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I changed out whatever ancient oil was in the CL-100 (probably 20 year old Pennzoil) and put in Rotella T5 10W-30. That's what I run in my small engines. One thing I noticed; it used to be that the clutch would stick if the bike had been sitting for any length of time, apparently from...

The Ram dealer suggested oil changes for the front and rear when I took it in for the PCM software update, and said 30,000 miles was the interval. I declined, but checked the manual, and it does say 30,000. Whoops, now it's at 38,000. So the front calls for Mopar GL-5 75w-90 AXLE oil, and the...

Helping out my FIL since his truck was dead as a doornail in his garage. Story is the battery died during a trip to the store, AAA came and replaced it with a new battery. Worked for a while, but he didn't drive it for a month. Wife tells me it won't start, so I load up my tools and find out...

I had the experience of having to clean mine last night. I had heard that the wire can get deposits on it and the symptom is usually that the burners light and then shut off right away. Sure enough, at 12:30 AM I realized it's getting chilly in the house, checked the thermostat and it showed it...

Back from a road trip to pick up my dad's motorcycle. Suitcase Cycle was a company in L.A., long since defunct. They took small motorcycles and modified them to knock down without tools to transport in the back of a small plane. My dad was a private pilot, and he's kept it going. I got my...

Picked up a come-along from Harbor Freight. Funny enough, it didn't work very well because the mechanism was bone dry, yet the instructions say to grease the pawls. I put some dabs of white lithium grease around the sprockets and it's working much more smoothly. It didn't say what kind of grease...

I may have resented being called "Pee Wee Sherman" in my youth, but he was a funny guy. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/paul-reubens-actor-best-known-as-pee-wee-herman-dies-at-70/ar-AA1eBlGD?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=e581c1211e1f402eb58e212517ff5abb&ei=15

The Ram has a new feature to me, it has a transmission temperature display. Towing our travel trailer, I was a little surprised that the change in ATF temperature was very little, maybe 210 if it was going up a hill, but even without towing it usually hangs around 200 degrees. That got me...

The wife and I went to the drive-in last night, we've been to it lots of times. I get the feeling modern cars are becoming less compatible with them. First off, this was the first time I'd driven the truck there. Remembered that in accessory mode, it times out after 10 minutes, and since you...

My laptop recently had a snafu (see here https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/uh-oh-computer-problems-bios-and-drive.370092/), and I was able to get the laptop 100% running again with a new SSD. Silly me did not have recent backup, but after buying a USB-to-M.2 adapter, I found the old...

The 3.6 V6 in the new-to-me Ram seems to be running fine. I've read about the lifter issues, but from what I gather, they seem to be from older model years. While the GM 3.6 obviously has very little in common, the 3.6 V6 in my 2010 Traverse was notorious for timing chain issues. I tended to...

I'm not sure if the message was the impending sign that the SSD on my laptop was dying badly, but here goes. HP Spectre x360 laptop, 2 years old. Message started popping up saying "your Intel Optane memory is degrading, disable it to avoid data loss". The Intel utility to do that just gets in...

Looking at the possibility of moving my dad’s 1947 Lincoln coupe from Arizona to Ohio. Dad’s had some health issues lately, and my sisters are thinking we may have to look at assisted living for mom and dad soon. My sisters and I agree we want to keep the car in the family and don’t want to see...

Might be a silly question. Realized I have about 2.5 quarts of unused 5W-30 left over from the wife's late oil-burning Equinox. Thinking the Pilot will be the next one due for an oil change. I'm sure it would be fine, but any problem using up the 5W-30 and using 0W-20 for the rest?

While trying to figure out where to put the trailer brake controller in the truck, figured I could remove the tray down near the floor. Lifted up the center of the front seat (which is also a seat) and then realized it has latched in place and I don't have my armrest and cupholders. Spent 5...

The Ram I just bought has big warnings to only use OAT coolant, and the stuff that's in it is pink. The Honda I've only used Honda coolant, which is blue. For the MG I have some old Prestone bottles with the traditional green stuff. Out of curiosity I thought I'd see if Prestone has the right...

Wife's 2013 Equinox met an untimely demise. Stepson had a close encounter with BMW, fortunately everybody's OK. Got the word from the adjuster, it's a total loss. We'd already pretty much decided we're replacing it this summer, but I guess that has been moved up. On the plus side, it has been a...

Finally broke down and bought an S-VCM for the Pilot. Haven't had any oil burning after 109,000 miles, but the shudder was a tad annoying, and it threw a CEL for the VCM pressure switch last summer while I was towing my camper, though that hasn't returned. Figured I don't want to see how long...

Wading into something I haven't looked at before. Wife's Equinox will probably definitely be replaced in the near future. My Pilot does OK for towing our new travel trailer (~3200 pounds), but she floated the idea of maybe getting a truck instead that might be better suited. Don't want a huge...

Had to admit defeat and took the wife's Equinox to an indy shop for the secondary air injection code that won't go away. There's a service bulletin because the air injection ports get clogged up with carbon and need to be cleaned out, which is especially difficult because the cat converter...