Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[ERD50]

It didn't start out as a repair but could easily turn into one if not careful. Decided to add 4GB of RAM to my HP Laptop, it was always a simple upgrade in every other computer I've owned. This time it was anything but simple, had to completely disassemble the laptop. These are the steps (from the HP manual) that you have to perform to add/replace memory modules on my laptop. Each step has it's own section in the manual that includes more detailed instructions.

One of my research projects when selecting a new laptop is to download the manual and make sure it is easy to replace memory and hard drive.

Most of them are a snap, so far it has been a short search. My Emachines E725 and Lenovo G710 were no trouble at all.

-ERD50

 

[LOL!]

Fixed the pressure washer. The bypass/unloader valve was stuck. Youtube videos suggest replacing it. After removal though, one could see calcification, so I used a spark plug socket to hold it while banging on it with a hammer. That loosened it, so I re-installed it and now my son can power-wash the patio, the driveway, the sidewalk, the garage floor, the lawn furniture, the house, the ….

 

[aja8888]

Fixed the pressure washer. The bypass/unloader valve was stuck. Youtube videos suggest replacing it. After removal though, one could see calcification, so I used a spark plug socket to hold it while banging on it with a hammer. That loosened it, so I re-installed it and now my son can power-wash the patio, the driveway, the sidewalk, the garage floor, the lawn furniture, the house, the ….

I just fixed my friend's power washer. He let gasoline sit in the carburetor all winter, Disassembled the carb cleaned it and got the hard stuff out of the main jet. Works like new!

 

[Rick_Head]

Dunno if it's a repair or enhancement. Replaced my old garage door opener and track


with this high lift one.

 

[Texas Proud]

Can I call it a repair, if I didn't use any tools, duct tape, or glue?

For several months now, I've noticed a water hammering in the pipes when I shut various faucets throughout the house. I know that's bad, it puts stress on all the pipes.

At each faucet, the typical set up is to have about a 6" extension of pipe rise above the take-off point. This traps air, and provides a cushion against the sudden closing of a faucet against the non-compressible water. Over time, that air gets dissolved into the water.

So I finally thought of it when DW was around to open & close faucets on command (well, OK, I asked nicely ). We use our cordless phones as walkie-talkies (need to be within range of the base station). I close the valve to the well pump - pressure tank side, have her open faucets set at middle (half hot, half cold), and I open the faucet in the basement to drain and let air into the system. Took just a few minutes to run through all the faucets, then turn pressure back on and close them as they pushed air out of the lines (but the air in the anti-hammer sections is trapped).

It worked. No more water hammers! Only one of the faucets coughed up some sediment and crud, I may have to clear some of the filters in the aerators over the next few days, but I'm glad I got this done.

-ERD50

I have been having that problem with some faucets in my daughters bathroom.... they are leaving for a trip tomorrow, so I will be doing this...

I have been thinking about it for a month or two.... just have not done it.... this is the push I need... thanks...

 

[Bamaman]

Thanks for the MAF cleaning suggestion. I will wait a couple of days to acclimatize back to the heat here at home before going out to work this problem.

As I check for vacuum leak, I will take the MAF off to clean the sensor wires too. My gas mileage has been erratic with last year's trip as well as the most recent one. My trips in 2010 and 2011 right after I bought the MH had a lot better mpg's.

Whatever I do, I will not know for sure that the problem is gone until I make another trip. Seems like a good excuse to hit the road again.

The MAF Sensor has a wire in it that's electrically charged, and it attracts dust. Just spray it with aerosol MAF Sensor cleaner. And while it, take aerosol carb cleaner and clean the butterfly and throat in your Throttle Body. Another big check light maker is the fuel filler neck--the gasket. If the gas cap doesn't have a complete seal, it'll throw the same code. (Happened to me last week.)

 

[Bamaman]

My daughter tapped another car from behind--$500 deductible.
I drove my new fifth wheel trailer under a roof and it impaled my kitchen slider doing $17K damage--$500 deductible.
I drove away from my RV without dropping the tailgate on my truck--new tailgate and $500 deductible.
My wife drove too close to the next door neighbor's mailbox--dented fender and long scrape and $500 deductible.
Allstate threatened to cancel my homeowner's insurance if I didn't clean my gutters and send them pictures. I took the gutters down, and they returned my yearly premium 19 days before their cure date.

I'm getting sick of paying $500 deductibles, but it beats paying for the repairs. But I'm totally sick of dealing with insurance salesmen and adjusters.

