the house for the lost key and blame me for moving it when I never touched it.

stickguy

explorerx4 said:

First car I had with the keypad was my 83 Turbo Coupe.
The Mustang(91) doesn't have one.
Just installed the FordPass app on my phone.
It displays tire pressures, which is handy since I have a tire with a weird slow leak.
I can see if I need to put air in it before I go into the garage.

I have the app too. I think I can remote unlock. Not that I have ever tried it.

tjc78

@explorerx4 said:
First car I had with the keypad was my 83 Turbo Coupe.
The Mustang(91) doesn't have one.
Just installed the FordPass app on my phone.
It displays tire pressures, which is handy since I have a tire with a weird slow leak.
I can see if I need to put air in it before I go into the garage.

Don’t quote me on this but I’m pretty sure the Fox Stangs never got the keypad. Strange omission considering how popular they were.

tjc78

And while we are talking about keyless… here is the strangest coincidence. When Grandpop got his 93 LTC Cartier he applied for handicapped plates for my Grandmother. His tag ended in “3133”. The default keyless code for the TC was “31335”. What are the odds?

I still have that license plate since it was on the 04 Grand Marquis when he passed.

imidazol97

When I entered college at BSU, my room number was 113. My phone number in the room ended in 13 (9413). My mailbox in the lobby was #13. There were a couple of bad events, but none related to the "13's."

explorerx4

My parents home phone # was 73 39207. Where my dad worked was 73 70293.

kyfdx

@stickguy It isn't a proximity key? Are you sure you can lock the car with the key inside?

explorerx4

The car knows if the key is inside or not. You can't start the car if the key is not physically inside it.
If you exit with the key on you and engine running it honks the horn a couple of times.
I think you can lock the key in the vehicle using the inside door lock button.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

The car knows if the key is inside or not. You can't start the car if the key is not physically inside it.
If you exit with the key on you and engine running it honks the horn a couple of times.
I think you can lock the key in the vehicle using the inside door lock button.

Yeah, on most cars, you can't lock the car with the key inside

tjc78

@kyfdx said:
Yeah, on most cars, you can't lock the car with the key inside

Unless your my wife…..

stickguy

You can. On one of ours you needed to use the other key fob. Couldn’t do it by hitting the lock button and closing the door. I assume the logic in the car recognizes the keypad as being ok to lock it.

But to make sure I’ll test it out later.

stickguy

Shingles vax reaction seems to have passed. Last evening was rough but overnight fever went away and now back to however close to normal I usually am.

Not looking forward to 2nd dose though!

snakeweasel

@jmonroe1 said:
So your really hoping they send it out to a shop that knows what they’re doing. It sounds like your shop didn’t grow up with drum brakes which is probably what your emergency brake system has.

jmonroe

Nope disk brakes all around. Looks like the caliper went bad. They are replacing the calipers for the back and not charging for a new rotor and pads.

abacomike

My brother was moved to cardiac ICU last night. He coded twice and in their attempt to revive him, they broke 3 ribs. He is having difficulty with his depth perception and his peripheral vision in his left eye.

Things are not looking positive right now. I can’t drive up there due to my back problems - 5 hours of driving on the Turnpike and I-95 is out of the question. I am praying he pulls through! 😩

imidazol97

Hoping for the best outcome for your brother. Prayers.

snakeweasel

@explorerx4 said:
My parents home phone # was 73 39207. Where my dad worked was 73 70293.

Back in the 80s when they were creating all the new area codes a friend of mine got a new area code that made his whole phone number a series of double digits like 112-233-4455.

snakeweasel

@kyfdx said:
Yeah, on most cars, you can't lock the car with the key inside

So you drive around with the doors unlocked?

snakeweasel

@kyfdx said:
Yeah, on most cars, you can't lock the car with the key inside

My first car was a Dodge Coronet and you couldn't lock the keys on that car. If the door was open and you locked it then closed it it would automatically unlock. You had to close the door and lock it with the key.

sda

I remember with the Accord my wife and I went to a Color Guard competition to watch our daughter who was a Captain of the team, perform. My wife put her purse in the trunk. I could not lock the car. What the heck?? Her set of keys for the Accord were in her purse in the trunk while mine were in my pocket. As luck would have it my wife has this big bulky key chain that I got to put in my pocket. Then I could lock the car.

henryn

explorerx4 said:

Mustang needs a new battery, so I went to remove the old one(9 years old) today.
First step disconnect the negative terminal. Couldn't get it to budge until I used an old drum brake spring tool to pop it off the terminal. The positive side was a little easier.
Cleaned some junk off the positive end and reamed out both connectors..
I had put some felt pads around each battery post, but I think I'm going to skip it when I install the new battery. The battery I took out has a red plastic ring that sits on top of the battery around the post.

henryn

qbrozen said:

I use it on the Escape all the time. When I was driving it, I would just leave the key inside. Wife refuses to do that. She’d rather hunt around the house for the lost key and blame me for moving it when I never touched it.

