Search results

On Saturday, I watched a new (as opposed to vintage) movie, and a fun one: Fatman with Mel Gibson. Written and directed by the Nelms brothers, it's a hardboiled Christmas fantasy thriller, a Die Hard attitude meeting The Santa Clause and coming out ahead. Be aware that it is much more DH than...

I keep hearing radio spots for this, and looked it up. Some people rave about it. Some warn that the money they'd banked, the savings you're supposed to see from each gas station purchase (and even some grocery stores), vanished abruptly, and they had no recourse. It looks like a lot of hassle...

While waiting at the Whole Foods yesterday, I popped my hood and cleaned all the leaves out of the gutter below the windshield. My fingers were filthy, so I got out the bottle of Fast Orange hand cleaner I've been carrying around from car to car for quite a while. First surprise: Instead of...

I'm getting low on the Duragloss tire spray, and went to Walmart to find some more Meguiar's Natural Shine, the water-based stuff. Imagine my surprise when the WM I go to most often no longer had it! Detail spray, and 17 different brands of ceramic spray wax, it seemed, but no Natural Shine...

I have a bottle of Mother's Back-to-Black that I use on the plastic trim on my cars. The label says it's safe for rubber. However, I get a strong petroleum-derivative scent from the stuff, unlike the water-based Meguiar's Natural Shine and the Duragloss I usually use on my tires. Is this stuff...

Today I had the Buick's December oil change done, with Castrol Magnatec 5W-30 dexos1 oil and a Mobil 1 filter. The owner's manual says it takes 6 quarts, so I brought an extra quart of SuperTech. However, my regular mechanic says the car was reading full on the stick after he loaded the 5 quarts...

Planning to pick up an oil filter or 2 for 2021; I'll bring it and whatever oil I choose to my regular mechanic, and he can change the oil while he's doing one of the other services I need this month. I've used Wix filters on the Park Avenue and earlier on my Mercedes, and they seem solid and...

For the day after Thanksgiving, we wanted to get out of town for a bit. There is a small town called Ponchatoula, yes, of the world-renowned Strawberry Festival, about 75 minutes' drive by Interstate. We hadn't been there for a couple of years, and I really haven't given the Buick LaCrosse a...

Been reading here about Dexos2, the GM spec used for light diesel engines in Europe and elsewhere. Apparently its drawback for use in gas engines here is the low-speed stochastic pre-ignition (LSPI) phenomenon in the turbocharged engines, and the Dexos2 does not work to prevent that. However...

Centuries ago, during the Punic Wars, a coffee house here in town (now defunct) offered a Turkish blend coffee. It was strong, but the main thing I recall is that it had a great scent of roasted peanuts. I'm not interested in going the whole Turkish coffee route, just something that I can brew...

Since my Goodyears have some dry rot, I'm starting the hunt for new tires. On my earlier thread about my most recent TPMS adventure, someone suggested that I try Continental tires, specifically the PureContact. TireRack has them in my size, but they also recommend the ContiProContact for about...

Once again in the City That Forgot to Pick Up After Itself, I've picked up what the Brits call a puncture. My evening commute home was fine, but suddenly the TPMS flashed at me that my LR tire was down to 22 (and I'd checked the air, 36 lbs., just last week). I pumped it up to 34, but it took so...

Unlike most in America, I read the user manual. But those things are so detailed now -- thick, with French and Spanish translations included, and a dozen safety warnings in every section -- that it's hard to go through the whole thing. I tend to read the sections I'm concerned with and let the...

When I gassed up yesterday I stepped through the Buick's driver info center screens, zeroing out the gallons used and the miles driven/mpg readout. This is what I always do. But for some reason I stopped on the oil life readout -- and hit the button to reset it instead of moving on to the next...

Next year I will probably take to visiting the local GM dealer near my barbershop on a Saturday morning for their oil & filter change and tire rotation special, which is $59.99 and (I think) includes the 6th quart needed by the LaCrosse. No doubt they use their own AC Delco Dexos synth oil. Out...

Today marks 3 months since I purchased this big beast: some 36,700 miles on the clock today. Like my previous Buicks, it is solid and reliable (so far, anyway!) and quite the pleasure to drive. I find myself taking a 25-mile, 35-minute run to work in the early morning now and then instead of my...

I had occasion to check the oil yesterday on the '16 (it was fine). But that under-hood release lever is hard to find! The hood comes up an inch from the use of the inside lever. But everything is black under the hood at that point, and if sunlight is shining outside, you really have to paw...

Maybe I misunderstood. I'm with Flo's Bros right now, and they did well by me with the recent flood totaling of my new-to-me '15 BMW 3 Series -- I came out of it with enough for a big down payment on the Buick, and am no worse off than before. Of course I keep an eye open for a good deal. Amica...

Those of you above a certain, hrm, advanced age will remember the old aluminum-and-red plastic flashlights, Ray-O-Vacs, etc., that took D batteries, and featured a module on one side with twin magnetic strips on it. The flashlight would thus adhere to flat metal surfaces like the face of a...

Earlier this year on another forum, I saw editor Oren Litwin's call for submissions for fantasy stories with a theme of "family." At first I thought, "Aw, I don't do family-themed stories." But then I looked over my short stories, and I do focus on that more often than I realized. Anyway, here...