An Adult Should Really Know This - Silly Things You've Had to Tell People

[nuit93]

When engine warning lights pop up on your dash, you really need to find out what they mean before driving much farther.  You do not drive 5000 more miles before you casually ask your friend what that light means.

You are dingdangity lucky you didn't completely ruin your engine.

I've done this, admittedly.  But it turned out to be the catalytic converter. 

Drove for over a year with the check engine light on.

[Slartibartfast]

When engine warning lights pop up on your dash, you really need to find out what they mean before driving much farther.  You do not drive 5000 more miles before you casually ask your friend what that light means.

You are dingdangity lucky you didn't completely ruin your engine.

I've done this, admittedly.  But it turned out to be the catalytic converter. 

Drove for over a year with the check engine light on.

Mine's been on for two or three years now.  I had it checked out and it turns out the only thing wrong with it is the part that's supposed to tell the check engine light to turn back off    It's several hundred dollars to fix, though, so I'm waiting until something else breaks and they have to muck around in there already.  To be fair, though, I have an awesome mechanic who looks over everything whenever I take my car in for an oil change anyway, so I'm probably going to catch any problems that way or because they would affect how the car feels when I drive it . . .

[camlan]

When engine warning lights pop up on your dash, you really need to find out what they mean before driving much farther.  You do not drive 5000 more miles before you casually ask your friend what that light means.

You are dingdangity lucky you didn't completely ruin your engine.

My sister drove a couple of thousand miles with her check engine light on. Then the car died, halfway between our parents' home in New Hampshire and her home in Pennsylvania. On a Saturday evening, when tow trucks are hard to find. Fortunately for her, I lived only an hour away from where she broke down and was able to rescue her and her friend and put them up for the night. And drive her back to the town to deal with the garage, and put her up two more nights until everything got fixed.

After this happened, every single person in my family expressed surprise that the car broke down. They'd all driven, at one point or another, with their check engine lights on for months. Apparently, I'm the only one in the family who freaks out a little when the light goes on and, you know, gets the car checked out in the next week or so.

[Margo]

I think one of the problems is that it's much harder than it used to be to know which lights are important and which are not.
I know in my manual when you look up various lights/warnings it often says "contact your dealer" so doesn't even tell you what the specific light is related to, and it's very hard to know whether it's a "stop right there, do not attempt to drive at all until it's been checked" and which are "get it checked as soon as you can and drive with a little more care than usual in the mean time"

I'm lucky that the garage which looks after my car are very good, and so I can phone them to say "this light has some on, this is what I was doing, is it safe for me to drive it straight to you now / wait and make an appointment to pop in  next week or do I need to call the RAC now? Becuase the guidance in the instruction manual does not give any clue as to which of those is likely to apply

I once hired a van, to move house. We were about 20 minutes into our 5 hour journey when the engine management light came on. You know, one of the ones where the manual says "Stop. Do not pass go. Do not attempt to collect $200. Call out a tow truck"

Turned out that it was a faulty connection to the bulb of the warning light . (the bit which infuriated me was that (a) several of the guys at the hire co. KNEW this, but didn't bother to mention it to us when we picked up the van (b) the company were angry that I wasn't willing to just drive off in the hope that the engine wasn't about to seize up & leave me and all my worldly goods stranded half way across the country (this was before they checked it and found it was a loose connection, of spoke to the guys that knew that)

Fortunately it came on when we were close to another of their locations, so we got them to check it. The guy who checked it seemed bemused that I insisted on his making and signing a note to say he had checked it, it was a faulty connection not a fault with the engine, and that he was instructing us to ignore it. Did I not believe him?
 (Why yes, I had read the small print of the hire agreement about what circumstances would mean we were liable for any damage to the van:-)

[msulinski]

When engine warning lights pop up on your dash, you really need to find out what they mean before driving much farther.  You do not drive 5000 more miles before you casually ask your friend what that light means.

You are dingdangity lucky you didn't completely ruin your engine.

