Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

driver100

stickguy said:

do you want a worker with a super fancy new truck? Somebody has to be paying for that!

Didn't say fancy....I'd be wary of that. I did say clean and cared for....not rusting out.
I did need a demo guy to remove about 1500 sq ft of old shag carpeting once, do you know how dirty and heavy that is? It was in my older brothers apartment which he was leaving. The demo guy showed up in a black Escalade...beautiful condition. None of the carpet went into the Escalade though...it went into the big garbage bin. There's an example of a guy who had a beautiful older Escalade, he obviously looked after it, and he worked his butt off.....that's the kind of worker I like!

abacomike

@carnaught said:
@abacomike, with your brother’s visual deficits, was he checked for a retinal detachment? I’m glad that he is doing better though.

The neurologist determined that, based on test results and physical examinations, he sustained a couple of mini-strokes when he coded twice in the OR. His visual problems are beginning to resolve a bit - doctors feel that, with time, full depth perception and acuity should return to normal.

I know he is recovering nicely because his attitude and disposition have improved significantly since I first saw him on Tuesday (we use FaceTime on our Apple smart phones so I can see him in real-time video). Thanks Will for your sincere interest in his recovery.

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

@explorerx4 said:

I have never had one but lots of people rave about Wawa's sandwiches.

Decent sandwiches and better than most any other chains (other than Primos) but still no where near as good as an independent shop in NJ.

@stickguy

I almost exclusively use Wawa gas. Pricing is usually decent and I’ve never had any problems. Of course then there is my cousin who filled his brand new Silverado 2500 Diesel from Wawa that had unleaded in the diesel tanks. That cost them a pretty penny

You can’t buff that out, can you?

jmonroe

abacomike

There are several WaWa’s within a 2 mile radius of where I live. I don’t buy gas from them because they are not listed as TopTier. Since I am a Costco member, I purchase 95% of my gasoline from Costco - and their gas is a TopTier fuel.

Occasionally I will buy gasoline at Marathon which is also TopTier.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

explorerx4 said:

I have never had one but lots of people rave about Wawa's sandwiches.

Just don’t try to buy beer there in PA.

In my area a lot off folks rave about Sheetz but I don’t know why. Like @tjc78 said, “go to an independent shop if you want a good sandwich”.

There is a sports bar very close to me. If a Philly Cheese Steak from the famous Philly joints is better than what this sports bar has it couldn’t be by much and they really load the sandwich with steak.

I think their price just went up from $12.50 for a 10 inch Philly Cheese Steak sandwich to just under $14.00. That’s another thing I like about that place, rather than cut back and start serving smaller portions they raise their price a little but they don’t do it too often. However, with the way things are today I guess they had to. I can’t tell you how often I go there. Even their breakfasts are very good. No other place around here can touch them. But be prepared for a wait of about 10 minutes and sometimes a little longer. I don’t like that but it’s worth it.

Their pizzas are good too. In fact, they started out moons ago as a pizza shop under a different name. There is always a line waiting for pizza pickup that I have to walk by to get to a table.

Now I made myself hungry.

jmonroe

qbrozen

Wawa and Quik Chek are the places I stop almost exclusively for gas. I don’t have another choice nearby.

tjc78

Ahh Quik Chek… I have to hear all the time how my wife misses them ever since she moved to South Jersey (it’s been 14 years.. she needs to move on).

