I was wondering about old wives’ tales circulating before the net and wondered if anyone had heard the same ones I heard growing up.
And on a separate note, wondering which ones are true and how the ones that aren’t came into being.
For example, when I got my first car in 91 I heard that if you just ran an open header, when you shut the engine off, it could suck in cold air and bend a valve.
I was very concerned when I told my dad about it and he just laughed.
That’s a lot like the one that says you’ll end up with burnt exhaust valves/seats if you don’t have enough backpressure in the exhaust.
In reply to jfryjfry :
Heard that too - cools too fast and warps the valve head.
Good one.
Stock rotaries blow out apex seals.
Stock Sbc are good for endurance racing.
I was changing the oil last night and thought about pre-oiling the filter gasket.
Still did it anyway.
The Model T was Henry Ford's first car.
Don't store car batteries on concrete floor.
Once they started using plastic instead of wood it didn't matter but many decades went by with people still using blocks of wood under batteries.
In reply to Robbie :
I always do.... I had a filter get stuck so bad we ripped the filter apart and it still didn’t come loose. Had to remove the pump from the engine to cut it off.
In reply to NOT A TA :
Last dude I saw put wood under a battery had a very valid reason. The battery tray was mostly gone and what was left was rust. This was in a late 70s Datsun truck if I remember right.
Carbs are impossible to understand and never run correctly.
You can’t switch from synthetic oil back to Dino-poo. You can go either way of course.
My SIL is convinced that that she has to turn off the AC before shutting off her car. Apparently her father told her this at some point and she now takes it as gospel.
We need to step this up a notch.
My wife's grandmother told me when you feel a cold or flu coming you should take the can of turpentine and take the cap off. Put the hole on your tongue and tip up some turpentine and swallow what is on your tongue to help with the sickness.
Who am to argue with a lady to made it to 87 years old?
Once I sat down on her couch and a cup that had some liquid and napkins stuffed inside. When I asked I was told she mixed snuff with flour (probably Martha White) and put a chaw of it in her mouth and spit into the cup.
My grandfather was convinced that GMC trucks were better built than Chevrolet.
In the 50's maybe...
Nuclear power is not a viable solution to our energy problems.
joey48442 said:You can’t switch from synthetic oil back to Dino-poo. You can go either way of course.
This was true back when synthetic oils first became available off the shelf from what I understand, with what was available back then, switching back from synthetic to organic would cause the engine's seals to shrink.
There's a similar one in computing, the belief that if you don't overwrite data on a hard drive 8x or something with random data it could be recoverable with ultra-high-end equipment. That was true of hard drives made in the '90s and earlier, but for modern drives one overwrite is enough, even if you just overwrite with zeroes.
TLAs and militaries still physically destroy hard drives out of fear of this sort of thing.
KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:My SIL is convinced that that she has to turn off the AC before shutting off her car. Apparently her father told her this at some point and she now takes it as gospel.
I thought I was the only one who has heard this.
My ex-SWMBO's father told her that and she told it to me. I never believed it and my ex would tell at me when I didn't shut it off.
stanger_missle said:KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:My SIL is convinced that that she has to turn off the AC before shutting off her car. Apparently her father told her this at some point and she now takes it as gospel.
I thought I was the only one who has heard this.
My ex-SWMBO's father told her that and she told it to me. I never believed it and my ex would tell at me when I didn't shut it off.
A good reason to do this is to help the AC evaporator dry out before you shut the system off and seal up the car - this should make it harder for mold to grow in the HVAC box. I turn the AC off (in good times when it's present and working) and crank the fan to full power between parking and shutting off the car for this reason.
Robbie said:I was changing the oil last night and thought about pre-oiling the filter gasket.
Still did it anyway.
Along with that it seems many people think you have to tighten the oil filter with a wrench until it squeaks, rather than just turning it on by hand.
ShawnG said:My grandfather was convinced that GMC trucks were better built than Chevrolet.
In the 50's maybe...
The GMC engines were cooler up until GMC stopped having their own engines. And I think the GMC front end is better looking on most years. Once they started putting Chevy engines in them they're all the same though.
I was indoctrinated as a young one that using Quaker State oil would cause the motor to fill up with inches of oil crud around the valve springs. Later I figured it was more likely caused by changing your oil ever 50,000 miles whether it needed it or not.
If your ATF has more than 100k on it, don’t change it.
Pour cold water down the carb of a hot engine to get rid of carbon buildup.
In reply to AngryCorvair :
My dad is certain this is true because of that time I did a fluid flush on my 313k mile 46re and then blew it up the same day.
NOT A TA said:Don't store car batteries on concrete floor.
Once they started using plastic instead of wood it didn't matter but many decades went by with people still using blocks of wood under batteries.
Darn it, not true?!!!??? I still put them on a block of wood, and no interweb whippersnapper's going to teach me otherwise.
Same thing with the cold water down a carb. My auto sinsei taught me both things.
(I'm only half kidding here, people)
Next, somebody's gonna tell me NOT to pack my oil pumps with vaseline when I rebuild to get a good prime. How about the Italian tune-up, I swear I've seen it work.
You'll need to log in to post.
