Posted On: Tuesday - January 28th 2025 7:28PM MST
In Topics: Music Humor China Bible/Religion Holiday from Stupidity
I don't know, I see this coming year more as the Year of the Honey Badger. Remember all that Honey Badger meme stuff from a decade ago? The Honey Badger can do it all, and we hope President Trump will be that Honey Badger.
The whole "Year of..." 12 repeating animals is a load of Chinese superstitious crap. Here, we go by months, the 12 Zodiac signs are not all animals, and then there are lucky numbers too through which one can win cash at convenience stores and support lower education, so... The meme above is from an outfit called Building Beautiful Souls who seem to think quite a bit of the lowly snake.
Primordial wisdom, you say? We'd be in lots better shape if that one snake had not suckered Eve into biting that apple way back. Peak Stupidity has our Female Stupidity and Feminism topic keys to cover some of the aftermath, but there's no snakes topic key. Suffice it to say that we are on the side of Riki Tiki Tavi and our house cat.
What would Confucius have to say, for some real wisdom? Woman who handle snake well, get inject with venom of Biblical pro-portion. (Still working on this.) What would Al Stewart have to say, is the important question. There is no Year of the Cat in China, unfortunately, but we are pretty sure that this great song is about somewhere in the Orient at least. This song is a half century old right now! I guess it's not been overplayed for me, as the sound and lyrics are still moving:
I was going to write some Year of the Snake lyrics, but this song's too good to mess with.
Comments:
Moderator
Wednesday - January 29th 2025 12:58PM MST
PS: The long delay in my reply is due to my waiting to ask my car friend about these fan motor resistors. His one in question is not a Beemer at all but a Mercedes E320. He has plenty of BMWs too, so he knows of what you speak - one is an '81 - I need to ask him the model. Honestly, since I have never owned cars from either of these manufacturers, I'm really bad in remembering the designations. I wish they had just pulled some names out of their ass, The Wermacht, The LuftAuto, The AutoHansa, The Impact*
Anyway, his '81 might have something similar. Yeah, that's a real design defect though. Gotta keep the hot stuff away from plastic, wiring, anything! My friend talked about a ceramic resistor, now that I think about it. There you go - solves that problem... other than the P.O. can't find it - the guy on ebay sounds like he's being pretty good about it.
Have a good afternoon, Adam, and thanks for the car info and stories.
* I remember some story about the naming of American cars - one model didn't translate so well into Spanish - not so good for Mexican sales. (This was long ago, before that giant sucking sound.)
Anyway, his '81 might have something similar. Yeah, that's a real design defect though. Gotta keep the hot stuff away from plastic, wiring, anything! My friend talked about a ceramic resistor, now that I think about it. There you go - solves that problem... other than the P.O. can't find it - the guy on ebay sounds like he's being pretty good about it.
Have a good afternoon, Adam, and thanks for the car info and stories.
* I remember some story about the naming of American cars - one model didn't translate so well into Spanish - not so good for Mexican sales. (This was long ago, before that giant sucking sound.)
Adam Smith
Wednesday - January 29th 2025 12:09AM MST
PS: Just sayin'...
God bless down tuned guitars...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhsPYRUqphk
โฎ๏ธ
God bless down tuned guitars...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhsPYRUqphk
โฎ๏ธ
Adam Smith
Tuesday - January 28th 2025 9:26PM MST
PS: You save a little if you buy two...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235259402115
โฎ๏ธ
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235259402115
โฎ๏ธ
Adam Smith
Tuesday - January 28th 2025 9:24PM MST
PS: Hey, Achmed,
This is the kind of fan controller I installed on my car...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204527113206
It has worked like a champ. (Be careful when installing. If you turn the fan controller on without a load plugged in it will damage the unit.)(I didn't use the little led display or the cw/ccw switch. Just the off/on/speed control dial.)
This + Overkill Power Wire = Great Success!
โฎ๏ธ
This is the kind of fan controller I installed on my car...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204527113206
It has worked like a champ. (Be careful when installing. If you turn the fan controller on without a load plugged in it will damage the unit.)(I didn't use the little led display or the cw/ccw switch. Just the off/on/speed control dial.)
This + Overkill Power Wire = Great Success!
