Question for any mechanic types

I think wrench13 is mechanic or was IIRC. I'm a bit of a car guy, putting together an old car and am around grease and gasoline alot when working in the garage.

How receptive our your FIDs to the odors that sometimes attach themselves to you when working on a car?

I am pretty adamant about always washing my hands after anything I do before approaching Perjo. Today I walked in the house after a trip to the engine dyno and didn't really think about how Perjo might smell the fumes of gas and such on me.

Any advice or tips?

I assume just ditch the clothers right away and shower to be safe?

Goofy's original human was a mechanic who owns his own shop. Goofy would go to work with his human and hang out all day. Goofy now loves nothing more than hanging out with somebody who's working on a car. He also enjoys chewing on metal tools, for what it's worth.

Here's goofy in his element:

Yeah pretty sure the smells of oil and gas are not pleasing to most parrots. Goofy and Salty may be exceptions. Here is Salty helping to fix my ride.





http://www.parrotforums.com/members/wrench13-albums-salty-pics-picture16638-salty-fixing-my-bike.jpg

I drive a diesel. Getting fuel can cause my hands to stink for hours.
It concerns me allot to handle my Fids with hands that stink of diesel fuel.
I have started using gloves (cheep disposable) and it's helped allot.

If it makes lots of noise, stinks, involves fuel, oil, brake fluid, transmission fluid, antifreeze, sharpening blades, blowing snow, grass, leaves, or involves non-sterile lubricates, etc. It somehow ends up next to or on my bench, commonly needing one or more of the above, most commonly fuel.

Regarding the overall smells of those chemicals, they quickly break-down with distance and that distance is measured in inches /mm. The greatest concern is those cases where the distance and continual fresh flow of the smell combine.

Todays shop is far safer than thirty and fifty years ago for both Human and Parrots with the most dangerous chemicals being the cleaning and cutting fluids. Even with all of the efforts to reduce the chemical load, petrochemical products are very dangerous if ingested or skin contact.

There are a ton of jokes about wearing gloves when dealing with these chemicals. Those in the trade today, commonly wear gloves as part of not transferring these chemicals into a clients cars, etc... But also, greatly limiting the occurrence of open wounds and cuts on the mechanics hands. The combination of training Institutions and Insurance companies have brought this change to the professional shop.

I have also started wear disposable and working gloves when dealing with projects that involve petrochemical products. I find that clean-up is easier and quicker and that the common wound is much rarer.

It is important to know what chemicals are a concern and which are just plain killers. They are all dangerous when ingested or end-up on a parrot's skin. It is the reality of petrochemical products. That stated, those chemicals that displaces oxygen are the most dangerous, example: Started Fluid Spray. The effects of antifreeze when ingested is deadly serious.

Gloves have helped greatly, but I still follow strict decontamination protocol, whether I have been to a Pet Store, Handled other peoples Parrots, working in the yard or the shop! And that is a complete stripe followed by a shower.

NOTE: Some Parrots have a great interest with what is under your finger nails! Here the disposable gloves work wonders!

In my early days in industrial/research chemistry, many people wouldn't wear gloves in the lab. They claimed the black rubber gloves reduced dexterity. I wore them anyway, and got used to them so never had issues with dexterity. Also never got acids, bases, carcinogens etc. on my hands. I thought it was odd that someone would refuse to accept a slight level of discomfort in exchange for so much protection, but there are many ways in which people refuse to use protection on the grounds that it affects sensitivity.

If you can smell gasoline, it means that molecules of gasoline are touching odor receptors in your nose. If you can smell oil, it means that the more volatile molecules in the oil are touching your nose and sinuses. Since parrots are extremely sensitive to any kind of airborne contaminants, it makes sense to keep these at a minimum, doesn't it? Just because an odor is familiar doesn't mean it's safe. Most - MOST - of these compounds have some carcinogenic potential.

If any grease, oil, solvent, gas etc. is on your hands it will be transferred to the parrot if you touch it, and then be injested during preening, right? Wasn't there a long thread recently about whether or not candles are safe to burn in the house with birds? Any chemicals and scents in candle burning are likely much much safer than volatile (smell able) chemicals in petroleum products used in automotive work. I'm not buying the idea that candles are dangerous because they are girly and gassy smells are safe because they are manly!

Puns might have occurred during the composition of this post.

All kidding aside, wear disposable gloves when working. Dispose of them outside, into your trash barrel.

I have made my staff use disposable gloves for decades, when I found out that one inspector had abnormally high acid in his sweat from his hands. The sweat was literally eating up my gages and instruments. It was wear gloves or quit. He quit. But its been SOP to wear gloves from that point on.

Thanks for the Clarity and the 'Puns' K! Had the Mrs. LOL and agreeing!

