Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Adventures in Auto Repair


Son's Contour came home on a tow truck. Snapped serpentine belt. Choke each year when I drop $170 or so for AAA+ but we seem to always use it.

The culprit.
Needs to be stretched before you try to install it.

Where it goes.



It is cold, the wind is blowing, I'm old and decrepit, and I'm not broke. Solution?

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x876ea3d062cc6d9f:0x85906ad55a9b576d!2m16!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m10!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e4!3m1!7e115!4shttps://picasaweb.google.

Yep, I wimped out. Remember a few years ago putting a water pump in that car. Not fun! Replaced the serpentine belt at the same time. Tight quarters putting a breaker bar on the tensioner pulley. Easiest from underneath.  

9 comments:

LL said...

For ease of installation and repair, you can't beat an old power wagon. I had a 69 Mustang and it was my first dive into having to pull the engine out to change the spark plugs (and back then they needed to be changed regularly - no 100K plugs. Since then it got worse.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

I'm a mediocre mechanic but my hourly rate is hard to beat. the big problem is my 72 year old body is saying, HELL NO".

Back in the car retail biz, I kept a list the service manager gave me on the vehicles we should wholesale, and those we should keep. My ACV (actual cash value) appraisal was heavily influenced by that list.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Should ad we made money on vehicles others hated but our service manager and senior mechanics knew how to fix. Example was a Chev P/U with the Isuzu diesel and a manual transmission. They would shudder and shake. The solution was properly aligning the rear axle.

Old NFO said...

I'm with ya on the old body...

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Getting old is getting old!

Coffeypot said...

I've worked on many a care in the cold and even the rain. Built my race car over the winter in a no heat garage. Not anymore. Best, fastest and cheapest to let those with the room, right equipment, experience, and almost as much knowledge do the work.

Coffeypot said...

And it may cost a little more, but if it don't work or fails down the road, you got someone else to blame.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

I pick my poison carefully now days.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

The place I use has mechanics as opposed to parts changers. I can change parts.