โฎ๏ธ
Adam Smith
Tuesday - January 28th 2025 9:10PM MST
PS: This is what the blower motor resistor looks like...
https://www.bimmerworld.com/64118391699_2.jpg
Those springs glow red in normal operation. (Low fan speed is the hottest setting for the resistor with mid-lo and mid-hi each being a little less hot. Full speed is no resistor.)
If anything flammable (like leaves) touch those red hot resistors when they're glowing you can burn your HVAC box.
As the car gets older (the original wiring gets more brittle) the second problem becomes more likely to become problem. Too much amperage through the old wires (from a faulty blower motor) can melt your wires and cause a real mess.
Easier to fix it before it happens. โฎ๏ธ
https://www.bimmerworld.com/64118391699_2.jpg
Those springs glow red in normal operation. (Low fan speed is the hottest setting for the resistor with mid-lo and mid-hi each being a little less hot. Full speed is no resistor.)
If anything flammable (like leaves) touch those red hot resistors when they're glowing you can burn your HVAC box.
As the car gets older (the original wiring gets more brittle) the second problem becomes more likely to become problem. Too much amperage through the old wires (from a faulty blower motor) can melt your wires and cause a real mess.
Easier to fix it before it happens. โฎ๏ธ
Adam Smith
Tuesday - January 28th 2025 9:01PM MST
PS: Be careful with that blower motor circuit on old Bimmers...
There are two points of (potentially semi-catastrophic) failure with these old bimmer blower motor circuits... First, and most common, the blower motor resistor can catch leaves and other debris (and the cabin air filter for those models equipped with them) and burn up the HVAC box and possibly the car. (This is the serious design flaw I mentioned.)
Or...
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?2035931-Fuse-19-melted-into-box
The old wiring can burn up when the blower motor fails, draws too much amerage or because the wiring gets old and cracked or because a rodent chewed on the harness. (or something like that)
I recommend replacing the 30A fuse with a 20A fuse. (As a bare minimum precaution.)(15A if your fan will doesn't pop the fuse.)
The real fix, however, is to wire the blower motor by itself with 10g or 12g wire and use a PWM fan controller to eliminate the fire hazard posed by the stock blower motor resistor. This way the blower motor circuit cannot burn up your harness (because you're not using it anymore). The new wiring is capable of handing a much higher load than the motor will ever draw (and much higher than the stock wiring). As an added bonus the fan isn't just low/med/high but can be set at any speed between off and full speed. It also draws fewer amps because of the much thicker power wire. It's really a win/win/win.
A bit overkill perhaps, but it solves the problem.
Cheers! โฎ๏ธ
There are two points of (potentially semi-catastrophic) failure with these old bimmer blower motor circuits... First, and most common, the blower motor resistor can catch leaves and other debris (and the cabin air filter for those models equipped with them) and burn up the HVAC box and possibly the car. (This is the serious design flaw I mentioned.)
Or...
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?2035931-Fuse-19-melted-into-box
The old wiring can burn up when the blower motor fails, draws too much amerage or because the wiring gets old and cracked or because a rodent chewed on the harness. (or something like that)
I recommend replacing the 30A fuse with a 20A fuse. (As a bare minimum precaution.)(15A if your fan will doesn't pop the fuse.)
The real fix, however, is to wire the blower motor by itself with 10g or 12g wire and use a PWM fan controller to eliminate the fire hazard posed by the stock blower motor resistor. This way the blower motor circuit cannot burn up your harness (because you're not using it anymore). The new wiring is capable of handing a much higher load than the motor will ever draw (and much higher than the stock wiring). As an added bonus the fan isn't just low/med/high but can be set at any speed between off and full speed. It also draws fewer amps because of the much thicker power wire. It's really a win/win/win.
A bit overkill perhaps, but it solves the problem.
Cheers! โฎ๏ธ
Moderator
Tuesday - January 28th 2025 8:32PM MST
PS: I've embedded this song before already, so I didn't take the time to look up details. Right at 50 years old though, that deserves some words in the post. Thanks.
Adam, that's weird. My car friend was just getting a resistor for the blower motor, I think, of one of his many German cars. I'll ask him which one. By "just getting", I mean the USPS says it was delivered, but it ain't there. I'm not sure what the status is right now.
