In the ‘70s cars would sometimes stall out in traffic – but not on purpose. You’d push on the gas – but the car wouldn’t go. Horn honking frustration would ensue as the driver of the conked out car tried to get it going again.
Today – undoing decades of refinement – cars conk out on purpose at every red light and even in traffic. The moment they stop moving, the engine stops running. And it’s not just the engine that cuts off. Engine-driven accessories such as the air conditioning also cut off.
This isn’t a defect. It is touted as a feature.
And it’s becoming de facto standard equipment in new cars – not an option you can skip.
The feature is something called automatic engine stop/start, which can be handily acronymized as ASS. Its stated purpose is to “save gas” (and reduce the emissions of gas – carbon dioxide) by killing the engine whenever the car isn’t actually moving . . . along with every engine-driven accessory, like AC.
When the driver takes his foot off the brake, the engine automatically chuffs back to life – with a noticeable “paint shaker” effect. But at least the AC – and cool air – comes back on.
This on-off cycling can happen a dozen or more times during each drive – as many times as the car stops, so does the engine – unless the driver turns the ASS off. But in most cars, the ASS is default on – meaning the driver has to remember to turn it off each time he goes for a drive.
If he forgets, ASS is on – and the engine will turn itself off.
The aggravation is compounded when the driver stops on purpose – to park. He rolls into the spot, the engine automatically cuts off – and the driver reflexively pushes the engine stop/start button (most new cars no longer have keyed ignition switches) to kill the engine, which is already off because of ASS.
And the engine comes back on.
Or – more dangerously – the driver forgets to push the stop/start button – because ASS killed the engine. In a rush – or just not paying close attention – the driver leaves the parked car with the ignition on. After awhile, ASS automatically restarts the engine – and fills the garage (and house) with carbon monoxide, permanently turning off people.
At least two dozen deaths associated with push-button ignition and ASS have been reported.
Unreported is why ASS.
It’s not something most buyers would willingly opt for – and pay extra for. The fuel “savings” are slight – on average less than 1 MPG overall vs. a car without ASS – and the costs go beyond mere annoyance. The “paint shaker” effect of all that stopping and re-starting adds stress and distraction while the slight but perceptible delay moment it takes for the engine to restart when the light goes green or traffic starts moving adds delay.
Plus the aggravation of having to remember to turn the ASS off every time you go for a drive in order to avoid all of that.
There is also the cost of reduced battery life. And more expensive, higher-capacity batteries.
Even though it’s 2020, most cars still use the same basic 12 volt lead-acid batteries used to start cars back in the ‘60s. These batteries weren’t designed to re-start an engine a dozen or more times in one day. This subjects the battery to repetitive discharge/charge cycling, which is the key factor determining how long any battery will last before it begins to lose its ability to accept and retain a charge – the same problem electric car batteries have.
A standard 12V car battery that would normally last six years wears out in five – because of ASS. The replacement cost – about $100 on average – eats up a lot of the “savings” achieved by ASS – leaving aside the increased cost of the car, because of ASS; the extra equipment that ASS involves, including a high-speed/heavy-duty starter motor and the higher-output alternator necessary to keep the battery charged so it can keep restarting the engine.
To avoid this – or rather, to hide this – some ASS-equipped cars are equipped from the factory with higher-performance batteries, including “mild hybrid” set-ups in which the battery doesn’t propel the car but has the capacity to keep accessories running when the engine isn’t – and to repetitively restart the engine.
You pay extra for that, too. When you buy the car – and when the higher-performance, higher-cost battery dies. Which it will, as happens to every battery ever made.
And for what?
An average new car has a 12 gallon tank; if the car averages 30 miles-per-gallon, it can go about 360 miles on a full tank. If ASS increases the car’s mileage by 1 MPG – to 31 MPG – it can travel 372 miles on a tankful.
The difference is 12 miles – which works out to a savings of about 55 cents per tankful (about a third of the cost of one gallon of regular unleaded at the current national average of about $1.70 per gallon).
Not counting the costs of potential asphyxiation.
So, why?
