Something Random

[paugie]

Thanks, Coug. Will consider what you said.
Actually, I am worried. Will try to be mentally active. This forum surely is part of the exercise.

 

[Pradeep]

Ever been sacked with a full stomach? :hurl:

There's no compulsory sports in the US that I can see.

So a rugby match would be unlikely for him.

 

[ddrueding]

Things I did today in order from best to worst.

1. Dropped something heavy on my foot
2. Crawled under my house
3. Vacuumed Black Widows under my house
4. Sprayed foam on the subfloor under my house
5. Found the old sewer line with my back
6. Got foam in my hair
7. Got foam in my eye

I think this will be the worst day of work on the house. I hope so at least.

 

[LunarMist]

You don't use proper safety equipment? :bigeek:

 

[ddrueding]

You don't use proper safety equipment? :bigeek:

This stuff is a massive exothermic reaction. I started with a full Tyvek suit and goggles, but with a surface so close it was like being in a broiler. Combine that with all the chunks of concrete under the house that tore the suit to shreds in the first 30 minutes, and that the goggles that fogged up every time you put them on, and I decided to take measures to finish the job. These measures also included switching from a VOC respirator to a dust mask, and making my clothes a complete write-off. The wife is not pleased.

 

[MaxBurn]

Throwing an old carpet or even just some scrap cardboard down on unpleasant surfaces does wonders.

 

[paugie]

Things I did today in order from best to worst.

1. Dropped something heavy on my foot
2. Crawled under my house
3. Vacuumed Black Widows under my house
4. Sprayed foam on the subfloor under my house
5. Found the old sewer line with my back
6. Got foam in my hair
7. Got foam in my eye

I think this will be the worst day of work on the house. I hope so at least.

A trip in the old sailboat will heal you.

 

[ddrueding]

A trip in the old sailboat will heal you.

I haven't been out sailing in over 6 months. But the rent, membership, and other fees keep coming in...

 

[LunarMist]

I received the silly Egg e-mail recommending accessories. How exactly is an internal 500GB notebook drive an accessory to an internal 640GB notebook drive? :nono: Do I really need one of these? :bsmurf:

 

[Stereodude]

Do I really need one of these? :bsmurf:

No, but I did. Thanks for the link. :bstd:

 

[LunarMist]

No, but I did. Thanks for the link. :bstd:

Whatever I can do to be of help.
I had no idea your unit was so small.

 

[Stereodude]

psst... I was joking...

 

[LunarMist]

:roll:

 

[Mercutio]

Ate bad Chinese food. On the down side: Three days with multiple hours spent on toilet.
On the up side: Lost just over five pounds.

 

[ddrueding]

As I told a friend when he had his leg amputated:

That is cheating.

 

[LunarMist]

Ate bad Chinese food. On the down side: Three days with multiple hours spent on toilet.
On the up side: Lost just over five pounds.

Much of that is due to an empty gut and fluid loss - not really permanent weight loss. Three days is a long time. Did you visit a physician?

 

[Handruin]

I just met Marina Sirtis today (Deanna Troi From Star Trek:TNG). I saw her along with Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Julie McCullough (Growing Pains, Playboy), Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon in Walking Dead). Christopher Lloyd was there also, but I didn't get to see him.

 

[Stereodude]

Where was this at?

 

[Chewy509]

Where at?

And has Marina aged well?.. I remember the super tight outfits she used to wear in ST:TNG. Made any nerdy 15yr old happy.

I saw Bindi Erwin (daughter of the croc hunter Steve Erwin) at Brisbane Museum a few days ago when taking the kids there for the dinosaur exhibit. Otherwise the last notably persons were at Supernova** quite a few years ago.

** Supernova is our version of Comic-con here in Brisbane.

 

[mubs]

I just met Marina Sirtis today (Deanna Troi From Star Trek:TNG).

Please elaborate; was it just saying hello or having a chat? I used to catch every episode of ST: TNG back in those days.

 

[Handruin]

Where was this at?

