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the Fet
Knackered climber
A bivy sack in the secret campground
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Jun 14, 2007 - 05:11pm PT
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They musta done really well with a stick.
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Wild Bill
climber
Ca
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Jun 14, 2007 - 07:35pm PT
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"Wild Bill, You are way off the mark on the safety aspect.
The Honda Civic is one of the safest cars out there.
It doesn't just come down to getting hit by another car, safety includes high-speed avoidance, rollover and crumple-zone safety. Look it up and you may be enlightened."
WHICH Honda Civic? Certainly not the ones being discussed here, made when the only air bags were driver and passenger (or even before that). Besides, re-read my post and you'll see I wasn't citing Civics, but the new generation of "B" and "C" class tiny cars like Honda Fit, Nissan Mustache (or whatever) and Toyota Boris. And Melissa's Geo from days of yore.
Anyway, no amount of stats are going to convince me. I'm an excellent and engaged driver, so avoidance is not my problem. (Recently pulled a "NASCAR-style driving throught the wreckage" maneuver in freeway in my '71 Ranchero (not nimble by any means) to avoid an Acura that lost control, spun, flipped many times). More concnered about when I'm unavoidably hit - then, I want metal around me, not thin tin.
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Jun 14, 2007 - 08:20pm PT
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Why not put some numbers together. 300 mi / wk = 15,000 miles/yr.
A beater that gets only 15 mpg will use 1000 gallons of gasoline per year. A miser might get 30 mpg and save you 500 gallons of gas per year. Plug in your gas price and multiply by 500.
Maybe you get a cheaper, lower mileage car that is cheaper to maintain and break even.
Forget the veggie oil crap. If your budget is so tight, you just blew through it before you can find a mechanic to do the maintenance. Check you route for diesel stations. Some places they are hard to find early in the morning or late at night, if you are considering diesel. All gas stations sell gasoline. Not all sell diesel, and none sell vegetable oil. BTW. Price canola oil by the gallon at your local Wal*mart!
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 14, 2007 - 08:34pm PT
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I really appreciate all of these POVs. The math for me is basically...If we spend the same money on a miser beater that we'd spend to fix the truck (assuming the truck fixes are as big as I suspect), then clearly we'll spend less on gas and I can drive a car (which I prefer). If the car sucks and dies...we didn't spend a lot on it.
I'm not really thinking vegie fuel or hybrids for right now, but it's still interesting to be informed for the future when our budget and auto needs might be different.
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davidji
Social climber
CA
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Jun 14, 2007 - 08:44pm PT
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Hi Melissa,
I agree that it's probably better to replace than repair your truck, but do you know why it won't start? Sometimes getting a vehicle to start isn't that hard.
1st gear is troublesome? You can probably just start in second. Not so good in the dirt, but on the street it should be OK. Clutch might wear faster, but it's not like you'll keep it forever anyway, and if the clutch goes, it's an ideal time to scrap the truck, or maybe install a junkyard transmission.
Anyway it's possible you could be driving your truck again for little time & money, at least until you buy something new.
Good luck with this stuff.
David
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Forest
Trad climber
Tucson, AZ
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Jun 14, 2007 - 09:04pm PT
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Check you route for diesel stations. Some places they are hard to find early in the morning or late at night, if you are considering diesel. All gas stations sell gasoline. Not all sell diesel,
Nationally, supposedly only 30% - 40% of gas stations sell diesel, tho i've never been anywhere where the number is that low.
Additionally, the extra mileage you get out of a tank of gas (I usually get around 700 miles on a tank at highway speeds) will more than make up for any lack of availability.
Obviously, availability on any interstate is fantastic.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jun 15, 2007 - 12:07am PT
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not that Melissa is into a salid oil burner... but TIG's comment and none sell vegetable oil is incorrect in the SFBay Area, check out BioFuel Oasis
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Jun 15, 2007 - 07:04am PT
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Ha! Thanks, Ed.
I did not know the "county's first" was around in April of this year. I am so out of date! :-(
10 stations in California. I guess the lines must be pretty looong.
Seriously though, you can search this site. Ed and I have already figured out there is not enough land to vegetable-oil-power the country, even if we forget raising food.
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Wild Bill
climber
Ca
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Jun 26, 2007 - 12:28pm PT
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Melissa, just curious about what happened with the car situation. Did you see the light and buy a salad oil burner? Find your inner cowgirl and buy a mega huge 4x4 Chevy pickup? Lose your mind and buy a Yugo?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Bill
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2007 - 01:51pm PT
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Turns out the starter wasn't dead...just the battery. The tranny will still need replacing, but the Green Machine is still functional at the moment, sparing us a purchase for a while.
The dead vehicle in question was J's. I've got a newer Tacoma...although with great excitement, I watched it move beyond 100K this year. I'd love to give J my Tacoma and get a car, but he's pretty attached to his old Ranger. It was home for a long time and has served him well for 15 years.
I'm not so sure about this commuting to the Fremont hills thing. I'm only committed for summer term. It will be an inspiration to try harder for a local gig...which would be the most fuel efficient thing of all.
When the time comes, I'll come back and gloat about our 89 civic or whatever we end up getting...:-)
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davidji
Social climber
CA
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Jun 26, 2007 - 02:16pm PT
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"The tranny will still need replacing, but the Green Machine is still functional at the moment, sparing us a purchase for a while."
Nice! I thought that might be a good approach.
One thing I didn't mention before is there might be some value to changing the gearbox oil. It could be a wasted hour or so, but it could also help:
1. If there are pieces of 1st gear in the oil, getting them out could greatly extend what's left of the transmission life.
