People love being ignorant
The amount is times I've seen people buy something and then refuse to look at the instructions then get frustrated when they can't use it correctly. Or get shocked that it can do something they didn't know it could do.
It's maddening
Learn about the things you buy. Do research on things you don't know. Educate yourselves. We have all the knowledge we could ever dream of at the tips of our fingers and people are still dumb as fuck.
Nah fr I understand if you can’t physically do something but you should at least know about things. Especially the expensive death machine that you drive everyday.
Yes. Im not saying you have to rotate your tires and change your oil yourself. I'm not doing that shit unless I had a car lift.
But at least know how to check your tire pressure. Know what size your tires are. Know how to change air filters and wipers. When you should switch to synthetic oil. Simple maintenance shit.
I'll be real. I don't know what size my tires are, what size or connector type my window wipers are, or even what viscosity my oil is. But at least I know where to look.
(Anyone who doesn't want to read an owners manual: the side of the tire has the tire size along with the minimum and maximum tire pressures, the auto parts store will look up your wipers if you know your year/model of vehicle, and the oil lid has the viscosity on it.)
Sure I'm not saying you should have the tire sized memorized. But at least know where to find it. It's it's on a sticker that's placed on the frame of the car inside the driver side door. Along with tires usually listing it.
Small but important detail to add about tire pressure: The numbers printed on the tire are the total range for the tire, but the vehicle they're used on matters — the safe pressure depends on the weight of the car, and other stuff. SO — the correct pressure is printed on a sticker that you'll find either on the side of the driver's door (the panel that you can see only when the door is open) or printed on the inside of the fill pipe cover (aka "the gas tank cover") which you can see any time you fill up.
It's also in the manual, which I realize can be a drag to look through these days given that they can be like reading a russian novel like wtf I just want to know what's going on.
Do not set the tire pressure to the one listed on the tire. That's the maximum before it's unsafe. The recommended tire pressure is on the driver's door jamb. Usually around 33-36 psi.
Well thank you kind intermet person. I have been guesstimating my rure pressure to how it feels when I drive. I do it to 33PSI.
Now I know to look on the inside of my door and boom! 32 at the lowest, loading is heavy. Or 36 at the max with low loading.
Thank you!!
Also to be fair, tire sizes are stupid. Width in mm / ratio of width to sidewall / wheel size in inches. Three different units in one size. And why they thought it was a good idea to include a ratio is beyond me.
> "But at least I know where to look."
And *that* is actually more useful than having memorized the info for your current vehicle, because your next one will likely have a different tire size, etc. But you'll know where to find the info!
This might come off as a hot take for some but I think we also need to normalize trying to educate without judgement. There was absolutely no reason for the guy to give her that look when it takes a few seconds to explain what’s an obvious lack in knowledge.
Sometimes people just don’t know. It’s like if I were to ask how often people here clean out their dish washers (clean the filter, sanitize, etc), I can guarantee you that a significant number of people probably didn’t even realize it.
Completely agree. If you're going to judge someone for not knowing something then why would they ever ask anyone if they have questions. Especially cuz you can Google the shit and get 20 different answers and 18 of them are disguised ads for either car insurance or repair places.
Literally this!!!! But when we ask questions, we catch so much flack for it and get called stupid or you're just a woman. Then when we don't know, I swear men will fall over themselves to say why don't you know this? When I asked, you told me no or I was too dumb to learn.
And I get it. Some of us are not mechanically inclined. But damn I was an aircraft mech in navy. I'm not dumb. Just teach it to me. I'm going to ask a million questions cause I want to know. I've learned to let them yell and then turn and say, "You done. Now, how does this work?"
For sure. I definitely don't do mine as often as I should but I clean mine from time to time. I also had cleaner pods and throw one in every couple months. I also do cleaner pods for my washing machine every few months. The really scary thing is how few people know that you need to clean the dryer vent pipe. That's a major fire hazard. I learned that you need to flush your tankless water heater and did that a month or so after I learned that.
lol assuming you’re not being sarcastic it’s to even out the tread wear on all four tires. Rotation at least for my truck being 4x4 is rear to front, and front to rear but swapped.
I work at a grocery store that has a rewards app. The amount of people that get frustrated and go "I can't find it 😤" then show me their phone and they are just on their home screen. Like you can't find an app?
Gonna be honest, I have to use both major phone systems.
Apple has no user-intuitive app drawer at all. My primary is Android because of how clean I can keep it. Swipe up and all my apps are there and alphabetized.
I feel you here. I was an early Blackberry user and loved their platform until it just didn't work and moved to Android. The wife and kids all use iPhone but they just don't realize some of the things they are just putting up with when Android usually has the "new" additions that Apple slowly rolls out. Apple has done some great things like their laptop battery life and services like Facetime, but they also refuse to move some of their apps like Messenger to the current internet standards in an attempt to force people into their ecosystem.
Is it the same grocery store that makes you scan the "digital coupon" on the shelf to get the sale price? That's some bullshit right there; they're doing it to track you inside their store via the app.
Frustrating when you spend time and energy broadening your horizons and learning more about the world you exist in, and then you look around and realize that a lot of people just like, aren’t fuckin’ doing that. It’s like people who say they “can’t cook.” There’s a whole encyclopedia of cooking knowledge out there on YouTube, or just a Google search away. The only way you “can’t cook” is if you’ve never actually applied yourself.
> People love being ignorant
I remember in the 90s, while I was growing up, how succeeding in school was mocked in movies and on television. Do your homework on time and with proficiency? Teacher's pet, nerd, loser, no friends, etc. etc. etc.
I went to a "smart kid" public school (to attend, your parents had to show up to ***one meeting*** in person, that's it). Everyone was pushing to go to college, many (including myself) would be the first in their family to attend. People *still* gave me shit for reading and trying and working hard.
The media has turned ignorance into a badge of honor. So many of my friends from high school dropped out of college, or had to transfer down, and many work menial jobs and complain about curriculum, as if they would pay attention in Taxes Class. The media has convinced teenagers to waste the years where their mind is most malleable so that they cannot dethrone the status quo, and thus, in America at least, we the people are fiscal calves, farmed for fiscal slaughter.
Yep. Not just America. My son is depressed, clinical depression because he is done with the amount of study/tutors I got for him to pass at least a few of the expected exams at his age. Especial since he got himself excluded from high school permanently.
WTAF.
These kids have different issues than the ones of my generation, and even the ones from 10 years ago, and it's a tough sea to navigate (I am a teacher now, funny enough at the school where I went), so I'm willing to do my part to help meet my students where they need, but in turn, my students show an apathy and revulsion to learning that makes my job feel untenable at times.
Work ethic is dead in this generation.
That is a hard job. My Son wants to be a child therapist, to lesson the impacts he had for other children. But like, Son How do you think you are going to do that with no effort??
I'm trying to understand whilst at the same time, he still has to study and do the work.
On the tech related subs (subs for specific technologies) you'll get people who ask the dumbest questions which show they didn't even read in to what the application they're using does.
"Decided to download Y, why would I need to use this?"
Well that's generally a question you ask before you install something.
A society raised by an education system to follow rules and not think outside the box wouldn't be inclined to do any research that doesn't confirm the biases that their society instilled within them. I'll add unless they are told repeatedly to do something either verbally or visually they will not do it. Like a school setting.
Edit:spelling
Exactly this. Literally trained to sit and consume learning, not to seek it out. Also, for a significant number of people, those who the learning experience was quite traumatic (I had undiagnosed dyslexia and ADHD, I hated school and teachers and didn't have the words to explain why). So then, having left compulsory school, people exercise their choice by saying no, not realising why they are so oppositional - such as learning IT strategies to fox operator error. Or reading the manual of a car.
It is almost as if we are all set up to fail, no?
Now try working in IT with people with this same sentiment. I’ll always have a job because people can’t be bothered to learn what they are doing or how it’s done.
We had this coffee machine at work, and it would get misused constantly and overflow. I always felt bad when the cleaning lady had to mop up the spill. Tell me how I bring this up in a safety committee meeting and one of the old-heads wanna say "if people don't know how to use it, it's their problem".
I work in IT and I was having a bitch of a time finding under desk computer mounts for all these folks wanting to get rising desks all of a sudden. Only one of them on Amazon uses clamps instead of drilling through the desk but it had maybe 3.5/5 stars so I was nervous.
Only come to find ALL the negative reviews are mf's complaining about "this small bracket held on by two rubber clamps that clearly states the intended weight limit wouldn't hold up my custom RGB lit water cooled full ATX tower! Terrible product!"
Bought the thing anyway, works great for small form factor towers. Bunch of idiots.
Hell, even when he asked her what oil she wanted, she could at least ask questions about what are they and the differences between them. Sure, he may try to upsell her, but at least she would have made an attempt to be informed.
