it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

[orangerful]

It's just gorgeous outside right now. I can't tell if it's hot or not though, but when I can in at 12:30 it was pretty nice. It poured for about 5 minutes yesterday and just cooled everything off. Wish I had somewhere to be that was outside.

I ordered my dad's birthday/father's day present last night and now I have to make up a certificate to be it's placeholder when he opens his card. I've got a layout planned already, just have to put it together.

I'm hungry. AD is making something with porkchops tonight, something that has to marinade. It sounds yummy. But I am hungry now. I think I'll have some taco leftovers when I get home. mmmmm...tacos...

I need to take my car in to find out what the rattling noise is. Plus it needs an oil change BIG TIME. There's a place right across the street from us, yet I still haven't done it! Why!!! I was pondering just dropping it off after work today but I have no idea what time they close. It would be so easy to drop it off and walk across the street to home.

I want to plan a road trip. jimithingy isn't very fond of car trips, but they are the definition of summer to me, and I haven't really had one in ages. I want to go up to Boston, maybe see a concert and hang out with Becky. In general, just not be here. haha. Of course, we'll have the lobster bake in August, but that's such a long way from now....

30 minutes until closing! woo-hoo! yipee!

Comments

[vertigozooropa.livejournal.com]

If it's a rattling that seems to be coming from underneath your car, and it increases whenever you push the accelerator, try putting in a higher grade of gas. That's the "knock and ping" they talk about, even though it sounds nothing like either of those.

My car did that like mad, and I was freakin', but then I filled it with super, and it stopped immediately.

So much in our cars happens because we don't maintain them.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

hm...okay, I shall have to try that because you pretty much just summed up what my car is doing. It's been on cheap gas it's whole life, it won't know what to do with the good stuff.

I have to say, I don't know how people get anything done working 40 hours a week! I mean, when do you find the time/energy to maintain anything? I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when I start working full time.

I really do need to stop making excuses and get an oil change though....

[vertigozooropa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it really does suck, having to take time to go to a mechanic, and sit while they play with your car, worrying about what they're going to tell you.

You really don't want them to come back and use the words, "transmission," "head gasket," or, "leak". Those tend to mix together with other words to form the phrase, "You will be giving us lots of money instead of buying fun things."

As for better gas, it's just a suggestion. At some gas stations, the highest grade of gas comes with an engine cleaner mixed in, which reduces chemical buildup inside your engine.

There are also a lot of different engine cleaners and maintenance products to buy at hardware stores and gas stations, in funny little bottles. One of the best of these is called, "Fuel Injector Cleaner." I don't know if your car is FI or carburetor, but most cars these days are fuel injection, I think.

What kind of car do you have?

Generally, if your car is making a funny noise, and you need an oil change badly, just take 30 minutes after work, and get an oil change.

I change my own oil, but I can do that, because I have little wheel ramps that I can put my car on, so that I can fit underneath.

The other thing you might want to try with your car is a tune-up. There's a difference between a "full tune-up" and a "maintenance tune-up," but don't ask what. Your car just needs to be tuned up every once and a while.

From experience, here are the things you can check yourself, that do affect the way your car drives:

Oil level: you can always top up your oil.

Transmission fluid: you have to check this when the car is running, and also, if the fluid looks dark and murky and purple, you might want to get your transmission flushed.

Radiator fluid: Just make sure your reservoir isn't low. If you run out of water or antifreeze (there should be both mixed together in there) your engine will cook. Don't laugh. It happened to my sister. Or maybe that was an oil thing....

Check the pressure on your tires, and make sure to fill them until they've got more pressure than recommended. If I fill my tires to the pressure it tells me on the side, my tires look flat. Hard tires give you a better ride. If the tire wants 35 PSI, I usually give it 40 or 45. I just fill it until the tire stops changing shape, really. If you put air in a tire, and the tire changes shape, then that tire was flat....

Then a mechanic can do a lot of smaller processes. Getting your wheel alignment done, getting your tires balanced or rotated, letting them check a lot of little things. I wish I was a mechanic, so I could keep my car running really well.

As for finding the time to get stuff done, I can do it three ways:

1). take my car in after work, if I can find a mechanic who works that late.

2). leave my car with the mechanic, and then go to where I'm going. With university, it meant using the bus. At work, my mechanic is across the street, so that's a little more convenient. And I work on a street peppered with auto wreckers and mechanic shops of all types...

3). If I have to, I leave work to get my car done. If I'm nice, I use my lunch break, and try not to take any more time than I need...save for "test driving" my car up to Starbucks....

Your car's owner's manual will probably tell you you shouldn't use anything less than 87 octane gas. You can't get anything less at a gas station today.

What they don't tell you is what a higher octane means. Some cars want higher octane, and some cars don't, really. I heard that using a higher octane gas on a car that doesn't need it can be bad for the car, but it sounds like that takes a while to happen.

It can't really hurt for you to fill your car with the best gas from a good station, like Shell, I think, has one called V-Power. It's not actually that much more expensive, especially with gas prices being what they are today.

What kind of car do you have? Is it a slow little beater, or does it have some kick to it? If it's a performance car, or if it has six cylinders, you probably want to use better gas, anyways. If not, you just want to watch for the few things you can fix, and take it to the mechanic when you hear a noise you don't like.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I have a '92 Ford Escort, not a high performance vehicle by any stretch of the imagination. Last time I took the car in...which was around Oct/Nov since I wanted it ready before winter really hit, I had them do the whole oil change, transmission flush etc. Really, it's the bill that comes afterwards that scares me. But I can make puppy dog eyes at my mom and she might slip me the cash.

I think I put the good gas in my car once and it freaked out, and I haven't done it since. I pretty much know everything you said above, I just choose to be lazy. Because after working all day usually I just want to go home and eat food haha.

[vertigozooropa.livejournal.com]

I'm paranoid about my car, and I hate it when things go wrong. That motivates me to get it fixed.

[(Anonymous)]

Becky from Boston is a bum for not emailing you back- I think I've had an email to you sitting in my drafts folder for about 3 weeks.. Of course you can come up to Boston any time. And hey, if you *lived* in Boston you wouldn't need a car :-) When is the science of Star Wars exhibit at the Museum of Science?

Speaking of, I did see RoTS last night. I'll tell you what happened in an email- the story may not be fit for public consumption, trust me..

-Becky

[persephones-rev.livejournal.com]

*sighs* There is a little piece of me that misses having the ability to just hop in the car for a weekend roadtrip if I fancied one. I say have as many as you can while you still have the time! :D But, get the oil in your car changed first. ;D