2. If there *aren't* pieces of gear in the oil, then perhaps new oil with let you shift into first gear again.
There are various gear oils and blends of oils that can help shifting in worn transmissions. A Taco forum might help. Also www.bobistheoilguy.com.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Jun 26, 2007 - 02:31pm PT
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Hmmm... I have a `96 Honda *with* airbags (driver and passenger) which has 130K miles and still gets 40mpg regularly on trips. In the city I get about 35mpg. It has about 109hp, I think. It's plenty zippy. It's certainly faster than my yota T100 as far as passing, especially on steep grades. I can go as fast as I like through any pass without issue. Converse to this, and the reason I got the thing, my Toyo T100 only gets 21mpg on the highway, 17ish in the city and my `77 ScoutII gets about 14mpg highway, on a good day, with a good tail wind!!! Needless to say, I don't drive the Scout much these days.
The Honda has been totally reliable with not a single thing going wrong with it. Nada, zip, zilch! Change the oil and tuner her up regularly and she'll continue to get 35/40mpg for another 300,000+ miles. It's that simple.
"Even a brand new 2008 Toyota Matrix is only 15k. Great gas mileage, great to sleep in. Can't go wrong with one of these... "
Ummm... not in Cali!
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jun 26, 2007 - 02:46pm PT
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A dead battery can also indicate a faulty charging system. Most auto parts stores these days will have a charging system tester that will check your regulator, diodes, etc. Free service in hopes of selling parts. Battery could have been perfectly fine, but ran dead because it wasn't getting charged. So, might want to stop by and get that checked.
Also good advice to change out your gearbox oil, if you plan on keeping this thing going.
Ranger w/ manual? Very simple stuff. I could drop a new gearbox in that thing in my driveway in under 8hrs. I'll bet a pro could get it done in 2-3. Plenty of room to work and not much going on under there. Empty tin box. Used transmissions at the boneyard for this vehicle are likely very cheap. alldatadiy.com has procedures, diagrams and book times. 2-3 times book time for a wknd mechanic and no hoist is a good estimate. 25 bucks a year or something, less for a second car. Just another thought.
JLP
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Jun 26, 2007 - 02:50pm PT
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Melissa, was that a true story I heard about the Ranger and a sea-level piss bottle?
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2007 - 08:28pm PT
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Rhodo...I have no idea what you're talking about, but I sure will ask.
After having our house sit in a state of half-repair for the last two years, I wonder if the neighbors would actually band together and ask us to leave if we took up auto mechanics where we street park?
Thanks for the suggestions though. I'll stick my head back in the sand until it dies. Maybe I'll be rich then and can get an electric convertable roadster or something cool like that.
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DavisGunkie
Trad climber
Davis, CA
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Jun 27, 2007 - 12:06am PT
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i have a 99 corrolla and i get roughly 40 mpg , probably can't sleep in it though
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davidji
Social climber
CA
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Jun 27, 2007 - 12:38am PT
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"I wonder if the neighbors would actually band together and ask us to leave if we took up auto mechanics where we street park? "
There's not much to changing the gear oil in the transmission. With the Taco 4x4 you probably don't even need to raise it first, which helps to keep a low profile.
Drive around, so trans is warm. Park. Put oil drain pan beneath trans drain plug. Remove drain plug, letting it drain into the pan. Remove the fill plug too, unless it has a dipstick, in which case remove that. Leave it alone for awhile while it drains. Gear oil is thick, so it can take awhile.
Have some newspaper down too, because before you're done, some oil may miss the drain pan.
Attach some length of fat clear tubing to a funnel. Duct tape is fine. You want the tube long enough so with the funnel in a convenient place, you can add oil. Insert the tube in the fill hole. Add a little oil while the drain is open, letting it run through into the drain pan.
Reinstall the drain plug, and fill the transmission with oil. If the oil level is set by the position of the fill plug (rather than e.g. a dipstick), make sure the drain pan is in position to catch any overflow oil. When the level is right, reinstall the fill plug too, or the dipstick, and you're done.
Most of the hour is spent just letting the transmission drip into the drain pan. Only a few minutes of what you're doing looks more "mechanical" than simply topping up your oil.
You might need a breaker bar to get the drain plug off. Otherwise probably just regular tools.
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Wild Bill
climber
Ca
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Jun 27, 2007 - 12:52am PT
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The only caveat to changing your own gearbox/transmission/differential/transfer case oil:
Be sure to remove the FILL plug first, before removing the drain plug.
This is because fill plugs (that is, the plug on the side of the unit) become stuck. If you have drained the unit, and have a stuck fill plug, you are stuck/screwed/embarrassed/SOL.
Also, RedLine products work wonders for balky transmissions. Red Line MTL (manual transmission lube) is highly regarded and I use it in all my manual trans vehicles with very good results. It has even overcome a very worn 2nd gear synchro in an old BMW 2002 trans, so it no longer 'crunches' into second gear.
Good luck
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davidji
Social climber
CA
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Jun 27, 2007 - 01:43am PT
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"Also, RedLine products work wonders for balky transmissions. Red Line MTL (manual transmission lube) is highly regarded and I use it in all my manual trans vehicles with very good results. It has even overcome a very worn 2nd gear synchro in an old BMW 2002 trans, so it no longer 'crunches' into second gear. "
I've got redline oils in my trans, rear diff & motor right now, although I'm using a different one from you in the trans. Not only is it as good as anything on the market (and better than most), I think it's locally made too.
Good call on removing the fill plug first, although if you can get the breaker bar on it, I think it's gonna come off.
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