Minor Win thread - Life is good!

In reply to Sonic :

I don't understand how "normal" people manage.

I replaced the condensate pump on my furnace last week. $70 plus an hour of my time. 

In reply to ShawnG :

It's the diagnosis that trips me up.

2018 Honda Pilot (70k miles) triggers CEL and my HF $100 OBD II reader points to a catalytic converter problem.  I toss in new O2 sensors and spark plugs - light stays off, no back on, turns itself off then back on. 

Honda sends recall for a new fuel pump - says it can trigger CEL so in it goes to the dealer.

They replace fuel pump and run diagnosis on CEL.  "Fuel Injector #2 is weak causing CAT to work harder thus triggering CEL.  We gonna replace all 6 injectors under warranty"  Sounds great - I'll grab some more Starbucks coffee from your waiting room. 

I was challenged on this one. 

In reply to Sonic :

It's handy being handy. Not everyone has tools, or even a basic understanding of mechanics, let alone electronics.

Our house has electric resistance heat with an air handler in the attic. It's tight up there, poorly lit, dirty, and generally not a pleasant place to be. Bob and Kathy Homeowner aren't going to get up there if it poops the bed. They'll reset the breaker a couple of times and then take out a HELOC for a new heat pump. As I should, and would, if I wasn't such a majestic tightwad.

Minor win: Mrs Monohue made some major progress moving earth in preparation for her spring garden. Of course, now she's sore enough to be rendered immobile and responsibility  for the child will fall to me all weekend, again.

I may be in the wrong thread.

Sonic said:

The gas furnace wasn't coming on yesterday when we got home after dinner out.  58 degrees inside.  Error code E2, low pressure switch.  Checked some stuff, found the exhaust fan wasn't turning well, motor was hot.  Took fan off, took it all apart, cleaned everything and found a mostly sized bearing on the fan shaft.  Soaked in oils and got it free, lubed them both, all back together and reinstalled, cleaned the contacts on the low pressure switch, and everything works.  New parts are on order as the fan is a temp fix, but at least we have heat until then.  
 

Another example that is common to people here, fixing something on your own and saving the $1k in service fees for an emergency hvac call.  How do normal people go through life? 

Nicely done and extra points for ordering the parts right away.   I'm from the trades, my wife grew up in a home where they had to call for everything.  Over the years she's gotten in the habit of asking "How much would that have cost?"  It's an expensive world if you can't fix things for sure.

Must be furnace season.

Our gas (propane) furnace died recently, but we knew it was dying. The main culprit was the blower motor not starting without help, but it was 37 years young, and the firebox insulation was falling apart too. A new motor was $400, and a new furnace to match the new AC from last summer was only $1270 with the propane conversion kit. I ordered it, picked it up from the trucking company in the big blizzard a couple of weeks ago, and spent a couple evenings doing the conversion and collecting parts (it is about 11" shorter, so I had to build a platform). I planned on doing the swap on a Thursday evening, but didn't. Friday morning 6am it went down. I finger started the blower motor to get the temperature in the house up a little, but it screamed its last dying breath about 8:30. So I took the day off and did the swap. It was a lot more work than I anticipated, but it got done. Supporting the AC coil and ductwork while pulling/installing a furnace underneath it all was a challenge. No major hiccups, but the little 5a fuse popped when I tried to run it. Turns out you shouldn't connect the blue thermostat wire, even though the wiring instructions say you should. Oh well, a trip to the store and $1.86 later it was running. The house only got down to 58F, even though it was below 20 most of that time.

I figure I saved around $2-3K doing it myself.

ShawnG said:

In reply to Sonic :

I don't understand how "normal" people manage.

I think of that all the time. Country living is bad enough, add in automotive and I don't know how non mechanical people can afford to do it.

My win, Procrastination wins again! The highly rated wipers on my car barely lasted a year. I had some kicking around the shop, one fit the passenger side, driver's side was 2" short but I used it anyway, figuring I'd order the correct one. That was two weeks ago.

While walking through WM this morning I was drawn to the clearance section, and saw RainX wipers that were the correct size marked down to $4.50. I grabbed all 4, and since they scanned in incorrectly I got the first one free. I got 4 wipers for $12, so $3 a piece.

In reply to Sonic :

A few years ago our local HVAC company tried to charge me $1100 to replace a $100 retail draft inducer that was held on to the furnace with 4 screws and 1 spade connector...

...AFTER I had diagnosed the issue, removed the part, and found both the original and superseding part numbers, all before I even called them.  Not including the $175 service charge (which I do not have an problem with).

It would have been $1000 labor for literally 5 minutes work plus 5 minutes checking and cleanup.

