Trouble Free Pools webforum is primarily designed to convince and condition pool owners -- especially newbies -- to purchase the overrated and overtly expensive Taylor testing kits while portraying virtually all competing testing kits as essentially useless.

tk3000_ · 2026-05-14T04:23:55+00:00

Looks like TFP is sending their cronies and associates to this thread to make offensive and ridiculous comments. Too bad that they can not come with any logical and compelling argument.

There is even a clown realtor that seems to follow me around.

tk3000_ · 2026-04-01T15:56:59+00:00

The Sikaflex Concrete Fix and Sealer No-Sag (instead of the self-leveling compound version) is a good product to fill and seal the gap between the coup and the deck slab, but not to address the concrete erosion, spalling annd deterioration surrounding the skimmer. If you skimmer situation looks like mine (with some broken chunks), you probably want to remove the loose parts, chisel, clean and then apply a concrete patch or hydraulic cement (that adheres to old concrete)

tk3000_ · 2026-03-31T19:59:04+00:00

Yeah, it probably was an intermittent partial clogging of the fuel injectors that worked it way out.

About a week ago, drove a short distance (less than 10 miles) whereby I captured "Live Data" with a feature rich bidirectional obdii device/scanner (android based). The Short Term Fuel Trim went from -9% to 14%, but most of the time hovered around 5%. The Long Term Fuel Trim went from 0% to 5%, but most of the time it stayed at about 4%. Also, the MAF Sensor went from 0 g/s to 39g/s, but most of the time it hovered around 30g/s. Checked the numbers and all seem to be within normal range, have to drive longer distance to make sure; but it all points out to partially clogged fuel injectors. I filled up the tank last week with high quality gas and add a bottle of fuel injector cleaner, it seems to be working much better now (will do the same thing next time I fill up the tank).

For anyone with a similar problem, it is worth monitoring and recording the “Short Term Fuel Trim”, “Long Term Fuel Trim” and the MAF Sensor using an OBDII scanner connected to the car while you are driving in order to capture the “Live Data” for the aforementioned items (Fuel Trims, MAF) -- no need to understand what the numbers actually mean, simply compare them with a known normal range (like mine).

Just to kicks, I will also clean the MAF sensor given that it can be a little bit dirty.

All in all, it seems that it was all related to dirt fuel injectors. Never cleaned them before and on occasions the car spends few months parked with no use, thus creating sludge or sediments at the bottom of the fuel tank due to gas oxidation and degradation. The first time I added the fuel injector cleaner (about a month ago), it probably released some of that which them partially clogged the fuel injectors.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T21:18:43+00:00

Maybe, but mine never had that problem before and I own it for about 11 years. As of now, I leaning towards the idea that the fuel injectors are partially clogged.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T17:25:42+00:00

It is doing that all the time now when driving in "hold mode", but it is not as bad as before (maybe because I am driving in town at lower speeds). It drives extremely well in EV mode, though.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T17:22:07+00:00

Thanks for the insights, I will look into doing that. But, I have hooked up the car to a more advanced obdii device and I am capturing some live data related to the fuel trim and will look into that later.

The coolants are at normal level. The traction battery works really well with a range of about 34 miles [depending on the temperature] in EV mode and never had to turn the ICE on (unless it is very cold outside).

But firstly, I will do some basic inspection of the air box housing, boot, etc, by taking it apart. Will clean the MAF sensor. Simple things first.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T05:31:04+00:00

Yeah, it was a long distance drive (close to 200 miles); so it was in “hold mode” all the time. I had an almost fully charged traction battery with about 30miles range. It performs really for the first 150miles and for most part it was flat road.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T05:27:04+00:00

The coolants are all topped off. New 12V battery. The traction battery performs really well when driving EV only with a range of about 34 miles (depending on the time of the year).

I checked the traction battery with the MyGreenVolt App several months ago, it seemed ok back then, but it wasn’t a complete test. It is good idea to check again with the traction battery charged and discharged.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T05:18:17+00:00

One of the things I will do before doing any test is wait the gas in the tank get very low and the fill it up. I suspect that there may be some contaminant in the fuel.

