Your recent repair? - 2021 to ?

[freedomatlast]

Where do buy the parts at??

I got mine from ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/275576825931

I used to get the contacts from the dealer if I wanted to get the car back on the road the same day, but they no longer carry them.

 

[jazz4cash]

I ordered the cheapest MAF sensor online for my car. $24, local prices were like 5 to 8 times as much. Paid $10 for one day delivery. It arrived in 20 hours. Simple 10 minute installation. Drove 1200 miles. Check Engine light is out. All is well.

A local shop gets some credit for repairing some suspected critter damage to wiring and confirming that the MAF wiring was not part of that problem. I've been to this shop twice now and they seem to be fair and honest and are willing to listen to me and do just what I want done. This will hopefully lead to them doing more and me doing less.
They charged me $75 for the wiring repair, which was under the car, and $29 for a oil change.

My car shut off two blocks from home and would only run after 6-8 restarts. I drove 15 miles with no problem but then had trouble restarting after I came our from the bank. This continued sporadically for 2 days before the check engine light came on. MAF sensor code. I took the air intake apart and checked everywhere. When I removed the MAF sensor I could see a single dandelion seed caught in the sensor. It could’ve got there when I replaced the air filter. I blew it out, put it back together and all is good for 20k miles now. Looking back I should’ve hooked up my OBD reader even before the CE light came on to look for pending codes or unusual readings. What ticks me off is how fragile this system is to be disabled by a single weed seed without a backup system. There are plenty of alternate ways to estimate air flow if this sensor is out of range.

 

[38Chevy454]

I got a free small BBQ grille from a neighbor. Only thing wrong was the igniter didn't work, and was quite dirty. So couple cans of dollar store oven cleaner, and a new $10 ignitier from Amazon, and good as new.

 

[John Galt III]

My heat pump's air handler is not blowing air. I plan on testing the capacitor on the blower motor in the air handler. It's a real shame I can't trust an HVAC company. I don't know anyone in the business. I'm researching it now. Hope it fixes everything!

 

[Walt34]

Here's what I think is a very good series of videos on diagnosing/fixing various furnace and A/C problems, maybe one of them will be what you're looking for:

 

[John Galt III]

A while back my Samsung drier's drum broke again. Drum would have cost over $300.-. Replaced it with a GE Profile of unknown vintage, off Craigslist for $50.-. A week ago it started squeaking while running. It has slider plastic bearings supporting the drum.
Ordered a kit on Fleabay $24.- three days ago, free shipping. It arrived this afternoon.
Remove 4 screws to remove lid and front face. Remove worn out plastic frame holding slides. Install new plastic frame, add sliders and guides, replace felt drum seal, re-assemble. Works fine, no squeak.
Total elapsed time including gathering phillips scredriver, knife for opening package of parts, getting the job done, putting worn out parts into trash, 25 minutes.

Wow, major win, ls99 !

 

[John Galt III]

Thanks, Walt !

 

[MC Rider]

Here's what I think is a very good series of videos on diagnosing/fixing various furnace and A/C problems, maybe one of them will be what you're looking for:.....

That's a start. We had our furnace repaired recently. First thing the guy did was pull off the front and see the code.


It was for low flame iirc, and he said the burners are all sooted up, because your LP gas pressure is low. If pressure was good there should be no soot. So they adjusted the pressure, ordered new burners and replaced them. Next night it was blowing cold air at 1 AM. They replaced the gas pressure regulator on the tank, and it was good. Seems that water can find a way in and freeze the thing up in the night time cold. Then the water heater died, sooted up burners.

 

[Out of Steam]

I changed the serpentine belt on my Subaru today, after watching a how-to video on YouTube and looking up a routing diagram as backup. I assumed that it was a harder job than changing the traditional v-belts, but it was actually easier. There is a spring-loaded tensioner that you simply pull back with a 15mm socket wrench.

There was some fussing with making sure it is aligned correctly on all six pulleys, but I was done in 20-25 minutes. Probably about time for the job at over 160K miles.

I have some physical limitations with my hands, but they are doing well right now. It's the first car repair other than oil changes, filters, and lightbulbs I've done since retiring.

 

[NW-Bound]

My Hayward pool vacuum has been acting so lethargic. The other day, due to having excess solar power, I cranked the variable-speed pump from 1,800 rpm to 3,200 rpm, and the doggone thing could not be flogged to run any faster. Hmmm... Time to do something about it.