 

[NW-Bound]

But can the insurance get sick with your mishaps, and refuse to renew?

 

[REWahoo]

Allstate threatened to cancel...

With all those claims, I'm not surprised.

 

[aja8888]

I'm getting sick of paying $500 deductibles, but it beats paying for the repairs. But I'm totally sick of dealing with insurance salesmen and adjusters.

You could always self-insure and save the premiums to pay for the repairs!

 

[samclem]

But can the insurance get sick with your mishaps, and refuse to renew?

+1, I'm surprised those salesmen are still calling. Better write down their names, it could come in handy!

 

[M Paquette]

I've got the 'scope all aligned and calibrated,so it's on to the next victim... er... item in the repair queue. That's a HeathKit SB-301 receiver, one of the last all-tube shortwave radios, from 1966-1970. The electronics are nice and straightforward, and when fully functional, rivals modern receivers in overall performance. Mechanically, though... That nifty dial mechanism with the little offset wheels and spiral cam mechanisms does not age well. I think I may be learning how to make molds and do castings.

View attachment 21892

 

[ls99]

Rresurrected a McCulloch leaf blower.

It died a few years ago of ignition coil failure. On and off I must have contacted several dozen parts houses, several online sellers etc.. All said the part has become obsolote unobtanium, nothing made to fit, by the way the company has been out of business for a long time.

Taking a different tack, at various times I searched for ignition coils for small engines, such as chain saws and leaf blower, weedeters. Much searching later found what looked to be mechanically correct. Coil geometry and where the holes are in laminations and their shape make difficulty for substitutions.

Careful looking and making guesstimates for mount hole locations, lead location and place of tab for kill switch wiring, I estimated it would fit. Coughed up $26.xx and placed the order. It arrived yestarday. Physical examination showed the the coil was 2mm wider and 3mm longer, height being same, Mounting holes perfect match.

Installed coil, reassembled fan blade and housing, added fuel mix, primed, closed choke, yanked the cord, it fired on the third pull and ran. Needed some tweaking of low and high speeds.

Works fine, and never take no for answer. BTW it is MTD part.

 

[Sunset]

And talking "builder grade", I thought I'd sneak a little bit of glue into a place in the ceiling where the popcorn coating was hanging loose. Hardly noticeable, but once I saw it, I couldn't leave it alone. With a hypodermic needle and a little super-glue? Don't try it! I had it up there pretty good, but I tried to improve it and a few seconds later, I had a bunch of chips fall off, leaving me with unprimed wallboard and inch or two across!

So I scraped the loose stuff off (about a foot in diameter) and, after a trip to the hardware store, gooped on the popcorn repair stuff.

It looks pretty good, texture-wise, but does anyone have an easy way to get it to match the ceiling color better? It's too white!

Ha ha ha ha, I had a similar issue, a hole in the ceiling due to a ceiling hook, so I filled the hole with white caulking.
Later I noticed I could easily see the round white spot.

So I slapped some white ceiling paint over it.
Later I realized I could now see the bright white painted area the size of a hand.

So I figured out how to fix it !
I painted the ceiling twice (once in each direction), now its all bright white

 

[NW-Bound]

Rresurrected a McCulloch leaf blower.

It died a few years ago of ignition coil failure...

I had a McCulloch chain saw that worked when I put it away, and would not start when I needed it a few years later. Reason: no spark.

Too bad I just tossed it recently when I was cleaning out my garage.

 

[ls99]

I take it the part number would not be useful

 

[Derslickmeister]

Just replaced all the composite siding on my storage shed with "gasp", vinyl. It looks fantastic and if it lasts 15 years like the composite did I'll be pleased, if not, WTH

 

[ArkTinkerer]

Was prepping the motorcycle for a roadtrip. Taking 2 weeks off to get megacorp use to working without me. Wife said she wanted to ride with me. BIG change in plans. Can't take a run up the coast with both of us. Two up on a 750 would be way to hard on our tailbones. Stripped off the side saddlebags. Used some AL repair rod to fix a set of floorboards. (Worked great! Should have done that last year!). And set up the rear pegs. Took her for her first joyride on the back of the bike. Planning some short daytrips for the coming two weeks.

