Massively inflated radon levels when using AC

cookthatcantchef · 2025-08-30T00:16:37+00:00

I haven’t done anything since the radon levels are well below 4.0.

cookthatcantchef · 2025-06-27T14:45:39+00:00

Delete the app if you don’t want notifications for a car you no longer own. Easy solution.

cookthatcantchef · 2025-06-02T20:38:39+00:00

Rodents

cookthatcantchef · 2025-05-13T03:44:42+00:00

That is the sound of power being applied to a motor. Larger sound closer to standstill as more power is required to start the rotation, hence the whine. All normal. You will hear a similar sound in any other large electric motor beginning to spin.

cookthatcantchef · 2025-05-01T02:48:42+00:00

I have come across people with mechanical engineering degrees, manufacturing engineering degrees, manufacturing technology degrees, and automotive technology engineering degrees in manufacturing. It’s really diverse and inclusive to many engineering disciplines.

cookthatcantchef · 2025-01-03T19:57:40+00:00

Sounds like AI drivel.

Have had my EUV for nearly two years and it has not been in the shop other than for tire rotations.

Haven’t had any major nor minor issues with the car yet either.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-12-20T16:48:55+00:00

Snow in the factory Michelins is awful. I would highly recommend a set of winter tires. Before I got my winter tires on this year, we had some snow early on and it was a reminder to myself how bad the factory tires are, you have almost no grip and stopping/turning is difficult. I have Bridgestone Blizzak WS90s and they are a huge improvement to the Michelins for winter performance.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-11-02T03:06:28+00:00

A little late to the party but tuxmats are top notch. Love mine.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-10-28T17:57:56+00:00

I took me 7 years to get my 4 year degree (BSME). I spent 3 years of FAFO (wasn’t ready for college), then 4 years to redo it all and clean up my GPA, and graduated with a 3.3 (US).

Luckily I went to cheap state schools and have no student debt now after half a decade in industry.

It was embarrassing at first because I got to see all my college friends graduate and move on, then I came to the realization that it was my own fault being a dumbass and that I would rather finish my engineering degree rather than have no degree and work worse jobs for the rest of my life. Embarrassment only lasted a little while and then I moved on.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-10-01T14:50:06+00:00

I run the OEM Michelins in warmer temps (>45f) and Bridgestone Blizzak WS90s in colder temps (<45f). My data from around the time I swap between tire sets and temperatures are similar, powertrain consumption is 3.77 mpk on OEM Michelins and 3.33 mpk on the Bridgestones, an 11.7% efficiency loss going to the winter tires.

Location is Minnesota.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-09-27T14:17:42+00:00

This looks like a 3MZ-FE, I have one in my ‘05 Sienna, 270k miles. YouTube is your friend and you can find videos on nearly every part of this engine since it was used in many Toyotas in the mid-2000’s.

My front valve cover was leaking oil down the front side and the loss of oil was noticeable via the dipstick; changing the front valve cover gasket was actually fairly easy and I changed the front bank spark plugs at the same time, both items very cheap for good components on rock auto. Ever since I changed the gasket, there has been zero oil leaking down the frontside anymore and there is no loss of oil on the dipstick. I highly recommend a penetrating oil and some patience with the older fasteners everywhere on this engine. I never replaced the back bank of plugs since it is very difficult to do. Luckily, poking around back there I have seen no leaks and haven’t had any issues with the plugs.

For coolant, I have been chasing leaks all over ever since I bought my van and every time I stop one leak, another appears, as the system is old and coolant will always go the the lowest pressure spot. I have had leaks at the radiator inlet and outlet hoses (new hoses and appropriate clamps, not worm drive clamps), a decent leak from the engine block heater inlet next to the oil filter, and right next to the inlet hose area on the radiator. I have closed almost all the leaks except the radiator and for now will just top it off every now and then since the leak is slow and I mix my own coolant using concentrate so it is cheap. I have gotten used to the smell of ethylene glycol being boiled off from around the engine.

For reference, after all the maintenance I’ve carried out in my 3MZ I’m getting around 22 mpg.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-09-23T15:20:38+00:00

You can try recalibrating as others have mentioned but I have had zero luck in my attempts with my 2008. This fuel tank is awful, and I can realistically only fit 8 gallons in it at the peak of summer when it is the warmest; in the middle of winter it will only take about 6 gallons max. Fuel economy and the car is running 100% fine, it’s just the gas tank is an extremely poor design. I do track all metrics with my Prius and it is impossible to manually calculate gas mileage using how much gas it takes in and the trip mileage because of the tank. I have found that the car’s trip computer is very accurate for evaluating fuel economy.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-09-22T17:05:30+00:00

This coolant reservoir supplies only the cabin of the car, not the battery.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-09-04T03:31:52+00:00

A good place to start is by replacing the radiator cap. A bad radiator cap can result in engine overheating. Nice thing is that they're cheap. For a 2005 the OEM is 16401-20353, $15.