I kept an old pool vac up in the garage attic as a spare, and took it down to take a look. It had some worn out parts that needed to be replaced. A search on eBay showed a kit having all that I needed for less than $90. That's not a bad price, compared to paying $350 for a new pool vac.

I just received the kit, and installed it onto the spare pool vac. Put it in the pool to replace the current one. My wife happened to come out as I was turning on the pool pump to test the refurbished unit. I told her "Look how that rebuilt thing is running like a bat out of hell!".

I have done this rebuilding job before, but the pool vac gradually wears out, and becomes "weak". And I did not have another unit side-by-side to see the performance difference to see that it's time for replacement. Else, would have done this earlier.

Just like with people, we grow old and slowly get used to our deterioration, and have to sit down and remember how we could do things we are no longer able to. Yep, it's sad.

Anyway, I turned the pump speed back down to 1,800 rpm. I will put the replaced pool vac up in the attic, for its turn to be rebuilt later.

 

[stephenson]

NW Bound,

We've had a separate pump powered Polaris previously - worked fine but lots of power needed.

Our new place had only a hand device for cleaning ... so we got a Dolphin electric robot - used a lot less power! Some are programmable and IP enabled, as well.

 

[NW-Bound]

Our new place had only a hand device for cleaning ... so we got a Dolphin electric robot - used a lot less power! Some are programmable and IP enabled, as well.

I just recently learned about these newfangled pool vacuum/scrubbers that do not run from the suction of the pool pump and have their own motors.

It's interesting that they can build these gizmos with integrated submersible electronics and motors.

I am sure that they will work better than my old-fashioned pool vac to clean the pool, but will need to look into longevity and maintenance. Nothing lasts forever, and I want to know about replacement part availability for DIY'ers.

 

[Freedom56]

I just recently learned about these newfangled pool vacuum/scrubbers that do not run from the suction of the pool pump and have their own motors.

It's interesting that they can build these gizmos with integrated submersible electronics and motors.

I am sure that they will work better than my old-fashioned pool vac to clean the pool, but will need to look into longevity and maintenance. Nothing lasts forever, and I want to know about replacement part availability for DIY'ers.

My neighbor has (had) one. He paid $1200 for it and it broke down a few months after the warranty expired. He brought it to me to look at since I can repair many things. But this one was gone. The o-ring seals failed and there was water intrusion into the electrical and electronics components. I have a suction type pool vacuum and have accepted the reality that I have to replace it every 4 years or so.

 

[NW-Bound]

... I have a suction type pool vacuum and have accepted the reality that I have to replace it every 4 years or so.

I used to think the same until a friend told me about getting replacement parts off eBay.

Now, it's $100 every 4 years, instead of $379. Heh heh heh...

At least, that's for the popular Hayward Pool Vac. I have two pool vac bodies that I keep to rebuild to alternate. I might have thrown away a couple over the years before I learned about rebuilding them.

 

[harley]

Just like with people, we grow old and slowly get used to our deterioration, and have to sit down and remember how we could do things we are no longer able to. Yep, it's sad.

What's really sad is that we can't order a $90 kit off eBay that will get us back to running like a bat out of hell.

 

[John Galt III]

My heat pump's air handler is not blowing air. I plan on testing the capacitor on the blower motor in the air handler. It's a real shame I can't trust an HVAC company. I don't know anyone in the business. I'm researching it now. Hope it fixes everything!

Replying to my own post. Well, it's been over a month. wow. I've been heating my house with a plug-in oil filled radiator. OK, the new status is 'I fixed it myself!' with a caviat of 'but I'm not sure how', lol. I tested a million different things, removed and replaced some stuff, even opened up the outdoor unit and cleaned out some spider webs, etc. Jostled lots of small and big wires during the testing. Turned stuff off and on a lot. The big moment was when I finally saw voltage at the wires near the fan motor. It was zero all during the previous testing. Now getting 120 volts. What? What did I do ? Don't know, don't care !! (Well, I do care, but am happy to have the whole system up and running normally again. I'll make a note of what wires I jiggled.) What an odyssey.

