With my continued gas savings I bought this! (1999 Accord LX)
 

If you are looking for the thread that makes sense, here you go! http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ght-31253.html

Just a couple of pictures and I need to hurry to work!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1472599283

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1472599492

Are you thanking me for posting less than normal? I hardly wrote anything! Is that what you like about it? :)

So there I was, waking up in a strange place, wearing strange clothes, with the title and registration of a strange car. It's not the first time. I really get around.

Hail Gallaxhar!

The best I can figure, my brother-in-law bought a Mercedes or BMW, I never care to keep them straight, his wife now drives their 2006 Acura, and since my sister loathes and despises me having something I like, that saves me money, she decided to save me from happiness and financial security:

She thinks my Civic is going anywhere?! Hilarious!

I bought the Accord without even looking at it in daylight or touching it, but for $250...

I had wanted to post this with actual pictures of the car, but those still need to wait. The car looked fantastic at night and when I finally drove it--home--it ran well. KBB says it is worth $606 for a trade-in and $1,770 to a private party. It has 41,000 miles fewer than Chorizo, which Kelley values at $1,288.

All of the lights, windows, and doors work. There is a crack in the middle of the windshield going straight up and down. The fan buzzed on three and buzzed very loudly on four, so I removed leaves. I thought the engine bay looked dirty, so I started cleaning it. The oil looked clean, but was a quart low. I was surprised how large the oil puddle was for only sitting twelve hours. It also seemed unusually thick. The rest of the fluids looked fine. The tires were only at 22-25 PSI, so I pumped them up to forty. Sidewall max is forty, but that was already about 65 pumps each on my bike pump. Good enough for now! :) There are some scratches and one spot of rust. The passenger side of the front bumper is scraped up, the fender is a little dented, and it is attached with wire.

That same part was loose on my Civic on the driver's side. I put a nut, bolt, and would you believe, a fender washer on it and it was good to go.

My immediate plans are to get a parking permit, ask a neighbor if they mind me parking in front of their house because there is not room in front of mine, and only driving it to that one sister's house. Regardless of what may happen, I should still be able to recover what I paid for the car and then some, but everything I have found so far looks like an easy fix.

My other sister visits regularly from California and she said she would pay the insurance if she could borrow it when she is in town. It turns out I was paying for things I did not need, like accident forgiveness. Seriously? I got rid of all of that and rental car reimbursement and am paying $10 a month more than I had been for the Civic alone. I do not have many pictures so far, but I was trying to work on the car, not take selfies.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1472649961

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1472649961

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1472649961

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1472649961

I did not get good pictures, I have hardly taken any photos of my car, but my sister-in-law hit something and damaged the passenger side of the front bumper. Apparently, she also broke the plastic part that fastens to the fender, and they wired it in place, which did not line up very well. I removed that and put in a nut, bolt, and washer from a set from Walmart, but that was too long, so I bought a shorter one for a quarter from Ace:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1474021711

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1474021715

I have driven this car far more than I wanted. It was five days before I could get a ride back to get my Civic and then once I had Chorizo back, I turned a corner two blocks from my first client, there was a truck in the middle of the street, I hit the curb, and blew my tire. Curiously, the Civic has a full-sized spare, while the Accord has a donut.

The next day I was driving to see my mom and did not have time to replace the tires, so I drove my Accord, and since it was Labor Day weekend, everyone was fleeing Phoenix; the drive took an hour longer than normal. The return trip took two hours extra!

I got 34.5 MPG over 552.5 miles in a car rated 20/27. I figure I should have gotten 36 without three hours idling.

The car pulled to the right, so I went for an alignment. They called back and said the car did not need an alignment, the two front tires had different tread depth, so they rotated them, and now it pulled to the left.

Who rotates just two tires?

Both tires are 195/65/15s and look pretty new. I think one just has extra tread. They also said a lug nut had been cross-threaded and the stud broke. They said they would replace it for over a hundred dollars. They also said the brakes had been replaced a couple of times, but not the rotors, so those should be changed before they warp. The windshield has a crack right down the center. There are some scratches and rust spots. I do not remember any actual dents, though. The mechanic did not find (or cause) any other problems (that I remember), but he definitely said the wheel stud and the rotors were the only important issues.

Well, it is 4am. I could not sleep and decided to figure out how to replace the stud, but I am sleepy now. Goodnight! :)

I had a surprising amount of difficulty finding my own thread, but when I have tried to link a build page to the garage entry for my car, saving did not seem to work.

I have had the Accord for over fifteen months and 20,000 miles. She has been pretty good.

I started getting a check engine light every 750 miles or so for a failing catalytic converter. I did a great deal of research. In theory, the original cat lasted seventeen years. Do I want to spend several hundred dollars, a couple of times what I paid for the car, for another part that should last seventeen years, when the longest that I have owned any car is four? Except, the original cat failed at least a couple of years ago, and my brother-in-law replaced it with the cheapest one that he could find, $110--less than I would lose for the core charge.