Hubs and I both work at car dealerships. He was a mechanic but now a service advisor, but he'll still come home reeking of the shop. I don't because I work in the front. He doesn't interact with the tiels but I remember he always washes his hands really well with some sot of high grade orange cleanser they have for the shop, then come home and shower right away and wash his clothes. Never had any issues

I'm constantly working on everything. From my diesel truck, my brothers gas trucks, my car, my bike, tractors, chainsaws, my muscle car project, you name it.

My general practice is I will change shirts if mine is dirty/covered, and wash up my arms/hands really well. Outside of that, I don't worry about it too much. I also don't bring Willow out into the garage because A there's too much toxic crap out there, and B I have a perfectly good porch right next tot he garage that I can leaver her on with a view of most of the garage.

JMO.

As a fellow gear head and a professional in the automotive sales business for the past 13 years, I worry about gas, diesel, mineral spirits, carburetor cleaner, anything that is noxious or puts off a lot of fumes.

I spent about a month putting a bolt-on supercharger on my 01 BMW Z3 convertible. I had it up on jack stands inside the garage for about a month as I was working on it every night or so for an hour or two. In that house (no longer the house I own now) the garage was connected to the house and the door led right into the kitchen. When I got to the point of removing the OEM fuel rail and injectors and installing the new ones, plus I had to remove the entire upper intake manifold first to just attach an oil banjo to an outlet that was up underneath it and could not be reached otherwise, that's when the fumes started seeping inside the house. That worried me to the point of buying 5 huge floor fans and I had them constantly running and blowing the fumes out the garage door.

My house now is a split-level and the garage is small, so I keep my tool boxes and work benches in it but my car has to stay in the driveway and be worked on out there. Fumes are no longer a problem (I have a 2011 Mitsubishi Evo X GSR that has about $20,000 worth of performance mods and $2,000 in stereo mods; the fuel rail, injectors, Walboro pump, etc. were noxious but couldn't smell it inside; when I did the Tannabe exhaust system and the Tein coilovers I got covered with carbon, oil, everything). I always take my clothes off and throw them right into the laundry room which is on the ground level right inside the garage door, so that's convenient. I wash my hands, arms, and face immediately and put on clean clothes before going upstairs, so as long as you do that you should be fine...

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

EllenD said:

As a fellow gear head and a professional in the automotive sales business for the past 13 years, I worry about gas, diesel, mineral spirits, carburetor cleaner, anything that is noxious or puts off a lot of fumes.

I spent about a month putting a bolt-on supercharger on my 01 BMW Z3 convertible. I had it up on jack stands inside the garage for about a month as I was working on it every night or so for an hour or two. In that house (no longer the house I own now) the garage was connected to the house and the door led right into the kitchen. When I got to the point of removing the OEM fuel rail and injectors and installing the new ones, plus I had to remove the entire upper intake manifold first to just attach an oil banjo to an outlet that was up underneath it and could not be reached otherwise, that's when the fumes started seeping inside the house. That worried me to the point of buying 5 huge floor fans and I had them constantly running and blowing the fumes out the garage door.

My house now is a split-level and the garage is small, so I keep my tool boxes and work benches in it but my car has to stay in the driveway and be worked on out there. Fumes are no longer a problem (I have a 2011 Mitsubishi Evo X GSR that has about $20,000 worth of performance mods and $2,000 in stereo mods; the fuel rail, injectors, Walboro pump, etc. were noxious but couldn't smell it inside; when I did the Tannabe exhaust system and the Tein coilovers I got covered with carbon, oil, everything). I always take my clothes off and throw them right into the laundry room which is on the ground level right inside the garage door, so that's convenient. I wash my hands, arms, and face immediately and put on clean clothes before going upstairs, so as long as you do that you should be fine...

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

Click to expand...

I think I am in love with you. You play music and mod your. Beemer? You're like the da Vinci of parrots!

Kentuckienne said:

EllenD said:

As a fellow gear head and a professional in the automotive sales business for the past 13 years, I worry about gas, diesel, mineral spirits, carburetor cleaner, anything that is noxious or puts off a lot of fumes.

I spent about a month putting a bolt-on supercharger on my 01 BMW Z3 convertible. I had it up on jack stands inside the garage for about a month as I was working on it every night or so for an hour or two. In that house (no longer the house I own now) the garage was connected to the house and the door led right into the kitchen. When I got to the point of removing the OEM fuel rail and injectors and installing the new ones, plus I had to remove the entire upper intake manifold first to just attach an oil banjo to an outlet that was up underneath it and could not be reached otherwise, that's when the fumes started seeping inside the house. That worried me to the point of buying 5 huge floor fans and I had them constantly running and blowing the fumes out the garage door.

My house now is a split-level and the garage is small, so I keep my tool boxes and work benches in it but my car has to stay in the driveway and be worked on out there. Fumes are no longer a problem (I have a 2011 Mitsubishi Evo X GSR that has about $20,000 worth of performance mods and $2,000 in stereo mods; the fuel rail, injectors, Walboro pump, etc. were noxious but couldn't smell it inside; when I did the Tannabe exhaust system and the Tein coilovers I got covered with carbon, oil, everything). I always take my clothes off and throw them right into the laundry room which is on the ground level right inside the garage door, so that's convenient. I wash my hands, arms, and face immediately and put on clean clothes before going upstairs, so as long as you do that you should be fine...

