| bio | website | linkd.in/mnuskin |
|---|---|---|
| location | Rochester, NY | |
| age | 33 | |
| visits | member for | 2 years |
| seen | May 2 at 6:56 | |
| stats | profile views | 6 |
I am a software technical lead for a team working on surveillance video recording platform and a member of platform architecture council (not sure what that means yet), whose responsibility is to drive forward common framework/architecture for various products within UTC Climate, Controls and Security Systems division.
My primary area of expertise is high-performance (all aspects: CPU, throughput, disk/network I/O...) back end software written in C++/C# (90/10). Other areas where I've dabbled: C# w/ WPF (lots of dabbling), WCF, ASP.NET, HTML/CSS/Javascript/jQuery, F#.
I truly enjoy building software and seeing my products in the hands of end-users. Lately I've also discovered I enjoy building teams that build software.
Since I don't get to code as much as I'd like to at work, I spend nights coding at home primarily for recreation (plus there's that side effect of learning things). Some of that work can be found on GitHub. Code Project is next.
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Mar 5 |
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Misfire the next morning if car runs only for 15 seconds ... there could definitely still be oil somewhere in the connectors (either bottom part where it goes onto spark plugs or top where harness connects to the coils). But even if I did something in May of last year, seems this behavior persisted through all that completely unchanged. Is there a good explanation why oil would cause the whole thing with 15 sec run time? Otherwise, I can run this car for half a year without a single misfire. |
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Mar 5 |
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Misfire the next morning if car runs only for 15 seconds Interesting you should mention the oil. In May of last year I replaced the valve cover gasket because it was leaking oil. I had oil pool in all spark plug holes, then drip out onto exhaust manifold and smoke. When I did that job, I also replaced all spark plugs and attempted to do my best to clean any oil from electrical connectors (using q-tip with rubbing alcohol). Problem is that this car has ignition coils sitting right on top of the spark plugs and there's no standard spark plug wires that I can easily replace (engine wiring harness goes straight to the coils and is non-serviceable)... |
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Mar 5 |
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Misfire the next morning if car runs only for 15 seconds Can't say if there was or wasn't any smoke. I was suspecting leaky injectors and I've had them in the past, but it seems an injector wouldn't care if the car ran for 15 sec or for 2 hours. With my last car, injector problem caused misfire regardless of how long I drove the car for. In this case, the problem is extremely rare and generally crops up if only when I do something to the car outside of normal driving. I guess hooking up a fuel pressure gauge would take the guessing part out of this question. |
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Jan 25 |
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Why does a Turbocharger only produce boost when the engine is under load @generalexception: read your amendment and yeah I did answer the question. It all comes down to how much air you are moving through the engine. If your car is sitting still, it takes VERY LITTLE open throttle to rev engine to 3k rpm. On the other hand, putting the car under any kind of load (i.e. moving uphill or acceleration...) will require much more open throttle and get to same RPM. More open throttle X rpm ==> more boost. |
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Jan 24 |
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What's happening when you give someone a boost? @GregoryBell: yes, there's electricity flowing at all times through the car body. But if you consider how much electricity 12 gauge wire can carry and compare to the amount of metal the entire car body has, you'll realize that it's really not all that much. Also the amount of metal gives all circuits a path of least resistance back the the negative terminal of battery/charging circuitry and halves the amount of wiring you would've needed to have otherwise. As far as disconnecting the battery, what I meant is unhook the ground (-) terminal from old battery and leave it hanging. |
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Jan 23 |
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Timing Chain vs. Timing Belt @BrianKnoblauch: familycar.com/CarCare/TimingBelt.htm. Looks like my initial SWAG is semi close to what some others are saying. |
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Jan 16 |
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02 Trailblazer with front end vibration which seems to increase over time Nick, although I appreciate a response, that is sooooo not what I wanted to hear :). Stupid TB. I did have the same suspicion, that' why I topped off the fluid, but I can't say it was that low. And btw, I did also notice that the differential pinion seal is leaking oil on my car as well. Stupid TB. |
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Jan 11 |
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v-tech now vs then cam-less?? I know they've eliminated lifters, but without cam, how do you open valves? Unless you are talking about an electric motor. Btw, all continuous variable timing that I've ever seen is done by having rotation axis between the cam and the gear that is driven by the timing chain. Then they typically use oil pressure to change the position of the cam relative to the gear. |
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Oct 8 |
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Cleaning fuel injectors? another option is to go to junk yard and buy another set of injectors. When my integra with 150k needed them, I bought 4 for $7 a pop. You spend a little more, but your car is off and back on the road in 1 hour. |
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Oct 8 |