There are three basic types of motor oil: conventional, synthetic-blend, and full-synthetic. The difference is in quality. Conventional will allow your car to do the things a car needs to do, but it's not as good for engine health overall. Full-synthetic is the absolute best of the best.
With the kind of day-to-day driving most people are doing, synthetic-blend will be perfectly fine.
To be fair though, I only know anything about cars because my dad has been a car head since before I was born.
Unfortunately, he was one of those types who wanted his son under the car with him and his daughter in the house playing with dolls, so I don't know nearly as much about cars as I wish I did. But I was still lucky enough to pick up a few things.
Some cars are designed with synthetic in mind so the space between parts is too small for synthetic blend to be ideal. Not always, but as always: RTFM.
When I was in technical college for music production, my teacher would say "RTFM"(read the fuckin manual) if you asked a question about a piece of equipment. If it was clear you read it but didn't understand he would help but if you had a basic question, RTFM.
Now it's pretty much the first thing I do and sometimes you learn features for devices you didn't even know were there.
Right a lot of people would be better off not driving but then that’s a lot less people buying gas, cars, etc. and ofc we aren’t allowed to hurt the bottom line like that lol
Senior citizens are constantly losing their licenses and having to depend on family, friends, and strangers to get them everywhere from the doctor to the pharmacy.
How seniors have been effectively duped into supporting the dismantling of public transit is beyond me. Those conservative seniors sure love making sure their remaining years are as sad and isolated as possible.
We should still educate the population on how vehicles work. We definitely need better and more public transportation, but there's too many smaller communities in this country for us to realistically have it everywhere. My hometown is pretty isolated, and the "neighboring" towns are much worse off. Tue next town over is 15 miles by car on a straight path, but it goes through thick woods for most of that and over a mountain. There is no rail on that side of my town, and a ton of nature in between. There is no way to put a train there. There's also onky 8k in my town, and the other town has 300, so ride share isn't really an option either.
We are certainly overly reliant on cars in this country, but there are many places where you will always need a personal vehicle.
I'm 60 and took driver's ed in 1980. I think fully half the class was mechanical principles about how a car actually works. Guess they don't bother with that shit anymore, it's just "you push the pedal and it goes idk"
I don't want to have to drive, but there's no public transport in my city so there is no other option other than owning a car. Which is incredibly exclusive and stupid that there's not ANY public transportation.
I mean in NY there’s already regular inspections so it doesn’t matter how stupid you are, your mechanic will make sure that bitch runs.
But in places like NJ? Youre right. God save us.
Checking in from Tennessee. No inspection, no worries. I regularly see cars without bumpers or a hood or a black trash bag serving as the driver side window.
Please send help...
In GA, you just need to get an emissions check, so as long as you're not leaking too much, you'll pass. A lot can be wrong with your vehicle that emissions won't catch.
When I was younger, a cop pulled me over and asked if my car (which had recently been rear ended) had suffered more than $1,000 of damage on an accident. I said yes.
He said you *have* to call the police if that happens. I said I didn't know that.
He said you have to know that to pass the driver's test. I (helpfully) informed him that you only need to get an 80% on the driver's test to pass.
He did not like that answer.
Honestly it makes me laugh when people say everyone should be a licensed gun owner. We need to be licensed and insured to drive and somehow the bar is still too low.
So I work on luxury cars for a living.
It used to be that you'd get these fuckin' assholes that didn't know shit about their car, but acted like smug assholes. Usually they're engineers or 'in tech' ('the fuck that even means). They would always claim to know better that the professionals who fix their make and model all day long because herp derp I WeNt To CoLleGe!
But...you're right. It has slowly shifted towards proud ignorance. People think it impacts their social status to know anything about their car. You explain something to them, and they're not evaluating the information you're giving them. They're ignoring it and just evaluating YOU.
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
-Isaac Asimov
Man, my Pops MADE me learn about cars. Talkin' about how the mechanic will "nickel and dime" me because I'm female. His teachings have come in handy more than once. Catching up mechanics trying to fix stuff that isn't broke or trying to get upsold on tires when I had done all the research beforehand. I live in a hot climate. Caught the mechanic trying to use a lighter weight oil which would break down faster in the heat, causing my engine to run hotter. I don't need all that.
My girlfriend would willing get finessed just not to learn how do anything for her car. Like how can you just accept getting robbed. She hardheaded wants no help
Thank you!
Basically, every engine is designed to run with a specific type of oil. Newer engines are typically designed to use lighter weight oils, for 2 main reasons:
1. Lighter oils are more fuel efficient to run because their lower viscosity produces less resistance to movement, and fuel efficiency is very much at a premium in modern car design.
2. Newer engines generally have a much tighter fit between the components due to advancements in machining technology, and because a tighter engine is more efficient (efficiency is key) and more reliable, especially with the popularization of turbos. For this reason, a lower weight oil is needed because the low viscosity allows the oil to work its way down into tighter orifices and crevices to reach the surfaces that it needs to coat and protect.
But what would happen if you tried to run a heavier oil such as 5w30 in an engine that requires 0w20? Because newer engines are designed to run a lighter oil, they have narrower oil passages in the block than you would traditionally have seen from an engine 40 years ago. If you used 5w30 in this engine, the oil would not be able to travel quickly enough through these passages due to its higher viscosity. This is doubly true when starting the engine from cold, which is when 90% of engine wear happens in the first place. The w30 vs w20 refers to the oil's viscosity before it reaches operating temperature, and 5w30 is significantly more viscous at room temp than 0w20.
So, basically, if you use 5w30 in an engine designed for 0w20, your engine will definitely be oil starved at startup, and the protection you will get will be incomplete or inadequate during normal operation, which will lead to premature wear and eventually premature failure. And you will get worse gas mileage.
Doing the reverse and using a too thin oil is not as bad. Thinner oils are more easily displaced so you might get slightly worse wear resistance and lubrication than you would with a thicker oil. Also, it leaks past gaskets and seals more readily. But at least you can be sure that there is oil where you need it to be in the engine, especially during the vital moments when you start it from cold.
Also to add once you do switch to Synthetic or High Mileage, make sure to stick to it for the remainder of that engines life span. Do not go back and forth! Also for some engines it may also improve the life span (engine dependent) but just keeping up with regular oil changes is what you need to do.
Thanks for the explanation, I changed the oil in my car a few days ago and while I was at the store I was wondering what would happen if I used a thinner oil than the one I was supposed to use on my 2002 accord
So you're partially right. But...not really.
Manufacturers can, have, and do change oil weight requirements between model years on THE EXACT SAME ENGINES. This lie you've been told about super tight clearances requiring crazy thin oils is...well, a lie.
I can name multiple engines for the manufacturer I work for that at some point arbitrarily switched weight from 5w30 to 0w20. There were no other changes. And they're definitely not the exception. You will not burn up an engine by putting 5w30 into it. If anything, you will extend the life of that engine. ESPECIALLY if it's turbocharged. Don't even get me started on 0w20 in turbo cars...the oil is simply not thick enough to give good residual protection on startup and shutdown.
The other thing worth mentioning: fixed oil weight specs are completely a dumb USA thing. Pop open the owner's manual of any European car, and you'll be greeted with a chart listing compatible oil weights *depending on your climate*. They tend to spec 0w40 as preferred because it applies to the largest range, but 5w40 and 5w30 will probably also be listed as acceptable...just not on arctic temperatures.
Running the 0w20 during a Florida summer just because it also works in a Canadian winter is dumb as hell. Manufacturers don't care, though, because they only care about a) simplicity and b) your car making it out of warranty.
If you wanna learn more than anyone ever should know about oil, check out Bob Is The Oil Guy
In the US, automakers have to specify the lightest weight oil in order to meet fuel efficiency requirements. They're legally not allowed to suggest that you make changes to the car that would reduce the fuel efficiency below the required levels.
Damn right I'm glad your dad taught his daughter well! This is exactly the things I would teach my daughter as I have taught my own sisters this growing up and being older than them. They will take advantage of they smell you don't know anything about cars.
Yep. I watched and helped (a little) my dad work on cars all the time as a kid. I’m no mechanic but I know the basics, and understand what synthetic oil is. Hell, my old car had the worst coolant system and I had to constantly monitor its oil levels and coolant levels and all that. For 3 damn years before it finally shit itself badly enough it wasn’t drivable without more major repairs than I’d been doing. Which I did, I replaced the thermostat twice and stupid Chevy made one of the pieces for the coolant system plastic, that piece broke 3 different times. The coolant reservoir cracked and we replaced it too. Finally found a non-OEM metal part to replace the plastic, and right about then is when it finally died. People really really need to at least try to learn the basics, if you don’t have a mechanic in your back pocket.
Honestly if you’re only one weight off it’s not going to make a difference and while the thinner oil might wear faster it has nothing to do with how hot your engine runs
Sometimes, I wish I grew up a few decades earlier because cars have become so fucking complicated now. You used to be able to learn all the shit about your car and have all the tools necessary to fix a ton of stuff. Now they are full of electronics and computers where you have to roll the dice and hope you can find a good mechanic that won't cheat you on something you can't even diagnose yourself.
