Garage Chat

[AutobahnSHO]

I let him do the final tightening of the lugs once it was back on the ground (so if his wheel falls off "you touched it last!") and holy fuck did he tighten those things down too much...he was basically putting all his weight/effort into it on a 16" breaker bar.  He's gonna have the same issue next time he needs to swap a wheel.

So when you heat stuff like that, do you break it while it's still hot? or does the heat action break the rust free and you could unbolt it even after it cools off a little??

[giant_mtb]

So when you heat stuff like that, do you break it while it's still hot? or does the heat action break the rust free and you could unbolt it even after it cools off a little??

We broke 'em lose while they were hot.  Dunno how well it works if you let it cool back down.

The heat does break the bond via expansion so I imagine it would still come lose easier even if it did cool back down.

[SVT_Power]

Swapped brake pads last week, can't believe shops wanted $500 to do pads + put the winter wheels on.

Did it all at home for $150 including buying a c-clamp and a breaker bar. (If I had more time and ordered pads on rockauto or something, would've been under $100).

Except in the course of saving that $$, I tweaked my back again and undid probably 2 weeks of physio/recovery. Not sure it was worth it.

[giant_mtb]

Always nice to be able to do some of the basics yourself!

[SVT_Power]

Always nice to be able to do some of the basics yourself!

Benefits of underground parking. Starts to dip below 50F in the winter, but hell of a lot better than being outside exposed to the elements.

[giant_mtb]

Benefits of underground parking. Starts to dip below 50F in the winter, but hell of a lot better than being outside exposed to the elements.

Yeah, being inside is half the battle.

[MX793]

I'd noticed over the past several weeks that my windshield washer nozzles had hardly any pressure.  I was barely getting enough to hit the base of the windshield with a paltry amount of washer fluid.  Then my low fluid light came on and I thought that perhaps a low fluid level was driving low pressure.  Put ~3/4 of a gallon into the reservoir and then hit the washers and still barely got anything on the windshield.  Then the next day as I was leaving work, having only used the washers like 3 times (and probably only put 10 oz of fluid on the windshield), the low fluid level light came on again.  Given that the sun is up maybe 9 hours and I'm at work at least 9.5 of them, I had to wait until I had a day off (today) to be able to have enough light to actually look under the hood and see what was going on.  Popped the hood this morning and started inspecting the line from the reservoir to the nozzles and, sure enough, the line was broken in two at the hinge point, with the ends loosely connected by a strip of tape.  From the amount of electrical tape wrapped around the spot, I'm guessing it has split some time ago and the previous owner thought that wrapping it with electrical tape would be sufficient.  Looking closer, the factory line was made from corrugated plastic tube rather than a more compliant elastomer,  Also, when I tried to pull the ends together where it broke when the hood was all the way up, there wasn't enough length there to actually get the ends to mate up without putting a lot of stress on things.  No wonder the line didn't hold up.  Nice job, Wolfsburg .  Honestly, it was remarkable that any fluid was coming up to the nozzles at all.

Given that it's the day before Xmas eve, proper fix wasn't in the cards, so I MacGyvered up a repair by splicing a 4" length of .170ID PVC elastomer line from the local hardware store's plumbing department and duct tape.  After putting the quart of washer fluid I had into the reservoir, I gave it a quick test and the nozzles were spraying like new.  We'll see how long it holds.  I might be able to make it through the rest of the winter like that.  Then I'm off-loading this POS as quickly as possible.

[Eye of the Tiger]

MacGyver doesn't go to the hardware store. He could have made the repair with a paperclip, used chewing gum, and a ball of pocket lint. 

[Rupert]

It was MacGyver who used the tape in the first place.

[MX793]

MacGyver doesn't go to the hardware store. He could have made the repair with a paperclip, used chewing gum, and a ball of pocket lint. 

My first inclination was to fabricate a few inches of hose using a ballpoint pen and the duct tape, but since I was driving by the hardware store anyway, figured I'd just hit up the plumbing aisle to see if they had anything better.

[CaminoRacer]

Autozone should have the actual hose, just tell them how much you need.

[MX793]

Autozone should have the actual hose, just tell them how much you need.

It's not actually hose.  It's some kind of corrugated/convoluted plastic tube.  And the ends and fittings all appear to be thermally shrunk/welded onto the line, so you have to replace the entire line assembly rather than just popping some hose clamps and buying a length of cheap rubber hose to replace the damaged section.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Wow. Junk. You could rig up something better using surgical tubing and zip ties.

[MX793]

Wow. Junk. You could rig up something better using surgical tubing and zip ties.

Yes, I've come to "appreciate" the nuances of German automobiles.  They make things more complicated than they need to be, and instead of using common parts and standards they do things like the above hose assembly.  Or they use their own internal oil specs rather than internationally recognized standards like API/JASO/ILSAC/ACEA like the Americans, Japanese, and Koreans.

[giant_mtb]

All the quirks are kinda neat/fun if you can afford it.  Otherwise..bleh.

[MX793]

All the quirks are kinda neat/fun if you can afford it.  Otherwise..bleh.

Poor design for maintainability is never neat or fun.

[MX793]

We broke 'em lose while they were hot.  Dunno how well it works if you let it cool back down.

The heat does break the bond via expansion so I imagine it would still come lose easier even if it did cool back down.

Here's a neat trick for getting rusty stuck lug nuts off.  Just need a lighter and a candle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFdFsfSAuyc

[Eye of the Tiger]

Here's a neat trick for getting rusty stuck lug nuts off.  Just need a lighter and a candle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFdFsfSAuyc

Neato. I'll try that at work. I wonder how it works on rusty exhaust bolts.

[Rupert]

Cool, but won't it make the nut come off more easily for a given tightened torque if you have to re-use it?

[MX793]

Cool, but won't it make the nut come off more easily for a given tightened torque if you have to re-use it?

You'd either want to clean the wax off or adjust to a lubricated torque value (which is higher than a dry torque value) before re-installing.

[Eye of the Tiger]

You'd either want to clean the wax off or adjust to a lubricated torque value (which is higher than a dry torque value) before re-installing.

I will now wax all fasteners before installing. To remove, simply melt the wax away!

[giant_mtb]

I've heard the candle trick.  Never tried it because I didn't think it would actually work.  hah

But now I have a torch, so.

[AutobahnSHO]

So amazing!