Finally got my business Facetwit page together: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572843387708

It was 10 degrees out today and when I went to go to the store my door handle broke off the truck. Why the win? About an hour before that Mrs NYN and I had just agreed it was time to buy a new truck and verified the finance side of it. I guess it was a sign we made the right choice. 

ShawnG said:

In reply to Sonic :

I don't understand how "normal" people manage.g

We say that all the time around here.

Today I replaced a seal that was dripping water under the dishwasher. It had been dripping for years and my initial "fix" was a carefully positioned shallow plastic tub that held the drippage which then evaporated over a few days before the next cycle. Apparently the drip was increasing because the catch tub overflowed. 

Minor win 1: replacing $10 seal and tinnerman nut instead of replacing $500 DW.

Minor win 2: did repair in situ, in spite of recommendation to remove DW & flip upside down, saving hours of hassle after the corroded plumbing fittings break off.

Minor win 3: having the smarts to realize that the reason it leaked all these years is because Pedro installed the seal backwards, lip facing out. 

Went to do the 100k service on the wife's '17 Alltrack last weekend, and figured I'd at least look at the chain tensioner.  I know it came from the factory with the late-model tensioner that's somewhat less problem prone than the early one.

Turns out I wasn't the first guy in there, but I _was_ the first guy to get in there without using a pickaxe to to remove the inspection plug.

Turns out she's in pretty good shape.  Replacement time is 7 notches out, and it's only 1 notch out.

I found the zero-cost-to-fix reason the crank in my buddy's 1990 C4 ZR1 hit a stop in both directions:

see that shop rag peeking out the starter hole? It was loosely stuffed in the starter hole to keep things from falling in, when my buddy last worked on it. Ten years ago. Well, when turning engine by hand, it got snagged by flywheel teeth and dragged around, until it reached a gap it couldn't fit through, and it stopped the flywheel. He put it on the back burner, and there it sat until today. I'm so glad I kept asking questions and poking around instead of beginning the engine removal process.

This book was in my elementary school library and I read through it several times as an impressionable youth. I've had an active search going on eBay for a clean copy at a fair price and one finally appeared. This just showed up a few minutes ago.

Work gave me the option to go to  Hurricane, UT for a quick trip, it did not disappoint. Why do I not live out west?

I'm now certified for Polaris Slingshot as well!

For the record, I think three-wheeled vehicles are always a poor compromise but I'm happy to be paid to work on them.

So... umm... THIS happened...

Local advance auto is closing and has been marking stuff down (aggressively in some cases).  Last month I bought a starter for the Suburban for $10.  Today I dropped in to get my core charge back on it and since I'd just bought a Panther I figured I'd pick up anything they had left before the doors close on Tuesday.  All parts left are now 50 cents.  Starter, tie rods, pressure switch, and thermostat.   Each was 50 cents.   Ridiculous.

In reply to KyAllroad :

I'll check my local advance tomorrow. I know it's closing. I'll buy everything behind the counter at 50 cents apiece.

I have a Tuffy poly shovel I use for snow shoveling that I've owned for at least 15 years that has finally cracked.

I remember that they had a lifetime warranty so I messaged the company and now I have a new shovel incoming.

I'm loosing 6/10 of a pound a week since New Year's. Pretty easy. I'm at 172 now and the goal is 165. If that doesn't look good on this 64 year old frame, I'll keep going. I could weight 180 not too many years ago and have not an ounce of fat on me.

finally caught a milestone on camera

Back in November I started shedding weight at an unsustainable pace. Then we had Thanksgiving, then it got cold, then a birthday, then Christmas, then a birthday, and all kinds of effectively unavoidable indulgences along the way.  All that to say that I'm finally settled into a reasonable routine and am making slow progress, and yesterday marked 20 pounds lost.

Yesterday's annual skin check yielded no problematic moles.  Nothing needed sliced, diced, froze, or burned.  Looks like I get to live for at least another year.  

Watching people flail while they try to handle the job we did for years as a favor should not be funny to watch, but it is. All it took was one person being a dick (repeatedly) while standing in the way of us doing said job. Nobody else seemed to mind said dickish behavior since it wasn't their job. So now it is all their job. Today apparently there is a situation (I'm still on the group text chain) that they can't solve. I'm pretty sure I know what is causing the problem and could fix it pretty easy...but I'll just watch instead. FA...FO.

Yesterday I used my Speedy Rewards points to pay for a cup of coffee at my local Speedway. Young dude at register scans it and says "you're all set." Pretty normal exchange. Until I replied "berkeley yeah!" He goes into full King Diamond falsetto and belts out a "HAVE A NIIIIIIICE DAAAAAAAAAAY!" with both horns held to the sky. I walked out like did that really happen?.