Stupid Things People Do

http://www.slate.com/id/2192187/

This claims restarting a fuel injected 6 cyl takes 6 seconds of fuel if idling....an 8 cyl even less. It goes on to say in some states it's not legal to shut off at red lights. It says that after paying the higher repair bills you'll save 20 bucks a year.

I read a bunch of stuff.... it's really a big debate. It's hard on an A/C unit to stop & restart. It causes more accidents.

I guess for me I'll keep on doin' what I do... leave running in traffic, shut it off if it's going to be more than a couple minutes at drive throughs.

Devil505 wrote:
(Looking down to see if I even still have legs.......Yup!...Hmmmmm.........What the hell are those used for??)

Hey, You're ahead of a lot of people.....

You can still see past your belly to your legs!!!

titleist1 wrote:Hey, You're ahead of a lot of people.....

You can still see past your belly to your legs!!!

In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit that............I used a mirror!

The people who turn off their cars at every stop sign have a website. One of them has created a little gizmo to show fuel usage. The funny/stupid part is not only is there is no fuse in the design, but how this person has wired it into their car. Look at the last few photos that show the underhood wiring in the *first* post of this thread:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.p ... -2115.html

They ignore the purpose of the *gasketed* and *sealed* connectors. They have cut into the insulation of wires inside the engine compartment, and have not bothered to seal up the cuts. So water and salt will get into the strands of the copper wire and wick along it, corroding the wiring harness.

Brilliant.

That ecomodder website is something else...104 free tips on how to save gas and not one of them mentions having your car tuned up or using synthetic lubricants. They actually recommend shutting the engine off while coasting downhill, how many people are going to try this and lock the steering wheel?

They actually recommend shutting the engine off while coasting downhill, how many people are going to try this and lock the steering wheel?

That is the beauty of it, we never HEAR from the people who locked the wheel...
And if you never hear about something, it's not a problem, right?

Cause the dead don't complain.

Check out the belly pans people have put under the cars. Some are not too bad, others use window screen as a formwork and spray it with rubberized undercoating or trowl it with roofing tar to make it smooth and solid, (and air-tight) covering up the exhaust system of course, and put it all up with sheetrock screws into the sheetmetal of the car body. Rust? what's that? A fire? under my car? Say it ain't so.

That will be something to check for when buying a used car in future.. sheetrock screws thru the rocker panels and the floor. And wiring that is cut up and hidden with electrical tape.

orvis wrote:http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.p ... -2115.html

They ignore the purpose of the *gasketed* and *sealed* connectors. They have cut into the insulation of wires inside the engine compartment, and have not bothered to seal up the cuts. So water and salt will get into the strands of the copper wire and wick along it, corroding the wiring harness.

Brilliant.

I'll second that opinion!

They're doing this to get data that is part of the generic datastream of any OBDII car???. Every pre-OBDII EFI car also has Inj PW and VSS in the datastream. (except Ford EEC-III, which has no datastream )

We spend lots of time fixing _unmolested_ harness' that have been damaged by corrosion. I've yet to find an application where a Scotchlock is the correct cnnection for anything - but snowplow and trailer shops think they're perfect for every connection. About as good as a compression fitting on a brake line.

When working as an auto tech I had to take a class to learn and educate customers on how to obtain good fuel economy. Here's what the experts came up with as the biggest wasters: #1 tire pressure too low, #2 alignment off, #3 shitty driving habits (anticipate stops, etc..) #4 failure to plan the trip to prevent excessive idling or backtracking. Oxygen sensors, spark plugs, air filters do contribute to poor mileage but they really need to be wasted before you'll notice a problem. Driving around with a couple tires at 15psi and a loose tie-rod end will cost 3-4 miles per gallon easy.

Well this is one of the dumbest things I ever did.
Between 1991 - 1994 we lived in Reading, PA. I should say my family did. I took a promotion in the company I was working at as a tech support for 30 electronics techs. My territory covered Boston to Charlotte. I left most every Monday and came home on Fridays. Our kids were in the 9 - 13 age group. We had a nice little wood burning insert. One night I was trying to get the insert going. This normally was the wife's job because I was never there. She was busy with the kids so I said I'd light it. The wood was damp and I couldn't get it lit. I started bitching. She yelled down to leave it alone she'd do it when she was done. Well, I took that as an insult to my manhood. I stomped out to the garage to find some charcoal lighter fluid. Didn't have any but there was a full can of auto starter fluid (ether). I proceeded to unload the entire can into the insert. I was determined that SOB was getting lit.
As I struck a match and bent over toward the door a fireball flew out of the stove. It bounced off the side of the couch setting fire to an afghan my wife was knitting. My hair was smouldering, my fu man chu went up in smoke. The left side of my face was first degree burned. The wife came down yelling I ruined her afghan as I was beating my hair to make sure it was out. I started yelling that I was on fire. She said who’s fault is that you dumb SOB. (Nothing better than the love of a good woman).
I took crap for that little stunt for months from everyone I knew. The next day I told my boys ‘this is what happens when you play with fire’ It didn’t help much my oldest son and his friends started the shed on fire the following summer.

Thanks billw, you got me in trouble. Laying here in bed reading his, laughing my @#! off and woke up my wife at 4am, She was not happy. But it was worth it. You made my day.

Jeff

Hmmmmm...Trying like hell to think of a dumb thing I have ever done......

Sorry....I'm stumped!


(oh....Unless you want to count that time I was writing a dissertation on String Theory vs Quantum Mechanics & I forgot to include gravitational deflection due to temperature inversion in the equation.......Very embarrassing!)

BILL! I about peed my pants. LOL Ohh man!

Turn off the engine while going down the road? Can you say "How come my tranny died?" I think some (most?) newer cars will not lubricate the tranmission without the engine running. That's why they can't be towed with wheel turning, isn't it?

Devil505 wrote:
(oh....Unless you want to count that time I was writing a dissertation on String Theory vs Quantum Mechanics & I forgot to include gravitational deflection due to temperature inversion in the equation.......Very embarrassing!)

Ya, Don't you just hate it when that happens?

ceccil wrote:Thanks billw, you got me in trouble. Laying here in bed reading his, laughing my @#! off and woke up my wife at 4am, She was not happy. But it was worth it. You made my day.

Jeff

Sorry, but I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who gets in trouble at home.
We'll be married 30 years this November. I think I spent 28.5 of those years in the dog house. The combo of caffeine, nicotine and adrenaline always gets me in trouble.