Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

qbrozen

mjfloyd1 said:

I have shoved a screwdriver through one and use that to turn it and get it off. Kinda messy though

I definitely thought about that, but I wasn't yet positive the new filter was correct so I didn't want to damage what may be the only one I had. FYI, the new one was correct.

roadburner

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————
How wrong could it have been to buy a car for 5 bucks?

There has to be a story about that.

jmonroe

The local Chevy dealer had a Memorial day promotion, there were three somewhat decrepit cars. The Riv was to be "sold" for $5 at 10:00 am, another car at 12:00 pm and the last at 2:00 pm. The deal was that everyone there at that time had their names put in a hat and one was drawn. The ads for the promo didn't get wide distribution and when I heard about it I told no one. I showed up at 9:55 and I was the only person there; I waited on pins and needles until 10:00- when the sales guy I knew walked into the showroom and said, "Write up the deal for RB on the Riv!"

corvette

I have one of the oil filter tools with a long fabric strap that goes around the filter. It would take a ginormous filter not to fit inside it.

oldfarmer50

Hype or not?

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZZJgWh4ud4U?feature=share

breld

I know it's "just" the 4 cylinder, but this strikes me as a fun little vehicle for $38k.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/00913557-1981-489d-bb0a-b4f15ec96443/

xwesx

oldfarmer50 said:

Hype or not?

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZZJgWh4ud4U?feature=share

It's all hype until/unless it comes to pass!

explorerx4

@breld,
I messaged them and said you'd be right down to pick it up.

jmonroe1

roadburner said:

@jmonroe1 said:

————————————————

How wrong could it have been to buy a car for 5 bucks?

There has to be a story about that.

jmonroe

The local Chevy dealer had a Memorial day promotion, there were three somewhat decrepit cars. The Riv was to be "sold" for $5 at 10:00 am, another car at 12:00 pm and the last at 2:00 pm. The deal was that everyone there at that time had their names put in a hat and one was drawn. The ads for the promo didn't get wide distribution and when I heard about it I told no one. I showed up at 9:55 and I was the only person there; I waited on pins and needles until 10:00- when the sales guy I knew walked into the showroom and said, "Write up the deal for RB on the Riv!"

————————————————
Thanks. Very strange that the dealer didn’t hype the promo. Today they hype free wieners for Memorial Day.

I imagine you did quite a bit of wrench turning on that $5 beast.

jmonroe

stickguy

breld said:

I know it's "just" the 4 cylinder, but this strikes me as a fun little vehicle for $38k.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/00913557-1981-489d-bb0a-b4f15ec96443/

that is a lovely car. would be perfect with a manual, but in this case I could make an exception!

corvette

roadburner said:

The Riv was to be "sold" for $5 at 10:00 am, another car at 12:00 pm and the last at 2:00 pm.

It sounds like you missed the opportunity to jumpstart a hooptie fleet with two more cars by hanging out there until 2:00 PM.

henryn

mjfloyd1 said:

@qbrozen said:

When you don’t have a large enough filter wrench on hand for your JDM diesel truck and your monster channel lock pliers are MIA and daylight is almost gone:

I have shoved a screwdriver through one and use that to turn it and get it off. Kinda messy though

-----------------------end quoted material--------------------------------------------

That can be a bad idea. Back around 2000, I owned a Ford F250 with the 460 V8, used mainly for hauling a 5th wheel travel trailer. Back then, I did all of my own oil changes, but for some reason I had one oil change done at a quick lube. And wouldn't you know it, they apparently tightened the oil filter with an impact wrench. Don't ask me how they managed to tighten an oil filter with an impact wrench, suffice it to say that oil filter was not coming off.

I tried the screwdriver trick, and tore the oil filter in half. The next day, I bought a giant pair of channel lock pliers. That succeeded in removing all but the base plate, which was apparently welded to the mounting block. I finally paid to have the truck picked up by a wrecker and taken to the dealership. The dealership only charged me for an oil change, surprisingly. I went in the back and asked the tech how he managed to remove the remnants of the old filter.

"Judicious application of a hammer and chisel."

Which was an idea I had considered, but discarded due to fear of scarring up that mounting block so that it wouldn't properly seal.

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:

Hype or not?

