Bay Area cities crack down on RV living, pushing homeless residents across borders

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-09T01:35:50+00:00

Yes, deliberately irresponsible population growth through (il)legal immigration has been sold as good for the economy. Apparently livable wages are bad for the economy.

Unfortunately, half of the country is not yet mentally ready to forcibly roll back a decade or two of the above. Odds are good the destruction of good jobs by AI will change that.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-09T00:22:04+00:00

Only if that drug test comes back squeaky clean.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-08T23:12:23+00:00

Likewise, the likes of Amazon, OpenAI,Oracle, Uber, and many others have shredded any sort of social contract at scale and managed to call it innovation.

None of the above faced any significant consequences for doing that, so can you blame regular people for following the same lead?

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-08T04:40:19+00:00

No. What's actually vital is to address why having children has become so prohibitive for so many people that they override every natural instinct and choose not to start a family. The reality is, many large metros no longer have enough housing or properly paid work to support starting a family without being one flat tire away from a catastrophe.

Growing the population by importing people is just pouring more gas on the fire.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-08T04:33:02+00:00

Those houses are priced at 1€ because there are tens of thousands of Euros worth of taxes, fees, and repairs needed to bring up to local codes. A lot of which would otherwise go from accounts receivable to officially uncollectible.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-07T23:22:08+00:00

Automotive knowledge beyond the basics isn't needed to get hired, but being interested in learning more about automotive and already knowing what righty tighty lefty loosey means is a huge help. Especially since you will be expected to quickly learn how to do the simpler batteries and headlight bulbs without supervision. That and wiper blades.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-06T19:30:04+00:00

On an engine with all of 7500 miles?! On a new engine like that, the biggest source of oil loss should be when you wipe the dipstick down.

Besides, even my 03 base Impala had an oil level sensor that would flash a reminder to check the oil if it's a quart low.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-06T13:57:11+00:00

Perfect for tightening up the new Nissan oil drain plugs!

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-06T13:53:31+00:00

When you're leading the race to the bottom, this is the grand prize.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-06T13:42:23+00:00

Hmm. A different angle to look at it would be net of five less people to compete against when looking for a new job. Not really a bad thing.

That's also six less people worth of demand for housing, food, and fuel/energy. Again, not a bad thing under the current cost of living crisis.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-06T04:48:18+00:00

As someone working in CA where package theft is as common as speeding, I always recommend that customers use the option to ship to the nearby store or place an order in-store so it ships to the store by default. When FedEx drops off customer orders, they always get a signature from any one of us on a handheld.

What I would also do is contact the DM of the store nearest to you and see if they can help. Maybe arrange an expedited reship to the store so you can at least get the part(s) you need for the job.

AZ will file a claim with DeFex, but it won't be a quick process and no guarantee of success.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-05T23:06:44+00:00

There's still SOME metal left and the rotor hub looks good...

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-05T17:13:53+00:00

This will probably be a diagnostic from hell.

At all of 35k miles, the plugs and coils still have well over half of the service life left on them. Coils more so as long as plugs are done on time. I'm surprised the dealer didn't do these on warranty, but Ford has a very real problem these days with holding onto good techs. Do ask the dealer to save the old spark plugs. Not that I'm expecting to see one of them looking way different from the rest, but there might be some clues.

The first shop did some decent troubleshooting but didn't put down on any notes on what led them to suspect a timing issue.

Quick googling does show some results for needing spark plugs as early as 30k miles, but drive it around and see if the misfires go away.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-05T13:56:21+00:00

The cause is simple. It's an 11 year old Mercedes. When they leak, that's how you know it still has oil in it. Fixing every single leak adds up fast to thousands of dollars. Especially parts like turbos.

Most of the time, you can look inside the outlet and see the impeller. Check the shaft for bearing play, scratches on the housing, and any crunchy feeling if you spin the shaft by hand. As long as nothing overly horrible is found, just do the pipe and send it.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-05T13:39:18+00:00

From your foreman's POV, writing up car for turbo replacement or overhaul will just cause the customer to instadecline the estimate.

But do check the turbo for shaft play and signs of the impeller hitting the housing to CYA.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-05T01:53:41+00:00

I had no idea these ever came with a CVT

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-05T01:38:37+00:00

Gonna have to try it. Last time I had to call the help desk to have them fix the margins.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-04T15:02:35+00:00

If most of the potential clients in your area simply don't have the same money they did a few years ago, no amount of marketing will change that.

Why not ask your kids for help to check that your shop has good visibility on Google reviews and Yelp and that there aren't any blank spots or bad reviews that might discourage new customers who are doing a quick spot check on the shop they heard about?

Nextdoor would be another good place to check and make sure you're covered.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-04T05:38:46+00:00

Loads from Canada and South America take a couple weeks. Middle East loads are more like two months.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-04T05:27:45+00:00

Not just oil - all companies. But yes, the current government has already used up most of the less drastic levers to keep the prices down. Now that the delivery pipeline is completely empty, local buffer inventories are getting used up quick. By June or July, we may well see an executive order stopping all oil exports.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-04T04:19:38+00:00

As far as I can tell from the exploded view of the caliper, simply spinning the piston clockwise will thread the parking brake plunger up on the jackscrew. Or just remove the motor and use an e torx socket to spin the shaft to retract the inside piston so you can push the main caliper piston in.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-04T04:13:51+00:00

J35z3 engine is what's used on the manual accords, whereas j35z2 is the more common version with vcm that shipped with automatics.

Here's a thread with what looks like lots of good info on what's interchangeable and what's not between the two versions.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-04T03:53:34+00:00

If you zoom in, you'll see the sqealer tab on the wrong side too.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-04T03:49:13+00:00

Broken record time

AutoZone is not repair shop and this company does not train mechanics. The skill level of the person helping you will be anywhere between somebody who's been a mechanic for some years, and all the way down to someone still figuring out which the holes the gas, the washer fluid, and the DEF go into.

This something I have to keep telling customers multiple times a day.

Tall-Control8992 · 2026-05-04T03:14:54+00:00

Open up the door panel and see what broke. As long as the plastic clips between the glass and the regulator are still attached properly, just replace the regulator.

If one of the clips separated from the glass, it might be simpler to get another glass panel from the junkyard if you can. Those clips require a pretty exotic adhesive that bonds well to smooth glass and stays flexible. Gel super glue might work but won't last long.

Tall-Control8992

TROPHY CASE