Co-worker to me "Do you know about cars?"

Younger co-worker comes into my office and it goes something like this:

-"Sergeant XXX, do you know anything about cars?" -- Well sure I do.. what's the problem? - "My car has a blinking RED light and the computer screen it telling me that I have low oil pressure and to stop driving, it comes and goes away though, as I drive on, what's the problem"? -- You might not have enough oil in the car.. When was he last time you checked the oil? - "My husband said I was due for an oil change soon, I called the Volvo dealer and told them the problem and they recommended I tow the vehicle to them so they can check it out"..

Meanwhile, I'm like.. WTF, it can't be THAT bad.. I proceed to tell her that I'll look at it and see.. We walk out, 5-10 year old Volvo 4dr....

Low and behold: NOT A DRIP OF OIL in the engine. I tell her how dangerous that was.. she was oblivious to the fact that she could have been left with 4-5K of damage if she would have kept driving like that..

We head to the shop and buy 5 quarts of 10W30 and fill it up, then call it a day... I saved one.. She was sooo thankful... Oh well... I ask her if her husband knows anything about cars.. she says NO.. I'm like.. WTF.. you could have been left with a 4-5K damage just for 30-40 bucks in oil...

Do any husbands safety check their spouses cars any more? C'mon guys..

I was once tempted to top off an ex's oil with ATF when she was packing. Does that count?

I told my last gf this, same thing I've told every woman in my life.

"It's your car, it's your responsibility to maintain the damn thing."

She saw the oil light, why the hell didn't she check the oil instead of expecting someone else to do it?

Thats why I work on the cars and bitch stays in kitchen. Ok. Kidding. I work on the cars, but the wife DOES prefer to do most the house work.

Sargent XXX, my intermittent wipers work only ... intermittently. What do you think is wrong?

That's a pretty sweet name dude, Sargent XXX. You sure you don't do porn?

He fixes the cable?

That beats my co-worker telling me he is going to swap the V6 from his FWD Grand Am into a Firebird.

neon4891 wrote: That beats my co-worker telling me he is going to swap the V6 from his FWD Grand Am into a Firebird.

it's been done...

neon4891 wrote: That beats my co-worker telling me he is going to swap the V6 from his FWD Grand Am into a Firebird.

I had considered doing something like that for my s10... you use the 2.8L v6 RWD block and stuff all the FWD stuff into/on it... get good flowing alu heads, can get your choice of c/r... and it would bolt on

M3Loco wrote: My car has a blinking RED light and the computer screen it telling me that I have low oil pressure and to stop driving, it comes and goes away though, as I drive on... Low and behold: NOT A DRIP OF OIL in the engine. ...buy 5 quarts of 10W30 and fill it up, then call it a day... I saved one..

Don't know that you actually saved one. You might have bought her a little time, but I rather suspect there's a lot of bearing damage in there, and the engine isn't very long for this world.

I just wouldn't marry a woman that negligent, problem averted

Also of concern: Most Volvos (if it's RWD) only take 4 quarts. If you needed to put in 5 quarts, the engine had negative 1 quart in it.

As for bearings, the RWD Volvo redblocks have been known to run without damage sans oil. Check out some of the C4C videos of Volvos on YouTube - they ran a while even with the "liquid glass" in the engine.

My wife's tells every young lady to learn this stuff as she always checked her oil when she was 16 and owned a $1500 Ford Capri.

A friend told me that his "low oil" light comes on occasionally. I checked his oil, found it to be low and then added a quart. Then I added two more.

Yep, 5w-20 Pennzoil, motorcraft filter and a 13mm socket for the drain bolt I actually fixed her stuck gas pedal not too long ago. I was proud of myself. Her dad use to change it for her before we married. He was using the amount for the V6, her's is a 4 banger.

When the ex and I were first married she had a Buick she inherited from her grandfather. I hardly ever drove it, nor did I think much of it, by that I mean it just didn't cross my mind.

One day I'm working on my truck and need her car to go for parts, I jump in and the oil light is on. I go back to the house and ask her "Oh yeah, I've been meaning to mention it, that's been on for about a month now"

Topped it up with oil and motor honey and traded it in the next week.

Started the policy of driving SWMBOs car at least once a month to make sure things are ok.

Honest to god, could not put up with a woman like that gents. You have much more patience then I. Willful negligence over the 2nd most expensive purchase in your life is BS.

Since I work at a dealership, it's apparently my responsibility to keep up with my car, the wife's truck, and the daughters car. I make their oil change stickers for 1,000 miles. They CONSISTANTLY go 3-4,000 OVER their oil change mileage. This way, when they look at it and say, "I'm over my oil change mileage" I think to myself, "nope, you're just on time". I do bring the truck in for a complete checkout when we're going to make a trip to New Mexico though. LOL

There are a LOT of people who view a car as a necessary evil and have as little interaction with it as possible, I see it every day.That generally includes both maintaining and operating it. Then they want to pitch a fit when it blows up and costs them a wad to fix or replace.

My wife watches the oil life monitor constantly and starts nagging when it gets to about 15%. If it was a burner I'd check it, but it doesn't.

Curmudgeon wrote: There are a LOT of people who view a car as a necessary evil and have as little interaction with it as possible, I see it every day.That generally includes both maintaining and operating it. Then they want to pitch a fit when it blows up and costs them a wad to fix or replace.

I see this day in and day out. Then when you present people with a maintenance plan, they look at you like you're crazy. "I've never flushed a transmission in any car I've ever had, same for the coolant, you're trying to bend me over aren't you?" sigh

Conquest351 wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: There are a LOT of people who view a car as a necessary evil and have as little interaction with it as possible, I see it every day.That generally includes both maintaining and operating it. Then they want to pitch a fit when it blows up and costs them a wad to fix or replace.

I see this day in and day out. Then when you present people with a maintenance plan, they look at you like you're crazy. "I've never flushed a transmission in any car I've ever had, same for the coolant, you're trying to bend me over aren't you?" *sigh*

Oh yeah. Then when the transmission does go belly up or the radiator gets clogged with ethylene glycol goo, you are accused of trying to bend them over even further. That's even funnier when it comes from someone wearing all kinds of expensive jewelry, Gucci handbag, etc etc etc.

Conquest351 wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: There are a LOT of people who view a car as a necessary evil and have as little interaction with it as possible, I see it every day.That generally includes both maintaining and operating it. Then they want to pitch a fit when it blows up and costs them a wad to fix or replace.

I see this day in and day out. Then when you present people with a maintenance plan, they look at you like you're crazy. "I've never flushed a transmission in any car I've ever had, same for the coolant, you're trying to bend me over aren't you?" *sigh*

You can maintain your car and drive it for 200,000 miles, or not maintain it and be lucky to see 85,000....

There's a whole class of folks out there who will trade cars constantly, generally at the 2 to 3 year mark. They don't want to be bothered with anything other than the bare assed maintenance essentials (oil change and tire rotation), they don't want to buy tires, brakes etc so instead they have a ~$400 monthly car payment nut pretty much in perpetuity. Add to that the higher insurance and property taxes... man, it's so much cheaper to keep a paid for car.

Curmudgeon wrote: There's a whole class of folks out there who will trade cars constantly, generally at the 2 to 3 year mark. They don't want to be bothered with anything other than the bare assed maintenance essentials (oil change and tire rotation), they don't want to buy tires, brakes etc so instead they have a ~$400 monthly car payment nut pretty much in perpetuity. Add to that the higher insurance and property taxes... man, it's so much cheaper to keep a paid for car.

But the Jones have a new car. I don't want this piece of crap.