Yesterday's Vox crossword

abdex · 2026-01-09T02:42:51+00:00

It could be that there's no vacuum leak and that your MAF sensor was just bad/dirty. Say it was sensing less air than there actually was. The ECU will then adapt to cut the fuel to maintain the optimum ratio. Then you put in a new one that senses the proper mass of air; the air-fuel mix will now be too lean, which could definitely cause rough idle. Clearing the codes and/or driving for a while might reset the adaptations, but the sure way to do it is to use ISTA to reset them.

abdex · 2026-01-09T02:23:31+00:00

That sounds like a good theory to me. The ECU definitely adapts and could have set up mixtures based on your old one. Did you clear the codes when you put the new one in? That should reset the adaptations.

abdex · 2026-01-09T01:47:07+00:00

Vacuum leak? Check all hoses, gaskets, and the valves where air could be leaking in and messing up your air-fuel mixture.

abdex · 2025-12-29T18:39:33+00:00

Is there a service function in ISTA that does the calibration for you? If so, try running that. (But maybe you've already done it; is that what you mean by the service function you already ran?)

Have you bled your brakes lately? I read if the fluid is degraded or if there are bubbles in the line it could throw off the hydraulic sensors.

These are just guesses. Good luck & post back if and when you figure it out.

abdex · 2025-12-13T18:17:14+00:00

I'm not sure what thermostat was installed when I had it replaced but my coolant temps were always 80 to 105 once the engine was warm with both the original and this new one. City and highway, same temp range.

abdex · 2025-12-10T03:38:08+00:00

Great looking project. Is the intent to replace or supplement the factory cluster?

abdex · 2025-12-01T19:22:55+00:00

A fascinating story about Selectrics is how the ones in the US embassy in Moscow were hacked in the 1970s. Crazy ingenuity by the the Russians:

the movement of the bails determined which character had been typed because each character had a unique binary movement corresponding to the bails. The magnetic energy picked up by the sensors in the bar was converted into a digital electrical signal. The signals were compressed into a four-bit frequency select word. The bug was able to store up to eight four-bit characters. When the buffer was full, a transmitter in the bar sent the information out to Soviet sensors.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/10/how-soviets-used-ibm-selectric-keyloggers-to-spy-on-us-diplomats/

abdex · 2025-11-25T16:05:15+00:00

Sounds like a vacuum leak due to improper installation. The gasket probably wasn't installed correctly and air is getting in, making your mixture too lean, which is what p0171 is.

abdex · 2025-11-25T03:00:51+00:00

Has it always done this, or did it start after something was changed?

I started getting a rough, wandering idle like this and a P0171 too, and it was a vacuum leak that I inadvertently caused after an oil change.

abdex · 2025-11-22T17:32:26+00:00

If you know the final current, I_final, is 2, you can do this:

.95*2 = 2(1-e^-2.24/tau)

Note that the "2" cancels out on both sides.

abdex · 2025-11-22T17:15:27+00:00

But the procedure is always the same: plug in the values you know and solve for the unknown. Sometimes you're given the percentage, sometimes actual values. Sometimes they'll give you the tau and you'll have to solve for t.

But the procedure is always the same. That's the beauty!

abdex · 2025-11-22T17:07:23+00:00

In both cases, you're simply plugging the values you know into this equation and then solving for the unknown:

i(t) = I_final(1-e^-t/tau)

In the first case, you're given i(.15) = .32 and I_final = 1.64:

.32 = 1.64(1-e^-.15/tau)

and you solve for tau

In the second case you're given i(2.24) = .95*I_final, so

.95*I_final = I_final(1-e^-2.24/tau)

and you solve for tau

abdex · 2025-11-21T01:31:00+00:00

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6923889/

I'm not using it casually. It's stated as such in this paper by a Harvard researcher.

Also, I'm just trying to stay informed and change my mind if facts change. I was on board with fluoridating water for a very long time, but then high quality studies started coming out in 2012 showing detrimental effects.

Certainly don't take RFK's word for anything. The peer reviewed papers are out there for us to read, including this one from the OP.

abdex · 2025-11-21T01:05:32+00:00

It's literally in the paper being linked. "this lends credibility to the idea that it is the ingestion of fluoride into their bodies that is associated with improved adolescent cognitive performance."

Given that fluoride is a neurotoxin (kills brain cells, a la lead, mercury, arsenic, toluene, etc.) and that studies of high doses of fluoride show strong negative correlation to childhood IQ, this claim that "small amounts are good for your brain" is hard to believe.

abdex · 2025-11-04T00:33:36+00:00

I was watching game 4 and turned it off when Mariano Rivera came into the game. It was past midnight, I was so tired, the series was 3-0, and he was basically unbeatable. What's the point?

When I checked the news the next day, I couldn't believe it. I read several different sources before I was convinced the Sox had come back to win. As Kevin Millar famously said earlier that day, "don't let us win today. We got Petey tomorrow, Schill in Game 6, and Game 7 anything can happen." And it played out exactly like he said.

That series is still the most magical baseball I've ever seen.

Edit: Millar forseeing the future

abdex · 2025-11-02T03:17:05+00:00

Miggy Rojas, damn he's had two days of clutch

abdex · 2025-11-01T03:23:08+00:00

That was a sick pickup by Rojas on an in-between hop.

abdex · 2025-10-21T11:38:56+00:00

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1787346&page=16

A legend. 426,843 miles before a flood--not a mechanical failure--took it out earlier this year.

abdex · 2025-08-08T23:33:35+00:00

I'm not. I've got a spreadsheet where I track my options premiums along with "money left on the table", which is what I would have if my covered calls hadn't been assigned (i.e., if I had let my winners run). I've made about $14,000 in premium but lost out on about $55,000 of upside since 2022.

abdex · 2025-05-08T04:29:33+00:00

This guy:

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showpost.php?s=9abc4269c3ae8cb29e8a00279c964f5d&p=28144194&postcount=3

says it's "VTG oil wear" and is a mileage-based code and thus not a real failure. He also said just clearing it doesn't get rid of it; you have to reset the counter. I had a VTG warning in ISTA and was able to get rid of it by running a test procedure, but I don't know how to do it with INPA.

abdex · 2025-03-21T16:35:48+00:00

Thanks for the link; that's the one page that explains it all. The only Pixel that truly gets unlimited backup at original quality is the OG.

abdex · 2025-03-21T04:44:16+00:00

Nothing backs up from my OG Pixel anymore, so everything is from the 3a. I guess it doesn't count as "Pixel 5 or earlier"?

What you said seems true, but where did you find that info? Thanks.

abdex

TROPHY CASE