In all reality I don’t have much choice either. The branded stations are much more expensive and I’d rather take my chances at Wawa than the unbranded stations near me. BJs is close but whenever gas goes up the lines are insane. Last weekend it was at least 50 cars deep.

tjc78

@jmonroe1 said:
You can’t buff that out, can you?

jmonroe

Lol no… IIRC the bill was nearly 10K. Every inch of the fuel system along with other things had to be either replaced or cleaned. Wawa was pretty good about it. They reviewed the video and saw he used the right nozzle and then checked the tank to confirm there was regular gas in there. They paid quickly. I wonder how many other customers had the same thing happen. I wouldn’t want to be the guy who filled the wrong tank. You can be sure he got charged back!

driver100

Is this true?
My neighbor has a Lexus and she stopped to get gas at an indie kind of scuzzy station.
The pump was barely pumping because it kept stopping as she filled up.
The pump stopped before she filled it up, so she paid and left.
Her car was hesitating and cutting out.
She went into an Auto Zone store and they gave her something that would absorb water in the tank.
They said that would work since it wasn't a lot of water, just from what is left at the bottom of the stations tanks.
They told her that even at the best stations some water gets into the tanks, it goes to the bottom, and to try and never buy gasoline when the stations tank is near empty.
Her car works fine.
A major gas station back home had water in the tank. About 20 cars got gas that day and they got half gas - half water.
A womans new Audi A4 stalled out within a few miles....others had similar experiences.
The cost was $4000 to fix it, the oil company said they would cover any bills.

kyfdx

@jmonroe1

All that, and you don't name the restaurant?

stickguy

They just built a fancy new wawa close to me. The ConocoPhillips station across the street that I normal use keeps their price consistently a few cents cheaper.

So lower price for top tier, and no dealing with the crazy parking lot traffic.

tjc78

Just ran to Wawa for coffee and at the shore 91 was 2.63. I paid 4.75 at home about a week ago. I’d wager it’s under $4.50 at home now.

venture

driver100 said:

Is this true?
My neighbor has a Lexus and she stopped to get gas at an indie kind of scuzzy station.
The pump was barely pumping because it kept stopping as she filled up.
The pump stopped before she filled it up, so she paid and left.
Her car was hesitating and cutting out.
She went into an Auto Zone store and they gave her something that would absorb water in the tank.
They said that would work since it wasn't a lot of water, just from what is left at the bottom of the stations tanks.
They told her that even at the best stations some water gets into the tanks, it goes to the bottom, and to try and never buy gasoline when the stations tank is near empty.
Her car works fine.
A major gas station back home had water in the tank. About 20 cars got gas that day and they got half gas - half water.
A womans new Audi A4 stalled out within a few miles....others had similar experiences.
The cost was $4000 to fix it, the oil company said they would cover any bills.

How would anyone know when the tank is near empty?

venture

My grandson was driving along in his BMW, with his son in the car, and noticed some smoke in his side view mirror. He pulled over and saw this. He got away from the car and took a few pictures.

ab348

Very scary, glad everyone got away unharmed.

Seems that car fires like that are much more common these days, not just in Hyundai/Kia models which have been recalled for that issue but many other models as well. I think the advent of direct fuel injection systems with gasoline under high pressures leads to this if there is a failure anywhere in the system.

Michaell

venture said:

My grandson was driving along in his BMW, with his son in the car, and noticed some smoke in his side view mirror. He pulled over and saw this. He got away from the car and took a few pictures.

Yikes!

Glad everyone is OK.

Guess someone will be shopping for a new (to them) car. Poor time to be in the market, I'm afraid.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

do you want a worker with a super fancy new truck? Somebody has to be paying for that!

Didn't say fancy....I'd be wary of that. I did say clean and cared for....not rusting out.
I did need a demo guy to remove about 1500 sq ft of old shag carpeting once, do you know how dirty and heavy that is? It was in my older brothers apartment which he was leaving. The demo guy showed up in a black Escalade...beautiful condition. None of the carpet went into the Escalade though...it went into the big garbage bin. There's an example of a guy who had a beautiful older Escalade, he obviously looked after it, and he worked his butt off.....that's the kind of worker I like!

He probably overcharged you to pay for it.

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

@carnaught said:
@abacomike, with your brother’s visual deficits, was he checked for a retinal detachment? I’m glad that he is doing better though.

