The "I'm pretending to be a Mechanic" thread?

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skraeling said:
I need to replace yet another sway bar end link... why do I always need to replace these stupid things.

Ok well it’s not totally failed yet but one of the bushings has given up completely.
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What year was your Cavalier? First car out of college was a '93 convertible with manual...super fun to drive, super PITA to service. I knew it was gonna be a POS when the steering wheel pad/horn button dropped off the wheel and into my lap as I was driving it home. And I knew it was gonna be a money pit when I discovered that the shop (I had no garage then) literally had to lift the engine just to get to the spark plugs for a tune-up.

Which Buick you got? I feel your pain on the plastic LIM gaskets...I've done that job on six separate 3800's...now I can do it in about 2 hrs with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back. (Slight exaggeration)

Not that I'll ever do that job again...I've made a deal with myself, no more FWD GM plastic-engine glass-transmission products for me or my family members, EVER AGAIN!!!
 
agrazela said:
What year was your Cavalier? First car out of college was a '93 convertible with manual...super fun to drive, super PITA to service. I knew it was gonna be a POS when the steering wheel pad/horn button dropped off the wheel and into my lap as I was driving it home. And I knew it was gonna be a money pit when I discovered that the shop (I had no garage then) literally had to lift the engine just to get to the spark plugs for a tune-up.



Which Buick you got? I feel your pain on the plastic LIM gaskets...I've done that job on six separate 3800's...now I can do it in about 2 hrs with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back. (Slight exaggeration)



Not that I'll ever do that job again...I've made a deal with myself, no more FWD GM plastic-engine glass-transmission products for me or my family members, EVER AGAIN!!!
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Was an 05 cav auto.. previous two cars were manuals. Burned oil like Whitney going through blow. Was the car the ex wife stuck me with.

2000 century limited. Other than the lim really like it as a daily. Reread My op though. This is the second lim job. The metal felpro actually failed too. Rubber part not the metal frame
 
agrazela said:
Not that I'll ever do that job again...I've made a deal with myself, no more FWD GM plastic-engine glass-transmission products for me or my family members, EVER AGAIN!!!
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I heard that! I had a late 80s Buick Skyhawk (a Cavalier with Buick stickers on it) with the horrible TBI four-banger. It was a race to see if the engine would die before the frame rusted out, fortunately I traded it in before either had completely failed. Didn't have much better luck with my wife's Beretta, although it at least had the 3.1L V6. As long as I fed it a new alternator every 4-5 months it stayed happy. After the fifth or sixth one, though, the guys at the parts store who had sold me the "lifetime warranty" alternator told me not to come back....
 
This past week I replaced a piece of tubing on my daughter's Malibu because it started leaking. This time I bent a piece of brake line into the right shape and slipped the hose over it before clamping down. This weekend it still seems to be leaking somewhere. God I'm tired of chasing this down. It's starting to be the wrong weather for this sh**.

I can't see where it's leaking, so I assume it's where I can't see it, which likely means it's where I don't want it to be leaking, meaning a more involved repair where I can hardly get a wrench. I might have to bite the bullet and purchase I replacement hose assembly instead of my BillHilly repair methods.
 
Will probly hear sometime this week if I'll be parting ways with my Xc70. Dang moose took out the entire left side last thursday morning. Mirror slammed to the side window cracking it, rear door won't open cause it's properly buckled in, rear wheel arch, front door and A-pillar are dented. TBH kinda hoping they total it, it's been more of a pain than a luxury lately.
 
So it turns out the clamps on the hose that I had replaced just needed to be tightened down more. The work clamps can strip, so I was being careful. If this doesn't do it, I'll go pick up some better clamps and friggin crush them hoses down!

Also, my aluminum racing jack decided to not lift anything heavy. Not sure if it needs more oil, bleeding, or seals replaced. I hope it's not the release valve.

I love fixing things that I need to fix things.
 
While I am no where near the level many of you are with this stuff (I do not understand half of what has been said here) this year my car has had one problem after another and I try to fix it myself. I feel like I could have done the struts, but balancing on one end of the breaker bar still could not get a rusted bolt off and I had to take that in.