Because it helps improve a car manufacturer’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) numbers. CAFE is another bureaucratic acronym, this time standing for the mandatory MPG minimums imposed on new cars by the federal government. Failure to “achieve compliance” with the “fleet average” minimums – currently about 36 MPG on deck to rise to 38 by 2025 – triggers “gas guzzler” taxes, which are passed on to car buyers.
Instead, the costs of ASS are passed on to buyers.
Because a 1 MPG or so improvement is almost meaningless on a per-car basis, to the car’s owner. But it means a lot to the car’s manufacturer when factored over tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of new cars built – which is how the CAFE “math” is calculated.
ASS is sold as a feature but it’s just another cost of regulatory compliance. 
There is another aspect of ASS to consider. A more sinister one.
ASS is another of the several slow-motion chokeholds being applied under the pretext of regulatory compliance that are actually meant to kill all cars that are not electric cars. Things like ASS make cars with engines rather than motors less and less pleasant to drive and more and more expensive to buy and own, the latter intended to push non-electric cars toward price-parity with EVs; the former meant to make EVs seem more pleasant to drive than ASS-hobbled non-EVs.
No paint shaker effect in a car without an engine – and a motor that’s always on whenever the car is.
ASS is ludicrous when gas costs less than it did in 1965 – which is what it costs right now. But ASS is about “saving” another gas – C02 – and there’s no end to saving that. Which is how they’ll end cars that run on gas.
The engines will be turned off – permanently.
Just as they are turning off everything else, Because Corona – another gas job.
But that’s another rant.
. . .
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Two more for the body count. Fisher Island FL in February. I’m sure that this Mercedes had ASS and the poor driver took her foot off the brake 3 minutes into the ferry ride. Engine starts and she rolls off the front of the boat. https://www.local10.com/news/local/2020/02/18/2-dead-after-car-falls-off-fisher-island-ferry-into-water/
The feds are content to allow states to legalize dope. The Jamaican government knew long ago that ganja kept the population passive and less likely to rebel. Try to rely on State “sanctuary” laws for gun owners, legalization of suppressors (as in Kansas) and see how long you remain out of a cage. Pot does not threaten the regime, guns do.
Gnus don’t threaten people, people do…
Good column Eric. I have a 2017 Tacoma which is pretty “normal.” I dread buying a new one (probably a 2022) because of the possibility of “ASS” or some other as-of-yet unknown PC crap.
I’m glad I’m old and won’t have to live through too much more of this.
Hi Bruce,
“I dread buying a new one (probably a 2022) because of the possibility of ‘ASS'”
Sincere question here, why would you need to buy a new one when your truck will only be 5 ears old? That truck will go twenty years easily with routine maintenance.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Because I don’t have vehicles to see how far I can drive them into the ground. When I was young I had to, and I didn’t mind doing the maintenance, but now I have the money to drive new vehicles so that’s what I do — and I don’t have to worry about maintenance.
My last TT was a 2011, I traded it in for the ’17 and it only had 29k miles on it.
HI Bruce,
Thanks for the response, my question was not meant to be critical. You like driving new cars; your money, your preference. I like my old 2002 Dakota, nothing new even comes close to meeting my needs/wants like that truck. So, I plan to drive it as long as possible. My money, my preference.
What I’m wondering is how to apply market pressure to the car companies so that new features are driven by market, not political, demand. Obviously, the car industry wants people to buy new cars quite often. New features were once a market driven enticement to do so. But, many new features seem to be entirely politically driven (ASS, hyper turbo’d 4 cylinder engines in large vehicles, etc…). It’s hard to believe that anyone, who has experienced ASS would demand it and pay extra for it. Customers like you, who value driving new cars but don’t like these politically driven features, seem to be in a unique position to apply market pressure to the car industry. What if everyone who feels like you made it known that they won’t buy any new car as long as these annoying and expensive politically driven features are standard (non-optional).
Kind Regards,
Jeremy
Jeremy, sorry if my previous response seemed a bit anal, lol, wasn’t meant to be.
