What Irked You Today?

[Ace-Garageguy]

4 hours ago, TonyK said:

...Always wondered what someone does if they don't have their birth certificate.

You just get a certified copy from the jurisdiction where you were born.

Most of the states have provisions for downloading the required forms. You print them out, fill in the blanks, enclose copies of any other necessary documents, and send it all in with whatever fee the state requires.

I had to do it recently, have had to do it before, and it's not a big deal for a functioning adult.

3 hours ago, espo said:

...Going to DMV can easily kill a day of your life you'll never get back. 

I guess I'm just lucky. The state I'm leaving and the state I'm moving to both have very efficient DMV operations, assuming the applicants can read and manage to get three documents together.

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by Ace-Garageguy

[CabDriver]

Just got done working through a bunch of service items on my wife's 2010 Civic.  We got it from a friend of a friend and it was a real steal, price wise...but it had a bunch of work that it was overdue for, so I've been gradually working through all the maintenance that it had missed before we got it.  It's at just under 160,000 miles, but apparently you can expect 200-300,000 out of these cars if you take care of them so it was worth a thousand bucks worth of work to try and keep it on the road for a good few years to come.

Changed the plugs, changed the filters, changed the oil, changed the tranny fluid, gave it some new tires, fixed a broken wheel stud, re-gassed the air-con, had the alignment checked and tweaked...finally got everything handled and it's running great.

Last night, the air con starts blowing baking hot air out of the vents.  Turns out a failed compressor is fairly common on this era of Civic...looking like well north of a thousand bucks to repair, unless I get lucky and it's a $30 relay.  I'd be tempted to switch out a belt and just bypass the compressor completely if it dies a COMPLETE death...luckily it was working normally again this morning but I'd be surprised if it had magically fixed itself overnight...

That said, even with what I've spent on the car and what it cost we could still sell it and make a couple of thousand, based on the blue book valuation...

[TonyK]

Quote

You just get a certified copy from the jurisdiction where you were born.

That answers my question. I have my original with the little foot prints on it that I keep in the safe deposit box.

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

I didn't have my birth certificate handy when I renewed my license last year, used my passport instead.  

Usually a good option...unless you let it expire. Which I stupidly did.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Last trip West, in a fairly late-model Corolla (which I wrongly assumed would be stone-ax reliable) my batt. light came on north of Tucson. It went out and I kept on going. But in Phoenix, it came on and stayed on in stop-and-go traffic on I-10. Barely got it off the interstate before it died completely (in part due to the high electrical load the electric steering puts on the system).

I had no tools and had to get a tow to the nearest Yota dealer.

Internally shorted alternator, and replaced the battery just because. Almost a thousand bucks and two nights in a fairly expensive hotel while waiting for parts.

Finished the trip, and otherwise, little car performed flawlessly.

[cobraman]

You may have been close enough to me to let me buy some pizza and an adult beverage !

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, cobraman said:

You may have been close enough to me to let me buy some pizza and an adult beverage !

Little car died where I-10 and !-17 run together for a while.

The dealership and hotel were on Camelback.

Then headed out on Camelback until I took the turnoff to 60, through Surprise, etc.

[Rob Hall]

12 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Little car died where I-10 and !-17 run together for a while.

The dealership and hotel were on Camelback.

 

Camelback Toyota at 16th St and Camelback?   My old neighborhood is just northwest of there and my Cadillac dealer was down the street.  Lots of good restaurants around that area.

[Rodent]

6 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Last night, the air con starts blowing baking hot air out of the vents.  Turns out a failed compressor is fairly common on this era of Civic

Not sure about the 2010 but is is certainly common on the somewhat earlier ones. They use a scroll compressor, and when they die, you pretty much need to do a "firewall forward" replacement to get all the shrapnel out. Parallel-flow condensers and hoses with mufflers cannot successfully be flushed. I have seen photos of holes blown in the side of the compressor when the scrolls ingested shrapnel floating around from a previous failure.

