Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[Walt34]

Still holding up after 5 years of scorching summer heat, with the radiator pressure as high as that of a steam locomotive. OK, OK, I exaggerate, but you've got to agree that 5 years is a long time.

I sure wouldn't have bet on that working but it's sure good to know about.

 

[NW-Bound]

J-B Weld claims tensile strength of 4000 psi, adhesion of 1800 psi, shear strength of 1000 psi, and temperature of 300F.

Might not be enough for a steam locomotive boiler, but certainly enough for my radiator, as has been proven out.

I was told of this epoxy by a friend, who used it for everything. Given a choice, he would want his surgeon to use it on a knee or hip replacement for himself.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Car maintenance and repair is where I routinely save big dollars. Some things are better left to a pro. But the Honda dealer wanted about $500 for new brake pads and the install. I bought parts myself for less than $60, and finished the job in about 2 hours. Same thing on my Chevy. The dealer also wanted $119 to simply clean the throttle body. That can be done with a $5 can of spray from AutoZone or Amazon.

Thousands of dollars in savings in just the past few years.

 

[Ronstar]

J-B Weld claims tensile strength of 4000 psi, adhesion of 1800 psi, shear strength of 1000 psi, and temperature of 300F.

Might not be enough for a steam locomotive boiler, but certainly enough for my radiator, as has been proven out.

I was told of this epoxy by a friend, who used it for everything. Given a choice, he would want his surgeon to use it on a knee or hip replacement for himself.

JB Weld is amazing. My F-150 used to drag its radio antenna on the open garage door when I drove in to the garage. I pulled off the little ball off the antenna, cut off a few inches of antenna, and jb welded the ball back on. It'll never come off now, and now it clears the garage opening when I pull in

 

[NW-Bound]

Ah hah. You are like my friend, whose vocabulary included JB Weld as a verb.

 

[Donzo]

I use JB weld for many things that need to be solid/unmoving. Another great glue is the Goop glues, I use the plumbers Goop it's like silicone glue on steriods.

 

[sengsational]

I put a new capacitor on my A/C unit every other year or so. The symptoms are (besides not cooling), the fan motor is warm and hums but the fan doesn't spin. It's a shared cap with the compressor. I used to buy the replacement cap at the local parts store, but they more than doubled their prices for 'walk ins', and give huge discounts to account holders. So now I buy 'em on eBay for 25% of the local store price. I've always got a new spare. At less than $10, my inventory carrying cost is affordable

 

[ERD50]

I'm in the middle of a repair. DW hates the first day we turn of the furnace, I guess it is just a sign of winter coming. So I should have done this earlier, but when I checked it out, no familiar 'whoooosh' of blue flames. OK, pilot is out, no problem, go through re-light procedure.... won't stay on. No problem, most likely a bad thermo-couple, I replaced one about 10 years ago, it's probably due, and I have a spare. Get it in place, still no go.

Hmmmm, a little research shows you should get ~ 20 mV from a hot thermo-couple. Got that on the new and old one. Pointing to the gas valve. You can't really work on that, for safety reasons the pilot solenoid is integral to the gas valve, so I go online to the place I bought the blower motor from a few years ago. Long story, but shipping got messed up, and I expected it Saturday, Monday latest, and it probably won't be here until Thursday. $100 bucks for the valve, so not too bad. Managing with ~ 62F in the house. With an electric blanket, sitting around is fine though. And when I'm active it's not so bad.

On the plus side, since I had to pull the burners to get the gas valve out (ez, four screws), I got a real good look into the first row of tubes in the heat exchanger. Brushed out a little white powder and dust, and they look like new - no rust that I could see. Took apart the draft inducer to clean it and try to get oil in the sleeve bearings. That all looks good now.

And I learned from my reading, a cracked heat exchanger isn't the CO danger I always thought it was. If you think about it, the duct air is under pressure at that point, it blows into cracks in the exchanger. The danger is that causes the flame to back-draft out of the furnace. I saw a video of that on youtube - it takes about 30 seconds for the flame detector to respond, and it was looking pretty scary by that time.