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

Click to expand...

I think I am in love with you. You play music and mod your. Beemer? You're like the da Vinci of parrots!

Click to expand...

Lol, I just now saw this...Yes, I'm a weirdo. Gear head, musician, and a parrot lover. 😎 I got into cars as a teenager. Single mom that knows nothing about anything mechanical, so I started out doing her oil changes, and it became an obsession from there.

My ideal Friday night is going to a bar to hear a band, followed by spending all day Saturday drinking beer and working on my car outside while listening to music. That's a good weekend.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

EllenD said:

As a fellow gear head and a professional in the automotive sales business for the past 13 years, I worry about gas, diesel, mineral spirits, carburetor cleaner, anything that is noxious or puts off a lot of fumes.

I spent about a month putting a bolt-on supercharger on my 01 BMW Z3 convertible. I had it up on jack stands inside the garage for about a month as I was working on it every night or so for an hour or two. In that house (no longer the house I own now) the garage was connected to the house and the door led right into the kitchen. When I got to the point of removing the OEM fuel rail and injectors and installing the new ones, plus I had to remove the entire upper intake manifold first to just attach an oil banjo to an outlet that was up underneath it and could not be reached otherwise, that's when the fumes started seeping inside the house. That worried me to the point of buying 5 huge floor fans and I had them constantly running and blowing the fumes out the garage door.

My house now is a split-level and the garage is small, so I keep my tool boxes and work benches in it but my car has to stay in the driveway and be worked on out there. Fumes are no longer a problem (I have a 2011 Mitsubishi Evo X GSR that has about $20,000 worth of performance mods and $2,000 in stereo mods; the fuel rail, injectors, Walboro pump, etc. were noxious but couldn't smell it inside; when I did the Tannabe exhaust system and the Tein coilovers I got covered with carbon, oil, everything). I always take my clothes off and throw them right into the laundry room which is on the ground level right inside the garage door, so that's convenient. I wash my hands, arms, and face immediately and put on clean clothes before going upstairs, so as long as you do that you should be fine...

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

Click to expand...

Are you interested in the thoughts of remarrying? To someone who has more money than common sense?

Flboy said:

EllenD said:

As a fellow gear head and a professional in the automotive sales business for the past 13 years, I worry about gas, diesel, mineral spirits, carburetor cleaner, anything that is noxious or puts off a lot of fumes.

I spent about a month putting a bolt-on supercharger on my 01 BMW Z3 convertible. I had it up on jack stands inside the garage for about a month as I was working on it every night or so for an hour or two. In that house (no longer the house I own now) the garage was connected to the house and the door led right into the kitchen. When I got to the point of removing the OEM fuel rail and injectors and installing the new ones, plus I had to remove the entire upper intake manifold first to just attach an oil banjo to an outlet that was up underneath it and could not be reached otherwise, that's when the fumes started seeping inside the house. That worried me to the point of buying 5 huge floor fans and I had them constantly running and blowing the fumes out the garage door.

My house now is a split-level and the garage is small, so I keep my tool boxes and work benches in it but my car has to stay in the driveway and be worked on out there. Fumes are no longer a problem (I have a 2011 Mitsubishi Evo X GSR that has about $20,000 worth of performance mods and $2,000 in stereo mods; the fuel rail, injectors, Walboro pump, etc. were noxious but couldn't smell it inside; when I did the Tannabe exhaust system and the Tein coilovers I got covered with carbon, oil, everything). I always take my clothes off and throw them right into the laundry room which is on the ground level right inside the garage door, so that's convenient. I wash my hands, arms, and face immediately and put on clean clothes before going upstairs, so as long as you do that you should be fine...

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

Click to expand...

Are you interested in the thoughts of remarrying? To someone who has more money than common sense?

Click to expand...

Hey, I asked her first! Dang, I'm already married.

Personally, I go 'newer' Old School with a real sleeper - 1990 MB CE-300 Coupe, Touring Series. Not many built, too expensive in those days. Came standard with it's big brother's ('S' series) drivetrain, suspension, and those huge disc brakes at all four corners, all held to the ground by those over-sized (wide) wheels and tires.

Expensive to drive around town, but on an expressway with two adults, a Amazon and everything need for a ten days stay along the Gulf Coast, hiding from a few Winter's storms - gliding at ten over and pulling 34 mpg. Hit the pedal and its flash to 60 over. Fun, even today!

Biggest fear - Stopping! Things in the rearview mirror appear really fast.

Go ahead, keep fighting over me, I don't mind. 😁

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

Not exactly a sleeper... :42:

Straight line screamer, that be!