[CabDriver]

1 hour ago, Rodent said:

Not sure about the 2010 but is is certainly common on the somewhat earlier ones. They use a scroll compressor, and when they die, you pretty much need to do a "firewall forward" replacement to get all the shrapnel out. Parallel-flow condensers and hoses with mufflers cannot successfully be flushed. I have seen photos of holes blown in the side of the compressor when the scrolls ingested shrapnel floating around from a previous failure.

That’ll be a real treat to deal with!  I’ll tell my wife to crack the window 😂

[Monty]

More delivery BS.  Won another ebay auction but can't figure out what's going on with my item.

1. Aug 5, 2021

   3:46am
   Package transferred to destination UPS Mail Innovations facility

   Bensenville, IL 60106
2. Aug 4, 2021

   10:16pm
   Package processed by UPS Mail Innovations origin facility

   Bensenville, IL 60106
3. Aug 3, 2021

   6:30pm
   Package received for processing by UPS Mail Innovations

   Bensenville, IL 60106
4. Aug 3, 2021

   5:11pm
   Shipment tendered to UPS Mail Innovations

   Grand Rapids, MI 49548
5. Aug 4, 2021

   12:16pm
   Shipment information received by UPS Mail Innovations
6. Aug 4, 2021

   9:22am
   Tracking number provided

    

   Meanwhile, the USPS site give me this:

   Status

   USPS Currently Awaiting Package

   A status update is not yet available for your package. It will be available when the shipper provides an update or the package is delivered to USPS. Check back soon.

[stitchdup]

23 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Just got done working through a bunch of service items on my wife's 2010 Civic.  We got it from a friend of a friend and it was a real steal, price wise...but it had a bunch of work that it was overdue for, so I've been gradually working through all the maintenance that it had missed before we got it.  It's at just under 160,000 miles, but apparently you can expect 200-300,000 out of these cars if you take care of them so it was worth a thousand bucks worth of work to try and keep it on the road for a good few years to come.

Changed the plugs, changed the filters, changed the oil, changed the tranny fluid, gave it some new tires, fixed a broken wheel stud, re-gassed the air-con, had the alignment checked and tweaked...finally got everything handled and it's running great.

Last night, the air con starts blowing baking hot air out of the vents.  Turns out a failed compressor is fairly common on this era of Civic...looking like well north of a thousand bucks to repair, unless I get lucky and it's a $30 relay.  I'd be tempted to switch out a belt and just bypass the compressor completely if it dies a COMPLETE death...luckily it was working normally again this morning but I'd be surprised if it had magically fixed itself overnight...

That said, even with what I've spent on the car and what it cost we could still sell it and make a couple of thousand, based on the blue book valuation...

Have a look on some of the honda tuner sites, if its a common problem someone will have a cheaper fix for the compressor

[Snake45]

On 7/30/2021 at 10:52 PM, Snake45 said:

Their competitor sells the same thing for the same price and has a service where they'll test it before shipment for $10. I already told the vendor that if they won't sent me a KNOWN GOOD replacement, I'll just take a full refund and order from the other other guys, who actually already owe me a $10 credit anyway. I'll get this all worked out one way or the other, I'm not in a big hurry. It's just a PITA to deal with. 

Update: I returned the thing Tuesday. They emailed me the label, which I forwarded to the local field office, which handled the whole thing no sweat--I couldn't have been in there more than three whole minutes, front to back. It arrived back at the vendor Wednesday morning. This morning (Saturday) I received the replacement item on my doorstep. Can't complain about service like that! It remains to be seen whether the new one works or not--might be a couple days before I get to test it. We'll see what happens. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

21 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

Camelback Toyota at 16th St and Camelback?   My old neighborhood is just northwest of there and my Cadillac dealer was down the street.  Lots of good restaurants around that area.

Beautiful part of town. You must have enjoyed living there. I sure would...except for the summer heat.  

[Rob Hall]

6 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Beautiful part of town. You must have enjoyed living there. I sure would...except for the summer heat.  