The neurologist determined that, based on test results and physical examinations, he sustained a couple of mini-strokes when he coded twice in the OR. His visual problems are beginning to resolve a bit - doctors feel that, with time, full depth perception and acuity should return to normal.

I know he is recovering nicely because his attitude and disposition have improved significantly since I first saw him on Tuesday (we use FaceTime on our Apple smart phones so I can see him in real-time video). Thanks Will for your sincere interest in his recovery.

Both of my wife’s strokes resulted in visual deficits which resolved over time so I’m hopeful your brother will recover too.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

tjc78 said:

@explorerx4 said:

I have never had one but lots of people rave about Wawa's sandwiches.

Decent sandwiches and better than most any other chains (other than Primos) but still no where near as good as an independent shop in NJ.

@stickguy

I almost exclusively use Wawa gas. Pricing is usually decent and I’ve never had any problems. Of course then there is my cousin who filled his brand new Silverado 2500 Diesel from Wawa that had unleaded in the diesel tanks. That cost them a pretty penny

You can’t buff that out, can you?

jmonroe

Don’t modern diesels have sensors that won’t let the engine start if gasoline is detected? One of our drivers filled a brand new diesel with gas and it shut right down and had to be towed.

oldfarmer50

venture said:

My grandson was driving along in his BMW, with his son in the car, and noticed some smoke in his side view mirror. He pulled over and saw this. He got away from the car and took a few pictures.

What is that? An Audi?

imidazol97

I can never get excited about eating where I buy gas. Somethiing about "Honey, let's go out a sandwich
and gas" that doesn't sound to me like the way it should work.

I recall back in the late 70s when this began there was a gas station with a big sign, "Donuts and Gas." It was in eastern Cincinnati area.

I never stopped there. I always thought about the time my buddy and I ate in downtown Detroit after meeting there for the auto show near the Cobo Hall. I had food poisoning by the time I reached home.

sda

@venture I’m glad everyone is ok. Probably a blessing the dad was riding along and observed something very wrong. I think @ab348 is correct in that these high pressure fuel systems issues lead to fires. I also think the over use of plastics for intake manifolds, oil pans, water pumps, etc. which often start to leak at the mating surface compound the problem.

laurasdada

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

My grandson was driving along in his BMW, with his son in the car, and noticed some smoke in his side view mirror. He pulled over and saw this. He got away from the car and took a few pictures.

What is that? An Audi?

Are you trying to scare me???
Wow, glad family got out well in time.

sda

Hardly an inch to spare. Spring purge and cleaning soon. At least I can still park both cars in the garage.

stickguy

I like your toolbox. I need one of those.

and the only food at a gas station should be Mountain dew and beef jerkey sticks with an expiration date in 1978.

stickguy

and that picture reminds me. When I get a new house, before we move in, I am getting the garage floor done. I deserve a treat.

roadburner

Red letter weekend! Friday I settled two cases I really didn’t want to take to trial, and in a third the defendant was arrested in Michigan so I won’t have to deal with him for some time.
Now to sit back and watch IMSA at Sebring, the Bahrain F1 race, and NASCAR at Atlanta.

henryn

Before today I had never heard the term "wawa". Sounds like some attempt at baby talk. A quick google check finds:

A chain of more than 850 convenience retail stores (over 600 offering gasoline), Wawa stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Washington, D.C.

Seems they're only located in six and a half states, the closest being nearly 2,000 miles away from me.

venture

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

My grandson was driving along in his BMW, with his son in the car, and noticed some smoke in his side view mirror. He pulled over and saw this. He got away from the car and took a few pictures.

What is that? An Audi?

It's an older BMW. He can't stop messing with his cars like a lot of young guys. It's hard to tell, but it has red wheels.

Michaell

F1 is in Bahrain this weekend.

Saudi Arabia next weekend.

roadburner

@Michaell said:
F1 is in Bahrain this weekend.

Saudi Arabia next weekend.

