Don't you hate it when....

[gloomyDAY]

you let someone borrow something and they break it?

For instance, my car. I was out for some military training and recently came back home. I haven't touched my 1999 Toyota Camry since late May and went to my parent's house to use my car. Well, I gave my Dad a hug and then he tells me that something is wrong with the car. I am totally shocked that a well maintained car has some gremlins.

Apparently, Dad was riding around without any oil and a busted radiator. :eek:

I switch on the car and *click click click* goes the block. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I think the engine can be salvaged. I took it into the mechanic and told him that maybe the valves are beat to crap or maybe the block needs to be rebuilt. Either way I am out a few hundred dollars that could have been avoided with minor maintenance.

:angryfire < That's how I look as of right now.

What's your experience?

[Azumanga Davo]

I lent out a car jack to the workplace next door as they needed to free a vehicle from a low dip. If they told me at the time that they were going to use it on their forklift, I would have lent them something a bit more robust than a cheap Korean bit of rubbish. It's now in two pieces and no good.

[gadjo_dilo]

In my country we have a saying about the 2 sacred things that never should be lent: the wife and the car :laugh:

[Mark]

Which is why I don't like borrowing things. If you have something of your own and you break it, then you suffer the financial loss yourself. But if it's from a friend then your friendship suffers too, and no object is worth that.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Not really borrowing, but I hate sharing food.

Carry on. :\

[markabilly]

7JmSsvykdkg

[markabilly]

7JmSsvykdkg

[markabilly]

cars run just fine without oil....for a while....


in my young days, had a neighbor down the street who was changing the oil, called in for lunch, so he decided to leave the drain plug off and let it drip on one of his two cars.

Wife says oppps we need something from grocery store, and so his daughter jumps in a car to drive off....


she then calls from the conveience store, and says "pop, the car was running fine, then just as i got to the store, it made a noise like a garbage disposal and stopped...."


:eek:

[Mark]

cars run just fine without oil....for a while....


in my young days, had a neighbor down the street who was changing the oil, called in for lunch, so he decided to leave the drain plug off and let it drip on one of his two cars.

Wife says oppps we need something from grocery store, and so his daughter jumps in a car to drive off....


she then calls from the conveience store, and says "pop, the car was running fine, then just as i got to the store, it made a noise like a garbage disposal and stopped...."


:eek:

But I bet the whole time there were various lights on the dashboard to warn of this issue!

[markabilly]

But I bet the whole time there were various lights on the dashboard to warn of this issue!
??

as long as the car is running, no point in worrying over those little lights

[Tazio]

you let someone borrow something and they break it?

For instance, my car. I was out for some military training and recently came back home. I haven't touched my 1999 Toyota Camry since late May and went to my parent's house to use my car. Well, I gave my Dad a hug and then he tells me that something is wrong with the car. I am totally shocked that a well maintained car has some gremlins.

Apparently, Dad was riding around without any oil and a busted radiator. :eek:

I switch on the car and *click click click* goes the block. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I think the engine can be salvaged. I took it into the mechanic and told him that maybe the valves are beat to crap or maybe the block needs to be rebuilt. Either way I am out a few hundred dollars that could have been avoided with minor maintenance.

:angryfire < That's how I look as of right now.

What's your experience?

:s ailor: I hear you bro.
I'm playing in a Hardball league that only allows wood bats.
I decent one cost's $55.00 Noone uses any of mine without a deposit!

[Mark in Oshawa]

cars run just fine without oil....for a while....


in my young days, had a neighbor down the street who was changing the oil, called in for lunch, so he decided to leave the drain plug off and let it drip on one of his two cars.

Wife says oppps we need something from grocery store, and so his daughter jumps in a car to drive off....


she then calls from the conveience store, and says "pop, the car was running fine, then just as i got to the store, it made a noise like a garbage disposal and stopped...."


:eek:

That sounds like My wife....If I didn't change the oil, it wouldn't get changed.

The woman is a fanatic about making sure I don't eat the wrong food and telling me to worry about my health, but not changing the oil on a car is like having a kidney failure I tell her..and she doesn't get it...

[GridGirl]

My car recently ran well for quite a while with no coolant and a broken water pump. I cant verify any stories about oil though. Doh!

[Daniel]

My car recently ran well for quite a while with no coolant and a broken water pump. I cant verify any stories about oil though. Doh!

Hmmm you may find that there has been damage done to your engine though. The damage from running low on oil or coolant may not show up straight away and can take a while to service. Perhaps it's time to chop the Fester in and buy that Stratos!

[GridGirl]

Well the gears do get really stiff when its been running for a while in hotter temperatures. Seems to be OK in cooler weather though. I am looking to get rid of the ST, there are few things I'm thinking of considering. Unfortunately I crossed the Stratos off the list when you said I couldn't afford one. :p

[Bob Riebe]

For a car to have NO oil, either the borrower drained it or the owner never checks,or changes the oil.
I doubt the former, so the borrower is really not at fault.

[Mark in Oshawa]

For a car to have NO oil, either the borrower drained it or the owner never checks,or changes the oil.
I doubt the former, so the borrower is really not at fault.

Some cars burn a little oil, or lose a little through minor leaks, and Gloomy was away from his car for a few months. In that time, the borrower (DAD) should have been looking after the car.

Sorry Bob, I am with Gloomy on this one....

