So what are you working on that’s NOT your DSM?

[DreamChaser7]

Batteries seem like an easy place to cut costs. I'm not a fan of auto start-stop, that has to be hard on both batteries and starters.

I absolutely hate it too! They should make a way to change it in the settings on board so you don’t have to turn it off every damn time, after you’re reminded when it turns off on you. Dumbest thing ever! It can’t save that much gas.

 

[steve]

Dumbest thing ever! It can’t save that much gas.

I'm sure over millions of cars it makes a significant impact on emissions and to some degree consumption but I'll pass and make my contribution by not driving as much.

 

[DreamChaser7]

I still hate it, .

 

[TerminalTalon]

I’m a mechanic friend . I believe Interstate is the only company to use clean aluminum for their batteries and they seem to last. The prorate for replacement is based off of year so if it does fail it’s not bad.
These new cars need a decent battery and a good charge to function correctly. I do a lot of diag and some of this stuff is test battery, replace, now test with a good base.
Also there a new battery testers that are Bluetooth and run on a app. It will show you way more than the parts store.

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It’s the same with chargers. I have one that can pick up if a battery is sulfated and do the desulphating automatically sometimes saving it. It just takes some time.

 

[pauleyman]

I'm sure over millions of cars it makes a significant impact on emissions and to some degree consumption but I'll pass and make my contribution by not driving as much.

It was never about emissions. I read an article that said manufacturer's got a tax credit. That has now expired and after so many scathing letters the consensus is that future cars will not have this feature, likely starting with 2027 models.

I’m a mechanic friend . I believe Interstate is the only company to use clean aluminum for their batteries and they seem to last. The prorate for replacement is based off of year so if it does fail it’s not bad.
These new cars need a decent battery and a good charge to function correctly. I do a lot of diag and some of this stuff is test battery, replace, now test with a good base.
Also there a new battery testers that are Bluetooth and run on a app. It will show you way more than the parts store.

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It’s the same with chargers. I have one that can pick up if a battery is sulfated and do the desulphating automatically sometimes saving it. It just takes some time.

What a coincidence. I bought interstate but I bought an agm.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

But NOW.....The manufacturers were mandated to put in those dam GPS trackers that can slow your car or shut it off remotely. I don't know about the rest of you (but I bet you feel the same way), if I BOUGHT THE VEHICLE I OWN IT not Big Brother. Boy that is a real shitty thing to do. We don't ever own ANYTHING, property taxes now gvmt able to shut you down anytime. No thanks, I'll keep building my own as long as I can and they are making everything so harder to even SERVICE your own vehicle.
Ok, RANT OVER

 

[Badge023]

I dont use the auto start/stop. I shut it off every time I get in the car. I do know there are things running when the car is off. These small drains have to be killing batteries. These 2 new cars I have are the first ones ive owned with this much stuff.

I know for a fact that the '24-'24 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo and '23 Chev Tahoe are constantly communicating with their respective "mother ships". I work for my State and we did a big round of fleet purchases. Some vehicles sat in a parking garage until we recalled the ones in the field for about a month. All were dead as a door-nail within that month. Hard to jump and once you did, every light on the dash lit up and stayed on. It looked like Christmas. Two were parked two levels underground. They were the hardest to jump. Had to have cables on both batteries and had to clear all the low voltage codes with a Zeus. The one on the roof of the garage, not as bad. took the same amount of time to jump, but since it could phone home all the dash lights fixed themselves.within a drive cycle. The Tahoe I have will tell me when I get in it some mornings that a software update has been downloaded and ready to install; The vehicle may not start for 15 to 30 minutes. I make sure to do it as I get my morning coffee and text the boss, "software update, be late" and enjoy my coffee...and perhaps another.










rnail

 

[DreamChaser7]

Figured I’d better oil and gas up the new genny and get ready for hurricane season. The old one just wasn’t big enough…

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[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Predator motors have worked for us time and time again!

 

[DreamChaser7]

My first one. My old one was a B&S motor, but it still works fine 22 years later too, just too small when back feeding the panel during outages. This will handle a little more. Upgraded the plug to the panel to a 50 amp motor home plug too.

 

[pma1123]

Wishing this inexpensive, poorly functioning sandblasting cabinet was a vapor blasting cabinet!

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[1990TSIAWDTALON]

@pauleyman , don't feel alone! My pickup battery just up and DIED, and I keep a trickle charger on it. The battery date said 7/24. It was a DuraLast Gold, and luckily, it had a THREE year warranty, otherwise my commercial acct price was $193 to replace it.
SMH

 

[r3dmak]

What is the deal with new car battery life? My wife's 2023 Subaru left her stranded. Do new batteries suck or are new cars just taxing everything so hard? Subaru sites are lit up discussing 3 years is probably average lifespan. This car is exactly 3 years old with 50k on it bought new. Guess it gets a new battery today.