My brother-in-law also did not determine why the original one failed. Some people insist they simply wear out, and it is entirely possible to hit a rock or otherwise damage it, but generally they fail because the engine runs rich and the cat overheats, or the engine burns oil, and the additives clog up the CC, although Gumby says zinc was removed in 2010 to preserve cats.

Google neither confirms nor denies Gumby's statement: https://mobiloil.com/en/faq/ask-our-...rom-motor-oils

I do not know when my sister-in-law (or her husband) replaced the timing belt, but I wanted to do it at 180k, so that I knew that it was good, but now I am at 185k, and while I have found the cheapest supplier for each OEM part, I have not ordered them yet.

I do not like the Honda FSM
My car burns about half a quart per thousand miles. My research says a bad PCV valve is the most likely culprit. I replaced that Saturday and wonder if it is the single easiest repair. It took me twenty-five seconds and most of that was fumbling with pliers. It was so easy I got it on video!

A shop very well might charge $75 - 100 for a repair that took me 25 seconds. I bought the genuine part from Amazon for $22. The old one rattled like it was supposed to. I have not checked my oil since.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ter-35570.html

Instead of replacing my cat, California98Civic helped me acid wash it, and the CEL stayed off for 5,012 miles. I want to try acid washing again once I have fixed the burning oil.

In that thread, California98Civic recommended wet and dry compression tests. I started doing that tonight, but it got dark too quickly. I tested one cylinder and it seemed to read 150+ PSI, but it dropped far too quickly.

That is not encouraging, but I cannot find much information on what that might mean.

Two people voted for an OEM timing belt and four recommended Gates. Everyone says the Gates belts are great, but many people report problems with other components they package in the kit. The consensus is that if it is good enough for Gates, isn't it good enough for me?

I have never used them.

Which timing belt (kit) should I purchase (survey) 99 Accord

The highway patrol ordered me to replace my windshield and I started wondering of using my phone for proof of insurance was prudent:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...rds-35643.html

This actually happened back in July, before the rest of this drama; the front passenger tire blew and damaged my fender, resonator, headlight, wiring, and bumper, but I replaced them for under $200. As soon as I fixed my car and tried to leave town [for a new job] a van rear-ended me on the freeway. I thought the bumper only needed to be sanded down and repainted, but the other driver replaced the cover and painted it for me. I had difficulty believing there was not more damage to my car, that could have easily been horrible. Neither of us were injured, but the front bumper and grill of the van were damaged.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...mum-35333.html

The new fender started rubbing on the door like on the driver's side of my Civic, which was already damaged when I bought the car. I stopped using the passenger door until I straightened it on Saturday and cleaned leaves out of the squirrel cage again.

You have to copy and paste the thread ID, not the full URL into the garage entry. In your case it is 34255. I already added it to your garage for you.

Oh, so when it asks for my thread ID, I need to not give it the URL? Who thought of that?! :D

Thank you so much! Now I have my Civic's repair thread linked in its garage entry! :)

I tested the compression today and got 150 - 162 in each cylinder. I tried getting video of the 150 cylinder because it was dropping and should have been higher before I saw it, but for some reason, my phone would not take video, but it did on Saturday. Maybe it would hold pressure with a wet test.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1512529125 Page 2-2 http://www.gvrdeu.org/Honda%20FSM/Ac...ccord%20SM.pdf

Does anyone have any suggestions for getting grease out of the upholstery in my armrest? :)

I have had this car for four years!
 

That is the longest that I have continually driven a car! I had my first car for about four years, from 150 - 222k. I have driven this car from 170 - 218k, so just over half as much, but I hardly drove her at all at first. Then I blew the head gasket in my Civic over two years ago, ever-so-slowly replaced it, changed the heater core, the new one leaked, so I removed the dash again, but haven't redone it again.

My Accord is worse for wear, but she is still going!

This was the best $250 that I ever spent! :)

The best $500. I ever spent on a vehicle was in 1993 on an '88 Ford Escort Pony. It had 146K miles and would consistently get 40+ mpg. I drove it until about 2011 or 2012 and retired it with 518K miles. When I retired it it used/leaked a quite a bit of oil but was still running on the original engine that had never been rebuilt. The compression was still 145-155 psi across all the cylinders.

Dad bought a 1989 Escort Pony new. I bent the frame and he finally replaced it with 350k.

Meanwhile, Mom's 88 Taurus constantly died.

Commence Operation Pig Lipstick!
 

I finally pulled off the Gorilla Tape:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1619388565
I sprayed at least a cup of L.A.'s Totally Awesome Cleaner
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...7&d=1619388590
I managed to hose off some, but not all of the dirt.

