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workingonit · #**879** 08-25-2022, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by srmmmm

I hate to predict doom and gloom, but you are murdering that engine with those short trips. Whatever you do, don't drive it like that in the winter or you'll plug up your CCV system. In addition, ethanol will settle out of your gasoline in as little as three weeks causing other fuel system problems. These engines love to run down the highway at 80mph and will do it all day long....

At the present time, it's the best I can do for it. My '04 Chevy 2500HD sits for months, only going on once or twice a year camping trips and occasionally around town, the '98 GMC gets used a bit more, as it is the Home Depot shuttle, and my wife's back-up. My old daily driver, the '09 HHR Panel, was handed-off to my wife when I got the X5 (at the same time I undertook the overhaul of her Cobalt's brakes, still underway), and the X5 was to become my daily driver/project car.

The X5 sat initially for 2+ months while I acquired the parts (slowly, on my limited "retirement" allowance!) to replace the grenading mechanical fan with an electric one. Then there was the leaking sunroof that flooded the interior, so I sealed it up. Then the frustrating P0171 & P0174 codes caused by an under-reporting MAF, that had me limiting my driving, for over six months...then the high gas prices.

Meanwhile, I'm practically forced to remain home, while the wife is constantly gone (since last October, basically) due to:

1) my recent health problems: blood clotting DVT, then late onset diabetes making me either tired or always going to DRs,
2) my wife's parents' health problems, causing her to be always going 100+ miles to hospitals counties distant,
3) recently her sister has had to have several surgeries, again several counties away, and despite having kids, my wife is the support group for her, and
4) my wife's "jobs": 4 hours a day as personal assistant to an 88 year-old woman (friend's mother), and as a dog/house sitter (for her affluent friends on vacation)

My usual daily activities also preclude any distant travels:

1) the four chickens she built a coop for, need my attention,
2) the four dogs she adopted need constant attention (1 cripple, 1 blind),
3) the three surviving (out of five) feral cats she brought into the house (they were dying outside), now need supervision (crazy interactions with the house dogs), and
4) the remaining neighborhood feral cats are multiplying, but all show up on our property, so I basically herd/feed/water them (she started it, then handed it off to me)

So, while my much-younger wife is busy allover the place "enjoying" my retirement, I'm stuck in a rut. I wanted the X5 years ago (it took my friend 3.5 years to make it a "worthy" trade for my racecar) for a project car and my dedicated camping vehicle (to tow my 2220 lb trailer). But during those 3.5 years, my situation changed drastically, reducing my freedom to camp several times a year to one last year. Sure, the reasons are of our own (mine?) making, and to be expected growing older, but not what I wanted when planning for the X5 swap. So, I drive the X5 whenever I can, hoping for more.
P.S. I use "STA-BIL 360 Protection Ethanol Treatment & Fuel Stabilizer" on all my vehicles.

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