That’s what I get for typing too fast on a small screen.

mjfloyd1

@venture said:
It's an older BMW. He can't stop messing with his cars like a lot of young guys. It's hard to tell, but it has red wheels.

The red wheels was what I noticed right after the obvious fire.

Glad everyone is OK.

fintail

Several years ago my mom's Camry got a tank of watery gas. This happened when I was visiting, and I recall the car stalling out in the driveway and being unable to start. As it is a Camry that can probably run on kerosene anyway, it wasn't an expensive fix, even at the dealer I think it might have been around $500 to drain the tank and flush the system. She had to deal with the oil company for a couple months to get them to pay, but they did (I think around 20 people had the same experience).

driver100 said:

Is this true?
My neighbor has a Lexus and she stopped to get gas at an indie kind of scuzzy station.
The pump was barely pumping because it kept stopping as she filled up.
The pump stopped before she filled it up, so she paid and left.
Her car was hesitating and cutting out.
She went into an Auto Zone store and they gave her something that would absorb water in the tank.
They said that would work since it wasn't a lot of water, just from what is left at the bottom of the stations tanks.
They told her that even at the best stations some water gets into the tanks, it goes to the bottom, and to try and never buy gasoline when the stations tank is near empty.
Her car works fine.
A major gas station back home had water in the tank. About 20 cars got gas that day and they got half gas - half water.
A womans new Audi A4 stalled out within a few miles....others had similar experiences.
The cost was $4000 to fix it, the oil company said they would cover any bills.

roadburner

@driver100 said:
Is this true?
My neighbor has a Lexus and she stopped to get gas at an indie kind of scuzzy station.
The pump was barely pumping because it kept stopping as she filled up.
The pump stopped before she filled it up, so she paid and left.
Her car was hesitating and cutting out.
She went into an Auto Zone store and they gave her something that would absorb water in the tank.
They said that would work since it wasn't a lot of water, just from what is left at the bottom of the stations tanks.
They told her that even at the best stations some water gets into the tanks, it goes to the bottom, and to try and never buy gasoline when the stations tank is near empty.
Her car works fine.
A major gas station back home had water in the tank. About 20 cars got gas that day and they got half gas - half water.
A womans new Audi A4 stalled out within a few miles....others had similar experiences.
The cost was $4000 to fix it, the oil company said they would cover any bills.

The key takeaway is not stopping at a “scuzzy” gas station. My BMWs and Mini only get Top Tier fuel. My Wrangler gets no worse than Kroger.
I love people with premium vehicles who cheap out in every way possible and then end up with issues. Usually they blame the car.

driver100

venture said:

driver100 said:

Is this true?
My neighbor has a Lexus and she stopped to get gas at an indie kind of scuzzy station.
The pump was barely pumping because it kept stopping as she filled up.
The pump stopped before she filled it up, so she paid and left.
Her car was hesitating and cutting out.
She went into an Auto Zone store and they gave her something that would absorb water in the tank.
They said that would work since it wasn't a lot of water, just from what is left at the bottom of the stations tanks.
They told her that even at the best stations some water gets into the tanks, it goes to the bottom, and to try and never buy gasoline when the stations tank is near empty.
Her car works fine.
A major gas station back home had water in the tank. About 20 cars got gas that day and they got half gas - half water.
A womans new Audi A4 stalled out within a few miles....others had similar experiences.
The cost was $4000 to fix it, the oil company said they would cover any bills.

How would anyone know when the tank is near empty?

In my neighbors case, the pump kept stopping, and then she squeezed more out of it. All you can do is if you notice that you have to keep restarting...it could be low in gasoline.

No One answered if every gas tank has water on the bottom at the bottom....water is heavier.
At Auto Zone they also said don't fill it more....once the pump stops....that can escape as vapor and smell like gas in the garage....I am just saying what they said....no idea if it is true.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

do you want a worker with a super fancy new truck? Somebody has to be paying for that!