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Cleaning fuel injectors? This is very good and detailed post. I just want to make a comment on "When people recommend that you clean the injectors..." -- you need to carefully consider WHO the people are. For places like firestone (and even your dealership) selling "injection cleaning service" which as this answer stated, is just a cheap fuel additive, is basically pure profit while providing almost no value to you. So in these cases, when tire place recommends X, where X has nothing to do with tires, I'd suggest to simply walk away. |
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Sep 1 |
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Can I replace a compliance (Lower Control Arm) bushing myself? @Tester101 - "tools ... that only a mechanic would have?" Besides computer scan tools which cost 1000's. You should be able to acquire just about everything else. Harbor Freight, Amazon, Handsontools.com, rental at Autozone... Every time you do a job yourself, do the math on how much you saved and go buy a tool. I now have a whole garage of all kinds of fun toys. Few brake jobs and you can buy a MIG welder :) |
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Jul 19 |
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Muffler inlet corrosion problem @Tester101: what is your typical commute duration? |
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Jun 29 |
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High-pitched squealing coming from engine here's something to try... when the car is on and the high pitched noise seems to go away, push the A/C button to turn off the A/C. Does the noise come back and stay permanently on? If yes, then it's your A/C pump clutch bearing and this is a very known "feature" of a TB. |
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Jun 27 |
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Does Downshifting (Engine Braking) Cause Extra Wear and Tear? every time you disengage the clutch, it slips and you also reduce the life of the throw-out bearing. And yes, it is normal wear and these are serviceable items. But if the clutch is typically designed for 150k, if you downshift as much as you shift up (every single stop light as OP has indicated), you are reducing the life in half. And this assumes you match RPMs as you down shift, which is not the case either. Notice the OP said "I let out on the clutch slow enough that I don't rev very high". Guess what has to slip while the car is slowing down so the engine doesn't rev that high? |
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Jun 27 |
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car sputters when accelerating and idle not really an answer just advice: 1) you asked for like 3 completely different things in one post. Next time break it up so people can see a focused question and can follow that with a focused answer. 2) a/c does what? 3) You bought a bimmer. Learn to take off the fan shroud and learn to love it. On these cars just about every job involves taking out the fan and the shroud. It seems annoying at first, but after few times you should be able to remove the fan in under 5 minutes. If you need a tool to hold the fan, you can easily fabricate one with stock metal from home depot or buy one($36) |
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Jun 23 |
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Does Downshifting (Engine Braking) Cause Extra Wear and Tear? "..it drastically reduced the wear on my brakes.." -- that sounds exactly like the trade-off being mentioned here. You increase brake pad life at the expense of something else, which you just found out is the clutch. Second wearable item are synchros (clutches inside the transmission). I used to downshift my integra until it got worn to a point where 2nd and 3rd gear could not be shifted into unless you precisely match RPM. Learned to always match RPM which I now do at all times but I also don't downshift nearly as often as I used to because of that lesson. |
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Jun 20 |
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Concealing a radar detector don't know about manually disassembling a unit, but there are companies that sell detectors which are designed to integrate with the car, just as you described. You might want to be careful though because detector receivers actually generate RF signals which can be picked up externally. So if they are illegal where you live and they detect you have one anyway, your whole car might end up impounded. |
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Jun 8 |
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Buying new tires R15, R16, R17? "Primary reason...is for stronger braking force"- On most cars you can easily lock up your wheels with stock brakes if you press the pedal hard enough. If that's the case, what would be the point of stronger force? Actual primary reason is that when you race, you need to be able to just get to lock-up point (but never cross it) over a considerable duration of time and this is where heat becomes your enemy and larger rotors help a lot. Same thing with pistons (I can lock up my 4500 lbs SUV with 1-piston calipers), more pistons is about spreading the load so brakes last longer, not force |
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May 30 |
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Is it OK to skip gears? I don't know if motorcycle transmissions have something special, but I think all manual gearboxes generally operate on the same principle. All the gears are engaged at all times but one gear rotates independently of the shaft its on. Then there's external mechanism (like synchros) that lock a specific gear with the shaft using splines. Here's a yamaha gearbox: boats.net/parts/search/Yamaha/Motorcycle/1988/FZR750RU/…, and this is one that I rebuilt few years back: allstategear.com/T56Interior-ExteriorBreakdown.htm. Idea seems to be the same |
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May 29 |
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Difference between high octane and low octane? Just to add a tad to what's already a good and thorough answer... higher octane is more detonation resistant because it is not as easily combustible. This is why sometime people actually see drop in horsepower/mileage when they put higher octane into the car than what is recommended by the manufacturer. Sometimes when people buy a new car, they feel like they should only "put the best" in it, but in case of gasoline, spending more on gas than they have to, actually doesn't do anything and reduces performance |