When I looked up how to remove Gorilla Tape I only found how to remove the residue.

Hopefully it is easy.

How do I remove a Gorilla Tape from my pants?!
 

My Alaskan friend moved down and everything failed spectacularly
 

She messaged me "I have something to tell you when you get a chance" and I thought:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1645637741
She came down to Mesa to take care of her dad. She brought her daughters and each had 3 bags, with a friend in Alaska sending the rest.

She told me that she needed to get a job, find a place to stay, and get a car.

I didn't know how to help with the first two, but I had two cars that ran at the time. They didn't look great, but she could drive one until she received her tax return and could buy what she wanted.

I didn't want to offer to let her drive my car without a headliner if I didn't need to and of course I reinstalled the passenger seat before driving down. I just wanted to put the headliner in the back seat and drive to see my friend, but it was too long, so I turned it, and it rested on the headrests, so I just wanted to reinstall it enough to secure it. I reinstalled the handles above the door and just grabbed everything else.

It was funny because I couldn't find the fourth handle and I asked my brother to help.

He often watches me work.

He immediately handed me the handle! :)

I got him some cookies to thank him.

He brought me something from my Civic. He is so sweet and helpful! :)

My sister insisted that I needed to write up a contract so this didn't fail horribly like with that ex.

I visited my friend and her daughters. She was staying with her sister-in-law and everything seemed Skittles and beer, so I went to get a hotel room, which Mom told me to do before seeing my friend.

Mom didn't mention Spring Training. Sports are meaningless, so I never think about them, but she seems to care.

I didn't realize that it might be more difficult to find rooms because it was a holiday weekend, either.

We usually stay at Best Western and I don't ever remember having difficulty getting a room, even for major holidays, and many times Mom called to get a room as I drove us down. I would ask "You didn't reserve earlier?!"
"I didn't have time!"
"Too busy watching Hallmark and napping?!"

She always got a room.

The 5 closest locations were sold out. The nearest was in Phoenix and had a room for $209 before taxes and fees.

I guess that was less than half an hour away, which wasn't bad, but I wanted to find something closer for less.

I wished that I had my laptop, so I could work like an adult. It was a royal pain on my phone. I searched Google for hotels near me, tapped on one that looked promising, kept tapping, suddenly had 8 tabs open, and then when I went to book a room it was sold out.

I would back out to my search, but it always took me too far, and I needed to reenter my information each and every time.

Sometimes Google Pay showed up. Sometimes it didn't and I was still on Travelocity or wherever I got from clicking on the Google link.

My friend said that I must have been looking for 2 hours when Priceline suddenly showed me a pricebreaker, they choose one of 3 nice hotels and I get a discount. Right now it is showing me hotels with swimming pools and an 8.0+ rating, which run $214-239 a night.

It says "Get 1 of these, pay $132."

So, suddenly it showed me a nicer hotel than I was trying to get, for less than I was hoping to pay, and I immediately booked.

PSA: Once it is late enough, Priceline [and presumably other sites] decide that you are sleeping in your car tonight, let's get you a room for tomorrow night.

Also, they billed me for 3 separate rooms. Hopefully 2 would have disappeared, but reminiscent of my Tucson tragedy, my bank declined the transactions.

Tucson made sense. Who would intentionally visit there?

Well, probably someone in desperate situations, which was how I ended up, but only because they froze my card!

My bank asked if I authorized those transactions.

Three?! No!How am I supposed to get a hotel tonight?!

Right my debit card!

That expired the 31st! I never received a new one!

I just used it at Winco!

The sister-in-law and her husband had gone to bed a while before, so I told my friend that I was driving to a hotel that allegedly had a vacancy and hoping the machine would accept it.

That card worked at Winco again, Walmart, and a gas station, but the guy started putting my information in manually and said he couldn't use it.

I started driving to Best Western. They usually act helpful and say they remember us, but I saw a motel with a vacancy sign and the guy said they accepted cash.

That was the other part of the story. I hoped to buy an accident-free Camry with a working starter and heater, so I had more than enough money for a place that reminded me of somewhere I stayed in Afghanistan.

I mentioned that to Short Facebook Dating Ex and she said she stayed in worse.

Than Afghanistan?

She said they stayed in a hotel and she sprayed every surface with Lysol before touching anything.

I bought sheets and blankets to use in Afghan Inn--and shoved some giant cabinet from the fifties up against the door.

My room was super close to the street and it wasn't a great part of town!

Also, I recently watched "Reacher." I think that kicked my paranoia up a notch.

It was a lousy bed, but I slept. Then I visited Short Facebook Dating Ex, who recently mentioned finding my Honda key. It must have been for my Civic. I hadn't bought my Accord before we stopped talking.

Apparently I lost a key in her couch and asked if she had seen it.