There are degrees to the check engine light. When the light is flashing, that is when you are supposed to pull over immediately and stop the car. When the light is just on but not blinking, there can be a variety of issues, ranging from very minor to more severe.

[msulinski]

My now-DH and I invited a coworker & her boyfriend over for dinner, or dessert, or something. DH was living in his parents' old home in a VERY bachelor existence; he went to their new home for dinner nearly every night.

While our guests were there, he opened the fridge and said, "I have some beer in there, but it's been there a few months--I don't know if it's still good."

Canned foods in general last for years.

Certainly they don't expire in 3 or 4 months (which was all the older that beer was)--that's the whole point of canning things.

That's the part that was sort of unusual for someone not to know.

(We all know or don't know some stuff.)

Spoken (written) like a non-beer drinker!
Beer can become "skunked" after several months. It most certainly does not maintain a fresh flavor for years. 2-4 months, probably ok, 8-10 months its going to have an off flavor. You can still drink it, and some people won't mind, but it won't be "good" (as in pleasant) anymore.

Actually- there is way more than age that goes into the "skunking" of a beer. It depends on what the beer is stored in- Glass will skunk faster than a can due to the light that gets into the beer. It is actually hard to skunk a can on light alone. The bigger piece is temperature. If you cool and then bring a beer back to room temperature, the beer can get skunked. Do it repeatedly and the flavor changes more and more.

Some beers also improve with age- I have some Thomas Hardys which are over 10 years old and a few Ommegang Adorations that I have aging and when tasted with their new versions, they take on a much deeper flavor. Not that a regular "domestic" would react in the same way- altho most of those are old by the time they hit the shelf anyway. Basic thoughts in the industry now are that the cheaper the beer, the less time changes the flavor to the end consumer.

And then you have some beers that come pre skunked.... Budweiser comes to mind. The flavor that people associate with Bud is actually skunking. All that about the Oak chips is a marketing gimmick. It is indeed a process used in the brewing, but they then pay a lot of money to take the oak flavor back out of the beer, which ends up skunking it. When I used to run tastings, people would ask how my brand could taste more like Bud, and I would tell them to leave it in the sun for 15 minutes, then taste it again. They always came back saying that it did indeed taste a lot more like Bud after that. Side note, I always worried about the people who said that, enjoyed it, and then spent $10 on a 6 pack of mine to leave it in the sun to make it taste more like Bud....

Why yes, I did work in beer for a while... why do you ask?

Regarding skunking, the only way to get skunked beer is from light. It is a result of a specific chemical reaction between light and hop oils. Temperature changes cannot skunk a beer. However, beer can still "expire" without being skunked. This can result from temperature changes and simply age.

[Outdoor Girl]

I was told that when the check engine light comes on, it is most likely an issue with the emmissions system in the vehicle.  A common cause is an air lock when closing the gas cap.  If reseating the gas cap doesn't turn it off, you can try disconnecting the battery to reset the computer.  And if that doesn't work, take the dang car to the mechanic.   

[Dazi]

When engine warning lights pop up on your dash, you really need to find out what they mean before driving much farther.  You do not drive 5000 more miles before you casually ask your friend what that light means.

You are dingdangity lucky you didn't completely ruin your engine.

There are degrees to the check engine light. When the light is flashing, that is when you are supposed to pull over immediately and stop the car. When the light is just on but not blinking, there can be a variety of issues, ranging from very minor to more severe.

That's not always true.  My lights don't flash.  They come on and stay on until I either go have the computer read the code or disconnect the battery.

[wolfie]

I'm more amused by the "you buy cheese" comment.

Surely, someone who has no idea how people cook food, would assume you have to buy at least most things. We don't all have farms in our backyards, right? Did he think you buy meats, but not other things like cheese, or vegetables? Has he never been in another person's house ever and failed to notice the lack of a cornfield? Not knowing is one thing, but this guy seems to have made a few very strange assumptions that would clash with reality every single day.