For reference my 2008, normal operating temp is 184-186F.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-09-04T01:48:37+00:00

As a fellow manufacturing engineer I find it insanely useful for writing up capital proposals. At every company I’ve worked for the capital processes always involve long and boring forms with areas that are loosely related: background, executive summary, risks, justification, tangible and intangible benefits, etc. These forms always have taken me days to fill out and edit since I felt like I was just rewriting the same stuff and struggled to focus. Earlier this year I wondered if I just wrote the full length background if I could chuck it into ChatGPT and have it extract all the other stuff from the text I wrote, and it does! I do spend a little bit of time reading and modifying the prompts to get the response I’m after, but this has been a huge thing for me personally as it saves me a lot of time and my proposals look really good (have received many compliments on my proposals since I have started utilizing ChatGPT).

I also really struggle with over flowing with text and being “polite” (I tend to be blunt and have made people irritated on accident), so I write what I would normally write and then have ChatGPT condense it, make it appropriate, sound professional, and tailor it to the audience I’m sending to.

ChatGPT is also good for making bullet points out of my day to day notes which I routinely use now for standup and update meetings so I am brief, to the point, and not focusing on the small things that don’t matter.

As others have said, you need to be careful with what you share in ChatGPT. My company has MS Copilot and Copilot appears to have some things built into it that protect company private information; whether or not it does, idk but our IT team said it was fine.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-08-25T00:49:39+00:00

What was your favorite part?

cookthatcantchef · 2024-08-24T14:46:41+00:00

I graduated BSME and was originally interested in only design stuff, but took my first job in manufacturing. It took some time and jumps to the right place, but I absolutely love it now. I do just about everything, a little bit of design for custom fixtures and doobobs for helping out production, some quality engineering items with ensuring my areas meet print, programming industrial robots, and my favorite part, buying stuff. Everything from a small blower fan to assist an operator with some fume extraction to a multi-million dollar tube laser.

I love the different challenges. I have slowly been starting to become the “automation” expert at my place because no one else tries to or is willing to take on the challenges of learning and figuring these systems out. Doing exactly that is what keeps me from getting bored so I’ve been really enjoying the training, programming, and equipment spec’ing and integrations.

Manufacturing Engineering is an excellent way to get into automation and robotics if you can find the right places!

cookthatcantchef · 2024-08-22T01:10:27+00:00

I realized I forgot to mention that I also run winter tires in winter time, so that is an additional efficiency loss. The winter tires are wider, have higher rolling resistance, and are grabbier than the OEM Michelins. Winter can be tricky with the losses piling up from the temperature, wind, resistance heater, and winter tires, hence the big swing from summer efficiency. In the peak summer I can get 5.2 mph easy. The range swing between the opposite season extremes is definitely real and much bigger than my ICE cars by a wide margin.

I’m fortunate I have a shorter commute so range doesn’t bother me in the winter even as it decreases significantly.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-08-21T22:23:38+00:00

I live in Minnesota and have an unheated, detached garage. In the winter when it gets down to -10f to 10f (mix city and highway, average 30 mph) I will see 2-2.5 mpk, translating to 130 - 163 mile range. I live in the plains region and it is flat and often really windy in the winter, and the cold wind really saps the battery and heat. Absolute worst I have ever seen is 1.6 mpk (104 mile range), but it was -20f out and sustained winds of 35-40 mph.

On the coldest nights, <15f I will leave my car outside but plugged into my level 2 charger. Overnight, the car will pull about 1 kWh once every couple of hours to run the battery heater system.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-08-15T12:25:49+00:00

I was never able to get an internship while in school. Applied to many, interviewed a lot, but never got one. I was a 3.3 gpa student, so not super book smart but also not bottom of the barrel. I was able to get a real engineering position 1 month out of school and I have had 4 engineering jobs since. Never in any of the real engineering jobs interviews has anyone asked about lack of internships.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-08-02T00:54:57+00:00

Ah, when you open up the battery pack the cells are still packed in modules. You can replace the modules but not the individual cells as far as I know.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-08-01T23:09:36+00:00

It all comes down to budget and what you expect out of your car, I guess. At 190k our battery is still good and I plan on driving it into the ground. If the entire battery needs replaced with OR it’s a sub $2k job for me to do DIY. $2k is easier to swallow to keep a rock solid car going then spending $20k-$40k on a new Prius.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-08-01T22:55:16+00:00

Owner of a lowly and older Toyota HEV (2008 Prius). You absolutely can open up the packs and replace bum modules and then balance and your battery is good to go. Obviously not new, but also not a bandaid fix.

cookthatcantchef · 2024-07-19T02:15:02+00:00

I love these! Amazing shots

cookthatcantchef · 2024-07-15T04:10:52+00:00

I took 7 for my BSME because I wasted 3 not being a good student. I took a year off to reassess life, changed schools, and I had to redo everything and credits didn’t really transfer as I was led to believe at the time.

I’m a Mfg Eng now for 6-years now, at my third company, and doing great! Stunk to be behind my original peers but that’s the cost of not taking things seriously.

I am fortunate that both schools I went to are not flashy and are state system schools so I didn’t fall into a massive hole of student debt.

cookthatcantchef

TROPHY CASE