That then almost led to an argument, but I was able to keep that under control--unlike with my Alaskan friend's sister-in-law, but I will just mention visiting a friend in the hospital and dropping off my laptop and my new travel bag containing car money at my sister's.

My friend's dad is in the hospital and they picked up his Vue and had it repaired. I had been looking at accident-free Camries when she told me.

"So, you have a car now?"
"Yes."

I stopped looking at cars. I will buy something newer and better when I am ready to sell one.

I kept trying to get a haircut, but stuff always came up. Great Clips had a sale. I was supposed to get a $9 haircut, but they charged me $12, saying that was $5 off. As soon as I made the reservation I drove to the sister-in-law's and messaged my friend, but she didn't wake up until Great Clips went from saying that I had a 27-minute wait to they were waiting on me.

I reinstalled the visors and visor clips while I waited on the VA. Someone was supposed to call me on Thursday, but I never heard back, and they said that I need to play phone tag with the civilian hospital to request the follow-up.

Ah curses. They told me to have the civilians fill out some form and fax it to a number. I put it in my phone and lost it.

As soon as I got to my car I called my friend and asked if they had breakfast yet. They hadn't, so I offered to take them, and my friend agreed.

When I had saved $250 on haircut, I stopped keeping track.

I wouldn't want a car I couldn't sleep in comfortably. The Superbeetle is the best.

I now understand the Reacher comment in the other thread. Is Reacher like Archer?

The sister-in-law saw me and flew into a rage.
 

"Reacher" is a Prime miniseries reboot of Tom Cruise's "Jack Reacher, based on Lee Child's novels, except the original was another case of choosing a short actor to portray a big guy:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1645643620

The sister-in-law let me in and said "A little communication would be nice."

Ah, being passive aggressive?

No, she went full aggressive. She kept yelling and cursing at my friend, saying that she was happy to make breakfast for them--"

• She didn't act happy.
• As far as I know, she didn't ask if they wanted breakfast.

My friend kept apologizing and the sister-in-law kept yelling the same things over and over and then kept telling her to stay at her dad's place.

The dad has a trailer in a 55+ community half an hour outside of town and she wasn't sure they had fixed the septic system.

I told my friend "Let's get breakfast and then deal with this" and kept guiding her out the door and to the vehicle.

Her sister-in-law yelled and cursed the same things repeatedly, expecting a different result, until we got in the vehicle, so now the whole complex knows the sister-in-law is a raging lunatic.

I told her that she kept saying that, lay off, and she started yelling and cursing at me.

Imagine how much that meant to me.

They decided they wanted Jack in the Box, so I had my phone take us there, and apparently Google chose the eighth-closest one, almost 6 miles away, and then my friend randomly turned, saying "You didn't tell me where to turn."
"We weren't there yet."

It was fine, just weird, and then I needed to ask her to turn left 3 times.

They got breakfast. I had eaten a cup of oatmeal in my room.

Apparently my stomach shrank when I prepped for my procedure.

I seem to have lost 8 pounds since.

My friend wanted to bring her daughters back with me to Show Low, but said that her bags wouldn't fit in my trunk. A friend insisted that it absolutely wasn't true that you needed a credit card to rent a car, so I asked and started to post here asking if Dave Ramsey actually told the truth about something.

I wanted to write "the whole truth," but clearly that wouldn't be the case.

Dave says that you don't need a good credit score to get a mortgage, you just need to find someone willing to do the work.

That sounds like far more work than using a credit card for gas and paying it off every night. Ramsey and his followers insist that if you have credit cards you will get in over your head in credit card debt, but when I called my bank to see if there was anywhere in town I could get a card made the same day the system announced that I had over $200 in credit card debt.

I had around $2,000 in my pocket, plus thousands each in 2 accounts.

I'm not doing great, but I am not in actual debt.

Anyway, I have never heard Baby Stepper mention any difficulties renting a car without a credit card, but that friend told me the last time she tried they wouldn't let her.

The telebanker told me she didn't think that there was anywhere in Phoenix I could have a card made the same day, but I could rent a car from Avail.com with cash.

I cannot rent a car from Avail.com with cash.

Of course, Google says you cannot rent a car without a credit card.

We were across the street from a Uhaul and so we went in and asked if I could rent a car with debit or cash.

Yes.

I said that I wasn't hauling anything, I just needed to get my friends and their bags to Show Low.

The F150s and 10-foot trucks can only be used in-town. He said that the 15-foot trucks were unavailable for one-way trips--and so were the 20-foot trucks.

He sent us to a location in another town.

I rode my bike there and rented an F150 to get to Easter dinner in 2014 when I cut myself badly trying to fix my Civic.

Then my sister tried to lecture me and I left.

She inherited dad's controlling nature and anger issues, but he just seemed happy to be there, and then he tried to follow me when I left, but I was too fast for him.