Me and the wife got new subarus too and our cars came with a samsung battery that died after 6+ years. I believe you can order same battery thru dealer but it will cost significantly more.

 

[pma1123]

^^^^^^I deal with this surprise dead battery Subaru nonsense too!!!
Its a 2018 Legacy, none of the eyesight package or auto shutoff crap. I think I've put 4 or 5 batteries in this thing since new, and the OEM battery didn't make 2 years.

There has to be a module or something, auto-reporting to the Subaru mother ship?

Leaving the car sit in my metal "pole building" for 3 weeks without driving it is a guaranteed death sentence for an otherwise good battery.

Last time I replaced the battery was in March 2026; 2 year old (Costco) Interstate battery....car was sitting at the airport parking lot for 4 days, we're getting a foot of snow, flights delayed horribly, and the car is dead as a hammer in the parking lot when I finally get there, not even the interior lights or chime when the door opened.

Anyhow, you are not alone r3dmak!!!!!

 

[Ludachris]

Some work I've been doing on our property over the past year....

We have something called "water rights" with our property - essentially, it's recycled irrigation water that the county runs through the local canal system for ranches and farming in rural areas. We have that water running into our property. I call it "ditch water" - it's dirty water with mud and debris in it. The pipe inlet in the canal where our ditch water is sourced from gets clogged almost weekly, which means someone in our neighborhood has to go up a steep hill to clean it. Most of us in our neighborhood use this water for our irrigation/landscaping. My well doesn't have the volume to be used for irrigation - ask me how I know.

Since we've lived on this property over the last 5+ years, I've installed sprinklers and a new filter for that water, which would get clogged daily in the summer months, which means the water pressure for the sprinklers is never consistent, which leads to dead grass and plants in the 90-100 degree summer months. I then did some re-piping and used well water for the drip system for the trees and shrubs to avoid the dirty water clogging the drip lines, and then quickly found out our well cannot support that.

My latest project involved installing a 1.5 HP pump to pull water from our pond to use for all the irrigation, and just running the ditch water straight into the pond without a filter to keep the water level up. It forced me to re-pipe a good amount of my existing sprinkler pipe work and I changed all the above ground anti-siphon valves to in-ground inline valves. I did most of that over the winter, which made digging trenches "easier", though still exhausting. I also had to run a 240v circuit to the pump and a relay for the timer to kick the pump on when the zones start.

It actually worked out very well. I'm finally getting a steady 45-50 psi running to all sprinkler zones and I haven't had to clean out the disc filter yet, and it's been running a few weeks now. The grass is staying green so far with the heat rolling in. If anyone wants any insight into irrigating your property using pond or lake water, just ask me, I'm a pro now.

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The next project I'm trying to finish up is a propane firepit. I've got it built, I just need to add the Quikwall coating and then finish the plumbing. I'll be using two 40 lb tanks placed just outside the firepit area, which I'll be filling with gravel after I finish the coating.

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I have to order several yards of crushed rock, pea gravel, and bark, and then get it all put in place by next month. Hoping to borrow a tractor to do most of that, as all the shoveling I've been doing has made my back not so happy.

It's been a ton of work, but I have to get it done soon, as my mother in law is getting married on our property the last week of August, so I need to have all everything looking nice by then. So much work to do, so little time, and funds are in short supply lately, which makes it really challenging - forcing me to do all the work myself and do side jobs to cover the cost of the materials. If anyone knows of any businesses that need a website rebuilt, upgraded, or modified, send them my way! I've started taking on new clients again.

I've been pretty overwhelmed lately with all the work, but hey, that's just life. I'll rest when I die.

 

[pat white]

Took apart the clutch on my Shadow ...started slipping in top gear last ride last year ...looks fine ..23 yr old springs are getting weak so she's getting new friction plates and springs ...also put a larger cooling fan in my plasma cutter ...some breeze blowing thru her now !!

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[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Boy I wish you were my neighbor Pat. My V45 would be running again and my stuck clutch on my '74 Suzuki 185 wouldn't be stuck!
NICE BIKE 🏍

 

[pat white]

Boy I wish you were my neighbor Pat. My V45 would be running again and my stuck clutch on my '74 Suzuki 185 wouldn't be stuck!
NICE BIKE 🏍

Thanks !!...the V45 is a nice bike and had GO !! ...I had a 1986 750 shadow ( my first bike ) and loved it ..it was faster than the 1100 I have now and close to the same HP...actually looking around for another ..they are out there with low mileage ...here a pic of me from i think 1988 in Ontario with the 750

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[Canadian_CD9A]

My parents' car just landed. Got some - okay, a lot of work to do here.

