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Rep Retirement Lodge #154: Olympics

Rep Retirement Lodge #154: Olympics

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Re: Rep Retirement Lodge #154: Olympics

So, Friday on my way to pick up my folks and my nieces to head to the Cape for the weekend, two warning lights came on on my dashboard. One was VSC TRAC, the other looked like a little engine with the word CHECK under it. Car seemed to be running fine, made it to their house. Told my folks we needed to take their car. Got home today and looked at the manual. Not sure what is causing either but the recommendation is to take the car to the dealer. Crap.
 
Re: Rep Retirement Lodge #154: Olympics

I figured you'd be watching LLWS: Chinese Taipei-Japan, just to get a good look at the moms.
 
Re: Rep Retirement Lodge #154: Olympics

Scarlet said:
So, Friday on my way to pick up my folks and my nieces to head to the Cape for the weekend, two warning lights came on on my dashboard. One was VSC TRAC, the other looked like a little engine with the word CHECK under it. Car seemed to be running fine, made it to their house. Told my folks we needed to take their car. Got home today and looked at the manual. Not sure what is causing either but the recommendation is to take the car to the dealer. Crap.
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Go to a NAPA, O'Reilly, or any other chain auto parts store, and most - if not all - of them will have a code reader that can tell you where the problem is in your car by linking to your car's computer - the thing that's effectively lighting up your dashboard. Then once you know what it is - I suggest you write down the code it gives you - that's when you go to an auto shop. (If the parts store is hassling you at all, just tell them that your boyfriend told you to stop by on your way home so that he can figure out what to do tomorrow and that he handles all your car repair stuff for you - it's misogynistic but it works.)

And no, you don't have to take your car to a dealership for any of this, they just put that in the manual because the manufacturer is just trying to throw a few extra bucks to their dealerships. In fact, any reputable garage with ASE certified mechanics can do a good job on most cars, so long as you have a relatively common model. The reason I suggest this is that they'll generally do it for less than the prices you find at dealerships. Just look up some local auto shops online, and find one with good reviews. Around here, the savings can be a couple hundred bucks, depending upon the work. Out your way, it could even be more with how stupid-expensive things are in the big cities along the coast.
 
Re: Rep Retirement Lodge #154: Olympics

Scarlet said:
So, Friday on my way to pick up my folks and my nieces to head to the Cape for the weekend, two warning lights came on on my dashboard. One was VSC TRAC, the other looked like a little engine with the word CHECK under it. Car seemed to be running fine, made it to their house. Told my folks we needed to take their car. Got home today and looked at the manual. Not sure what is causing either but the recommendation is to take the car to the dealer. Crap.
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Ignore it. They're useless. My check engine light has been on for 3 years. I've checked it, it is just fine.
 
Re: Rep Retirement Lodge #154: Olympics

bigblue_dl said:
Ignore it. They're useless. My check engine light has been on for 3 years. I've checked it, it is just fine.
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I agree with this. Last month, I traded in a 2001 Jimmy with 105,000 miles on the clock, and I ran it with the "Check Engine" light mostly "on" for the last 10,000 miles. After the first 3,000, I took it in for some work on the brakes that actually needed to be done and mentioned the light. They replaced the emissions sensor, reset the light, and 2-3 miles down the road it came on again. Didn't bother having it checked after that, and it ran just fine until I bought my new car.

What I learned is that basically, if your car has less than 150,000 miles on it, the light's usually a scam to get you to fork over a couple hundred dollars for some emissions sensor B.S.
 
Re: Rep Retirement Lodge #154: Olympics

Evening / Morning Lodge. Getting caught up on the thirteen pages of this thread I've missed. :eek: Mostly skimmed it though, so I probably missed a lot.
Brenthoven said:
Made a good ol' fashioned sloppy joe meal, and spiced it up a little. That right there is comfort food.

Used 2lbs of beef and the large can of Manwich,...
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NMUKat82 has a great homemade recipe for sloppy joe sauce. No need to buy a can from the store.

Scarlet said:
... One was VSC TRAC, the other looked like a little engine with the word CHECK under it...
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state of hockey said:
Make sure your gas cap is on tight. Most check engine lights come on from that.
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First off, are the lights blinking? If they're not, don't worry about it. My Trac light and Check Engine lights (Pontiac Grand Prix) have been on (and off, mostly on) for the last three years. Trac light is from a bad wheel sensor (figured that out when during an oil change I could see the wire harness dangling, apparently the place that installed the wheel hubs 80k ago broke the sensor clip replacing it). Check Engine Light is GM's way of saying "Something's wrong. Could be a fuel cap, could be a serious engine malfunction. We don't know. We don't give a sh*t."

St. Clown said:
Go to a NAPA, O'Reilly, or any other chain auto parts store, ...
Out your way, it could even be more with how stupid-expensive things are in the big cities along the coast.
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Totally agree to the first part. Why pay a dealership $100 and waste three hours to tell you what's wrong, when you can spend four minutes total in an Autozone being told the same thing.

Second, bigger cities DO charge stupidly higher prices. Even here in the Midwest. I've routinely found it cheaper by 50% or more to drive six hours home to have my car worked on back in the UP than to have any service done to it in Chicagoland. That includes figuring in the cost of gas (staying with family negates any hotel cost).

bigblue_dl said:
Ignore it. They're useless. My check engine light has been on for 3 years. I've checked it, it is just fine.
Click to expand...
FadeToBlack&Gold said:
I agree with this. ... What I learned is that basically, if your car has less than 150,000 miles on it, the light's usually a scam to get you to fork over a couple hundred dollars for some emissions sensor B.S.
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Unless you happen to live in a state/County where emissions testing is required to renew your license plates. The State of Illinois will reject a car from testing if the Check Engine light is on in my area. :(
 
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Re: Rep Retirement Lodge #154: Olympics

As for me, I've been busy standing alongside a busy tollway in the middle of the night watching construction equipment. Oh the things I do for a paycheck.
 
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