Adam, that's weird. My car friend was just getting a resistor for the blower motor, I think, of one of his many German cars. I'll ask him which one. By "just getting", I mean the USPS says it was delivered, but it ain't there. I'm not sure what the status is right now.
Adam Smith
Tuesday - January 28th 2025 8:09PM MST
PS: Greetings, Achmed!
It's good advice. I have some experience with this. Fortunately I've never had to replace a whole wiring harness like that. Though I'd imagine that if the wiring is bad/old enough (and assuming you can find a new harness) it would be easier (and certainly better/safer) to replace a harness than to fix the old one. I would also imagine the wiring on an MG wasn't very good even when it was new. Seems like many of them would be fire hazards. Speaking of...
I replaced the blower motor resistor on my e34 with a PWM fan controller so my car doesn't burn up like these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=_vJFhcsL2bY
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?2342147-Bought-a-slightly-burned-E34-project
It's a common problem on the old BMWs from the 90's. A serious design flaw. If you ever see an old bimmer burnt up on the side of the road the blower motor resistor is likely the cause.
โฎ๏ธ
It's good advice. I have some experience with this. Fortunately I've never had to replace a whole wiring harness like that. Though I'd imagine that if the wiring is bad/old enough (and assuming you can find a new harness) it would be easier (and certainly better/safer) to replace a harness than to fix the old one. I would also imagine the wiring on an MG wasn't very good even when it was new. Seems like many of them would be fire hazards. Speaking of...
I replaced the blower motor resistor on my e34 with a PWM fan controller so my car doesn't burn up like these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=_vJFhcsL2bY
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?2342147-Bought-a-slightly-burned-E34-project
It's a common problem on the old BMWs from the 90's. A serious design flaw. If you ever see an old bimmer burnt up on the side of the road the blower motor resistor is likely the cause.
โฎ๏ธ
Hail
Tuesday - January 28th 2025 7:51PM MST
PS
RE: Year of the Cat
________________
"Year of the Cat" is a narrative song written in the second person whose protagonist, a tourist, is visiting an exotic market when a mysterious silk-clad woman appears and takes him away for a gauzy romantic adventure. On waking the next day beside her, the tourist notes that his tour bus has left without him, and decides to stay where he is for the time being.
Per the Financial Times, Stewart's "girlfriend left a book of Vietnamese astrology open at the page for the Year of the Cat, then just beginning, the words fitted the same four notes โ and also contained the word 'of'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_of_the_Cat_(song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_(zodiac)
_________________
If it's true that "The Year of the Cat" was conceived and written just as that 'year' was opening, we can date the writing definitively to February 1975.
Or, if we it so pleases the PS executive board, we can date it to the "Lunar Calendar" and the opening of the "Lunar New Year" ("Chinese New Year") for our year A.D. 1975. This alt-New Year's Day happens to be Jan 29, 2025.
Therefore, I declare, by the powers vested in me by the Peak Stupidity Institute for Historical Inquiry, that "The Year of the Cat" this day, or week, celebrates its 50th birthday.
If celebrations are in order, I move that a commemorative prize be dispatched to the 1975-girlfriend of Al Stewart, presumably now near eighty years of age.
(Some of the left-over prize-winnings, still unclaimed by Mr Smith from his string of victories at the PS Christmas-2024 Extravaganza, might be delegated for the purpose. As I recall it, Mr Smith's winnings were so hefty that one mere wheelbarrow was insufficient to haul all those Peak-Stupidity Bucks back to the old Georgia homestead and he left many for safekeeping and may be generous enough to allow their use for the "Year of the Cat" Commemoration.)
RE: Year of the Cat
________________
"Year of the Cat" is a narrative song written in the second person whose protagonist, a tourist, is visiting an exotic market when a mysterious silk-clad woman appears and takes him away for a gauzy romantic adventure. On waking the next day beside her, the tourist notes that his tour bus has left without him, and decides to stay where he is for the time being.
Per the Financial Times, Stewart's "girlfriend left a book of Vietnamese astrology open at the page for the Year of the Cat, then just beginning, the words fitted the same four notes โ and also contained the word 'of'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_of_the_Cat_(song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_(zodiac)
_________________
If it's true that "The Year of the Cat" was conceived and written just as that 'year' was opening, we can date the writing definitively to February 1975.
