Shade tree mechanics
 

Do you know how to change the oil in your car? Can you replace a headlight or taillight? Most of my friends can do these things but don't, for whatever reason, opting to have the work done by someone else. Rotating tires, replacing brakes, flushing cooling systems, this kind of maintenance is beyond the skill and beyond the interest of almost everybody I know. Am I the last of the shade tree mechanics?

I was waiting at the light on my way to work the other day, and the truck ahead of my was putting out a lot of steam in his exhaust, enough that I noticed his brake lights illuminated the whole cloud while we were stopped. Only when I backed into my parking place at work a couple of minutes later did I realize that the steam was coming from me. :smack: I popped the hood and sure enough, I was leaking coolant pretty freely. Damn. I traced the highest point of the greenish wetness and could clearly see the cracks in the side of the radiator. Time to replace the radiator.

I had never replaced a radiator, but it looked pretty straightforward. A couple of hoses and a couple of retaining bolts, reconnect and refill, and away we go! So I got a quote from my local auto parts supplier (Action Auto Parts, not Sch***k's) and for $276 they would have one there in the morning. I stopped by after work the next day and picked up the radiator and a case of coolant. I decided that Saturday I would start my project.

Have fun. Today I have lawn mower on wheel ramps to remove blades, sharpen. Then change oil in Honda and 78 F-150 PU. And no I won't get it done today. The getting down is ok, but the getting up is hell. :smack:

BigV, aren't you the one who was griping on here a few days ago about left v. right on a car radiator and vague instructions?

I'll do headlights, air filters, etc. myself. But anything more complex, I let somebody else handle. Experience teaches me I'm highly likely to klutz it up.

I do every thing up to and including overhauling engines and transmissions.

Oil? You mean, it needs oil? :confused: :lol:

I wouldn't mind paying someone to do the work if there was someone I could trust to do it right. But alas, people in business just can't take the time to do it the way I'd do it. It might take me two hours to change the oil because while I'm under there, I have to look at, and check out, everything else. Over the years it has saved my ass many times, by spotting trouble in the making. But it's just not reasonable to expect a garage to give it more than a lick and a promise, on an oil change. They might point out things that need immediate attention, in hopes of drumming up some business, but they are certainly not going to evaluate things that don't.

Then there was the time I had to put a timing chain on my V-8 Dodge van. The only practical way was to pull the front bumper, grille, radiator, fan, alternator, power steering pump and water pump, first. Change the timing chain and 4pm on Sunday afternoon start putting it back together.
Hmmm, think, 105k miles... I really ought to replace the water pump while it's all apart. Naw it's late, it's Sunday, I need this to get to work in the morning.

Two weeks, two fucking weeks. Well at least all the bolts were easy to break free.

I've done various car stuff in the past: Change oil, belts, headlights, air filters etc.

I don't like paying mechanics and then not being satisfied with the work. Got the clutch replaced on our manual transmission car a few years ago. It hasn't shifted right since then. There's too much travel in the clutch, and it's real hard to downshift into first gear now. If I had the time and equipment and desire to study how to do it, I'm sure I could have done a better job, but I don't and I don't and I don't. So I either go back and bitch and moan that it doesn't feel "right" or I just live with it. It's easier to just live with it, so that's what I do.

Yes.

It turns out that the instructions for the drain plug were wrong. Oh well. The end of the story is that the radiator installation ended well, after some frustrating detours, the first of which was the misdirection in my manual.

After that, I was surprised to learn that there are seven (!!) hoses connecting to the radiator. I expected no more than three, one large top coolant hose (out), one large bottom coolant hose (in) and a small hose to the overflow tank. They were there, as well as a pair of hard lines on each side of the radiator, making four more, one in each corner. I soon found out that one pair was in/out for ATF and the other pair was in/out for crankcase oil.