The past weekend the thing wouldn't start. I turn the key to the first position and all the lights turn on, so it is not the battery. When I turn the key to the start position all the lights dim as normal but nothing happens. Since the battery reacts to the key position I assume it is not the ignition switch. The fuses all seem to be in working order. I am told if it was a problem with the alternator the car would still crank, but because there is no clicking noise or anything I hoped it was the starter. Finally got the starter out, brought it to Autozone for testing and it passed. The guy there said its a small chance the starter is the problem even though it passed the test, it is 13 years old and has seen better days. I got it back in but had the same result. Anyone have any other ideas before I purchase a new starter, and then tow it to a professional when that does not change anything.

OH, I am working on a 2004 Alero V6.

Thank you for any help you can offer.
 
Charge your battery, inspect both ends of your battery cables, and check for swollen insulation, which indicates internal corrosion. If all checks out, it should start.

Drive it to the nearest store or shop that you trust and ask them to test your alternator while the engine is running.

A battery can make all the lights work, and still be too weak to crank. Good luck!
 
Take a friend and a multimeter, go to the car, ask a friend to attempt starting the car whilst probing the starter motor pilot power (the third smaller wire) and ground. Make sure nothing gets caught between any belts etc, and DO NOT TOUCH the big wire terminals while the battery is hooked up! Best done with some probe wires that has a spring loaded clamp at the end so you don't need to be touching anything. If you get 12v when attempting to start, you got pilot and the starter motor itself is junk, if not, well there's your problem.

The hillbilly way to test this is to wear a glove and jump the big red wire to the small one with a wrench, be warned it will spark. If the car cranks your pilot is dead, if not the starter is.
 
It takes a lot of initial current to get a starter motor moving. Lights & radio will work but still won’t have enough power to turn starter. Try taking battery to autozone and have load test on battery or jumping it with a running car.
 
Thank you all for help.

I took the battery in and they said it was fine, and also checked that the starter was getting power also checked out. Tower picked up the car this morning and had the same result (I would have felt terrible if he got it to start). 10 minutes after dropping it at the mechanic they call and say it started right up, but does not run so smooth. They changed the spark plugs and coils(?) and said I should really replace the starter, it is working but is ready to kick the bucket as well. They are delivering the car tonight and I have a new starter arriving Friday, so hopefully the starter holds out two more days.
 
In a situation like that I have learned to just go ahead and replace the starter because you already had it out. 13 years old, I just figure might as well. I don't even think my Toyota starters made it that long. Sounds like it could be failing intermittently. Had a start issue on my Camry and I changed and checked everything and it turned out to be a little wire that attaches to the back of that part the key goes in, I can't think of it right now. It's some sort of emergency protection. I can't think of it either right now but jiggling it changed it. Almost had to buy the new wiring harness. These starter situations can become tricky. I hope it works out for you. Next time it doesn't start voltometer the starter and battery again. You should multi-meter the battery periodically just to check on it. And that will tell you a lot about whether the alternator is healthy and or the battery. A lot of times the alternator and battery will go at the same time. Failure to charge the battery correctly and efficiently seems to wear on it. I wouldn't be surprised if the alternator was bad as well after 13 years. I Don't Know Jack either though.
 
Homercidal said:
I don't have to contend with my daughter's cars anymore. She sold the 99 Regal, then rolled the 02 Malibu into the ditch 2 days later...
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I do hope she's ok after that?!

Got the Xc70 back from the repair shop a few days ago. Splines sheared off the collar sleeve between the transfer box and drive shaft so no drive to the back wheels. Had that, and the Haldex oil+filter replaced, 885eur thank you... Still no word from the other repair shop that's supposed to fix the damage of the elk crash and my MOT's about to go cold in two weeks...
 
I like to pretend to be a mechanic!

Here’s a pic from the valve adjustment on my e46 M3 this past summer.