The world as I see it: My late Dad was a young man during the Great Depression and did not have it easy. He told me once that his goal was to have enough money so he could drive a new car (so he didn’t have to fix them constantly) which he achieved around the time I was born (1950). He bought a new stripper every 3-4 years.
I’ve been following his example since the ’80s. Although during that time I had motorcycles, a ’72 Vette, and currently have an ’07 Vette. But these are all toys — my main vehicles that I have to depend on I want to be fairly new and dependable. I have zero interest in working on ANYTHING any more.
PC cars: I think a lot of this stuff seems acceptable to the “useful idiots” out there for two reasons: Compared to me (and especially my dad’s generation) people today live above their means without realizing it. However, or why, a price tag manages to go up on new cars they don’t care, as long as they can afford the monthly payment.
And as cheap printed dollars flood the market, car payments have gone up from a max of 36 months when I was young to what — 6-7 years now? Along with interest rates below where a free market would peg them. So party on! Debt is good!
Maybe events of the past couple of months will change this, but I would bet against it.
Hey Bruce,
It didn’t seem anal to me. Your take seems very reasonable. Anyway, I have no interest in judging how others spend their own money (as long as it’s really their money). My preferences are weird to most people. I was 36 before I bought a car worth more than my bicycle. Well, that was my beloved 2002 Dakota which is now worth less than my road bike.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Ha!
The view from someone who will be 70 in a few months. If I buy a new ’22, then maybe a ’27, that will be it for me. That would take me into my early 80s and if I live that long, I will probably be senile and in a nursing home.
FWIW: My parents both died at 86, and neither smoked nor drank. Although I quit smoking in 1999, I’ve been drinking since 1967 and still at it. So I don’t expect to go past 80. Of course I could live to 100 — but the odds are heavily against it.
Cheers!
My ford f150 V8 (2018) ASS can be permanently turned off by putting a jumper wire or paperclip on the wire terminals going to the ass-defeat button. About a 5 minute job.
FCA’s 5.7 hemi still doesn’t have ASS to my knowledge (my 2018 does not). Their new 5.7 hemi with e-torque thingy might, but not many people are buying those optional engines with generator.
BTW, I almost got in an accident because of ASS in my F150, and why I then found a way to turn it off permanently. I was creeping up to turn left at an intersection, on-off the brake, multiple times, and I guess I overloaded the computer cause the truck started beeping and wouldn’t turn back on, got some error code. Required a complete key turn-off restart, all while 60mph traffic was coming at me from the sides. not fun.
The 2020 RAM 1500 Crew Cab Laramie 4×4 I’m currently driving has no stop-start; I believe only RAM 1500s equipped with E-Torq have stop-start. In my other cars that had stop-start (BMW 3-sries wagon, Opel Astra) I found all of them trouble-free, actually noticing less fuel consumption in city driving. I don’t dislike “ASS” but I understand Eric’s point that it exists due to government regulation to help auto manufacturers fudge the numbers.
Hi Jimmie,
If you do a lot of “city” driving – which usually means a lot of not moving – then ASS may provide a noticeable decrease in fuel consumption. But if you don’t, it won’t. At least, not within the margin of error. Driving style has a much more noticeable effect on mileage. Mind, I say this as a guy who has been driving a different new car every week for 20-plus years. I have driven scores of ASS-equipped new cars, too. So I’m speaking from lots of personal/real-world experience.
Regardless, if ASS made sense – to the buyer, I mean – it would be optional. And people would freely buy it. That it’s being foisted on people strongly suggests it’s not worth the expense or the downsides.
I wonder if you in bumper to bumper traffic if you could use the emergency brake to stop without having the engine shut off
Another excellent rant that douses the fires of stupidity with the water of truth. I always shut that ASS thing off. The stopping and restarting the engine with those accessories is not good for the starter either. People could save a lot more gas by altering their driving habits just a bit. Any savings in fuel consumption from ASS are usually wiped out by herky-jerky mindless driving.