I found this strange since each of these important fluids already had it's own dedicated radiator in front of the large coolant radiator. Well, getting then unhitched wasn't hard, but it was messy. I admit I was a little spooked to see bloody oily smears in my puddle of coolant. Ok, I was freaked out thinking I had some kind of serious internal hemorrhage spilling crankcase oil into the coolant system. Eventually I figured out what was happening though.

Once the hoses were off, a few bolts holding down the top cover and a couple holding the fan in place and the radiator lifted right out. It is not actually bolted in anywhere. The bottom has a couple of locating pins which rest in generous rubber sockets and the top is covered with a sort of plate which is held down with a couple of bolts. That, plus the front top engine mount and she's free.

Once I got it out I could easily see where the coolant was coming from. This is one of them new fangled radiators, with plastic (!) tanks on the sides with horizontal metal circulation tubes and vertical cooling fins. Plastic? Well, the pound that it saved eventually cracked. A fair tradeoff? Who knows.

So now in with the new. It slips into the recently vacated radiator slot nice enough, and I start to reconnect all those dang lines. Coolant, ok. Oil, ok. ATF, not ok. The lines are hard (really hard lines, half inch aluminum, like brake lines) and they don't want to line up with the connection points. I manage to catch what I hope/think/pray is the first thread and snug them up with a couple of largish (19 mm and 16 mm) wrenches. I'm very cautious since stripping either side might make me say a bad word or two... safe. I guess.

All the hoses on, the top plate on, the engine remounted to the front top crossmember, fan in, filled with coolant, fire it up! And I did. And the ATF was drip drip dripping. Shit. What do they use to seal oil? Rubber, right? But these compression fittings didn't have any rubber at all. Just brute force with aluminum on brass on steel. I wasn't eager to win a contest of strength with these fittings... so a day later I went back to Action Auto Parts and plead my case.

Matt (some young whippersnapper) suggested some RTV silicone since it's good for other gaskets. We talked back and forth for some time and eventually settled on a pack of o rings and a spool of PTFE tape (pipe tape).

I *completely* understand this, because
is the way I operate too.

I've never paid for a brake job in my life. And have rebuilt a few, but time moves on. The new ones w/all the crap on I have not a clue.
My old Ford PU, When younger I could get under hood and stand on ground to change plugs.
Beware of info from auto-parts kids. Around here, 20 miles, I've been buying from O'Rellys? Same brand. Big bucks in savings. So worth the ride. IMHO.

Ahh, those were the days. I'll post a picture of my engine compartment from this most recent job. You'll see a *big* change.

Well someone still could, just not me. I'd be stuck there till help came along to get my old butt out.

Don't go to the dealers, find an independent mechanic. Most independent shops I've seen would take a wrench out to your car and adjust the clutch in the lot. Maybe I've been lucky.

I've enjoyed doing the basic stuff before: oil, plugs/tuneup, simple tire repair (where you can patch it without taking the tire off). Now I'm leasing and they demand they have to do all the work. It's a mixed blessing.

Oh and for a while I had a tradition that I had to install any new car stereo equipment in the parking lot where you bought it. I realized later that this was probably not the best tradition, and abandoned it.

Now stinkin' Nissan makes it almost totally impossible even to change out a speaker. They mount it nine different ways, partly so it can never rattle, and partly so you have to get the $850 Rockford-Fosgate package which is only an option on the model everyone wants with the sunroof and step rails for an additional $1000.

I've never changed my oil; I do know how to, in theory...I've swapped my all-weather tires and snow tires; replaced lights and fuses; and changed my antenna. Nothing big.

It's pathetic. I know. Next time I need an oil change I plan to do it myself.

:blush:

After market is best, IF ya can find a good tech. Shine just bought a Ford ranger. Wanted cruise control, but big bucks for package. I'd buy a new pu, if I could get one that you could wash out w/hose, no ac nothing, but PU. :2cents:

How to find a good dealer and a good local mechanic. Hang around. Watch how they treat women. If lying to a woman - and I have seen it happen - then that is not an honest shop.

A second factor is found in the frank honesty of the parts department guy.

