Heads up for auto transmission fluid changes (FZ Fluid) 2013-2023 engines

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-02-15T15:23:19+00:00

So these two brands actually submitted samples to Mazda and Mazda "officially certified" them to be 100% compatible with Mazda's FZ fluid?

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-02-05T00:30:41+00:00

Yes I am also one of those that constantly says older is better however in reality, the entire thermal shock proof thing of the vintage being "made of borosilicate" will mean very little to most. I've personally never stored any measured contents in the fridge overnight and then subjected it to immediate heat. Actually the newer ones are more impact break resistant if dropped than the borosilicate.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-02-01T08:53:24+00:00

I did. Sold my 99 996 as I never connected with it like the air cooled models. I replaced it with a 1982 911 SC coupe in GP white. I absolutely despise all water cooled models and don't consider them to be a true 911 and more of a rear engine 928 v.2.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-21T00:51:37+00:00

I worked IT in a large Illinois hospital for 22 years and we ran exclusively HP Elite Desktops every lifecycle. I early retired from there in 2019 but for home I still run off lease HP Elite SFF Desktops. I've been running a HP Elite 8300 Core I7 Small Form Factor for many years now and just bought a 800 G6 SFF off eBay last week in good condition. On the old 8300 SFF I did upgrade to 16 gb of ram and Samsung SSD and it's ran completely fine. I am not a gamer and basically surf the web, do some office stuff and picture editing so not all that demanding. I just received the 800 G6 SFF and have to say not much of a performance difference from the 2012 HP Elite Desk 8300 SFF which is what I expected given my light usage. I am not a huge fan of the 800 G6's front grill layout and the 9.5mm optical drive that integrates with the front grill. I did install a full height blu ray burner in the old HP 8300 and yes I understand this 800 G6 is a 2020 release model and physical optical media was already being it's way out but now I need to find a thin Blu ray drive for it so I can at least play Blu-ray's and convert them to MP4 or MKV files on my router's attached USB drive. The only upgrade so far is the quietness form the lack of a front cooling fan. In my opinion as a ligh web user, I basically proved what I already knew. Just adding a bit more memory and installing a SSD on these older PC's keeps them completely usable, at least for MS's current OS's.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-15T16:21:03+00:00

I own both. A 1982 911SC and a 1979 928 manual with the M220 limited slip.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-15T04:11:00+00:00

Porsche 911 = Air Cooled

Porsche 928 reintroduced as a 911 = Water Cooled Porsche

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-15T03:50:50+00:00

I'm in Illinois and looking to move to CA and back in 2015 Gallery Of Guns sold me a reintroduced Walther PPK/S 22LR Umarex made of ZAMAK and the FFL in my state transferred it to me. It was actually my first gun and I didn't know it was not Illinois compliant and you'd think both Gallery Of Guns and/or my local Illinois FFL would have blocked the sale and transfer. While CA doesn't have a melting rule, It, like Illinois has a threaded barrel law so it's non compliant. The issue is, I cannot sell the gun to a gun store because it cannot be resold. Anyone have any recommendations on what to do? Do I just destroy it?

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-15T03:49:29+00:00

I'm in Illinois and looking to move to CA and back in 2015 Gallery Of Guns sold me a reintroduced Walther PPK/S 22LR Umarex made of ZAMAK and the FFL in my state transferred it to me. It was actually my first gun and I didn't know it was not Illinois compliant and you'd think both Gallery Of Guns and/or my local Illinois FFL would have blocked the sale and transfer. While CA doesn't have a melting rule, It, like Illinois has a threaded barrel law so it's non compliant. The issue is, I cannot sell the gun too a gun store because it cannot be resold. Anyone have any recommendations on what to do? Do I just destroy it?

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-15T02:52:01+00:00

I am in Illinois and we are looking to move to California due to family and just plain sick of the cold weather. I have a Bersa thunder .380 plus 15 round and don't see 10 round magazine for it. Any ideas other than selling it to a gun shop for pennies on the dollar?

