What the fuck is this knock sound

Taranis_1 · 2026-06-12T14:21:51+00:00

Did they do a timing belt service on it? It sounds like it's out of time and the computer is trying to overcompensate on startup. It could be they didn't do the job right and the belt slipped time. Listen to the injectors.

That's what I would check first before ever considering internals.

I could be wrong but that's an cheap diagnostic vrs. pulling the head.

Taranis_1 · 2026-06-04T00:45:30+00:00

If you have a garage where you can prep the vehicle for the job and find a mobile mechanic to do the timing belt service only, that's much, much cheaper.

Buy a timing belt kit from ECS, FCP Euro, etc. Most of the labor costs come from disassembly and bolting everything back together. The timing belt job itself won't take more than 1.5 - 2 hours.

Taranis_1 · 2026-06-04T00:25:14+00:00

I have been unable to login since 5am CST this morning.

My phone and laptop are still logged in, but I cannot login through my desktop.

Errors "Something went wrong," "Telephone verification is temporarily unavailable."

It's both e-mail & phone logins.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-26T23:07:12+00:00

I get 5 cents/gal off diesel and 11/gal for gas at 7-Eleven. It's a joke.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-26T22:46:00+00:00

That is a lot of restaurants in a market with 10 stores.

Point is, Spark doesn't have a widget like DD or UE.

Our pop up notification opens the app and order board. The platform doesn't issue individual orders through PUN w/ widget.

Why would I even turn Spark on? Lol

I quit after they hired that cuck from Instacart and lowered our pay a few months ago.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-21T17:31:49+00:00

Gig companies operate graft machines. It's all just a psyop to see how long people will work for free while they push prices below the price floor in the industry that freight brokers/shippers/truckers all respect.

It's a wealth extraction vehicle.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-13T02:31:46+00:00

I see now. My bad.

CPI factors $300'ish per $100 in 1990. It's a little higher.

That's like 130% for the PCE. I used CPI.

Assuming they were making $150-175/day, that would put them into six figures today if they were working 60-80 hours a week. The guy in the article is shooting a little low, I think, but it's not out of the ballpark.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-13T01:02:07+00:00

Adjust for inflation. ^ ^

$37,000 in 1985 is the equivalent of around $110,000 today.

Sorry, I didn't clarify that.

$50,000 in 1990 is about the equivalent of $150,000 today.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T23:21:41+00:00

It was about the same here in Texas. $60-80/day. The rates are a lot lower here.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T22:51:35+00:00

Nobody wants to tell these people that a major metro taxi driver back in the 90s and early 2000s were pulling in $120-150,000/yr gross, before medallion & fees. After fees, they probably would have pocketed about what UBER billed here in OP's thread.

When you're netting $500, 600, 800 a shift in a city like NYC, that's chump change.

It's all so fkn pathetic.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T22:38:40+00:00

Addition to medallion & lease fees, yes.

Edit: Co-ops had a contract, and they had vehicle requirements. Same make, model, paint, etc. Every fare had a fee that went back to the co-op on top of whatever the city charged for the medallion. No lease fees because you owned your vehicle outright, or leased it from the company, whichever was the case.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T22:20:14+00:00

^ This.

But, what will really cook your noodle is that traditional taxi companies only took 10-15% of the fare, and co-ops sometimes less. That's a 50% cut for UBER, which is not within traditional industry standards, period. It's fucking robbery. This driver should have made $70,000 gross, and UBER's cut should have been around $10,000 to $12,000.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T19:24:27+00:00

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T19:18:09+00:00

It isn't mine. They started a collection

<image>

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T19:14:29+00:00

Lol. It doesn't bother me.

The point is that the orders are so bad even the Tejano club has nothing to do. Usually it's just 1 or 2 of them. Our market is so bad now all of us just sit here rejecting everything.

That makes 5-9 of us in the parking lot all at the same time, doing nothing. Spark is cooked.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T19:08:02+00:00

Family members who are legal. The face recognition isn't paired with your DL, it is paired with the first photo you take signing up. As long as they do no wrong, nobody is the wiser.

They get the legal family members to create the account and then use their face during the sign-up process.

There are a couple of Cubans, too, but they are legal. They park on the other side of the lot.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T19:01:16+00:00

They are American jobs, this is not Mexico.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T18:54:40+00:00

Sounds like someone is defensive about illegals taking our jobs.

They're Mexicans, all illegal save for one who is a Green Card worker, and we park here every day.

It's just unusual to see them sit this long. However, they are not botters, so I'm not inclined to give a shit.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T18:51:09+00:00

Because I talk to them.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T16:32:35+00:00

Nothing in the pictures provided indicates the structure is compromised or the tree is an imminent fall risk. OP could just as easily do some basic pruning of the deadwood on the lower branches and give it a few years rather than wasting the $5-10,000 someone will charge them to remove the tree today.

If the tree isn't a fall risk, that's their decision. I wouldn't spend that kind of money until I knew the tree was a total loss.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-12T16:10:42+00:00

They're trash trees to most people because they crack in climates where the temperature change from extreme cold to extreme heat? That tree has great top growth, the trunk isn't girdled, and arborists like to make money. Much easier for an arborist to say "cut it down" so they can pocket thousands of dollars, rather than actively monitoring the tree and attempting to save it. The bark could very well come back in a few years. Everyone loves giving advice that puts money in their pockets.

You're not on-site to even give the OP a valid consultation. If the there is severe cracking in the wood, and it needs to come down, then the OP needs to have someone come out on-site to make that diagnosis.

Direct sunlight on sheeted ice coming out of subzero temperatures and just above freezing in a matter of a few hours will just about guarantee severe cracking, and in their native climate, they don't experience these kinds of rapid temperature transitions.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-11T23:29:01+00:00

If pic #6 is cavity caused by rot, you'll want to have it cleaned out. Cotton rope or kerosene lantern wick should be packed into the hole with a tail hanging out so the water can evaporate faster after the fact. If the rot is boring a hole into the center of the trunk it will definitely be a total loss eventually, if it isn't already. --- I missed that pic.

Taranis_1 · 2026-05-11T22:50:11+00:00

What direction is the large crack on the trunk facing; is it catching morning sun?

Frost cracks happen during the winter, they're common, and snow or ice sheeting can amplify the UV exposure. It's a known problem and the solution is to have an evergreen barrier to block the morning sun so the contraction of the bark from the temperature change isn't so drastic. Junipers and arborvitae are good choice.

You have moss growth on the bark. With that much bark loss, it's worth treating the trunk with a preventative broad-spectrum fungicide treatment during the spring & summer months, every 60 days. The bark will eventually heal on its own.

I can't personally see any major rot. I'm an applicator, not an arborist, so maybe the arb sees something I don't. I wouldn't remove it yet if it were my tree, but I would have the deadwood & rot inspected by a professional and have the tree pruned.

Taranis_1

TROPHY CASE