Pernicious-Soul
[07] Duelist
Nothing feels better than a good pair of pantyhose every now and then :) my wife wasn't happy as I used her only good pair lol
Stupid mechanics thread
- Thread starter damn-I-Suck
- Start date
Hot Rod Dave
"Saucy saucy minx"
Wife? Suuuuure guy. Whatever you gotta tell yourself. HAHAHAHAHAHA
damn-I-Suck
[12] Conqueror
omg. Nothing cracks me up more than the stupid customer stories that I hear from my teacher. Yours was equally priceless :)
But yeah. Some people think that if they read a few forums they think they know more than the mechanic and that the mechanic is instantly ripping them off when they tell them they need more expensive head gaskets to handle the salt water.
BTW, I am still fairly inexperienced myself and to be honest I had never heard of salt water cooled engines. Does it still use ethyl-glycol in a 50/50 mixture? Hey, you learn new shit everyday.
The thing that comes to mind with salt water is electrolysis. Salt is a conductor, and you don't want your coolant grounding out components. I can't remember off the top of my head what the spec voltage limit on coolant was.
The milkshake is a classic symptom of coolant getting into the oil, ergo the head gasket.
But yeah. Some people think that if they read a few forums they think they know more than the mechanic and that the mechanic is instantly ripping them off when they tell them they need more expensive head gaskets to handle the salt water.
BTW, I am still fairly inexperienced myself and to be honest I had never heard of salt water cooled engines. Does it still use ethyl-glycol in a 50/50 mixture? Hey, you learn new shit everyday.
The thing that comes to mind with salt water is electrolysis. Salt is a conductor, and you don't want your coolant grounding out components. I can't remember off the top of my head what the spec voltage limit on coolant was.
The milkshake is a classic symptom of coolant getting into the oil, ergo the head gasket.
Hot Rod Dave
"Saucy saucy minx"
Yeah, marine engines usually cool one of 2 ways. Either with a closed cooling system (has radiator and coolant just like a normal car engine would) or an open cooling system (has a pick up that literally scoops up ocean water and runs it through heat exchangers and cools the engine.)
It is also typical that some boats are prepped for FRESH water pick up cooling. Which means those boats only go into lakes and rivers. These engines do not require a special head gasket to run.
Problem is exactly what you mentioned. Electrolosis is a huge factor for the exact reasons you mentioned. Also sat water and cast iron HATE EACH OTHER. Most people who own boats have no clue how to take care of them. You are supposed to flush out your engine everytime you are done with it as to not corrode the engine away and break gaskets and such.
Boat guys are the most dumb IMO. They continually fuck up their engines and keep me in business
It is also typical that some boats are prepped for FRESH water pick up cooling. Which means those boats only go into lakes and rivers. These engines do not require a special head gasket to run.
Problem is exactly what you mentioned. Electrolosis is a huge factor for the exact reasons you mentioned. Also sat water and cast iron HATE EACH OTHER. Most people who own boats have no clue how to take care of them. You are supposed to flush out your engine everytime you are done with it as to not corrode the engine away and break gaskets and such.
Boat guys are the most dumb IMO. They continually fuck up their engines and keep me in business
damn-I-Suck
[12] Conqueror
HRD, did I tell you the story about when I bought my car it had a random misfire code? (not specific to any cylinder in particular, just random)
it took me FOREVER to figure that one out. I was convinced it was some kind of loose wire connection in the ignition system. Problem is, everything checked out. I couldn't even see the misfires on a scan tool, just that it had a stored code for random misfire.
Then one day I decided to change the spark plugs because I didn't know how long the previous owner drove on them. This car was a 4 cyl. This car had 4 long holes for each plug at the top of the valve cover. So, when I pulled the first spark plug wire out this long hole, some oil was on the end of the wire. Strange, I thought. So when I got out my ratchet, extension and socket and stuck it down there, I heard a very distinct squishing sound. I thought "oh god" and pulled it out only to find that my entire socket and half of my extension was fucking COVERED in oil, dripping all over the place, making a mess because I sure as hell didn't expect oil all around the spark plugs!!
Guess what? All 4 were like that. So then I pulled off my valve cover and tried to see where it was leaking into. I didn't see any rubber boots that go on each of those 4 long holes, stopping oil from the head getting to the plugs. I thought "holy shit, WTF!". When I went back to the work table to my valve cover that was now turned upside down, there were the 4 boots, stuck to the top of the inside of the valve cover. AND they were upside down to boot.
