Shade Tree poverty mechanics unite, tell us your one off repair stories.

[max225]

I don't know how many of you here wrench on your own cars... but it would be interesting to see what happened on your car's of the current/past that was interesting/

For me a few things come to mind

1. My 2002 C5 leaf spring bolt snapped for no reason (45k miles).... leaving me stranded on the side of the road, I managed to fix it for $80 myself (cost of parts) the wanted $800 because there is a "special procedure for the leaf spring"

2. My 1996 lincoln mark 8's ignition lock column broke (130k miles), the key would just freely spin. There was NO FIX for this other than replacing the entire steering column. I managed to score a junkyard one for $60 and swap the ignition coil over. A small 50 cent plastic part breaks deep inside the column and you literally have to replace the entire thing because there is no way to pull it apart.

[Calvinball]

Interesting? ?

No.

?

Plenty lol.

[Acid666]

'90 S10 - 700R4 3-4 gear clutch packets went out (common problem with 700R4s). Tried to rebuild it with a VHS tape I got online. Learned a lot, completely covered my mom's driveway with transmission fluid, bent multiple things shoving it all back together, ruined multiple seals because I couldn't get them seated right....
Said fuck it, slapped it all back together. Installed. BAM! 6 Neutrals. AWWWW YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Interesting? ?

No.

?

Plenty lol.

[max225]

Usually
means shit didn't get fixed doe...

[goIftdibrad]

wow, tagged for epic lolz, i love these

On my third car, a 1984 vw rabbit convertible, i had a part called a 'brake pressure regulator " go bad. What the eff is that you say?

well it was a valve with a spring attached to the rear suspension, so when you braked hard it would redice rear brake pressure and reduce chance of lockup.

So, ok, brake fluid is very, very hydroscopic and it rains all the time here. This little bastard started leaking and I didnt know till i didnt have brakes one day, that was interesting, thank god for the emergency brake.

So, turns out this part is NLA, cant find it used becasue VW only used it a couple years, only on the verts... eff, right?

Turns out the bleeder nipple was what was leaking. It had this weird button to PRESS to bleed vs a screw. So, i put in a M8 bleeder screw. Non tapered threads, but hey, it held pedal pressure.

[Calvinball]

Usually
means shit didn't get fixed doe...

For me it mean the inevitable 1 or 2 times where I have to borrow a car or throw everything back together in order to run to the parts store.

[goIftdibrad]

2010 MINI - diller claimed rear sway bar bushings were bad and the rear subframe needed to be dropped to get to them.

I said nope, give me the car, bought the sway bar bushings from the parts department for $15 and did them myself in the garage without dropping the subframe in about 30 minutes.

and thats how [user not found] became a Mini

[Melon]

2003 Dodge Dakota:

Bought it from a friend in Baltimore.
"Great truck, just needs an O2 sensor"
Famous last words.

Drive it down, get it in the garage.
Bad O2 sensor is seized in the Y-pipe.

Have to replace the entire y-pipe, cats and all.
Order the part, while removing it, the rest of the exhaust literally rusts apart

Get the exhaust all back together.

Engine is running a bit rough.
Go to do a simple tune-up.
Spark plug breaks off in the cylinder head.

Use an EZ-Out and get the bitch out.

I keep the EZ-out as a souvenir on my desk @ the office.

Go to change out the radio with a working one.
Truck looses brakes, puddle in the driveway.
Hardline rusted apart. Drove the truck 16 hours from Maryland to Louisiana, and it breaks there
& at the same time.

Fixed it, it's been in the garage waiting on parts and repairs for two months.
Finally get it road worthy.
Goto do an inspection
Rear center brake light is out.

[max225]

@Melon you're straight up the luck of repairs... Also your steering wheel fiasco comes to mind as well as the leaky winshield.

[troyguitar]

@Melon you're straight up the luck of repairs... Also your steering wheel fiasco comes to mind as well as the leaky winshield.

The steering wheel man. I would've hulk raged and probably stabbed the dashboard.

Sometimes is necessary to summon enough brute force to do stuff

[max225]

I almost hulk raged on the Q5 oil filter that was seized on so hard due to dillerman techs welding it on there... it took some a giant 4 foot breaker bar to unscrew it, I am shocked nothing broke in that process.

[4zilch]

Not really a repair story, but I once dumped a quart of power steering fluid into the sump of my 1989 Cutlass Supreme after the oil pressure light came on because the sump was empty. I happened to have the ps fluid because because the pump leaked. Drove ~600 miles like that 0FG. Dem poverty college days

The power steering pump later exploded while moving all my shit back home for the summer.

[Melon]

@Melon you're straight up the luck of repairs... Also your steering wheel fiasco comes to mind as well as the leaky winshield.

The steering wheel man. I would've hulk raged and probably stabbed the dashboard.

I did rage and broke the turn signal stalk.

Had to replace that for $120.

[Melon]

Amazingly the windshield doesn't leak anymore, it did after my repairs for a minute, but I think I got enough silicone in there to stop it.


Brub TUB indeed.

[Melon]

@Melon you're straight up the luck of repairs... Also your steering wheel fiasco comes to mind as well as the leaky winshield.

I have shit luck in every aspect of my life.

[Desertbreh]

The steering wheel man. I would've hulk raged and probably stabbed the dashboard.

Sometimes is necessary to summon enough brute force to do stuff

X 20 billion. Properly controlled anger can occasionally be productive.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Iv'e actually had few experiences of things breaking...just repairs not working. Because I'm an idiot.


I replaced the leaking power steering rack with one that leaked worse and replaced a leaking FMS with one that leaks worse (because I installed it wrong).

Old Blue:
I replaced the front brakes to solve a pulling to the right issue that did nothing. Replaced the rear brakes, which did nothing. Flushed 2 gallons of brake fluid through the system and never successfully bled it. Replaced the upper radiator hose with one that leaked.

And I'm going to replace the clutch, gears, cam, valve springs, pushrods, steering rack, and FMS in the without any problems this winter.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Every hatchback I've owned has been plagued with intermittent front suspension noises except the GTI.

Man, if we had DFD for when I had my Focus, you'd have banished me for going full on trying to fix what should've been a warranty problem myself.

Replaced struts, strut bearings, strut mounts, strut brace, bolts, nuts, etc. I was 100% certifiably insane. Ask @fledonfoot.

And you didn't warranty it because...?

[Melon]

Jessi is starting to get annoyed with the mysterious squeak in the C5 too.
I might be in for hunting that down. Such sigh.

[goIftdibrad]

Jessi is starting to get annoyed with the mysterious squeak in the C5 too.
I might be in for hunting that down. Such sigh.

Not a result of your silicone implants, right?

dude that things squeeked when new, you need to turn up the radio

[Melon]

Jessi is starting to get annoyed with the mysterious squeak in the C5 too.
I might be in for hunting that down. Such sigh.

Not a result of your silicone implants, right?

No.

[Melon]

Not a result of your silicone implants, right?

dude that things squeeked when new, you need to turn up the radio

Sigh.

Dat little wimmon finds any and every little noise to be annoyed at.

[Melon]

Sigh.

Dat little wimmon finds any and every little noise to be annoyed at.

[4zilch]

Replacing water pump on the Rex was pretty inducing.

Replacement requires timing belt removal/replacement.
When lining the timing pulleys the upper driver side cam is on max valve lift.
If you don't have the special tool to hold said cam pulley, it will spin if you breath on it wrong
Needless to say, every time I'd go to slip on the belt the pulley would spin.
Many wrenches were thrown until I finally used a c-clamp to hold the pulley while installing the belt.