Toyota Tundra Camshaft Recall

Oooh, here's a good one. Toyota, the car company that wants to be known for stellar quality, has already had 20 engine failures on the new Tundra due to a faulty camshaft. I think they have truly lost their quality advantage over the domestics, and it continues to show with each new release.

But get this:

In cases in which a Tundra camshaft fails, Toyota is replacing the truck engine at no charge, representatives said.

That's so magnanimous of them to honor their warranty. Gooo Toyota! Atta boy. Kudos! You're honoring your warranty.

Oh wait, there's nothing special about that. Thanks for making crappy trucks, Toyota.

zecco.com errors

So, after a few weeks of trading with Zecco, I have uncovered some errors in their trading system. Here's my list so far.

1. Their system allows you to set up a margin account with less than $2000, then allows you to place short sales with less than a $2000 account balance. However, once the short sale has occured, your account is frozen, not allowing you to buy any more stock. It is possible to sell, just not purchase any additional. When the account is frozen, you have a negative buying power, but no margin calls or explanation of what is happening. It took me 3 calls and numerous emails to their customer support to figure out what the root of the problem really was.

2. Email support is averaging about 4 days for a reply right now. Phone support is slightly faster, with about a 2-day response time. It appears zecco has grown its membership rapidly without training/hiring new support staff.

3. You cannot edit a stop-limit order more than once. This would be a nice feature to allow you to keep tight stops on a stock if you feel it may crash in the near future, while locking in profits. Short-term fix: never edit an order, just cancel it and re-place a new order.

My basic recommendation to Zecco: Update your FAQ documents to include information regarding the $2000 limit for margin accounts. Also, include information on what classifies an individual as a Pattern Day Trader.

Also, faster support response would be nice.

Testing Out Google Spreadsheets

Here's a quick little spreadsheet tool I've put together using google spreadsheet. Let's see how this works.

Ford Recall - Shooting Flames on 6.4L Powerstroke Diesel

http://www.dieselmovies.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0ae62e3b1396831a8398

Interesting little video. It's a new powerstroke diesel shooting flames out the tailpipe. Apparently there's a recall because of fuel leaking into the exhaust system. I'll bet that's a fuel-efficient truck!

Sweet Jesus! That's a Touchdown!

On a recent road trip I found myself driving through Monroe OH on I-75 and saw this giant Jesus emerging from a lake. I just had to stop and take a picture. Looking around, I found this was at the solid rock church. The weirdest thing, though, was the tiny parking lot at this huge church. I couldn't figure that one out. Anyway, the giant Jesus is quite inspirational. Enjoy!

Built Ford.... weak?

"I supposedly blew up my brand new $55k truck, with just 200 miles on it, running B99. I say supposedly, because I can't believe it was a fuel problem-but Ford is sticking me with $17k bill for a new engine (major labor required to remove cab etc..). They tested the fuel at two labs and said I violated the warranty (which says no more than B5). I am meeting with the engineer that was flown out from Dearborn to examine the problem today, so I hope to get some technical background on this. ... I have been running B99 in my other cars for 2 years. I'm a farm kid, and fairly comfortable around machinery, and have never had any problems with them. To my understanding, biodiesel has a higher flash point and I can't understand how one blows up an engine on a vegetable-based fuel. Ford markets the ultra-low-sulfur engine as the cleanest in the industry. I ran B100 in my 2004 F25- for 2 years-a similar, high performance PowerStroke."

A bit later, he posted the coda:

"So here's the ending to the 'blown up' brand new truck saga I posted last week. ... Within minutes of posting, I received tons of helpful input ... to test fuel and eventually even legal documentation that Ford could not extend their warranty to cover third parties, and thus not honor (the now 20k) in warranty work. Armed with these questions, and the fact that as long as it was spec fuel, I was covered legally. I went in to siphon fuel out of the tank. Skip several interesting exchanges later, Ford scrambled and is now covering everything-and has even offered to take the truck back and sell me a new one (mine had only 200 miles on it). Next, I found out that Ford just offered a massive recall for injector problems that create a hydrolock that produces white smoke and can cause a massive bang-exactly what happened to me.... The whole things seems to have been a ploy to cover up something they eventually had to admit to on a massive scale. Go Ford."