That seem to provide the most satisfaction when working on a project car. I've been doing some serious maintenance on my 2002 Focus SVT. One of the things I noticed when driving the car is that the wipers won't "park." Basically when you turn off the wipers, they stay where they are and do not go back down.
$10 relay, removed a few dash pieces and bam. Wipers park. Something so annoying had such an easy fix. The car has 200k miles and I'm betting it's been like this for a long time.
What's your favorite "easy" fix?
Airing up the tires to the proper pressure.
I like fixing things back to OEM or very close to OEM functionality when they have been poorly shortcut before.
For example, my MGB came to me with a push button installed on the dash to engage the starter. Looks like it was a botched fix by someone in the past that likely couldn't figure out the MGBs (silly) door sensor + seat sensor + seatbelt light system that all is in-line between the starter relay and ignition key. 10 minutes of looking at the (ONE PAGE) wiring diagram that shows the whole car, and boom, the car starts with the key again.
I guess I could expand this to any fix that requires me to learn and understand the parts or the systems at a deeper level. Like anytime you have those 'aha' moments and then its fixed.
Selling the car to fix the transmission
I'll have to look into replacing the wiper relay on my Samurai since it does the same thing.
....Aaaand now that I look for how to do it, it's built into the wiper motor/gearbox unit 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsAAOW6WlC4
Replacing worn-out steering parts is pretty easy and makes a big difference is driving experience especially if it cured wandering and/or clunking.
Car is completely dead. Cranks and cranks but will not start. Check all the filters, check all the plug wires, check the distributor, check the air filter, check the fuses...still won't start. Wife says "Did you put gas in it?"
Slap head. Pour in gas. Fires right up. Best fix ever.
ebonyandivory wrote:
Replacing worn-out steering parts is pretty easy and makes a big difference is driving experience especially if it cured wandering and/or clunking.
Agreed. Although one time I had to replace the end links on my wife's CRV. It was when I first got into seriously wrenching on cars and not just changing oil. The end links would not come off. Everything was rusted and stripped. Had to cut them off with a hacksaw in the apartment parking lot. That was not a fun day.
Snow storm. Windshield keeps going blind from road salt/dirt thrown from other cars. The pisser is blocked or frozen. I have no tools, no pin to poke in there... nada. I bit a fingernail off and used it to clean out the opening.
berkeley you McGuyver. I rule.
Located, removed, cleaned, put back all of the grounds on the 911. All of the electrical 'issues' went away. It's always satisfying to fix a Porsche for $0.
Washer nozzles. neon #2 had led nozzles from the PO. This was an issue as the input was at a different angle from stock and it kinked the line with the hood closed. On one of my many trips to the U-pull-it for this car, I grabbed a pair of stock nozzles and now I had a clean windshield.
In reply to mazdeuce:
This also works for late model Chevy trucks although the results are not as satisfying.
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
I need to take apart my window switches to polish them for the third time in 130k miles. Stupid truck.
Also on a focus, the hvac only worked on 4 I think or whatever, dropped the glove box put in relay obtained from Internet that was 20$ cheaper than local dealer, boom 5 minutes, fixed. It also blows my mind bore the Internet I would have had to take it to a garage for that, bc I would have had no clue
Blower relay in the suburban was acting up and wouldn't change the fan speed from the lowest setting or blender away from feet.
Smacked the dash really hard with my hand and everything works perfectly now (over a year, knock on wood). Fonzi fix FTW!!
pinchvalve wrote:
Car is completely dead. Cranks and cranks but will not start. Check all the filters, check all the plug wires, check the distributor, check the air filter, check the fuses...still won't start. Wife says "Did you put gas in it?"
Slap head. Pour in gas. Fires right up. Best fix ever.
That's how I bought a motorcycle cheap once. Guys couldn't get it started. I bought it cheap, cleaned carbs, replaced battery and added gas. Ran great with gas in it.
^^^Karl Childers in Sling Blade. "Ant got no gas in it" always helps to check the obvious things first.
I was preparing to spend up to $100 to have my power steering fixed and finally realized it was the belt.
My DD Nissan truck was running like E36 M3 and it wa too cold to look. Finally I found the coolant sensor connector had come off.