I use JB weld for many things that need to be solid/unmoving. Another great glue is the Goop glues, I use the plumbers Goop it's like silicone glue on steriods.

JB Weld has a great reputation with the DIY crowd. I'll have to try some of that Goop.

I put a new capacitor on my A/C unit every other year or so. ....

That seems odd to have it blow regularly like that. Just thinking out loud, but the motor also has some switches that kick in when the motor spins up. IIRC, they open to take the cap out of the circuit after start-up. I wonder if that switch might be bad? Seems like there should be some underlying cause.


-ERD50

 

[aja8888]

Replaced the heater core and fixed the blender doors on the A/C in my old 2000 Jetta diesel. Took one Sunday afternoon and a few Bud Lights. Had to pull the dash and steering column plus a ton of plastic parts:



Old heater core:



Air circulation unit with HVAC tape on blend doors (replaced old foam sheeting)



Now I have heat for the winter! (not bad for a 70 year old dude)

 

[Nodak]

Last month I had what I am assuming is one of the most costly possible home repairs. Had to replace the roof for about $3700. It's going to take a few months of rent to pay for that one. I'm just glad it's a small house.

 

[MRG]

Last month I had what I am assuming is one of the most costly possible home repairs. Had to replace the roof for about $3700. It's going to take a few months of rent to pay for that one. I'm just glad it's a small house.

Oh no, while I can appreciate:

We had to repair basement walls that had to be moved 8-12 inches to get them vertical. First guy said '40K,50K, 60K, no never mind I've never been here, have you considered a fire'.

We did find a reputable guy that did it for 15K. I don't think he made much on the job as we had 3 men with jackhammers in the basement for 3 weeks. Additionally there was much work on the outside to compensate for poor drainage.

There is a lesson we learned, never buy an older home without a structural engineer reviewing.

MRG

 

[NW-Bound]

Replaced the heater core and fixed the blender doors on the A/C in my old 2000 Jetta diesel. Took one Sunday afternoon and a few Bud Lights. Had to pull the dash and steering column plus a ton of plastic parts.

...

Now I have heat for the winter! (not bad for a 70 year old dude)

All right! Another poster who's not afraid to tear his car apart.

My wife recently had to take her car to a mechanic to have the A/C compressor replaced, with the condenser and dryer along with it of course. I already looked up the price of the parts, thinking that I would do it myself when I got better. My wife spared me that trouble, and spent the $350 for the labor. I had to admit that it was the right thing to do, while I am nursing myself back to health.

You might be interested in a thread I started when I first joined this forum: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/save-money-be-your-own-grease-monkey-37146.html.

 

[ERD50]

Replaced the heater core and fixed the blender doors on the A/C in my old 2000 Jetta diesel. Took one Sunday afternoon and a few Bud Lights. Had to pull the dash and steering column plus a ton of plastic parts: ...

Now I have heat for the winter! (not bad for a 70 year old dude)

I'm impressed! Dashboards scare me! So many parts, so many snap in things, and stuff that can get broken or never go back together correctly.

-ERD50

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Replaced the heater core and fixed the blender doors on the A/C in my old 2000 Jetta diesel. Took one Sunday afternoon and a few Bud Lights. Had to pull the dash and steering column plus a ton of plastic parts.
Now I have heat for the winter! (not bad for a 70 year old dude)

Way to go.
I did that same job on my 91 Ford Escort wagon. If not for the safety issue, I seriously considered cutting a hole in the firewall.
Now I am doing a valve job and replacing the timming belt driven water pump on the same car.
We recently bought a 2003 Honda CRV. DW hates it - prefers the size/lack of prestige of the Escort + simplicity of manual transmisson/hand crank windows. Its still playing out.

 

[aja8888]

All right! Another poster who's not afraid to tear his car apart.

My wife recently had to take her car to a mechanic to have the A/C compressor replaced, with the condenser and dryer along with it of course. I already looked up the price of the parts, thinking that I would do it myself when I got better. My wife spared me that trouble, and spent the $350 for the labor. I had to admit that it was the right thing to do, while I am nursing myself back to health.

You might be interested in a thread I started when I first joined this forum: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/save-money-be-your-own-grease-monkey-37146.html.

