Bodhi gets dissed by a 7-year-old girl
 

I went to leave for work today, and my VERY SOCIAL 7-year-old neighbor walks up behind my car as I'm getting in it. After I started it up, she moved and then came over to the window and asked why she hadn't seen me all week (this kid really keeps track of the neighbors), and added "I can always tell when you're leaving because I can hear 'bluh bluh bluh bluh bluh'" (that's a diesel engine noise impression, apparently). "And I can see smoke coming out of there." (points to tailpipe). "And I can smell it." OK kid, I get it, my car is loud and smells bad. Maybe if you wouldn't stand next to the tailpipe when I start it up after it's been sitting for 20 hours ... :D Needless to say, my efforts to explain diesel technology were lost on her. Made me chuckle.

Sounds like she will make a great HOA president some day.

Maybe it's time to invest in the new relay with afterglow. You'll get quieter start-ups with less smoke. And maybe then your neighbor won't even catch you leaving.

Using biodiesel (pure or blend, B20 or more) will eliminate the stink. The noise I think you're stuck with.

That's nothing compared to the daily abuse I take from my family and friends.

Just today I took my newly spruced up wagon by the office to show it off and the nicest comment was "hey, you can polish a turd".

It's actually quite quiet for what it is, especially since I got the new lifters put in two years ago. I think the fact that I'm starting it in a mostly-empty garage amplifies the noise significantly, plus you have to keep in mind this kid is driven around in a regular, recent-model gasser, so she expects basically no noise. And she was standing about two feet from the tailpipe when it started ... I don't find that that particularly smells good on any car. AFAIK my car rarely smokes and doesn't smell that bad (it stinks mightily when it gets really hot out ... so does my Jeep .. and I've noticed that has been much worse since the ULSD, oddly enough).

Hard for me to see my car from someone else's persepective, especially an ADD 7-year-old.:cool:

Thats a good one! I'll have to remember that!:D

The correct response would be "Does everyone in your 2nd grade class all look, dress, act and smell exactly alike? Of course they do not, and it's the same with cars- they are not all like the car your parents choose to buy and drive. Now run along".

With a little education, she may be a future 300D owner.

I probably would've said "Little girl, where are your parents? Do they know you're playing around cars? I'm sure they wouldn't like that, why don't you go find them?"

I think folks have it all wrong.
Take pride in the noise!:sneaky: Revel in the smell!:evilgrin: Dance around in the smoke!:smartass2 Display the diesel attitude! :cool:
We don't want to be like no stinkin' gasser........

I'm an obnoxious character, in person.

I like an obnoxious car.

When my lifters were gone, I used to take pride in starting my car late at night, after the church evening service. In a very small parking lot.

I deliberately started it without glowplugs, had the idle set low internally in the IP, so it sounded like it was on its last legs. Finally she would fire, CLACK CLACK CLACK, and smoke clouds would billow out the tail pipe as I brought the engine revs to 2K for a few ticks, and then back down. Plus, the excessive fuel that was being pumped out of the IP made for some really nasty conditions.

The kids think it's cool. Sort of like that "monster truck" stage they sometimes go through. The adults, OTOH, think I'm an immature pr*ck (which is probably closer to the truth).

Sorry your car got dissed by a child. :)

I am glad to hear it though because when I was first starting my newly acquired 190D, it would smoke and I thought something was wrong. Sounds pretty normal now.

We live in a rural neighborhood... some of the houses are about an acre apart, but we live at the end, kinda to ourselves, so no one sees my car when I start it. :D

Yesterday though I started it and seen some relatives going down the lower driveway heading down to my grandfathers who lives next door. I had just started the MB. I bet they did not know it was a diesel and was thinking what kind of crap I had bought. :D

Yeah, I have tried to teach her a little bit about cars in the past, but to no avail. She came over while I was doing an oil change on the Jeep a couple weeks ago, and stood there throughout the process, following me around the car and asking questions, most unrelated to the car. I tried to explain a couple things to her or show things to her, but she would interrupt with another question unrelated to whatever I was telling her. Very nice kid, major ADD I would say (and I mean real ADD, not the kind of ADD people just use as an excuse for their kid). I had a hard time explaining to her what oil was, as she told me her dad doesn't change the oil on their car because it doesn't use oil, just gas. I explained to her that the car does have oil, but he probably takes it to a shop to get it changed, and tried to explain what the purpose is. No interest, just wanted to tell me her dad's car does have any oil in it, then went on telling me how much she likes lightning bugs. I'm good with kids, but this is a tough one to impart any knowledge to. And impossible to politely get rid of. I just try to be nice and keep explaining things whether she gets them or not ... maybe she'll pick something up. At least she's outside rather than inside playing video games.