Weird things people do with their cars

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
The lazy characters in my apartment complex load their garbage bags onto their roof or trunk and drive the bag around to the dumpster -- a 2 minute walk. With a work pickup or van, I suppose it'd be fine, but I don't want anything scratching the trunk or roof of my personal car.

I've put one "juicy" bag on the roof of the CRV to get it out to the road on the way to work, hosed it off when I got home. Usually they are not leaking so they go in the back on top of the recycling, we have a 1/4 mile driveway so I'm not being too lazy. Its just a car and paint is pretty tough. We've also put goats in the back with a tarp under them. The car is going to the wreckers anyways so no use babying it!

 

[FCD]

I have heard that myth aboout the 50 Mpg Carburetors haha, a good friend who used to be a mechanic for 30 years also told me to drain/flush my engine with Diesel

 

[DBMaster]

I thought it was a 100 mile per gallon carburetor? I guess it depends upon where you heard the legend. The way I heard it was "the oil companies" bought it for a lot of money just to put it on a shelf. Depending upon who was telling the story they'd insert a random big company name.

 

[FCD]

I've noticed on British classic forums people will religiously stick to the manufacturer's reccomendations, even as far as using Straight 30 non detergent oils, oh and that you should never use synthetics in classic cars becajse they "were not meant for the cars of the time", despite the fact that Mobil 1 was already available in the 70s.
Also a lot of people say to use for example for my Capri the cheapest [censored] 20w50 you can find, there is an oil called Comma classic which is pretty popular and it's rated SE/CC!!! it doesn't even have a good amount of zddp which you'd expect in an oil made for classics

 

[Fsharp]

Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
Starting the engine without oil, no thanks!


Luckily he never owns very nice cars, most recently he's been driving an old Honda Odyssey which he had painted bright orange. He put oversized tires on it that rub when taking sharp corners. Of course he also uses 15w40 diesel oil in everything.

It's not worth arguing with him about it.

 

[WylieCoyote]

Used to work with a guy who had a 1990-something LeBaron with the Mitsubishi 3.0 V6. The V6 in my car at the time (1993 Sundance) was identical, and always purred like a kitten. Every day for a week or more, he'd come into the office parking lot and that car was clattering like crazy. HUGE valvetrain noise. I thought his timing chain was getting ready to fail. Then, one day the following week, he drove in and it was quiet. I said "Cool, you got it fixed?". He said "no, turns out it was out of oil".

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

"Viruses of the mind" is what Richard Dawkin labeled these memeplexes that are spread from one brain to another. Self replicating nonsense.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

Originally Posted By: SirTanon
you mean like this?

Does this count as a hoarding, or just needing to take out the trash? That mostly looks like empty bottles and cans, though I guess they could come in handy one day.

The last hoarder car I saw was a Taurus with items piled up above the level of the package shelf. At the top, right in the back window, was a rectangular box labeled "Gun Cleaning Kit."

 

[camrydriver111]

Weird things people do with their cars: people use Monroe Quick-Struts and similar products.

 

[Panzerman]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Originally Posted By: Ifixyawata
I know a guy who runs premium in his Lincoln Town Car 'because it's a Lincoln'. With the same 4.6L that went into the Crown Vic and Grand Marquis of the same year.



I'm one of those guys. Owned 4.6L Lincolns for the past 15 years. Always used 91 Octane (or a blend of 87 and 93 to get there)...because that's what the owner's manual calls for. I've also owned one 4.6L Grand Marquis which didn't get the 91 Octane....because the owner's manual didn't call for it.


The Lincoln you have has the high performance aluminum 4.6. It's not the same engine they put in the Lincoln Town cars. Closer to the Shelby 4.6. It requires high octane where the regular Lincoln's don't. Have no idea why the put a high performance motor in this Lincoln and not the rest.

 

[JustinH]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Originally Posted By: Ifixyawata
I know a guy who runs premium in his Lincoln Town Car 'because it's a Lincoln'. With the same 4.6L that went into the Crown Vic and Grand Marquis of the same year.



I'm one of those guys. Owned 4.6L Lincolns for the past 15 years. Always used 91 Octane (or a blend of 87 and 93 to get there)...because that's what the owner's manual calls for. I've also owned one 4.6L Grand Marquis which didn't get the 91 Octane....because the owner's manual didn't call for it.


The Lincoln you have has the high performance aluminum 4.6. It's not the same engine they put in the Lincoln Town cars. Closer to the Shelby 4.6. It requires high octane where the regular Lincoln's don't. Have no idea why the put a high performance motor in this Lincoln and not the rest.


Nope.

The Town Car never got the 32V 4.6L engine. However they did put knock sensors in some years and some models of the 4.6 SOHC, so it will pull timing out with lower octane fuel.

Same engine that went in the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis.

The Continental had a sideways mounted 32v engine and the taurus transaxle.

I believe that the only vehicles in the ford lineup that received the all aluminum 4.6 SOHC was the explorer/mountaineer in certain years when ford was experimenting with weight reduction to keep MPG up in these pigs.

The rest have the iron block and aluminum heads.

My buddy and I stuffed a Mountaineer 4.6 into a 94 Thunderbird and used to race it.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I thought the Mustang Cobra and Lincoln MkVIII got the aluminum 4.6 DOHC? (In fact, I recall that, aside from not using the Cobra's forged steel crank, the MkVIII had essentially the Cobra engine.)

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
I thought the Mustang Cobra and Lincoln MkVIII got the aluminum 4.6 DOHC? (In fact, I recall that, aside from not using the Cobra's forged steel crank, the MkVIII had essentially the Cobra engine.)


Correct, the Cobra and Mark VIII got the 32V 4.6L, as did the Mach 1, Continental, Lincoln Aviator and Mercury Marauder.

 

[Panzerman]

The guy at the transmission shop told me that the same transmission that they put in the Taurus and Windstar us in that Lincoln front wheel drive. He said that even though they built them up with more clutch plates they really weren't made to take the stress that engine produces and it's common to have trouble with them.

 

[FCD]

In 2010 or so i was having a problem where my battery would be drained ina few days of sitting completely and wouldn't start, i took it to the mechanic and left it here came back the next day and i find a young guy laying in the car and i ask him what are you doing and he says trying to find the OBD port lol, turned out to be a couple of cables that were touching hidden between the grille and radiator

 

[Silk]

When I was 18 I had a '38 Chev Coupe (for a country that puts Y on the end of every second word, we don't say Chevy) They have a 6 volt 3 brush generator with just a cutout for when voltage reverses flow at low speeds. The cut out failed...so I made a manual cutout, a switch on the dash. I had a good ammeter, and when stopped at the lights, when the needle went negative I'd flip the switch off...then going down the road flip it back on and be charging. Well, that was the theory, in practice I'd be sitting at the lights with the battery discharging, and going down the road with no charge having forgotten to flip the switch back on. I finally gave up and converted it to 12v with a Lucas C40 generator and 3 bobbin reg/cutout.