That is pretty much my last memory of him.

Anyway, I called Uhaul because their site didn't show the change to my reservation and they found me a closer location, but their machine didn't like my debit card--the only machine to get picky during my entire trip--and they couldn't accept cash.

I called Enterprise and asked for the nearest official location. That was a business that also rented out Uhauls.

They sent me back to the place across from Jack in the Box and the guy asked "You wanted a 15-footer?!"

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1645643785

They accepted cash and we were on our way, except I had just wanted to guarantee that I could get a vehicle first.

We still needed to drop off her father's vehicle, and I am unconvinced that my friend remembered how to get there.

We dropped off the key and she cleared out her Alaskan bank account.

I guess she will open one up here--unlike me! :)

We finally picked up the moving truck. I had wanted her to drive the newer vehicle, while I watched all of the gauges on the one that broke down 2 months ago, but I forgot to mention it while we did the paperwork, and I drove the box truck into the setting sun and towards a snowstorm with only 9 bags to weigh it down.

I wouldn't recommend it, but we made it! :)

I ran inside for one of my other credit cards and realized that my bank did replace my debit card--a year ago.

I couldn't find either, so my then-girlfriend told me lie and say my cards were damaged so that they didn't cancel my cards, but sent new ones anyway.

However, I found my debit card, and kept using it.

The girls kept saying they wanted to go swimming, but hadn't gone yet, so I got them a room for 2 nights at Super 8, which has an indoor poor. Unfortunately, it is closed indefinitely.
They make a big deal out of their breakfast, but it sounds lame.

It was cheaper than the seedy motel where I stayed and Mom gave them a bag of milk, cereal, snacks, bowls, and plastic utensils.

She really can be nice.

The entire contents of the moving truck fit in one trolley. I had my brother come with us and help them with their luggage.

I bid them goodnight, took him home, ran his bath, took him for a walk, and slept in my own bed.

She found a mobile home available now. Hopefully it is decent. Rent doesn't seem too bad, especially with current trends.

Mom says that I adopted some orphans.

What's he standing on in that picture?

I do hope you have speech-to-text so you don't have to peck all that out with your thumbs.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1645718817
Do you see the microscopic microphone icon above the comma to the left of my spacebar? That is the speech-to-text button!

Of course it is!

I need to see what keyboard I have on my Samsung Galaxy S6 that works better than the Microsoft one that I installed, which is still better than the one that came with the phone.

This one changes far too many of my words, often to Spanish!

I type as little as possible on my phone, always preferring to use a computer, although I would not recommend my $13 Big Lots gaming keyboard.

The keys are too stiff and I don't always push all of the keys hard enough.

Well, if that's true you'd have time to rewrite for concision.

I have speech to text but it's on a non-worldfacing machine. I can't find a picture of my currently most useful keyboard. 6x2.25" so it slips into a shirt pocket. Little chiclets keys, but it has a trackpad and a laser pointer.

It works upside down in the dark, but I suppose your phone does that too.

I wouldn't argue that my phone's keyboard works in any situation.

The seventh time that I tried to summarize my friend's situation to another friend I wrote: "My Alaskan friend announced that she moved down with her daughters and needed to find a place to live and a car. I brought down one of my working cars wanting to buy an accident-free Camry to drive back, figuring that I would lend my friend my car, but then she got her dad's vehicle from the shop, and said she was good to go.
That vehicle is unsafe.
She was staying with the sister-in-law and that seemed to be working out, so I just wanted to take them to breakfast before driving home.
The sister-in-law yelled and cursed at her, the same things over and over again expecting different results, and told her she needed to move out.
I rented a vehicle to get them up here, but since my bank canceled my credit card when Priceline charged me three times without providing a room for the night and my debit card expired the 31st I ended up paying cash for a Uhaul, and by the time we were finally able to leave the valley we hit a snowstorm.
I grabbed another credit card from home and put them in a motel for 2 days, but they are supposed to check out at 11 and the available mobile home requires credit than she has.
Mom told me to get it for her, but warned she could bleed me dry.
I wanted to put them in a cheaper hotel with better ratings, but each room opens to the outside, which is currently well below freezing, and we don't have the time to move them anyway.
I wanted to help out my friend, but not indefinitely! Can someone else take over now?! ��"

That still looks long. Oh well!

Would a catch can reduce oil consumption?
 

First of all, I need to determine that I have oil consumption, but my oil is going somewhere.

However, I know that I have a transmission leak, so improving the oil situation might not matter if I cannot fix the transmission.

I ran across the Champrius Instagram account, caught up on the thread here, and then started looking at a couple of threads that he started.

He mentioned catch cans and I watched several videos.

They seem recommended if you have a turbo or GDI, but generally people seem to agree that older cars may benefit from them.

