Running Bear's February 2025 Coffee Shop

[kbkchooch]

They can recommend 10k oil changes all they want, I think 5k is pushing the envelope.

I buy Rain-X premium wiper blades. I keep a gallon of washer fluid handy to clean my windshield if needed as the car warms up. Wiper blades can last for years with proper care.

I'm with you. I change my oil every 5K. I only go that far because I use pure synthetic extended life (20K) oil and Fram's premium filters. Overkill on oil changes is much cheaper and easier than repairing or replacing an engine.

I have 172K on my Equinox and it doesn't use a drop of oil between oil changes.

I want nothing to do with my dealer's bulk synthetic blend. I don't want an inexperienced mechanic to change my oil. I may be a broken-down old f#$% but I can still change my oil in ten minutes if necessary. I like looking under my car from time to time and that is my excuse as to why I take twenty minutes to change my oil.

5K with full synthetic is all I use. I've seen too many 8-10K motors apart that you need a putty knife to dig down to see parts of the valve train to do anything else.

Rain-x blades good, Rain-x washer fluid even better. I treat my glass with Rain-x at least once a year, great stuff!
I don't use my wipers as much with it.

Louis if your dealer is pushing synthetic blend he's an idiot. Every GM car since 2010 or so REQUIRES full synthetic. Good choice on the oil, I'd be leary of the Fram filters though. In test by Consumer Reports the Fram filters don't fare so good. I'd stick with OEM or Wix filters myself.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Arrived home with grandson safe and sound. As for the flood alerts? "Kiddies keep out of the puddles."
Oh by the way. A few days ago today is the day we should be knee deep in snow?????
Who is telling who to scaremonger people? It is relentless.

Flo, I need a Scotch or something strong. Got to take grandson home later, so no alcohol. I'll have another cup of tea please.


I am sure I have posted this Peckett B2 loco before
I love it.

View attachment 211765

Cute

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Good evening gentlemen. A huge train show today in Allentown; Spring Thaw Train Meet. Hiding in the back of one gentlemans table was this kitbashed EP4:

Cabs are out of AHM C-Liner and while not perfect, the paint job and decals are excellent. The Metro North has just done P32AC-DM in that same paint scheme as one of their heritage series: https://railfan.com/metro-norths-sixth-heritage-unit-pays-tribute-to-new-haven/
The model i picked up rides on GG1 chasis which is almost correct, as the dimensions and wheel arrangement were the same on both types. Anyway the locomotive will get Kadee couplers and will be employed in the service on Waldenburg Midland. With a little of daylight left i'm out on the railroad:

 

[KriegslokBR52]

News flash!

Wife wants me to take her to Hobby Lobby! This could end badly!

Not sure what the problem is, you could employ her on your layout detail squad.

 

[migalyto]

The Metro North has just done P32AC-DM in that same paint scheme as one of their heritage series: https://railfan.com/metro-norths-sixth-heritage-unit-pays-tribute-to-new-haven/

Rapido Trains have pretty much eluded on Facebook that they will probably produce this in Ho.

Makes sense since they are already doing the P32AC-DM

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Rapido Trains have pretty much eluded on Facebook that they will probably produce this in Ho.

Makes sense since they are already doing the P32AC-DM

View attachment 212618

Very classy paint scheme, both on the old New Haven and this P32AC-DM

 

[bnsf971]

I'm with you. I change my oil every 5K. I only go that far because I use pure synthetic extended life (20K) oil and Fram's premium filters. Overkill on oil changes is much cheaper and easier than repairing or replacing an engine.

I have 172K on my Equinox and it doesn't use a drop of oil between oil changes.

I want nothing to do with my dealer's bulk synthetic blend. I don't want an inexperienced mechanic to change my oil. I may be a broken-down old f#$% but I can still change my oil in ten minutes if necessary. I like looking under my car from time to time and that is my excuse as to why I take twenty minutes to change my oil.

When I bought the car, it came with 24k maintenance included. LOF, tire rotation, and car wash.

