The "is it a burglar or is it the garage door opener" bit hits way too close to home. I spent a whole summer convinced someone was casing my house, turns out it was just my neighbor's smart sprinkler system rebooting every night at 2am. I felt like such a dummy when I finally figured it out. Hardwired stuff is like a trusty old pickup truck, it just goes and goes without any drama. My current setup is basically a bunch of wired sensors and a siren that's probably older than half the people on this forum, but it's never let me down once.

Honestly I was the same way about the Wonderland Trail, always told everyone to go clockwise. Tbh a ranger finally talked me into trying it the other way last season and it completely flipped my view. The northern sections were way more rewarding in that order, especially the climb out of the Carbon River. Ngl I felt pretty silly for being so set in my ways for so long.

Remember to check the ground connection on the starter itself too. Had a car where the mounting bolts were painted and the starter wasn't grounding through the block properly. A quick scrape of paint and it cranked right over.

My buddy tried the heat and cool trick on a rusty bolt last week. He said the metal made a loud ping and the nut came right off. Seems like a solid method when the oil alone doesn't cut it.

Unstable in about 30 seconds" sounds like my last attempt to assemble a swing set. So the fancy valve basically turned your lift into a party balloon you let go of? Guess sometimes the old backup is the one that doesn't try to show off.