The MS3 is still at the dealership getting it's dashboard replaced under warranty, which means I had to drive the Vibe today.
The parking brake on the Vibe has been weak since I got it. Main cause: rear backing plates were borked.
Some of you have heard this before. Unfortunately, they're 220 to 250 dollars a piece. For a berkeleying backing plate.
I replaced the driver side rear last year which fixed the problem temporarily. Sadly the winter finished off what was left of the passenger rear and the parking brake started dragging. Dammit.
So what's a cheap ass to do for his winter beater?
Brake clean the backing plate, fill the entire rusted out void with Quiksteel then measure and drill a hole for the retaining pins for the parking brake.
Permanent? Probably not, but it stopped the dragging until I can find one at the junkyard or I head up to Canada and get access to their sweet sweet cheap backing plates. None of the Canadian dealerships will mail one to the US unless I order a million dollars worth of parts.
On the plus side the Vibe smells a lot better now that I evicted the mouse living on the cabin air filter.
I'll be in Ontario next month, I could forward you those backing plates, you forward me some PAC springs...
Nothing wrong with pulling out a MacGyver to temporary fix things. My home A/C unit decided to quit working, and I'm in FL so yes....it's hot! I'll be getting it fixed early next week, but in the meantime (after a few libations) I built this. My freezer is always full of frozen water bottles in case of a hurricane, so why not put them to good use. Did it work? Sure......sorta. Certainly didn't hurt and it occupied my mind instead of focusing on the heat.
This goes along with the garage door opener I "fixed" the other day. It would open fine, but would randomly cut out while closing (not due to the safety sensors). The lights on it would flicker off and back on when it happened, so I figured electrical. Cracked it open to see if I could find any bad connections, etc. And I realized that with one of the side panels removed, it worked fine.
I ended up discovering that if I leave the top 2 screws on that panel somewhat loose, it works fine. Tighten the screws and it gets flaky again... I'll have to dig into it more at some point, but at least it's working.
Joe Gearin said:
Nothing wrong with pulling out a MacGyver to temporary fix things. My home A/C unit decided to quit working, and I'm in FL so yes....it's hot! I'll be getting it fixed early next week, but in the meantime (after a few libations) I built this. My freezer is always full of frozen water bottles in case of a hurricane, so why not put them to good use. Did it work? Sure......sorta. Certainly didn't hurt and it occupied my mind instead of focusing on the heat.
I have a feeling that would have worked better with the water bottles in front?
z31maniac said:
Joe Gearin said:
Nothing wrong with pulling out a MacGyver to temporary fix things. My home A/C unit decided to quit working, and I'm in FL so yes....it's hot! I'll be getting it fixed early next week, but in the meantime (after a few libations) I built this. My freezer is always full of frozen water bottles in case of a hurricane, so why not put them to good use. Did it work? Sure......sorta. Certainly didn't hurt and it occupied my mind instead of focusing on the heat.
I have a feeling that would have worked better with the water bottles in front?
That design was tried, and I found the bottles restricted the airflow too much. Like all "great" inventions, there were many failed designs. (and empty beer cans)
In reply to The0retical :
Well, it does say "Makes permanent repairs" on the label. So it must be true.
In reply to Joe Gearin :
Got that swamp fan thing going on!
Dirtydog said:
In reply to Joe Gearin :
Got that swamp fan thing going on!
Desperate times call for desperate measures! Fortunately I have a buddy who is an A/C pro. He diagnosed mine as being dead, but as it so happens he just did a commercial job where they were throwing out a perfectly good unit which will work for my house. Total bill (including installation) will be about $500. Sure beats getting an entirely new system for $3K. No warranty, but for $500, I"ll take my chances.
In reply to Joe Gearin :
I've been in that boat before. Being a slightly fat guy that hates to sweat more than necessary, I now have a 14k btu portable A/C unit in my garage for garage cooling and emergency cooling. It gets called into service every couple of years by myself when the house A/C takes a dump. I've also loaned it out to several friends. It can be a life saver when the temps get into the high 90s and you can drink the air. If you were closer, I'd tell you to come get it.
Toyman01 said:
In reply to Joe Gearin :
I've been in that boat before. Being a slightly fat guy that hates to sweat more than necessary, I now have a 14k btu portable A/C unit in my garage for garage cooling and emergency cooling. It gets called into service every couple of years by myself when the house A/C takes a dump. I've also loaned it out to several friends. It can be a life saver when the temps get into the high 90s and you can drink the air. If you were closer, I'd tell you to come get it.
Smart man! Luckily the real bad heat here hasn't started yet. It's dipping into the 70s at night, so cooling the house with fans and errr... inventions has been ok so far.
Luckily we've been getting rain every day to keep the heat down, doesn't help with the humidity but that's going to be maxed out for the next 4 months anyway.
Glad to hear you've got a fix on the way, sounds like a good score.
Makes me consider buying a portable AC as a backup for hurricane season. I just don't know if my 4000 watt generator will run both refrigerators and one of those units. Have to look into that.
Floating Doc said:
Luckily we've been getting rain every day to keep the heat down, doesn't help with the humidity but that's going to be maxed out for the next 4 months anyway.
