You never know what you're going to find under the hood. Service records almost mandatory if you buy used. I would only look at a 1-owner car. I was looking at this used Saab 9-5, 75k miles. They indicated it was always serviced by the dealer (like that is going to be a real plus in a bitog'er book) and serviced recently. First thing, pop the hood and check the fluids. Engine oil on dipstick was near black and auto transmission fluid was some shade of dark burgundy, definitely not pink. Shut the hood and walked away.
Lead on a really used filter...
- Thread starter Gary Allan
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she purty?
a few years ago i bought a 83 Tercel... This is when i did not know anything about cars. I knew that the car burned oil so i would keep adding oil, i did an oil/filter change once when i got it. Everytime it got low i would add oil... I owned it for about a years and put 40K miles on it. One day i was driving home and the oil light came home. I pulled over and the car never started back up again. like i said, this was a time when i did not know better, and it was my first used car
This woman needs to be taught how to use a dipstick. I taught the art to a friend of mine, who had an engine seizure in a previous car after driving with the oil light on for 400km after an ill fated stop at a quick-lube place. He had only learned that the light meant the engine was out of oil, and was adding oil to his replacement car only when the light came on. Now he takes public transit and doesn't have to worry, but if he ever again owns a car, he knows how to check the oil level.
This one's a tragic tale of two doomed lovers, an alkie mechanic, and romance under the watchful gaze of a Wolf's Head canister....
When I was an oily, young carefree youth with no care in the world 'cept wondering if I should go with AC Delco or STP filters on my staion wagon, I started courting a young girl who had just inherited her mom's 89 Celebrity. One day I checked her dipstick while she was in the salon buying girly things and I almost had a heart attack. The pitch black crude reached up a whole three inches above the full line! I tried to reason, thinking maybe the car hadn't completely cooled down, but it had been sitting for 45 minutes.
Long story short, the only store in that shopping center that sold oil filters was a grocery that had ancient, dusty Mopar filters that had to have been sitting there for 15 years. I found one that looked compatible with hers and bought 4 quarts of Wolf's Head 10w40 and did an emergency oil change right there in the parking lot. I ended up almost completely filling two gallon milk jugs with what had to be at least seven quarts of the most rancid, foul, black demon-bile from the pits of hades monster oil that I'd ever seen. The filter threaded up right and the 4 qrts filled it up, and I had already gone back and washed up at the grocery store and sat back down in the car before she came back. After showing off my handiwork I expected her to respond with a "Mahvelous, dahling! You are my hero! Blah blah blah...."
What did I get?
"My fathers going to be highly upset that you changed the oil without his permission. He only takes it to Charlie [the local drunk Chevy mechanic] for oil changes and tune ups."
I was speechless. I had her drop me off at my house and after ignoring her calls for the next three weeks I guess she finally got the hint and gave up.
I can't figure out what made me maddest, the compete lack of maintenace to a fine running car, the ignorance involved in taking it to a known crook for service, RELYING on said crook for decent service, the ACTIONS of said crook by overfilling the crankcase an extra four quarts, the complete lack of appreciation of doing her a service, or the whole threatening me with an upset father! She had a generally snotty attitude anyway, and I'm glad this happened early in our relationship, as I could never be with a woman that, uh, that way.
I wonder about her sometimes, if she's gotten married to a man that checks her dipstick for her and would have been willing to crawl under her car on a freezing cold January morn and change her oil in the Bi-Lo parking lot.
When I was an oily, young carefree youth with no care in the world 'cept wondering if I should go with AC Delco or STP filters on my staion wagon, I started courting a young girl who had just inherited her mom's 89 Celebrity. One day I checked her dipstick while she was in the salon buying girly things and I almost had a heart attack. The pitch black crude reached up a whole three inches above the full line! I tried to reason, thinking maybe the car hadn't completely cooled down, but it had been sitting for 45 minutes.