I then bought a 4 new boots and a new valve cover gasket for good measure.
And then it hit me. I seriously had a real life facepalm moment. Whoever worked on that car before me, when they put the boots on upside down and somehow GLUED to the valve cover, and the oil got the spark plugs, guess what that oil was actually doing? It actually grounded out the spark plugs to the block causing each plug to misfire SOMETIMES.
Before, I was convinced I had something electrical going on, but I never thought to check the plugs because each cylinder was randomly misfiring, so it wasn't tied to any one plug. Turns out I was right about the problem being electrical, but I just didn't look in the right place.... such an unlikely place.
By this time however, over the coarse of 3 months driving this car on a random misfire, it had also developed a catylitic converter below threshold code. This was because of all the unburned fuel from the misfires entering the exhaust stream and overworking the CAT. Because yeah, the post CAT 02 sensor was fluctuating between 100 mili-V to 900 mili-V, just as fast as the pre CAT o2 sensor, which is not good. The first o2 sensor fluctuating fast is OK because of the car's lean/rich swings but the second one should be fairly consistent, especially when the CAT is fully warmed up.
So yeah, all because I wasn't good enough/skilled enough to figure out what was going on in time to save the CAT, I had to eat 300 bucks for a new one! All because a stupid mechanic before me put the damn boots on upside down and attacked with ADHESIVE of some kind on the wrong place.
So yeah, when it was all done, new CAT and all, cleared the code, it never came back.
Sad story though: That car eventually got wrecked and I'm still trying to sell the parts now. Sucks that it's got a rare engine.
it took me FOREVER to figure that one out. I was convinced it was some kind of loose wire connection in the ignition system. Problem is, everything checked out. I couldn't even see the misfires on a scan tool, just that it had a stored code for random misfire.
Then one day I decided to change the spark plugs because I didn't know how long the previous owner drove on them. This car was a 4 cyl. This car had 4 long holes for each plug at the top of the valve cover. So, when I pulled the first spark plug wire out this long hole, some oil was on the end of the wire. Strange, I thought. So when I got out my ratchet, extension and socket and stuck it down there, I heard a very distinct squishing sound. I thought "oh god" and pulled it out only to find that my entire socket and half of my extension was fucking COVERED in oil, dripping all over the place, making a mess because I sure as hell didn't expect oil all around the spark plugs!!
Guess what? All 4 were like that. So then I pulled off my valve cover and tried to see where it was leaking into. I didn't see any rubber boots that go on each of those 4 long holes, stopping oil from the head getting to the plugs. I thought "holy shit, WTF!". When I went back to the work table to my valve cover that was now turned upside down, there were the 4 boots, stuck to the top of the inside of the valve cover. AND they were upside down to boot.
I then bought a 4 new boots and a new valve cover gasket for good measure.
And then it hit me. I seriously had a real life facepalm moment. Whoever worked on that car before me, when they put the boots on upside down and somehow GLUED to the valve cover, and the oil got the spark plugs, guess what that oil was actually doing? It actually grounded out the spark plugs to the block causing each plug to misfire SOMETIMES.
Before, I was convinced I had something electrical going on, but I never thought to check the plugs because each cylinder was randomly misfiring, so it wasn't tied to any one plug. Turns out I was right about the problem being electrical, but I just didn't look in the right place.... such an unlikely place.
By this time however, over the coarse of 3 months driving this car on a random misfire, it had also developed a catylitic converter below threshold code. This was because of all the unburned fuel from the misfires entering the exhaust stream and overworking the CAT. Because yeah, the post CAT 02 sensor was fluctuating between 100 mili-V to 900 mili-V, just as fast as the pre CAT o2 sensor, which is not good. The first o2 sensor fluctuating fast is OK because of the car's lean/rich swings but the second one should be fairly consistent, especially when the CAT is fully warmed up.
So yeah, all because I wasn't good enough/skilled enough to figure out what was going on in time to save the CAT, I had to eat 300 bucks for a new one! All because a stupid mechanic before me put the damn boots on upside down and attacked with ADHESIVE of some kind on the wrong place.
So yeah, when it was all done, new CAT and all, cleared the code, it never came back.
Sad story though: That car eventually got wrecked and I'm still trying to sell the parts now. Sucks that it's got a rare engine.