I am sure that if this mindless virus lock-down continues for months on end, many states will require driving refresher courses since we will have been out of the habit of regular driving…and not for free either. States will be dreaming up all kinds of new revenue appropriating schemes to make up for lost income that they themselves have given no thought about by jailing the population.
Why does the whole state of Michigan need to be shut down because 90% of the Covid cases are in only 3 counties? Because our governor is is a democrat and part of the Marxist mafia trying to destroy the world’s capitalistic system.
Yeah. I feel sorry for you. I live in a red state where the rules aren’t nearly as restrictive. The Coronavirus has exposed the very real differences between the outlooks of the two political parties. It used to be that they took turns on the types of tyranny that they wanted to bring. That was true, however, the Democrats are taking it to new levels. I heard that there is a state that is restricting residential visits. I saw a meme yesterday – A quarintine restricts sick people’s movement. Tyranny restricts the movement of healthy people. That about sums the whole thing up.
Hi Eric, if anyone owns a 2020 outback there is a way to permanently disable this feature, along with the seat belt chime. Buckle and unbuckle the seat belt 20 times in 30 seconds without touching the brake. Also, if you want the seat belt chime to remain on, pushing the defrost button will disable Auto Start/Stop for that trip. Libertarian ghosts in the machine.
Good story Eric. The unreported deaths because of ASS is nothing short of criminal. Here’s another point about the push button starting and turning the motor off. (btw/ created to have less parts, lowering production cost) I have 2 GM cars both have 6.2 motors, one of them is a 2020 2LT Camaro and the push button is hidden behind the steering wheel so it’s out of view. I went into the store for a quick visit but could not remotely lock the doors and thought how odd. This was a quick visit so I left the car unlocked. Came back to the car to see, the motor was still running, nice and quiet. I could not see the on/off button to see the car was still running. This won’t happen again but it did happen, just the same. Being said, those deaths may in part have been caused by the placement of the on/off button, out of sight out of mind.
It was the Japanese — Honda, Toyota etc — who achieved the dream of the volksmobile, a car the untermenschen could afford that would start in the morning, run during the day, go to sleep at night and last for years. A negative externality was and continues to be the clogged highways in metro areas where the elite live. Too many cars on the road! And gas prices bid up accordingly. So raise the cost of mobility and lighten the traffic. Throw folks out of work who can’t get to their jobs at the consolidated job centers located off the highways. Cool off the overheated economy like an unjammed thermostat on the engine block. All in the name of reducing emissions. Now we have the Coronoamobile collecting dust in the driveway. Sometimes, like a parked car re-started in absentia and smashing into the parked car in front of it, conspiracies happen by accident.
The simple cure for the ASS virus would be to purchase an older used car.
However.
Any vehicle that has been driven this year, parked less than 6 feet from another vehicle, or otherwise come near a potential Corona carrier will have to be destroyed.
Perhaps our benevolent overlords will allow us to have expensive decontamination procedures performed at state run or sanctioned centers across the fruited plains.
A number of “problems” have now been solved. Every thing we don’t like about new cars will disappear, along with the car manufacturers. CO2 emissions, excepting those from our breathing, will be brought near zero. The exploitation of resources will be relegated to agriculture and little else, and even that will be reduced. Bill Gates is going to get his “overpopulation problem” solved. Yes, the complete and utter destruction of anything resembling an economy, and the absolute elimination of even the concept of liberty will solve a lot of “problems” most of us didn’t even know we had. All in response to a “plague” that is responsible for 0.00625% of total deaths world wide. And that’s using the exaggerated number of plague deaths put forth by the WHO. All hail the Sociopaths In Charge and their bank cartel masters.
This kind of stuff makes me want to scream.
Have the ASSholes who designed this ASSinine system ever been stuck in a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam on the interstate in a blizzard in subfreezing weather??? I sure as hell have, and I want the engine running to provide HEAT so I don’t freeze to death and so that I can defrost my windows!!!
Hi X,
Three weeks ago, I’d have written that ASS was just another government-induced hassle. I am now convinced it is one of several deliberate efforts made to ruin non-electric cars; to make them so goddamn unpleasant that people no longer want to drive them. ASS is a literal example of Harrison Bergeroning – i.e., the crippling of something that works well in order to make it work not-well.
