Henry Rifle Forums

Tina had all the tile for the two bathroom renovations stored in the back of the Titan after she picked it up from Home Depot. She didn't drive the truck while it was back there, though she did go out and start it once a week and let it run a bit. Truck sat in the carport six weeks. Went to start it yesterday, dead as a doornail.

So dead the dash lights didn't come on, the remote didn't work to unlock the truck, and the lock buttons didn't unlock the rest of the doors. That puppy was feet in the air dead. I got my little notebook size jumper kit out, but it wouldn't bring 'er back to life. The ODD part was, the truck kept the key.

Yup, the key would NOT turn all the way back to the lock position so the key could be removed from the ignition, and the shift lever was now locked in the Parked position. I'm guessing the position sensors can't be read with ZERO power so... You are SOL.

I checked the battery with my meter. Less than 4 volts.
Took it out, and took it to Auto Zone. They replaced it under warranty.
Truck fired right up, alarm went off.
Cancelled the alarm, shut off the truck, key still trapped.
Restated the truck.
Put the truck in drive, back in park.
Shut off the truck.
Removed the key.
Weird, weird.

Truck is reincarnated.

I almost miss the days when you had to roll the windows down with the hand crank.

RetiredSeabee wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 13, 2026 9:19 pm

I almost miss the days when you had to roll the windows down with the hand crank.

You are not alone, electronics are brilliant when they are working but when they are not well they can be more trouble than they are worth.

I got caught a few weeks back with being locked into low range and unable to get it out. Tried everything with no success, thought it might be power related as the battery started to fail and needed jumping but no battery warning light with it running, alternator was fine and hooking up a jump pack made no difference. In the end had to drive 20 miles home in low range at 30mph swap cars and a 100 mile trip to the nearest auto parts store that was open Sunday afternoon for a new battery.
Talking to a mate that has the same model his went in under warranty because it would randomly put itself into high range 4wd at highway speeds. Problem turned out to be the battery and a cell on the way out, not degraded enough to even effect cranking and starting but enough to upset the electronics.

I don't particularly want to go back to the days of points, carbs and drum brakes. However, cars these days have become WAY too complicated with a separate computer for every system/subsystem in the vehicle. Of course, much of it is driven by chasing the last little bit of gas mileage from a vehicle. That, and the desire for every convenience known to man crammed into something meant to get you from point A to point B.

I finally broke down and bought a sporty (er) car at the urging of the wife back in 2012. Not the Vette or Mustang because of all the issues would have made the in and out a bit much... But a Dodge Charger. (Couldn't see out that back window on that year's Challenger and the mirrors weren't much help.)

Since I was going in for another surgery, I sent the car in for some attention.
The grill was swapped for flat black, wheels powder coated black, windows tinted dark. The car looked like the Batmobile. Loved it, for a week or so. Then the in dash flat screen (data center) started to black out. Pull over, shut off the car, restart the engine, and most of the time the screen reset. Every now and then, you'd have to repeat the process two, maybe three times.

This wasn't just the NAV screen, it was the radio, cd player, heat/ac controls, and more. When the screen went blank, most of the car's functions went. New car, month old. In the shop, fourteen times in ten months. Dealer blamed Dodge, but kept collecting warranty work money. No lawyer in Virginia took lemon law cases any longer, losing proposition. Limit on billable hours by state law. Eventually traded the car in on a truck and took the loss. GM was dead to me.

The dealer lost a lot of business because they didn't stand behind the product. Small town, word travels fast. Long time customers stopped buying, went elsewhere for service.

RetiredSeabee wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 13, 2026 9:19 pm

I almost miss the days when you had to roll the windows down with the hand crank.

Yeah, ALMOST...............

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 14, 2026 9:55 am

RetiredSeabee wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 13, 2026 9:19 pm

I almost miss the days when you had to roll the windows down with the hand crank.

Yeah, ALMOST...............

I do miss the days when I could go out with the "Maintenance for Dummies" book and an afternoon, and take the front of the engine down and replace the timing chain on the 1990s car myself. Slow and steady as she goes, lay things out on the table in front of the car as I went. Then put them back in the order they came off, replacing gaskets and bolt kits "Just to be sure." The grease stained pages of the "For Dummies" book open in front of me for reference, a new $20 water pump going on just because I had to take it off every 80,000 miles anyway. No sense having to take the engine apart again five thousand miles later if the pump went out. What's an extra $20?

Preventive Maintenance didn't require a hundred(s) of Thousands of Dollars computer and huge shop. Just the driveway and basic tools and some patience. I had the "Dummies" books on all the cars until everything went computerized.

Now the timing light and the torque wrenches are never used on the vehicles. I get to use the torque wrench on the tractor, the mower, now and then on farm equipment like the bush hog.. There isn't any space in the engine compartments to move. Too old to bend and twist like that.

But, to be fair, back in the late 70s, a friend had a Chevy Monza Spyder, with a 305 V8 shoehorned into the engine bay. They had to drop the back of the engine and trannie to change the back two spark plugs. A complete tune up cost him more than three for my car due to the extra labor. (I read now that there were some mechanics that had "special" spark plug wrenches that could get those two back plugs out, but I understand in many cases it was still faster/easier to lower the rear of the engine.)

Just like some cars today, the trick is to remove a wheel and turn the steering wheel all the way to one side to clear the brake drum and rotor to reach the oil filter. (I can't remember which car / truck it is.) Otherwise you are doing the job blind.

Screens are interesting given many new cars use them to control almost every function, I dont know if it is the same in the USA as here in Aus but if you read the warranty fine print a lot of manufacturers only cover them for 2 years. While the warranty may be 5-7 years on the car there are often exclusions and screens are at the top of the list.
Was doing a bit of investigating on EV battery warranties, not that I have any plans to purchase one but with everyone saying battery degradation isnt a concern with warranties up to 8 years thought I would look into it. Turn out most manufactures warranty them for degradation outside what is normal. They get to decide what is normal, if a 40% reduction over 8 years is considered normal by the manufacturer then no warranty claim.

The battery pack in my hybrid had an 8yr 100,000 mile warranty. The battery lasted 18yrs before one of the modules in it failed. While working on it to replace the module, the 12v aux battery ran down (tailgate was open). I had left the key fob in the slot and it was locked in place until I jumped the aux battery.