I owned the shop manual to every car I have owned. Sometimes it is better to take it to the dealer. Sometimes, the local shop is better to do that job. Most jobs are performed by me (but only on my cars).

Some people get their exercise by running around tracks. I get exercise by doing some useful work - even if it is only a headlight.

Can't remember the last time I ever had to replace a brake light. But then I don't drive GM products. Why? I did the work so often as to know not only what failed - but why it failed. And yes, I even bought defective parts as new parts from a GM dealer. Just another reason why I do first diagnosis and the work myself whenever possible.

Finding a good mechanic is especially important in February.

I suppose you never got defective parts from anyone else but GM dealers, tw.

I remembered why I hadn't changed oil in Honda. My drive slopes down to car port. So when I set ramps where I want them, front end of car hangs and moves towards wall of carport. No problem w/Pu. But on car I really need to get under front end.2 ft maybe from wall and crawl over old shingles, tile, god knows what. Damn I hope I remember this shit.

Humm GM makes light bulbs now. Hey I've got water pumps that sucked from Ford, after market you name it.
The only parts I don't buy are Napa. but that's because of the baptist SOB who owns it.

Only other time - four defective spark plugs from Pep Boys.

Reminds me, I briefly tried to help Jackie's lad with his spark plug a while back, but the threads were shot.

He started it anyway.

The plug shot right out, at least three houses away. We never did find it.

(I did have the good sense to stand away from the line of fire, and made sure it wasn't going to hit any live people or animals.)

My dad is a master mechanic, owns his own shop in WC, used to build his own race cars... I got my hands dirty more than a few times as a kid, but there's no way in hell I'd even change my own oil at this point... and not jut because I have no idea where to take the old shit.

Changing oil is so cheap for the corner place to do it, there is no way I'll do that any more. Why would I spend an hour or so doing a very messy job in my uncomfortable gravel driveway to save about 15 bucks in labor?

My dad taught me basic mechanics as a child so that now, given the right tools I can do most basic jobs such as change oil, tyres, belts etc. I can also tune an engine if I've got the manual to tell me the right firing order to set the tappets etc. I can change spark plugs and leads and set the gap to get the best spark. I could also redo the brakes if I had to although this is a job I haven't ever done by myself mainly because if I fuck it up I might kill someone.

I used to change my oil and plugs and even changed the radiator once in my old '86 LeBaron but these days I barely check the oil anymore - I just run it by Jiffy Lube every so often.

Cars used to be like a guy's brother. Not anymore.:sniff:

I will add one thing, though: anybody who drives a car, and does not know how to change a tire, should learn. Yes, you can depend on calling a tow truck. But if you've ever done it, you know you're in for a wait--sometimes a long one. Mrs. Dallas always knew how (thanks to her older brother, who decided she ought to know when she got her first car), and it really came in handy when she had a pothole-induced blowout on the way back from a concert at 11PM one night. All things considered, I'm glad she was able to change the tire (in her black concert dress!!) immediately and continue on, rather than hang out and wait for AAA to send somebody.

My wife knew how to change a tire, if all the tools were laid out for her in advance.

She found out the hard way that she didn't know how to change a tire if she is alone and has to get the tools out. The jack is in a bracket in the trunk, and expanded so it doesn't rattle around. It took her a while to figure out she had to collapse the jack to get it out.

Then she couldn't find the handle to go into the jack. It was held in some clips on the underside of the hardboard cover to the mini-spare tire. She lifted that cover several time to get the spare out and to get the lug wrench out, but she never saw the jack handle. Had to wait in the rain for a kind soul to stop and help her out.

After that incident, she now knows how to do everything from start to finish.

Be sure to let you're engine cool first (over night is best). You want as much of the old oil to settle into the oil pan first. And when you're replacing the plug, don't romp down on it too hard or you'll strip the threads.

Welcome to the world of pride and bloody knuckles.