I just don't think this would target the biggest problem.

www.roadandtrack.com: Here’s How an Oil Catch Can Works, And Why You Might Want One
Have a direct injection motor? You might want to see this.

They are required for some race car class rules.

Your driveway would thank you.

I watched the Engineering Explained video he shared first.

How would the catch can help my driveway?
If the engine is consuming oil then it is fouling all kinds of things, including the atmosphere.
If the engine is leaking oil the can wouldn't make a difference.
People with turbos can use catch cans because they can have pressure in the wrong places, causing leaks, and blowing seals.

I have a 2018 Honda CRV with 1.5L turbo direct injection. I put an oil catch can on it "just in case". In 6 months, there wasn't enough oil in the can to cover the bottom of the can, so I took it off. The new engines don't seem to need a catch can. The catch can is to stop oil from fouling the back of the intake valves. I don't see the help in your case.

The Xist fan club increments by one.

All three of his or her posts are exactly the same.

He or she is 3 different people's biggest fan?

I quoted that expecting the post to have lost it's place in the queue this morning.

AutoZone allegedly didn't have a UV leak detection kit.
 

Their site shows otherwise, but their monkey said they only had refrigerant systems, which was all that I found going up and down every aisle in the store 3 times.

People say that you can find leaks just by cleaning the component, but this is easier--especially since you don't need to clean it first!

I spent hours cleaning!

I had really hoped to put dye in the engine and transmission, crank up the heater, turn on the defroster, and help dry and air out my car while telling the leaks "Warriors, come out to play!"

Edit! I ordered it off of Amazon because I couldn't find a decent deal that shipped faster elsewhere, but it won't be here for at least a week.

My brother's new recliner was supposed to be here yesterday, but is still processing.

Walmart claimed that the last popcorn that I ordered for my brother's birthday arrived today, but we never saw it, and nobody walked up that hour. Walmart says that if you cannot find it ask your neighbors and wait 2 days. Sometimes there is premature annotation.

If my neighbors received it they ate it before I saw the notification.

If their deliverer reported it delivered before actually delivering it then that is their problem. I requested a refund, but since it is third-party, Walmart requested a refund, and the vendor has 48 hours to consider it.

Great.

I complained extensively and they gave me a $10 credit.

I ordered the Reece's Pieces popcorn off of eBay for 57% more, but it is supposed to arrive sooner than Amazon.

I ordered epsom salts for my brother and they are delayed, but those were just one-pound bags for when we visit my sister, so that doesn't matter.

My carpet cleaner is somewhere in Arizona.

Supposedly both of my sisters received the cookies and cream popcorn that I sent them, but neither of them mentioned it, even when I brought it up.

Why do I do nice things for them? :)

My brother likes to collect sports stuff. He keeps asking for baseball bats (and toy guns), but considering how messy his room is, I hate the idea of getting a baseball bat in the shin.

He periodically pulls out a flat ball and a hand pump, but the hand pump doesn't work. I took it apart and the gasket was broken. I couldn't find any of my gasket kits. It was too late to buy another gasket, so I asked him to leave it out, and he immediately put it away.

He tried again tonight, so I tried to pull up hand pumps on Amazon, but of course, most of those are Chinese and\or false positives.

I opened 4 windows with name brands, deleted everything else from the windows, tried to move each tab to one window, but they just disappeared, and I couldn't get them back.

One brand I found was Wilson, but Wilson wasn't an option, so I didn't specify brands.

I just deleted all of the false positives and Chinese products.

With 25 results per page, I only had 1-4 left, so I tiled those, and had my brother pick.

I sure hope he likes it (and that it lasts for a long time), I spent too long presenting his options! :)

I received my saw guide last night. Amazon claims that it delivered my timing belt kit on July 6th and my head gasket kit July 3rd.

I opened the timing-belt-kit-shaped box that weighed as much as a timing belt kit that has been next to me since July 6th and guess what? It was a timing belt kit! :D

I found the head gasket kit on my work table in the garage. I absolutely do not remember receiving it. Clearly someone else picked up the package and put it there.

My evil twin?!

Or am I the evil one?!

When I find the wingnut tool I will put everything in the trunk of the 2002 Civic.

I need to finish going through the replacement thread and try to track down that weird tool.

I washed dishes for 4 hours on Wednesday and ordered an anti-fatigue mat.

The ebay popcorn arrived, but we never saw it, so I requested a refund.
I haven't heard back.

My brother's recliner supposedly arrived yesterday--in Benton, Mississippi.

They are supposed to refund me.

Mom interrupted me shampooing her car and had me drive us to Dairy Queen.

I don't allow anyone to eat in my Camry, but Mom dripped their sundaes all over herself and my car.

An employee apologized and informed us that her coworker gave our burgers to someone else, so I told my family to eat their ice cream.

It would probably make less of a mess than letting them drip.