Government induced, but is it government required? I’d take an extra second to get to 70 mph rather than be subjected to that.
Regulate is to make a thing regular, not render it extinct. Amendments were to be made before passage of the thing, now they are process. The first ten amendments are proper amendments, all that are left are acts applicable to the parties that made them. Fiction. Eric, you are a writer, You could write your own addendum to any of the governments decrees. How much do you want to curry the current currency? By what right does any man rule another?
Max, if you’re not already familiar with this…you’ll LOVE it!:
I’m Allowed To Rob You – Larken Rose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngpsJKQR_ZE
Hi Max,
I deny even that, as a moral matter.
The government has no right to “regulate” anything. Not coercively, at any rate. Agreements as regards such things as weights and measures, etc. do not require violence. If they make sense, free people will reach agreement among themselves.
You ask: By what right does any man rule another? Indeed. Here’s another: What is “the government”? Nothing but the people with titles and badges who are the apparat that is “government.” A gang, in other words. What gives a gang the moral right to “regulate” the affairs of free men? The vote – of some other men? If I cannot lawfully – and morally – give proxy power to my neighbor or some other person to deprive another man of his liberty or his property, how is it that my neighbor can lawfully do exactly that to me – by voting?
Government, if it has any legitimate business at all, should be a thing that free men need not fear because it has no lawful power over them unless they violate the rights of other men by causing them harm. Specific, provable actual harm. Not hurt feelings; not because someone doesn’t approve of what they are doing. Actual harm to persons or property must be adduced and only then does the moral authority arise to seek and get just compensation for the harm caused.
Government may not even be necessary for that. It is certainly not necessary for coercion to be applied prior to that. This basic – arguably sole legitimate – function of government could be funded via voluntary contributions/subscriptions; a variety of methods that are not mandatory and thus not tyrannical.
Is where spot-cleaning comes in. Unmediated justice. Living la vida local & in the moment. Stimulus response action reaction correction & whatdja’ expect from that bonehead move?
But…Weus is a fearful angry demented god who is always just when it comes to Theythem – & vice the versa.
Which is the how & why of Hatfields & McCoys tittin’ for tattin’.
Makes justice getting an expensive proposition.
So expensive in fact that you gotta’ destroy the village to save it.
The justice got is surrounded & buried by the injustice it took to get it.
Enter the reflex to obedience to symbols, which is to say take a closer look at the symbolic animal that is humanimal, & it’s adoration of 3rd parties in appropriate costumes riding in to dispense a little justice, perhaps, & a whole lotta’ baksheesh, for sure (what, ya’ thought they was into justice dispensin’ outta’ the generousness of their hearts?)
And so….since the only way all too often to get the justice is to unjustly kill ‘em all so’s to try avoiding being unjustly bushwhacked later, “all” becomes operative all around, & yer back to Weus & Theythem, again.
Ouroboros & Sisyphus, sittin’ in a tree…& waitin’ on Eve to take a bite outta’ crime in the Johnny Appleseed syndication that is humanimal.
Either that clay’s only good for making “ash trays” for non-smokers & storage space cluttering, or the claymation potters shaping those creations are doing their retarded best…or both.
Smoke ‘em if ya’ got ‘em, cuz it’s wall-to-wall ash trays out there…& it swells potters’ hearts when you use ‘em. Cue Bill Withers.
Since we’re awash in oil; since we’re the #1 oil exporter; since we’re energy independent now; that begs a hopelessly OBVIOUS question: why do we need CAFE at all? Wasn’t CAFE instituted ostensibly to make us less dependent on Arab oil? Wasn’t it instituted for energy security back in a time when we weren’t energy independent? Since the need for CAFE no longer exists, why have it at all?
Hi Mark,
“Since the need for CAFE no longer exists, why have it at all?”
