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Chris said:
Today I dropped my truck off at a a new dealer for an oil change and fuel filter for 400 bucks. I want to do it myself but don't want any issue if I need to use my warranty down the road. I'm tired of dealers up selling and insisting my trucks need all sorts of maintenance for thousands of dollars every time I go in. This truck only has 25k on it so let's see what this dealer says I need. I already am not happy with them, I asked why is it my fuel filters are 190 bucks at the dealer and only 30 from napa? He just kept saying I don't want to run that junk in my truck. I really think every dealership are crooks.
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Does the dealer have a website where you can order maintenance online? I was shocked to learn that the nearest Honda dealership to me let me schedule an appointment online for a specific thing (oil and filter change) and they did it for $49.99 and no BS. Of course, I think it helps that my truck is absolutely filthy so they don't want to do more with it.
I wonder if you can bring your own filters and tell them "This is what I want in my truck".
Maybe they just look at you and think you have a ton of $ for them to siphon from you. I dunno. But it sucks that they do that to you.
We used to get overcharged for stuff on our Ford Expedition all the time. I guess the Ridgeline and CR-V don't scream "I can afford BS charges".
 
The service department of all dealerships is considered a profit center and service managers are rated on their profitability. Sure you could b ring your own filter, but the price won't change.

A few years ago, when I had a Ford Explorer, we needed a part changed (can't remember which one) for about $400. but after the dealer changed it, the motor had a new noise. I went back to the dealer and said it had to be related to the repair. The service manager muttered under his breath, something like; "oh, we'll fix it alright". Twenty minutes later he comes out to tell me that it needs another new part for $450. I told him to put it back together, and I'll take it to my local guy. My local guy fixed it with a spritz of WD40 at no charge. So moral of the story: Buyer Beware.
 
Since I cut my fingers I had no choice but to have my oil changed by someone else resently. I'm 4 days from turning 64, and other than tires & alignment work, that I have no equipment for, that is the first time my vehicle has been touched by anyone but me. When I was younger , doing repairs myself was an economic necessity. As I got older, it was just a habit I've never broken. I'm sure it has saved me more than a few $ over the decades.
 
I'm the same way Gary, I do almost everything myself and have a fleet of vehicles. I'm just paranoid that something will happen to this truck like a motor or trans failing and if I did the maintenance somehow they would pin it on me. Once I hit 100k on this truck everything will be done by me.

The worst part about this new truck is that the computer needs to be updated all the time. I asked them at what mileage does this stop and they said it won't, as long as this truck is on the road it will have updates.

So everytime I have taken it in which has need twice a year so far it is 400 for my oil and fuel filter changes and 50 for each update which this time there was five. Those are still under warranty until my next oil change. So without my warranty my 400 dollar oil change would be 650 twice a year. Over a hundred bucks a month on just service. Almost not worth it to have a new diesel.
 
I bought my last 2 trucks new, but still do my own work. Well, actually that pretty much only consisted of oil change, filter, battery, tires so far on this truck. The first new truck I did the same, plus exhaust, pinion seal, alternator a few times, belt,rear brakes and replaced the computer with a junk yard unit. Repaired intake leak due to anti-freeze corrosion.(aluminum intake)
Oh I take that back, I did have a shop replace the A/C pump. It was a bad design that went bad at 5,000 miles. Replaced again before warranty expired. Then I had to buy one on my own dime, it went bad too but was covered by reman. warranty (I knew it would go bad so I bought the warranty). Then at 500 miles shy of 200,000 & 18 years I traded it for the current truck.

I figured since you now have to reset the oil change warning display, the oil change dates & mileage are probably recorded in the computer, along with how high the engine has been reved, etc. Heck, they probably know I spilled a soda on the floor when it was new, so if the floor rots out, they can blame it on user error. :nono:
 
My old truck is an 07 ram 2500 diesel 4x4 with about 200k on it. I still drive it all the time and it runs like new, I have done everything myself except rebuild the tranny. It has had its share of issues and I just replaced the account pump but I have the equipment so it was a two hour job.
 
Our new(sort of) is a 2011, the one before that was a 1993. Before that I bought used and just kept them running. Full disclosure, in my younger days I owned a repair shop. When I gave it up, I took parts with me off the shelf that fit the vehicles we drove. A few years later the trans died in the truck, (a used truck before the 2 new ones I mentioned). I had no garage at the time, so I pulled the trans. on the driveway. Picked a calm day to minimize dust contamination and rebuilt the trans with a trans kit I brought with us. It ran for several years after and was still working when we traded it in.
Over hauled the engine too, but I used my brothers garage for that.
Not sure at my age I'd get that involved in a repair job anymore, but back then I did what I had to. Ahhh youth.
 
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I usually don't buy new. I get a few years old because I'm frugal. I have been tinkering on cars since I was ten and still enjoy it. I have no problem pulling a motor and rebuilding it.
 
Yea, I've always bought used too until these last 2. The first I kept for 18 years/ 195,000 miles and the one i have now will go until the repair list no longer justifies holding on to it. The plan is to drive the wheels off this one, then buy one more new truck. That should about do me as my eyes may be going bad by my mid 90's.
 
On Guam we had a Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer (only vehicle we ever bought new-- and it was discounted because it had typhoon damage) and a '91 cherry red Ford Escort LX. Brakes on it were absolutely terrible. Had it until 2001 when my brother crashed it in to a Rav4 and totaled it (he used a car with ABS in driver's ed and for his driving test so he didn't know how to pump the brake and ended up hydroplaning in to the back of the Rav4).

