ptc075

joined 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

A replacement PCV valve for my car.

Car was around 100,000 miles, figured it was a good time to do a big refresh & replace a bunch of stuff. Spark plugs, belts & hoses, fuel & air filters, fluids, etc etc... While I was at the parts store, guy suggested I also replace the PCV valve. But, it turned out the only one he had in stock was the store brand. $4, sure whatever. Got it home, took the factory one off the car, and sure enough it was gummed up kinda bad. But went to put the new one on, and it just about collapsed in my hands. It was so flimsy, kinda like a drinking straw. Ended up cleaning the factory one & putting it back on, threw the new one away.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I'm having trouble due to the image size - can someone identify for me what size lumber he's trying to haul? It looks like he's got 2x4's on the bottom and 4x4's on the top (odd, but whatever). If they're all 8' long boards, that's... sad. But they could easily be 12' or 16'. If they're 16', hey that's kinda cool - I will admit my truck would struggle.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

My solution was pretty simple. I don't go out to eat often. If I haven't had fish in a while, well, hey, now I have an excuse not to cook.

Also mix it up. Try sushi, try a fish fry, try that fancy fish joint.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

I believe it's a combination of what others here are saying. We live in a world of near instant gratification, getting going on something that requires effort without an immediate payout feels too much like work.

FWIW, I find it helps tremendously to schedule a day / time in advance. For example, I spend the whole week looking forward to "Wrenching Wednesday" so I can go play with my cars. And I actually go do it now, which is something I couldn't always say before.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

We're 4th graders, teacher stepped out for like half an hour. Comes back and we're all playing instead of doing our classwork, because, duh, we're like 9. Proceeds to punish the first 10 kids she sees. But then realized that's not fair, so she lets the class vote on who caused the 'problem'. I'm the fat kid, so naturally I get picked.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Any chance you can source your numbers? I tried to do the same calculation for my 18 year old gas car, and it came out a being a wash.

Finding hard numbers on the energy cost to build a new car was tough - the green sites showed the EV car poofed into the world with magic and butterflies, while the gas-centric sites made it sound like it took the entire world's GDP to produce a single EV.

Also disheartening, the very few sites I could find that would list replacement costs for a battery pack had the price higher than the vehicle itself - IE, when the battery pack goes, you throw the car away & buy another one. That's been a huge turnoff for me.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Not OP, but tire dust is a real problem. It's one of those things we haven't studied until very recently. It's just gone under the radar because it's easy to point at tailpipe emissions.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/tire-dust-makes-up-the-majority-of-ocean-microplastics-study-finds

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauriewinkless/2024/12/18/tires-shed-millions-of-tonnes-of-microplastics-into-the-environment/

Now are EVs worse? If we compare the same class of vehicle, EVs are going to be about 20% heavier, so yes, they're going to create more tire dust. Is that worse than the tailpipe emissions from a gas vehicle? Probably not. But it's deceptive to not include tire dust when comparing emissions between the two vehicle types.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Hmm... I don't like these new cars with their touchscreens. I'll just wait a few years for that fad to go away. Said me, around 2007.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

No.

But to be clear, somewhere over the last 20 years it seems I've also fallen out of the middle class? I bought a new car fresh out of college, and then again about 10 years later. But I look at the price of new cars today, and they're simply not a purchase I can afford. So, it looks like I'm not going to be buying any new cars anymore, Tesla or otherwise. That feels weird.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I was blown away when my die-hard Republican boomer dad said he thinks climate change is real. There's a pond behind our house, and he can remember how big it used to get in the rainy season and how small it used to get in the dry season. Now, during the rainy season it comes up to the backdoor, and during the dry season it's not there at all. If he can still trust his own eyes over what the TV tells him to think, maybe there's still some hope for the world.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

Go back in time and buy another 1997 F-150. The thing is an amazing example of do it simple & do it right, and it will last. But, it's also close to 30 years old, nearly every system on it is showing the tell-tale signs of age. I would love to have an actual new one, it would last me the rest of my days. (On a happy note, I just finished putting a rebuilt motor in mine. So, here's hoping for another 25+ years).

It saddens me that even if I could afford a new car at today's prices, I don't want what they're making.

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