Sounds like you're in for a treat of lots of fun, fun, fun...

Shut up or I'll kick your cat.
It's turning out to be that kind of day.

 

Shut up or I'll kick your cat.
It's turning out to be that kind of day.

Ha ha ha... here, have a read:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/scientific-reason-arent-enjoying-free-time/story?id=37936690&ts=true

Never in my life have I seen an article with a more accusatory title on it... lol!

 

It says 82% of my oil life is remaining after 2.7 miles to the gas station and back, and I have 40.3 miles left in the 22 gallon gas tank, 1.35 miles after a fill-up.

AFAIK the 'oil life remaining' indication is based upon a revolution count? Hence the malfunction owes, perhaps, to a noise issue? -- In the absence of wider malfunction, or, at very least, the 'setting of an ECM code' It seems likely the difficulty is local to the specific indicator -- unless said count is via a 'dedicated sensor'?

Offered FWIW

Best regards
HP

 

The, "count" comes from a microprocessor that displays several sentences (one at a time) describing the status of the car and it's many, many, useless features.
I am not going to replace a bunch of over-engineered and mostly useless microprocessors. If this thing can't figure out the oil change times, I will just note the mileage, as I always have, and change the oil when I want to. If it can't figure out the gas tank is full, I will just look at the gas gauge. I also don't check the tire pressure every day just because the dashboard says they are low every time I start the engine. This gigantic pile of unnecessary and often wrong microprocessors is a study in bad design. That doesn't mean I'm going to throw thousands of dollars at it, trying to buy more badly designed microprocessors dedicated to functions nobody needs.

So, diagnose your little heart out. I'm not going to fix it.

 

The, "count" comes from a microprocessor that displays several sentences (one at a time) describing the status of the car and it's many, many, useless features.
I am not going to replace a bunch of over-engineered and mostly useless microprocessors. If this thing can't figure out the oil change times, I will just note the mileage, as I always have, and change the oil when I want to. If it can't figure out the gas tank is full, I will just look at the gas gauge. I also don't check the tire pressure every day just because the dashboard says they are low every time I start the engine. This gigantic pile of unnecessary and often wrong microprocessors is a study in bad design. That doesn't mean I'm going to throw thousands of dollars at it, trying to buy more badly designed microprocessors dedicated to functions nobody needs.

So, diagnose your little heart out. I'm not going to fix it.

Careful @#12! Such public expression of initiative, personal responsibility and all the 'orrible disobedience entailed thereby is certain to result in your 'flagging' as a revolutionary radical!

Ducking and covering
HP

 

Careful @#12! Such public expression of initiative, personal responsibility and all the 'orrible disobedience entailed thereby is certain to result in your 'flagging' as a revolutionary radical!

You're right. I'm not a good little consumer. I'm probably already on a terrorist watch list and couldn't fly on an airplane if The President wanted me to fix his refrigerator.

 

Shut up or I'll kick your cat.

Bring it on.

 

You're right. I'm not a good little consumer. I'm probably already on a terrorist watch list and couldn't fly on an airplane if The President wanted me to fix his refrigerator.

Motors, sheet metal and transmissions used to be the things that sent cars to the junk pile. Now, I'm guessing it is electrical issues. What a pain in the ass. My wife's van runs like a champ, 110k miles, no rust, perfect transmission. The power windows only go down, the electric mirrors don't work, the radio is intermittent, power rear doors are intermittent, and electric seat is rusted in place (that's my son's fault with a spilled coke about 10 years ago). In any case, I would love to see an electric to crank window conversion kit.
.

 

15 years ago I decided to quit buying cars with electric windows because I was tired of repairing them. Then this monstrous, 5300 pound, looks like a not-so-undercover cop car, SUV comes along at 1/3 of it's fair market value and I couldn't resist.
What I didn't know about was the dozen or so microprocessors in it...all of them malfunctioning except the engine controller and the transmission controller...and I'm not sure about them after driving about 12 miles. Haven't had enough steering wheel time to get a feel for it. Stay tuned for more exciting installments after I get a license plate on this thing.
Right after I get a hot glue gun and hack that ceiling pod back together.

and Gopher is right. If the ECU drops dead, the lack of available parts will render it junk-yard-ready.

 

Motors, sheet metal and transmissions used to be the things that sent cars to the junk pile. Now, I'm guessing it is electrical issues. What a pain in the ass. My wife's van runs like a champ, 110k miles, no rust, perfect transmission. The power windows only go down, the electric mirrors don't work, the radio is intermittent, power rear doors are intermittent, and electric seat is rusted in place (that's my son's fault with a spilled coke about 10 years ago). In any case, I would love to see an electric to crank window conversion kit.
.

If you lived closer to #12 he'd probably buy the car from you. Less problems than his has.

