Why I Love My SUV

“Do you know where to find your fan belt? With the engine off and reasonably cool, give a tug on it. If it has any play, that may be your problem. Of course your mechanic may think it needs about $2,000 and two weeks.”

“I shall look for MY fan belt vioLIN thanks..lol”

“could even possibly be the thermostat trekkn”

“That 's a thought too.Do you know what it would cost?”

“Thermastat?
You could do it yourself for under $20.

Usually two or three bolts a new thermastat and some gasket material is all.”

“Thanks, but where is the thermastat,HPM?..I am learning these things..slowly,but learning..
:~ )”

“What's the difference between a porcupine and a Hummer?










In the case of the former, the pricks are on the outside.”

“My SUV just got rear ended on the freeway today. Some young girl not paying attention dropped her cell phone, bent down to get it and Wham!

Seems like only a little damage to my bumper, but man her little Cavalier looked totaled.

Luckily neither of us were hurt.”

“Yow. Freeways and cellphones... look out.”

“Yow. Young girls and little cars...look out.”

“SUVs are not evil in and of themselves; it's how they are used.

Did anyone else catch Booknotes this past Sunday?”

“(actually, it looks more like a Nissan than a Renegade....)”

“I replaced the alternator on my old SUV (jeep wrangler) last week along with a $30 belt. The muffler was replaced yesterday. Took MIDAS 3 1/2 hours to replace 2 pcs. (muffler & tailpipe) after having me return the following day. Don't think I'll ever use them again.
It's been sitting a while but has 150,000 miles with few repairs. Put the snow plow back on it too. Checked the 8,000 pd winch & cab heater.”

“Wild chase, gunfire turns fatal: Cops: Dad mows down robbery suspect with SUV

TRENTON -- When armed robbers jammed a gun into his face and threatened to rape his two daughters, something snapped, Trenton resident Bob O’Neal said yesterday.

"I just couldn’t take it anymore," O’Neal said. "He put a gun in my face and threatened to rape my kids. I’m not having that."

According to police, O’Neal jumped into his SUV and chased his attackers after they confronted him in front of his Hiltonia home Sunday night and stole about $1,500 in cash.

The chase ended minutes later, on Route 29, after O’Neal allegedly ran over one suspect who fired at him, leaving him dead at the scene.

"I wasn’t trying to kill anybody... I just wanted to get the tag number on the car," a visibly-shaken O’Neal said. "But they intended to kill me," he added.

Police said the bizarre robbery turned fatality began in front of O’Neal’s Cornwall Avenue home around 9 p.m. Sunday.

O’Neal, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for a liver disorder, said he had returned home from an outing with his two daughters, ages 16 and 17, when he saw an old white Chrysler station wagon pull up and park a few doors down from his home.

Police said the 54-year-old single father of three escorted his daughters into the house and returned to lock up his Dodge Durango a few minutes later.

That’s when he was confronted by the group of guys in the white station wagon.

O’Neal said the now dead gunman hopped out and shoved a gun in his face, demanding money.

Police said he and his bunch made off with $1,500 and assorted credit cards.

O’Neal got in his Dodge Durango and trailed the four suspects along Route 29, eventually ramming his truck into the rear of their car.

Sgt. Pedro Medina said O’Neal rammed into the suspects car a second time, at which point the alleged gunman, a Hispanic male, fired two shots from the rear of the car.

Then the suspects hopped the curb and drove onto the median, with O’Neal on their tail, jumping the curb as well.

"They went into the grassy part and at which time they fired again," Medina said.

Three suspects hopped out and ran, while the fourth stayed, fired a few more shots, police said.

O’Neal said as the gunman fired those two last shots, he ducked under the steering wheel, and everything after that is kind of a blur.

Seconds later the gunman was dead, his body shorn in half, allegedly by O’Neal’s SUV.

Police said O’Neal made the gruesome discovery after he exited his truck to retrieve his truck’s bumper, which had fallen off during the incident.

"I looked down and saw half of him," O’Neal said when asked if he knew the man was dead.

Half the suspect’s body lay in a ditch off Route 29 southbound near Sanhican Drive, the rest of him was allegedly ripped from his torso, witnesses said yesterday.

Police arrived later and found the dead suspect. Medina said a silver .25-caliber handgun was recovered from the scene.

They later arrested two suspects, while the fourth suspect remained at large yesterday.

<snip>
last edited: 11/23/04 3:00:23 PM”

“What moron would carry $1500 in his wallet?”

