No car, no car problems.
this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
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Slept through my alarm this morning and walked out to my car with a flat tire.
Not as bad as the lemmings that got it stolen today tho
My only transport related problem is my bicycle's front derailer, I'm so close to tearing the whole thing off and staying on the second chainring.
This hits hard... I was just quoted 5000-8000€ repair for a sudden engine failure
Your repair costs more than the car I bought factory new wtf
I learned how to repair my own vehicles after I was quoted $2,600 to install a $40 part. I could've also had an entire rebuilt engine shipped and swapped it in myself for about half that, but I ultimately decided to go with the $40 + basic tools.
If wasn't Juscelino Kubitschek and the auto industry lobby, Brazil would be walkable and full of choo choos right now. I hate Kubitschek!
This is why the JK street in São Paulo is a fucking hell.
Holy shit why is this so true LMAO
I wish I had car problems... I'm having wildfire problems.
I feel bad for you, son.
I've got 99 problems but a fire ain't one
There's always something.
There's only been one time in my life where everything was going so good. That was a good month.
Boy, ain't this the fuckin truth
Oh, totally this; but not just car stuff, it can be home stuff too. Just got slapped with a fat HVAC refrigerant refill. I had no idea this shit was so expensive. Over $2k for a recharge.
No car, no problem.
There are plenty of places where not having a car isn’t even a possibility. If I didn’t have a car, not only would I be unable to work, I’d probably also starve to death, or perhaps have to eat gas station food the rest of my life.
The place I'm planning to buy a home is so remote that I'm considering a backup car.
Consider a motorcycle instead of a backup car ;)
More car, more problem, but you do you
The nearest bus stop is an hour away, and it's for interstate transit. 🤷
It's not like you have no choice changing your plan moving into the middle of nowhere, is it?
It's complicated, but no, I don't.
Unfortunately this one depends a lot where you live.
I never owned a car but I live in Canada and public transit sucks. Our provincial government is actively cutting funds to cities' public transit. And intercity routes are detained by VIA Rail or coach buses >!!<that sucks.
It's easier for me to go to the airport and in another country than move in my own province.
VIA Rail trains are infrequent, always late, pricey and most employees are jaded. They also don't take bikes. It's a problem. Sometimes you can get stuck as a prisoner on the train, without food, water or toilets for multiple hours.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/via-rain-passengers-stuck-1.7311176
Another one was stuck for 12 hours last year.
Coaches are cramped and also have very limited intercity services. The city I need to go to frequently only has three coaches a day at inconvenient times. They are usually full and they charge $15 to bring a bike.
I've been car free for 20 years but I've come to hate taking the train or coaches here. I'm slowly realizing that my province really really wants me to get a car.
Mo’privilege, less’problems
That’s what you sound like.
My car got stolen this morning. I feel this in my soul.
That's rough my dude 🫂
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Toyota
They're boring, they're behind in tech, they aren't cool, they're more expensive to buy
But seriously, if you want to just follow the maintenance schedule and get to where you need to go with minimal doubt - there's nothing quite like them
Jeep gets you there, but Toyota gets you home.
I can't trust a car no matter how Japanese it is, but... I watched a lil docuseries on dangerous roads, and it seemed like at least 80% of the vehicles (outside of heavy trucks) were Toyota. I dunno if it's because they're the most reliable, or because Toyota just has the market in many of these developing countries, but it was interesting.
Older German cars also are great. My Skoda from ~2000 is still going strong (never had any issues) and I also see a lot of other older VW/Skoda around (also Audi, Mercedes and BMW but those are more expensive). Don't know what it's like today but at that time at least Skodas got the exact same engines as Audis, just not as beautiful bodies.
Can't comment on modern German cars, they haven't passed the test of time yet.
Skoda
They're Czech. The name even has a little thing on the S, officially.
I know, but they belong to VW and at least back then used Audi engines (which also belongs to VW)
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Seriously. The ECU in my partner's truck decided that it was done with magic smoke and Marie Kondo'd that shit out, leaving her stranded. Her truck is an old 2002 Dodge Dakota that we've been nursing along while the used car market cools down (we want to get her something small and fuel efficient, but cars cost too damn much). Back in 2000 or 2001, some bean counter at Dodge decided that the company really had to cheap the fuck out with their ECUs for the 2002 model year. Because of this, any 2002 Dodge truck has either had its ECU replaced or is a ticking fucking time bomb.
What's even better is that nobody makes these shit-ass ECUs anymore. The only replacements you can get are remanufactured units, and it's highly likely that you'll get at least one dud before you can find anything decent. We've been a tiiiiiiny bit less lucky than that, meaning we're on our 13th ECU. Our mechanic has gone through everything else to make sure there's not something external that's exploding the ECUs, and he hasn't found anything. Over the course of like 9 weeks, we've completely deleted the stock of these stupid things in Utah and all of the surrounding states. We're now ordering one from Florida that's been remanufactured by a different company which hopefully won't grenade itself.
Fuck American car companies, and apologies to anyone who's currently having a hard time sourcing an ECU for a 2002 Dodge Dakota. We screened all the bad ones out for you. The only good part about all of this for us is that our mechanic isn't charging us for anything more than one ECU replacement. The damn truck has been in the shop for 9 weeks, and we're only going to pay like $1000.
Maybe a junkyard?
Are the ECUs actually remanufactered, or did they just pull them out of a dead truck, wipe them off, and call it a day?
I know the Ranger from that era has the classic leaky caps that kills it's ECUs. You can easily buy a $20 soldering iron from harbor freight and $5 worth of caps and fix yours if it's the same problem.
This right here, there's not a whole lot on a PCB that can "explode" on their own, and caps is at the top of that short list. And early 2000s, 90s caps are notorious for this issue
Next ECU you get @Badabinski@kbin.social, check the caps or just replace them anyways. Even high quality ones are not very expensive
Is replacing the caps even an option? All the cars I ever owned had the entire ECU potted for waterproofing
Unless it’s tin whiskers from the early lead free solder…
I fear that shit way more than I was ever worried about y2k bugs.
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Been having teeth and car problems :)
Holy shit, me too! It's almost more than I can handle.
Or vet bills 😩
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