There was an event called super mega fest in my state and I went with a couple friends. The celebs were at tables where you could meet them and get a signed photo/book/etc for money if you wanted.

 

[Handruin]

Please elaborate; was it just saying hello or having a chat? I used to catch every episode of ST: TNG back in those days.

It was just a typical booth and expo event. There was no long conversation to be had, but it was surprising there was no line for her table. We walked by a few times afterward and it wasn't that busy. Most people were standing in line to meet Christopher Lloyd.

I think Marina has aged well. I still think she's attractive. The one who doesn't seemed to have aged well was Peter Mayhew. He was not at all talkative or very friendly. We saw him walking around later and he's one tall dude. He has a can and it looks like he's in pain, so maybe that's why he's not too friendly.

 

[ddrueding]

I think Marina has aged well. I still think she's attractive. The one who doesn't seemed to have aged well was Peter Mayhew. He was not at all talkative or very friendly. We saw him walking around later and he's one tall dude. He has a can and it looks like he's in pain, so maybe that's why he's not too friendly.

Well, he is 7'3" and 66 years old. That isn't a good combination for general health.

 

[Stereodude]

So I noticed some vibration in my Maxima at certain speeds lately, and when I changed to my winter wheels/tires yesterday I noticed a ton of slop in the front passenger side. So this morning I dropped it off at a local shop. They called and told me it was a bad wheel bearing and would $440 to fix including parts and labor. They have since called me back and told me the ABS sensor is rusted solid to something down there and isn't going to come loose. So, the sensor will break off and need replacement and that's going to be another ~$200.

Splendid! :cursin:

I had to replace the battery yesterday ($60 from Costco) since starting in the cold was getting a little iffy too. The original battery lasted me almost 9 years so I guess I shouldn't complain about that too much though.

Still, I have to keep reminding myself that averaged over the year upkeep is far, far, far less than a regular car payment. :bleh:

 

[ddrueding]

I've always had the impression that living in that kind of climate was particularly rough on cars. I wonder if it is quantifiable? Anyone lived in both?

 

[Handruin]

How many miles are on the car? I've noticed a trend with several of my friends and coworkers who have Pontiacs (I know yours is a Nissan) and every one of them (5 different people) have said they've replaced wheel bearings once or more at 50-65K miles over several different cars (some of them own multiple Pontiacs).

 

[Stereodude]

How many miles are on the car? I've noticed a trend with several of my friends and coworkers who have Pontiacs (I know yours is a Nissan) and every one of them (5 different people) have said they've replaced wheel bearings once or more at 50-65K miles over several different cars (some of them own multiple Pontiacs).

It has ~134750 miles on it. My buddy has a 2003 with almost 2x the miles and he hasn't had any wheel bearing problems.

I've got another wonderful problem that needs to be fixed too. The butterfly valve in the throttle body was all gunked up from 8.5 years or driving and that gunk gradually reduced the airflow through it. The ECU compensates by progressively opening the valve further to maintain idle speed. Eventually, it runs out of adjustment range and the car will start to stall at idle. So, I cleaned the butterfly valve (which is very challenging since the car is drive by wire and you can't just force it open) but now it idles too fast.

There's a procedure in the Service Manual to relearn / reset the idle. Unfortunately, there's a bug in the software in the ECU that prevents it from saving the new setting once it maxes out the software adjustment after you turn off the car. So, now the car needs a trip to the dealer to get the ECU updated to the latest software version to fix that bug. And, of course the dealer won't do this for free, and they will try to sell you a new MAF at the same time because supposedly old MAF's are incompatible with the newer ECU software. In the mean time it throws codes over the idle speed being too high.

 

[Stereodude]

I've always had the impression that living in that kind of climate was particularly rough on cars. I wonder if it is quantifiable? Anyone lived in both?

It is definitely rough on cars. I've had to replace the oil pan due to it rusting through (and dripping) and an oil cooler line that was rusted through (and seeping).