 

[Boris]

Good evening. 32° after a high of 42°, as the warm up continues. I slept through the Orioles Preseason opener debacle, and watched the Capitals soundly trounce Rival Pittsburgh 8-3 in the Steel City. I have been slowly working to complete portions of my railroad. Most notably the early 20th Century steel mill complex.

Long way to go, but it's taking shape.

 

[Old 97]

Hello Flo! My internet service went down yesterday afternoon. I'm running on cellphone service. My fuzzy eyes prefer the screen on the PC. Anyways, hopefully it'll be up a bit later. There's an outage but provider website says no outage and they had an outage listed before, so now nothing has changed except the official listing of no outage. If you got this far, thanks for reading because I got dizzy writing the pretzel of a picture about an outage with a no outage listing. Now that I think of it, I'll have a bit of cake. Death by chocolate please. Just a big piece that looks small. Double shot of milk. Oh! You're wearing mixed match bunny slippers!! Sit down. I brought an extra spoon from home.

 

[Bruette]

I don't use the Fram filters myself as I had an engine oil starve due to their cheap construction.

I'd be leary of the Fram filters though. In test by Consumer Reports the Fram filters don't fare so good.

Interesting, in all my years I have only seen one filter fail. Ironically, it was Wix, but it was old stock, the filter material fell apart and clogged the filter.

I know Wix is high quality, they are the only filters Ryder uses and having worked for Ryder I know they only buy the best.

I only buy Fram's premium extended life filters for synthetic oil. And I only buy them one at a time. Amazon even ships them sealed in a plastic bag.

I was able to catch it before the engine ate itself.

Well done! The one I saw was a pickup, a service truck only driven by mechanics with an engine knocking and needed to be rebuilt. A $1000 job because of an old filter. We only had one 302 in the fleet. Why the parts manager bought two cases of filters for it is beyond me.

Louis if your dealer is pushing synthetic blend he's an idiot.

My dealer, Koon's Cheverolet white marsh's service manager is an idiot!

This the guy who wanted to charge me $500 to replace both headlights. Even after I told him I was driving when they both went out, he said, "maybe the car got hit by lightning" I told him I think I would have noticed that" It took them less than an hour to replace the lights, but he said the extra charge was for diagnostics. Yeah, replace the headlights and see if they work.

This is how they treat a customer who buys only Chevrolets from them and my family has bought over a dozen of them in the last ten years,

I had an OE tire fail on my City Express, they didn't even know how to warranty the tire and just cut me a check.

I'll never spend another dollar at Koon's, any location!

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good morning! It's 21°F in Tipton.

Coffee is on me!

 

[NorthBrit]

Good morning (just). A coffee on the go please, Flo. Thanks Bill.
Family get-together. Only time because of the busy lifestyles.

Back later

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from So. Central Wisconsin. It’s 22f degrees now, feels like 14, we should see low 40’s later with melting snow.

All hockey teams (grandson 2 games, Badger ladies) won yesterday so this was a happy household

Son was looking at a ranch outside of Wimberley, Texas around Labor Day and they denied his admittedly low ball offer. The realtor asked him Thursday if he wanted to re-submit the same bid before they put it back on the market on the 26th. He currently is free and clear of all debt but doesn’t want a conventional mortgage. The Bank of Mom and he will discuss that on Zoom this morning. The only fly in the pie is his girlfriend has 2 houses in Austin with mortgages and a very poor housing market. If she could sell one they’d keep the other for guests and when they want to overnight in Austin. Wimberley is about 50 minutes drive time southwest of Austin in the Hill Country. He sold his place in November so has nothing to worry about there.

I am hopeful to see some train room time today.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear skies and 32°, heading up to 61°. After that, the rest of the 10 day forecast calls for upper-60's and low-70's. Spring may have arrived; it's that time of year when I get a bit tired of carrying in wood! Normal last frost is March 17, and we've had some rare ones in April, so I am not completely counting on spring yet. Yesterday was a beautiful day even though it only got up to 51°, no wind and all-day sunshine.