Back when I was married, long ago in a galaxy far far away, we had quite a bit of trouble over car keys. My wife would accumulate all of the car keys in her purse. The second time I found myself stuck at home with no keys to either car, we implemented a new rule. I put up a "key hanger board" with hooks in the kitchen. All car keys were placed on the hooks. All car keys, every time.

I still do that today. No more searching for car keys, or house keys, or the padlock on the storage building, or the riding mower, or ...

oldfarmer50

tjc78 said:

@ab348 said:

Ford SecuriCode… they have had it since the early ‘80s. Ford drivers seem to love it. Oddly, I don’t think any other manufacturers have copied it.

Yep, 1980 introduction on the Thunderbird, Cougar, Mark VI and Town Car.

Nissan Maxima had it in 1984 on both front doors and it also did the windows and moonroof. Not sure when they discontinued it.

I had the code buttons on my 95’ Lincoln and it was also on the kid’s 2006 Mercury. I think his Fusion has it too. No buttons on the Mustang.

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

My brother was moved to cardiac ICU last night. He coded twice and in their attempt to revive him, they broke 3 ribs. He is having difficulty with his depth perception and his peripheral vision in his left eye.

Things are not looking positive right now. I can’t drive up there due to my back problems - 5 hours of driving on the Turnpike and I-95 is out of the question. I am praying he pulls through! 😩

Sorry about that. Hoping for the best.

sda

abacomike said:

My brother was moved to cardiac ICU last night. He coded twice and in their attempt to revive him, they broke 3 ribs. He is having difficulty with his depth perception and his peripheral vision in his left eye.

Things are not looking positive right now. I can’t drive up there due to my back problems - 5 hours of driving on the Turnpike and I-95 is out of the question. I am praying he pulls through! 😩

Very sad to learn. Wishing him a full recovery, you as well.

abacomike

My drive up the turnpike (17 miles) revealed some great highway mpg ‘s for the G90!

BTW, thanks for all your prayers - it’s in God’s hands!

stickguy

Hoping for the best Mike. Your family has certainly been through the ringer, but does seem resilient.

stickguy

I keep my keys in my pocket. Wife’s never leave her purse. If we started hanging them up it would be a disaster. Proximity keys make doing it much easier. My wife would never get a car without one now.

I remember old cars having to push lock button and hood up the handle to lock. How quaint.

And on our Honda/acuras, you could lock the other key in the car. Just had to do it with a key fob. So the car knew you still had a key and wanted to do it. Sometimes my wife wants to leave her purse in the car.

jmonroe1

snakeweasel said:

@jmonroe1 said:

So your really hoping they send it out to a shop that knows what they’re doing. It sounds like your shop didn’t grow up with drum brakes which is probably what your emergency brake system has.

jmonroe

Nope disk brakes all around. Looks like the caliper went bad. They are replacing the calipers for the back and not charging for a new rotor and pads.

That’s what happens when you go to places that do the typical “hang and drop” brake jobs. They don’t install a caliper kit that at least consists of new guide pins and rubber bushings for the caliper. At best they MIGHT lube the pins and bushings and even then they probably use chassis grease that deteriorates the rubber bushings. You are supposed to use silicone grease that doesn’t attack the rubber bushings. On top of all of that they are more than likely doing this with dirty grimy hands which transmits grit to the grease.

Doing brake jobs on cars with calipers today without doing any caliper maintenance is akin to doing a brake job years ago on cars with drum brakes without doing it using a hardware kit to replace the return springs, hold down pins and other parts for the self adjusting mechanism.

While cars with calipers are low maintenance they are not maintenance free for life. Parts that live in that environment will not last forever.

I do this work myself so I know what is being done. I don’t expect everyone to do their own work but everyone should understand that when you’re getting a cheap brake job you’re not getting done what should be done and what is recommended by the manufacturer.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

henryn said:

explorerx4 said:

Mustang needs a new battery, so I went to remove the old one(9 years old) today.
First step disconnect the negative terminal. Couldn't get it to budge until I used an old drum brake spring tool to pop it off the terminal. The positive side was a little easier.
Cleaned some junk off the positive end and reamed out both connectors..
I had put some felt pads around each battery post, but I think I'm going to skip it when I install the new battery. The battery I took out has a red plastic ring that sits on top of the battery around the post.

Wow, I remember when that tool cost $3.95. I still have mine. Glad I didn’t lose it.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

@Mike, my thoughts and prayers for your brother. If he’s half as tough as you he’ll be fine.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

I just started the Mustang for it’s monthly battery charge. It almost didn’t start. Might be the year to think about a replacement.