'24 Subaru Outback - New Owner Diary

Racer88 said:
??? What are we talking about here?

A jump box?
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Almost anything using chinese plastic in your home will do this. It's junk and starts turning to shit in a few years. Heat exacerbates the matter. This is the downside to purchasing SOME of Harbor Freight tools. You gotta factor it into your purchase price. Particularly the electrical tools that might cost more. The tools that may have thin plastic covering the inner parts.

I have some old plastic handled screwdrivers that were my grandfather's that are still fine after 80-90 years. I polish the handles from time to time, kinda like the other thread about plastic headlights. Polish helps keep them from fading and getting nasty. How did I get the rough texture off them after finding them in his old toolbox? I took them over to the grinder and very lightly with careful care, buffed the white stuff off of them to a fresh bright yellow using the wire wheel. The wire wheel hardly affected the plastic, but removed the rougher loose stuff. True story there. Try that with any modern plastic! I probably should have used a softer wheel than a wire brush, but it did hardly any damage or scratches to the plastic. The large old Craftsman screwdrivers took it quite well.

FYI, plastic that is nasty and sticky can be made smooth and slippery again by rubbing it clean with full strength isopropyl alcohol. Then polish it. Can be a decent amount of work. I had a bunch of wire dish rack risers in my kitchen cabinets that I cleaned six months ago with this process. Time consuming, but it fixed the problem until it happens again.

Remember when we didn't have this problem with sticky plastic every few years until we became dominant on chinese products.
 
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Racer88 said:
And the heat made it fall apart? Which brand was it?
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I honestly don’t remember what brand it was but, it was bright red and black in color. It claimed to be able to jump start up to a 6L V8. Biggest motor I jumped with it was a 3.7L V6. I bought it from Amazon years ago.
 
Caleb said:
I honestly don’t remember what brand it was but, it was bright red and black in color. It claimed to be able to jump start up to a 6L V8. Biggest motor I jumped with it was a 3.7L V6. I bought it from Amazon years ago.
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I sure hope that doesn't happen to mine. It was not cheap (at $235)! I got to use it recently, starting a dead Honda CRV. :)
 
Racer88 said:
I sure hope that doesn't happen to mine. It was not cheap (at $235)! I got to use it recently, starting a dead Honda CRV. :)
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Hopefully not. Mine sat in the Jeep’s rear compartment for years out in the heat (never garaged the Jeep). I used it probably a dozen times with no issues and it saved my own arse twice! It had rubber end pieces that became sticky and the rest was plastic that deteriorated. It was still working but, I was not taking a chance.
 
Racer88 said:
I sure hope that doesn't happen to mine. It was not cheap (at $235)! I got to use it recently, starting a dead Honda CRV. :)
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Clean it, lube and coat it (some type of polish) every now an then. Don't clean it with strong stuff. And keep it out of the sun, or away from windows. But, heat hurts it too. So wrap it up in a bag in your car buried in the bottom of a bag.

I do have Chinese made tools with some plastic. If they are expensive, I do make certain to try and keep them cool and out of the sun.
 
USApat said:
Clean it, lube and coat it (some type of polish) every now an then. Don't clean it with strong stuff. And keep it out of the sun, or away from windows. But, heat hurts it too. So wrap it up in a bag in your car buried in the bottom of a bag.

I do have Chinese made tools with some plastic. If they are expensive, I do make certain to try and keep them cool and out of the sun.
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Mine has its own zippered and fitted hard case. Noco has a good reputation. Hopefully, it will last a long time and be worth the price paid.
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Racer88 said:
I just used the Noco Boost jump box for the first time, jump-starting another person's car.

View attachment 19731

So easy! Connect. Turn it on. It analyzes and the "ready" light illuminates a few seconds later. That's the "go signal" to start the car. Started right up! The car owner was amazed how quickly it worked. And I got to be the hero! :cool:
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@Racer88 You prompted me to grab one of these. I used it this morning on my car as it decided that it had enough of the 1 degree temperatures and refused to turn over. As you experienced, car fired up right away.
 
I had an Amazon cheap booster that worked one time and was dead the next time I needed it. Walmart had a NOCO in stock so I grabbed it. Not much more than normal Amazon price but I kind of needed it right then. I have another NOCO that is 3 years old and has boosted at least a dozen cars. Works every time.

Interstate Battery is now on my shit list. The $280 Platinum AGM battery lasted exactly 1 week longer than the 3 year unlimited warranty. One week it was fine, next week won't charge over 11.5 volts. One dead cell.

I'm seriously considering a made in China Amazon battery. Whatever is keeping US made batteries from lasting is probably some EPA environmental BS. I don't think the Chinese give a shit about the EPA. Maybe I'll get a battery that can last. Between cars and toys, I've bought 5 batteries in the last 6 months. One lasted a week before it was dead. Seems to be happening a lot based on reviews.
 
The new NOCO charger has a "Cold" warning light. It took a lot of digging but the cold warning comes in at -20F I think. Could be off a little because whatever the temp was, it was a temp I am not likely to encounter. Unless Time Magazine was correct about the coming ice age which after this week is looking more true than false.
 
Interstate batteries aren’t what they used to be, sadly. I think they changed contractors who manufactured their product line some time ago. Die Hard batteries were another brand that declined, at about the same time.

DEKA batteries, and others made by East Penn Manufacturing, are about as good as they get, and as I understand it, are the best you can buy today.
Times have changed.
 
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One Ping Only said:
Die Hard batteries were another brand that declined, at about the same time.
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I had a Die Hard AGM didn't even last 3yrs. By that time, the Sears Auto Center outbuilding where I bought it (and the main anchor store in the mall) had closed in Sanford, FL. Next nearest store was a 1/2hr+ away and didn't have my battery in stock. :rolleyes: I was in a pinch, bit the bullet, and bought another brand (WalMart?).

I got an Exide from Home Depot (of all places) less than a year ago and it has already shit the bed and won't hold a charge... :(

I have grown to accept that a battery won't last much more than 3yrs here in FL...
 
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My wife's Wrangler battery is kaput.

Looking for a replacement now.
 
My latest mods! I got these logo / badge covers not long after I got the car. So several months ago! But I never got around to adding them to the car. Today I gave the car a good wash, so I figured now is a good time to do it.

The factory badges have a blue background with silver stars and a chrome trim ring.

My "theme" is "blackout." So I thought these were cool. Black / gray American flag behind the Subaru stars. And a black trim ring to cover the chrome. It's night time, and the "flash" on my phone camera makes them look lighter than they are. Front and rear:
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Had two different ones for the steering wheel. Went with the red one for now.

Blackout-logo-3.jpg
 
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nice. oftentimes, it's the little things that make the most impact.
 
One Ping Only said:
nice. oftentimes, it's the little things that make the most impact.
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It's just kinda cool and makes it a little bit more "mine." I'm not usually one for stickers or other decorative accessories. But these we're inexpensive, and I thought I'd try them. We'll see if they hold up. But if they don't, I can just peel them off.
 

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