“Half the suspect’s body lay in a ditch off Route 29 southbound near Sanhican Drive, the rest of him was allegedly ripped from his torso, witnesses said yesterday.”

“Some bosses have to carry that kind of money to buy their employees "under the table".

Either way, the father will/should be charged with something....considering he killed someone when his life wasn't in immediate danger....I think that's how the law will look at it.

Similar with a gun incident...if the perp is not facing the victim, and not in the victim's house...he cannot be shot in the back.

Anyhoo, glad there's one less scumbag roaming the streets.”

“I don't know stanlee... When someone is firing shots at you, isn't your life pretty much in immediate danger?

O’Neal said as the gunman fired those two last shots, he ducked under the steering wheel, and everything after that is kind of a blur.

Seconds later the gunman was dead, his body shorn in half, allegedly by O’Neal’s SUV.
”

“This week on Texas Justice...LOL!

I remember when I was a bank 'guard' ('guard' meaning all I was armed with was a brown polyester blazer) I had to run down to one of the other banks with some money. Walking downtown with $25,000 in a shoe box doesn't make me feel comfortable.”

“Dat's when yo have Darrell come down and rob you.


Just have him clock once right in the kisser.

Bam! you hit the sidewalk, he takes the money. You don't remember NOTHING.

YO and Darell get a set of new teeth to share and a couple of styling ATVs.”

““What moron would carry $1500 in his wallet?”
aero
3:01:10 PM
11/23/04

Somebody with a hefty tax-cut?”

“V - I'm not up on the particular laws but the local police chief told me that most of the info folks have about justified homicide are urban legends. The whole, "Be in the farthest room in your house with your back to the wall" thing is total bs. I think your point, though, is that he chased they a$$ down.”

“I have a bunch of (3)SUV's. Two Xterra's & a wrangler that I recently took off the road.I like to off-road & park in snow & mud bound area's to hike/canoe. I work long hours & usually don't even know what day I'll be home so a 4wd is kind of essential for my wife. WE also live a 1,000' higher than the immediate area. Most of the time however I run a small car back & forth to work.”

“I actually got rid of one of my SUVs. I got a PT Cruiser. It has all the versatility of the Jeep Grand save for the 4x4. It has lots of room, the seats can be taken all the way out, I can haul stuff on top and the mileage is a lot better. I’ll probably always have my other Cherokee though.”

“"I don't know stanlee... When someone is firing shots at you, isn't your life pretty much in immediate danger?"-VioliN

True....but the father chased after them.

Truth be told....I would've probably done the same thing as that father.”

“Jeez, tough $hit for the shooter! One less slimeball to deal with.

His family will probably put out memorial flowers and candles where he bought it. "He was such a good boy!"”

“I guess he ducked under the steering wheel and gunned it, huh?”

“Saved the taxpayers some money!”

“What a choice. Live in fear that they might return and do worse, or put the fear of Me in them and risk going to jail.”

“Plot thickens in robbery-SUV killing case

TRENTON -- The alleged gunman who was cut in half by an enraged father’s SUV Sunday was an escapee from an East Orange halfway house, police said yesterday.
[...]
Police have maintained that felony murder charges could be issued for those involved in the robbery, which may have precipitated Alvarez’s death, but they said that was unlikely.
[...]
A Department of Corrections spokesman said yesterday that Alvarez escaped from the "fieldhouse" facility in East Orange on Aug. 10, after serving nearly three years at the state prison in Rahway for an armed robbery he committed in 2000.

According to DOC spokesman Matt Schuman, Alvarez was transferred from East Jersey State Prison to the Talbot Hall treatment facility in Kearny on June 6, and then to the East Orange Facility in August.

O’Neal, the namesake son of a retired Trenton detective, has not been charged in connection with the death of Alvarez, said Casey DeBlasio of the county prosecutor’s office.
[...]
"(O’Neal) stared evil down... it’s in his genes, I can see where he got (his courage)," said Lt. Joseph Valdora, vice president of the Trenton Superior Officers Association, adding that O’Neal’s police blood makes him like an "extended family member."

"He was not going to be a victim," Valdora said. "Unfortunately things turned out the way they did... but he felt he had to protect his family."

Valdora said the city’s police unions have started a collection fund for O’Neal, under the name of the Bob O’Neal Fund, to help with the repairs to his damaged vehicle and get him back to work.

O’Neal is reportedly a union iron worker with Local 68, whose family’s sole means of transportation was the Dodge, the front end of which was damaged when it struck and severed the gunman.