The delayed weekly grocery trek will be today after church, then it's back to the garden to resume onion planting. Only got about 1/3 done yesterday because I re-tilled the plot and a little more before I began. In retrospect, it didn't need tilling again, but I did gain an extra 1" in depth to 9". Haven't determined yet whether supper tonight will be baby back ribs or head out to a dining experience. Heck, there might be something on the clearance shelf at the grocery store. Pork shoulders are also on sale for 99¢/lb.
Yesterday started as another household day with laundry and dishwasher. We got a surprise rebate check in the mail from the auto dealership that sold us the Lexus last month. $5 rebate on a $57K purchase! But it's the thought that counts! We probably won't even remember to go by the bank to deposit it since we rarely go there anyway!

I only went out in the train shed yesterday to visit the beer fridge. Had to replenish the fridge in the house. It had warmed up to 71° out there so I turned off one of the heaters, the other maybe tomorrow.
I have too much going on today to look through the archives for pictures, so I am skipping that and going for a walk before showering for church. Maybe something tomorrow.

Tom O - Those containers and chassis's are real tempting, but I promised myself to cut back on equipment that I no longer have room for.
Around here at Auto Zone or O'Reilly's, they always offer to do the wiper blades for free. They'll also install the battery and O'Reilly's will do starters, alternators and belts on older cars.
From the point of view from a Texan, Wimberley is a neat place.
Patrick - I still do the oil change on the Accura, but I see an end to that coming very soon. It can be done without lifting the car, but lifting me is becoming more tedious.
Karl - I agree on the windshield treatment with Rain-X. Became a believer many years ago.

Everyone have a superb Sunday.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

34° and sunny with a high in the mid-upper 50's. Quite a bit of snowmelt happening. 60's for highs the remainder of the week.

Willie: Remember when we thought the "Help, I've fallen and can't get up!" was funny. Ain't so funny now. The damage that remains in the replaced knee (ligament and muscle) and the knee that needs replaced, have pretty much limited a lot of that.

Old 97: Thomas belongs to the grandson so he could run on my layout. I have a pair of the as I bought a couple of Bachmann Thomas sets for like $30 each at a Hobby Lobby clearance years ago. Then I find the engine itself was over $55 list. He has the railcars for them as well. I use them to test the rails before running the better engines.

Karl: Rain-x is great stuff.

Louis: It isn't just the filter material that gives OCOD Fram problems. I have heard that the pricier Ultra filters may be better. I have even seen filter replacements that use a toilet paper roll as the filter medium. Oil change, open the filter remove and replace the toilet paper. Granted it wasn't on a vehicle build in the last 20-30 years.

 

[Boris]

The damage that remains in the replaced knee (ligament and muscle) and the knee that needs replaced, have pretty much limited a lot of that.

Amen!

 

[migalyto]

I only went out in the train shed yesterday to visit the beer fridge.

Speaking of the beer fridge, here is a fun fact:

 

[migalyto]

Good morning all!

Getting a late start this morning!

Bill-Thanks for the coffee, it was truly needed!

Currently 35F with a high of a gorgeous 47F. Looks like string of low to mid 50s for most of next week. Long range forecast looks good!
Shorts will make an appearance starting tomorrow. I really hate wearing long pants.

Going to run both cars thru the car wash later to wash the white salt residue off them.

Have a safe Sunday everyone!

 

[JimKrol]

Good morning all!

Getting a late start this morning!

Bill-Thanks for the coffee, it was truly needed!

Currently 35F with a high of a gorgeous 47F. Looks like string of low to mid 50s for most of next week. Long range forecast looks good!
Shorts will make an appearance starting tomorrow. I really hate wearing long pants.

Going to run both cars thru the car wash later to wash the white salt residue off them.

Have a safe Sunday everyone!

Sorry, for hijacking this thread, but I give up. How do I post a new thread here????? I tried and ended up in the ANPL coffee Shop. How do I post here???

 

[Bruette]

Pork shoulders are also on sale for 99¢/lb.

I haven't seen that price in over a year!

We probably won't even remember to go by the bank to deposit it since we rarely go there anyway!

Does your bank have an app? Many banking apps allow you to take a photo of the check to make a deposit. I would use the $5 to buy pork shoulder! Like they say in the commercial "it's your money!"