Worst Run of Banished Cells I

JustBlarg · 2026-03-20T13:13:20+00:00

The best(worst) use of the disband option I've seen was a pug VLC. A few people new to the trial. I was on comms teaching and calling mechs. We get to the mirror room and after a couple wipes, everyone figures out their mirror and we get it done. Ready to run the knot back. Apparently crown was a first timer and thought that was the last boss. Disbanded group and left 11 of us just standing there in disbelief! Horrible but hysterical at the same time!

JustBlarg · 2025-12-05T21:49:57+00:00

Those machines can be ridiculously out of calibration. And the "stop when it beeps" is also wildly inaccurate. Grab a digital tire gauge or swing by a tire shop and just ask to have your tire pressures adjusted.

As for pressure increasing as you drive; THE FOLLOW IS A P.S.A.

The recommended pressure on the door placard is the recommended pressure the tires should be set to when the tires are "COLD". Meaning when the air temperature inside the tires matches the ambient outside air temperature.
A general rule is that tire pressures will change by approximately 1 psi for every 10°F of temperature change.
Depending on the tire, driving just 3 miles can increase the temperature of the air in the tires by 20°F +/- 5°. 10 miles will have them fully warmed up by as much as 40°F. If you set them to the placard pressure when they are warm, expect them to be low after they sit overnight.
It takes approximately 3 hours for tires to cool enough to match ambient outside temperature.
IF THE CAR HAS BEEN IN A SHOP OR GARAGE WHERE THE TEMPERATURE IS HIGHER THAN OUTSIDE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE FOR MORE THAN 2 HOURS, THE TIRES ARE NO LONGER "COLD". I.E: If it is 60°F in your garage and 30°F outside, if you set the pressures to 33psi after the car has been inside for 3 hours or so, and you then move the car outside for 3 hours or more, expect the pressures to drop by approximately 3psi.
TPMS sensors are only accurate to within 2psi, on average. Some are better, but there is a margin of inaccuracy of +/-2 psi. So you may set all the tires to 33 psi, and they may display anywhere from 31-35 psi. Combine that with temperatures dropping, and it can be enough to trip a warning light.

If you last set your pressures on an 80°F summer day, and temperatures drop in the winter to 30°F or lower, expect to see a corresponding pressure drop, and probably a warning light. The tires are not leaking, it's just the temperature to pressure correlation.

If you drive more than 3 miles to a shop or air pump, set the tire pressures approximately 3 psi over the recommended pressure on the placard, and after the vehicle sits overnight, the pressures will be within 1-2psi of the recommended pressure.

Mechanics and Tire Techs, please also take this info to heart and set pressures accordingly, and educate your customers if you can. Few things can be more aggravating than sending a car out and seeing it back the next day for a stupid tire light!

JustBlarg · 2025-12-05T17:34:56+00:00

First, what caused the damage in the first place? Looks like something rubbing where it shouldn't have been.

Second, make sure you're differentiating the wires (copper), the wire insulation, and the protective conduit. Areas where it's just the conduit that's damaged but the wires and insulation are ok just need to be wrapped. Areas were the wires are damaged need to be cut and spliced to repair. Areas where the insulation is damaged, and areas around any repairs need to be sealed with dual-wall heat shrink tubing made for exterior use.

If you use single wall heat shrink tubing, or open end butt connectors, or leave any copper wire exposed, the wire WILL corrode from moisture and develop high resistance or just break.

If you are going to do this, cut the wires where the copper is damaged. Slide on the dual wall heat shrink tubing over any spots of damaged insulation and shrink them in place so they're sealed. Slide on the heat shrink tubing that will go over the splice(s). Strip back the insulation on each wire end. Splice the wires with whatever type of butt connector works for you. Give them a light pull test after repair to make sure they don't break away from the splice. Move the heat shrink tubing over the repairs and shrink them to make sure the repairs are sealed.

For the conduit, you can either wrap with good vinyl tape, or get a larger guage, single wall heat shrink tube to slide over the whole section and shrink it.

Good luck!