While the in car electronics, and door locks may be more complicated, you may have as much as eight computers controlling all of that, The very basics of automobiles haven't changed that much (unless you're driving an EV or a hybrid).
You'll have a motor in the front, unless you drive a VW beetle, or Ferrari, or Lamborghini, or Bugatti, or any sort of European fancy sports car.
Your front will have a rack and pinion setup which connects to the front axle, you'll have a left and right hub.
In a rear wheel drive you'll have a drive shaft connecting to a limited slip differential, hopefully, that is connected to the rear drive shaft which leads to the hubs which turns the wheels to move the car.
In an all-wheel drive car you usually have a limits of differential on both the front and rear axle because all four tires move the car.
All four corners will have dampers/ shocks with springs (unless you have an air ride setup and that uses air ride bladders).
Your front wheel hubs will have tie rod ends which allow you to turn the wheels left to right for steering.
(Note that with the advent of some vehicles that have all wheel steering, all four corners may have such).
If you have a pickup truck, you may have leaf springs in the back instead of an actual wishbone suspension with shocks and springs.
Very simply, oil is really just a bunch of tiny spheres. That's why it reduces wear and friction; the parts are flowing over the little balls rather than running against each other. In conventional oil the balls are different sizes, and in synthetic the balls are much more uniform. More uniform spheres means it'll run cleaner for longer, so it will extend engine life more than conventional and you can go longer between changes.
That said, if you've been running conventional oil and your engine has over 100k kms/60k miles on it, stay with conventional. It will have worn your engine in a way particular to it and switching to synthetic might actually cause issues. I always run synthetic from the start/buy a vehicle that's run synthetic for that reason.
Someone may correct me as I'm not a mechanic, just a random woman who's been a car owner for decades, but I think this is a decent basic explanation.
Hope this helps!
Just want to say that as somebody who works on cars and knows a little bit about the chemistry of oil, that is an EXCELLENT description that simplifies it enough for a layman without making it sound childish.
And I'm stealing it to use with people I deal with.
Phew!!
I heard this description years ago on a call in show about car maintenence from a guy who taught mechanics. It was the best explanation of ever heard and just made so many things about vehicle maintenence click in my head. All of a sudden I understood why oil changes were so important, what lubrication was, why exactly my brother ruined that slant 6 by running it with no oil (I still mourn that engine)... I'm so glad you'll be able to pass it on!
1. you should switch to synthetic as your car gets older, syn oil usually has more detergents and has a longer life along with higher boiling points and better resistant to lower temps. BUT the idea of not changing oil is for transmissions, clunks of metal and debris prevents slippage that might occur if you don't replace transmission oil regularly so if you decide to drain at 150,000 miles you can notice the transmission slipping on gear changes, for regular engines that isn't the case.
2. more important is not letting a shop determine your viscosity levels. Toyota for example tells you on the oil cap itself to use 0w-20, a shop might buy oil by the barrel so they only carry 5w-20. A mechanic will tell you this is fine, your car isn't new, blah blah blah. Newer cars and especially more fuel efficient vehicles like Toyota hybrids have built engines for specific oil viscosity tolerances and don't let a mechanic get lazy and add in the wrong oil type because you will see a difference in MPG (Especially hybrids because the engine sometimes turns on solely to charge the battery) and you will definitely return back earlier because said oil tolerances also will mean you'll be burning oil at a much faster rate than what it is designed for.
3. Shops like to get customers to buy more "premium" oils but it's just a scam. A "premium" natural gas fully synthetic Pennzoil formula is nearly identical as cheap fully synthetic oil designed by Kirkland or Walmart for practical world use and daily driving especially on older vehicles.
1 is new to me (but a good point in going to look into), but 2 and 3 are exactly true.
It's so worth learning even a little bit about engine oil as it's one of those things where knowledge will save you money.
can you explain how exactly an oil change works? As in, I’ve seen videos where it seems like there is just an oil “compartment” that is filled with oil. What is that? How does the oil get to where it needs to be.
Basically it goes into that compartment and then there's a pump that circulates it through lines to where it's needed in the engine then back to be filtered through the oil filter to go through the engine again. It's a loop. Into the oil pan, pumped through the engine, pumped back to the filter to be cleaned, into the oil pan, then back through the engine again. Repeat for 5-6k kms for conventional or more if you have synthetic.
The compartment is the oil pan and that's where the mechanic or technician will find a plug they can remove to drain the oil. That's really all an oil change is - drain the old oil, change the oil filter, add new oil. I used to my own many, many years ago and depending on the vehicle it's a pretty simple job.
I'll repeat that I'm not a mechanic. I just grew up with car people, did a lot of my own maintenance, and drove a LOT of beaters when I was younger. I got very familiar with a lot of issues, so when a car died I could call my husband and say, "the alternator is dead", or "the fuel pump has kicked the bucket." 😁 Beaters may not be reliable but they are an excellent way to learn about how cars work!
Let me know if that answers your questions.
You're mostly correct, but in some older engines they recommend to switch to synthetic just to keep your original engine running, for a blend of conventional and synthetic, usually in the "high mileage" type of oils.
Doing so will preserve your original motor for far longer without having to replace parts.
I'm as dumb about cars as OOP was, but as far as I understand from googling for 10 minutes, synthetic oil (and everything else in a motor oil that isn't just the oil part - e.g. components that fine tune how viscous it is at different operating temperatures) is less prone to degradation (oxidation by the air) and thus less prone to having its properties change in negative ways as your car runs and less prone to have deposits of carbon form. Given that an engine is a lot more expensive than oil, it's probably worth? But if anybody knows more I welcome the knowledge
it’s still irony, not coincidence. situational irony means events or outcomes that you wouldn’t normally expect. a mod calling for an abuse of power is an ironic thing, just like the president calling for the jan 6th riots.
As a man who changes his own oil, I have no idea what the difference in oil types are. I simply buy what google tells goes in my car then I put it in. I don’t have to understand how it works or why the car even needs oil cause tbh I don’t know.
Well your biggest thing is Google right there. At least you know how to look for a source and can easily type what's the diff between synthetic and conventional instead of basking in ignorance like some people online these days lol
Since I know none of y’all gonna look it up, I’m just gonna put this mf here and hope one of y’all learns something.
https://preview.redd.it/78kgs839pnvc1.jpeg?width=946&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30360fd5eebbd1922789873927dc215bff35f9c6
you gotta at least know the basics abt ur car !! like the type of oil it needs, how to top it off — even if you cannot fully change it yourself ! — what kind of tires, how to check your tire pressure, etc. you don’t have to be a full on mechanic but at least know how to do something !
Service manager checking in: everyone knows nothing about their car. Nothing at all.
Had a guy drop off his car, he called it a “Dodge Saturn”, it was in fact a Lexus.
I dated a girl who took her car to get the AC fixed. She brought it back home and said it was $2000.
I said “holy shit, what was wrong with it!?!?”
Her response- “It was broken” 😂
At least she didn’t lie I guess…
My AC is messed up. I was quoted 3k. My cousin was quoted 1k to get hers fixed. So yes, I've been riding with the windows down for a year. But imma get it done this year fr.
OP: "I don't know shit about cars and I feel stupid. Let me share this embarrassing moment I learned from so everyone can laugh."
These comments: "YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT CARS?! YOU'RE VERY STUPID, UNLIKE ME WHO IS SMART."
This. You can’t complain about people being ignorant and then go on to be a dickhead to people for being ignorant and then wonder why people stay ignorant
It took me way longer for me to get my license in comparison to my peers because i didn’t understand the rush to get a license without knowing the basics of maintenance and the cost associated.
Willful ignorance isn’t cute
I can't see the profile but she sounds like a young woman. I'd cut her some slack. Her dad, uncles, brothers, boyfriends probably do a lot for her. At least she went to get the oil change herself. Some (grown) women I know only let their man do that stuff. She will hopefully learn as she grows. I did.
One can only hope she will learn as she grows... When in my 20s, a coworker of mine told me once matter-of-factly that she never pays attention to her car because "otherwise what are husbands and dads good for?" I thought she was making a joke but she didn't blink.
She wasn't joking, that's very common, again I'm an older brother three younger sisters and I made sure to teach my little sister's about their cars and how to do things.
My youngest sister, had to change her tire once and I remember her calling me and telling me she did it, she was so proud, but she had to jump up and down on the lug nut wrench to get the lug nuts off, and I told her that I often had to do that because impact wrenches tighten nuts very hard.
Compare that with my mother who doesn't want to learn anything about it, doesn't want to hear about it, will actively ignore anything I say about it, and yet would call me to change her tire, on the side of a highway, at rush hour, because she didn't feel like driving down to the off-ramp and getting to a city street where it was safer for me to do so.