[Daniel]

Some cars burn a little oil, or lose a little through minor leaks, and Gloomy was away from his car for a few months. In that time, the borrower (DAD) should have been looking after the car.

Sorry Bob, I am with Gloomy on this one....
Yeah. The Fiat burnt about 250ml of oil in the last week and a half over 2500 miles when driven at speed and that's a car that's only a year old. Once a car burns a little oil the remaining oil needs to work harder and gets burnt off quicker and so on it goes.....

I'm with gloomy too. I would never lend a car to anyone, I once lent my 504 to my brother and it came back with the oil level just above the minimum :mark: Some people just aren't car people.

[Daniel]

Well the gears do get really stiff when its been running for a while in hotter temperatures. Seems to be OK in cooler weather though. I am looking to get rid of the ST, there are few things I'm thinking of considering. Unfortunately I crossed the Stratos off the list when you said I couldn't afford one. :p
Realistically unless either you or I win the lottery or choose to sell houses and live in said Stratos I think it'll be a dream :p What a dream though....

[gloomyDAY]

For a car to have NO oil, either the borrower drained it or the owner never checks,or changes the oil.
I doubt the former, so the borrower is really not at fault. :rolleyes:

That's why I posted the year and make of the car. My last oil change was in February and the car hauled around just fine until I last drove it in May. I know my 2007 Camry is a lot more economical when it comes down to oil consumption, so I would buy a quart and just leave it in the trunk of the 1999 Camry to use when needed.

The 1999 Camry was the first car I bought with my own money and had to maintain. I took it to the mountains, during snowboarding season, and served me well. Always made sure to change the oil before and after snow season because it was such a strain on the car.

Now I come home to listen to the engine *click click click* on ignition and it's just sad.

[race aficionado]

Don't you hate it when....

Your name is Michael Smith and you never get to use the quick airport check-in using your e-ticket because the US government decided that your name is too common and a terrorist may use it to blow our brains out.

I always get a message that says:
"You need to get in contact with an airline representative" and I have to get in the long line of people that are carrying tons of luggage while I'm just carrying my personal carry on luggage that I will take with me on the plane.

Once I finally get to the front of the line, they look at my face, I show them my ID and then they finally give me my airline ticket stub.

So much for quick check in and my wife and son have to wait as their gringo named dad gets hassled and denied his quick- check in privileges.

It really sucks! :down:

yeah, OK, so go ahead and make fun of my name now . . . . :dozey:


:s mokin:

[gloomyDAY]

Michael Smith? No mames guero.

[race aficionado]

Michael Smith? No mames guero.

Indeed.
I was born in Medellin Colombia from a British father and a mom that was born in Brooklyn, NY.

My fraternal grandmother was born in Colombia so I proudly have my latin blood. My maternal grandfather is from Mexico so I am related to Pancho Villa in some kind of way.
My fraternal grandfather was also british and my maternal grandmother was from Irish descent.

I've been bi-lingual and bi-cultural since the very beginning.

And I'm also a proud mutt.

And I'm owner of one of the most common names in the U S of A.
At least in Medellin I was the only Michael Smith-never called Miguel.


:s mokin:

[Bob Riebe]

Some cars burn a little oil, or lose a little through minor leaks, and Gloomy was away from his car for a few months. In that time, the borrower (DAD) should have been looking after the car.

Sorry Bob, I am with Gloomy on this one....
For a car to go through, five, plus or minus one, quart of oil in two months, the car would leave heavy, heavy smoke at all times, or leave a puddle of oil on the ground when ever parked.
I have been around the tests where cars have been run, without oil till serious damage occurs, that would mean that that the car was already out oil weeks before he returned.(unless his father DID drive it till it was very hot, in one session, which stll does not explain how a car could be such a HEAVY oil user without signs)


A tight engine, non-heavy leaking or burning of oil, will burn out much faster due to tight tolerances in the engine, but if it leaks or burns as badly as it would have had to, then the tolerances would have been so loose that scoring of parts would not occur unless it was run for weeks, or a long distance, in that condition, which would have meant the car was nearly out of oil when he got it.

I once had a car that used a quart every several hundred miles. That meant it would have taken a thousand miles before oil was gone, and any damage could even have started to happen.(Even at that rate, the car did not have heavy smoke trail, or a puddle when parked.)
Either his dad did some loooong distance driving, or that cars looked like a smoking sieve driving down the street.

I have worked on cars for over thirty years there is no way that car should have been OUT of oil, unless some ONE did screw him and drain the oil or his father drove that car thousands of miles , while leaking like a sieve, or leaving a smoke screen as it drove .
It may not be Gloomy's fault, but something just does not jive here.
If your car is using at that rate, switch to the heaviest straight weight oil you can in your climate.

[gloomyDAY]

Funny you mention that Bob. My Dad went to Mexico and back 2 times and then checked the oil in the car. Man, I started laughing pretty damn hard when he told me that, it was just so ridiculous. I also questioned whether the engine was completely dried of oil. May have just been a low reading, but still a cause for concern. I'll never know, last time I checked was mid-May.

Anyway, the car is still running and we've found a mechanic that can make the repairs at a decent price.
I really want to keepmy Camry (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/killincommies/IMG_0859.jpg?t=1282155591) and I'm taking back my damn key duplicates too!