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   sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 09:57:23 JST sj_zero
   Had to tear my washer apart to do a repair. It really helped me understand how everything is designed to be disposable.
   
   I was getting a drain fault code, the washer wasn't working at all. The correct method to repair is to take the top off, the front off, then unbolt the pump to get at the drain pump on the side of the pump assembly. All so I could undo 3 screws and take out a clump of fuzz that was clogging up the pump. How many people would just assume the washer was dead and buy a new one for a clump of fuzz?
   
   I had to do some pretty interesting gymnastics to get to the pump from the bottom, but after a whole bunch of work I got to the drain pump and sure enough, it was just a piece of felt stopping my new washer from running correctly.
   
   You know.... The drain pump is a known failure mode of this thing. In a sane world, there'd be a little door you can open to access it. Nope, not in clown world, you're expected to take the entire thing apart to remove three screws and lift the pump head off.
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     BowserNoodle ☦️ (bowsacnoodle@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:03:53 JST BowserNoodle ☦️

     in reply to
     @sj_zero Engineers should be required to work as technicians / mechanics for at least 8 hours a week so that they can understand the pain that some of their decisions will cause. Treat it like universities where even the research professors have to teach at least one class. The more experienced guys can "buy their way out" by producing designs that don't suck.
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     BowserNoodle ☦️ (bowsacnoodle@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:11:50 JST BowserNoodle ☦️

     in reply to

     • Paultron-3030
     @Paultron @sj_zero >accountants don't have to blame anyone because they hold the money, what you gonna do you damn math nerds lmao
     t. Boeing
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     Paultron-3030 (paultron@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:11:51 JST Paultron-3030

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     • BowserNoodle ☦️
     @BowsacNoodle @sj_zero repair techs blame factory
     factory blames design engineers
     design engineers blame production
     production blames accountants
     
     accountants don't have to blame anyone because they hold the money, what you gonna do you damn math nerds lmao
     t. someone who has played go between for these parties while silently wishing miserable things for the jerk who decided it'd look pretty to sink a securement screw in a 7 inch deep recess because it'd make the casing look 'elegant'
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     BowserNoodle ☦️ (bowsacnoodle@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:14:31 JST BowserNoodle ☦️

     in reply to

     • Paultron-3030
     @Paultron @sj_zero This is why I liked Dyson when it was more of a boutique product line vs today. I know not every industry can have its own Koenigsegg, but it'd be a lot cooler if they did. Not necessarily the ultra high end aspect, just the pure love of the craft and perfectionist mindset. It's like old Sony and old Apple type visionary stuff that should be in design and manufacturing.
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     PoalackJokes88 (poalackjokes88@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:14:53 JST PoalackJokes88

     in reply to
     @sj_zero If it is your washer a few minutes with a drill and aviation snips could fix that issue permanently. You can make your own access panel.
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     PoalackJokes88 (poalackjokes88@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:23:25 JST PoalackJokes88

     in reply to
     @sj_zero I had to fix a (new) washer that had died from a power surge from a lightning strike. I pull out the board and find one little resistor about the size of a grain of rice was blown... but the damned thing is encased in clear rubber. There's no way to get it out and resolder it, even though it's a $100 board laid low by a ~$0.10 resistor. I get why they cased it in rubber, to waterproof it... but it's a ridiculous amount of overkill.
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     sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:23:26 JST sj_zero

     in reply to

     • PoalackJokes88
     That's the plan, tbh.
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     BowserNoodle ☦️ (bowsacnoodle@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:24:22 JST BowserNoodle ☦️

     in reply to

     • John Rando
     @john_rando @sj_zero Dude yes. Ford builds a good product that's a PITA to work on. Honda requires you to remove a TON of stuff just to change your timing belt and water pump, so much that the shops want to charge you over $2,000 for something required for 100k mile service. You can often find ways around these things of course, but we shouldn't have to play Tetris to work on normal maintenance.
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     John Rando (john_rando@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:24:23 JST John Rando

     in reply to

     • BowserNoodle ☦️

     @BowsacNoodle @sj_zero I had to remove the air filter box, the battery, battery pan, the air intake and throttle body just to replace the starter in my car. It actually went better than I anticipated. Then I found that the transmission fluid fill tube had broken in half at some point. Apparently it's common with my model of car. So I had to order that too. It's only held in place where it attaches to the transmission and about midway up the tube. So half of it just freely vibrates over the years until stress fractures snap it in half.

