Your recent repair? - 2021 to ?

[Kwirk]

I know less than nothing about stove coils but what comes to my mind is that you may have lost one leg of a 240v connection. Just a thought, probably off base.

I've done a bit of research and my thought is not supported by what I see and read.

 

[Sunset]

Here's the interesting thing about how the coil gets red, oh high setting. The coil is like a record album, just one big spiral from beginning to end. The first several inches of the coil gets red (outer area), then the inner several inches remain black, then the final several inches get red (inner area).

The stretch in the middle stays black, meaning what? Don't know. I assume the entire coil got red when it was brand new. Don't know.

I think the coil is broke.

You can take a working coil and swap it with the bad one.
If the working one works in the bad spot, then you just need a new coil
The ones I've used just plug into a socket, so you just lift them a bit and pull out to remove.

 

[JoeWras]

Question about Floor Jacks

I could start a new thread, but since the repair experts are here, I'll ask.

What do I look for in buying a floor jack?

I never had one. I need one if I'm going to attempt some repairs on my vehicle. I typically only use a low ramp, but when it comes to motor mount replacement, a floor jack is pretty much required.

I am 100% floor jack ignorant.

 

[Jerry1]

I could start a new thread, but since the repair experts are here, I'll ask.

What do I look for in buying a floor jack?

I never had one. I need one if I'm going to attempt some repairs on my vehicle. I typically only use a low ramp, but when it comes to motor mount replacement, a floor jack is pretty much required.

I am 100% floor jack ignorant.

First, you have to have jack stands. Can’t rely on a floor jack if you’re getting under a car. I assume you know that.

Floor jacks are all about tonnage and height. How much weight are you going to lift? Probably not much if you’re just using it to lift the motor. Anyway, think of what all you’ll be doing with it and size it correctly (probably best to size up just a bit). With height, think about how much lift you’ll need. Raising a truck is going to take a lot more than a small car, for example.

Personally, since you’re looking to lift a motor, I’d go with a bottle jack. You’ll need to raise the jack on blocks or use something between the jack and the motor (piece of oak) to get the space you need, but it will work better than a floor jack. Actually, a motor lift (rent it) would work better, but at that point it might be cheaper to have someone do it for you.

Back to floor jacks. There is a range of quality models, but unless you have a lot of work planned, this is probably a good time to go to Harbor Freight. If you were a young mechanic starting out, a higher quality Jack would make sense.

 

[JoeWras]

First, you have to have jack stands. Can’t rely on a floor jack if you’re getting under a car. I assume you know that.

Floor jacks are all about tonnage and height. How much weight are you going to lift? Probably not much if you’re just using it to lift the motor. Anyway, think of what all you’ll be doing with it and size it correctly (probably best to size up just a bit). With height, think about how much lift you’ll need. Raising a truck is going to take a lot more than a small car, for example.

Personally, since you’re looking to lift a motor, I’d go with a bottle jack. You’ll need to raise the jack on blocks or use something between the jack and the motor (piece of oak) to get the space you need, but it will work better than a floor jack. Actually, a motor lift (rent it) would work better, but at that point it might be cheaper to have someone do it for you.

Back to floor jacks. There is a range of quality models, but unless you have a lot of work planned, this is probably a good time to go to Harbor Freight. If you were a young mechanic starting out, a higher quality Jack would make sense.

Good stuff. Yes, I never rely on a jack when getting under a vehicle. I probably overdo the backup supports (extra blocks, etc.)

I was thinking a floor jack may come in handy frequently, but then again I don't plan on routinely doing a ton of work on this car. I'll probably have a mechanic do the CV axles some day, for example.

You know, the bottle jack is a great idea. I need one for deck work anyway. I'll go with that for the motor mount.

Question: If I were to get a floor jack, is a 2 ton enough for a 4,500lb vehicle? I mean, I'm not lifting the whole thing.

Finally, I leave you with this picture of awesome safety.

 

[Surewhitey]

Did a fiddle-repair last week. Flusher valve was working 50% of the time so tweaked the depth of the stopper & so far I'm flushing 100%. It's 5 years old so probably won't be long, but I'll take the win. It's one of the super flusher Kohler valves that came with the toilet...

 

[REWahoo]

Did a fiddle-repair last week. Flusher valve was working 50% of the time so tweaked the depth of the stopper & so far I'm flushing 100%.

I need to post this in the TIL thread. Not being familiar with many musical instruments I had no idea a fiddle had a flusher valve.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Question: If I were to get a floor jack, is a 2 ton enough for a 4,500lb vehicle? I mean, I'm not lifting the whole thing.

Yes, my 2 1/4 ton floor jack easily lifts the heavy end of my 5,000+ lb pickup truck.
The nice thing about a floor jack is you don't have to get under the vehicle to position it, or in your case to support the engine. Also the low profile, high lift is quite handy.
My 35 year old Harbor Freight jack still works fine although it has developed a minor fluid leak.

