[s4ch]

Browsing through the 'Wiper Blade' (The 'Wiper Blade' Thread) Thread, I came across this post (The 'Wiper Blade' Thread) mentioning a highly unusual and weird maintenance tip:

Originally Posted by mihir_m13

Here in Baroda - the summer heat wears the wipers down in just a year. I remove the wiper post Diwali and them put them back on towards the 1st week of June, that way mine last 2-3 years.

It takes just 5 mins to remove them.
Hope this information helps someone increase the life of their wipers.

When probed further on how this is done:

Originally Posted by mihir_m13

No - I remove the whole wiper stalk by removing the nut at the base. Put talcom powder on it and wrap it up in a plastic bag that stays in the boot.

As I mentioned on that thread, this is a first for me, have never ever heard of this being done before and was genuinely surprised at this!

So that got me thinking, what are the weirdest car maintenance habits and tips you have come across? Would love to hear the weird and wacky.

Another one I have heard of, but maybe not as weird as removing the whole wiper arm, is to put cupcake liners in car cupholders. Apparently it helps in keeping the cupholders clean and if you use silicon cupcake liners it even adds some grip...supposedly!

Looking forward to other inputs!

Ps. No offence at all to the fellow member who removes his wiper arm, it was just genuinely so surprising that it gave me the inspiration for this thread. As I mentioned on the Wiper Blade thread, this is all said in good humour.

[gt3t0uring]

We use to 2 types of cover for our Nano. First one is a thin transparent plastic sheet that covers the whole car and above that is the OEM cover. This not only keeps the car dry but clean as well especially during the rainy season.

[Deeps]

Many Indians I know across several age groups believe one should always drive in a forward motion first after starting a car even if they have to reverse out of a parking slot for example. I am unsure if this is based on some superstitions but i haven't come across any mechanically inclined explanation for this.

[Naztone]

So I am a sailor and each tour last between 4 to 6 months ergo I pack my bikes before leaving.

Unfortunately the steps involved have been increasing with time /knowledge - Wash the bikes, top up fuel, add stabiliser, coat them with a layer of engine oil, disconnect the batteries n take them home, plug the silencers, spray WD40 in the block via the spark plug, put then on blocks so the tyres are off the ground.

While this treatment may not be too weird on team bhp - The first time my wife saw this happen (We were dating then) she seriously questioned my sanity, followed by her own sanity - since she was considering marrying me Fortunately they were only 2 bikes in the stable then.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Deeps

Many Indians I know across several age groups believe one should always drive in a forward motion first after starting a car even if they have to reverse out of a parking slot for example. I am unsure if this is based on some superstitions but i haven't come across any mechanically inclined explanation for this.

It was due to lack of synchromesh on the reverse gear of old cars that led to this habit. The reverse gear wouldn't slot easily and hence, slot first, nice ahead a bit and then reverse. People otherwise explain that one shouldn't start their day/journey in reverse.

As for me, I usually change my engine oils at a conservative 70-80% of the recommended mark. I have noticed that the engine feels course around that mark and hence, a fresh meal makes a good difference. That, along with a clean air filter makes the drive enjoyable.

In my ex-Pulsar, the drain internal was 10k kms which was a stark departure from the 2k kms that the older engine oils had. I used to change every 2k kms at my FNG and the 5th service was done at ASS to retain the warranty.

[airbus]

Some 15 - 20 years back car theft was a big concern for car owners in Assam. Few unique anti-theft techniques I had personally seen are given below:

1. The garage is next to a bedroom and the family used a thick metal chain (used to secure elephant) to secure an axle, then pass both ends of the chain through a hole at the bottom of bedroom wall and secured it with a thick iron rod from inside. The idea was that thief can't move the vehicle with the chain and if they try to cut, it will make noise to wake up people in the bedroom.

2. One of our neighbours used to remove a wheel and keep it along with the spare wheel inside their house to thwart car thieves. While their car usage was less but still it was lot of work to remove wheel after every drive and put it back before a drive.

3. This was by my brother. He was using an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) as alarm. The neutral input power cable of the UPS was passed through garage door handles. To open the garage door one must have to remove or cut the cable, as a result UPS in his bedroom would sound alarm due to loss of power.