When we got home I used the shampooer, wrapped their seatbelts around the door, and hosed them off.

I spent hours finding a recliner for my brote--for the fourth time.

I ordered a Lazy Boy, which has a lifetime warranty, so hopefully I don't need to deal with this again anytime soon.

I desperately wanted to use the dye, run my car for ten minutes, and finally track down the leaks, but I wanted to know how much to use.

I read that you are supposed to use an ounce for every gallon or something, so I bought a big bottle, but it just says one ounce per system.

I should have 1.1 quarts of power steering fluid, 4.5 quarts of oil, and 6.4 quarts of ATF.

How do those use the same amount of dye?

Sure, it will work, but wouldn't power steering leaks show up 5.5 times as brightly as ATF leaks?

I pulled the numbers out of the owner's and factory service manuals, grabbed my stuff, and left to see my second client.

A beige F150 cut me off and maintained 51 MPH in a 65 until I passed him.

Six vehicles passed both of us before the passing lane ended.

Then I got stuck behind a Jeep maintaining 41 MPH.

I finally passed him and got stuck behind a house.

A freaking house!

I saw my client and Mom had me stop for a single solitary tomato that she won't even use tonight.

It was hours to late to shampoo her car.

The UV dye would probably fluoresce better at night, but I see better during the day! :)

I trimmed the damaged piece of hood insulation. I bought insulation from a junkyard, but I need to buy the clip tool.

I sanded where I repaired the bumper corner and put a screw, washers, and a nut in there.

Now it doesn't look worse than the rest of the car! :)

Thank you for oversharing. :)

I sat in a nice white leather office chair at Goodwill today. IIRC $50-ish. The one I sit in all day was $8.

It's aggravating. I work two jobs, but between them they are absolutely part-time. How did I only see 2 clients and fix a few odds and ends on my car today?!

This was right-side-up on my laptop!
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1658382372

Mom opened the anti-fatigue mat, had my brother hide it in the garage, and then told him to throw it away when I brought it out.
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1658382383

Can you see my engine insulation's bald spot? :)
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1658382392

The battery strap, bolts, and nuts were corroded, so I used a wire cup attachment and my cordless screwdriver, and then soaked it in Ospho.

I need to sand and repaint my front bumper--and my back bumper--and the roof.

Steam and my power brush sanded the paint a bit. At least there is less Gorilla Tape adhesive! :)
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1658382400

Lots of non-sequiturs I'm not following here.

Something about a used recliner.

The anti-fatigue mat was to fill in gaps in the engine insulation, and your mom wanted to sabotage that effort by telling your brother to throw it away?

The partially disassembled lawnmower in the kitchen played what role in that story?

A 1999 Accord doesn't need anything except to run reasonably well. Adhesive residue is the lowest concern a 1999 Accord has, but can easily be remedied with adhesive remover. Perhaps even gasoline, though I've never tried such a thing. I only know gasoline dissolves many things, some of which you'd rather didn't dissolve.

Speaking of which, I currently have too much styrofoam and no convenient way to dispose of it...

We don't talk about the lawnmower.

It's not in the kitchen anyway.

I spent 4 hours washing dishes last Wednesday and bought the mat. Mom doesn't want anti-fatigued feet, but she doesn't wash most of the dishes.

She just uses most of them.

As I told FREEBEARD, it is aggravating to have all of this stuff get in the way of my projects, which already take forever.

Oil leaks in the valve cover gasket and the oil pan; transmission leak not yet located.
 

I used the carpet cleaner on my Accord once and just got clean water. I reinstalled the front seats, added the dye, and drove for 10 minutes. There was a large amount of oil on the oil pan, but I didn't see any above it.

I didn't see any on top of the engine, but my flashlight didn't seem very bright, which might have been at least partially because the batteries were some Chinese brand.. It was the only one I found, at least on Amazon, that was made in the U.S., and everything was written correctly.

Between the ultraviolet light and the yellow sunglasses everything seemed green, but I didn't see any ATF.

I worried if it was correct to test both, but everything was brown, and my ATF is red.

I didn't feel confident, so I called around, and Mobile Medic, whoever they are, were available, so I dropped off my car, walked home, and resumed hosing out Mom's car.

Google says they have been in business for over seven years, but there weren't any mobile mechanics when I moved here. I may have heard of them, but only in the last year or two.

Also, who drops off their car at a mobile mechanic? "We come to you!" is their slogan! :)

They bought a shop Dawn Stratton took a year or so to sell.

I had just started clearing out the back seat of Mom's car when they called me back. He said the valve cover and oil pan gasket were leaking, but didn't see any ATF leaks, which means that I need to drive on the highway.

Fortunately, he didn't charge to look at my car, because he just confirmed what I figured out on my own.

The valve cover is only 5 bolts.

How was it supposed to take the professional 90 minutes?!