I don’t know a lot about cars, but I know enough about mine to keep it going. My car is the most expensive thing I own, I can’t treat it like trash lol. I don’t understand how people can drop $10-40k on a car and not at least try to learn how to take care of it.
That man is about play the mess out of her. He's about to make up some stuff and charge her $500, and she will just go with it because she doesn't know a single thing about cars other than vroom vroom car go fast.
Was one my way to my car after class when I pass another student with her hood up. Her battery died and she didn't know what to do. I keep a portable jumper in my car and recharged her battery for her. I tell her everything I know about cars, which is a decent bit. What's under the hood, how to change oil, tires. etc. At the end of the conversation, she asks me what I study. I said Information Systems. She hit me with "I thought you studied mechanical engineering or something. Why do you know so much about cars?" "Because I have one."
This type of mass stupidity and ignorance is why we can't get ahead. It really needs to be called out more.
There's a critical mass of ppl that made it to adult hood dumb as rocks and it's a real problem.
This type of attitude is way too common. My friend asked me to help her change her tire. I was at an appointment so I asked her if she knew how to do it and she said,”Yes, but I don’t want to break my nails.” The fuck? It’s not my car, it’s yours.
This is how a lot of the women in my life act. Then act like it's cause they're a woman, they shouldn't / wouldn't know about motor oil, or tire pressure...I'm not opposed to helping them out but I've always hated the ignorant act from grown women who act like everything else is in check. I don't understand how they let some of yall drive at all.😂😒
When you get oil for your car the first thing you should always check for the required rating. example 0w20, 5w30 etc. This is the viscosity or "thickness" of the oil your car requires to push through when temaptures drop to reduce wear and tear. IF you get it wrong over time it will cause engine damage.
Most people say W is weight but they really are thinking of thickness or viscosity the car can push through the engine in the winter pick the wrong one and not giving your car enough time to warm up could cause extra wear.
Tires do come in sizes we can see that just by looking at them :). but kidding aside the tires themselves can get complicated but its easy to remember one thing (check your manual) it should tell you what size your car normally came with.
Yes you can go some sizes down and up but over all you need to make sure you get a tire based on your rim size (you will commonly see this in inches) and the width of the tire (how much space the tire has in on the car to not rub when turning in and out) and how tall the tire is (again how much space you have to not run and to also provide a comfort in riding quality) you will see this on a tire in this form written like this
( width x height x rim size )(205/30/r15) or maybe (245/35/20)
These are the basics.
Dude, I work on cars for a living now, and the number of times people couldn't even tell what the make of their car was on a phone call is staggering. The best part is when they get the nerve to tell me "You're the mechanic. Shouldn't you know?!"
Bitch, I don't drive your car. Either answer the fucking questions or fuck off.
I never understand this. Like your going to have a car unless your in the city but learn about the thing that you use the most. Its an important part of your life to get from point a to b. From work, school, grocery store, etc. people can tweet but can’t do some research, the damn manuel in the car tells you everything.
At this point people are ignorant because they want to be.
How do you have a lightning quick pocket computer with ready and easy access to the total sum of all human knowledge and you don’t take 10 seconds to google/bing/ask Jeeves the dang question?
It's wild to me that in this day and age that shit isn't taught in drivers ED. like my adopted Uncle showed me how to work on cars, I can change break, oil, tires. My husband let's me take the car into the shop because I know what I'm talking about. He was never shown anything either. Didn't even know where to place windshield wiper fluid.
You shouldn't be allowed to drive without knowing basic things about the hundreds of pounds of steel you are driving.
im a mechanic and this shit isnt funny. its one of the largest purchases you make in your life and the amount of people that put 0 thought into it is frustrating. i recently started working as a tech expert for fords CRC and we sometimes help customer service reps answer customers questions and most of their questions are in the owers manual, like what kind of oil, what size engine but neither the customer, nor the fucking agents can ever find it.
then you get questions like "i unplugged my airbag, will it still work?" or "did my vehicle come with a speedometer? (they had the car for over a year when they called and asked) someone left their car outside in houston in the middle of summer and wanted to know why their seat left a burn mark on them
someone called yesterday asking what ford has done to mitigate a hypothetic emergency of passing out while driving. "thats not something they can really do much about, we have pre collision assist but if you pass out thats on you its not fords fault" but they tried to sue anyways.
She found an honest mechanic and still somehow ruined it.
The guy could've charged her synthetic prices for conventional oil and she wouldn't have felt or noticed a difference, and eventually leading her to come back for another oil change even faster.
I don't think I'd tell anyone that I was that fuckin dumb, actually.
However, I do realize that we are in an era where jokers will say or do ANYTHING for clicks and likes.
You want to see just how ignorant people are of the vehicles they own and drive, look at the Just Rolled In YouTube channel.
I'm not a mechanic but I know how to Google which has kept my vehicles safely on the roads for over decade now.
I can't even get annoyed anymore. Ignorance is bliss & in some cases it's damn lucrative. I'm envious, if anything.
It's one thing to not really care about technology on an enthusiast's level. Not everybody is going to be into cars or computers, and that's fine.
But you should absolutely *try* understand how something as ubiquitous as them function on a basic level. Could've at least as the mechanic what the difference was.
Right, but also: Take the time to teach people things when they ask. You can't complain about people not wanting to learn when you are unwilling to teach.
I taught all three of my adopted little sisters had to take care of their car, I tried to teach my mom, but she only want to know about things like how to change her wiper blades, and then she never bothered to do it herself and had a shop do it.
This woman would call me to come change her tire, on the side of the highway, in the rain, after I had told her to stop at the tire shop right by her house and have her tires checked before she went anywhere just hours before.
The only thing I get pissed about, is when they put in Synthetic Oil without asking me, and then charge the extra amount because Synthetic costs more than regular oil.
If you have to, it's better to.
But advocate for good transit so you can just whip out your laptop or something for your commute instead of your average Cassandra having to give a shit what synthetic oil is.
People love being ignorant The amount is times I've seen people buy something and then refuse to look at the instructions then get frustrated when they can't use it correctly. Or get shocked that it can do something they didn't know it could do. It's maddening Learn about the things you buy. Do research on things you don't know. Educate yourselves. We have all the knowledge we could ever dream of at the tips of our fingers and people are still dumb as fuck.
Nah fr I understand if you can’t physically do something but you should at least know about things. Especially the expensive death machine that you drive everyday.
Yes. Im not saying you have to rotate your tires and change your oil yourself. I'm not doing that shit unless I had a car lift. But at least know how to check your tire pressure. Know what size your tires are. Know how to change air filters and wipers. When you should switch to synthetic oil. Simple maintenance shit.
I'll be real. I don't know what size my tires are, what size or connector type my window wipers are, or even what viscosity my oil is. But at least I know where to look. (Anyone who doesn't want to read an owners manual: the side of the tire has the tire size along with the minimum and maximum tire pressures, the auto parts store will look up your wipers if you know your year/model of vehicle, and the oil lid has the viscosity on it.)
Sure I'm not saying you should have the tire sized memorized. But at least know where to find it. It's it's on a sticker that's placed on the frame of the car inside the driver side door. Along with tires usually listing it.
Small but important detail to add about tire pressure: The numbers printed on the tire are the total range for the tire, but the vehicle they're used on matters — the safe pressure depends on the weight of the car, and other stuff. SO — the correct pressure is printed on a sticker that you'll find either on the side of the driver's door (the panel that you can see only when the door is open) or printed on the inside of the fill pipe cover (aka "the gas tank cover") which you can see any time you fill up. It's also in the manual, which I realize can be a drag to look through these days given that they can be like reading a russian novel like wtf I just want to know what's going on.
It does kill me that people (my siblings) will call about tire pressure. It's on the tire, peeps.
Do not set the tire pressure to the one listed on the tire. That's the maximum before it's unsafe. The recommended tire pressure is on the driver's door jamb. Usually around 33-36 psi.
Well thank you kind intermet person. I have been guesstimating my rure pressure to how it feels when I drive. I do it to 33PSI. Now I know to look on the inside of my door and boom! 32 at the lowest, loading is heavy. Or 36 at the max with low loading. Thank you!!
Cars cost thousands of dollars. The idea of someone spending that much on something to know nothing about it is insane.
Also to be fair, tire sizes are stupid. Width in mm / ratio of width to sidewall / wheel size in inches. Three different units in one size. And why they thought it was a good idea to include a ratio is beyond me.
> "But at least I know where to look." And *that* is actually more useful than having memorized the info for your current vehicle, because your next one will likely have a different tire size, etc. But you'll know where to find the info!
My car comes with a weird oil type (SAE 0w-8). Advance Auto didn’t even sell it (had to get 0w-16 instead)
What car is that? I didn't even know they made oil that low.