 

[Souschef]

Thought about replacing one of the burner elements on my stove. Girl friend mentioned it takes too long to heat up. I put it on high, and it only some parts coil turned red. Aha! Must be wearing out, since all the coil is not red. Just for kicks I did the same test on a seldom-used back burner of the same size, and the same portions of the coil got red. no better, no worse. So, I am just going to leave well enough alone for now. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

We have an LG stove. One and only one of the burners has a high and low setting. On the low setting, only one part gets red. on the other, the whole thing gets red.

You might want to check the manual.

 

[HighFlight]

I could start a new thread, but since the repair experts are here, I'll ask.

What do I look for in buying a floor jack?

I never had one. I need one if I'm going to attempt some repairs on my vehicle. I typically only use a low ramp, but when it comes to motor mount replacement, a floor jack is pretty much required.

I am 100% floor jack ignorant.

I just bought a new floor jack--if you are close to a Tractor Supply Company, they have a great selection. My personal opinion is that the TSC jacks appear to be slightly higher quality than Harbor Freight stuff (looked at both). I went with the Tractor Supply 3-ton jack, but I'm lifting a big SUV. It's got a double piston lift pump, which makes the lift a little quicker. Make sure the lift height is enough to get jack stands underneath easily, but the profile is low enough to get under your vehicle (usually not an issue). I've worked under a vehicle with just the jack holding it up, but that's really not advised.

 

[Sunset]

....

Question: If I were to get a floor jack, is a 2 ton enough for a 4,500lb vehicle? I mean, I'm not lifting the whole thing.

...

I tend to want go higher than just enough capacity. Besides the price to go higher by a ton or 2 more is not a significant percentage.

 

[Philliefan33]

When we were visiting our mountain house about a month ago, the pilot light on our gas logs (which had been lit for the season) was off/would not stay on. Inspection of the thermocouple led me to believe that it had failed. We called around to find someone to fix it and could only find one guy. He would charge $125 just to show up and diagnose the issue, then would have to order parts and return at another time to fix it.

Between the expense and the annoyance factor (we are only here occasionally and trying to schedule a service visit is an annoyance), I decided to DIY. I ordered a new thermocouple and thermopile for less than $50.

We came up to the mountain house this weekend to tackle the leaf pick up. It took a few hours this morning, but I managed to put the new parts in the fireplace and we are currently enjoying a post-lunch warmup in front of the fire. The hardest part was working in the small space under the firebox.

 

[thatguy]

I'm fixing 2 Bunn coffee makers. One is a A10 commercial style one. It's leaking water and has a blown thermal fuse. I replaced the thermal fuse with one I had on hand but than it leaked water. Ordered a gasket from Amazon, than, after a week, they gave me a shipping date a month away, So I canceled the order and ordered one from a eBay seller. I've picked up a couple spare Bunn coffee makers either at garage sales or found at cheap clearance prices. So I brought up a spare from the basement and we used it a few weeks until it blew a thermal fuse. So with 2 failed coffee makers it was time to start fixing them. Ordered the fuse for that one from a ebay seller. So until I get one of these Bunns fixed we're using a vintage Farberware Superfast 12 cup electric percolator.
Wife gets up first in the morning and makes the coffee, but until I get one of the pour over automatic drip coffee maker fixed, I prep the percolator the night before so all she has to do is plug it in. Occasionally if I'm up early I might make the morning coffee but I don't sleep like a normal person and my hours are sporadic.

Finally finished this yesterday. It look a while to get the last part delivery.
The 16 year old Bunn A10 is back in service.

 

[stephenson]

Bought 10 hp, 6250 watt generator for $100 last week. Didn't run. Drained and cleaned fuel tank, cleaned carb and float bowl, changed oil twice. Schweet!

 

[thatguy]

Bought 20 hp, 6250 watt generator for $100 last week. Didn't run. Drained and cleaned fuel tank, cleaned carb and float bowl, changed oil twice. Schweet!

Seems like a lot of HP for 6200 Watts

 

[stephenson]

Typos got us, both ?

Corrected via edit to 10 HP ... 62 50 watts ...

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Swapped out the back-up camera on the car. Apparently the original models are susceptible to water damage from high pressure sprays like from the car wash place we go to.

Dealers on the internet were listing over $250 for the newer OEM version of the camera. Places selling after-market cameras still wanted over $100 and many of the places kind of looked shady with mixed reviews.

I ended up calling the parts department of a nearby dealer and fortunately, the quoted something like $125. "I'll take it!" The cameras come with a clip in wiring harness which makes the electrical part easy. The hardest part was taking off all the clips and panels and keeping everything in order. Fortunately I found a Youtube video that gave some tips on where all the clips were and how to to pop them off.