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[pat white]

My parents' car just landed. Got some - okay, a lot of work to do here.

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What a beauty !!

 

[TerminalTalon]

This S63 was dropped off yesterday. No power with jump box. No power bypassing the alternator cable. No power anywhere. The main battery is in the trunk with the big fuses . . . The trunk doesn’t work because of no power. The emergency release in the trunk is electronic. The key cylinder as a last ditch effort to get into the trunk is not there . I tried feeding 12v to the rear SAM in an attempt to get the trunk to pop with the key or button. Nothing. It’s always the easy ones with me.
(Also 3 other shops didn’t even want to drop it off the tow truck. The front bumper is hanging and the air suspension is aired out so towing is a pain. Tow guy said the other tow people and first shop cracked the oil pan but I can’t even verify that right now.)

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[pauleyman]

This S63 was dropped off yesterday. No power with jump box. No power bypassing the alternator cable. No power anywhere. The main battery is in the trunk with the big fuses . . . The trunk doesn’t work because of no power. The emergency release in the trunk is electronic. The key cylinder as a last ditch effort to get into the trunk is not there . I tried feeding 12v to the rear SAM in an attempt to get the trunk to pop with the key or button. Nothing. It’s always the easy ones with me.
(Also 3 other shops didn’t even want to drop it off the tow truck. The front bumper is hanging and the air suspension is aired out so towing is a pain. Tow guy said the other tow people and first shop cracked the oil pan but I can’t even verify that right now.)

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What is that last pic? An alternator broken in half?

 

[SixBolt_16G]

This S63 was dropped off yesterday. No power with jump box. No power bypassing the alternator cable. No power anywhere. The main battery is in the trunk with the big fuses . . . The trunk doesn’t work because of no power. The emergency release in the trunk is electronic. The key cylinder as a last ditch effort to get into the trunk is not there . I tried feeding 12v to the rear SAM in an attempt to get the trunk to pop with the key or button. Nothing. It’s always the easy ones with me.
(Also 3 other shops didn’t even want to drop it off the tow truck. The front bumper is hanging and the air suspension is aired out so towing is a pain. Tow guy said the other tow people and first shop cracked the oil pan but I can’t even verify that right now.)

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Sad. Hopefully you can restore that abused lady to glory. Last time my car was at a shop, the shop owner came out and gave the tow truck driver an earful for almost tearing my bumper off.


Next up for me is this hot mess.

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I really need to ditch it because the rust underneath is really bad, but I was caught offguard having to buy the Accord because wife was killing us on gas by taking the truck everyday. So a new truck has to wait til hopefully next year, but cant say it hasnt been bulletproof, otherwise. Everything is fine from a cold start, but when i shut it off, the gear selector loses its ability to find Park and Neutral. Almost left me stranded the last time. IVe had to rock the selector back and forth and it eventually ends up on one of those two, but its another toss up if cranking the engine doesnt knock it out of gear and stops the starting process in the middle of cranking these last couple of times. Lucky me that the 2003 is the only 1st gen model where they moved the external neutral safety switch to an internal transmission range sensor....and just for the 4.7L Durangos . Its probably the reason ive never had reverse lights on this truck as well. Not looking forward to the mess of having to drop the pan without a drain plug and the 100+ heat index here with no relief in sight.

 

[TerminalTalon]

What is that last pic? An alternator broken in half?

The alternator is mounted still but the back case is not attached. All the joining hardware is gone . They must have broke whenever it let go.
Update: finally powered up and got to the main battery. New in September 24. Needs one. You can tell a charge isn’t helping when they are sunk in.

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[TerminalTalon]

Sad. Hopefully you can restore that abused lady to glory. Last time my car was at a shop, the shop owner came out and gave the tow truck driver an earful for almost tearing my bumper off.

The thing about all these people with fancy cars is they can’t afford them. They might be able to make a payment but as soon as some real world fix is needed they either humble themselves or complain about the price. It’s usually complain about the price because they have no concept of an actual legal business.
My quick breakdown
2.1hr alternator r&r with parts price $600 cost $1100+ list if even available
2.0hr lower pan r&r with parts price at $200-600 if even available.
Both of those in my parts matrix say unavailable.
LOF probably $120-140
The batteries themselves would probably be $6-800
It has active body control so the struts or components that need to be replaced are super expensive.
Whatever shop rate is XXX
This is just to give a perspective of how fast I can mechanically total a car out with just parts and labor. They will probably not fix it. To get it rolling it’s probably in the $2500-3500 depending on how far and how much they want to do.