I miss my backyard wall and pool.  Was a very tranquil place.  Close to everything.  But the long, hot summers wore me out.  

[Rodent]

17 hours ago, CabDriver said:

That’ll be a real treat to deal with!  I’ll tell my wife to crack the window 😂

Check it out or get it checked out. It certainly may be something less catastrophic.

[cobraman]

3 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Update: I returned the thing Tuesday. They emailed me the label, which I forwarded to the local field office, which handled the whole thing no sweat--I couldn't have been in there more than three whole minutes, front to back. It arrived back at the vendor Wednesday morning. This morning (Saturday) I received the replacement item on my doorstep. Can't complain about service like that! It remains to be seen whether the new one works or not--might be a couple days before I get to test it. We'll see what happens. 

Good service. I hope this one works as it should.

[Joe Handley]

Dad and I spent the weekend putting new brakes and rear shocks on my 200 the rears were new pads and rotors from R1 Concepts and the shocks were a KYB/Mickey Thompson collaboration that were pre-assembled with springs and ready to bolt in. Other than dealing with a little corrosion on the brakes, things were pretty straight forward out back, though it does sit a little high in the rear right now. Other than having to get a couple minor things that I had forgotten to over the last couple years of collecting the parts to go big on the front brakes, the front should have gone fairly smooth since all we were doing is removing the stock sized calipers, pads, rotors, caliper brackets and hoses, then putting on the bigger rotor, Charger/Challenger/300 2 piston calipers and matching pads and hoses, then bleeding the front brakes. Well, we had a few things to figure out since some of them were not needed for my Sister’s Challenger R/T Classic (uses the same pads and calipers) during a normal brake job but as Dad was buttoning up the right front corner, I discovered that when I bought the calipers from the dealership the 3 of us bought our last 4 cars from gave me 2 right side calipers 🤦🏻  So right now, I have a text into the dealership to see if they’ll let me exchange this right side caliper for a left side still, even though they were bought in the spring of 2019. 
 

So right now, I have what is basically the closest thing to “cop brakes” (hopefully read in the voice of Elwood Blues😅) on the right front, and the stock, good for a 4 banger, rental spec car but not one that has 280+hp and weighs 3600lbs and typically halls around a couple fat guys until we can get that left front caliper in hand and on the car. 
 

so here’s how the car sits now, with one side jacked up with brakes that look like they barely clear the factory 18” wheels while the side still on the ground still has the factory  rental spec  brakes on it.

[slusher]

3 hours ago, Joe Handley said:

Dad and I spent the weekend putting new brakes and rear shocks on my 200 the rears were new pads and rotors from R1 Concepts and the shocks were a KYB/Mickey Thompson collaboration that were pre-assembled with springs and ready to bolt in. Other than dealing with a little corrosion on the brakes, things were pretty straight forward out back, though it does sit a little high in the rear right now. Other than having to get a couple minor things that I had forgotten to over the last couple years of collecting the parts to go big on the front brakes, the front should have gone fairly smooth since all we were doing is removing the stock sized calipers, pads, rotors, caliper brackets and hoses, then putting on the bigger rotor, Charger/Challenger/300 2 piston calipers and matching pads and hoses, then bleeding the front brakes. Well, we had a few things to figure out since some of them were not needed for my Sister’s Challenger R/T Classic (uses the same pads and calipers) during a normal brake job but as Dad was buttoning up the right front corner, I discovered that when I bought the calipers from the dealership the 3 of us bought our last 4 cars from gave me 2 right side calipers 🤦🏻  So right now, I have a text into the dealership to see if they’ll let me exchange this right side caliper for a left side still, even though they were bought in the spring of 2019. 
 

So right now, I have what is basically the closest thing to “cop brakes” (hopefully read in the voice of Elwood Blues😅) on the right front, and the stock, good for a 4 banger, rental spec car but not one that has 280+hp and weighs 3600lbs and typically halls around a couple fat guys until we can get that left front caliper in hand and on the car. 
 

so here’s how the car sits now, with one side jacked up with brakes that look like they barely clear the factory 18” wheels while the side still on the ground still has the factory  rental spec  brakes on it.

