"Modern" vehicle options: The Loved & the Hated

Because I put in a skid plate on my 2000 VW Beetle TDI, I suctioned the oil out through the dipstick. The oil filter was a cartridge type on top of the engine-easy.

My MINI doesn't have a dipstick! Sensors, lol. I always went to the dealer to get the oil changed. Not a cheap proposition but not $250 either, even though it is made by BMW.

 

That's because Toyota design engineers listen to lowly mechanics and technicians. They don't think they're better than them...

 

FYI; sucking the oil out of the dipstick doesn't get rid of the junk on the bottom of the oil pan. When you remove the drain plug, most of the junk down there gets flushed out as oil rushes out that hole.

 

Was thinking about this thread today: driving in the rain: our last car, an '06 Civic Hybrid, had a trick: if you set the variable speed intermittent wipers to the fastest setting, it was fast-intermittent when you were stopped, then changed to regular low-speed when you started rolling again. Stop, and it went back to fast-intermittent. could have used that today: I was switching between the two at every light.

 

Another pet peeve, buttons on steering wheel. I never use them if there's another option. And the times I'm basically forced to use them (some cruise controles, for example) I always have to look down to remember where they are.

 

My base truck's CC is on the wheel and despite the fact that I have a company car (whose controls are also on the wheel) and three other cars of varying configurations I don't really find it to be a bother doing the knobology.

Four out of the five vehicles have enough info on the gauge cluster for me to visually verify my inputs with just an eye flick - but usually my stern-mounted accelerometers give me all of the information I need.

I change my oil every 3k so I avoid the junk in the pan to begin with.

 

I don't have all the fancy features turned on (lane tracing assist steering wheel nudge, I'm looking at you). Most of them are useful and helpful, and since I'm aware of their function and activation parameters I can usually keep them from alerting. The one feature I did want to mention is the pre-collision braking function. If you have ever experienced a situation where this has activated, you know what I'm talking about. It has happened to me three times, and saved me at least once. In that instance, I saw the potential split seconds before it happened and was able to watch the vehicle avoid the collision even before I could react. I don't think my foot was headed for the brake. Maybe it was. But the braking and T-bone collision were avoided, and I got to see a most entertaining grimace on the face of the other guy. Lucky for me there wasn't anyone behind me, as I would have certainly been rear-ended.

 

The MG4 has a great function that allows you to set each control on the steering wheel to do the functions you are most likely to want to use and on the side you want and in the directly you want to push the 4 way switch, and each of the four buttons up each side can be used to change which functions you want the 4 way switch on that side to adjust .... beats the hell out of searching though touch screen menus to find what you want and avoids getting lost in the menu maze ... but it shows on the touch screen just what you have selected and if you are increasing or decreasing that particular parameter .....
Love the fact I never need to change the oil, or filter, or check the level, or any of that ICE stuff, over 50 yrs in the trade and I'm well and truly over it Love the auto regen, never changing gear, just direction by turning a knob ... and it's so quiet .....

Things I hate, needing a uni degree to figure out how half the stuff is switched on or off, abbreviations, ACC doesn't mean accessories or air conditioning, it's Automatic Cruise Control, so when you try to use that one to turn off the air con because you are turning blue ... not only does the air con ignore you, but that other handy feature you loved has stopped working .... gave up trying to find it in the 500 page owners manual, that is also in a handy touch screen menu, in type so small you think you are reading a terms and conditions statement .... fortunately, Google knows what all the acronyms mean ... as long as you also reference the make, model, yr of manufacture and a few other things that don't seem relevant ..... who would have thought a manufacturer would use the same 3 letter acronym for something completely different in another model of vehicle they made in the same yr

The fact it still hasn't learnt how to wash itself or vacuum the inside when you park it ..... or tell you that thing you are searching for has fallen between the seat and the centre consul ......

T1 Terry

 

After watching many engine strip downs on the I Do Car You Tube channel, the design of oil pans these days are always going to retain that sludge and muck that eventually finds its way into the oil pick up. If the dipstick tube actually goes into a place where you can get past the baffle in the pan and close to the pick up, one of those vacuum oil drainers might be the better option, but probably work best if used through the drain plug hole to vacuum the bottom of the pan to get all the junk out.
The old air cooled flat 4 VW engine was great for that, the oil drain plate was at the underside of the oil pick up mech screen, so you could remove the whole lot and read the tea leaves to see if anything nasty was in the process of happening ..... then sort it before it left you stuck on the side of the road

T1 Terry