Valdora said he hopes the police union will be able to present O’Neal with a nicecheck just before Christmas.
[...]”

“Man Tries to Toss Cigarette, SUV Ignites

SAN FRANCISCO - A man barely escaped serious injury Thursday after a lit cigarette he tried to toss out the window while driving across the Bay Bridge blew back in and ignited the vehicle, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The unidentified man was driving westbound at about 10:40 a.m. when he tossed the cigarette out the window of his Ford Expedition, said CHP Officer Shawn Chase.

Carried by the wind, the cigarette landed in his back seat and almost immediately burst into flames. The man quickly pulled to the side of the road, and leapt from the flame-filled SUV, which continued rolling into a guard rail, Chase said.

"He thought he had thrown it in park, but he didn't and it just kept going," the officer said. "It was in flames by the time he got out. He had some of his hair singed on the back of his head. It burnt down to the frame. There was nothing left."

[snip]
last edited: 2/20/05 9:38:07 PM”

“It'd be nice if this were to happen to more smokers who throw butts out their car window.”

“Once my sister's boyfriend came running into our house. He had throw a cigarette out the window and it blew back into his car. He was able to put it out with little damage.”

“I wish there was a ten cent deposit on cigarette butts. Think of the potential for down and outters and how nice and clean the street corners would be.”

“Serves Him Right......................The Literbug
“It'd be nice if this were to happen to more smokers who throw butts out their car window.”
Buddur
11:31:24 PM
2/20/05
ignore this user

You got that right. Not only is the litter disgusting, a lot of brush fires get started as a result of people throwing their butts out the window.”

“Anyone throwing a butt out the window should have the same happen to their butt.”

“Karma, there is a god!”

“he threw his butt out the window of his pickup which was filled in the back with trash. Didn't know it blew into the back bed and set the trash on fire till someone pulled up to him and signaled him to look behind him. Happened to be right in front of a fire station at the time so he just pulled in and they put it out. Fire Dept. said it was the first time someone brought the fire to them rather than them having to go to the fire... I flamed him for tossing his butts out the window...
told him he got what he deserved & that those things would kill him someday!”

“Trouble is they seldom do damage themselves. As Lumberzac noted, mostly they start brush fires and kill others, like acres of wildlife.

How much greenhouse gas is produced by a 4-5 day forest fire ?”

“Happened a long time ago...my father threw out a cig butt, and it blew back into the backseat...right on my sister's jacket. Made a little hole on it....she was not amused.”

“On Saturday a friend and I were going to a hike we had been scoping out. The road to trailhead had a washout. Some poor Japanese exchange college student got his 2wd Ford Explorer stuck on it. After spending an hour trying to help them push free, I had to drive them to nearest gas station. 20 miles and a couple hours later, I blazed right over the washout in my Sorrento, plowed through all the snow to the trailhead.
Dam! I love my Sorrento!”

“I like the styling of the Sorento.

Glad to hear you're enjoying it !”

“Why the F?@# would someone own a 2WD Explorer?”

“Good question!”

“Buying an SUV without 4 wheel drive is like marrying a girl with no #&%!$.”

“SUV's are evil. You guys that own them should be ashamed. FOR SHAME!”

“This past snowstorm, my jeep was moved to the middle of my driveway & died. I plow with a 2000 Xterra now & my wife drives the new one. I drive round-the-clock 7 days a week in my front wheel drive hyundai. Haven't been stuck yet.

Something (my 95 jeep) not working drives me crazy so I figured out I needed a coil.Got the plugs, wires, rotors & cap for good measure. Ran like a top & finially moved it out of the center of my driveway. I was really afraid I'd back into it in the middle of the night going to work. Like tomorrow I have to get up at 2am to get to work by 3:45am. I'm hoping I'll be off by noon but I doubt it.

THe wife is going to California tomorrow & Hawaii in 30 days. I get to stay here & work & work & work.....”

“DDX: : p

catshiker. No doubt your Hyundai rocks in the snow. But this washout required ground clearance. It was rugged. The only other vehicles that made it to the trailhead was a big Ford pickup and a Jeep Cherokee. Somebody in an Isuzu 4w4 didn't even attempt it.

Yeah! I didn't even know Explorers came in 2wd. Apparently the other students (passengers) didn't know this either. Nice group of people, but I suspected the driver from Japan didn't have a lot of driving experience. Oh well. He had AAA and a ride to the nearest gas station. So he was fine.”