 

#12, it's a Ford Exploder, right? Some call them that because you explode ever time something breaks.

Oldest son has one about same age. Have you experienced the "won't start until it sits for an hour or two" yet? That's another common Exploder happening. Ford = fix or repair daily.

 

My beef with GM is adding talc to their plastic fan blades (in the heater/AC) so they disintegrate at about 12 years old.

GM's not the only one that uses it. Called "mineral filled plastic". Not the correct 'fill' for that type of part, should be a glass filled material.

 

Called "mineral filled plastic"

What are the purported advantages of said formulation? I cannot imagine talc, soapstone, etc. contributing anything in the way of structural integrity? - Is it, perchance, claimed to improve the product's thermal characteristics?

Best regards
HP

 

What are the purported advantages of said formulation? I cannot imagine talc, soapstone, etc. contributing anything in the way of structural integrity? - Is it, perchance, claimed to improve the product's thermal characteristics?

Best regards
HP

I'm under the impression that it's to make the plastics more environmentally friendly... and to help the industry sell more cars, and at a faster rate...

 

I'm under the impression that it's to make the plastics more environmentally friendly...

Wonderful! Biodegradable motorcars

Best regards
HP

 

What are the purported advantages of said formulation? I cannot imagine talc, soapstone, etc. contributing anything in the way of structural integrity? - Is it, perchance, claimed to improve the product's thermal characteristics?

Best regards
HP

Price (diluting $0.90/lb plastic with $0.35/lb dirt.
Reduced thermal expansion - rock doesn't grow by a few percent in each direction
Reduced hydrophilic behavior. Nylon absorbs up to 10% water by weight. Filling it with rock reduces that)
Reducing permeation of gases or moisture for packaging (food, paint, motor oil, most anything)
Increased compression strength (rock is strong)
Better (less translucent) base color for pigmented polymers (other minerals besides mica used like Titania, dolomite, ...)
Change the density and acoustic properties, (make a Ford door slam sound more like a mercedes)

Name the physical property you want to tune and I can show you something that costs 0.35/lb that will change it.

Note, limestone and sand stone are rarely used. Limestone emits CO2 when heated and causes bubbles/blusters in a part (unless you want a foam one soft feel effect). Sand stone (coarse silica) is very abrasive on the barrel and screw of an injection molding machine. Fumed silica is used instead if abrasion resistance is needed.

Molybdenum sulfide is used for self-lubricanting polymers for bushings and glide surfaces.

I'll think of more later...

 

I am no chemist, but I can answer most any question about the reason for product changes: cost reduction. As a former product manager and marketing director, I fought them repeatedly and came out on the losing side most of the time. In fact, my career was shortened partly because of what top company executives saw as my lack of concern for the bottom line. My belief was that, in the long run, the absolute worst thing for the company's profits would be dissatisfied customers. Sadly, top company executives rarely have a long term view; they are chasing those annual performance incentive$.

 

My belief was that, in the long run, the absolute worst thing for the company's profits would be dissatisfied customers. Sadly, top company executives rarely have a long term view; they are chasing those annual performance incentive$.

Aye! -- For some inexplicable reason - a brace of 'corporately conjoined' manufacturers of ultra-low cost Amateur Radio products (who 'hang their respective hats' in Starkville, Ms.) come to mind --- Sadly, their genuinely high quality engineering, component/materials choice and customer service is negated by decades of nonexistent quality control and shoddy, 'hit and miss', assembly work --- I assert, sans fear of exaggeration, that their products would be highly competitive at fully three times the price were they to but clean up their assembly/QC 'act' --- Industry needs to embrace the manifest facts that their customers are not skinflints and that responsive customer service (although essential) is no substitute for robust Quality Control!

All of which is to say -- Agreed!

Best regards
HP

 

...Name the physical property you want to tune and I can show you something that costs 0.35/lb that will change it.
...
Molybdenum sulfide is used for self-lubricanting polymers for bushings and glide surfaces.

I was quite confident that molybdenum disulfide is the most skookum lube base you can get, so I wouldn't list it as a way to cheapen up products, in fact I thought it was more expensive than other competing formulations.
(subjective impressions courtesy of AvE, subject to peer review)

 

What are the purported advantages of said formulation? I cannot imagine talc, soapstone, etc. contributing anything in the way of structural integrity? - Is it, perchance, claimed to improve the product's thermal characteristics?

Best regards
HP

Talc comes in many forms, the talc used in plastic is the fibrous form not the highly refined and finely powdered type known as "talcum powder". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talc

The talc is just one of the many minerals added to plastics to make them work in a certain way for certain uses. Modern living through chemistry.

Remember the quote in the movie, "the Graduate". "I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? Plastics."