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZZJgWh4ud4U?feature=share

I predict improvement in lease prices in 3 mos. Maybe 6 mos, 9 mos, 12 mos, 18 mos, 24 mos ...

stickguy

I predict improvement in lease prices approximately 1 week after I lease a car.

generally the way it works.

jmonroe1

henryn said:

mjfloyd1 said:

@qbrozen said:

When you don’t have a large enough filter wrench on hand for your JDM diesel truck and your monster channel lock pliers are MIA and daylight is almost gone:

I have shoved a screwdriver through one and use that to turn it and get it off. Kinda messy though

-----------------------end quoted material--------------------------------------------

That can be a bad idea. Back around 2000, I owned a Ford F250 with the 460 V8, used mainly for hauling a 5th wheel travel trailer. Back then, I did all of my own oil changes, but for some reason I had one oil change done at a quick lube. And wouldn't you know it, they apparently tightened the oil filter with an impact wrench. Don't ask me how they managed to tighten an oil filter with an impact wrench, suffice it to say that oil filter was not coming off.

I tried the screwdriver trick, and tore the oil filter in half. The next day, I bought a giant pair of channel lock pliers. That succeeded in removing all but the base plate, which was apparently welded to the mounting block. I finally paid to have the truck picked up by a wrecker and taken to the dealership. The dealership only charged me for an oil change, surprisingly. I went in the back and asked the tech how he managed to remove the remnants of the old filter.

"Judicious application of a hammer and chisel."

Which was an idea I had considered, but discarded due to fear of scarring up that mounting block so that it wouldn't properly seal.
————————————————
Back in the early 70’s a young coworker who had a ‘68 GTO decided after listening to us guys talking about working on our cars it was time for him to do his first oil change. He always took his car to the dealer for everything but since he was recently married he wanted to save as much as he could so he could buy a house. Anyway, he couldn’t get his filter off so he called me for some advice. I asked him if he could unbolt the mounting flange that held the filter housing to the block. He was lucky and got it off then he brought it to my house with the old filter still on it. I put the flange in my vise and used a 2 foot pipe wrench to grab the bottom plate of the filter. It still took a good bit of force to break it loose but it finally came off.

I told him to put some oil on the gasket of the new filter and only tighten it 3/4 to 1 full turn, and no more than that, after the filter made contact with the mounting flange that he now had in his hand once he installed it to the block.

Even back then dealers must have used new hires with no training about how to do an oil and filter change. So they used a lot of force to install filters so that they wouldn’t get chewed out if customers came back with an oil leak at the filter.

Strange how I NEVER had a problem getting a filter off that I installed but have had several sailor cursing episodes with shops that installed filters too tight. I will say that the heavy duty cap wrench that I have that fits over the end of the old style metal filters usually gets the job done before my cursing burns my ears.

jmonroe

roadburner

jmonroe1 said:

roadburner said:

@jmonroe1 said:

————————————————

How wrong could it have been to buy a car for 5 bucks?

There has to be a story about that.

jmonroe

The local Chevy dealer had a Memorial day promotion, there were three somewhat decrepit cars. The Riv was to be "sold" for $5 at 10:00 am, another car at 12:00 pm and the last at 2:00 pm. The deal was that everyone there at that time had their names put in a hat and one was drawn. The ads for the promo didn't get wide distribution and when I heard about it I told no one. I showed up at 9:55 and I was the only person there; I waited on pins and needles until 10:00- when the sales guy I knew walked into the showroom and said, "Write up the deal for RB on the Riv!"

————————————————
Thanks. Very strange that the dealer didn’t hype the promo. Today they hype free wieners for Memorial Day.

I imagine you did quite a bit of wrench turning on that $5 beast.

jmonroe

Oh yeah- but it was fun.

roadburner

The C43 gave me a couple of Low Battery warnings Saturday and Sunday, so I called the Louisville M-B dealer yesterday and they were able to look at the car this morning(no trials or hearings today- fortunately). The culprit was a bad battery- I was on my way in a bit over an hour; a good first impression.

breld

stickguy said:

breld said:

I know it's "just" the 4 cylinder, but this strikes me as a fun little vehicle for $38k.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/00913557-1981-489d-bb0a-b4f15ec96443/

that is a lovely car. would be perfect with a manual, but in this case I could make an exception!

If I didn’t have the Integra Type S “reserved” I’d be giving it some serious thought.

breld

roadburner said:

The C43 gave me a couple of Low Battery warnings Saturday and Sunday, so I called the Louisville M-B dealer yesterday and they were able to look at the car this morning(no trials or hearings today- fortunately). The culprit was a bad battery- I was on my way in a bit over an hour; a good first impression.

