The cabin outflow valve was yucky with nicotine buildup.
The problem with playing with mercury is primarily the mercury vapour arising from tiny amounts lost while playing with it. It's said that even one gram of mercury (about 1/10 of a cubic centimeter) will keep the average room saturated with mercury vapour. And mercury vapour is toxic with prolonged exposure.
Nurse used to stick a mercury thermometer in your mouth to take your temp; Then your dentist mixed 1/2mercury and 1/2 "high temp solder" and packed that into your cavities. Then the drug industry preserved vaccines with Hg compounds.
Loved the older cars with a full set of gauges. And when they started not to have those gauges, Hosteen installed them. Usually Stewart Warner. Installed an oil pressure gauge on my one and only VW Rabbit, and the oil pressure straightened the bourdon tube out and ruined the gauge. Turned out, VW didn't use a pressure relief valve on some Rabbit engines.
Mercury was also used in the manometer to measure blood pressure. But never fear, unless the mercury leaked out, the thermometer and blood pressure cuff pose no risk to anyone's health. It's like having a piece of asbestos or a vial of benzene in a never opened, leak proof container - a dangerous material without any route of exposure is not a health risk.
Still have one or two of those fillings ARCO. I'm old as dirt.
Ditto, my parents would occasionally break a thermometer, and would let me play with the "quicksilver" for a minute or so before one of them put it in the garbage or down the sink.
Modern vehicle with digital dash can add this easily into their software.
Right but they won’t because most don’t know what they mean and would get confused when they moved. My dad ran an auto repair shop when I was younger. It was crazy how many people came in asking if it was ok that their oil pressure was lower at idle than driving down the road. Or when it warmed up, etc. This is why idiot lights got popular.
Me too,