Neat thread, and congrats on having the skill set!

I have been working on our cars as long as I can remember. My father bought me a 1952 Chevy when I was 16 that didn't run and said here is your first car. He paid $35 for it, I got it running and paid him his $35 back. I have built a few race cars and engines over the years.

BTW, the way, a shop quoted $900 + parts to change the heater core in the VW. Actually, the job was not bad and I only broke a few plastic clips. Core cost was $130 and coolant was $15. Beer was $12.

 

[aja8888]

I'm impressed! Dashboards scare me! So many parts, so many snap in things, and stuff that can get broken or never go back together correctly.

-ERD50

A few clips got broken, but it all went back together pretty straightforward. A few sheet metal screws here and there took care of it. I still ask myself why manufacturers build cars around the heater core!

 

[NW-Bound]

$900 is a lot of dough!

And if I were doing this job, I would tell myself that I was doing something physical that burned calories, hence would allow myself a more substantial beer.

 

[aja8888]

Way to go.
I did that same job on my 91 Ford Escort wagon. If not for the safety issue, I seriously considered cutting a hole in the firewall.
Now I am doing a valve job and replacing the timming belt driven water pump on the same car.
We recently bought a 2003 Honda CRV. DW hates it - prefers the size/lack of prestige of the Escort + simplicity of manual transmisson/hand crank windows. Its still playing out.

That thought crossed my mind, but the core is inside the heater box and that nixed it. We had one of those older CRV's and I drove it for work. The early ones like that were pretty basic plain vanilla cars. My wife hated it too!

 

[aja8888]

$900 is a lot of dough!

And if I were doing this job, I would tell myself that I was doing something physical that burned calories, hence would allow myself a more substantial beer.

Especially on a car that is worth about $5K. Saved about $200/hr on the job. My son-in-law was helpful and he gained a lot of confidence with hand tools!

 

[sengsational]

My repair is nothing like pulling the heater core! Lots of people would have thrown out this spreader, but I fixed it.

 

[aja8888]

Nice job! And nice video!

At the end of the season when you put the spreader "up", spray the axle surfaces with WD40 to keep rust from forming. WD40 is a water dispersant (hence, WD) and should keep it good for the winter.

 

[Tom52]

We had been on vacation for a couple of weeks and when we left the weather had been fairly mild for this time of year. We shut down the two heating/AC systems in the house b/4 we left. We had not used the furnaces since last spring. We got home last Saturday and the weather was mild so there was no need to turn on either the heat or cooling. Well fast forward to last couple of days and the over night temp dropped to 40 degrees. DW flipped the thermostat to "heat" on one of the furnaces and nothing.....When I got home from work last night she broke the bad news to me.

I fiddled around with the furnace last night trying to figure out the problem, but since I had some other things going I told her to call the HVAC company that installed the furnace 9 years ago. Then last night the temp dropped to 26 degrees so I was hopeful they could get it fixed today. DW called me at w*rk and told me they couldn't schedule us in till Friday afternoon. She was not happy. They generously offered to come out sooner on an emergency call if we would be willing to pay an extra $157.00 charge above and beyond whatever the service call would cost. Now DW was really ticked.

So I figured enough so I did some on-line research and decided to try to replace the igniter. I left a half hour early from work so I could get home and remove the igniter and have it tested at the appliance parts store. Long story short, $59.40 plus about a total of 45 minutes later including the trip to the appliance parts store the house is now warming up nicely.

I figure I saved the budget a couple hundred $ today, have a little pride in DIYing it myself, and now DW is busy baking some home made cookies as reward for her knight in shining armor. Life doesn't get much better.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yep! Nothing like a little bit of work that pays so handsome dividend, plus the time saved not waiting for the repairman, plus the pride factor.

 

[Walt34]

...and now DW is busy baking some home made cookies as reward for her knight in shining armor. Life doesn't get much better.

Wow, she makes you work for it. All I have to do is kill spiders.

 

[Tom52]

Wow, she makes you work for it. All I have to do is kill spiders.

Well maybe if I am lucky I can get her to polish my armor too...