 

[chas57006]

Dishwasher Repair

Sunday afternoon, Dishwasher door hard to open.
Take off inside door panel and find that the plastic tabs on the latching system are broken.
Type in model number in yahoo, click on amana/sears parts website, chat box opens up with a Sears technician asking if I want help. Yes, sends me a link to a parts diagram and asks if one looks like the part I need. After review I select #2 of the 5 parts shown. Then sends me a link with a picture of the part I selected. Yes, that is exactly what I need.
Order part, delivered 5 days later, installed in 10 minutes.

"I love the internet"

Charlie

 

[BBQ-Nut]

I've been slowly converting over the spray irrigation to drip line in our planter beds.

I got all of the back yard on station #2 valve converted over and was giving it a long test. Had time to adjust some of the converted risers using adjustable heads and thought I was done then heard one of the drains gurgling with water.

Went to investigate and saw a pool of water from the 'jungle' and neglected side of the yard - looked like a spring source of water oozing up from the ground.

Looks like I have a busted pipe under the planter near one of the risers.

Sigh....guess I'll be digging that up tomorrow and into the weekend.

 

[Rdub]

Replaced the water heater last month and my new roof should be completed today. We did a major remodel 4 years ago, so I think we are good until I retire next year and start on the smoke pit/bbq area.

 

[BBQ-Nut]

I've been slowly converting over the spray irrigation to drip line in our planter beds.

I got all of the back yard on station #2 valve converted over and was giving it a long test. Had time to adjust some of the converted risers using adjustable heads and thought I was done then heard one of the drains gurgling with water.

Went to investigate and saw a pool of water from the 'jungle' and neglected side of the yard - looked like a spring source of water oozing up from the ground.

Looks like I have a busted pipe under the planter near one of the risers.

Sigh....guess I'll be digging that up tomorrow and into the weekend.

So, decided to tackle the irrigation leak this morning.

Pulled back the pebble rock ground cover around the suspect riser and starting digging with a shovel, then more delicate digging with a trowel.

Uncovered a mystery combination of buried 1/2" pvc line. When we had our backyard re-landscaped, the contractor must have abandoned some of the original pipe as I uncovered 3 pipes, one of which was cut (that was surely abandoned), a 2nd mystery pipe that ran by the suspect riser and a third pipe that fed the suspect riser via "T", then zig zagged away via a 45 angle joint to go who knows where.

The riser felt wobbly and was attached to the "T" via two thread 90 angles.

Oh - and the contractor didn't use any Teflon tape on any of the threaded angles or riser (probably that way for the whole yard).

The leak seemed to be coming from the 90 angle threaded into the "T".

I removed the riser and the first 90 angle so that I could spin off the broken 90. But I ran into a snag: the pipe and "T" were too close to the uneven edge of the foundation so there wasn't enough clearance for the 90 to spin off of the "T" - it hit the foundation.

So, I had to find something metal to see if I could chip off enough of the foundation to get enough clearance for the 90 to spin off.

Found a package of metal landscape spikes that I used with a hammer to knock off just enough concrete bits and got the broken 90 off!

The threaded angle had a split in it - that was where all the water was coming from.

I got everything back together - with tape, did a pressure check and no leak!

I think I'll postpone any more projects until after the weekend - I need a rest!

 

[ReadyAimFired]

DW decided that she hated the fact that she actually had to stick the keys into her 2003 Honda Accord with 220,000 miles, to lock and unlock the driver's side door. She, looked up the part online, decided that she would get the OEM part from Honda (in lieu of having to replace a cheaper part in a few months). Saturday morning she took the door panel off, unhooked all of the cables, took out the door "guts" and replaced the actuator. Bingo Bango.....door remote works again.

She is awesome, saved about $250 by doing 2 hours worth of work.....he he I got lucky she picked me.

 

[travelover]

I fixed two problems with one repair on my SUV.

The battery has been having an excessive drain while sitting (battery dead after 3 days not driving it). This is a tedious issue to chase down so I've been procrastinating fixing it.

A few days ago, the rear wiper stopped working all together. The wiper motor was severely corroded, which made it a bear to remove, as it is mounted through holes in the glass. No prying or beating on glass. I finally got it removed and replaced and decided to recheck the battery drain. Back to normal (20ma).

It seems that due to corrosion, the old wiper motor was unable to get back to the park position, so it was draining the battery, as power goes to the wiper motor until it parks itself.

 

[NW-Bound]

I would have thought that the wiper motor would drain the battery in a couple of hours at most, not 3 days. In addition, a stalled motor would burn up, like the stuck radiator fan motor in my minivan with 150K miles.