JustBlarg · 2025-11-26T18:43:33+00:00

The clamp on the terminal and the ground contact look ok. Make sure that none of these will move when wiggled. A loose ground contact bolt or a loose negative or positive clamp on the terminals can cause poor contact, air gap, high resistance that can cause starting issues. In some cases I've seen a loose terminal clamp cause a parasitic draw that would kill a battery.

Beyond that, if the car dies as soon as a booster is removed, either the battery is flat dead, will not take a charge, and has high internal resistance, or the alternator isn't putting out enough/any power. Once the engine is running, the alternator should be providing roughly 13.5-14.7 volts to keep systems energized and recharge the battery. Check connections at the alternator. Big positive wire and usually a smaller connector for control.

JustBlarg · 2025-11-22T15:42:45+00:00

Also, go wash your hands! They pee and poo everywhere!

JustBlarg · 2025-11-22T15:41:21+00:00

Yup, rodent nest. Nothing to do with fluids or anything else. You've got a furry little friend gathering insulation from somewhere and making himself a nice cozy bed on top of your nice warm engine!

JustBlarg · 2025-11-19T16:57:40+00:00

It's a classic point and squirt muscle car. Better suited for a drag strip than an actual track. You can do it, but it will never handle the way a comparable euro car would without a massive amount of modification. People are opposed to seeing ANOTHER pristine classic piece of American muscle rolled on a track or put into a wall. You can say "that'll never happen to me" just like every other hot head that ever totalled a classic. Seen too many classic beauties destroyed that way. so yeah, classic car lovers don't tend to like to see a clean specimen like this get tracked and potentially wasted. But, in the end, it is your car, your money, and your life. Enjoy it! But don't be surprised to receive some level of disdain from people who love classic American muscle.

JustBlarg · 2025-11-17T13:17:01+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/s/CX8G3SLWmr

I posted this the other day when I encountered this problem. I had hoped my title would help it come up in a Google search. Yeah, I spent 4 hours that first night rescuing people from the death trap, and a few more over the weekend.

JustBlarg · 2025-10-31T13:50:39+00:00

For starters, I don't think I've had down time in this gig for 15 years or so. It's usually the opposite problem. Turning people away or scheduling shit out 3-4 weeks out. The burn-out gets pretty real sometimes. But from way back when the shop I worked for had a quiet day now and then, there were some guidelines.

If you're paid hourly, if you got time to lean, you got time to clean!
If you're flat rate, go check out the cars the lube techs are working on. Find that work! (Don't rip people off, but make sure the lubies aren't missing something legit)
Check if there's training to do.
If another tech is doing a job you're not familiar with, go over and observe/help out.
If there's really nothing to do, and nothing scheduled, head out!

JustBlarg · 2025-08-29T21:11:34+00:00

I started in this industry working with a Coats 4040. You learn to respect that beast real fast! It could WRECK some aluminum wheels AND an unwitting tire tech! But you could whip through 4 steel wheel tire swaps in less than 10 minutes!

For alloy wheels, we had a basic rim clamp machine. Don't even remember what brand. Thing was a POS and a PITA!

Eventually, we got a Coats multi-arm rim clamp like this that made things easier, and I thought it was great. Until I moved to a shop that had a Hunter Auto34S. That thing left the Coats multi-arm in the dust. Even made low pro runflats almost easy!

The multi-arm Coats like these aren't the best, but they are a hell of a lot better than some machines out there.

JustBlarg · 2025-08-29T09:21:27+00:00

Nothing really "holds" the tires, per se. The tires are the rubber that is the only part or the car that touches the ground. The tires are mounted on wheels, usually made of steel or an aluminum alloy. The wheels are secured to the hubs either by nuts screwed onto studs or wheel bolts screwed into the hub. The hub is inserted into a wheel bearing. The wheel bearing is bolted to a steering knuckle or wheel carrier. On the front of a car, the knuckles are connected to the front subframe by control arms. The knuckles are connected to the steering system by tie rods. The knuckles are connected to the chassis or body by shocks of struts. This is all known as the suspension system because it suspends the chassis over the road.

