
Adam
Audioholic Jedi
WHAT THE?!? Wow, man, that is a lot of coin to have to spend on juice. Have you investigated the overall cost/benefits of solar power?We've spent $5,200 on electricity so far this year.
WHAT THE?!? Wow, man, that is a lot of coin to have to spend on juice. Have you investigated the overall cost/benefits of solar power?We've spent $5,200 on electricity so far this year.
Being charged that much for a thermostat sucks but A) it's winter and you already have frostbitten hands, so additional exposure to cold isn't going to help you. It's also not going to make your wife happy if it persists. B), not all thermostats are the same and some require a lot more disassembly to get to them, like some Cadillac motors. I haven't worked on an Explorer but shop labor rates aren't negotiable and they work from a flat rate book. If you had explained your situation, they may have cut a deal. Be happy you don't have an STS or something like that- replacing the starter costs about $1200 because the intake manifold needs to come out. The other main point I want to make is that if you had left the bad thermostat in place long enough, you would have done irreparable damage to the motor because a cold motor is far from efficient and when the coolant temperature sensor sees low temperature, the ECM delivers a lot more fuel and some of it won't burn so it's forced into the crankcase and this dilutes the oil, and that causes a lot more wear. Also, the unburned gas in the exhaust will eventually kill the O2 sensors, which will cause the ECM to go to default settings, none of which are great for performance or longevity- they're set so the vehicle can get to a place where the driver isn't stranded.Yes, you are missing a lot, in fact. At the very least is practicality. Even if I could quickly liquidate my assets, it would only pay about two months' worth of property taxes, and then I'd be back to square one, scraping to come up with bill money again AND a big part of my reason for staying alive would be gone. And I don't have another 39 years left to start over.
Fact two: It took me 39 years to accumulate the gear that I have. I sold a lot of vintage gear and reinvested the money in more modern gear that costs less. I actually came out with a net gain in terms of cash. But business losses were far more than the small gain I got out of converting older gear into cash.
Fact three: I once had a promising multimedia business running, until everything--I mean everything.. ground to a halt this year. Clients just stopped calling, bookings dropped to zero.
Fact four: property taxes increased dramatically and we hadn't budgeted for that kind of increase.
Fact five: energy costs increased 40% over the year prior.
We've spent $5,200 on electricity so far this year. That's more than in any year prior. We used 6kw avg per day LESS than this time last year, but the delivery cost and taxes are higher than last year.
In short, this has been a crazy year, but I'm not going to go backwards to the way I was living 50 years ago, hopping from apartment to apartment, didn't even have a working TV back then. I worked and slaved 7 days a week for several decades, working overtime, sometimes two jobs, so I could save enough to buy gear that I wanted before I retired. The wife and kid are important, but A/V is the core of my existence.
Oh, and no we don't have cable. We don't have regular cell service. I have a prepaid cell that I put in $10 every 3 months to keep it active. I don't have a mortgage to pay. Just the taxes, which make the mortgage on my first house look like lunch money. If I wasn't so tied to the equipment, I'd be 'free' to move anywhere in the country, or leave the country. But it would destroy my identity as a human being to give it all up.
Not quite what? The ECT and MAF tell the ECM how much fuel to deliver and if there's a conflict between the two sensors, some pre-determined default will be used. Low ECT reading with dense air needs more fuel than high at high altitude. Along with some fuel condensation at low temp (which only happens briefly with an open thermostat, once the in-cylinder temps reach a certain level, it also becomes an issue of improper atomization, which is often achieved by spraying the fuel on the back of the valves, which are hot from combustion and the fuel becomes vapor immediately upon contact.Not Quite. The gasoline condenses on the cylinder walls when they're cold, which causes you to consume more gas for the same power output.
And I'm sorry, but 106 for a thermostat at a dealership is cheap. We charge 115 for an Oil Change.