Or, if we it so pleases the PS executive board, we can date it to the "Lunar Calendar" and the opening of the "Lunar New Year" ("Chinese New Year") for our year A.D. 1975. This alt-New Year's Day happens to be Jan 29, 2025.
Therefore, I declare, by the powers vested in me by the Peak Stupidity Institute for Historical Inquiry, that "The Year of the Cat" this day, or week, celebrates its 50th birthday.
If celebrations are in order, I move that a commemorative prize be dispatched to the 1975-girlfriend of Al Stewart, presumably now near eighty years of age.
(Some of the left-over prize-winnings, still unclaimed by Mr Smith from his string of victories at the PS Christmas-2024 Extravaganza, might be delegated for the purpose. As I recall it, Mr Smith's winnings were so hefty that one mere wheelbarrow was insufficient to haul all those Peak-Stupidity Bucks back to the old Georgia homestead and he left many for safekeeping and may be generous enough to allow their use for the "Year of the Cat" Commemoration.)
Moderator
Tuesday - January 28th 2025 7:41PM MST
PS: I watched the video, Adam. Is this PSA based on the video alone or your experience too?
I've been lucky, I guess.
I've been lucky, I guess.
A Quick Public Service Announcement
Saturday - January 25th 2025 11:58PM MST
PS: Don't let mice chew your wires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbhgABX0lSE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbhgABX0lSE
Fun Fact: BMW has never made a V6 engine...
๐ป๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฆ, ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ผ โ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐กโ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐๐๐ , ๐ผ'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ . ๐ผ ๐ค๐๐ โ ๐กโ๐๐ฆ โ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ...
There are a few Mercedes with proper names like the Sprinter and the Unimog, but most Mercedes use numbers as names.
BMW and Mercedes model names (if you can call them that) use a similar sort of scheme. In both cases there is a chassis code and then a model number that corresponds to the engine. For example, my BMW (1990 525i) is an E34 (Chassis) and has a 2.5l inline engine. There were several different engines available in the E34 chassis...
https://i.ibb.co/B5VLQ9gj/E34.jpg
https://realoem.com/bmw/enUS/select
(I wish there was something like realoem for other cars I work on. Realoem makes it easy to find the right part numbers for my bimmer and their parts diagrams are quite nice. Absolute must have when working on a BMW.)
Mrs. Smith has a 2000 Mercedes E320. (W210 chassis with a 3.2l engine.) I also have an old 1984 Mercedes 300SD (W126 chassis with a 3l turbo diesel) but it is kinda beat. The engine is great and will run forever. Maybe this is the year I figure out what I'm going to do with it.(?) (I'm thinking about mating the OM617 to a generator head to power the house when the electricity goes out. It would be a bit overkill, but it would work really well and last forever.) Or maybe I'll find a nice interior for the car and put her back together. I don't know. I should figure it out though.
Mercedes uses letters in their model names to designate the different class of vehicle. (A, C, E, S, G) A = sub-compact. C = two door coupe. E = sedan. S = Luxury and/or flagship model. G = Gelรคndewagen which is German for "cross-country vehicle" or "all-terrain vehicle". (There are probably more that I am unaware of.)
The Mercedes E320 was available on different chassis through the years. There is a W124 E320 that was available from 1984-1995 that had a 3.2l inline six. (There was also something called a C124 E320 that is the same as the W124 E320 but in a 2 door coupe instead of the 4 door sedan.) The W210 E320 was available from 1996 to 2002 with a 3.2l V6. Starting in 2003 the Mercedes E320 was built on the W211 chassis with a 3.2l v6. (I think the W211 E320 was available until 2009.) You get the idea.
It all makes pretty good sense once you understand their scheme. Very German of them.
Kinda off topic, but have you ever seen those Toyota pickups with the TRD logo on the back of the bed? They're good trucks, but I call them turdmobiles because of that TRD logo. The Toyota Turdmobile. I really don't care for logos and words on cars. Pin stripes either. I can do without all that nonsense.
Anyway... That's about all I have to say about the way Mercedes and BMW choose model names.
Happy Wednesday Evening! โฎ๏ธ