Tires and Brakes

On April 4 2018 i bought at an online auction a 2013 Hyundai Elantra. I didn't know it has been in a wreck, was hit in right front, fender, door, washer reservoir, headlight were damaged, was partially fixed. Previous owner used the fix a flat kit that came with the car in lieu of spare to fix the right front tire that has been in flat. I went at Les Schwab in Aloha to fix the flat. They didn't give me any paperwork, they said it was free, and there is no record under my name in their computer (most likely they misspelled my name).

Around 10 AM today somebody knocked on the door and woke me up. It was FedEx with the tires i ordered about a week ago in the same time with the pads (got to check the the exact date).

I went at Angela's work, took the car and went to Tires Pros here in Tualatin, a shop where i've been 2 years ago for an alignment, when i met the owner, Ralph. This is when i left.

Ralph, the owner, looks like an engineer from Hyundai. When i first went there 2  years ago he looked at the car, knocked on the door that's been damaged, asked if i got a good deal on it then when i left he said something really interesting:"We are here to make sure you keep the car for as long as you want". He knew i will sooner or later find the problems and i will write about. Back then one of the problems was the ammonia smell in the exhaust. Due to the fact that these engines run so lean, to achieve better mileage, the temperature inside the engine is higher and the wear out of cast iron cylinder sleeves (aluminum block) is higher thus blow out gets higher, sooner than for other cars resulting in more oil vapor passing through PCV valves and condensing on the valves. Also because of less fuel, (injectors right before the valves) the valves do not get cleaned enough and start sticking, squishing the lifters and producing the (in)famous Hyundai tick. Also the high temperature creates more NOx that combines with hydrogen from water inside the catalytic, resulting in significant amounts of ammonia in the exhaust. So back then he drove after me in his Mercedes, really close behind, i was thinking, maybe he had an analyzer hid under the hood. I think somewhere where i went, maybe at Reno also, they took care of my catalytic also running something through the engine so it won't be "so good" anymore and do not produce so much ammonia anymore (can still smell some).

He came today also i and could talk to him before i left. I mainly told him the whole story with the problems i had. Briefly. At first did not recognize him cause he looked older (2 years included) and had sunglasses but i thought i recognized his voice and German accent. He dismissed all the problems.

I told the guy at the counter the story (could had been him, with a fresh beard), about tires and brakes, as i knew it at that moment. I told him i've been driving in that car for 30 thousand miles with the brakes in the rear stuck and he asked me if i wanted to do brakes too and i said no, done that myself. I asked him for wi-fi details and he said there should be an unsecured one. It was Tire Factory, but there was also one that said "Tire Pros" and that one was secured but they didn't give me the password. So i could not access the internet to look at the market or upload pictures with the tires or anything.

I had the feeling that we could not communicate well so i went in the back to talk to the mechanic also. He stroke me as too distinctive for a mechanic. I was briefly looking right now at pictures on a google search on "Mexican actors" for his face when i found something else. The face of the mechanic who did the alignment in the same shop 2 years ago.

Ok after some searches i think i found the guy but don't know his name yet. One on the left in this picture

He later confirmed i had bought the same tires as the ones on the car. For some reason i believed the tires on the car were installed the other way around, because of the pictures on Amazon, but he showed to me the writing saying "This side up".

There was a black guy working at a van with a diesel engine right outside the bays so it was probably covering much of the conversations, also making some smoke.

2 years ago i went to Les Schwab in Aloha to fix a flat that came with the car. They said they did, didn't give me any paperwork, they misspelled my name in the computer, whatever. I asked them to move the wheel from front to right rear. But that wheel lately had a valve leak and there was something inside, i don't know what that was making a noise when rotating the tire (first discovered a couple of days ago when i did brakes). Today i figured they just put the wheel in the water, didn't see a leak, gave it back to me the way it was though i told them it was fixed with a fix a flat type of can and the compressor that came with the car and needed a real fix.

To be continued here

Last thing. When i paid they said the cred card machine isn't working, counter guy called "the other store" and did the card by phone. I vaguely remember they've done the same thing two years ago when i paid for the alignment.

Sleepy Head, Elaborate Trap

It was a trap.

Amazon let the package with the brake pads i ordered 2 days ago in front of the door sometimes before noon.

