This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Car Repair Mistakes, II
Jun
1
2022
I wish I would have started working on cars earlier in life – it would have saved me a bunch of money. Here are some things I’ve learned over the last few years of working on my own cars.
- The speedometer in our 2007 Cadillac stopped working. A bit of internet searching revealed that the motor for the speedometer needle is known to go bad. So I ordered a replacement dash gauge from Ebay, and while I was waiting for it to arrive I noticed the mileage on the odometer wasn’t increasing either. I actually looked around the car then and found some mice had chewed up some wires. I spliced them back together and the speedometer and odometer started working again.
- Also in that Cadillac, the right rear brake caliper was locked up – that brake was always noticeable hotter than the others after a drive. I installed a replacement caliper and it still had the problem. It turns out the cause was a bad brake hose leading to the caliper. A little bit of extra investigation before installing parts can save extra work and part costs.
- The old minivan (2012 Chrysler Town and Country) was a little wobbly, so I went to replace the back shocks. The bolts for those shocks are not very user-friendly, especially the upper bolt and especially after 8 salty winters. I gave up on the shock bolt and ended up unbolting the shock bracket from the frame. That’s 4 bolts instead of one, but they’re more accessible. The problem was that one bolt snapped off rather than move, but I reinstalled it with 3 bolts and figured that was good enough. Then I went to do the other side and only one bolt came out and 3 snapped off. We drove that van with one shock missing for a few months and then ended up junking it due to other problems.
- For that generation of minivan, if the dashboard display “Key in ignition” when the key is not in the ignition, the problem is the TIPM not the WIN module. I bought a WIN (several hundred dollars), installed it, still had the problem, but was able to return the WIN and get my money back (minus a restocking fee).
- A couple years back, I bought a pressure bleeder for the brakes, but I was using it wrong. I finally figured out it’s a lot less messy and quicker too, to not put brake fluid in the bleeder. I think you’re supposed to do that, to keep the master cylinder filled with fluid. But now I just top off the reservoir, then attach the pressure bleeder and just pump it full of air, run the brake bleeds while checking on the reservoir, and if it’s running low on fluid I start over, without spilling brake fluid out of the hose because all it has is air.
Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the ground beside the living beings, for each of the four of them.
Ezekiel 1:15
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 9:20 am and has been carefully placed in the Mishaps category.