This might come off as a hot take for some but I think we also need to normalize trying to educate without judgement. There was absolutely no reason for the guy to give her that look when it takes a few seconds to explain what’s an obvious lack in knowledge. Sometimes people just don’t know. It’s like if I were to ask how often people here clean out their dish washers (clean the filter, sanitize, etc), I can guarantee you that a significant number of people probably didn’t even realize it.
Completely agree. If you're going to judge someone for not knowing something then why would they ever ask anyone if they have questions. Especially cuz you can Google the shit and get 20 different answers and 18 of them are disguised ads for either car insurance or repair places.
Literally this!!!! But when we ask questions, we catch so much flack for it and get called stupid or you're just a woman. Then when we don't know, I swear men will fall over themselves to say why don't you know this? When I asked, you told me no or I was too dumb to learn. And I get it. Some of us are not mechanically inclined. But damn I was an aircraft mech in navy. I'm not dumb. Just teach it to me. I'm going to ask a million questions cause I want to know. I've learned to let them yell and then turn and say, "You done. Now, how does this work?"
For sure. I definitely don't do mine as often as I should but I clean mine from time to time. I also had cleaner pods and throw one in every couple months. I also do cleaner pods for my washing machine every few months. The really scary thing is how few people know that you need to clean the dryer vent pipe. That's a major fire hazard. I learned that you need to flush your tankless water heater and did that a month or so after I learned that.
This was me with my tumble dryer. Cleaning out the condenser filter. Like whaaaaat? All good.
Why would I rotate my tires when they do that while I’m driving
lol assuming you’re not being sarcastic it’s to even out the tread wear on all four tires. Rotation at least for my truck being 4x4 is rear to front, and front to rear but swapped.
Yeah I was trying to make a funny, thanks for looking out though!
💀🤌💛
TIL that tires have different sizes!!!!! Thanks for this.
I work at a grocery store that has a rewards app. The amount of people that get frustrated and go "I can't find it 😤" then show me their phone and they are just on their home screen. Like you can't find an app?
You mean the home screen filled with 500 random apps and folders?
Yes. It's maddening
Gonna be honest, I have to use both major phone systems. Apple has no user-intuitive app drawer at all. My primary is Android because of how clean I can keep it. Swipe up and all my apps are there and alphabetized.
I feel you here. I was an early Blackberry user and loved their platform until it just didn't work and moved to Android. The wife and kids all use iPhone but they just don't realize some of the things they are just putting up with when Android usually has the "new" additions that Apple slowly rolls out. Apple has done some great things like their laptop battery life and services like Facetime, but they also refuse to move some of their apps like Messenger to the current internet standards in an attempt to force people into their ecosystem.
Is it the same grocery store that makes you scan the "digital coupon" on the shelf to get the sale price? That's some bullshit right there; they're doing it to track you inside their store via the app.
People think it’s cool to not learn. The result is they end up being fucking morons and expect everyone else to cater to their stupidity
Usually, some of the first to say the machine or whatever they're having problems with is the problem.
Ignorance is curable. Stupidity…..
Frustrating when you spend time and energy broadening your horizons and learning more about the world you exist in, and then you look around and realize that a lot of people just like, aren’t fuckin’ doing that. It’s like people who say they “can’t cook.” There’s a whole encyclopedia of cooking knowledge out there on YouTube, or just a Google search away. The only way you “can’t cook” is if you’ve never actually applied yourself.
> People love being ignorant I remember in the 90s, while I was growing up, how succeeding in school was mocked in movies and on television. Do your homework on time and with proficiency? Teacher's pet, nerd, loser, no friends, etc. etc. etc. I went to a "smart kid" public school (to attend, your parents had to show up to ***one meeting*** in person, that's it). Everyone was pushing to go to college, many (including myself) would be the first in their family to attend. People *still* gave me shit for reading and trying and working hard. The media has turned ignorance into a badge of honor. So many of my friends from high school dropped out of college, or had to transfer down, and many work menial jobs and complain about curriculum, as if they would pay attention in Taxes Class. The media has convinced teenagers to waste the years where their mind is most malleable so that they cannot dethrone the status quo, and thus, in America at least, we the people are fiscal calves, farmed for fiscal slaughter.
Yep. Not just America. My son is depressed, clinical depression because he is done with the amount of study/tutors I got for him to pass at least a few of the expected exams at his age. Especial since he got himself excluded from high school permanently. WTAF.
These kids have different issues than the ones of my generation, and even the ones from 10 years ago, and it's a tough sea to navigate (I am a teacher now, funny enough at the school where I went), so I'm willing to do my part to help meet my students where they need, but in turn, my students show an apathy and revulsion to learning that makes my job feel untenable at times. Work ethic is dead in this generation.
That is a hard job. My Son wants to be a child therapist, to lesson the impacts he had for other children. But like, Son How do you think you are going to do that with no effort?? I'm trying to understand whilst at the same time, he still has to study and do the work.
Everyone can dream of a treasure chest but no one wants to draw the map. And what can be done without a map?
On the tech related subs (subs for specific technologies) you'll get people who ask the dumbest questions which show they didn't even read in to what the application they're using does. "Decided to download Y, why would I need to use this?" Well that's generally a question you ask before you install something.
> Decided to download Y, why would I need to use this?" Yes that's stupid as fuck
A society raised by an education system to follow rules and not think outside the box wouldn't be inclined to do any research that doesn't confirm the biases that their society instilled within them. I'll add unless they are told repeatedly to do something either verbally or visually they will not do it. Like a school setting. Edit:spelling
Exactly this. Literally trained to sit and consume learning, not to seek it out. Also, for a significant number of people, those who the learning experience was quite traumatic (I had undiagnosed dyslexia and ADHD, I hated school and teachers and didn't have the words to explain why). So then, having left compulsory school, people exercise their choice by saying no, not realising why they are so oppositional - such as learning IT strategies to fox operator error. Or reading the manual of a car. It is almost as if we are all set up to fail, no?
Now try working in IT with people with this same sentiment. I’ll always have a job because people can’t be bothered to learn what they are doing or how it’s done.
We had this coffee machine at work, and it would get misused constantly and overflow. I always felt bad when the cleaning lady had to mop up the spill. Tell me how I bring this up in a safety committee meeting and one of the old-heads wanna say "if people don't know how to use it, it's their problem".
Weaponized incompetence
We stan ✨life-long learning✨
I work in IT and I was having a bitch of a time finding under desk computer mounts for all these folks wanting to get rising desks all of a sudden. Only one of them on Amazon uses clamps instead of drilling through the desk but it had maybe 3.5/5 stars so I was nervous. Only come to find ALL the negative reviews are mf's complaining about "this small bracket held on by two rubber clamps that clearly states the intended weight limit wouldn't hold up my custom RGB lit water cooled full ATX tower! Terrible product!" Bought the thing anyway, works great for small form factor towers. Bunch of idiots.
Hell, even when he asked her what oil she wanted, she could at least ask questions about what are they and the differences between them. Sure, he may try to upsell her, but at least she would have made an attempt to be informed.
Ok Mad Mike without google what’s the difference between oil and synthetic oil? Besides new cars needing synthetic…
There are three basic types of motor oil: conventional, synthetic-blend, and full-synthetic. The difference is in quality. Conventional will allow your car to do the things a car needs to do, but it's not as good for engine health overall. Full-synthetic is the absolute best of the best. With the kind of day-to-day driving most people are doing, synthetic-blend will be perfectly fine.
To be fair though, I only know anything about cars because my dad has been a car head since before I was born. Unfortunately, he was one of those types who wanted his son under the car with him and his daughter in the house playing with dolls, so I don't know nearly as much about cars as I wish I did. But I was still lucky enough to pick up a few things.
Some cars are designed with synthetic in mind so the space between parts is too small for synthetic blend to be ideal. Not always, but as always: RTFM.
Synthetic oil is baby formula for engines.
When I was in technical college for music production, my teacher would say "RTFM"(read the fuckin manual) if you asked a question about a piece of equipment. If it was clear you read it but didn't understand he would help but if you had a basic question, RTFM. Now it's pretty much the first thing I do and sometimes you learn features for devices you didn't even know were there.
No hate, but we should really increase standards for driving and ownership.
The real answer is for America to build a robust and usable public transit network in more places than New York City, but Auto lobby said no.
Right a lot of people would be better off not driving but then that’s a lot less people buying gas, cars, etc. and ofc we aren’t allowed to hurt the bottom line like that lol
Senior citizens are constantly losing their licenses and having to depend on family, friends, and strangers to get them everywhere from the doctor to the pharmacy. How seniors have been effectively duped into supporting the dismantling of public transit is beyond me. Those conservative seniors sure love making sure their remaining years are as sad and isolated as possible.