Some 'discount' mechanics create so many problems as to even crank those tire lug nuts on too tight. Everything has a torque number (ie foot-pounds). Lug nuts are typically 80 foot-pounds (which can be confirmed for each car). Sometimes, after a vehicle inspection that requires removing wheels, I must go back with a torque wrench to break and properly torque each bolts. Otherwise a flat tire is almost impossible to replace.

Like the spark plug example, a neophyte mechanic must learn what the torque is. I rented a torque wrench periodically just to learn what 10 ft-#s and 80 ft-#s is suppose to be. One can even use a breaker bar and bathroom scale to learn the perspective. Reason why a spark plug almost took off UT's head? Someone before him failed to learn about proper torqueing.

Best to verify wheel lug nuts are properly torqued is long before the flat. Just another way to learn if your mechanic is good or bad.

Reason why a spark plug almost took off UT's head? Someone before him failed to learn about proper torqueing.

Most definitely. The lad bought the car in that condition. (for $500.)

I actually bought a torque wrench when I did my first plug change. I didn't want to mess around.

What surprised me is that they can now re-thread the hole. That's not something I would want to do under a shade tree though.

Too tight lug nuts? A cross wrench on the nut with the other end on a jack stand, and a two ft pipe on the arm with me bouncing on the end of the pipe. Reamed that inspector a new asshole. I don't know how he didn't break the lug, but I had to replace them because they were certainly stretched which weakens them. Grrrr

Installing a heli-coil to repair the thread isn't hard but doing it without getting any metal chips or crap inside the motor is very tricky. The best method I've heard of is snaking an air tube down the intake through an open intake valve, with the piston at top dead center, to create an air flow out the sparkplug hole. The safest is taking the head off, but that's no fun.

My father taught me a LOT about mechanics. Mostly by insisting I buy, as my first car, a 1977 Ford LTD Broughm (sp?). On the way home, the inside retaining bolt for the radiator broke free, went into the fan and was bent 90 deg and thrown back THROUGH the radiator.

I limped it into the driveway and he just shook his head and began teaching me how to replace a radiator. Not too long after, it was oil changes, belt changes, brake jobs (drum and disc), lights, water pumps, alternators, radios (I did this one on my own as he saw no need for 300 watts), tune ups, starters and universal joints.

At the time, I cursed both his name and that of his ancestry for making me buy that Ford instead of the Camaro I really wanted. Now that I'm older and wiser, I thank him. Now I'm not afraid to get dirty and fix whatever is wrong. My beloved also makes me fix all the other jalopies in the family. Sigh. But still I know my limits. Mostly these are lack of proper workspace and tools. So when these kinds of jobs arise, I take the thing to an appropriate professional.

The only kind of problem I won't tackle is anything other than a minor electrical fault. I hate trying to chase wires in odd places.

Like now for instance. My Cougar sat for six months through the winter. It ran fine when I parked it. Now it won't start.

No, it is NOT the battery. That was new last summer and it's still charged. I put a charger on it anyway and noted that the lights didn't come on. Rats. I checked all the cable connections and they are clean and tight. Double rats. Must be a fusible link or something. All the wires are bundled and wrapped. I hate that. I'm going to try a meter and see if I can find anything. If not, it's off to the mechanic.

I need this car to be operational within two weeks.

Anyone have any ideas?

Brian

Does it turn over? If it does it has to be lack of fuel, lack of spark or the timing. No matter how big, small, exotic or simple, the engine is, from a one cylinder lawnmower to a V-16 Caddy, the basic needs are the same for a gasoline engine.

Of course finding out the basic problem, is quite often way easier than finding why, especially lack of spark.

I'm assuming it's getting air, ie no Armadillos in the air cleaner.

Figured it out.

I had TWO problems. One was a dead battery, which is not surprising since it has sat outside through the winter with nary a start to refresh it.

The other took me a while. When I attached the battery charger, NOTHING happened. It was humming away but the car didn't respond. I figured it had to be a short or a blown fusible link. Took a meter to it. Chased down every connection that could remotely cause no power. Nothing. Finally the immortal words of Sherlock Holmes came to me... "Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth".