I get a perverse pleasure from doing things opposite of some of you guys. Example: Toggles in my Swift GTi to "fix" the headlight switch that always seemed to go bad on them.Never had another problem. Ditto the crappy ignition switch. Turned into a fool-proof starter button. I realize this makes me a kind of idiot, but stuff the average person can't operate makes me smile. It's MY car. I don't want other people to know how to operate everything intuitively. Cue hand crank winsheild wiper (singular) and welded shut doors on my Bugeye project. Now that I think of it, I blame MacGuyver and the Dukes of Hazzard.
ScreaminE wrote:
That seem to provide the most satisfaction when working on a project car. I've been doing some serious maintenance on my 2002 Focus SVT. One of the things I noticed when driving the car is that the wipers won't "park." Basically when you turn off the wipers, they stay where they are and do not go back down.
$10 relay, removed a few dash pieces and bam. Wipers park. Something so annoying had such an easy fix. The car has 200k miles and I'm betting it's been like this for a long time.
What's your favorite "easy" fix?
That just happened to my SVT, then it fixed itself. I suspect I will have to replace that wiper relay at some point. How tricky was it getting behind the fusebox?
To answer you question, my best repair was last week getting a new passenger motor mount on the SVT. My god this car is so quiet now at startup I wish I had done it a year ago. Who would have thought a worn but not broken motor mount would affect noise levels so much?
Went outside last Saturday AM to kiss the girlfriend goodbye and noticed that when she left there was a sizable and fresh puddle of oil under my truck. Didnt say anything, hitched a ride to the gym meanwhile stressing about it the whole time.
Got home, researched all the potential places for leaks on a 7.3 Powerstroke, called around town to find O-Rings if it came down to that, went outside, started on the bottom, oil filter has big drip on it, dry housing. Tightened oil filter. Problem solved.
Not a car, however, on a walk in the woods at the end of a fire trail I found a riding lawn mower (Mustang Mowett built in the 60s and 70s) upside down in the brush. Been there for years, went home, loaded tools into winter prepped Echo, went back, removed blade and deck, hood and steering wheel, loaded it into Echo. Next day, no spark, cleaned and adjusted points and magneto, cleaned and adjusted carb, added fuel, fired on second pull. Reassembled and drove it around. Just sold it!
My Jeep Cherokee starts every morning and shows 15-20 pounds of oil pressure on the gauge. It then drops slowly until it hovers just above 0. Revving the engine temporarily brings the pressure up to about 4 psi.
I replaced the oil pressure sender. Now the gauge shows 40psi+. I don't have to rebuild the engine afterall! I fix my whole engine with a $20 part! 
I've told this story on here before but here it is anyway:
I was moving myself from Columbus OH to Southern California in a Saturn Vue towing a U-Haul. I was maybe 20 miles outside of Columbus, turned on the right blinker, watched it blink really fast, then smoke came out of the steering column. Stopped, pulled the breaker, and took it to a nearby dealer to get a diagnosis. Dealer states (after 2 hours) it's the ECM it'll cost 800+ dollars and they have none as they can only be purchased remanned.
I left the breaker out and drove the car across the country with no blinkers. Around 8 months later when I finally had some money I bought a wiring diagram for the car and traced the wires out. Only one wire lead between the ECM and the stalk on the steering column (which was non functional) and smoke came from the column where the ECM wasn't. So using some basic deductive reasoning I figured I'd take a risk on buying a new stalk to see if that fixed the issue. Of course it did, so I saved roughly 800 dollars and fixed it in 20 minutes after paying some yahoo to diagnose the car A) Wrong B) to the tune of 200 dollars.
So if anyone wonders why I distrust dealer service departments. Well there it is. Yea it felt good to fix it too.
mazdeuce wrote:
Located, removed, cleaned, put back all of the grounds on the 911. All of the electrical 'issues' went away. It's always satisfying to fix a Porsche for $0.
Remove disassemble DME. resolder every connection. Clean boards with dawn dishwasing liquid and hot water and baking soda and a tooth brush. Air dry with heat gun. Engine hesitations gone. Cold start issues gone. More power and smother idle.
