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I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

davidmuller.github.io

421–430 of 515 posts

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably should get a brand more reliable than Audi...

I hear people say that about my BMW, and realistically the hassle of some reliability issues is nothing compared to driving the lifeless husks of cars they recommend instead. (there are reliable sports cars, but it significantly limits the pool you can select from)

Anecdote. I've had a BMW for the past 9 years now, and not once have I had to open the hood of the car or so much as replace my wiper fluid. I don't even know where the lever for any of that is. I pretty much take it in to a dealership when a light on the dashboard lights up, they drive me to work, pick me up after and my car is good to go.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife, bless her heart, leaves everything partially open. Not even just open, but she'll screw the lid on jars just enough where if I pick it up by the top they'll drop. It drives me crazy.

My flatmate does this with kitchen cupboard doors, and, most annoyingly, the microwave. She'll open the microwave to stop it, takes her food out and, just ... leaves it open. Then when I close it later it will start up again with nothing inside. Arrrgh!

I learned this behaviour for a while when living with a microwave that made an annoyingly loud beep when it finished or was stopped.

Workaround: slightly ajar as default idle state for silent operation and intercept immediately before completion.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My former English teacher would question why the age of your math teacher is relevant in this post.

why are you being ageist? I have a new math teacher, therefore my previous teacher is my old math teacher.

Because you were being pedantic about using fake words they corrected your grammar. Former is more correct than old in this context.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#424
post #2

I have failed to find the parasitic draw on an RV (slower than this one, it takes a couple weeks to kill the battery). I finally got a "Top Post Battery Master Disconnect Switch", which is a little dinglebob that goes between the battery post and cable and lets you easily break the circuit. I highly recommend the $12 solution for an intermittently used vehicle.

> RV I'm reminded how often people come to the RV forum trying to figure out parasitic draw. The answer almost always ends up being the propane detector. People forget it's even there. Less of an issue on newer RVs that come with at least one basic solar panel installed from the factory.

That's one clean burning parasitic draw I tell ya hwat.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#425

My wife and I gave our old car to her parents. In the subsequent years, its battery kept dying and we had to go over to their place and jump it. Never happened in the prior 7 years we'd owned the car. The mechanic said nothing wrong with the battery, but suggested there might be a parasitic drain somewhere. A few days later, we were visiting them. I looked at the car and saw the door closed, but not properly latched…

Tangent, but what's the rationale for car doors requiring slams? They are the only door I know, at least in common, daily life contexts, that require slamming them with the force of Thor to properly close them.

They don’t require slamming at all. Just pull them closed. It’s really very easy. Follow through.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#426
post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've met a lot of women who do stuff like this... I asked one why and she told me it's because they don't want to be a bother. Fully closing the door makes noise, screwing on lids can make it hard for people to open them later. So they don't. They close it just enough and leave the object in that almost there state.

IMHO it's less of a bother to have to open a jar and much more of a bother if you pick up a not-fully-closed jar by the lid and then have to clean the kitchen of jam and broken glass, but YMMV...

Agree. Also an issue with juice bottles with lots of deposition, if the cap is not on tight and you forget to check you end up with at best a hand dripping full of juice (if the cap was screwed on but did not seal, so you just got some liquid through the cap) and at worst a repainted wall (if the cap was barely even on, and shaking sent it flying).

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#427
post #78

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I'm looking into buying a reliable older vehicle, pre 2000, and just rebuilding the engine

I drive a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I get asked if I'm interested in selling it at least once or twice a month, nowadays. The sightlines are amazing compared to modern cars, its AC is OP, and the AMC 4 liter straight six is one of the most durable car engines ever made. Mileage is not great, but it's paid for and dirt cheap to insure, that buys a lot of gas right there.

Nice, I had a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee and it was a great vehicle. I did have a problem with the doors falling off, which I think was a defect at the time.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#428
post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People always think that they are compatible if they share more or less a common understanding in big subjects, but stuff like these really test you. One of my exes hated onion, and when I look back, this made my life way more insufferable than having to hear the (to me) weird political opinions. "Oh I'd like to have this salad but please no onion, and please don't use a knife that's used to cut onion when preparing!…

Entitled to special treatment. A modern phenomenon. A good sign that you should move on to a different partner.

Asking nicely and not protesting when they didn't manage is okay in my book, to be honest. That was not the problem. Having to experience stuff like these (everyone has their quirks) regularly and learning to deal with it is the hard part in a relationship, is what I'm saying.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least! When my engine finally needed a rebuild, so did the transmission, steering box, CV joints, and center differential. And you're right, it needed new bushings, shocks, springs, and balljoints.

"need" starts being a very subjective word when talking about some of these components at high milage.

"While I'm at it might as well"

And honestly on something that used it might be the best, taking it apart again just to replace the thing you thought you might not need to is PITA

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#430
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If car is at the point of engine rebuild you'd probably have to replace half of the suspension too

At least! When my engine finally needed a rebuild, so did the transmission, steering box, CV joints, and center differential. And you're right, it needed new bushings, shocks, springs, and balljoints.

Yeah, I recently bought a car (I had driving license for 15 years before that but for 14 of them I didn't drive coz I moved to the big city), and basically bought one of cheapest, had to replace dampers last year, this year one of springs broke, one of calipers have some problems and apparently one of previous owners installed lambda probe emulator to hide dead catalytic converter...

Tho a bunch of that might be because I bought "sporty car" and those rarely have easy life in the first place...

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