Exactly. The other goodness is that if the car is outside and the windshield is covered with a layer of ice it will be either gone or almost gone by the time you get in the car. Sure beats fussing with an ice scraper for 10 minutes. One car we have even has a programmable start on low temp feature.
And the bad idea because the battery gets weaker on an older car makes no logical sense. The remote starter does the same thing as if you were in the car and started it. If the battery isn't sufficient to use with a remote starter it won't be magically better if you are sitting in the car and engage the starter.
Had a similar situation with a 1 year old Olds. Something shorted, be it the battery or alternator, but both were bad and the car died quickly.
Funny thing is, I was meeting someone at a toll road exit. "While waiting, a tow truck went by and I remarked to my wife about the gaudy color scheme and we both chuckled about it. Well, an hour later, I needed to be towed and . . . . . .
Is that because you live in a place where it's 40 degrees below zero in the winter? The "better way" for me was to move to where it's 74 degrees year round. Why live the old-fashioned way? (There's no game around here, but it turns out that they ship meat right to the local market.)
Be aware that, at a dealership, the parts bucket is not attached to the labor bucket. That is, a factory authorized dealership shop is more than happy to install parts you provide.
A personal example is a quote from my friendly Chevrolet dealership to replace the A/C compressor. Eight-hundred dollars and change. I bought the compressor over the internet for less than $200 and had the dealership install it, recharge the system, blah-blah-blah, for another $179.
Save more than half, I did. That was FOUR years ago and the A/C system is still doing fine.
I like autostarters too, but on a standard transmission truck they can be dangerous. And the lousy unit we had on the Mystique locked and unlocked doors whenwe hit bumps and did all kinds of other strange stuff so I disconnected it.
Many dealerships, as well as independents, will NOT install owner supplied parts - and if they do there is NO WARRANTY from the installer. When I worked as a mechanic we got way too many defective or wrong parts supplied by owners so we just stopped installing owner supplied parts PERIOD. The owners were not happy paying my time to remove the old part, attempt to install the new one, and then have to re-install the old one because the new one was either wrong, damaged, or just plain no good.
It varies. It's certainly within their rights not to install owner supplied parts. And there certainly is good reason for them to not want to get involved with that. For the amount of business they generate, I could imagine it could cause more trouble than it's worth. Even if they don't warranty the parts, the customer can come back bitching, taking them to small claims, etc saying it's not the parts that were bad, it's how they were installed.
But I have had a dealer do it. An example is when I bought after market brake pads to do the front brakes on the BMW. I did one side and when I went to do the other side, I discovered that the CV boot was torn. I wasn't going to fix that, so I took it to the dealer together with the pads and wear sensors and they did the work, no issues.
That situation was unusual though. If I just called them up and said I wanted the pads replaced and I would supply them, I don't know what they would say. It would be interesting to hear others experiences with this.
Could possibly happen with your '55 Chevy carburetor. No so much with computer regulated fuel injection.
There is risk in crossing the street also, but I still cross them on occasion. I probably use the remote starter 150 to 200 times a year and I'm not giving up that comfort for a tiny bit of possibility of a problem.
If I keep a car long enough to replace the battery, I do it by mid November on the fifth year of its existence. Last time I got caught with a dead battery was too long ago to remember, probably over 30 years but my wife had hers go dead about 15 years ago. It was in the summer so not a big deal to change.
Last car that did not start at all was my '83 Olds with about 200,000 miles. It was after work so I took the company pickup home and stopped at a local dealer and bought a new car that night.
There is the risk versus reward factor in many things we do. I'm willing to risk it for the rewards.
I was thinking the same thing. It just sounds like the usual "I have never used one but know it can't work" objection.
I have never heard of any issues using remote starters and there has to be 10s of millions of them in use. It simply does the same thing you do when you use the key or whatever starts your car. It has a timer to prevent overcranking and tach feedback to know when the engine started.
I only wish I had a '55 Chevy. No, it was with a '97 Chrysler Intrepid.
But it's not a tiny problem. It's a wife doesn't go to work today and I hear about it for a week, problem.
The battery was fine, before the remote starter did it in. I could have
*easily* started it manually.
GO for it, but there is a reason car makers were late to provide such starters and were voiding warranties if there was an automatic starter involved. No thanks. Living in the South, where they're not needed, is a *much* better solution.
I can't speak to whether the 100 GPH number is actually accurate, but he's talking about a recirculating system where most of the fuel goes back to the tank...
You're correct, of course and I painted with too broad a brush when I implied that all dealerships will countenance all owner-supplied parts.
While the facts were wrong, the narrative was correct. You may be able to save bags of money by inquiring of the dealership's service department what its policy might be in this regard.
To bring this back to the vicinity of a fuel pump, my dealership wanted north of $500 to replace the fuel sensor on my pickup. Attempting to drop the tank myself, I rapidly discovered why the charge was so ridiculous - it's at least a 200-curseword job to drop the tank on my little S10 pickup. Fortunately, I have an oak tree with a very large branch overhanging the driveway.
I bought a one-ton chain-lift from Harbor Freight for $45 and about $20 worth of cable and clamps from Home Depot. Removing eight (six? I forget) bolts holding the bed of my pickup, and disconnecting the license plate light, I was able, with suitable balancing, to lift the bed smooth off the truck by about three feet. Enough to remove the fuel sensor.
Removing the fuel sensor and replacing it with a $5 one scored off Ebay was trivial.
Lowering the bed and bolting it back was also straightforward.
I sold the chain-lift on Craigslist for $50(!).
All in all, I expended less than 20 cursewords on the alternate solution.
Here in Maine the Liberals really are that stupid..It is illegal to let a car idle in the parking lot..Not that I have seen or heard of cops getting anyone for it and they do it...Just one of those "feel good laws" Liberals love...LOL...
I do that. Something I don't understand though, why does the climate control put the AC in recirculate mode to start? If the car is closed up, it can be 120+ inside while only 90 outside. I want to move that air through for the first couple of minutes.
I'm also back to having a dark blue again. While I like the color, it definitely is hotter sitting in the sun. Once the AC is going, makes no difference.
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