Didn't say fancy....I'd be wary of that. I did say clean and cared for....not rusting out.
I did need a demo guy to remove about 1500 sq ft of old shag carpeting once, do you know how dirty and heavy that is? It was in my older brothers apartment which he was leaving. The demo guy showed up in a black Escalade...beautiful condition. None of the carpet went into the Escalade though...it went into the big garbage bin. There's an example of a guy who had a beautiful older Escalade, he obviously looked after it, and he worked his butt off.....that's the kind of worker I like!

He probably overcharged you to pay for it.

He didn't....there is a price paid to do that work and it is a certain amount per sq ft.
The Demolition Guy calculated it out and he did it for half price. It is an awful job and the carpet weighs a lot.....he did it all and he loves his work....demolishing stuff. He did a great job, and he took pride in his work and in his SUV.

oldfarmer50

sda said:

Hardly an inch to spare. Spring purge and cleaning soon. At least I can still park both cars in the garage.

That’s cleaner than my living room.

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

@driver100 said:

Is this true?

My neighbor has a Lexus and she stopped to get gas at an indie kind of scuzzy station.

The pump was barely pumping because it kept stopping as she filled up.

The pump stopped before she filled it up, so she paid and left.

Her car was hesitating and cutting out.

She went into an Auto Zone store and they gave her something that would absorb water in the tank.

They said that would work since it wasn't a lot of water, just from what is left at the bottom of the stations tanks.

They told her that even at the best stations some water gets into the tanks, it goes to the bottom, and to try and never buy gasoline when the stations tank is near empty.

Her car works fine.

A major gas station back home had water in the tank. About 20 cars got gas that day and they got half gas - half water.

A womans new Audi A4 stalled out within a few miles....others had similar experiences.

The cost was $4000 to fix it, the oil company said they would cover any bills.

The key takeaway is not stopping at a “scuzzy” gas station. My BMWs and Mini only get Top Tier fuel. My Wrangler gets no worse than Kroger.

I love people with premium vehicles who cheap out in every way possible and then end up with issues. Usually they blame the car.

What is your definition of “scuzzy”? Would that be a station where this guy is in line ahead of you?

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

@driver100 said:

Is this true?

My neighbor has a Lexus and she stopped to get gas at an indie kind of scuzzy station.

The pump was barely pumping because it kept stopping as she filled up.

The pump stopped before she filled it up, so she paid and left.

Her car was hesitating and cutting out.

She went into an Auto Zone store and they gave her something that would absorb water in the tank.

They said that would work since it wasn't a lot of water, just from what is left at the bottom of the stations tanks.

They told her that even at the best stations some water gets into the tanks, it goes to the bottom, and to try and never buy gasoline when the stations tank is near empty.

Her car works fine.

A major gas station back home had water in the tank. About 20 cars got gas that day and they got half gas - half water.

A womans new Audi A4 stalled out within a few miles....others had similar experiences.

The cost was $4000 to fix it, the oil company said they would cover any bills.

The key takeaway is not stopping at a “scuzzy” gas station. My BMWs and Mini only get Top Tier fuel. My Wrangler gets no worse than Kroger.

I love people with premium vehicles who cheap out in every way possible and then end up with issues. Usually they blame the car.

What is your definition of “scuzzy”? Would that be a station where this guy is in line ahead of you?




No, I'm thinking along the lines of a dilapidated no-name food mart; preferably I want a BP, Marathon, Shell, Sunoco or Texaco station- hopefully with 93 octane premium.

explorerx4

Anyone have opinions on prefinished hardwood versus engineered flooring?

tjc78

We have engineered. It is holding up just fine with 2 kids, 2 cats, and a dog.

oldfarmer50

I was watching the Mecum car auctions and they sold a 2022 Hummer EV for $260,000, twice it’s sticker price.

What a world.

stickguy

we put in prefinished real hardwood 11 years ago. held up good. Looks more like real wood (since it is), and if you want to it can be refinished. But engineered these days is really good (though as always you can get good stuff or crap, and prices vary). Engineered should give you more style options.

