Internet and car repair

car54 · March 21, 2009, 05:08:15 PM

I have a Ford Explorer and I was getting a vibration. I traced it down to a rear U joint. When I was trying to determine the vibration all of a sudden I heard an ugly noise coming from the front. It turns out that my front CV joint broke. I have done a fair amount of car repair in my younger days and now that I am 54 years old I did not look forward to repairing it. I did an internet search for replacing a CV joint and I found a site that has step by step directions with pictures. Some sites have videos. After looking at the pictures I determined that it was fairly easy. The CV joint cost only $55.00 and it took 2 hours to do it. The local service station wanted $300.00 to do it. I also replaced the U joint. If it were not for the internet I might have had the service station do the work. Tomorrow my body will determine if it was worth $300.00. I think that it will be.

The lesson is that the internet is great.

Brad

Oldman · March 21, 2009, 06:16:09 PM

Brad,
You sound like my Operations Manager, Bob. This past whole week all he did was repair equipment. If I had to send this stuff to a repair shop I would just about be better off buy new equipment. The parts for all repairs came to a little over $1,900.00. (3-GLS machines, 4 vacuum cleaners, 2-twin vac extractors, and one Hi-flow extractor.)

Bob has been with me now for 8 years and I have not found anything he cannot fix. I saw him break down and rebuild a tranny using a manual and he had never rebuilt a tanny before.

Doing it yourself can and will save a person thousands of dollars.

Congrats on your repair job, and monies saved!
Olds

Buck36 · March 21, 2009, 06:24:04 PM

Brad, Love the story. Even if you are banged up, it always feels better to fix something yourself.

Internet saved me a ton of money too. Our gas dryer broke and my wife thought we might as well get a new washer to match it if we have to replace it. Hunted down the problem on the web and it only cost around 60 dollars to fix.

Kummok · March 21, 2009, 11:09:46 PM

I hearing ya Brad! I had my overhead console AND remote power locks go out on my Ford Super Duty. Estimated repair for both was approaching $1000. On the internet, I discovered these were common maladies for the Ford SDs AND I found a fix for both, with a total cost of a little solder, a piece of aluminum foil, and about 2-3 hours. I don't know how these guys/gals find out how to fix this stuff, let alone how they find the time to post pics and step-by-step instructions but I am sure grateful that they do!!

Habanero Smoker · March 22, 2009, 02:52:07 AM

I have a 97 Ford Exploder (I mean Explorer), and use it as a second car. Every Once and a while something drains the power in the battery. When that happens; for some reason all the doors will automatically lock when the power is drained. Needless to say I had to get it towed to a repair station so that they could open the hood and charge the battery. That cost me over $200; and it hurt more because I have my own battery charger.

Well the second time it happened I did a search on the Internet. Sure enough I found the instructions on how to pop the hood of that model from outside.

manxman · March 22, 2009, 12:47:03 PM

QuoteThe lesson is that the internet is great.

I agree, the internet has saved me a load of money on my 8 year old Toyota Landcruisier as well as items around the house that have developed a fault. Last thing I used it for was a fault on my central heating boiler.

Smoking Duck · March 22, 2009, 08:46:41 PM

I agree that the internet can be a great thing (This site comes to mind), however unfortunately, I also think it's sometimes a bad thing. I really dislike the false sense of bravado it gives some folks who think they can say anything because they hide behind the anonymity of the WWW. I've been on many other forums (not this one for sure) where everyone seems to be 6'4" and 300 pounds behind a keyboard. But, for finding out things you need to know the answer to, I agree, the internet is a lifesaver as well as a timesaver. No need to reinvent the wheel when someone else has done it and posted step by step pics.

oguard · March 23, 2009, 08:01:15 PM

I have worked on my own vehicles for years and the internet is a great tool. I can't begin to count the amount of money I've saved over the years. The lap top makes it even better. A wise man ounce said "If they built it you can take it apart and fix it". I think a lot of people get discouraged when they look under the hood, a simple repair manual and the internet are great resources.

Mike

DrtiBird · April 06, 2009, 03:50:46 PM

Quote from: Habanero Smoker on March 22, 2009, 02:52:07 AM
I have a 97 Ford Exploder (I mean Explorer), and use it as a second car. Every Once and a while something drains the power in the battery. When that happens; for some reason all the doors will automatically lock when the power is drained. Needless to say I had to get it towed to a repair station so that they could open the hood and charge the battery. That cost me over $200; and it hurt more because I have my own battery charger.

Well the second time it happened I did a search on the Internet. Sure enough I found the instructions on how to pop the hood of that model from outside.

Habs,
This may be a really dumb question, but why didn't you just unlock the doors?

Roadking · April 06, 2009, 04:35:01 PM

Quote from: DrtiBird on April 06, 2009, 03:50:46 PM
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on March 22, 2009, 02:52:07 AM
I have a 97 Ford Exploder (I mean Explorer), and use it as a second car. Every Once and a while something drains the power in the battery. When that happens; for some reason all the doors will automatically lock when the power is drained. Needless to say I had to get it towed to a repair station so that they could open the hood and charge the battery. That cost me over $200; and it hurt more because I have my own battery charger.

Well the second time it happened I did a search on the Internet. Sure enough I found the instructions on how to pop the hood of that model from outside.

Habs,
This may be a really dumb question, but why didn't you just unlock the doors?

I like to know that also. I'll bet it was, what I call brain fade.

Habanero Smoker · April 07, 2009, 01:37:08 AM

DrtiBird

I didn't think of that ;D

The keys would not unlock the vehicle. It must have had something to do with the power lock system; or it could be that the keys never worked in the doors or hatch locks. I never tried to used the keys to unlock the doors until that day; and haven't tried using the keys since. At the time I just figured it had to do with the power lock system. I still have that vehicle, I may just try the keys to see if they will unlock the doors.

DrtiBird · April 10, 2009, 01:09:18 PM

Quote from: Roadking on April 06, 2009, 04:35:01 PM
Quote from: DrtiBird on April 06, 2009, 03:50:46 PM
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on March 22, 2009, 02:52:07 AM
I have a 97 Ford Exploder (I mean Explorer), and use it as a second car. Every Once and a while something drains the power in the battery. When that happens; for some reason all the doors will automatically lock when the power is drained. Needless to say I had to get it towed to a repair station so that they could open the hood and charge the battery. That cost me over $200; and it hurt more because I have my own battery charger.

Well the second time it happened I did a search on the Internet. Sure enough I found the instructions on how to pop the hood of that model from outside.

Habs,
This may be a really dumb question, but why didn't you just unlock the doors?

I like to know that also. I'll bet it was, what I call brain fade.

Habs may be like a lot of us, we use that key fob so much we tend to forget about the key. ;D

We got into a big discussion on the Thunderbird net about dead batteries. The battery for the '02-'05 Birds are in the trunk and there is no key hole on the trunk. Someone finally pointed out that there was a manual release behind the driver's seat.