Put the meter to the charger. Read .19 VDC. AHA!

So I took the charger apart, tracked down the fault and jumpered it out so that I could charge the battery. I need a new charger of course since this one has no safety features left, but at least the car runs now.

It seems so obvious in retrospect. Of course there was no response from the car...there was STILL no power. DOH!

Forehead smack moment.

Anyway, thanks for the thoughts.

Brian

I learned this holy trinity as fuel air and fire. And yes, it is a package deal.

BrianR: Congratulations Sherlock! I love solving the mystery as much as fixing the problem. And I have relied on Mr Holmes counter intuitive wisdom more than once myself. "It *can't* be _______." Right. Better check it. ;)

Have always done my own basic work: points, plugs, oil changes, brakes, tires, belts, hoses, and gaskets. But times change. We now have computers and no longer do tune-ups. My Corvette doesn't even have a spare tire. I once had an '84 Olds that I could change the oil in, in 10 minutes WITHOUT getting under the car! Today some of the simplest stuff is almost inaccessable. There's one model where you need to pull the engine to change the plugs. More and more goes in the shop and at very high costs.

I drive a 2001 Integra. I may know how to change the oil, and I may even know where the oil filter is, but that doesn't mean I can reach it, much less remove it.

this is a work in progress
Attachment 12782
not a fan of ford - chevy my fav
but it still looks good!

Such a shame to waste that paint and chrome on a Ford.

sweet bruce - what's it sittin in?

i'm partial to 66 nova - 72 chevelle

Chebby.

slick:cool: i haven't seen a grille & bumper like that on a '57(right)

the ford is actually what the spouse is workin on - he does that for a livin - it is in a '65 convertible mustang.

huh. I thought this thread was about putting in trees. Stupid me.

it's ok - don't be frightened:p

Same reason why I have so much trouble with crossword puzzles. I thought of tree surgeons who pump those medical chemicals into trees. In the case of American elms - unsuccessfully too often.

Yes, '57. '57 Corvette grille, fiberglass roll pan with a black powder coated chrome moly nerf/push bar, and Harley turn signals.

I recognized the Mustang, I had one. Does he do the Body/paint? Interiors/wiring? Engines/mechanicals?

yes & no - depends on what they want - this one in particular he has done from the ground up - painting the frame, trans & engine. putting in new qtrs, front floor boards. new wiring - he sends the interior work out though

just a quick note to those on changing tires - you may or may not know this - but if you like wheels that are "custom" & wheel size "larger" than normal i.e 20's, 22's, 24's (pimp my ride) they have "keys" for the lugs and if you don't have it, a lug wrench won't take them off.

putting wheel spacers on jinx's Commander:

before:
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL162.../220249038.jpg
during:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL162.../253136513.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL162.../253136872.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL162.../253136530.jpg

after

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL162.../253136520.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL162.../253136523.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL162.../253136865.jpg

These do what now

add 3" to the track width. mostly they make the commander look more like a jeep.

Increase the track. That is move the wheel about an inch (little more it looks like) farther outward, toward the fender away from the engine, along the axis of the wheel.



edit: I'm slow...gotta get better coffee in the morning...

further edit: Don't they have dirt where you live? Wow, that is the cleanest wheel removal illustration I've ever seen. Like in the manual. Wait, is that a little splash of mud on the rocker panel above the jackstand? Whew, you may be mortal after all. Very tidy, nice work.

jinx keeps a tidy ship.....on the outside, anyway.

Oh no you di-ent :headshake My car is nearly as clean as yours on the inside. And I don't get a new one every 3K miles, and I have at least 2 mess makers in the back at all times.

go take a picture right now then, ms smarty pants. you have 10 minutes or it's bs.