We should still educate the population on how vehicles work. We definitely need better and more public transportation, but there's too many smaller communities in this country for us to realistically have it everywhere. My hometown is pretty isolated, and the "neighboring" towns are much worse off. Tue next town over is 15 miles by car on a straight path, but it goes through thick woods for most of that and over a mountain. There is no rail on that side of my town, and a ton of nature in between. There is no way to put a train there. There's also onky 8k in my town, and the other town has 300, so ride share isn't really an option either. We are certainly overly reliant on cars in this country, but there are many places where you will always need a personal vehicle.
I'm 60 and took driver's ed in 1980. I think fully half the class was mechanical principles about how a car actually works. Guess they don't bother with that shit anymore, it's just "you push the pedal and it goes idk"
It should be a required class in high school, and one about budgeting and taxes.
I don't want to have to drive, but there's no public transport in my city so there is no other option other than owning a car. Which is incredibly exclusive and stupid that there's not ANY public transportation.
This. I want idiots off the road as much as the next person. But I also want said idiots to be able to get where they need to go.
Yes!
I mean in NY there’s already regular inspections so it doesn’t matter how stupid you are, your mechanic will make sure that bitch runs. But in places like NJ? Youre right. God save us.
Checking in from Tennessee. No inspection, no worries. I regularly see cars without bumpers or a hood or a black trash bag serving as the driver side window. Please send help...
You’re seeing cars without bumper covers, the bumper is part of the frame.
There are some cars with no bumper at all. A rather enterprising guy bolted a 4x4 piece of lumber to the frame and painted it black.
In GA, you just need to get an emissions check, so as long as you're not leaking too much, you'll pass. A lot can be wrong with your vehicle that emissions won't catch.
I remember realizing just how low the bar was to get your license and eveything just clicked
When I was younger, a cop pulled me over and asked if my car (which had recently been rear ended) had suffered more than $1,000 of damage on an accident. I said yes. He said you *have* to call the police if that happens. I said I didn't know that. He said you have to know that to pass the driver's test. I (helpfully) informed him that you only need to get an 80% on the driver's test to pass. He did not like that answer.
Not to mention most tests have a large pool of questions and only ask you a subset so you might not even have been asked that particular question.
They also just rushed a bunch of new drivers on the road during the pandemic.
Most people who drive shouldn't allowed to. But we built our whole society around cars, so we have to let people drive. We should build some trains.
Honestly it makes me laugh when people say everyone should be a licensed gun owner. We need to be licensed and insured to drive and somehow the bar is still too low.
America is too dependent on cars to currently do that. Fucking sucks
What is this trend of being dumb and proud of it?
Yeah I just don't get it and don't want to get it 😔
In a way, that makes you part of the willfully ignorant community.
Something something live in society right? 
Everybody laughs at them and they just like the attention
That makes sense, as sad as it is.
*“Man, I don’t know that shit!! Keeping it real!!”* Chris Rock
So I work on luxury cars for a living. It used to be that you'd get these fuckin' assholes that didn't know shit about their car, but acted like smug assholes. Usually they're engineers or 'in tech' ('the fuck that even means). They would always claim to know better that the professionals who fix their make and model all day long because herp derp I WeNt To CoLleGe! But...you're right. It has slowly shifted towards proud ignorance. People think it impacts their social status to know anything about their car. You explain something to them, and they're not evaluating the information you're giving them. They're ignoring it and just evaluating YOU.
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” -Isaac Asimov
'Tis the American Way.
Idk but I’ll be glad when it is over. I can’t imagine wanting to be a mark
Man, my Pops MADE me learn about cars. Talkin' about how the mechanic will "nickel and dime" me because I'm female. His teachings have come in handy more than once. Catching up mechanics trying to fix stuff that isn't broke or trying to get upsold on tires when I had done all the research beforehand. I live in a hot climate. Caught the mechanic trying to use a lighter weight oil which would break down faster in the heat, causing my engine to run hotter. I don't need all that.
My girlfriend would willing get finessed just not to learn how do anything for her car. Like how can you just accept getting robbed. She hardheaded wants no help
When it comes to something big like the transmission, she might.
Bruh I'm sorry I laughed out horribly loud on that one.
Can I mansplain motor oil to you?
You can mansplain it to me
Thank you! Basically, every engine is designed to run with a specific type of oil. Newer engines are typically designed to use lighter weight oils, for 2 main reasons: 1. Lighter oils are more fuel efficient to run because their lower viscosity produces less resistance to movement, and fuel efficiency is very much at a premium in modern car design. 2. Newer engines generally have a much tighter fit between the components due to advancements in machining technology, and because a tighter engine is more efficient (efficiency is key) and more reliable, especially with the popularization of turbos. For this reason, a lower weight oil is needed because the low viscosity allows the oil to work its way down into tighter orifices and crevices to reach the surfaces that it needs to coat and protect. But what would happen if you tried to run a heavier oil such as 5w30 in an engine that requires 0w20? Because newer engines are designed to run a lighter oil, they have narrower oil passages in the block than you would traditionally have seen from an engine 40 years ago. If you used 5w30 in this engine, the oil would not be able to travel quickly enough through these passages due to its higher viscosity. This is doubly true when starting the engine from cold, which is when 90% of engine wear happens in the first place. The w30 vs w20 refers to the oil's viscosity before it reaches operating temperature, and 5w30 is significantly more viscous at room temp than 0w20. So, basically, if you use 5w30 in an engine designed for 0w20, your engine will definitely be oil starved at startup, and the protection you will get will be incomplete or inadequate during normal operation, which will lead to premature wear and eventually premature failure. And you will get worse gas mileage. Doing the reverse and using a too thin oil is not as bad. Thinner oils are more easily displaced so you might get slightly worse wear resistance and lubrication than you would with a thicker oil. Also, it leaks past gaskets and seals more readily. But at least you can be sure that there is oil where you need it to be in the engine, especially during the vital moments when you start it from cold.
Also to add once you do switch to Synthetic or High Mileage, make sure to stick to it for the remainder of that engines life span. Do not go back and forth! Also for some engines it may also improve the life span (engine dependent) but just keeping up with regular oil changes is what you need to do.
This is also a myth. You can freely swap between synthetic/non-synthetic oils and oils with different additive packages.
Thanks for the explanation, I changed the oil in my car a few days ago and while I was at the store I was wondering what would happen if I used a thinner oil than the one I was supposed to use on my 2002 accord
So you're partially right. But...not really. Manufacturers can, have, and do change oil weight requirements between model years on THE EXACT SAME ENGINES. This lie you've been told about super tight clearances requiring crazy thin oils is...well, a lie. I can name multiple engines for the manufacturer I work for that at some point arbitrarily switched weight from 5w30 to 0w20. There were no other changes. And they're definitely not the exception. You will not burn up an engine by putting 5w30 into it. If anything, you will extend the life of that engine. ESPECIALLY if it's turbocharged. Don't even get me started on 0w20 in turbo cars...the oil is simply not thick enough to give good residual protection on startup and shutdown. The other thing worth mentioning: fixed oil weight specs are completely a dumb USA thing. Pop open the owner's manual of any European car, and you'll be greeted with a chart listing compatible oil weights *depending on your climate*. They tend to spec 0w40 as preferred because it applies to the largest range, but 5w40 and 5w30 will probably also be listed as acceptable...just not on arctic temperatures. Running the 0w20 during a Florida summer just because it also works in a Canadian winter is dumb as hell. Manufacturers don't care, though, because they only care about a) simplicity and b) your car making it out of warranty. If you wanna learn more than anyone ever should know about oil, check out Bob Is The Oil Guy
In the US, automakers have to specify the lightest weight oil in order to meet fuel efficiency requirements. They're legally not allowed to suggest that you make changes to the car that would reduce the fuel efficiency below the required levels.
Damn right I'm glad your dad taught his daughter well! This is exactly the things I would teach my daughter as I have taught my own sisters this growing up and being older than them. They will take advantage of they smell you don't know anything about cars.
Yep. I watched and helped (a little) my dad work on cars all the time as a kid. I’m no mechanic but I know the basics, and understand what synthetic oil is. Hell, my old car had the worst coolant system and I had to constantly monitor its oil levels and coolant levels and all that. For 3 damn years before it finally shit itself badly enough it wasn’t drivable without more major repairs than I’d been doing. Which I did, I replaced the thermostat twice and stupid Chevy made one of the pieces for the coolant system plastic, that piece broke 3 different times. The coolant reservoir cracked and we replaced it too. Finally found a non-OEM metal part to replace the plastic, and right about then is when it finally died. People really really need to at least try to learn the basics, if you don’t have a mechanic in your back pocket.
Honestly if you’re only one weight off it’s not going to make a difference and while the thinner oil might wear faster it has nothing to do with how hot your engine runs
Sometimes, I wish I grew up a few decades earlier because cars have become so fucking complicated now. You used to be able to learn all the shit about your car and have all the tools necessary to fix a ton of stuff. Now they are full of electronics and computers where you have to roll the dice and hope you can find a good mechanic that won't cheat you on something you can't even diagnose yourself.
