OT. EVs For Rural Drivers

[rbowman]

Most of the time the road is my destination.

[Ed Pawlowski]

That is another set of problem$. Getting to the airport and pay a fortune for a cab or pay a fortune for a couple of weeks parking. Still have rental on the other end and my destination is 90 miles from the airport so no bus, etc. No simple solution.

[Marilyn Manson]

It's easier to change the tranny fluid in my Honda than it is to change the oil. The tranny plug is right out in the open, drains right into the pan.

The oil filter is right above a cross member so it's next to impossible to not get fluid on the top of the cross member where you can't even see it. You just have to keep wiping until your rag stops getting dirty.

[Marilyn Manson]

Read what I wrote.

Sure, the lot will be empty while he's drinking and rolling in the hay, but his car will have been there for the entire day, from right before he boarded the train to work. i.e. during work hours.

[Marilyn Manson]

My keyless entry vehicle has a valet key hidden in the fob. It's actually a reverse valet key.

When I use valet parking, I can lock the glove box, take the key with me and give the fob to the valet so he can start/lock/etc. the vehicle but not access the glove box.

I don't have a trunk, so I don't know if other vehicles can have the trunk button disabled when handing the fob to the valet. Maybe a switch inside the locked glove box?

[Ed Pawlowski]

Yes, there is a switch in the glove box that disables the trunk.

[Ralph Mowery]

I don't recall what car it was but one had the oil filter near the top of the engine so all you had to do was pop the hoood and reach in to get to the filter.

Many never change the transmission fluid, but the oil needs to be changed once or twice a year at the minimum for most people. Being retired I do not go that much, so needed or not I have the oil changed when I get it inspected every year, needed or not.

Last year the wife bought a car and then had medical problems and did not drive it very much. Had the oil changed at about 500 miles when inspected. Maybe it needs it or not, but just my idea that the oil may draw moisture and some blow by gas that just sits in the engine and can cause a problem. Oil is inexpensive compaired to engine problems.

[Marilyn Manson]

I do a drain and fill on my tranny about every 20K. I tow occasionally, and even though I installed a tranny cooler, I still want the fluid to be as "new" as reasonably possible. A 3X drain and fill (3 D&F's with a few miles of driving through all gears, highway speeds, etc. between each D&F) supposedly results in an almost 100% fluid change. That's usually done if it's been a really long time since the fluid was changed. Doing a single D&F every 20K is good enough for me. Fluid still looks good when it comes out, some debris on the magnetic drain plug, but nothing that concerns me.

Many Honda's have an "oil life" monitor that lets you know when it's time to change the oil. Some algorithm running in the ECU. I tend to change mine at around 30%. At 15% the vehicle starts giving you reminders on the dash whenever you start the vehicle. At some point (10%?) you can't clear the reminder without actually resetting it to 100%.

Thing is, many drivers think this means that you never have to *check* the oil. Wrong! The ECU only monitors driving conditions, not the actual oil. You could lose or burn all of your oil and the ECU would still say something like Oil Life: 80% It knows nothing about how much oil is actually in the engine or the actual quality of it.

I heard a rumor in a forum that some guy kept adding oil to his engine but for some reason just couldn't get the darn oil life indicator to move above 50%. :-O

[Retirednoguilt]

Not in the city itself, but a near-by suburb just outside of D.C.

[Retirednoguilt]

Why do threads that are technology based seem to always devolve into politics?

[Marilyn Manson]

Wait...let me fix that for you.

"Why do threads always devolve into politics?"

[gfretwell]

That's what we always do. We have even flown into Atlanta and rented a car there, just to avoid 9 hours of boring interstate. Then we take a week to get to DC, going through the mountains.

[gfretwell]

As will everyone. That is why these spots would have level 1 charging. Less infrastructure required and plenty to get him back home. What does the roll in the hay have to do with it?

[Dean Hoffman]

Take Highway 6 west of Denver if you get a chance sometime. It goes through Loveland Pass. The southwest U.S. is something to see also. One can stand on a mesa and see forever plus a day.

[Retirednoguilt]

Thank you! I didn't want to be accused of making too broad a generalization but in this case, as you've indicated, it would have been valid.

[Scott Lurndal]

It would be more fun while waiting for the charger?

[Roger Blake]

I could. But I won't. I refuse to buy an electric car or a hybrid. (I don't care what government thugs or environmentalist swines want.) Even if they manage to make it more expensive to drive an old gas powered car rather than buy a new electric, I will stick with the gas burner.

That's my "solution" to the problem of charging.

[gfretwell]

Is that the road through Rocky Mountain NP and Estes CO? That was how we got back to Denver on our Colorado trip. I have a friend who lives, backed up to the park and we spent a day at his house. We were all over Colorado for 3 weeks. The zip line in Durango is cool if you have a day you want to spend there. My thought on the "million dollar highway" is they should have spent $2 million and put up some guard rails. The road isn't bad but the truckers pushing you off the road can be exciting. Try to find a restaurant in "Crusty Butt" that can get your order right. They have 6 streets and 9 pot stores.

[gfretwell]

Certainly spices up a boring topic on EV chargers anyway. What was she wearing?

[rbowman]

The filter on my Toyota is towards the bottom of the engine but I can usually reach down from the top to unscrew it. Sometimes I can get the new one started from the top, sometimes not, but I have to reach under to get to the drain plug anyway.