what made you happy today?

[Nicotti]

I had to drive home once, thru the city, keeping the car from dying at stop lights by giving it gas. Not fun times. Died at two different stop lights and I was able to get it restarted before the green, thank the good Lord.

[SubLunar]

Pfft. You guys and your cars almost dying.

My old car blew an intake manifold gasket. Every time I went anywhere, I had to buy 2 gallons of coolant for the trip even if it was just a mile or so. At stop lights, I could barely see from all the steam coming out from my hood and I'm sure it looked ridiculous to anyone else. This went on for at least a week.

My lower radiator hose once blew up on a 2 lane highway at around midnight in -5 degree weather with ice and snow on the ground. I then replaced the hose on the side of the highway that night.

One time on the way to Ranken, my idler pulley exploded on the highway. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground. I was wearing these stupid fucking dress shoes that they forced me to wear instead of my boots because they're a bunch of pussies and boots scare them apparently. I had to walk a couple miles in the snow with these low top pieces of shit to get to autozone, then back to fix it. Then I got to school only to find out it was cancelled for the day.

My heater core leaked. So the cheap solution was to bypass it. This meant I now didn't have heat or defrost. So in the winter my body heat alone was sufficient to fog, then freeze, the inside of the windshield. So I had to drive around with the windows down. In the winter. For several years. Have you ever had to scrape ice off the INSIDE of your windshield? It fucking sucks.

This was also in the dark ages before cell phones. So, no calling mommy and daddy when you break down in the middle of nowhere.

I could go on and on and on and on.....

[BagHead727]

Why would you drive around with a blown intake gasket lol? It takes an hour to change.

Has your car ever caught on fire, burnt your oil line leading to your oil pressure gauge causing flaming oil to spew all over the interior and under the hood of your car? Have you ever then preceded to put the fire out with your bear hands and throw flaming handfuls of insulation out onto highway 55? And then after the fire department left, did you ghetto rig your oil line and burnt spark plug wires so you could drive your v8 home on 5 cylinders while being forced to take back roads that were flooded because of the monsoon that happened the previous night? I remember the sound my exhaust made when I completely submerged them in water.. Blubble bloop blubble blubble... And did it happen on your senior prom night while all of your friends passed you on highway 55 in their party busses and ask the next day if that was you on the side of the road. That fucking sucked.

From that point on my car would always catch on fire when I turned the headlights on.

[SubLunar]

lol nice!

It wasn't an easy thing to replace on that car. It had all those goddamn 80's emissions lines running around everywhere, hoses and unidentifiable bullshit everywhere. So much shit would have had to be disconnected. It would have been a pretty painful undertaking. Luckily I never did it because that was the last straw with that car and after driving it for way to long I got a new/used car after that -my jeep which had 115k and now has over 300k miles on it.

[BagHead727]

The nice thing about owning a pos that breaks down a lot is that you develop a skill set that most people don't have. I've worked on almost every part of my car. Thus far I have replaced, removed or rebuilt the following: carburetor, distributor, alternator, wiring harness, headlight assembly, intake manifold, exhaust manifold/headers, exhaust/mufflers, water pump, fuel pump, gas tank, entire engine, transmission, drive shaft, rear end/differential, shocks/springs, the entire interior from seats to carpet, dashboard, gauges, headliner, full stereo system from head unit to speakers to sub, engine mounts, drum brakes/disk brakes, radiator, pulleys, and tons of small annoying things like voltage regulators etc. I'm still not great with body work but I've bonbo-ed a few rust holes. It usually looks like shit though

[mindwaave]

The nice thing about owning a pos that breaks down a lot is that you develop a skill set that most people don't have.

I wish I had expanded my technical interests to include mechanical know-how when I was younger. I'm handy with tools and manual labor, but can't fix or diagnose anything beyond routine maintenance when it comes to vehicles. I plan on getting better about that by doing all my own maintenance when I get my motorbike. I really respect the work of people who cultivate practical technical knowledge, and as such a person, I'm glad I get to work with computers.

[Nicotti]

I really respect the work of people who cultivate practical technical knowledge, and as such a person, I'm glad I get to work with computers.

On newer vechicles computer knowledge is just as useful as mech knowledge, stuff is all connected to sensors and computers. When I first got my current car it would randomly not start. The problem was the computer was getting intermittent signals from the pcv valve sensor. Replace the sensor, car starts fine.

I thought we were talking current vehicle, if we're talking old cars, then yes I've had a truck where the engine caught fire and then I drove it the rest of the way home after putting the fire out.

[crazydrummerdude]

Pfft. You guys and your cars almost dying.

Hey now, I thought this was a "what made you happy today" thread, not a dick measuring contest.

my idler pulley exploded on the highway.

That was my last big being-stranded situation. Except I was alone, in the middle of the desert, with no towns anywhere nearby.

I was just cruising along when: POW! ERRRRRRRRRrrrrrr. I thought my muffler exploded (again), and I was going to just live with it and keep going. Looking at the gagues and the temp just goes straight to red. Pull over. Check; no more idler pulley or serpentine belt and it took out a couple emissions lines to the charcoal canister.

Fun!

Why would you drive around with a blown intake gasket lol? It takes an hour to change.

Because he's a bozo.

From that point on my car would always catch on fire when I turned the headlights on.

The nice thing about owning a pos that breaks down a lot is that you develop a skill set that most people don't have. I've worked on almost every part of my car.

Yeah, not only do you know it well, you learn skills like patience, resourcefulness, etc.

I always say; Crappy cars build character.

It usually looks like shit though

Yeah, even if all my vehicles are running top-notch, they look like shit.

On newer vechicles computer knowledge is just as useful as mech knowledge, stuff is all connected to sensors and computers. ... Replace the sensor, car starts fine.

I would disagree to a degree. Swapping out sensors does not equate to "computer knowledge."

Diagnosing their issues via multimeters/oscilloscopes leads down that path a bit more.

[SubLunar]

I thought all threads were dick measuring contests?

[crazydrummerdude]

There was a promotion running for $35 off every $100 ordered.

I wanted 2 items totaling $202. I could have easily just ordered both items and got $35 off.

I made 2 orders to get $70 off.

Boom, bitches!

[SubLunar]

Rescued a turtle from certain death this morning.

[Nicotti]

Was it a giant snapping turtle?

[SubLunar]

No, just a box turtle. Who is now in a box next to my desk because I didn't have time to find a god release point on my way in this morning.

[Nicotti]

Fun fact: I you take a styrofoam coffee cup and turn it upside down on the floor and stomp on it. The sound it makes is the same sound you hear if you accidentally run over a turtle.

...The more you know...

[SubLunar]

Fun fact: I you take a styrofoam coffee cup and turn it upside down on the floor and stomp on it. The sound it makes is the same sound you hear if you accidentally run over a turtle.

...The more you know...

This is true.

Fun fact: Breaking someone's nose when your punch lands squarely in their face is the same sound/feeling as hitting a home run with a baseball bat.

...Hurt a turtle around me and I'll show you...