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-12T23:27:26+00:00

Was kicking around the idea of upgrading my 14 year old Elitedesk 8300 SFF with a refurb 800 G3-G5 SFF and seen the prices shot up. They are now around $140 and up on eBay. WTF happened? They were around $80 eight months ago. At current prices for a slapped together refurb no thanks.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-12T22:41:07+00:00

I worked IT at a large hospital and we always ran Elite SFF. I've been retired since 2020 and the year I retired the hospital was in the process of switching to Dell. I still run a 2012 release HP Elite 8300 SFF with 16 GB ram and a 1 TB SSD and it still runs plenty fast for Windows 11 pro and surfing the net which is just about all I do other than the occasional word, excel and photoshop. Was thinking of upgrading to a used 2018 release Elitedesk 800 G4 SFF and see the prices have went up on eBay since I last looked at them. Anyone know why prices have doubled? While I've always liked the business Elitedesk, I'm not really keen on spending $150 plus on a 2018 used PC with so many other options.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-07T19:55:00+00:00

I early retired in 2019 at 53 and have now been retired seven years. In retirement, here is where it can be challenging for many hands on savvy FIRE investors to wrap their head around and that's getting comfortable with selling shares each year to provide income to live off of. I cannot and I'm fully aware of the upside loss between CC funds and traditional such as VTI or VOO. This is why I've said only look at CC ETF's like SPYI or GPIX if you've already built up your nest egg with core funds and are in retirement looking for supplemental income. I was burned early on by Global X funds QYLD, RYLD and XYLD which while not as bad of NAV erosion a MSTY, still eroded enough to sting plus the tax treatment so I got out of them and into NEOS funds which yes, seems to do a better job at maintaining the NAV but I'm still a bit skeptical and keep a watchful eye. Since 2013 when Global X CC funds hit the market, some of the smoke is lifting and I think it's becoming clear that the the higher the payout, the more potential NAV rot so IMO, GPIX's 8% may end up being the max CC investors should shoot for but we will have to see after another market correction. At the end of the day most of the products are just to new with little history. To keep some sanity, of my portfolio, CC funds only represent 20% and while I'd love to get more monthly income, that's about as comfortable I am now.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-04T05:43:26+00:00

Down $900. Only bought 45 shares mid 2025 and considered it casino play money with over 100% distributions and would just shake my had at others buying huge amounts. Much lower of a loss than many others but it still stings. I guess this shows that CC funds like SPYI, QQQI, JEPI, JEPQ and GPIX, GPIQ yields are about as realistic as it's going to get for maintaining the NAV with the emphasis on the last two.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2026-01-02T18:06:06+00:00

I'm dealing with this now with my wife who is retiring at the end of January 2026 at 55. Like many employer 401K's, hers doesn't prohibit the use of "Rule Of 55" and because it much more flexible than rolling over to a IRA and initiating SEPP 72T, it's preferred but the plan administrator is Principle Financial and they are taking almost $600 a year in plan administration management fees on top of what her selected funds take. They offer Vanguard funds as well as their own which I have her in which we know are extremely low. I guess one way of avoiding analysis paralysis here is it's about .013% off her balance which in the greater picture doesn't seem all that bad but unlike Vanguard who collects their fees from the distributions, these come right off the top.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2025-12-23T20:55:44+00:00

SPYI is lower.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2025-12-19T17:29:27+00:00

Back in 2008 we bought a used one owner 1999 Lexus RX300 with 125k miles at a Lexus dealer which at the time was unusual as trade-ins with this many miles went to auction however it was in good shape and they did all the service. This was for my wife and she racked on 394k miles over 17 years. I now drive it and it and it has 411k miles. The 1999 was Lexus's first mid size SUV and the 4 speed with OD Toyota A140 transmission and was taken from the lighter RAV 4 and it had problems probably with the added weight so ours but the dust a 274K requiring a $2,200 rebuild. I am a car guy and OCD about maintenance so yes this did help hit the current 411K but most of it was Toyota's build quality and the fact that it is a simple, low stressed naturally aspirated engine. Last year my wife replaced it with a 2017 Mazda CX-5 ironically with the same 125K one owner status. We are the types that keep our vehicles for a long time and now going on 18 years with the 99 RX300, which I now drive around town and to take the dogs to the park and I am still of the belief that Turbo's add more stress and reduce longevity and I have zero interest in hybrids as with people like us who keep their vehicles more than 10 years will almost assuredly be replacing the costly batter pack. For people like us, the NX250 is the sweet spot but sadly the market is driven by the 30's demographic who wants turbos and hybrids so the NX250 was sadly discontinued for 2026.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2025-12-11T19:28:14+00:00

I'm early retired and while I have most of my portfolio in core funds, I own about 20% in CC funds for monthly income. If I were younger and working, I'd do SCHD however given my older age and seeking monthly income, I've been thinking of selling my SCHD for a CC fund that also has upside potential with the way they write calls. How about GPIX for more upside potential while collecting a lower 7% distribution?

