So far since I let Karl autocross my car:

1) The noise in the left front of the SE-R hasn't gotten worse, but amazingly hasn't cured itself either. Got through the weekend at Summit with no disaster, but a bearing and/or hub change is coming soon to a Sentra near me. At least it monsooned on Saturday and all my chit got wet. Under a tarp. Held down by tires.

2) At some point this weekend, the adjustment bolt for the alternator worked it's way loose. Fortunately (and un-SARS like) the lock nut is tight enough to keep the belt tight for now. I didn't realize the bolt was out until I got home and said "I wonder what that noise is?" Turns out to be the bolt skipping along on the alternator pulley and occasionally, the belt. Guess that'll get replaced. Good thing I used loc-tite (medium) to keep that bolt in there. No telling what would have happened if I hadn't.

3) The roof on my house is leaking. I noticed this during the shitpot of rain we had last week. My car washing bucket is catching the water which is dripping over the guest bathroom tub area.

4) My disposal decided to spring a leak, showering the underside of my cabinets. Apparently a connection decided it was a fine time to rust out and break. Just bought a GE unit from Lowe's tonight.

5) Today, my daily driver Eclipse begins randomly displaying the check engine light while intermittently hitting on 1.5 cylinders.

I am NOT making any of this up. This is ONE WEEK.

Damn you Shultz. Damn you and your Sadim touch....

 

you know, it seems like a lot of the cars paddocked around you last weekend broke, too



joel

 

I had a wierd thing a happed this weekend also, after chaning brake pads saturday morning, and torque my wheels, when I went out for the afternoon hpde group 2 session I noticed this clunk clunk in the front if my car... after going around 1 and 2 I figured it out.. my freeking wheel was loose.... I know I torqued them in the morning... hmmm sars related?

 

You know... I saw a guy down the street putting an engine in his miata this weekend - and he had Karl helping him

This makes me wonder if Karl is the reason he needed the new engine

 

Maybe it was just a bad weekend for cars and motorsports. Loaded up the wife and kid in the new family M3 and headed off 100 miles to run a Poker Rally and attend the 45th anniversary party for our SCCA region. Got there fine. Registered for the rally and immediately the Check Engine light came on and the car blubbered at low revs wanting to die.

Finished the rally (won) and got home but now I had to drop $150 on a damn OBDII BMW code reader and the thing will hardly start and run. I still haven't met Karl in person (wait a minute...I talked to him on the phone at the end of last week just before the rally!) but did he have something to do with aligning or misaligning the planets?

I expect to meet him at Hyperfest next week. If anything happens to my rental car, I'm prepared in advance to blame him.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you know, it seems like a lot of the cars paddocked around you last weekend broke, too</TD></TR></TABLE>

It did seem to jump from car to car. Scott's Talon is kaput. Although that may have been more ralated to 300whp from 2.0 liters of displacement than SARS. Still, he was parked near me, and Karl did recently touch my car.

 

Karl rode in my Protege last year at the ECHC Lowes race in Charlotte, and since then, the horn will just decide to go off for no good reason. Every time I pull apart the steering column/wheel, nothing is loose or shorting. The problem goes away for a week, month, whatever. Then it happens again. To fix this, I gave it to my wife to drive all the time. Now SHE gets the funny looks when at a traffic light. See? It isn't that bad. You just have to pass it along to someone else.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MaddMatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

It did seem to jump from car to car. Scott's Talon is kaput. </TD></TR></TABLE>

the dodge stealth/mitsu 3000 next to him died too.

I'm glad I was back in the corner by the fence now.

joel

 

The plastic end tank on Gerald's radiator (Integra GSR) blew up saturday afternoon. At least we got a replacement sunday morning.

 

It really is getting bad. I haven't seen Kark since VIR a few months ago and my RX-7 had all sorts of problems this part weekend. Rusty fuel tank clogging fuel fitlers. Right side axle seal blown and puking gear lube onto brake caliper. Left side axle seal weeping gear oil slowly. And every single one of the exhaust gaskets burned to a crisp and needed replaced.

 

hahah new trend: blame all car problems on Karl.

come to think of it, the only problem I have had with the Subaru, (bad EGT sensor) came right after (my only interaction with Karl) when I bought a ECHC Tshirt at CMP last year.......

 

Ack! A friend of mine blew up his E30 hybrid (making 300+ whp) this weekend (could fit BOTH fists in the hole in the block) at the DC National Tour autox!!

Karl owns an E30. Yikes.

 

Damnit, I've posted in one or more of the same threads Karl has!! That explains both front hubs falling apart the same week, and the wobbling killing my Panther plus pads!! No way it could've been the 200,000 miles on em. Hmmm, if it weren't for the risk of further infection, I'd crossreference threads started or posted in by Karl with my automotive receipts file.

:edit: Obviously this epidemic effects the ability to spell as well.

 

I'm starting to actually think it might be true. And I'm feeling a little guilty.

Wheel bearing problems are particularly creepy. I just found out the E30 has a bad left front wheel bearing on Sunday. Recent things that are/were busted include...

- clogged bleeder passage on BMW brake caliper
- GFCI circut in elec. panel for house tripping for no reason at all
- windshield wipers still busted on truck
- positive battery terminal on truck backed out all by itself
- Timing belt tensioner and valve cover leak on Mom's 2002 MR2 Spyder
- A/C controls have to be wiggled on BMW in order for the compressor to turn
- The gas grill fiasco I mentioned in the hyper burger thing...
- ...and now the grill I'd been using before is busted too
- still have not fixed the garage door opener
- water damage on back side of house
- $40 Italian Cypress tree I bought for the front yard dead in two weeks
- Have to keep dome lights turned off in truck, otherwise they turn on randomly at night, draining the battery

It's not easy being me.

 

I'm scare to reply to your post, but I am wearing gloves as I am typing, along with a surgery mask, maybe it'll help...

For the GFCI, I assume it is an outlet GFCI (as opposed to a GFCI breaker). You can replace those cheaply. I had one that kept going off for no reason whatsoever. Replaced it and it hasn't gone off yet.

Now that I have directly replied to one of your posts, I hope the plumbing I did in my basement last week is not going to suddenly start leaking!

 

My trailer is parked next to Karls. "Bring it on," I say!

Of course, my Celica is headed to the shop for some warranty repairs, but I can't blame Karl for a problem so common that there is a TSB written about it.

Speaking of TSB's, Karl, there is a TSB for the tensioner on the Spyder. Should be an easy, free warranty replacement (if the car is under 36K). The leaky valve cover should be free too.

Scott

 

Karl and I just had a long talk about how this little "joke" is getting kind of creepy. Seriously, how many coincidences can we deal with?

I've lived in my house for 7 years. Those years were trouble free until Karl spent the night here. Since then I've had issues with water leaking around window seals, carpenter ants, electrical gremlins, a busted garage door, a busted pilot light, and most recently a busted air conditioner condenser.

Of course, this is all just a coincidence. Right?
Yep. Coincidence.