IMG_2191.jpg

This one goes back a bit farther with what was ultimately the end of my Audi Allroad ownership experience. Timing belt replacement.
IMG_1730.jpg
 
TallDan said:
I like to pretend to be a mechanic!

Here’s a pic from the valve adjustment on my e46 M3 this past summer.

View attachment 550002
This one goes back a bit farther with what was ultimately the end of my Audi Allroad ownership experience. Timing belt replacement.
View attachment 550003
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I did a valve adj on my 91 E34 M5 this summer as well (218k on this one)

24h9.jpg




We had an Audi Mk1 TT 2004 with the 1.8T quattro 222hp version and it was a maintenance fiend. The engine destroyed itself because of premature timing belt failure, which VAG was aware of. The result was a class action lawsuit for owners of the engine (A4, TT etc), what a mess. So that was a new engine, then had to rebuild the 6sp transmission, the welds at the exhaust expansion joint cracked, electrical issues, cluster issues, and much more. We are meticulous with maintenance and care, owning old BMW M5s, but from what other owners told me it was part of the deal. I thought the BMWs could be troublesome, well the Audi beat them in that respect.
 
triethylborane said:
I did a valve adj on my 91 E34 M5 this summer as well (218k on this one)

View attachment 550018



We had an Audi Mk1 TT 2004 with the 1.8T quattro 222hp version and it was a maintenance fiend. The engine destroyed itself because of premature timing belt failure, which VAG was aware of. The result was a class action lawsuit for owners of the engine (A4, TT etc), what a mess. So that was a new engine, then had to rebuild the 6sp transmission, the welds at the exhaust expansion joint cracked, electrical issues, cluster issues, and much more. We are meticulous with maintenance and care, owning old BMW M5s, but from what other owners told me it was part of the deal. I thought the BMWs could be troublesome, well the Audi beat them in that respect.
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That looks more like 21k than 218k!

My 2.7T Allroad had timing belt tensioner failure, which is pictured above. When I bought the car, I replaced the timing belt, 5 years and ~25k miles later the tensioner failed, timing slipped, and it bent valves. That was the end for me. Great car when it ran, and with good winter tires it was phenominal in the snow. One does not buy a used Allroad and expect reliability though. In fact, I expected the opposite and got it.

http://dougdemuro.kinja.com/german-reliability-the-greatest-myth-ever-sold-to-amer-1572026115
For this reason, I have taken to measuring automotive reliability on a scale I've dubbed the "Audi Allroad Scale Of Unreliability," which rates cars based on how close they are to the original Audi Allroad in terms of potential for random four-figure maintenance bills. For example: the Lexus ES300 is pretty low on the Audi Allroad Scale Of Unreliability. Whereas a vehicle made entirely by chimpanzees provided with random car parts would be almost as bad as the Allroad. Maybe even worse if the chimpanzees are German.
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I'm another who can't stand paying someone to do something I'm capable of doing. The only exception so far has been setting up rear gears. I will pay to have gears swapped because setting them up for no noise takes exceptional patience and is magic imo.

I think it comes from growing up on a farm. We did everything from working on machinery to construction. There just wasn't extra money to hire out jobs we were capable of doing.

I even reshingled my roof a few years ago because I couldn't stand the thought of paying someone to do something I knew I could do. That was a huge mistake. The roof is fine and total cost was about $2000 but it took my 50+ year old body a good month to heal from the week it took to complete the job. I went into it thinking it would be three days max but I was basing that on the last time I had shingled 30+ years ago. 30+ years ago my body didn't hurt like it does now, lol.

Something that is always maddening is how easy some cars are to work on vs completely boneheaded or very old designs.

I recently had to change the pcv valve on my daughters 2001 Taurus. It's located under the center of intake manifold. Ford books it at 3.5 hours because the intake manifold and all air intake related parts need to come off.

Luckily a google search turned up a 10 minute solution. Pull the air intake tube, throttle body, and associated attachments, use a 7/8 deep socket on a wobbly extension to get under the intake manifold and onto the twist lock pcv valve.