I also had a great first impression at my MB dealer when I had it in to address the various issues on my wagon. The warranty is up in about a year - I even looked up some costs and info on extended warranties the other day! Obviously I didn’t purchase anything cause, well you know, a whole year!

stickguy

breld said:

stickguy said:

breld said:

I know it's "just" the 4 cylinder, but this strikes me as a fun little vehicle for $38k.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/00913557-1981-489d-bb0a-b4f15ec96443/

that is a lovely car. would be perfect with a manual, but in this case I could make an exception!

If I didn’t have the Integra Type S “reserved” I’d be giving it some serious thought.

just buy it. will give you something to trade in on the Acura.

au1994

breld said:

I know it's "just" the 4 cylinder, but this strikes me as a fun little vehicle for $38k.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/00913557-1981-489d-bb0a-b4f15ec96443/

Nice color combo, price actually seems reasonable and would be plenty peppy with the 4 cylinder. As long as you have never driven the 6 you may never know the difference.

stickguy

I already have 2, 2 liter 4 banger turbos in the fleet. might as well make it a trifecta!

other than the cost. always a minor sticking point.

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

mjfloyd1 said:

@qbrozen said:

When you don’t have a large enough filter wrench on hand for your JDM diesel truck and your monster channel lock pliers are MIA and daylight is almost gone:

I have shoved a screwdriver through one and use that to turn it and get it off. Kinda messy though

-----------------------end quoted material--------------------------------------------

That can be a bad idea. Back around 2000, I owned a Ford F250 with the 460 V8, used mainly for hauling a 5th wheel travel trailer. Back then, I did all of my own oil changes, but for some reason I had one oil change done at a quick lube. And wouldn't you know it, they apparently tightened the oil filter with an impact wrench. Don't ask me how they managed to tighten an oil filter with an impact wrench, suffice it to say that oil filter was not coming off.

I tried the screwdriver trick, and tore the oil filter in half. The next day, I bought a giant pair of channel lock pliers. That succeeded in removing all but the base plate, which was apparently welded to the mounting block. I finally paid to have the truck picked up by a wrecker and taken to the dealership. The dealership only charged me for an oil change, surprisingly. I went in the back and asked the tech how he managed to remove the remnants of the old filter.

"Judicious application of a hammer and chisel."

Which was an idea I had considered, but discarded due to fear of scarring up that mounting block so that it wouldn't properly seal.

That’s funny, I had the same experience with my 69’ Plymouth. Only I didn’t have money for a tow truck so we tied my car to the bumper of my friend’s and he towed me to the garage. You should have seen the looks they gave me when I told them I couldn’t afford to pay them to both remove the old filter AND change the oil too. I had my buddy tow me back home where I completed changing oil and filter myself.

Michaell

au1994 said:

breld said:

I know it's "just" the 4 cylinder, but this strikes me as a fun little vehicle for $38k.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/00913557-1981-489d-bb0a-b4f15ec96443/

Nice color combo, price actually seems reasonable and would be plenty peppy with the 4 cylinder. As long as you have never driven the 6 you may never know the difference.

Uh, you do remember that he had a Supra?

fintail

Not sure if the system is the same on my car, but I get low battery warnings a lot. I think they have it set so if it discharges below 90% or something, it gives a warning. I've checked the charging system in the diagnostic mode, and found no issues. If I am cleaning the car and have the doors open for 10 minutes, or drive the car several times on short 10 minute drives, esp in cold weather, I will get the notification. So far I just ignore it. If I drive for 20+ minutes the warnings cease.

roadburner said:

The C43 gave me a couple of Low Battery warnings Saturday and Sunday, so I called the Louisville M-B dealer yesterday and they were able to look at the car this morning(no trials or hearings today- fortunately). The culprit was a bad battery- I was on my way in a bit over an hour; a good first impression.

corvette

There are more than a few complaints on the Maverick boards about battery warnings--I think Ford refers to it as going in to deep sleep mode, or something. I suspect the warning shows up if the truck had to do any form of load shedding while turned off.

explorerx4

I had 'The Works' done on my Explorer today.
It even had a separate printout of the battery test.
The previous time, at a different dealership, not going back there again, they mentioned that the tested the battery.
I got also got an online buy offer for the Explorer from Carmax today.

corvette

I have one of those battery testers (disclaimer: from Harbor Freight, so take it for what it's worth). The battery on the Maverick has tested at 1,000 CCA despite being labeled at only 700. Hopefully, that gives it a longer runway before it dies.