Government agencies, policies, regulations, etc…, ostensibly created/implemented to solve some supposed problem, never go away, even if the “problem” goes away. The purpose of these agencies is self perpetuation and the exercise of power. When the peak oil fraud became completely obvious, this posed a threat to the real purpose of the agency, not fixing the fake oil crisis, created by Nixon’s wage and price controls, but self perpetuation and power. You see, when the first fake excuse for maintaining the fatwa collapsed, a new fake excuse became necessary; enter CLIMATE CHANGE, and the newly declared toxic life sustaining gas CO2, to the rescue. Now we need it more than ever!
Cheers,
Jeremy
“Government agencies…never go away, even if the “problem” goes away.”
A classic example of this is the legalization of marijuana.
In the many states that have legalized weed this would have had a major impact on the number of flatfoots who were no longer required to enforce the now outdated law. If you recall, busting pot smoker & sellers takes a major effort which requires a ton of manpower. So why haven’t we heard of mass layoffs in the pork business in those states hmmm?
And I can’t help but think that even in those states where it’s still illegal, I’ll bet their enforcement endeavors have been drastically reduced as those cops & officials now realize what they’re doing is futile as it’s just a matter of time until their states legalize too and that they know what they are doing is just, maybe, a wee bit immoral. So we should be seeing cuts there also. Don’t hold your breath.
But of course we never hear about “layoffs”, that word doesn’t exist in their world. They just get “reassigned”. Can anyone tell me when the last time you heard that word used in any govt agency?
You potheads use every chance you get to promote weed, don’t you?
Hi Bob,
People drink, others smoke. Many do both. Some do neither. It’s no one’s business – anymore than my eating a BLT vs. a soy patty.
As David Knight has often said, the marijuana legalization movement shows us how to get our rights back: at the state and local level. THAT is the important lesson to take from MJ legalization.
Hi Mark,
It’s rather amusing to witness the lefty response to this. On the one hand, most favor ending the drug war, or at least parts of it, so are happy to see movement here. On the other, most really believe that “nullification” is an evil tool dreamed up by racists for the sole purpose of keeping the nigra in his place. Leftists, all of whom are master mind readers, always dismissed every argument in favor of nullification as dishonest cover for the “real” agenda (racism!), are they racists now?
Most seem to just ignore the issue, as it’s inconvenient to acknowledge that the “but, racism” mantra may have been a little cartoonish. In the early days of the legalization movement I did read an article by a prominent lefty who argued that progs should oppose State legalization efforts because it undermined Federal supremacy and provided a weapon for the “racists”. He considered the drug war to be immoral, unjust and counter productive but valued the ability to force a monolithic approach to drugs (and all other things) by the Federal Government more than eliminating the injustice. To me, this reveals a lot about the mentality and morals of a Statist.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Cutting in the wrongs ain’t got nada to do, cuz can’t, with getting rights back.
The potter’d pot “industry” is totally infiltrated & scamified, top to bottom & side to side.
Bob,
His post had nothing to do with promoting weed (not that there’s anything wrong with that). In fact, it’s hard to see how any reasonable person could read the post and conclude what you did.
Jeremy
Using ‘their’ inflation calculator the gas today cost 0.12 cents per gallon in 1965 dollars. Buying fuel in that time I can attest the cost was between 0.19 – 0.29 depending on self serve or full serve. I would run around, collect pop bottles and exchange them at the store for 2 cents each then fill up my Honda 50. Try that today in our throwaway world. And the most cions contained silver. In 1965 under coup led Johnson, government stopped silver and started junk metal for funding in the war on poverty and wars in general which has impoverished most Americans today.
ASS will cost batteries, starters and ring gears. Trying to start at such a low voltage could result in a ECU failure. Jumping off is very dangerous if done incorrectly to the electronics.
But all of it is (or used to be BC* 2020 ) profitable to the industry.
* Before Communism.
The battery’s the least of it! Many of these new cars have starters that are not only very expensive to purchase, but they are often buried in such places where so much has to be removed to access them (In at least a few cars I know of, the freaking intake manifold must be removed to change the starter!) that it can cost $1500 (Parts and labor) to get it done at a shop! Couple that with the fact that these starters wear out much faster, due to so much use…..having to start the engine 50 times in one trip as opposed to ONCE….. It’s totally ridonkulous!