It hurts my brain trying to get inside this guy's point of view.

You would be surprised.  I know that I am still capable of not knowing something, simply because I don't NEED to know.  I lived in my house for 3 years before I knew that my next door neighbor had a kid (next door in that our houses are attached).  I didn't know the basics about car maintenance until I brought a junker and was forced to learn.  I couldn't afford to take it to the dealer every single time something came up.

I mean once something is brought I'm I'm like "doh!", but I know there are things that I probably should know but I'm not very interested in learning because it would take time away from other things.

I see your point, but with food things you would assume that he noticed that cheese was bought when he was growing up. Or maybe he never had any cheese then.

[lowspark]

Pete: Wait wait. You buy cheese!

As opposed to what? It suddenly appearing on your doorstep, left there by your fairy godmother? I'd love to know exactly how Pete thinks you obtain things, any things, without buying them.

And I think he thought that the cheese came with the burgers, pre sliced and placed, and was really confused! I assume he knows cheese comes from cows.

Hey yeah, cheese comes from cows.... and so do hamburgers, right? I mean, if the cow is going to become a hamburger, it might just as easily become a cheeseburger, right? 

[Lynn2000]

Pete: Wait wait. You buy cheese!

As opposed to what? It suddenly appearing on your doorstep, left there by your fairy godmother? I'd love to know exactly how Pete thinks you obtain things, any things, without buying them.

And I think he thought that the cheese came with the burgers, pre sliced and placed, and was really confused! I assume he knows cheese comes from cows.

Hey yeah, cheese comes from cows.... and so do hamburgers, right? I mean, if the cow is going to become a hamburger, it might just as easily become a cheeseburger, right? 

Dontcha know, it's the black cows that give chocolate milk, and the white ones that give regular milk! (Okay, never had anyone but a child say that to me seriously, fortunately.)

[cwm]

Pete: Wait wait. You buy cheese!

As opposed to what? It suddenly appearing on your doorstep, left there by your fairy godmother? I'd love to know exactly how Pete thinks you obtain things, any things, without buying them.

And I think he thought that the cheese came with the burgers, pre sliced and placed, and was really confused! I assume he knows cheese comes from cows.

Hey yeah, cheese comes from cows.... and so do hamburgers, right? I mean, if the cow is going to become a hamburger, it might just as easily become a cheeseburger, right? 

Dontcha know, it's the black cows that give chocolate milk, and the white ones that give regular milk! (Okay, never had anyone but a child say that to me seriously, fortunately.)

Does that mean the orange cows give cheddar cheese and the cows from good ol' US of A give American cheese?

Wait. That would also by default make all cheese into stinky cheese. Cows do not smell pleasant, ever.

[Twik]

I wonder if he thought that you had to make the cheese yourself, somehow.

It's no wonder that he doesn't cook for himself, if he thinks that putting a hotdog on a grill requires marinating, and the cheese for cheeseburgers has to be made at home in your own cheese grotto. It sounds WAY too overwhelming.

[ladyknight1]

The only sausage I marinate before grilling is bratwurst, I like to pre-cook with a little German beer.

And Pete is the reason we make all the Boy Scouts plan their menus and go shopping for their food for a camp out.

[msulinski]

When engine warning lights pop up on your dash, you really need to find out what they mean before driving much farther.  You do not drive 5000 more miles before you casually ask your friend what that light means.

You are dingdangity lucky you didn't completely ruin your engine.

There are degrees to the check engine light. When the light is flashing, that is when you are supposed to pull over immediately and stop the car. When the light is just on but not blinking, there can be a variety of issues, ranging from very minor to more severe.

That's not always true.  My lights don't flash.  They come on and stay on until I either go have the computer read the code or disconnect the battery.

You must not have encountered a serious enough problem to make the light flash. A flashing check engine light is a very serious issue and means you should not even try to drive your car to the mechanic.

More info:
http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/2279962/check-engine-light-flashing