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On Sat, 02 May 2009 11:57:02 -0500, Richard Casady
wrote:

On Sat, 02 May 2009 08:26:20 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

Next day I heard the car stops halfway to Champagne, and the tow truck
driver pulls the dipstick and finds it's out of oil. Engine shot.
Son watches tow truck driver do this and realizes he's been pulling
the trans dipstick to check the oil.
My son, the Engineer.

Trans fluid is red and engine oil is black, and I thought that was
universal knowledge. Evidently not. If I designed it, the molded
plastic handles for the sticks would have a couple of meshed gears on
one and a piston and rod on the other. Not a new concept. I always got
by on obviousness.

I think every car I've seen has the oil stick forward and the trans
stick aft. Even the FWD's. I don't recall ever being confused about
it. Might have let my eyes follow a tube to the crankcase once or
twice.
But there's lots of people who wouldn't even know how to open their
hood.
You just can't take anything for granted (-:

--Vic

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On Sat, 2 May 2009 10:35:55 -0300, "Don White"
wrote:


"Vic Smith" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 2 May 2009 07:51:31 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:


"Richard Casady" wrote in message
...

I had a 57 Volvo that had been painted flat black with a brush, and
had a channel iron front bumper. City busses were scared of it,

Casady


Reminds me of another adventure raising kids.

When my daughter was about 12 years old I had an old Chevy "Luv" pickup
truck that we kept in the backyard. Painted it black with a paintbrush
and
used it as a motorized wheelbarrow while clearing some land area. It was
a
wreck, but it ran.

Anyway, the yard was big and I let my daughter drive it around once in a
while figuring it was a good way for her to learn how to drive a manual
transmission. Problem was the engine had a leaky head gasket and the
radiator was always slowly losing water. I told my daughter that before
she used it to make sure she could see water in the radiator.

A few days later she announced that the truck wouldn't start anymore. We
went out to check it out. When I turned the key to start it, the engine
didn't budge. Meanwhile my daughter is yapping away telling me that she
had
checked the water, didn't see any, so she filled it up.

I asked her *where* she put the water. Sure enough, she had removed the
air filter and filled the carburetor to the top.

One Chevy Luv off to the junkyard.

Thata'll teach ya.
One of my sons is an engineer. General Engineer, University of
Illinois. Don't ask me what that is. I never could get it out of
him. But he's doing well with it.
He worked at Chicago Dryer doing summer factory work while in college
and made enough money to buy a used Hyundai.
He was real happy with the car, and that he paid for it himself.
About 6 months later the oil light was going on and we talked about it
on the phone.
He told me the oil level was fine, and I told him either the sender
was bad, the oil pump was bad, or the mains were shot.
I offered to have my mechanic check it out, but as usual he didn't
have the time, what with school and his socializing.
A few days later my daughter came over to visit, driving the son's car
because her car was down.
I walked her to driveway, chatting as she got in the car to leave.
Car sounded ok. Nice looking car. Oil light was going on and off.
Daughter was in a hurry to get the car back so son could take off for
Champagne and school, so I didn't check the car out.
Next day I heard the car stops halfway to Champagne, and the tow truck
driver pulls the dipstick and finds it's out of oil. Engine shot.
Son watches tow truck driver do this and realizes he's been pulling
the trans dipstick to check the oil.
My son, the Engineer.
Damn, did my heart sink when I thought about how I should have checked
that oil when my daughter was there.
I was so sorry for him losing that car for something so stupid.
And a bit sorry for myself in helping him get another car too (-:
But I trusted my son when he said the oil level was fine.
He stills know squat about cars.
Easier to excuse your 12 year old daughter.
We can call that one "cute." (-:

--Vic

Good reminder.
Our 07 Charger has a few years of warranty left and regular (3x per year)
oil/lube visits, but I'm going to show him the basics...or at least find a
good basic book on routine maintenance.

Routine maintainance on a late model car? Our Lincoln needed nothing
but oil changes every 5000 miles and spark plugs at 100 000.. New
glycol every two years. Brakes, tires, wiper blades last 50 000 or
so, but that is not routine maintainance, they are as needed items, no
brainers that announce themselves.
The complicated four cam 32 valve motor developed a leaking valve
guide at 175 000 miles so I put in an overhauled motor. If it hadn't
had a check engine light it probably would have gone at least another
25 000.

Casady

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On Sat, 2 May 2009 10:36:30 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Plenty of hydrogen in water.

It may take a few more years to perfect, but I think it has real promise.
So does the

Water is burnt hydrogen. You can burn ten pounds of coal in a
efficient power plant and make a pound of hydrogen from the juice, and
water. It is nuts to make it from oil or natural gas. The hydro is in
use and there are no more good dam sites. In Iowa wind is supplying 5%
of the juice and they make most of the hardware right here. Hydrogen
is more promising than batteries, but what is going to actually
happen, is gasoline made from coal.