Hmmm... must be bs. :p

So, the saga of the radiator ended happily. I chose the pipe tape, after futzing around with the o rings, dropping them, breaking them, cross crucifying them.. grrrr. I gave up. Wrapped a couple of turns on the pipe tape on the nipple on the hard line, and as I started to back out the brass coupler between the atf hard line and the radiator (the top one, right there, in broad daylight) it slipped and I dropped it. Crap.

Click, clank, nothing. I didn't hear it hit the pavement. I can *see* the pavement. No coupler. Peer under the car. Nothing. Lay down on the pavement with my cheek on the street and my eyeball an inch off the deck. Nuttin. Hmm. Dropped into here? There? I started taking parts off the car the get at places with my fingers that the coupler might have made its way into. I take parts off for TWO HOURS poking around. Nothing nowhere no way. I dropped it directly into the g-d twilight zone.

I sat down on the curb to recharge my supply of curse words. Where did it go? I couldn't proceed without it, since it changed threads from the hardline to the radiator. I was picking at the grass and I saw a toy of SonofV's--a lucky rabbit's foot. Well, what was left of it anyway. Our new dog got hold of it and ate it. Everything but the little brass knuckle that the keychain fits through. [Epiphany!] I picked up that little brass knuckle with the tiny rabbit bones poking out through the remaining tufts of hair and put it right at the connection point on the radiator. And dropped it. Clink clank nothing. But this time I was watching!

I followed it down and saw where it took a right turn into neverneverland, put my hand in there and found it! And the coupler! It had bounced horizontally and landed on top of the front crossmember. Yay!! I guess there was a little bit of luck left in that rabbit's foot after all!

This past weekend was the weekend for rear brakes on both vehicles. The fronts on the truck were fine, and the fronts on the car were really ready, so I figured the rears needed attention too. Wrong.

On both vehicles the rears were >50%, <75%, so I left them. I must say the pad removal routine on the truck is very straightforward. Only two split pins (and gravity) hold the pads in place in the caliper. No bleed nipple to negotiate (of course, since I wasn't putting in thicker new pads I had no need to retract the caliper piston; not a completely fair comparison), no parking brake cable bracket, no "be sure to support the (ten pound) caliper from the mechanics wire and not the brake line" bs. Very slick.

Once in a while you work on something that just has the feel of having been designed by somebody who knew what it was like to work on them too. This is not always the case. For example, on the car, the rears are disc brakes too and the pad removal routine involves a 10 mm wrench for the bleed nipple, 12 mm for the bolt that holds the brakeline to the caliper, and 13 mm for the bolt that holds the parking brake bracket to the caliper. I forget the size of the bolt that holds the bottom (away from the hinge pin) end of the caliper in place, but it was probably 7/16ths. Please. You could hide all these bolts with one business card, they're all so close together. Should the engineers responsible for designing these systems be permitted to hold shares of Craftsman tools? I think there's a conflict of interest here. :grump:

So, I broke the seal on the bleed nipple. I backed off the bolt that holds the brakeline to the caliper. I removed the bolt that lets the caliper swing upward on the hinge pin. I swung the caliper up--ooof. Let's try that again. Upsy--damn. Couple of love taps on that hunk-o-iron that is the caliper to wake up the rust. Froze solid. Damn, I just parked the thing, it can't be completely ossified. It can't be. Unless you forget to release the parking brake. :blush: Rats, I hate wasting good cuss words.

Of course, after that little brainstorm it was a piece of cake. Only to find they're in great shape. Oh well. Everything went back together, with no parts left over (which is always nice, doncha think?).

Next week, finding a way to stop the oil leak at the filter on the top of the engine. I'm open to suggestions. I have a new filter, whose seal was lubricated with oil at installation. I have verified I don't have an old seal stuck in place so I'm not trying to use two seals where only one goes. I have used my strap wrench to crank it down as tight as I dare. And yet, after a couple of deliberate, meticulous cleanings, I find a small puddle of oil on the top of the engine directly underneath the oil filter. It's pissing me off.

You have to remove the brake line to move the caliper?

Whatever the oil filter screws on to is attached to the engine in turn. Be sure where the leak is.