And as TJC pointed out, engineered might be more durable depending on how it is made. And might be easier to install, especially if you need a floating floor.

if I have to put floors in the next place I would do whichever one was cheaper if I have the option.

28firefighter

We have engineered hardwood that came with our house. After a decade of use and two owners with kids and pets, it has not held up well.

stickguy

Driver, it is correct that you should not put extra in. The vapor collection system needs space for the vapors. If you overfill the tank it can get into the charcoal canister and destroy that, which is an expensive repair.

all storage tanks probably have water in them. I have no clue if there is some kind of filtering system for that though. Also, the pump is going to be at the bottom of the tank anyway so if water collects there it's getting pumped out. possibly being low just means there isn't as much gas to mix with it?

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

@driver100 said:

Is this true?

My neighbor has a Lexus and she stopped to get gas at an indie kind of scuzzy station.

The pump was barely pumping because it kept stopping as she filled up.

The pump stopped before she filled it up, so she paid and left.

Her car was hesitating and cutting out.

She went into an Auto Zone store and they gave her something that would absorb water in the tank.

They said that would work since it wasn't a lot of water, just from what is left at the bottom of the stations tanks.

They told her that even at the best stations some water gets into the tanks, it goes to the bottom, and to try and never buy gasoline when the stations tank is near empty.

Her car works fine.

A major gas station back home had water in the tank. About 20 cars got gas that day and they got half gas - half water.

A womans new Audi A4 stalled out within a few miles....others had similar experiences.

The cost was $4000 to fix it, the oil company said they would cover any bills.

The key takeaway is not stopping at a “scuzzy” gas station. My BMWs and Mini only get Top Tier fuel. My Wrangler gets no worse than Kroger.

I love people with premium vehicles who cheap out in every way possible and then end up with issues. Usually they blame the car.

What is your definition of “scuzzy”? Would that be a station where this guy is in line ahead of you?



**************************************************************************************

I'd say if you needed gas and you came to this station......you should avoid it!

stickguy

I got curious about water in storage tanks. one link below. But water is heavier so it sinks to the bottom. And the pump pulls from somewhat above the bottom (so the tank could never be pumped empty). so as long as the water level does not get that high, generally no worries.

the exception to that is when the tanks are filled. That can stir the water up and mix with the gas until it settles back out. Which is why (true or not!) that I have a rule that I will never stop at a gas station if the truck is there loading the tanks!

interesting that they have to occasionally pump out the bottom of the tanks to get out the water that has accumulated, but it makes sense.

https://www.pei.org/wiki/tank-water-bottoms

snakeweasel

tjc78 said:

@jmonroe1 said:

You can’t buff that out, can you?

jmonroe

Lol no… IIRC the bill was nearly 10K. Every inch of the fuel system along with other things had to be either replaced or cleaned. Wawa was pretty good about it. They reviewed the video and saw he used the right nozzle and then checked the tank to confirm there was regular gas in there. They paid quickly. I wonder how many other customers had the same thing happen. I wouldn’t want to be the guy who filled the wrong tank. You can be sure he got charged back!

Many decades ago my mom filled up her brand new car at a gas station near work and got a tank full of water. The service center offered to fix it but since it was a brand new car she had the dealership fix it. The station paid for that, don't know how much it cost.

explorerx4

At the station where I usually fill up, I remember seeing them remove some liquid from the top of the tank.
Can't remember what they used to remove it.

snakeweasel

henryn said:

Before today I had never heard the term "wawa". Sounds like some attempt at baby talk. A quick google check finds:

A chain of more than 850 convenience retail stores (over 600 offering gasoline), Wawa stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Washington, D.C.

Seems they're only located in six and a half states, the closest being nearly 2,000 miles away from me.

How can they be located in half a state? You either have a location there or you don't. Is there one location that straddles a state line?