Long story short, the only store in that shopping center that sold oil filters was a grocery that had ancient, dusty Mopar filters that had to have been sitting there for 15 years. I found one that looked compatible with hers and bought 4 quarts of Wolf's Head 10w40 and did an emergency oil change right there in the parking lot. I ended up almost completely filling two gallon milk jugs with what had to be at least seven quarts of the most rancid, foul, black demon-bile from the pits of hades monster oil that I'd ever seen. The filter threaded up right and the 4 qrts filled it up, and I had already gone back and washed up at the grocery store and sat back down in the car before she came back. After showing off my handiwork I expected her to respond with a "Mahvelous, dahling! You are my hero! Blah blah blah...."
What did I get?
"My fathers going to be highly upset that you changed the oil without his permission. He only takes it to Charlie [the local drunk Chevy mechanic] for oil changes and tune ups."
I was speechless. I had her drop me off at my house and after ignoring her calls for the next three weeks I guess she finally got the hint and gave up.
I can't figure out what made me maddest, the compete lack of maintenace to a fine running car, the ignorance involved in taking it to a known crook for service, RELYING on said crook for decent service, the ACTIONS of said crook by overfilling the crankcase an extra four quarts, the complete lack of appreciation of doing her a service, or the whole threatening me with an upset father! She had a generally snotty attitude anyway, and I'm glad this happened early in our relationship, as I could never be with a woman that, uh, that way.
I wonder about her sometimes, if she's gotten married to a man that checks her dipstick for her and would have been willing to crawl under her car on a freezing cold January morn and change her oil in the Bi-Lo parking lot.
You're a good man, Kingrob. She didn't deserve you. On to another one...
Your 400 KM no oil friend must have been using Prolong!
Kingrob, the mechanic was topping off and charging for an oil change.
At least that's my guess.
At least that's my guess.
I've suspected the same. I've also talked to other people that took their car to them and he's either changed the oil/not filter or change the filter/not oil. He's also good at not doing anything at all, or underfilling or overfilling.
People like that give independent garages a bad name.
People like that give independent garages a bad name.
I think it's important that THIS guy gets a bad name.
I know how to get the hood open on chevy corsicas without using the inside hood release.
The filter hangs low and in front of the pan on those 60-degree V6s. It is a slight stretch to reach the drain plug but with experience one can feel the way.
I could theoretically change the oil on those cars without anyone ever noticing. Wonder if Celebrities are the same.
The filter hangs low and in front of the pan on those 60-degree V6s. It is a slight stretch to reach the drain plug but with experience one can feel the way.
I could theoretically change the oil on those cars without anyone ever noticing. Wonder if Celebrities are the same.
My former GF got upset with me for putting her car in the garage when snow was predicted so that she wouldn't have to scrape windows in the AM. I got B^&*(hed out for it. Now I have a beautiful, sexy wife that lets me service the minivan at will, and I get to buy M1 for it also!quote:
Originally posted by kingrob:
I wonder about her sometimes, if she's gotten married to a man that checks her dipstick for her and would have been willing to crawl under her car on a freezing cold January morn and change her oil in the Bi-Lo parking lot.
God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. Can you imagine how dysfunctional a family like that must have been?
filter is in permanent bypass, nothing left of that beautiful Honda ohc system, piston rings fused into place, wrist pins blue from heat, piston skirts cracked and wrinkled from heat.
spend the money on taking her out to dinner and introducing her to your best car salesman friend.
?? ever watch an air cooled VW engine burn up in old VW station wagon or bus, even the metal, alum/mag alloy burns. women were death on them, by the time the oil light came on, the engine was a molten pool on the ground
spend the money on taking her out to dinner and introducing her to your best car salesman friend.
?? ever watch an air cooled VW engine burn up in old VW station wagon or bus, even the metal, alum/mag alloy burns. women were death on them, by the time the oil light came on, the engine was a molten pool on the ground
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