Torque spec is 7.2 pound-feet.

The oil pan is a lot of bolts. The manual doesn't mention removing the exhaust, so I will try to leave it in place.

That sure was a challenge with my Civic!

However, I now know about bolt extractors.

Torque spec is 8.7 pound-feet.

Is 9 too many?! :)

I don't want to strip anything! :D

I replaced the valve cover gasket and unbolted the oil pan, but the exhaust pipe is still in the way.
 

The factory service manual just says you remove 5 bolts from the valve cover.
There are also two hoses and 4 spark plugs wires.
Yay.
However, it takes a while to properly seat the spark plug seals.
I pinched them 5 years ago and they leaked.

However, the factory service manual said that it was just 18 fasteners retaining the oil pan.
It didn't mention the exhaust pipe in the way--or the transmission cover (which looks like part of the transmission)--or the sub-frame blocking the side.
I removed the transmission cover, unbolted the oil pan, and broke loose the exhaust bolts, but I just sprayed them with WD40 and put away everything.
If they aren't loose tomorrow I will use that impact wrench Mom bought me.
Zoom zoom! :)

Someone tell me to work on the Accord!
 

I slept 8 hours and I still feel exhausted!

I have the sneaking suspicion that the rest of this repair won't go according to plan!

Happens to me every day.

I'll replace the bicycle's broken rear axle if you do the Accord. Deal?

edit:
I walked [+ bus] all the way downtown to the one remaining bike shop They didn't have the part and said the hub is likely borked as well, so next I burn gasoline to go to BRING and buy a whole wheel, hub and axle. My price point shall be $5-8.

The Taquitos at the bus stop were good though.

I can usually only sleep about 5.5 hours.

I went to work on my car, I just wasn't happy about it.

Having already removed the 17mm bolt and the 3 14mm bolts in the transmission cover and the 18 10mm bolts in the oil pan itself, I removed the 6 14mm bolts for the exhaust pipe, and 4 14mm bolts in transmission hangers.

How do I break the oil pan loose from the engine block?! Honda bond is super strong!

AutoZone says to not try to pry it apart, whack it with a mallet.

I whacked and I whacked!

Honda says to use a Snap-On oil pan seal cutter.

I need to chase down the Snap-On truck?

Does the driver call out "Ten millimeters! Get ya ten millimeters heah!"?

I cannot find anything like that locally--or on their website.

Google showed gasket separators, but still not available locally--or on Snap-on's website.

Do I need to order something and wait 3-5 days for delivery just to finally remove my oil pan after removing 28 bolts, a transmission cover, and an exhaust pipe?!

Apparently there are wedging points. I put a plastic scraper there and hit it with a hammer unsuccessfully.

A mechanic says to use a screwdriver or pry bar, but I worry that will damage the pan.

So you think my brick chisel would be safe?

I failed too, we could start a club.

Nothing at the recyclers so I drove a car over to the West Side. All the bike shops that were there are gone. There may be others, but the one booth I talked to at the big shindig, said they were at 1st and Lawrence. Not.

I think the next step is I wll ask the next door neighbors.

At the fair I stopped by the Ninsaki booth for a beer, advertised at $6.50. They would not accept cash. My first time, when it extends to groceries I will sit in a corner and starve.

Some places are cash-only and some refuse to handle cash.

Can we have some consistency?! :D

I just saw my last client for the day, so I am going to change and try the brick chisel.

This frood didn't know where his towel was!
 

I held a brick chisel against each wedging point and tapped with a sledge hammer.
It is weird how you need to drop the right side and then the left; you cannot drop it straight down.
It sure made a mess! :)

I am letting the engine block drip into the pan while I clean the oil that got anywhere.

Are there bigger oil pans, ones onto which you can drive? :D

In the Army we had giant and unwieldy black things we rolled out. The sides propped up like a rectangular kiddie pool.

We drove our entire huge fuel truck with 2,500 gallons of jet fuel onto it and then propped up the back fence.

I am sure that it could have contained all of it if you were on level ground.

Do you think that one of those would work, but car-sized? :)

The driveway was uncomfortably hot.

I don't think that black plastic would be an improvement! :D

However, I would rather deal with a burned back than Mom's wrath! :)

Since I hadn't really driven since I topped off the oil it was at capacity and the pan keeps overflowing.

What kind of monkey uses a drain pan with the drain pointing downhill?! :)

When the engine stops dripping I am going to drain the oil, set the oil pan upside-down on the drain pan, and start scraping the engine.

All of this is taking me more than 3 hours!

I wonder how much of a mess I would have made if I was smart enough to place the drain pan with the drain pointing uphill.

I poured dishwashing detergent on all of the oil stains and scrubbed them with my power brush, but I wasn't laying on that, so I will move the cookie sheet up hill and hose off the detergent before leaving for Holbrook.