     The big problem is they keep stuffing more and more shit under the hood of the car, until there's no free space left to get your hands on things. When I look at the cavernous engine compartments of old 60s and 70s cars I feel envious.

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     John Rando (john_rando@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:30:05 JST John Rando

     in reply to

     • BowserNoodle ☦️

     @BowsacNoodle @sj_zero I might have to buy another car soon. Not looking forward to it. Used cars aren't nearly as cheap or good as they used to be.

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     BowserNoodle ☦️ (bowsacnoodle@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 10:31:16 JST BowserNoodle ☦️

     in reply to

     • John Rando
     @john_rando @sj_zero Everything is direct injection now, so unless the owner did a good job changing the oil (😏) expect to have some synthetic valve sludge.
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     John Rando (john_rando@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 11:21:50 JST John Rando

     in reply to

     • BowserNoodle ☦️

     @sj_zero @BowsacNoodle My last major purchase was a brand new Suzuki SV-650 some years back, before the interest rates climbed up. Promotional 1.99% interest for three years? Sheeeit, that's less than the inflation rate nigguh!!! All my prior purchases were used vehicles but for once I wanted something new. Given how shit the used market is now, it may come to a point that I might as well buy a new vehicle, if I'm not saving that much buying used anymore.

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     sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 11:21:51 JST sj_zero

     in reply to

     • BowserNoodle ☦️
     • John Rando
     I was looking and the number of vehicles with 300,000km asking over 10k and sometimes over 20k was like "what?"
     
     Then I looked at the price of new vehicles and it was like "holy shit...."
     
     I think it all goes back to 2008 in two ways
     
     First, cash for clunkers meant that they took a bunch of viable low end used vehicles and destroyed them. I've been thinking lately about that phrase "the wealth of nations" and I can't help but think that part of that wealth is the accumulated stuff that has already been manufactured and just needs to be maintained. A bunch of used cars on the road might not seem like a big deal, but those are all tools that somebody can go out and use to make their life better. Destruction of those tools is the destruction of the wealth of the nation, even if they aren't wonderful luxury cars that everyone wants to be driving around in.
     
     The way that the government burecrats focus on GDP can be easily refuted. Think about a scenario where your grandfather bequeathed to you a piece of land. The land was completely undeveloped, had nothing on it. You chop down some trees on it, and with artisanal skill alone build a house on that property. Then you pass it off to your kids, and they have built up even greater artisanal skill and so they keep the household there, but dig up rock and build a giant castle, a mansion made out of stone. And maybe the quarry on your property that they used to get the stone for the castle it turns into a fine little lake, and a generation or two later, the same family is living there, maybe they are planning food and living off that food, and maybe some eagles dropped some fish into the lake and they spawned and now you can fish in that lake, and you have a property with a house and a castle and some farmland and lake, that was nothing before. What is the GDP of this piece of land? Well the answer is zero. In spite of the fact that it went from being a completely undeveloped piece of land to a highly developed piece of land no money ever changed hands and so the GDP is zero. Now would you say that that family with a GDP of zero has less wealth than a family renting an apartment in the ghetto? The family in the ghetto likely has a GDP of several thousand dollars, maybe $20,000 maybe more, money is coming in and going out, so according to the economist the family with the castle is doing terribly and the family in the ghetto is much richer. But who would choose to live in the ghetto when they could choose to live in the castle?
     
     Second thing that 2008 did is driving interest rates down to basically nothing. That's why people are willing to take out 84 months loans on a car, because it's 84 months at basically no interest. Let's see if people are quite so excited to take on such a commitment with 10% annual interest rates, or 20%. The availability of money made it easier to borrow more, and made it easier to borrow longer. As a result every shit box suddenly became a lot more expensive.
     
     I didn't realize how bad it was in North America until someone showed me some of the used car market in europe. You can still get a shitbox car for a thousand Euros there. The sort of thing you'd brag about driving? Probably not. But it's Wheels, and that can change a lot...
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     BowserNoodle ☦️ (bowsacnoodle@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Apr-2024 11:23:36 JST BowserNoodle ☦️

     in reply to

     • John Rando
     @john_rando @sj_zero Dude the used auto market is atrocious. Always has been, but since cash for clunkers it's been miserable and the Covid shortage was like the removal of life support. We priced out a full sized van and it's almost the same cost to buy it new vs used.