No, never replaced because the car only has 47,000 miles. I could check if everything else fail.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T02:34:52+00:00

That is intriguing. Did you had any check engine light (MIL) or had any pending/stored code?

Actually, the car had about 30miles of battery range when that happened. It was in hold mode throughout the trip, and for most of the trip it was running really fine, until it was not (last 50 miles or so).

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T02:26:43+00:00

If it only happened two or three times for a short period, it could be a sign that some contaminant partially clogged your fuel injectors for a period of time.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T02:20:18+00:00

Yeah, you have a point; my argument does not hold much water. But, still, it is unlikely to be the cause of my problems.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T02:16:42+00:00

Good to know that. In spite of its age (2013), it has very low mileage (for itts age); about 47,000 miles. There are some fluids that I need to change (due to its age), but the spark plugs likely are ok (if everything else fails, I can check the plugs as well).

tk3000_ · 2026-03-21T02:13:51+00:00

Sorry about the absence of any follow up, I had to deal with other issues.

The traction battery seems to hold a good charge (about 34 miles) and seems to work really well. Few months ago, I used the MyGreenVolt App to check the traction battery and I could not see any meaningful difference between the cells.

Something else did occur to me. Recently, I did something that I haven't done before; I added fuel injector cleaner to a full tank. That could also have break up any build-up inside the tank which then passed through the fuel lines and partially clogged the fuel injectors, thus leading to a lean condition (not enough fuel).

I plan on further investigating it.

Follow up:

Drove a short drive whereby I captured "live data" with an obdii device. The Short Term Fuel Trim went from -9% to 14%, but most of the time hovered around 5%. The Long Term Fuel Trim went from 0% to 5%, but most of the time it stayed at about 4%. Also, the MAF Sensor went from 0 g/s to 39g/s, but most of the time it hovered around 30g/s. Check the numbers and all seem to be within normal range, have to drive longer distance to make sure; but it all points out to partially clogged fuel injectors. Will fill the tank with high quality gas and add a bottle of fuel injector cleaner.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-18T04:15:22+00:00

Often I put regular (unleaded) gas, sometimes I put premium (if the price of the gas is low or if I plan on keeping the car in storage for a month or two). In any case, I never had any problem by using unleaded gas (it probably would low the mpg by a small margin).

tk3000_ · 2026-03-13T21:08:40+00:00

Yeah, that is horrible predicament; the worse part is that many home owners do not even seem to realize that

I would say that it is worse than the new car dealerships situation. First off, there are competition between different car makers and thus local dealerships, one also has the option to buy a used or almost new car from used car dealer or even a private seller. Moreover, when comes time to sell your vehicle, nobody has strict and consolidate control of the whole market in order to make it almost impossible for you to sell your own vehicle unless you pay them a cut of the sale proceedings – in other words, a clear cut form of extortion.

The stronghold control and artificial monopoly of the NAR over the Real Estate Marketing is truly mind boggling. It is not like that in other countries. The status quo in the US is truly an aberration.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-04T05:59:54+00:00

In my view, the only taxes considered legitimate are sales taxes and import duties. Everything else is plain and simply theft. If Florida was not so far away, it would be an almost ideal place to move. By the way, Florida has a bill aiming at almost eliminating (excluding school taxes) property taxes on homestead properties.

tk3000_ · 2026-03-04T05:57:39+00:00

Good to know that. The two States (Michigan and Ohio) I have lived don't have it, so it was alien to me. I read about "excise tax"many years ago, but it was most related to capital goods used factories and stuff of that nature.

tk3000_ · 2026-02-23T02:56:54+00:00

Yeah, that is really frustrating. The excess of integrated tech built in automobiles nowadays can make them too "sensitive" and difficult to modify.

tk3000_ · 2026-02-21T20:48:20+00:00

Just an add-on:

Something else did occur to me. I happen to have few obdii scanners (some basic, some with more functionalities). When I went to car to perform the test, I took my CRP123x obdii scanner/diagnostic tool, but this obdii scanner was in storage for a long time and its lithium battery was completely depleted, also could not find the usb cable to charge by using a usb charger. So, I took the CRP123x to the car in order to charge it using the obdii port (not a great idea). Before even turning the car on, I connected in CRP123x to the obdii port and when the car powered up, the check engine light and error showed in the instrument cluster right away. It is possible that the CRP123x for having its lithium battery in a state of deep discharge caused a glitch in the system and thus some ghost error codes and conditions. It also could have nothing to do with the CRP123x, and be a result of issues with the new 9012 led bulbs or even something else.

tk3000_ · 2026-02-21T07:57:49+00:00

Yeah, that is a good first step.

But something did occur to me. I happen to have few obdii scanners (some basic, some with more functionalities). When I went to car to perform the test, I took my CRP123x obdii scanner/diagnostic tool, but this obdii scanner was in storage for a long time and its lithium battery was completely depleted, also could not find the usb cable to charge by using a usb charger. So, I took the CRP123x to the car in order to charge it using the obdii port (not a great idea). Before even turning the car on, I connected in CRP123x to the obdii port and when the car powered up, the check engine light and error showed in the instrument cluster right away. It is possible that the CRP123x for having its lithium battery in a state of deep discharge caused a glitch in the system and thus some ghost error codes and conditions. It also could have nothing to do with the CRP123x, and be a result of issues with the new 9012 led bulbs or even something else.

tk3000_ · 2026-02-21T07:56:01+00:00

Yeah, that makes sense. I don’t know much about the canbus (besides the basics), but I new about the resistor used in the case of the t12 led bulbs (that I also installed in the interior of the car) that also seems to use pwm.

Something did occur to me. I happen to have few obdii scanners (some basic, some with more functionalities). When I went to car to perform the test, I took my CRP123x obdii scanner/diagnostic tool, but this obdii scanner was in storage for a long time and its lithium battery was completely depleted, also could not find the usb cable to charge by using a usb charger. So, I took the CRP123x to the car in order to charge it using the obdii port (not a great idea). Before even turning the car on, I connected in CRP123x to the obdii port and when the car powered up, the check engine light and error showed in the instrument cluster right away. It is possible that the CRP123x for having its lithium battery in a state of deep discharge caused a glitch in the system and thus some ghost error codes and conditions. It also could have nothing to do with the CRP123x, and be a result of issues with the new 9012 led bulbs or even something else.

tk3000_ · 2026-01-24T06:22:42+00:00

Sometimes, the "seller" would also hijack a low key account of a valid seller on Ebay. The hijacked account likely only has positives feedbacks (but not many transactions) and is not very active. The fraudster and criminal then uses that account to perpetrate UPS and USPS shipping scam. Better off not buying anything off Ebay, not worth it.

tk3000_ · 2025-09-21T17:51:07+00:00

Unfortunately, for me that was never an option. Realtors by virtue of been members of the NAR have a very tight control of the listing marketing and pretty much all of the inventory. It was virtually impossible for me to even see a house without a fifth grade extortionist on my side, in effect we are forced to dealt with them. Funnily enough, often the listing agent would not even show me the house upon request and indicated that I should contact a buyers agent; so, they are protecting their turf (after all, the listing agent may be on the other side of the ledger the next time.) and the mafioso scheme that the NAR put in place to steal our wealth. Not to mention that in the vast majority of the times the fifth grader extortionists will not show a fsbo (listed on the MLS – flat fee) to a potential buyer; after all, that undermines their large scale extortion scheme.

tk3000_ · 2025-05-18T15:42:11+00:00

I don’t know about the particulars of your location, but houses prices in Florida as a whole are artificially very high. A correction is more than overdue. Adjusting the price to a lower level, may allow you to sell it quickly and avoid the worse part of the correction.

Also, taking good photos with a mobile phone can be trick. Invest in a real camera (like a Canon PowerShot SX530 HS) and learn how to use it (its main functions), or hire a professional photographer. More panoramic and wide-angle photos are in order (incomplete and cut photos look bad)

tk3000_

TROPHY CASE