Glad to hear you've got a fix on the way, sounds like a good score.
Makes me consider buying a portable AC as a backup for hurricane season. I just don't know if my 4000 watt generator will run both refrigerators and one of those units. Have to look into that.
My experience has been that new A/C window units are wonderfully energy efficient. 10 years ago when the house was torn up I bought three units on sale in the fall. I use them for about 3 years and sell them the first heat wave, I pick up their replacement the previous fall so I do store them over the winter.
However by doing it this way I always have the newest most efficient units and they seldom cost me more than $10 Season, if that.
Central air tends to be very inefficient even if you buy the most efficient unit available in less than 5 years you’ll be sucking more energy than the newest ones. Since most are decades old before they are replaced that is a really big difference in electricity costs.
Then I put them in the wall up high rather than block the view out windows. It’s very simple carpentry and I can still replace them every few years. the three units still cost me less than $500 compared to the less efficient central air I was quoted $5000 for.
I bought a 3 zone Mitsubishi unit almost 5 years ago and while I’m hanging the units this summer I doubt I’ll get it hooked up but when I do, I’ll doubt I’ll use it.
I use less electricity in a year with my 3 window units than my neighbors do in a month. We all have about the same 5500 sq ft houses, My Fiancé really likes the house cold, she works from home and prefers the temp in the 60’s. Plus new units are sooooo quiet.
The0retical said:
The MS3 is still at the dealership getting it's dashboard replaced under warranty, which means I had to drive the Vibe today.
The parking brake on the Vibe has been weak since I got it. Main cause: rear backing plates were borked.
Some of you have heard this before. Unfortunately, they're 220 to 250 dollars a piece. For a berkeleying backing plate.
I replaced the driver side rear last year which fixed the problem temporarily. Sadly the winter finished off what was left of the passenger rear and the parking brake started dragging. Dammit.
So what's a cheap ass to do for his winter beater?
Brake clean the backing plate, fill the entire rusted out void with Quiksteel then measure and drill a hole for the retaining pins for the parking brake.
Permenant? Probably not, but it stopped the dragging until I can find one at the junkyard or a I head up to Canada and get access to their sweet sweet cheap backing plates. None of the Canadian dealerships will mail one to the US unless I order a million dollars worth of parts.
On the plus side the Vibe smells a lot better now that I evicted the mouse living on the cabin air filter.
I remember the Vibe. It was built in California in a joint venture with Toyota. One factory, Pontiac Vibes came out one side Toyota’s came out the other. So why not check out what Toyota model was co built and confirm that uses the same backing plate? Seems like $15 at a pick a part would be a fair price to pay in a rust free zone.
In reply to frenchyd :
If I'm remembering correctly, some of the newer mini split systems are even more efficient than the good window units. Partly because they don't have the insulation concerns a window unit does and partly because they tend to be somewhat bigger capacity units (and efficiency often goes up a bit with larger systems).
rslifkin said:
In reply to frenchyd :
If I'm remembering correctly, some of the newer mini split systems are even more efficient than the good window units. Partly because they don't have the insulation concerns a window unit does and partly because they tend to be somewhat bigger capacity units (and efficiency often goes up a bit with larger systems).
I may be a victim of my own delay. I bought the three zone Mitsubishi split, at the time the highest rated one. It wasn’t rated as high as the three cheap window units I bought.
However if new ones are better, (I suppose I can quickly look it up), Then I’ll be just as guilty as everybody else. Inefficient central air.
I like the fact that with that run of high 80’s and 90 degree days my electric bill last month is only $22 higher than the month previous with no A/C While both neighbors had bills in the hundreds.
In reply to frenchyd :
Mini splits are still better than central air. No duct losses and like a window unit, you can keep the part of the house you're in cooler and let the rest stay warmer.
In reply to rslifkin :I agree completely! I call it central air to make her happy.
In reply to frenchyd :
It uses the same parts. The GM PN has been NLA for the last 2 years at least.
Shares the part with the Corolla XRS, Martix XRS, and Celica GTS. They're all super spendy.
I check the local u pull it yards from time to time to see if one one comes through. None of the wreckers stock the backing plate because typically they're not that expensive.this is literally the only application I've ever seen one cost more than 30 dollars with no aftermarket option.
In reply to Dirtydog :
Seriously. You could pull the rear brakes off it and probably get whatever they're asking for the car. I wonder if it's a GT...
There's been a rash of posts on the Vibe/Matrix forums recently with people looking for been backing plates after finding out what they cost.
Gameboy: If anyone has the RR one in stock I'll happily cover the cost. Seems like the only Toyota dealer in Canada with an online inventory is in Northern Alberta. They have them Listed for 70 CAD. All the dealers in Ontario just seem to have a request form on their parts site.
Not sure what the story is to explain the huge disparity in US prices.
I don't have any problem shipping parts from the US if you ever need anything.
Jeebus, the part is less than 20 bucks on toyotapartsdirect.ca Surely you could have someone in Ontario order it and mail it.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
Now I'm confused. If you look in the "What it Fits" for both those parts you see overlap. What year and model are we talking about?