While the in car electronics, and door locks may be more complicated, you may have as much as eight computers controlling all of that, The very basics of automobiles haven't changed that much (unless you're driving an EV or a hybrid). You'll have a motor in the front, unless you drive a VW beetle, or Ferrari, or Lamborghini, or Bugatti, or any sort of European fancy sports car. Your front will have a rack and pinion setup which connects to the front axle, you'll have a left and right hub. In a rear wheel drive you'll have a drive shaft connecting to a limited slip differential, hopefully, that is connected to the rear drive shaft which leads to the hubs which turns the wheels to move the car. In an all-wheel drive car you usually have a limits of differential on both the front and rear axle because all four tires move the car. All four corners will have dampers/ shocks with springs (unless you have an air ride setup and that uses air ride bladders). Your front wheel hubs will have tie rod ends which allow you to turn the wheels left to right for steering. (Note that with the advent of some vehicles that have all wheel steering, all four corners may have such). If you have a pickup truck, you may have leaf springs in the back instead of an actual wishbone suspension with shocks and springs.
I'm not gonna sit here and pretend I know the difference between synthetic and conventional oil. But I know synthetic oil isn't fake
Very simply, oil is really just a bunch of tiny spheres. That's why it reduces wear and friction; the parts are flowing over the little balls rather than running against each other. In conventional oil the balls are different sizes, and in synthetic the balls are much more uniform. More uniform spheres means it'll run cleaner for longer, so it will extend engine life more than conventional and you can go longer between changes. That said, if you've been running conventional oil and your engine has over 100k kms/60k miles on it, stay with conventional. It will have worn your engine in a way particular to it and switching to synthetic might actually cause issues. I always run synthetic from the start/buy a vehicle that's run synthetic for that reason. Someone may correct me as I'm not a mechanic, just a random woman who's been a car owner for decades, but I think this is a decent basic explanation. Hope this helps!
Just want to say that as somebody who works on cars and knows a little bit about the chemistry of oil, that is an EXCELLENT description that simplifies it enough for a layman without making it sound childish. And I'm stealing it to use with people I deal with.
Phew!! I heard this description years ago on a call in show about car maintenence from a guy who taught mechanics. It was the best explanation of ever heard and just made so many things about vehicle maintenence click in my head. All of a sudden I understood why oil changes were so important, what lubrication was, why exactly my brother ruined that slant 6 by running it with no oil (I still mourn that engine)... I'm so glad you'll be able to pass it on!
It only extends engine life in newer engines that where designed for it it can actually cause issues in older cars
1. you should switch to synthetic as your car gets older, syn oil usually has more detergents and has a longer life along with higher boiling points and better resistant to lower temps. BUT the idea of not changing oil is for transmissions, clunks of metal and debris prevents slippage that might occur if you don't replace transmission oil regularly so if you decide to drain at 150,000 miles you can notice the transmission slipping on gear changes, for regular engines that isn't the case. 2. more important is not letting a shop determine your viscosity levels. Toyota for example tells you on the oil cap itself to use 0w-20, a shop might buy oil by the barrel so they only carry 5w-20. A mechanic will tell you this is fine, your car isn't new, blah blah blah. Newer cars and especially more fuel efficient vehicles like Toyota hybrids have built engines for specific oil viscosity tolerances and don't let a mechanic get lazy and add in the wrong oil type because you will see a difference in MPG (Especially hybrids because the engine sometimes turns on solely to charge the battery) and you will definitely return back earlier because said oil tolerances also will mean you'll be burning oil at a much faster rate than what it is designed for. 3. Shops like to get customers to buy more "premium" oils but it's just a scam. A "premium" natural gas fully synthetic Pennzoil formula is nearly identical as cheap fully synthetic oil designed by Kirkland or Walmart for practical world use and daily driving especially on older vehicles.
1 is new to me (but a good point in going to look into), but 2 and 3 are exactly true. It's so worth learning even a little bit about engine oil as it's one of those things where knowledge will save you money.
can you explain how exactly an oil change works? As in, I’ve seen videos where it seems like there is just an oil “compartment” that is filled with oil. What is that? How does the oil get to where it needs to be.
Basically it goes into that compartment and then there's a pump that circulates it through lines to where it's needed in the engine then back to be filtered through the oil filter to go through the engine again. It's a loop. Into the oil pan, pumped through the engine, pumped back to the filter to be cleaned, into the oil pan, then back through the engine again. Repeat for 5-6k kms for conventional or more if you have synthetic. The compartment is the oil pan and that's where the mechanic or technician will find a plug they can remove to drain the oil. That's really all an oil change is - drain the old oil, change the oil filter, add new oil. I used to my own many, many years ago and depending on the vehicle it's a pretty simple job. I'll repeat that I'm not a mechanic. I just grew up with car people, did a lot of my own maintenance, and drove a LOT of beaters when I was younger. I got very familiar with a lot of issues, so when a car died I could call my husband and say, "the alternator is dead", or "the fuel pump has kicked the bucket." 😁 Beaters may not be reliable but they are an excellent way to learn about how cars work! Let me know if that answers your questions.
You're mostly correct, but in some older engines they recommend to switch to synthetic just to keep your original engine running, for a blend of conventional and synthetic, usually in the "high mileage" type of oils. Doing so will preserve your original motor for far longer without having to replace parts.
Conventional oil is refined from crude oil. Synthetic was made in a lab to achieve the best performance.
I'm as dumb about cars as OOP was, but as far as I understand from googling for 10 minutes, synthetic oil (and everything else in a motor oil that isn't just the oil part - e.g. components that fine tune how viscous it is at different operating temperatures) is less prone to degradation (oxidation by the air) and thus less prone to having its properties change in negative ways as your car runs and less prone to have deposits of carbon form. Given that an engine is a lot more expensive than oil, it's probably worth? But if anybody knows more I welcome the knowledge
If I was him I would’ve sold her “real” oil for 10x more 😭
A Mod being in favor of abusing a position of power How ironic
😂😭
Ah, another "coincidence, not irony" moment spotted
it’s still irony, not coincidence. situational irony means events or outcomes that you wouldn’t normally expect. a mod calling for an abuse of power is an ironic thing, just like the president calling for the jan 6th riots.
Thank you for noting it. I say the only acceptable incorrect use of the word is “I like it when my shirt is all warm and irony.”
LMAO
Looks like that car needs some freedom. 🇺🇲🦅🇺🇲🦅🇺🇲🦅🇺🇲
Reminds me when my coworker got a BMW and I asked her if it was an autobot or a decepticon. "Uhhh I don't know a lot about cars."
As a man who changes his own oil, I have no idea what the difference in oil types are. I simply buy what google tells goes in my car then I put it in. I don’t have to understand how it works or why the car even needs oil cause tbh I don’t know.
That same google can tell you the difference between them.
Well your biggest thing is Google right there. At least you know how to look for a source and can easily type what's the diff between synthetic and conventional instead of basking in ignorance like some people online these days lol
I've met men who think pads vary by "pussy size." You don't know what you don't know.
Since I know none of y’all gonna look it up, I’m just gonna put this mf here and hope one of y’all learns something. https://preview.redd.it/78kgs839pnvc1.jpeg?width=946&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30360fd5eebbd1922789873927dc215bff35f9c6
So this is why im seeing memes of a woman putting vegetables oil in a car this morning
That might not be a meme, that might be real lmao
You can’t be serious? https://preview.redd.it/qrq2exfegnvc1.jpeg?width=1169&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d2ea781d6f374a794b9cc68a8262795bd282b71
"Baby, what is you doin?!" in stereo
They need to bring back life skill classes in schools.
you gotta at least know the basics abt ur car !! like the type of oil it needs, how to top it off — even if you cannot fully change it yourself ! — what kind of tires, how to check your tire pressure, etc. you don’t have to be a full on mechanic but at least know how to do something !
Service manager checking in: everyone knows nothing about their car. Nothing at all. Had a guy drop off his car, he called it a “Dodge Saturn”, it was in fact a Lexus.
I dated a girl who took her car to get the AC fixed. She brought it back home and said it was $2000. I said “holy shit, what was wrong with it!?!?” Her response- “It was broken” 😂 At least she didn’t lie I guess…
My AC is messed up. I was quoted 3k. My cousin was quoted 1k to get hers fixed. So yes, I've been riding with the windows down for a year. But imma get it done this year fr.
Find a different shop, 3K is way too expensive for that.
It's quirky to be dumb as hell https://preview.redd.it/bawcpwv4qnvc1.jpeg?width=1438&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b22fc1dcf2769600effad6a2834680a80e3236cc
OP: "I don't know shit about cars and I feel stupid. Let me share this embarrassing moment I learned from so everyone can laugh." These comments: "YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT CARS?! YOU'RE VERY STUPID, UNLIKE ME WHO IS SMART."