SheepStar
A '68 Caddy had nothing on it that could have shut the motor down when a problem occurred- it was like an Etch-A-Sketch compared with what you do now with graphics.Well these are interesting points about fuel injected engines. But I got over 300K miles out of my '68 Caddy and I ran it for many years with the T-stat removed. It had a tendency to overheat when climbing the mountains here, so I pulled it. But that 472 V8 always produced more than enough heat even without the 'stat. When the late 70s came and synthetic oil became available, I switched over to synthetic. The motor was still great when I finally junked the car because the body was falling apart due to rust.
But all that is aside from the thrust of my point:
1. My wife was extremely angry that I spent the money on this repair instead of taking serious her request to turn back if there was going to be a charge.
2. If I were thinking straight (I don't get clarity of mind until about 3PM--it was 8:30AM at the time) I would have called my regular mechanic and enquired the cost.
3. A new thermostat cost $7.98 and a gasket about 50 cents. I could get a big tube of silicon rubber sealant for $5 at Home Depot. All told, less than $15 worth of parts.
The truck never had good heat since the day we bought it. It had just come off lease, was immaculate inside & out and most importantly, underneath including the frame. We got it for peanuts when the dealers had lots full of large SUVs and no one wanting to buy them. The dealer was desparate to clear the lot and we benefitted with a rediculously low price. Five months later, they mailed us a letter, offering $5K more than we paid for it, but my wife ignored it. Once I outfitted it with HID lighting, the vehicle was 100% satisfactory to both of us, except the lack of heat.
BTW, I'm running synthetic oil on it and it averages 26MPG according to the on board trip computer when driving cross-state.
At least my wife finally stopped rehashing the topic since Christmas. Now she just complains that I look like Dumbledore in Harry Potter because my beard's getting too long..
Thing was probably knocking so bad it sounded like someone dropping marbles as it went up the mountain.A '68 Caddy had nothing on it that could have shut the motor down when a problem occurred- it was like an Etch-A-Sketch compared with what you do now with graphics.
I hope this doesn't come across poorly, but have you considered lowering your rate? $1000 (or even $750) for a shoot is a lot better than nothing. You just said that your effective wage is below minimum, so if you've got that kind of time to spare, it wouldn't hurt to do the jobs for less, would it?Now considering I haven't successfully sold a wedding shoot, due to being constantly told I cost too much, since 2007, my effective hourly rate goes way below min wage.
With frostbitten hands, I'm not sure I would have worked on my own vehicle until they healed.Points taken. And we're now wiser for the experience. Next time, unless it's a catastrophic failure, we'll wait and do the repairs at home, if possible.
I really can't afford to pay people that earn effectively 20 times what I earn. It's economically NOT viable.
Funny thing is, I'm in my own business, and almost no one wants to pay a videographer's rates. Let's see... a $1500 wedding shoot, 8-10 hours shooting/traveling on the wedding date. 30-40 hours editing, producing, packaging the DVD.. works out to less than $30/hr before taxes. Now considering I haven't successfully sold a wedding shoot, due to being constantly told I cost too much, since 2007, my effective hourly rate goes way below min wage. So I'm reduced to being a telemarketer for my own business, earning next to nothing. So it's absurd that I even bothered to take the truck in for such a minor repair. What an idiot.
Personally, I'd look for a service shop that is reputable (he said, not knowing a damn thing about the quality of shop in CT) and find one with reasonable rates. The $105 bill was from a dealer, right? I wouldn't go to a dealer with a vehicle that is well known, in terms of it's service needs. In my experience, they don't really have any kind of edge on the independent shops.Highfigh,
My hands lose pretty much all their function when the temp is below 50°F. Even in the house, where it's 55°F, I find them stiff. I have little feeling in my fingers. Just like when one gets out of the dentist's office after anesthesia, and can't feel one's lips, drinking from a cup just results in spilled liquid. My fingers can't feel or grasp a tool when it's cold because there's no tactile feedback.
I ran Esso gas in my Caddy up to about 1971. The station had a sticker on the pump stating "105+ Octane" on it. A few years later, I couldn't get it anymore. Most of my older cars started to have severe pinging issues with the newer, lower octane gas. But the end of the 70s, I was resorting to retarding the ignition timing to reduce the ping, but at great cost of performance. When that car was pretty new, running on Esso hi-test gas, it could burn rubber for half a block easily. Gawd I miss those days!