"Sorry officer... I was just cleaning the inside of my engine!"
What about the "cleaning" additives that are poured into the gas tank?
The requested work thread...
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What about the "cleaning" additives that are poured into the gas tank?
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Or... none of that. Residue free 
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Gasoline is made the same way everywhere. The only real differentiator between brands is the additives. They all have their own formulas but they all do the same things. One of which is help keep the internal engine parts clean.
It is not unusual for an Exxon or BP refinery to make gasoline for a competitor. It's nice to be in a business where everyone makes a profit and competitors scratch each others backs. Buying and selling from and to each other. Electric Power companies do the same thing.
It is not unusual for an Exxon or BP refinery to make gasoline for a competitor. It's nice to be in a business where everyone makes a profit and competitors scratch each others backs. Buying and selling from and to each other. Electric Power companies do the same thing.
I don’t do it cause I’m not EV certified, but these things do have expansive and intricate cooling systems that love to leak
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No disrespect intended. ICE is so much more complicated. Modern cars are way beyond the shade tree mechanic days. Working on cars today requires such a high degree of skill and tons of training. I used to love working on my old cars. Now, I don't want to lift the hood. I have no idea what's going on under there.
"Sorry officer... I was just cleaning the inside of my engine!"
What about the "cleaning" additives that are poured into the gas tank?
Back up in Provolone, RI, we used to call that an "Italian Tune-up".
The issue with Direct Injection engines is that they squirt fuel directly into the combustion chamber. Older, Ported Injection would "rinse" any carbon buildup from the intake valves keeping deposits at bay. With DI, crankcase vapors and combustion chamber "spit-back" finds its way onto the intake and valves.
Here is my GLI before de-carboning. That's about 3/8" thick on the back of the valves.
Scraping, vacuuming, soaking, then sucking the Sea-juice out gave good results. I'm not keen on blasting abrasives in my ports although that IS common practice (with valves closed). I can't seem to find my "after" pics but they were nice...
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you are correct. It can be very complicated. Yet people still think we can "pull a code" for free and wala, we know whats wrong with it. lol
Yeah Racer, we do tend to be careful about when and where we run cars hard. I can say though, I typically tend to drive peoples cars harder than they ever will. Partially for reasons aforementioned, but mainly for fun. lol.... I mean, its not everyday you can get into someone elses $100k+ car and beat on it, not giving a rats ass if it breaks. lol
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I'm sure. Especially the person who has a degree in Business Administration or Women's Studies - who cant change a light bulb.
There's a reason why cars cost so much. They have become so complex. Expensive to manufacture, expensive to maintain. This is what will kill the ICE. That isnt going to happen overnight or by government mandate. The market is going to drive the change. EVs are way cheaper to manufacture and maintain. Especially mechanically. The batteries are the weak link now. Expensive to make, the fire risk, and the relatively short lifecycle. But that's going to change. Necessity is the mother of invention. Somebody is going to solve the challenge of expensive batteries that require the use of rare minerals. When that happens, the ICE is dead for passenger cars. Then trucks, then heavy equipment.
You're probably right. However I HOPE you're wrong. To us car guys, taking the real drivetrains out of cars is basically taking out the SOUL of what makes it a car. Good thing I'm in my 40's and on my way out of the industry by both age and trying to start my own business atm..
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The good news is we will all be dead or crapping in our pants at the Shady Rest nursing home before this transition is complete.
Even if they stop making ICE's tomorrow, those already on the road will be around a long time. I think you picked a good business to be in. I use that packaged designer gas in my 4 and 2 stroke yard equipment. It absolutely works better in those small engines than regular gas station fuel. Also no ethanol in it. A one gallon tin is $22.
30 years from now, that's how car guys with their beloved Vette or other cool 'antique' car will be filling up. It will only cost $450 to top off the tank for a Sunday cruise.
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Out of curiosity, what parts of the ICE have become complex?
I get that a normal person cannot do much besides change oil and fill the gas, as everything including the windows is controlled by a computer, but that's nothing to do with it being an ICE car.
How is up to four motors and a huge battery pack, with associated electronics and additional computers less complex then a fuel engine / transmission with its electronics and computers?
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The conventional wisdom is the number of parts that need some kind of maintenance over a usable lifetime on an ICE are around 200. With an electric motor it's 20. Fewer moving parts always equals less maintenance.
For the purposes of discussion I'll leave the transmission out of it. EVs dont really have a tranny. I'll stick to engine vs. motor.
My comparison was principally a 60's era car - or earlier - that a shade tree mechanic could work on himself. What's new and way more complex? You already know better than me:
Fuel injection, turbos, all kinds of emissions controls and sensors feeding those controls, electronic ignition. I'll concede turbos were around back in the day but not that common on everyday passenger cars.
