Author Archives: Don Lewis

Segways on park sidewalks

3-09-2013 —

I have an issue with people in their teens and 20s touring Austin sidewalks on motorized transportation. They are too weak to walk? I have a REAL issue with the fact that I and my 78 year old buddy, who has two artificial hips, were on a park sidewalk headed to rollerderby at the Palmer Even Center, and a Segway tour came at us with the attitude, “Excuse us, move over, coming through!” It really didn’t kill us to step aside into the grass while they didn’t even slow down, but if I had any iota of respect for them their actions pretty much killed it.

The Segway is brilliant technology serving an almost nonexistent need. I wrote a letter to the Statesman about this once and it was the last letter to the Statesman I will ever write. In my letter expressing contempt for Segway users, I expressly excluded from my contempt Segway users who, because of disability, would otherwise be less mobile. The Statesman edited that out making me look like an insensitive jerk and I got a bunch of letters from irate people who had an uncle or whatever who was disabled and relied on a Segway to get around.

Click and Clack, this is pitiful!

3-09-2013 —

http://www.lowellsun.com/autos/ci_22639303/click-clack-talk-cars-get-second-opinion-shocks

(Don’t know how long this link will be good.) On one of my professional forums everybody got a good laugh out of the brothers’ pitiful answer. Any shop owner who does any volume of repair work at all will sooner or later put a vehicle on the lift and when the suspension hangs all the way down a failing strut will seize up. When lowered, the vehicle will be essentially un-driveable with no suspension compliance whatsoever on the bad corner. It has happened in our shop three times and, I am happy to say, in every case we had such good mutual trust and rapport with our customers that we were not blamed despite the timing of the problem. The story speaks very poorly of both the shop that blamed the problem on “air” and the brothers Click and Clack.

An oil and filter change every 3000 miles = money down the toilet

This says it pretty well. An elevator arrives no sooner because you push the button repeatedly with all the strength in your body. Add 2000 miles to that “next service due” on your lube sticker, or much better yet, used the computerized reminder indicator on your dash if so equipped. Be advised, these reminders frequently fail to get reset at your drive-through lube facility so will often come up prematurely.

Remind me to address “tune-ups” before too long — a term that should be considered obsolete for the modern automobile.

The engine oil dipstick is NOT obsolete!

Please! Every year Don’s Automotive sends a few cars off to the salvage yard that could have been saved by pulling a quart of oil out of the trunk. These days, you ask somebody when they last checked their oil and most people will tell you when they last changed it — probably way more often than serves a purpose. See above. Even if never a drop of oil leaks to the ground, some oil is burnt and goes out the tailpipe, rendered invisible if the catalytic converter can keep up with its task of afterburning. Oil should be checked on a brand new car, but put 100,000 miles on the engine and it becomes that much more critical. If there was no such thing as routine oil consumption the dipstick could be eliminated and a service technician would simply consult a sticker or manual for a refill specification when performing an oil change.

How often should engine oil be checked? Brand new car, maybe every 2000 miles. High mileage or any suspicion of a leak, maybe every other tank of fuel. Please remember, a glowing red “oil” light means “rapid engine destruction in progress.” Tires and radiator also, please.

Gabrielle Nestande

I feel too strongly about this to say nothing. Ms. Nestande thought someone through a rock at her windshield, she thought she hit a deer, she was scared because the BMW daddy bought her got a booboo, she “knew what happened,” but didn’t see the blood, flesh and clothing on the windshield, she will never drink again, but drinking apparently had nothing to do with the “accident” because she was “ok to drive”….and etc. It makes me physically ill to think about it. Had I been on the jury I would have held out for guilty on all three counts come hell or high water.