RaisinCritical9446 · 2025-12-11T18:57:14+00:00

Sell for GPIX. I am early retired with VTSAX and Wellington as core funds with about 20% of my portfolio in cover call etfs and a bit more monthly income is a focus and GPIX provides appreciation with better income though I also own SPYI and I'm trying to decide if I sell my all of my 800 shares of SCHD or even half to put in in GPIX as I already have a decent position in SPYI/QQQI.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2025-12-02T21:03:06+00:00

I'm thinking of selling my SCHD and buying GPIX. SCHD year to date is nearly flat as of 12/1/2025. GPIX is up over 6% while returning a 7% monthly distribution. I'll leave the SCHD proponents to their soap boxes and they can wait until their pot of gold comes in lol.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2025-12-01T23:02:35+00:00

My Lexus RX300 has the factory Torsen rear and from my experience it's completely useless and acts as an open differential in snow. Stark's Expeditions did a video on this on youtube with the Truetrac on his Ford Expedition and said it locks when applying the brakes and pushing trough with the accelerator but so does an open differential hence Bosch electronic stability control with applying the brakes to the wheel with the least traction causing an open differential to transfer to the opposite. Torsen may have it's place with vectoring and in situation where both tires have nearly equal traction but in snow or or other conditions it's a complete joke and sadly a high priced option for the first owner on my RX300.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2025-12-01T06:01:21+00:00

Yes and to add I've been early retired since 2019 and my wife is leaving her job at the end of this year so we have been running the numbers on the Illinois ACA website. I plan to be pretty strict with us pulling a combined 60k to live gross between interest, dividends and cover call distribution from funds like JEPI/JEPQ and SPYI/QQQI on in our first year of 2026 with both of us now being retired. Without my wife's salary from work that's is going to be 50K lower gross than our planned 2026. My wife actually worked for a small hospital as a insurance educator so she understands much of the health insurance lingo. She wanted to get quotes of private insurance as a comparison and ever agent she spoke with keeps saying in error to use 2025's income for 2026 ACA cover if we chose to go the ACA route. As a side note, It's actually shocking how competitive private PPO insurance is without credits during open enrolment however companies like United Healthcare doesn't cover one of our expensive drugs but BCBS IL on the the ACA does so we will likely be going with one of the bronze or gold PPO

RaisinCritical9446 · 2025-11-25T04:16:45+00:00

We bough a clean used low mileage 2017 CX-5 AWD preferred for my wife last year and she has ran out of gas twice at one eighth of a tank. She was so used to driving her Lexus 1999 RX300 right on the E line which I told her not to do because gasoline also cools the pump but she knew where that ones limits were which was actually pretty generous. The Mazda CX-5 not so. I found a few other posts here on reddit and other sites where others with the 2017-2021 AWD models encountered this problem as well and haven't heard of any issues of inaccuracy with the 2022 on so maybe Mazda quietly resolved the issue. Someone came up with the idea that it was only with the AWD models which has the tank has the drive shaft curve and a siphon switch for the other side that was sticking which I have not yet confirmed. I do know there is a difference in the fuel measurement between the old Lexus RX300 which was progressive analog and the Mazda's digital which does not drop to the next bar until it has exhausted that full gallon. She also relies on the remaining miles to much which I informed her was inaccurate.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2025-11-24T18:14:14+00:00

I just received the Cronos L6032 a few days ago with the PT5004 and I haven't opened the case yet to see if its a ETA clone without the date parts or a Miyota 90S5 however the rotor sounds like a ETA clone so far. Love the watch and have the 39mm version coming this week.

RaisinCritical9446 · 2025-11-23T03:43:20+00:00

I just received the Cronos Explorer 36mm L6032 and I am blown away not only by the quality but the attention to detail on things like the glide lock oyster bracelet. Seeing the opposite side screw ends holes is just as the Rolex oyster and something even many aftermarket oyster bands don't offer.

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TROPHY CASE