 

[Handruin]

It has ~134750 miles on it. My buddy has a 2003 with almost 2x the miles and he hasn't had any wheel bearing problems.

I've got another wonderful problem that needs to be fixed too. The butterfly valve in the throttle body was all gunked up from 8.5 years or driving and that gunk gradually reduced the airflow through it. The ECU compensates by progressively opening the valve further to maintain idle speed. Eventually, it runs out of adjustment range and the car will start to stall at idle. So, I cleaned the butterfly valve (which is very challenging since the car is drive by wire and you can't just force it open) but now it idles too fast.

There's a procedure in the Service Manual to relearn / reset the idle. Unfortunately, there's a bug in the software in the ECU that prevents it from saving the new setting once it maxes out the software adjustment after you turn off the car. So, now the car needs a trip to the dealer to get the ECU updated to the latest software version to fix that bug. And, of course the dealer won't do this for free, and they will try to sell you a new MAF at the same time because supposedly old MAF's are incompatible with the newer ECU software. In the mean time it throws codes over the idle speed being too high.

That's still a decent amount of miles. The result could be of different driving styles or maybe you hit a bad pothole at some point. Was it you who broke the front suspension within a week of owning the car while braking over a speed bump or am I thinking of someone else?

That ECU issue really is something. I can't believe that a bug like that is now causing you to be unable to reset the ECU. Will it not even forget its setting with the batter disconnected for an hour or so? What did you use to clean the butterfly valve? Did you manually scrape it clean of did you just need to open it to spray it clean on both sides?

 

[Stereodude]

That's still a decent amount of miles.

I checked... My buddy has 270k on his 2003 Maxima. No bearing issues.

The result could be of different driving styles or maybe you hit a bad pothole at some point. Was it you who broke the front suspension within a week of owning the car while braking over a speed bump or am I thinking of someone else?

No that was me. The control arm snapped under hard braking over a bumpy stretch of road. Nissan later had a recall on them over faulty welds.

That ECU issue really is something. I can't believe that a bug like that is now causing you to be unable to reset the ECU. Will it not even forget its setting with the batter disconnected for an hour or so?

No, it's not something stored in RAM. It's written into an EEPROM.

What did you use to clean the butterfly valve? Did you manually scrape it clean of did you just need to open it to spray it clean on both sides?

I used rubbing alcohol and a microfiber cloth. There's a trick someone wrote up on maxima.org on how to get the valve to open. Basically, you unplug the MAF, put the car in a gear, have it in run, and depress the accelerator with a stick.

 

[MaxBurn]

You want to be really careful on those throttle bodies, I think most are coated to avoid buildup. I know you have some filth in there now but it could become a much worse problem if you took the coating off. I know I have read about that in several service manuals. Don't get tempted to reach for something abrasive. Shouldn't be terribly hard to take it off the car to clean it front and back. Try and give some attention to the IAC (idle air control valve) if your car has one.

 

[LunarMist]

How many times can you screw a fan? I'm worried it will wear out.

 

[time]

Are you some kind of rock star?

 

[Stereodude]

I don't think rock stars have much re-use of their fans / groupies.

 

[LunarMist]

Are you some kind of rock star?

Of course not. I have no interest in the music scene in the slightest. :rnd:

 

[Howell]

Are you some kind of rock star?

THAT'S the one I was looking for.

 

[MaxBurn]

Transfer on the new Alien bluray box set was really good IMO, just a hint of grain but some could argue smoothed a little much in places, rather how I like it though. Totally worth buying that set again for like the third or fourth time, I am glad they did it justice.

 

[ddrueding]

I've spent $45k on home improvements this year and we don't even have a kitchen yet. I've brought in two guys to do the finishing bits (I don't trust myself with stuff that is visible). They each make what I do each week, and it's been two weeks already. Hopefully just a couple more and we can move in.

 

[LunarMist]

THAT'S the one I was looking for.

Well I ruined one of the holes, so three it is.

 

[ddrueding]

Groupies have four holes? I only counted three....