roadburner

fintail said:

Not sure if the system is the same on my car, but I get low battery warnings a lot. I think they have it set so if it discharges below 90% or something, it gives a warning. I've checked the charging system in the diagnostic mode, and found no issues. If I am cleaning the car and have the doors open for 10 minutes, or drive the car several times on short 10 minute drives, esp in cold weather, I will get the notification. So far I just ignore it. If I drive for 20+ minutes the warnings cease.

roadburner said:

The C43 gave me a couple of Low Battery warnings Saturday and Sunday, so I called the Louisville M-B dealer yesterday and they were able to look at the car this morning(no trials or hearings today- fortunately). The culprit was a bad battery- I was on my way in a bit over an hour; a good first impression.

That was the issue; the warning was not going off.

stickguy

corvette said:

I have one of those battery testers (disclaimer: from Harbor Freight, so take it for what it's worth). The battery on the Maverick has tested at 1,000 CCA despite being labeled at only 700. Hopefully, that gives it a longer runway before it dies.

I think most of the deep sleep issues are on the hybrids. Sounds like there is something (likely software) related that drains the 12v battery. Plus that is undersized maybe. I'm sure there have been some EB problems but usually a bad battery.

tifighter

@breld said:
I know it's "just" the 4 cylinder, but this strikes me as a fun little vehicle for $38k.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/00913557-1981-489d-bb0a-b4f15ec96443/

I want you to test drive it, just to see how you fit. I agree that the value seems pretty good. And that’s the color combo to get, IMHO.

tifighter

@stickguy said:
that is a lovely car. would be perfect with a manual, but in this case I could make an exception!

Yeah, a “stick special” would be something like a blue over tan guts roadster with a manual transmission and a not turbo four; maybe something like an inline six. If there was only something like that out there somewhere…

explorerx4

@tifighter,
HA HA Good one.

stickguy

I’ll swing by for a test drive next time I am running errands in your neighborhood!

Though I actually like the newer one a lot. Many goodies. Though yours is a classic.

qbrozen

Three acquisitions today

Two out of three are disappointments. And I just so happen to run into a driver for Duncan imports. We chatted for about a half an hour

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

Three acquisitions today

Two out of three are disappointments. And I just so happen to run into a driver for Duncan imports. We chatted for about a half an hour

————————————————
Were you trying to talk him into taking back the ones that were a disappointment?

jmonroe

kyfdx

@qbrozen What is the 3rd acquisition? The trailer?

Michaell

kyfdx said:

@qbrozen What is the 3rd acquisition? The trailer?

That was my assumption...

explorerx4

@qbrozen,
I assume you made sure your overall length is legal.

qbrozen

explorerx4 said:

@qbrozen,
I assume you made sure your overall length is legal.

Is there an illegal length? I'm certainly shorter than a school bus or 18-wheeler.

Yes, 3rd acq was the trailer. The most expensive of the three, too.

And, no, Duncan doesn't want my hand-me-downs. Lol. I'll give more when I have time, but blue one has bad paint on the hood and silver one has slipping auto trans. Hopefully the 2nd is solved with a fluid change.

I've come to the conclusion, for those keeping score, that one should never buy a vehicle with less than a 4-B-B score on the JPN auction report. Apparently, 4-B-B is perfect, while 3.5-B-B allows for needing repaint, and a 4-B-C can allow for rust. A 4-C-C can be rusty and have cigarette burns on the seats. I don't know what the hell the 4 means in that case. It boggles the mind how one letter or a half point can make the difference between perfect and major rehab. I can only imagine a 3-C-C is scrapyard fodder.

xwesx

Hey, at least you're getting the hang of it!

I like the trailer. I don't see many that size with the big gate ramp on it like that. Is that a twenty footer?

qbrozen

yes, 20-foot. It was a leftover at the trailer dealer 160 miles from home. Who knew trailers did "leftovers"? They claim original price was like $5500. I paid $3700, but then added the spare and holder for another $175, and they had some dealer fees, believe it or not. OTD was $4100 and some change.

So that gate can actually fold down onto the floor, which I thought would work well for me so the bumper of the car could hang over. BUT, driving over the gate was another matter. While on the angle of my wood ramps, the gate was grabbing the underside of the car, so I couldn't load it like that. I have plans for a couple of mods on the trailer, such as cutting off the front rail so I can pull tires right to the edge, and adding metal to the underside of that gate so the tires can drive over it easier when it is flat on the wood bed.

explorerx4

@qbrozen,
Over a certain combined length, you need a commercial drivers' license.
Here's what I found for New Jersey(unofficial).