[mihir_m13]

Originally Posted by Naztone

So I am a sailor and each tour last between 4 to 6 months ergo I pack my bikes before leaving.

Unfortunately the steps involved have been increasing with time /knowledge - Wash the bikes, top up fuel

Topping up the fuel? Really - I am not sure its a good idea. Fuels contain some solvents and when not used for long they settle at the bottom and might choke the throttle assembly or carburetor. This has happened with my Jawa-42 and it also caused a couple of pipe (from the tank to the injector) to rupture. Had to tow my vehicle to the service center. This is during the lockdown as the vehicle was hardly used.

Its worth noting that this is likely to affect bikes with electronic fuel injection more than carburated bikes.

I have not had to do such a thing as you but I guess to avoid the rust a better way would be to just drain every drop of fuel in it and keep the tank open for some time so it becomes completely dry and then shut tight.

[Naztone]

Originally Posted by mihir_m13

Topping up the fuel? Really - I am not sure its a good idea. Fuels contain some solvents and when not used for long they settle at the bottom and might choke the throttle assembly or carburetor.

You are correct that fuel has various components that degrade over time: Solvents usually evaporate and the heavier elements settle, also some minor internal reactions take place.

Hence one must add fuel stabiliser to guard against this and maintain quality of fuel, I have been doing this for over 5 years now.

A plus point is that the fuel in fueling system gets stabilised too on the ride home from the pump.

I used to drain the tank in my initial days, problem with this is that most fuel tanks are uncoated inside and this exposes the metal to air /moisture leading to rust formation.

I had to replace the rx100 fuel tank around the time I switched to stabiliser and tank full method - its held up well since.

[Thilak29]

I have placed wire brushes within engine bay at multiple carefully chosen places.
This was done after bad experience with rodents during initial days of car purchase, it’s weird but worked very well over last five years.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Naztone

I had to replace the rx100 fuel tank around the time I switched to stabiliser and tank full method - its held up well since.

Which fuel stabilizer do you use? Is it easily available in India?

Regards,
Shashi

[RR96]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

I have placed wire brushes within engine bay at multiple carefully chosen places.
This was done after bad experience with rodents during initial days of car purchase, it’s weird but worked very well over last five years.

One of the practices to avoid rats is placing an opened packet of chewing tobacco inside the engine bay, its effective.

Back to topic, I too practice the habit of moving the car the forward before reversing it, it was grandpa who mentioned that it was to be done that way, glad that I now know why it was done back then.

Also another interesting thing I noted is when our old driver starts our WagonR, he religiously idles the car for a minute or two and also while stopping after the drive he repeats the same. He started his driving long ago and usually drives the diesel engine and I think that's where the practice came from. I couldn't justify it to him that it wasn't necessary because our car didn't have a turbo-charger.

[Naztone]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Which fuel stabilizer do you use? Is it easily available in India?

Regards,
Shashi

It's called Stabil - I used to buy it from the states. Before Harley exited India you could also easily procure it from their service centers. Also available on amazon - but it's pricey there.

[IP_Man]

Originally Posted by Deeps

I am unsure if this is based on some superstitions.

In Bahrain, it is my observation, all Bahrainis always start car by keeping driver side door open. I don't know, is this superstition or some scientific reason behind this?

[tilt]

Originally Posted by IP_Man

In Bahrain, it is my observation, all Bahrainis always start car by keeping driver side door open. I don't know, is this superstition or scientific reason?

Maybe to jump out of the car catches fire? Or if they think there's a car-bomb and that they would be able to jump out in the split second it takes for the bomb to go off LOL?

Cheers

[1.2TSI7DSG]

Originally Posted by Deeps

Many Indians I know across several age groups believe one should always drive in a forward motion first after starting a car even if they have to reverse out of a parking slot for example. I am unsure if this is based on some superstitions but i haven't come across any mechanically inclined explanation for this.

Couple of pointers
1. This is a habit of the era when when steerings were manual
2. The gearboxes were not syncromesh, the slight movement allowed an easier shift to the reverse.