When we moved back to the mainland US we brought the Expedition and got a used Ford Explorer for our second vehicle. My brother then totaled the Explorer (speeding on our little road, lost control, and flipped it a few times but came out with no injuries). We replaced it with an '01 Honda CR-V. We lost the Expedition and CR-V to a huge chunk of tree falling in '05. Got a '99 Ford Ranger (which sucked bigtime- bought it from a friend's daughter who lied about the condition-- and the year-- she claimed it was an '01) and a 2005 Ford Expedition.

Tree branch fell on the Ranger and totaled it around the time a tree fell on our barn. Replaced it with a 2010 CR-V. Then an entire tree fell on the car port and both vehicles.

So, now we have the Ridgeline and CR-V-- both 2013s. They are not parked safely away from trees *knocks on wood*.

I think we've always had mechanics do the maintenance on our vehicles. Used to have a friend at Walmart who would do the oil changes and stuff but he moved to the Ford dealership now. He was the only one there that I trusted for that.

I think location does matter on the price gouging though. When we got maintenance done in Albuquerque they didn't even do what we wanted done and said there was more stuff that needed to be done and charged up the wazoo. But in the small towns they didn't do that.
 
Chris said:
Nope. Father in laws birthday, her whole family is very liberal
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Hope you still have that 4x8 Trump sign in front of the house. Talk about stimulating dinner conversation.
 
This might have not been most of you guys and girls cup of tea, but last night we did something that we both really enjoyed and a once in a lifetime experience.

We went to our restored 1920 Warner movie palace that hosts our philharmonic. We watched a presentation of the 1943 classic movie Casablanca where the music score was removed and performed live and perfectly synchronized with the re-mastered movie. Our symphony has about 75 members playing. The Warner theater in Erie was one of the first showing of the movie in the country after it opened in NYC.

Quite a few people wore cloths from the 40’s similar to the movie and entering the theater they had a trio dressed and performing as the Andrews Sisters and in leaving they had a fellow playing an upright piano as Sam.

Was a trip back in time to even before my time.

http://eriewarnertheatre.com/events/erie-philharmonic-concert-casablanca/

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7IWLZcVU64[/ame]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8of3uhG1tCI[/ame]
 
slownsteady said:
Movie theaters make a film so much better. Crowd reactions add to the show, and laughter is contagious.
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I will agree that was always true until about the last 10 years. About the time cell phones and even worse smart phones came along some percentage of the young people in the world became self-centered jerks and not just young people. I always seem to sit behind one and I won’t go into the stories as it is bad for my blood pressure. About then was when I got into front projection home theater and I do miss the social good aspects of movie theater I don’t miss the bad. That and the price gouging of going out to the movies. We still watch about 6 movies a year in the theater but we watch several hundred at home. When we have company with 6 or 7 in our theater it is fun to all laugh together.
 
oldognewtrick said:
Some movies are just made for the big screen. Ill bet it was cool with a live orchestra.
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Yes big screens and immersive viewing along with big sound is all nice. I have been able to duplicate the theater experience at home pretty well and I have a pause button when I need the bathroom.

We go to the old warner theater a lot for concerts but I haven’t seen a movie in there in 40 years. That was a treat. And yes the orchestra was amazing. I watched John Wayne and Clint Eastwood kill about a 100 bad guys in there as a kid. Along with the first James Bond.
 
Bud, I tend to agree. I think it largely depends on the audience you're with. I don't like to be in an audience with children for the most part because they tend to make a lot of noise. Although, I still remember watching the Batman and Robin movie in the theaters and when Dick Grayson's parents fell to their death, it was dead silent and then I heard a small child's voice say "Only one left?" so loud that it just echoed through the theater.

I went to see the remastered Star Wars movies when they were re-released in the theater- some jackhole in front of me had memorized all of the lines and decided to say every single line just before the characters did. And I've had people kick the back of my seat.

Now, there were a couple of funny moments. Like, I went to see Ever After with my sister (because I like Drew Barrymore). Guy right behind me apparently didn't know what the movie was about. We heard him say "Wait, this is a Cinderella movie? Oh s####!" Several minutes later when they had the father's death, the same guy just started blubbering. He was full-on sobbing and my sister leaned over and whispered in my ear "Oh s####, indeed."

The best moment had to be when we were watching the South Park movie and some idiot didn't pay attention to the rating and brought his 4 small children in. It got to the scene where the characters were watching the movie and the people onscreen were leaving the theater in disgust. It was during the Uncle song. That was when the idiot (who sat in the very front) jumped up, grabbed his kids, and dragged them out of the theater. The audience was laughing more at that than at the movie.

I love being able to pause movies so I can go to the bathroom or get a snack. or I can rewind if I missed something.

Today I watched a few episodes of The Flash season 2 on Bluray and then decided to clean out some duplicate files on my pc. Found a draft of a letter my father was composing that talked about his life & interest in Cephalopods. For some reason it made me really sad and I just started crying. I hate crying, but it just reminded me how much I miss him.

I forgot to mention that the estrogen pills my doctor proscribed seem to have stopped the bleeding. I've gone 24 hours without bleeding and I hope it stays that way.
 
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Today I scored a new generator for 28 bucks.

A buddy bought it new, used it once and then it fell out of his truck at 40 MPH. I saw it in the back of his truck last week and asked what he was doing with it and he said he was gonna trash it because it would run after the fall.

I took it and brought it home and found it had a broken fuel pump and tge pull start plastic was broken. Bought both those parts for 28 bucks and it fired right up and runs like new
 
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