In New Jersey, trailer towing laws limit the total length of a combination of vehicle to 62 feet. They also require an independent braking system that can be automatically applied in the event of a breakaway on every trailer. They also want to see a braking system that works in unison with the brakes of the towing vehicle. If a trailer weighs more than 3,000 lbs, there need to be brakes on all of the wheels, and the gross weight of a trailer without brakes should not be more than 40% of the weight of the towing vehicle.

If the connection is made via a hitch, there needs to be a chain or cable in addition. The signaling on every trailer needs to include two (2) tail lamps, two (2) stop lamps, two (2) turn signals, and (2) reflectors, one on each side. The mirrors need to allow the driver to have a clear view of traffic behind and on the sides, and a maximum of one (1) boat can be towed at a time.

xwesx

Yeah, it takes a lot of trailer to combine over 62'. I think the only thing out there that could exceed that limit is a 5th wheel with a hitch trailer attached behind that (which is very rare; I've seen that only twice that I can remember). Even when I drove my grandparents' 1997 F350, which is about 24' long by itself, pulling a ridiculously long 35' enclosed triple-axle bumper-mounted trailer, I was still only at about 60'. Man, that thing was so big. I recall stopping at a couple rest areas in Washington: I'd park in the truck lanes, and I was just about the same length as a tractor w/ single trailer.

As for Q's trailer, if you have a welder available, you might consider cutting and repositioning the front rail such that it allows the tires up to the edge of the deck but still provides a stop (so, maybe put it at a 45 or 60 degree angle toward the front).

If that's a solid deck, you might also consider putting in some e-track to give you excellent and convenient locations to strap down your vehicles whether hauling one, two, or more!

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

I had 'The Works' done on my Explorer today.
It even had a separate printout of the battery test.
The previous time, at a different dealership, not going back there again, they mentioned that the tested the battery.
I got also got an online buy offer for the Explorer from Carmax today.

Better move fast. If you believe the experts on YT, CarMax is right behind Carvana on the way to bankruptcy.

kyfdx

oldfarmer50 said:

explorerx4 said:

I had 'The Works' done on my Explorer today.
It even had a separate printout of the battery test.
The previous time, at a different dealership, not going back there again, they mentioned that the tested the battery.
I got also got an online buy offer for the Explorer from Carmax today.

Better move fast. If you believe the experts on YT, CarMax is right behind Carvana on the way to bankruptcy.

Those "experts" haven't actually studied the companies, and their financial/RE assets, then.

explorerx4

I don't think the YAA guys know how to interpret financials.

andres3

breld said:

stickguy said:

breld said:

I know it's "just" the 4 cylinder, but this strikes me as a fun little vehicle for $38k.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/00913557-1981-489d-bb0a-b4f15ec96443/

that is a lovely car. would be perfect with a manual, but in this case I could make an exception!

If I didn’t have the Integra Type S “reserved” I’d be giving it some serious thought.

Since when does having a car on "reserve" stop you?

breld

Since the market has softened and dealers are baking all that into trade values. It's been so nice to "try out" cars over the past couple years, but those days are ending.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

explorerx4 said:

@qbrozen,
I assume you made sure your overall length is legal.

Is there an illegal length? I'm certainly shorter than a school bus or 18-wheeler.

Yes, 3rd acq was the trailer. The most expensive of the three, too.

And, no, Duncan doesn't want my hand-me-downs. Lol. I'll give more when I have time, but blue one has bad paint on the hood and silver one has slipping auto trans. Hopefully the 2nd is solved with a fluid change.

I've come to the conclusion, for those keeping score, that one should never buy a vehicle with less than a 4-B-B score on the JPN auction report. Apparently, 4-B-B is perfect, while 3.5-B-B allows for needing repaint, and a 4-B-C can allow for rust. A 4-C-C can be rusty and have cigarette burns on the seats. I don't know what the hell the 4 means in that case. It boggles the mind how one letter or a half point can make the difference between perfect and major rehab. I can only imagine a 3-C-C is scrapyard fodder.

————————————————-
Not to mention the ones that are graded 1-M-M.

jmonroe

tommister2

@breld said:
Since the market has softened and dealers are baking all that into trade values. It's been so nice to "try out" cars over the past couple years, but those days are ending.

For this we need a sad face