It was about an hour job so happy to have saved the labour costs on the install.

 

[Time2]

I did un-repair. My wife can't walk/jog past a piece of scrap. She returned from her run about 5:30 this morning and ask how is your back, (been having some back pain), I said it's OK. She ask, "can you help my load an air conditioner." So, I got in the truck and we rode about 4 blocks and picked up the the outside unit and inside A frame units. Back home she says, "a certain relative cuts the copper from the ends and sells it separately for more". So, getting way more involved in her scrapping than I wanted to, I disassembled it into steel, copper, aluminum/copper mix, and compressor piles. She took it to the local scrap yard and got $98,23. If I did a little more disassemble and sorting probably could broke $100! I was quite surprised, didn't think it would be that much.
I did scavenge a couple of capacitors, wires with spade lugs and a contactor for myself.

 

[Sunset]

I did un-repair. My wife can't walk/jog past a piece of scrap. She returned from her run about 5:30 this morning and ask how is your back, (been having some back pain), I said it's OK. She ask, "can you help my load an air conditioner." So, I got in the truck and we rode about 4 blocks and picked up the the outside unit and inside A frame units. Back home she says, "a certain relative cuts the copper from the ends and sells it separately for more". So, getting way more involved in her scrapping than I wanted to, I disassembled it into steel, copper, aluminum/copper mix, and compressor piles. She took it to the local scrap yard and got $98,23. If I did a little more disassemble and sorting probably could broke $100! I was quite surprised, didn't think it would be that much.
I did scavenge a couple of capacitors, wires with spade lugs and a contactor for myself.

I'm glad my DW doesn't go running

 

[MC Rider]

Fixed the front door handleset. It has a thumb lever outside and knob inside. The knob was good but the thumb lever barely pushed the latch back enough to open the door and it was getting worse. I found the latch was worn where the lever pushed on it. Replaced the latch in the door with one I had laying around, lubed it and bingo. Thought I was going to have to buy a whole new handleset.

 

[John Galt III]

Fixed the front door handleset. It has a thumb lever outside and knob inside. The knob was good but the thumb lever barely pushed the latch back enough to open the door and it was getting worse. I found the latch was worn where the lever pushed on it. Replaced the latch in the door with one I had laying around, lubed it and bingo. Thought I was going to have to buy a whole new handleset.

Awesome cost avoidance, MC Rider !

 

[MC Rider]

Awesome cost avoidance, MC Rider !

Thanks. Sometimes my pack rat ways save me money. Door hardware is usually not too hard to change. All you need is a phillips head screwdriver, and a few garage words. Or you could try patience, but that takes too long!


You can find videos on youtube etc to demystify a lot of things. Like this job.
Youtube is your frenemy.

 

[ncbill]

Thanks. Sometimes my pack rat ways save me money. Door hardware is usually not too hard to change. All you need is a phillips head screwdriver, and a few garage words. Or you could try patience, but that takes too long!


You can find videos on youtube etc to demystify a lot of things. Like this job.
Youtube is your frenemy.

any links to YouTube videos on this?

since the thumb latch (30+ years-old) on the front door is getting balky

 

[MC Rider]

any links to YouTube videos on this?

since the thumb latch (30+ years-old) on the front door is getting balky

Lots of videos on this. Here is one that shows my problem pretty clearly. I just replaced the latch and done.


https://youtu.be/AdN1PKhS2fk?si=rhRvAUTRIxr2A2Q-

 

[5Miler]

Just replaced the power window regulator in my 2001 Silverado for the 8th time in 22 years. At least the price has been going down on them over the years.

First had the drivers side done on extended warranty somewhere around 2004 and the invoice amount was over $550 at the time which fortunately I did not have to pay. All the rest I did myself post warranty paying an average of $99 at Autozone or Amazon for the parts. Over the years I have advanced my skill to where I can replace one in about 30 minutes on a good day.

I started using Autozone for the part as it's less than a mile away and they give a lifetime limited warranty on the part. This time it was the passenger side which I first purchased from Autozone in 2008, got a warranty replacement in 2016 and failed on me Thursday evening dropping the window to the bottom of the door opening. I went to Autozone yesterday for a replacement but they no longer carry this old part number in stock but could order it for free to arrive late next week. Brand name on it was Cordone.

Next week was a no go for me so I left and went almost next door to Advance Auto Parts and picked up a Dorman branded regulator for $76 and had it installed 30 minutes later. It had been a few years since the last replacement so I was off my game apparently as the old part was already out. AAP stressed their limited lifetime warranty which I am all about and these should be carried locally by them for a while to come.

The part that bugs me was I was so frustrated at Autozone that I just left and asked them to throw away the old part I had brought in. I should have had them order the warranty replacement and just kept it for a spare when it came in.

20/20 hindsight.