Joe, do you think you can still get the right side after time has past?

[Joe Handley]

4 hours ago, slusher said:

Joe, do you think you can still get the right side after time has past?

So long as there isn’t any supply chain issues on Mopar Reman calipers, yes, they’re nothing really special about them and get put on just about all of the RWD based Chrysler products anyway. The only tricky part other than money was the brackets that mount these calipers to the car, they were only made  for the 200s going to Europe as it sounds like the EU has some rules regarding braking capability vs lbs per hp that made these bigger brakes on the V-6 cars mandatory there. Since I have those brackets, everything else on the caliper side is just LX car parts and the rotors look to be the same as the last generation of Grand Caravan and Town and Country.

[Joe Handley]

Called the dealer no exchange and the the parts is backordered until mid Sept, so I went to Napa and picked up one of their remand until I can get another Mopar Reman on hand.

[Tom Geiger]

Doesn't surprise me.  Mopar dealers stock the last five years parts or so.  When I had my Breeze, it went back to the dealer on a shifter recall.  They said it was my starter and couldn't get one thru their network... said it would be a few weeks.  I told them I could see Pep Boys from their window and they had the starter.  They said they couldn't install a non-Mopar supplied part on the car.  Of course they were blaming me that the car was seven years old!   I dragged the car out of there, bought the starter at Pep Boys, installed it myself and lived happily ever after!

Edited August 9, 2021 by Tom Geiger

[Joe Handley]

41 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

Doesn't surprise me.  Mopar dealers stock the last five years parts or so.  When I had my Breeze, it went back to the dealer on a shifter recall.  They said it was my starter and couldn't get one thru their network... said it would be a few weeks.  I told them I could see Pep Boys from their window and they had the starter.  They said they couldn't install a non-Mopar supplied part on the car.  Of course they were blaming me that the car was seven years old!   I dragged the car out of there, bought the starter at Pep Boys, installed it myself and lived happily ever after!

Luckily, these calipers are still currently used on just about every big car and truck that Chrysler sells, it’s just on back order right now. I’ll just have to see if I can get one then and use that Napa one for now.

[Mark]

1 hour ago, Tom Geiger said:

Doesn't surprise me.  Mopar dealers stock the last five years parts or so.  When I had my Breeze, it went back to the dealer on a shifter recall.  They said it was my starter and couldn't get one thru their network... said it would be a few weeks.  I told them I could see Pep Boys from their window and they had the starter.  They said they couldn't install a non-Mopar supplied part on the car.  Of course they were blaming me that the car was seven years old!   I dragged the car out of there, bought the starter at Pep Boys, installed it myself and lived happily ever after!

"Can't", or "won't, because their markup isn't as good"?  When I had my second (2004) Dakota, the genuine Mopar parts were junk.  Original brakes (both pads and rotors) barely made it to 25,000 miles, and were pulsing like crazy at the end.  First replacements (genuine Daimler Chrysler) lasted exactly as long.  Installed Auto Zone stuff after that, they lasted twice as long as the Mopar junk.  The dealer did the brakes at the 100,000 mile mark, they offered a choice between Mopar and NAPA.  I chose the latter.  

[Foghorn Leghorn]

On 8/7/2021 at 11:21 AM, Monty said:

More delivery BS.  Won another ebay auction but can't figure out what's going on with my item.

It's easy. The Seller gave your item to UPS. Now, one of 2 things is supposed to happen.

It will bounce around in the UPS system until it gets to your nearest UPS terminal.

Then, UPS will either deliver it to you OR they will hand it off to USPS in your hometown and they will deliver it. There will be no USPS Tracking Number if UPS completes the delivery to you.

The 3rd possible scenario is that the label and tracking number get separated from the parcel. You don't wanna know what happens then.

Just noticed: The timestamps on your #5 and #6 are out of order. That's actually pretty common. I suspect that they do it to get folks pumped up.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Foghorn Leghorn