Scotty Kilmer makes a good point too: Since 90% of the wear to an engine occurs when it is started…..and since these cars are restarted so many times…the engines are gonna wear-out much sooner. “But I saved $50 in gas over the course of 7 years!”.
Wait; I’m on-topic? Must. Fix.
Purple monkey dishwasher!
I used to be a big fan of Scotty, but I’m starting to think that he’s letting his YT fame go to his head. For instance, he stated that V6 engines are inherently smoother and have more torque than I6 engines, when the exact opposite is true. Then he also likes to crap on certain (legit, as in non-virtue-signaling) auto manufacturers as a whole. In other words, he’s a little too biased for my tastes.
Worst thing is, BG, most of Scotty’s titles are click-bait-ish these days….and he has actually advocated repairing brake lines with compression fittings!!!! Yikes!
True about the V-6’s being smoother though. Are you sure he said more torque though? I know he (and I) sing the praises of I-6’s.
Nunz, I enjoy Scotty’s videos and most of the time he seems spot on. Of course 90% of it doesn’t apply to old crates like mine. (What OBDII port? What computer? Fuel pumps have a fuse?) That video where he advocated compression fittings on brake lines was definitely a big “WTF?” moment and as you mention his titles at this point frequently have little or nothing to do with the content. Still, he comes up with some gems – I loved the way he recently showed how to do a relative compression test with a graphical multimeter and low-amp inductive probe.
It would be interesting to send some questions Scotty’s way but it looks like one needs to sign up for Google account to do it and that’s not going to happen.
Hah, yeah, Jason. Scotty’s entertaining- and at least his views about the absurdities of newer cars coincide with outs- he doesn’t just accept it, as most do- but he always compares them to the old sane cars, like we would.
Didn’t see the one about the electric compression test; must be like when they used to do ’em with an oscilloscope. Personally, I’d only trust a good old-fashioned mechanical compression test.
Yes, so many times I wish I could comment on a YT video…..but I ain’t signin’ up for nuttin!
Back to Scotty: I can live with not agreeing with everything he says…but the darn click-bait titles are what “get” me- I mean, why waste my time?! It’s not nice…and I’m judst going to click away, anyway, so what’s the point? Getting big is usually a bad thing- he was better years ago.
Yes, it’s what used to be done with an oscilloscope, check current draw of the starter for each cylinder on the graphical display and see if any are way different from the others. He also showed doing the same with an electric fuel pump to see if it’s getting hinky. I didn’t realize you could get a multimeter the size of a pocket transistor radio with basic oscilloscope functionality for cheap but it makes sense given the kind of inexpensive electronics produced by the Chinamen.
Obviously a real compression test is better, leakdown test better yet, but on some of these newer cars it’s a major project to get at the spark plugs. I’d never consider purchase of such a vehicle but for those who do that kind of test might save some headaches. (In fact if there’s one message that comes through on Scotty’s videos it’s to keep “social distance” from modern cars!)
Ok… Who is hacking Nunzio’s account?? There is NO way that he could actually stay on topic for an entire post! ^^ Even a newbie engineer, would know that starting and stopping an engine like thaqt, is going to wear things out much more rapidly. While I normally subscribe to Grays Law (Never attribute to malice, that which could equally be accounted for by ignorance/stupidity) in this case it should be obvious that it was done out of malice. Certain parties WANT non EV to wear out more rapidly and to be much more expensive to maintain. Given that its obvious, that the Progs have long since infiltrated not just the motor press, but the car companies themselves, this is on track with the rest of their horrid ideology. Can you even imagine any gear head, still in their right mind, who would have come up with this idiotic design?
Videos on how to disable ASS are posted on the interwebs.
As are rather expensive “black box” plug-ins to defeat ASS.
Can’t vouch for any of these, as I don’t own no pussified ASS-mobile and never will.
Let’s smite the inventor of this diabolical disservice with the jawbone of an ass.