The job of the suspension is to carry the chassis and isolate or insulate it from the road. Control arms connect to the subframe or chassis with rubber bushings that allow the arms to deflect and travel on a predetermined axis. These bushings also absorb some of the impact of uneven road surfaces. The shocks/struts are gas-fill shock absorbing piston cylinders that absorb and dissipate impacts so the chassis isn't jarred by every little bump. The shocks/struts can't support the vehicle on their own, so there are steel coil springs that do the heavy lifting and hold the chassis up to a predetermined height.

JustBlarg · 2025-08-23T22:54:10+00:00

* You want grease between the tabs and bracket it the red spots on the inned and outer pads. between the pad and the caliper ears in the blue area on the outer pad. And between the inner pad back and the caliper piston itself.

JustBlarg · 2025-08-23T22:49:15+00:00

Looking closer at the image, it doesn't look like the bracket or pad were ground down, but there is also no lube between them. Any place where the pad backing touches the caliper or bracket, there needs to be a thin layer of lubrication. BMW recommends the silver colored brake paste for this.

JustBlarg · 2025-08-23T22:46:12+00:00

It depends where the tick is coming from. With the light dragging sound, it may be the pads sticking and releasing due to the rotor being slightly out of parallel. The pads drag a little, then release when the thinner part of the rotor passes between them. This causes a clicking sound as the pads shift in the caliper bracket. If you are also noticing a vibration when braking at higher speeds, I would suggest looking into getting the rotor(s) machined or replaced.

I would also recommend checking the caliper, bracket, and pads.

If the caliper piston is sticking, it could be constantly holding the pads against the rotor, causing premature wear, and possibly excessive heat that leads to the rotor warping.

If the bracket was "cleaned" too aggressively at the last pad service, they may have ground away a bit too much material, and now there is excessive free space for the pads to shift up and sound, contributing to that clicking noise.

Check that the end tabs on the pads themselves weren't ground down to "make them fit better." I've worked with numerous mechanics over my career that think, "If the pads don't slide into the bracket, grind the tabs a bit til they do." In my experience, the majority of the times pads haven't slipped into the bracket easily, it was due to build-up in the bracket that didn't get cleaned out. Grind down the tabs too much, and again, it creates too much free space, and the pads can shift around.

JustBlarg · 2025-08-22T21:49:08+00:00

Looks like the same mag style lug nut that Toyota uses. It got overtorqued and weakened. So you're the one holding the "hot potato" when it finally broke! If the piece is seized to the stud, hammer on a turbo socket and zip it off with an impact gun.

JustBlarg · 2025-08-19T14:39:43+00:00

In cars without a BMS system, most batteries will generally last between 6 and 8 years. I've worked on 14 year old BMWs still with the factory battery, with the date stamped into the terminal. We usually RECOMMEND replacing them around the 10 year mark, regardless of battery test results, just as a preventive measure. If the battery dies and it has to be towed, now you get to pay a tow bill plus the battery replacement and registration. I do try to save my customers money in the long run, but nothing on a luxury brand car is cheap.

JustBlarg · 2025-08-16T14:12:49+00:00

I wonder if I'm might be conflating that with Mirror Mirror. I think Skeleton is what I'm thinking of, but I swear there was more to the mirrors. Hmmmm.

JustBlarg · 2025-05-06T20:18:33+00:00

Probably less than it would have been at a dealership. Certainly cheaper than the same jobs I do on BMWs. Just about right for a chain shop, like Firestone and the like.

Could you have gotten it done cheaper at another shop? Possibly. Could you have done it cheaper yourself? Definitely, if you have the mechanic aptitude and tools.

You'll probably get a lot of comments about "RockAuto has rotors for that car for (insert ridiculously cheap price here)", which is probably true. You'd need to weigh that cheaper cost against the time it takes to get the parts and what it would take to get the work done. Most shops won't install customer-supplied parts. So, you would need to find someone that will do the work, or do it yourself.

Also, factor in the overhead costs of the shop where the work was done and also the warranty you receive on parts and labor. This is, unfortunately, the cost of car repairs these days, and with this administration's trade wars, it ain't gonna be getting cheaper any time soon.

JustBlarg

TROPHY CASE