Turn Signals (Is my father nuts?)

Not NUTS! Just ill informed and not focused on what is really important in life.

Having said that, I reprogrammed the automatic door locks on my car to manual; it was a nusance to have them lock each time I get behind the wheel, and then unlock when I get out of the car. Having done that will make my door my locks last twice as long. That’s a side benefit.

On a side by side comparison, we never use the drying cycle on our dishwasher; we prop the door open after the washing cylce is complete, and then let them air dry. We also only use the light wash cycle for normal dishes. It works just fine This way we do get 20 years out of a dishwasher. A friend of my wife whose husband insists on the full drying and wash cycle got just 10 years out of their same Kitchen Aid dishwasher.

Don’t bother with it, after all that is why they turn off my themselves, because they are designed to be used.

They are generally long lived parts and you need not worry.

However that is not your problem. It is your father, not a mechanical problem.

You have to decide what is best for you (the difference in wear) It is almost zero (difference) But it is almost 100% sure it will bug you father if he sees you doing the normal thing

If you’re driving his car and arguing with him about thius issue…than you are the one that’s risking losing your privaledge of driving his car.

The car doesn;t care which way you do it (it’s designed to click) but the car’s owner apparently does. Respect his wishes until you can buy your own car. Then drive it any way you’d like.

Bottom line: if someone lets you drive his car, respect his wishes. Even if they’re not founded in science.

“Flushing the toilet only once a day will surely prolong the life of the flush valve mechanism”.
@asemaster–good advice. I also recommend loosening the fuse on the circuit before you turn a light switch on or off. There is an internal arc inside the switch which causes the switch contacts to pit and eventually makes the switch useless. By loosening the fuse before operating the switch, you can make a switch last indefinitely. This beats shelling out a couple of dollars every 10 years or so for a replacement switch.

“This way we do get 20 years out of a dishwasher. A friend of my wife whose husband insists on the full drying and wash cycle got just 10 years out of their same Kitchen Aid dishwasher”.
@Docnick–our dishwasher is the same age as our house which we built 23 years ago and is still working. We just use it in the normal fashion. It was made when Maytag built quality appliances.

I remember a discussion between my dad and my brother. My brother had just replaced the floor mounted dimmer switch in my dad’s 20 year old 1969 Pontiac. My brother said that it would have been much more difficult in my dad’s newer 1983 Buick Century with a dimmer switch operated by pulling the turning signal lever. My dad maintained that if you only had to replace the switch every 20 years it really wasn’t a big deal whether it was on the floor or operated by the turn signal lever.

I don’t abuse my equipment, but I am not going to be a slave to my possessions. I think that my vehicles are my servants and I’ll use the turning signal switch as it was intended to be used. I’m not going to inconvenience myself to get three more nanoseconds from a piece of equipment.

How many of you have been around long enough to remember the girl who said her boyfriend insisted that she jack up each tire on her car before checking the tire’s pressure? It was posted more than twice over a couple or three years. The SECOND time folks began to figure it out. The OP was just trying to get a rise out of us, and certainly didn’t need any advice. It probably wasn’t even a girl, much less one with a boyfriend. Just a lonely 25 year old guy, still living in mom’s basement. My guess is that this post is just another nutty plea for attention, not a case of a nutty father.

MG, I don;t see any reason to call the OP names. My guess is that it’s a young fella just trying to show dad that he’s knowledgable. I was that age once myself.

My dad made life simple: “you want to drive my car, you drive by my rules. When you get your own car, you can drive by your own rules.”

Heres a thought just in case the OP is sincere. When you move the turn signal lever just enough to make contact, that contact could be intermittent if your hand is not steady. Now if that happens, you could cause burning and pitting on the contacts and shorten the life of the turn signal switch. You would be better to just put it all they way on. Run this by dear old dad and see what he says.