While it's true mechanically an old ICE vs new is still pistons, rings, valves, cranks and cams like it always was. But the tolerances between those parts now is a lot more important than it used to be. The days of Goober down at the filling station working on a car are over.
A dc electric motor is a relatively simple device mechanically. The only parts that wear out are bearings.
So after getting the DVOM out and starting at body grounds I was able to see that all injectors had ground and a 2v reference on firing. The one cylinder that was misfiring had .4-.5v at the injector. Checking continuity throughout the entire harness for that injector wire I traced all the way back to the ECM and found it appeared to have gotten wet. So against Audi instructions I cracked it open. And aha! Found a broken solder joint. It’s still enough to allow that half a volt but nowhere near what it should be. Time for customer to eat a ECM for several thousand dollars
What people need to understand is that pulling a code should NOT be free. The equipment to pull the codes was not free so customers need to expect to pay for the equipment and diagnosis time. I have VCDS for the family fleet and when a fellow dubber needs a scan, they know right off the bat I get $25 to give them their codes on a thumbdrive (text file or $30 with paper printout) and additional fees to do other things like turn off DRLs or synch TBs. Auto'Reillys have kept the O2 sensor industry alive with their "free" scans...
The VCDS or other more complicated diagnostic scanners (Autel, OBD11, etc) DO help with diagnosis in my opinion. You can get deeper into individual modules and sensors and the like with more conclusive results than a $20 generic code reader. But the customer MUST pay...
Sometimes you MUST drive harder to achieve the correct diagnosis. And if it breaks, the customer must realize the value of the car being under the "care" of the tech when it happened.
My dot's BF works at a Hunday dealer. Roadtesting a 2024 sedan (whatever the model was) a couple weeks ago, he is in the left lane of two lanes doing about 40mph and someone pulls out from the right driveway and slams into his right side, flipping the car!
Car was totaled but the air bags My Pillowed his body and he walked away with only minor bruising from the seat belt. 
At the hospital everything checked out fine (CTs, MRIs). Totally the other driver's fault which they admitted. I suppose the car owner will get an even NEWer car out of the deal... 
But to CREATE a durable electric motor (other than a simple science experiment) is a very complicated process and requires great precision. And just about impossible to repair "in the field" (ie: winding or pole issues). But with time and material, a machinist/welder/etc. can re-create a 100yo piston or casting for an ICE.
Your "magic fuel" comment got me thinking about this series called "The Colony". A hokey and scripted
"reality" show, it was obviously piggy-backing off the popularity of The Walking Dead, sans zombies. But it was more likely a believable apocalyptic survival scenario than the zombie show although my scenario would involve (lots of) firearms.
In one episode, I recall them distilling alcohol out of pig guts or something. So a SIICE could conceivably run off that or a CIICE off of vegetable (or waste) oil in the apocalypse...
The stuff nightmares are made of...
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJHIIU_Vkl8&t=44s
Nice exploratory diagnosis!
Why don't you just solder another VR/diode(?) in place? 
The trade numbers are on the back. Is there not any kind of "emission" warranty on emission parts any more? How did it get wet and how is it the customer's fault? If it were MY car I'd try soldering another thingy onto it... PS: was it a flood car?
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OK... where do I get gasoline for this thing, said the guy who bought a Model T.
Then he said, I was told by the salesman there would be roads.
Doomed to failure.
Then he said, I was told by the salesman there would be roads.
Doomed to failure.
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I suppose so. The number of times this has or will happen? Never.
Nobody makes their own ICE either. I am getting a visual of a doomsday prepper lunatic thinking he can make his own pistons or other engine parts after the SHTF. Here's what happens in the Apocalypse: There's lots of dead people who no longer need their perfectly good cars. Pick a nice one. When it runs out of fuel pick another nice one.
Warehouses full of parts and dead warehouse workers who no longer care if you take something.
If there's no electricity there's no charging. Unless you find solar panels or a generator and fuel. There probably will be a lot of those around for the taking. A good hose is important. Gas pumps wont work. You have to suck really hard to get the gas flowing from tanks 10 feet underground.
The Hock Tua girl or a gay friend may be good person to have around. The EV is stealth, makes no noise. So you can sneak up on people!
Once all that is exhausted, you barter with whoever has what you need to survive. If they refuse any offer to help you kill him and take it. Then you eat him. Raw. A fire would attract attention.
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ECM is mounted inside the cowl panel next to wiper motor. There is supposed to be a “weather sealed” case around it which was/is missing. The car isn’t under warranty due to being a 2013 with 96k miles on it. For CYA purposes I’d prefer to just replace the ECM and Audi will not provide just that single electrical componentNice exploratory diagnosis!
PS: was it a flood car?