 

[Time2]

In the previous thread 2013 to 2020, I posted about a superglue and baking soda repair I did on a inside door handle on a GMC Van. It held up well until recently. However, I'm glad to report the superglue and baking soda repair, is not where it broke, they held up, while it broke in new places!
The sad or happy thing about this is I found the parts on amazon per $13!
So, just ordered a new one.
Previous thread,

https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...repair-2013-2020-a-68722-158.html#post2458710


New part on Amazon,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XNRHJ46?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

In the previous thread 2013 to 2020, I posted about a superglue and baking soda repair I did on a inside door handle on a GMC Van. It held up well until recently. However, I'm glad to report the superglue and baking soda repair, is not where it broke, they held up, while it broke in new places!
The sad or happy thing about this is I found the parts on amazon per $13!
So, just ordered a new one.
Previous thread,

https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...repair-2013-2020-a-68722-158.html#post2458710


New part on Amazon,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XNRHJ46?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I love both aspects of this! Both the robustness of the McGuyver repair, AND the low-cost of the "proper" repair!

 

[mf15]

Emergency gut surgery repair 11/11/21, 0100 Hrs.
Still here after a year. LOL 189K wow inflation.
Did not get a 10% veterans discount,like Lowe's.
Oldmike

 

[Out of Steam]

We've had problems with excessive humidity in our house, especially in seasons where we use little heat or air conditioning.

Over the past several weeks, I've been laying polyethylene (12 mil, fiber reinforced) on the crawl space floor of the house. Currently, I've got about 80% of the floor covered and it seems to be making a difference already.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yesterday, hooked up the utility trailer to the rarely driven SUV to move some furniture to my mom's house. Found that the AC did not blow cold.

Today, used a pressure gauge to see that the Freon pressure was really low. Ended up putting in a whole can of 18 oz. Wowza!

Well, that's only 1 can in 20 years. Yet, this 2003 Nissan SUV only has 33K miles on the odometer. And the paint is still good because it was kept inside the garage. I guess I will keep it just to have it, in case I want to downsize from a motorhome to a small travel trailer.

 

[DAYDREAMER]

Today, i DIY replaced tires on our Ford Escape with tires bought from Tire Rack using the tire changer (NO-Mar) I use to change motorcycle tires. I feel so empowered not having to take tires to the tire stores and held hostage to their prices and stuck in their waiting room for hours. I used a bubble balancer (bought from Harbor Freight) to balance the tires, which was more than adequate for a great non vibration balance.
---only issue i had was that the (4) new OEM TPMS purchased online would not initialize (relearn) to the car, so, i had to reuse old TPMS. Easy enough to replace once i formulate a plan for best path forward for DIY TPMS replacement (TPMS=Tire Pressure Monitoring System)

 

[JoeWras]

Today, i DIY replaced tires on our Ford Escape with tires bought from Tire Rack using the tire changer (NO-Mar) I use to change motorcycle tires. I feel so empowered not having to take tires to the tire stores and held hostage to their prices and stuck in their waiting room for hours. I used a bubble balancer (bought from Harbor Freight) to balance the tires, which was more than adequate for a great non vibration balance.
---only issue i had was that the (4) new OEM TPMS purchased online would not initialize (relearn) to the car, so, i had to reuse old TPMS. Easy enough to replace once i formulate a plan for best path forward for DIY TPMS replacement (TPMS=Tire Pressure Monitoring System)

Now THAT is an ambitious repair!

I can do bikes. I struggled mightily with a tubeless lawn tractor once. That was it, never again.

.Congratulations

 

[Walt34]

Replaced the leaking plastic water line to the refrigerator icemaker. Again. For at least the third time. (Okay, sometimes I'm slow.) This time I was ready and had 1/4" copper line and fittings instead of the plastic one. While I know that under certain conditions of water chemistry copper line can leak too, I personally have never seen it so that's a strong point in favor of copper.


I did notice that it's a lot harder to "bend" myself into the necessary scrunch to get behind the refrigerator and still be close enough to access all the parts. Check my math here: I learned how to do that when I was 22, and I'm 73 now, so does that really mean it's been 51 years since I did that on an almost daily basis? It was a lot easier then. A couple of times I felt like I was in one of those "Help, I can't get up!" commercials. Sigh.

 

[braumeister]

Replaced the leaking plastic water line to the refrigerator icemaker. Again. For at least the third time. (Okay, sometimes I'm slow.) This time I was ready and had 1/4" copper line and fittings instead of the plastic one.

Congratulations! You'll definitely sleep easier now. I'm a very strong advocate of copper over plastic.