What are some car-repair jobs you always wished you could do but have never done?

I admit, I don't touch mine all that often.

When the dash indicates the sensor tripped, I generally pop the vehicle with all four wheels in the air and rotate the wheels and check if it's the front or rear (it's almost always the front for the obvious reasons but my dash doesn't discriminate).

I chalk that operation up to a rotation, and then I order the PBS pads and sensor, and when they come in, I repeat the process sans rotation.

Once in a blue moon, I admit less often than I should, I bleed the brakes.

At least I use the right tools for bleeding, and not a normal open-end wrench, and, heaven forbid, not a crescent wrench!

But I admit I can go five years without bleeding while I realize that's twice as long as I should go (but I live in a dry area if that's any consolation and the bimmer has a nice screw-top cap on the MC).

You should give me credit for *reading* the paper someone referenced (I don't look at whom I'm responding to - I just respond to what they say).

The paper was garbage for what it was supposed to say. That's a fact.

But nonetheless, I get your point which is that you think you know everything because you have seen everything in your years of experience that I don't (and never will) have.

You think that I am stupid because I try to think logically about everything, which means that I will sometimes be wrong, such that, overall, it seems that the consensus here might be as bad as:

1. I'm wrong that FWD were not built to handle well 365 days a year,
2. I'm wrong on slotted rotors braking no better than solid in street use,
3. I'm wrong on piston rings being *proven* to be far better nowadays,
4. I'm wrong on both the fact of and the measurement of rotor warp,
5. I'm wrong on (insert pet peeve here).

The good news is that this thread was about something else, and not those things, where the one GREAT thing that came out of this thread was you gave me a better understanding of WHY engines last forever nowadays, as compared to yesteryear.

In fact, just the carb-to-EFI knowledge learned from you is a diamond! It all made logical sense!

Illogical things are unsettling to me (like Marketing Bullshit is). Things that make logical sense, give me an immense satisfaction.

Sure, so do I. But I don't call that "service." I call it "looking at pad wear." I sure don't open the MC reservoir. That would expose the fluid to more air than it's seen in about 20 years of not opening it. And we all know, brake fluid if "hygroscopic."

RS Wood posted for all of us...

I have done all except #3.

The worst job I consider is exhaust. I guess that has diminished these days.

The hardest is being a good diagnostician.

Never said you were stupid. You may be a nice guy in person but you come across as an arrogant @#$ that knows everything and the rest of us know nothing. We can never be as good as you.

A good engineer would know that even simple things like piston rings can be improved in many ways, yet you insist they are no different than ones made 60 years ago. Well, maybe if you think that is correct you cannot be a real engineer.

I have known many engineers, have a couple in the family but none would make that statement. I do know people like you though.

Any of theses your projects?

Gear by far, chain next, belt last.

Noisiest;

Gear, chain, belt

Did I say that is the only way? No, I did not. You are making up things to suit you. You did, however, take the time to infer you know everything about history, discovery, science, and the rest of the world. Books are great, but seeing some things on TV can be very enjoyable and educational for those of us that don't know everything..

You can watch an episode of "How It Made" and they may do a segment on piston rings and the latest technology.

Diagnostics can be challenging when *EVERYTHING* rattles.................

My wife pressured me for a new one last year. Bought her one, then traded mine a month later. She's done 14k kilometres in hers, I'm up to

True that. The indy doesn't have access to all the needed info for a start. Nor the dealer training. They are both important.

I only really started learning *after* I completed my apprenticeship - and I've never stopped learning ever since.

Wouldn't work here. My wife is anal about dust.

I have a TV, I also have cable. They are for my wife.

I watch docos, etc on the internet. I prefer to schedule my own viewing.

That is the easiest providing you have a good understanding of the underlying systems, possess a good range of diagnostic equipment and, finally, know how to use it. For judgemental issues, know first what is

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca posted for all of us...

What about suspenders?

Pantyhose - her knees go up and down while you're shagging her.

You stop learning only when you're dead.

I learned a LOT in this thread, particularly about WHY engines last forever, and why exhausts last forever, and why bearings last forever, and why ball joints last forever.

That's all good.

I didn't learn a thing on rings that I didn't already know though. :)

I'm all prepared to learn how the metallurgy or shape of rings is different nowadays versus yesteryear, but I haven't seen any reference that shows even the slightest improvement over the years.

It might be there, but saying it's there isn't the same as it being there. Proof in logic is always very simple.

If you think FWD is all about handling, then "your" logic should have a ton of references to back it up.

If you think slotted rotors make any real difference on the street, then you should be able to find a ton of reference that proves that (and not some EBC marketing bullshit).

If you think rotors warp in street use then you should be able to find a ton of references to back up your logic.

On any topic you see me take a stand on, it's not "my" logic but the logic that has tons of references that back it up. Witness the fact that I gave you a ton of references on rotor warp.

Now I understand that people don't think things through, so I understand the 20-year-old kid who thinks FWD is all about handling because he falls for the marketing bullshit. I understand all that.

But if you're over 70, you should have figured out that marketing is almost all bullshit and very little logic by now.

You're not a young kid anymore. Logic has to show up sometime in your life. It just has to.

I don't know everything and I actually don't know much but I use logic on it all and I've been on car forums for decades, where there always young kids who fall for the marketing bullshit every time.

Not only do they fall for the marketing bullshit about FWD, rotor warp, drilled rotors, pad friction, and so on, but they also desperately want to BELIEVE the marketing that their car is special.

I can't count the number of "red" coolant "blue" coolant threads there are from kids on Toyota and BMW forums respectively who want to desperately feel that their engines are somehow special and therefore they require special fluids (when water works as well).

These are all age-old arguments along the lines of "what oil" that I'm just sick of. So it shows here and I get cranky, especially last night.

You completely whoooshed on what I said, which is that I'll believe anything if someone proves it. Anything. I believe in gravitons for heaven's sake, and string theory, and that spacetime is warped by mass.

I'll believe anything if someone has a logical argument for it. But if their "logical" argument is that Detroit came out with FWD for handling reasons, not only is that illogical by failing every logical argument known to mankind, but it's nothing new. It's the same crap the 18 year old kids spew on the car forums.

It's the lack of logic I decry.

The whole brake warp idiocy suffers from the same complete lack of logic. So does the drilled versus solid rotors.

If people actually followed their own logic, they'd be forced to undertand, but they don't.

Take octane ratings for example, which we haven't covered. Do you know how many times I've heard morons tell me that there is a lot of octane in gasoline? Do you want to know how many times I hear people say they put the high-test into an engine that isn't spec'd for resistance to knocking and they declare they get better performance and mpg?

Morons all follow their own convoluted logic but it always stops short of finding a reference that backs them up.

That's why here, I kept asking for reference, which I *knew* would never exist because I could logically see the fallacy that they emotionally cannot.

Mind you I don't take names. I just don't. If a post says something stupid and it happens to be from my mother, I'll call the post out for it. And if the post says something intelligent and I happened to have reamed that person five minutes prior for idiocy, I'll thank them and congratulate them.

You *should* know people like me. We're called logical people.

We don't believe only in Marketing Bullshit. I *hope* you know people like me.

Dear God. I hope.

I'm into biomedical engineering.