Last night i fell asleep late (around 2 and woke up at 6). Then i fell asleep again from 9 to noon. Some noise, maybe the knock on the door that i didn't hear consciously (didn't remember when i awoke) must have awakened me. I was still sleepy when i checked on Angela's computer and saw the order was delivered and opened the door and found the package. Got mad before i was completely awaken after i saw the seal was unglued at one end. Stuck my hand trying to see if i could remove one of the pads. I broke the label a bit in the process.

They were two boxes inside, one with rear brake pads and one with front. I was able to pull a pad (from the front). I am sure a woman or a kid with a small hand could have removed and replaced one or several pads from that box without breaking that label. I don't know if they did it, the pads appear undamaged. It looks like they have a lot of graphite cause my hands got black from handling them and chunks of copper are also visible which means they are the metal type.

At least i saw where the piece of metal that warns you is. At around 2 mm. It is supposed to make a high pitch sound when they worn to that level. Mine have at least 2 more mm above that level. But only two of the four pads (or half of them) have that.

One of the 8 pads on our car, on rear right wheel is metal on metal. Must be one without the the indicator cause i only heard a low freq squeaking sound when it was too late. Which means caliper got stuck on the pins. I also saw some white stains like from drops of something on that caliper. Could that have been since i went to Canyonville and i saw some stains with colored material on the freeway, different colors over several miles. But it would have taken at least 10k or more for that pad to wear that much since the caliper got stuck. Now i remember the brakes were making a low freq noise sometimes when backing from the spot in the parking lot, from since i got the car. Could had been the same stuff that was on the windshield and corroded the paint on the hood probably not long before i got the car. The idea to take first picture came to me after i stuck my hand the first time but before i pulled the pad. The next one after i pulled the pad.
There seems to be a superficial scratch on the upper left pad. Maybe when i puled it from the box.


It is not secret i'm watching the market after i do something. As i said before, i think there is a correlation that is so strong it cannot be a coincidence. Every time i say something right market goes down, every time i get screwed up, the market goes up.

Am i correct if i characterize today's session as choppy? Going up and down 2% within minutes, several times a day that is. Could this have anything to do with economy and coronavirus? Last time it went up at 3:44 eastern time was after i first posted on fb what i thought it happened regarding my Amazon delivery.

Ok i just figured what happened. Last night we ran across some stupid page that shows 40 incredible uses of WD40. One of them was removing labels, other was cleaning the fridge. An idea came to me. I poured a tiny amount of WD40 in the wall that stinks and covered the hole My idea was maybe it would cover the dog stink. Around 2 AM or just before i went to bed i noticed it was smelling inside like WD40 every time the fridge started. So i went and looked an found a place with cracked paint and with a dental probe i discovered a new through hole, on top of the fridge on the left side of the cabinet next to many others i covered in the past. You could not possible use WD40 to remove a seal or label from a cardboard box cause it contains up to 35% heavy penetrant mineral oil which would have irreversibly stained the cardboard. It is true it might help you to remove labels but not from cardboard and you will destroy the label in the process. I think the seal above was removed from cardboard with steam then it was let to dry. Or maybe the glue was softened with a hair drier. The stains seen on the box are parallel glue traces with regular shapes.
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There is a reason why the're calling it Kabbalah.

70 miles, 3 Useless Hours in Traffic

Winter is over. Hottest day of the year so far. Got to spend two hours of a gorgeous weather in traffic. I would otherwise have stayed at home and didn't see it.

This afternoon i went again to the junkyard to try and get a spare wheel/tire. That is exchange the wrong one i got. Couldn't find the receipt (i keep all receipts for all the years i've been here). In there a bearded guy who look familiar let me in to try and find an different one. But for that i had to sign on a sheet of paper with many other signatures.

Couldn't find one in time. Tried to get back home before Angela got here (got a sign at the door, she ignores it). The guy at the counter dragged me into a long conversation when i left. Asked him if he could give me in store credit for the wheel, he said no without receipt. Got behind a slowing moving vehicle on long Sherwood st and got here right after she came. Could have stayed more at the junkyard and measure wheels. Though only when i left i figured how. Wheel diameter is not the biggest diameter you can measure but one inch smaller. Don't know why.

Inside the junkyard. Sexy models walking on alleys while guys where showing in the same ling of sight. I heard a woman yelling in a conversation on the phone or with someone else. "Money first!".

