I did not take this matter up with my local branch manager. The Authorization Hold is still on. Brakes are working, that's the important part.

ETA O If I had a level and paved driveway these days, that one was allowed to do work on. I am inspired by Mr glatt's works and would like to do more of that sort of thing. I imagine doing this stuff, but not where if I mess up, the car has to be winched up the driveway before it can be towed.

Just caught up with this thread, feel the pain.

The key to me being confident doing this stuff is that we have two cars and if I fuck one up for a couple days, it's no big deal for it to sit there un-drivable while we use the other one and I figure out how to fix the broken one.

I never did work on our car when it was the only one and we needed to use it in a few hours. Too much pressure.

Edit: I'm probably as bad as the kid who screwed yours up. I just learn from my mistakes and eventually get it right. And I have the time to get it right.

Money's back. One week after the original transaction.

I was super-proud when I diagnosed and swapped out the fuel injector in the Cellar Car. That was a banner day. Where's my proud-of thread?

And it feels like brakes are easy to work on, because they kind of have to be. I would have taken this one on if I was still in the house. I would have done a better job than the kid.

Let's go back to post #1

I was gonna asterisk that bit, but never got around to it. $50 to replace a burnt out fog light, well fine. The part's $17 online. In this case Subaru has made the lamp moderately difficult to replace, because you have to bend your hand around stiff plastic and remove catches that you can't see, and they're plastic and break and stuff. I have bad tendinitis and can't do this procedure myself. And it's one of those bulbs you can't touch with your bare hand. So, fine, $50.

The thing is, it would have failed inspection with one fog light out. WTF Pennsylvania! Most cars don't have fog lights, so why does it fail inspection with just one?

I looked it up and the law says you can remove the wiring for the lights and pass inspection. This is why people just fake their inspection if they can get away with it.

Yeah, after my last inspection experience with a failed engine mount, I've had a bad taste in my mouth. So much of it is arbitrary.

Kinda like when I got the bigger bucket truck. A friend of a friend was a KYDOT enforcement officer, and let me come to his house for a pre-inspection inspection.

There were several (non-essential) lights on the chip box that didn't work. He told me to get 'em working, or take 'em off.

If they're there, they have to be in operating condition.