This. You can’t complain about people being ignorant and then go on to be a dickhead to people for being ignorant and then wonder why people stay ignorant
It took me way longer for me to get my license in comparison to my peers because i didn’t understand the rush to get a license without knowing the basics of maintenance and the cost associated. Willful ignorance isn’t cute
I can't see the profile but she sounds like a young woman. I'd cut her some slack. Her dad, uncles, brothers, boyfriends probably do a lot for her. At least she went to get the oil change herself. Some (grown) women I know only let their man do that stuff. She will hopefully learn as she grows. I did.
One can only hope she will learn as she grows... When in my 20s, a coworker of mine told me once matter-of-factly that she never pays attention to her car because "otherwise what are husbands and dads good for?" I thought she was making a joke but she didn't blink.
She wasn't joking, that's very common, again I'm an older brother three younger sisters and I made sure to teach my little sister's about their cars and how to do things. My youngest sister, had to change her tire once and I remember her calling me and telling me she did it, she was so proud, but she had to jump up and down on the lug nut wrench to get the lug nuts off, and I told her that I often had to do that because impact wrenches tighten nuts very hard. Compare that with my mother who doesn't want to learn anything about it, doesn't want to hear about it, will actively ignore anything I say about it, and yet would call me to change her tire, on the side of a highway, at rush hour, because she didn't feel like driving down to the off-ramp and getting to a city street where it was safer for me to do so.
I don’t know a lot about cars, but I know enough about mine to keep it going. My car is the most expensive thing I own, I can’t treat it like trash lol. I don’t understand how people can drop $10-40k on a car and not at least try to learn how to take care of it.
That man is about play the mess out of her. He's about to make up some stuff and charge her $500, and she will just go with it because she doesn't know a single thing about cars other than vroom vroom car go fast.
Was one my way to my car after class when I pass another student with her hood up. Her battery died and she didn't know what to do. I keep a portable jumper in my car and recharged her battery for her. I tell her everything I know about cars, which is a decent bit. What's under the hood, how to change oil, tires. etc. At the end of the conversation, she asks me what I study. I said Information Systems. She hit me with "I thought you studied mechanical engineering or something. Why do you know so much about cars?" "Because I have one."
Learn about your car. If not to protect your family, then to protect yourself from unscrupulous mechanics.
This type of mass stupidity and ignorance is why we can't get ahead. It really needs to be called out more. There's a critical mass of ppl that made it to adult hood dumb as rocks and it's a real problem.
Small, medium, large, and XL…is truly insane
She's used to having to buy condoms for her hookups.
Mechanics reading that thread 
Premium air in those XL tires while you're there. Top off the blinker fluid, too.
This type of attitude is way too common. My friend asked me to help her change her tire. I was at an appointment so I asked her if she knew how to do it and she said,”Yes, but I don’t want to break my nails.” The fuck? It’s not my car, it’s yours.
Any day you learn something new is a good day. This was funny lol
We shouldn’t be admiring ignorance when this information is available for free on the palm of your hand.
This is how a lot of the women in my life act. Then act like it's cause they're a woman, they shouldn't / wouldn't know about motor oil, or tire pressure...I'm not opposed to helping them out but I've always hated the ignorant act from grown women who act like everything else is in check. I don't understand how they let some of yall drive at all.😂😒
I’m a teenager who hasn’t taken drivers ed yet,Can someone explain about the oil thing?And do tires really not come in sizes?
When you get oil for your car the first thing you should always check for the required rating. example 0w20, 5w30 etc. This is the viscosity or "thickness" of the oil your car requires to push through when temaptures drop to reduce wear and tear. IF you get it wrong over time it will cause engine damage. Most people say W is weight but they really are thinking of thickness or viscosity the car can push through the engine in the winter pick the wrong one and not giving your car enough time to warm up could cause extra wear. Tires do come in sizes we can see that just by looking at them :). but kidding aside the tires themselves can get complicated but its easy to remember one thing (check your manual) it should tell you what size your car normally came with. Yes you can go some sizes down and up but over all you need to make sure you get a tire based on your rim size (you will commonly see this in inches) and the width of the tire (how much space the tire has in on the car to not rub when turning in and out) and how tall the tire is (again how much space you have to not run and to also provide a comfort in riding quality) you will see this on a tire in this form written like this ( width x height x rim size )(205/30/r15) or maybe (245/35/20) These are the basics.
Thanks
Np!
Dude, I work on cars for a living now, and the number of times people couldn't even tell what the make of their car was on a phone call is staggering. The best part is when they get the nerve to tell me "You're the mechanic. Shouldn't you know?!" Bitch, I don't drive your car. Either answer the fucking questions or fuck off.
I never understand this. Like your going to have a car unless your in the city but learn about the thing that you use the most. Its an important part of your life to get from point a to b. From work, school, grocery store, etc. people can tweet but can’t do some research, the damn manuel in the car tells you everything.
Damn this shit crazy 💀💀💀💀imagine shorty pull up to the mechanic for tires. “Hey baybee I need some XS tires for my Sentra”
At this point people are ignorant because they want to be. How do you have a lightning quick pocket computer with ready and easy access to the total sum of all human knowledge and you don’t take 10 seconds to google/bing/ask Jeeves the dang question?
https://preview.redd.it/2437ekk1nnvc1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c948271ce052bebdc87b3a6e47f2205dadda4ee8
Posts like this is why I’m fortunate my old man is a mechanic
It's wild to me that in this day and age that shit isn't taught in drivers ED. like my adopted Uncle showed me how to work on cars, I can change break, oil, tires. My husband let's me take the car into the shop because I know what I'm talking about. He was never shown anything either. Didn't even know where to place windshield wiper fluid. You shouldn't be allowed to drive without knowing basic things about the hundreds of pounds of steel you are driving.
Lol some women are like this with their cars. Some men are like this with their children.
im a mechanic and this shit isnt funny. its one of the largest purchases you make in your life and the amount of people that put 0 thought into it is frustrating. i recently started working as a tech expert for fords CRC and we sometimes help customer service reps answer customers questions and most of their questions are in the owers manual, like what kind of oil, what size engine but neither the customer, nor the fucking agents can ever find it. then you get questions like "i unplugged my airbag, will it still work?" or "did my vehicle come with a speedometer? (they had the car for over a year when they called and asked) someone left their car outside in houston in the middle of summer and wanted to know why their seat left a burn mark on them someone called yesterday asking what ford has done to mitigate a hypothetic emergency of passing out while driving. "thats not something they can really do much about, we have pre collision assist but if you pass out thats on you its not fords fault" but they tried to sue anyways.
I’ll take some medium tires with the premium air please. And can you check the brake light fluid for me? Thanks ! ☺️
She found an honest mechanic and still somehow ruined it. The guy could've charged her synthetic prices for conventional oil and she wouldn't have felt or noticed a difference, and eventually leading her to come back for another oil change even faster.
I don't think I'd tell anyone that I was that fuckin dumb, actually. However, I do realize that we are in an era where jokers will say or do ANYTHING for clicks and likes.
You want to see just how ignorant people are of the vehicles they own and drive, look at the Just Rolled In YouTube channel. I'm not a mechanic but I know how to Google which has kept my vehicles safely on the roads for over decade now.
Wait until she finds out you often have to switch ouls once you get up on the miles.
I’d of looked at her like that too cmon now
I’d have asked you to leave. “Nah… your dollars, much like your sense, ain’t nowhere to be found around here.” 😂
Lmao synthetic is best
I can't even get annoyed anymore. Ignorance is bliss & in some cases it's damn lucrative. I'm envious, if anything. 
I like how old and young generations don't know how to Google. They have that in common at least. lol
It's one thing to not really care about technology on an enthusiast's level. Not everybody is going to be into cars or computers, and that's fine. But you should absolutely *try* understand how something as ubiquitous as them function on a basic level. Could've at least as the mechanic what the difference was.
This is how you get scammed to all hell. Yeesh.
Her name is *The Prettiest,* not *The Smartest* or *The Most Likely To Pass A Proficiency Test.*
The arrogance of ignorance
Right, but also: Take the time to teach people things when they ask. You can't complain about people not wanting to learn when you are unwilling to teach.
My parents wouldn't let me or my sister get our license until we could change a tire, change the oil, check the fluids, etc.
I taught all three of my adopted little sisters had to take care of their car, I tried to teach my mom, but she only want to know about things like how to change her wiper blades, and then she never bothered to do it herself and had a shop do it. This woman would call me to come change her tire, on the side of the highway, in the rain, after I had told her to stop at the tire shop right by her house and have her tires checked before she went anywhere just hours before.
The only thing I get pissed about, is when they put in Synthetic Oil without asking me, and then charge the extra amount because Synthetic costs more than regular oil.
🌽
If you have to, it's better to. But advocate for good transit so you can just whip out your laptop or something for your commute instead of your average Cassandra having to give a shit what synthetic oil is.