Casady

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thunder wrote:
On Sat, 02 May 2009 09:58:20 -0400, BAR wrote:


If you want to talk about the carbon foot print of a gasoline powered
vehicle vs. an electric powered vehicle, with a battery pack, you
shouldn't be surprised who the loser is.

Whose talking about a carbon footprint? But there is the little thing
about oil, as in *foreign* oil. IMO, electric cars could aid in once
again making us energy independent.

Every time someone says anything about foreign oil I think less of them.
Oil is oil it doesn't matter whether it is sucked out of the ground in
the middle east or off the coast of Florida. What does matter is who
gets the money If you want the USA to reduce its dependence on foreign
oil and keep the money at home then you are in favor of drilling for oil
in our own oil fields now.

We know how to produce energy. What we don't know how to do is to store
energy. How do we store energy from solar panels and wind? How do you
turn on the wind to produce energy on demand? How do you turn on solar
panels in the middle of the night in when demand goes up.

More on Govt designed cars
 

"Richard Casady" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 2 May 2009 10:36:30 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Plenty of hydrogen in water.

It may take a few more years to perfect, but I think it has real promise.
So does the

Water is burnt hydrogen. You can burn ten pounds of coal in a
efficient power plant and make a pound of hydrogen from the juice, and
water. It is nuts to make it from oil or natural gas. The hydro is in
use and there are no more good dam sites. In Iowa wind is supplying 5%
of the juice and they make most of the hardware right here. Hydrogen
is more promising than batteries, but what is going to actually
happen, is gasoline made from coal.

Casady


The hydrogen in water is still hydrogen. If efficient methods to
disassociate it from the oxygen are developed, it can be recovered as fuel.
The secret to success is finding the method.

http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/tt/license/...chnology&id=62

Eisboch

More on Govt designed cars
 

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...



The hydrogen in water is still hydrogen. If efficient methods to
disassociate it from the oxygen are developed, it can be recovered as
fuel. The secret to success is finding the method.

http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/tt/license/...chnology&id=62

Eisboch


For those interested in such things, here's another more practical
explanation of how hydrogen derived from water can be used, among other
things....

http://hypography.com/forums/science-projects-and-homework/895-new-way-extracting-hydrogen-water-great.html


Eisboch

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On Sat, 2 May 2009 15:48:04 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:


"Richard Casady" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 2 May 2009 10:36:30 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Plenty of hydrogen in water.

It may take a few more years to perfect, but I think it has real promise.
So does the

Water is burnt hydrogen. You can burn ten pounds of coal in a
efficient power plant and make a pound of hydrogen from the juice, and
water. It is nuts to make it from oil or natural gas. The hydro is in
use and there are no more good dam sites. In Iowa wind is supplying 5%
of the juice and they make most of the hardware right here. Hydrogen
is more promising than batteries, but what is going to actually
happen, is gasoline made from coal.

Casady


The hydrogen in water is still hydrogen. If efficient methods to
disassociate it from the oxygen are developed, it can be recovered as fuel.
The secret to success is finding the method.

You cannot repeal the law of conservation of energy. And all the
methods for making hydrogen were discovered more than a century ago.
There is no magic. hydrogen is only really good if electricity is
free. Gasoline is about fifteen times as dense as liquid hydrogen, and
that is without allowing for the bulk of the insulation. In compressed
form you can carry a couple of pounds in a 360 cu ft cylinder, such as
the standard size one used for oxygen by welders.

From an energy efficiency standpoint, making hydrogen from water is a
non starter. You can't make coal from carbon dioxide either.

Casady

More on Govt designed cars
 

Richard Casady wrote:
On Sat, 2 May 2009 15:48:04 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

"Richard Casady" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 2 May 2009 10:36:30 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Plenty of hydrogen in water.

It may take a few more years to perfect, but I think it has real promise.
So does the
Water is burnt hydrogen. You can burn ten pounds of coal in a
efficient power plant and make a pound of hydrogen from the juice, and
water. It is nuts to make it from oil or natural gas. The hydro is in
use and there are no more good dam sites. In Iowa wind is supplying 5%
of the juice and they make most of the hardware right here. Hydrogen
is more promising than batteries, but what is going to actually
happen, is gasoline made from coal.

Casady

The hydrogen in water is still hydrogen. If efficient methods to
disassociate it from the oxygen are developed, it can be recovered as fuel.
The secret to success is finding the method.

You cannot repeal the law of conservation of energy. And all the
methods for making hydrogen were discovered more than a century ago.
There is no magic. hydrogen is only really good if electricity is
free. Gasoline is about fifteen times as dense as liquid hydrogen, and
that is without allowing for the bulk of the insulation. In compressed
form you can carry a couple of pounds in a 360 cu ft cylinder, such as
the standard size one used for oxygen by welders.

From an energy efficiency standpoint, making hydrogen from water is a
non starter. You can't make coal from carbon dioxide either.

Casady

But this is a time of change and obama can do anything he wants. Pelosi,
obama and the other democrats can pass laws to change anything, and if
laws will not work they can throw a couple of trillion dollar to make it
happen.