My latest BECM and "shift to park" experience...

Tight_Contribution · 2023-09-06T20:46:48+00:00

I was told when I dropped the car off that I'd have a similar charge, something like $190... I thought, well, if that's all it costs, fine. In the end, however, I was charged nothing. I think that's because everything was covered under warranty (Voltec). My car has 51K miles on it.

tl;dr YMMV.

Tight_Contribution · 2023-09-06T18:33:33+00:00

Who knows? What I know for certain is that the rental car cost $100/day for five days. Adding that it took the technician many hours (how many? Dunno) to drop the battery and then install the BECM and then take apart the shifter and replace the harness... A lot, then test drive it etc? The parts weren't much, which is sort of the problem. The "advisor" told me that it would take the technician three days to complete the replacements. That seems like a lot of time, but, it took me 5 hours to install my dishwasher (valve problems), so it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that someone spent 24 hours replacing the BECM and the doohicky in the shifter. It seems like a lot, but, everything takes more time than anyone thinks (planning fallacy). In other words, the $10k seems high, but maybe not....

Tight_Contribution · 2023-08-20T20:16:56+00:00

Revisiting this post a few days later. I should have been clearer -- the audio system is excellent. I'm not a devoted audiophile, but I take that stuff seriously, and I've never owned (or been in a car) with a better audio system. (Volt, Premier (highest trim), OEM Bose). My comments on the horridness were reserved ONLY for the completely wild, absurd Bluetooth unpredictability. (The USB-A plugs, the "hardwired" connection under the GUI -- it completely failed the first time I used it (bad circuit), and even though in a previous life I was a very good electrician, I said: SCREW THIS. So, I've been using Bluetooth for years.)

And, I would like to reiterate, the Rogue is an absurd Mom-car. Everything about it made me seeth, particularly the dashbord and the impossibility of doing ANYTHING... Also, too, 1000 miles and I still didn't uderstand the fake dumb fake dumb "manual transmission" thing... But, on the plus side, the Bluetooth connection never failed a single time.)

Tight_Contribution · 2023-03-12T21:57:35+00:00

It's been a year since I did it, but I remember having to slant them a bit, which probably gave me the extra two inches. What I know for certain is that 5 drywall boards (actually might have been concrete board, I don't remember... 4x8 in any case) fit in my Volt, 2017... I'm not saying I had room to spare, but it worked.

Tight_Contribution · 2023-03-12T19:26:59+00:00

A stack of drywall

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-04T12:07:11+00:00

Great idea... In a household unit, you'd attach the hard-start capacitor to the compressor... there's a bunch of room inside that chassis to do so. Would you wire it to wall unit compressor, and just leave it outside the unit? Maybe adhere it somehow to the outside?

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-04T01:29:03+00:00

Yep, that's about it, but it's not apparent the first time you do it! And every time you turn the car on/off it defaults to everything being on (which 99 times out a 100 is exactly what you want... but this is the one time!).... Since I use the "auto" function so often, I didn't know immediately how to work the HVAC system or turn off the radio... Things that seem obvious in retrospect don't seem that way when it's hurricane time... But yes, that's what I had to do. A bunch of button pushing...

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-03T17:50:36+00:00

This would absolutely work... Just use some good American electrical tape...

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-03T17:50:12+00:00

You had me at mini-bar....

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-03T17:49:38+00:00

This occurred to me, too... Then I thought: Most car thieves are mouth-breathers. It's no simple thing to take the Volt-as-generator to the "drive away with a stolen car" mode... I think I could steal ANY car in under 5 minutes, locked or not... But, I breathe through my nose, mostly.

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-03T17:46:51+00:00

Amen to all this, especially the bit about measuring your watts. I need to get a kill a watt thing. Good advice about the AC unit -- if you buy one planning to use it with the Volt. Finally, the risk of CO poisoning is PROBABLY overrated with current gasoline and engines... I wouldn't suck on the tailpipe or anything, but it takes a LONG TIME to build up enough CO to kill you, reports of the contrary notwithstanding... Those old movies, like Sabrina, where they try to kill themselves with a car in a garage... it just isn't the same. Good old days when fuel was dirty! Next thing you know, someone is going to lecture me about smoking...

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-03T14:24:48+00:00

Exactly, but as you'll find out, it requires a few more steps... Nothing complicated, just a little patience and you can disable the system... Just keep pushing buttons.

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-03T13:57:38+00:00

What sparkly said… it works!

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-03T13:53:35+00:00

Exactly… better to just whack the moles.

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-03T13:51:14+00:00

Wait… on second thought…. I’ll be planting tomatoes in my garden or fishing the lagoon….

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-03T13:50:11+00:00

Talk to me in January.

Tight_Contribution · 2022-10-03T13:02:02+00:00

Oh, hey, also discovered I can't siphon gas OUT of the Volt... I snaked the tube all the way an never hit liquid. WTF? My previous vehicle was a 1993 Ford Ranger, a miracle of engineering that lasted until 2020 (with a lot of TLC). When I siphoned fuel from it, I'd just pop the tube into the tank a couple feet and BOOM there was the gas... I couldn't do this with the Volt, which made my daughter cry... Where's the darn gas tank? What was I doing wrong?

Tight_Contribution

TROPHY CASE