I said a prayer and attempted the 7/8 socket trick. It worked.

The original code was for idle air speed being off. This was due to unmetered air coming in via the defective pcv valve and associated hose. It was also causing an oil drip due to blowby not being contained.
 
Been a while since I contributed to my one contribution to HBT.

Well my semi leaky head gasket likes to seep a tiny amount of coolant randomly from somewhere behind the water pump cast housing. The water pump sits into this housing so meh car doesn’t overheat and I haven’t had to top up coolant...

Except I did because the seal between the water pump and housing leaked bad enough it was throwing coolant onto the belt. The pump which looked like it had been replaced once already (non Oem impeller design). So replaced it with a new one even though I could have resealed the old one. The pump was only 20.00 so why not.

Other than that the car just keeps on trucking. Kind of insane for an 18 year old vehicle of gm design.

Also easiest water pump replacement ever.

I could probably do the HG but it can wait till the weather doesn’t suck.
 
Got the Volvo back from the collision repair shop some time ago, replaced left side ball joint and fixed a snapped exhaust end can hanger (welded a bent bolt where the old one was, better than new) also changed the MAP sensor to get the IAT fault code off the computer, got it past the inspection and been driving it for a few weeks without worries.

My wife started complaining to me that her Skoda drives and smells "somehow funny" so I hopped on to the passenger side on the way to the grocery store. First crossroad I was afraid the whole thing is gonna tip over, told her to drive to the nearest gas station ASAP to confirm my suspicions. 1.1bar in all four corners! FFS I don`t ever drive the car so I can`t be expected to take care of it! Oh and the funny smell? Right side handbrake is sticking so bad the disc is radiating heat a foot away! Last VAG I`ll ever buy, the thing`s been nothing but worries and a crap ride from day one. It`s supposed to be an upper middle class car right? (Octavia Scout) Compared to the Volvo the ride is rock hard, seats uncomfortable and it`s riddled with stupid faults clearly caused by budget cuts.
 
BikerMatt said:
My wife started complaining to me that her Skoda drives and smells "somehow funny" so I hopped on to the passenger side on the way to the grocery store. First crossroad I was afraid the whole thing is gonna tip over, told her to drive to the nearest gas station ASAP to confirm my suspicions. 1.1bar in all four corners! FFS I don`t ever drive the car so I can`t be expected to take care of it! Oh and the funny smell? Right side handbrake is sticking so bad the disc is radiating heat a foot away!
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18bn.gif
omg lol

Last VAG I`ll ever buy, the thing`s been nothing but worries and a crap ride from day one. It`s supposed to be an upper middle class car right? (Octavia Scout) Compared to the Volvo the ride is rock hard, seats uncomfortable and it`s riddled with stupid faults clearly caused by budget cuts.
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Yeah, not a fan of VAG. Lots of wasted $$$$$ on subpar engineering on my Audi.

My sister has a 92 240GL with 190k that she uses for a beater. Runs great.
 
applescrap said:
I want a new car and this camry wont die!
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I wanted a new car since my camry was at 130k. I think it was 384k before I gave in. The revearse gear started going out. New tranny wasn't worth the cost, used tranny was questionable being a 1997 model. Getting overdue for countless other minor to moderate repairs. Since I got it used for 7k with 89k on it, I felt I got my money's worth.
 
My F150 Lightning is almost 15 years old now, barely 50K miles on it.
The whole time I've had it, I've only done one "simple" upgrade modification on it, a new K&N air intake assembly my wife was nice enough to buy for my birthday. The old stock assembly was more or less a rubber boot from intake to throttle body and estimated time to replace was 90 minutes with the right tools, ID-10t directions and all.

No problemo, right? :rolleyes:

Six frickin' hours of struggling with minor clearances, sensor wires, and an untold number of curses, it finally fit together. I started at noon and was done by almost dark.
Ninety minutes, my butt. Another DIY fix for oil being sucked into the intake is supposed to cost less than a couple dollars and ten minutes. I haven't tried that yet....
 

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