Earlier i spoke with a guy at Les Schwab i knew since 97. He was ambiguous about possibility of swapping the one i got, he said i got to talk to the supervisor, put me through but nobody came at the phone for several minutes so i just hanged up.

So after coming from junkyard i took Angela's car and just went there. Don't know, 20 miles or so. Took the long way on 26. Right when i wanted to get out of the complex, a young woman with a tan Volvo coming from right entered the alley unexpectedly, haven't seen her due to a complex traffic situation. Had to hit brakes to avoid her. Again the extra wide and long windshield pillar played a role. (Not my car in the picture, but similar).

Got there only to see he went home early. Talked to a young guy who ran to my trunk and grabbed one my grocery cardboard boxes (got two to avoid groceries rolling around the trunk) before i had a chance to pull myself the spare wheel to show it to him.

Said they cannot accept those, only if i wanted to buy a full size wheel which would cost me more than on Amazon.

Asked him if they where any red light cameras on 185 where i came from, he said probably not. Got into a long conversation with him about legality of red light cameras. BTW i think they are not legal since only cops can issue tickets, not out of state contractors. I noticed he was talking faster and faster until i could not catch up with him in conversation.

Came back home, i knew at that hour 217 was very slow and i tried 26 and I5. Haven't seen a map of the area in while, have never been on that route at rush hour in the last 10 years maybe, now i realize it was stupid, especially that it was so slow. The only place where it got faster was at the Terwilliger curves, most dangerous curves on I5, and after.

Last night i figured there might be too much oil in the catch can and at bumps and sudden maneuvers it can just splash in the intake pipe. I pulled 2 ounces of oil or more with a 5 dollar garden pump i got from Walmart for this purpose.

Car never drove this smoothly, either because of that or because i torqued the wheels correctly yesterday after the guys at Les Schwab in 217 and 99 missed to torque one nut per each wheel two days ago.

https://goo.gl/maps/dQz3zNKZ9fXWHiiUA

Cadet Heaters and the Mystery of the Howling Dog

I don't believe it exists a company with more health damaging power per size than Cadet Heating Company of Vancouver, WA.

They manufacture heaters mainly for apartments.


Small, cheap, they are great for landlords. Here are some of the health hazards that those heaters pose.

The ones with forced heat, have a hot resistor and a fan. The resistor's temperature is close to red hot. If the fan would stop, the resistor will glow. Made of high chromium and nickel alloys, they in time evaporate (resistor gets visible thinner in areas blown by fan before finally breaking). As a result, you get to breath heavy metals, a situation very similar with when vaping (the resistor, made of a similar alloy, is a consumable). Besides they burn whatever dust gets sucked in by the fan.

Easily installable inside the wall, that is you cut with a box cutter a rectangle in the inner wall  (usually 3/8-1/2 inch soft drywall) next to a stud and nail the d... thing on the stud with a couple of nails using one of the pre existing holes in the thin sheet metal. However the box have like maybe 20 holes for different installation position that remain open. Thus the fan also sucks "air" from inside wall and blow it inside. Could it be mineral insulation breakage or simply dust fallen from the apartment above from the space between wall and floor. Vibration from high rpm unbalanced fan helps shake and brake the insulation inside the wall.


In my case, litter dust.

I was intrigued yesterday by a howling dog in the neighborhood.

I don't use those. I covered the grills with tape. Instead i got some even cheaper heaters from Fry's. Of Italian design, they are the best. Low temperature convection heaters with oil inside and covered with ceramic. I move them around in places where the floor bulges to help dry it faster.

The neighbor upstairs use them. Actually only one. The one in the kitchen. Because of that it runs almost all the time, per thermostat.

Two days ago i saw some imperfection in the way i taped the grill for the heater in the same position or below hers. Small gaps, etc.. I removed the tape to put some new. Done something else in the meantime, forgot about, i re-taped it several hours later.

It was only last night, after more that 24 hours that i realized what happened. Though i covered most virtual nail holes inside the black box, there must be gaps cause without tape the whole place started to stink again like the litter dust that is still abundant in the wall since last summer's neighbors.

Face burning, dog stinking, it must have triggered the senses of the dog in the apartment at the other entrance.

Today i opened the back sliding door again and the dog started to howl again. Tilted the fridge, washed it under, mopped the floor, yada yada.

Modern Interpretation of Wadjet