Fixit Log

[jacob]

@Lemur - The thing that gets me with these things is that repairing old stuff is never as easy as the manual suggests. In that way it's like plumbing or electric work in an old house. Once you start taking one part off, you might end up having to replace everything since the whole system was held together by rust and corrosion---the bonds of history. Worse, original parts are likely hard to get, so the challenge is figuring out what kind of alternatives are suitable for the old system.

In this case, the Honda Fit does not use standard battery terminals. Instead it uses some proprietary distributor terminal (probably not the right word) that costs $60-100 to replace and is somehow hooked into the starter---the cable just disappears into the engine somewhere, I never figured out where. See exploded diagram here: https://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuine/h ... 6-000.html

The other aspect is when things are mission critical. I'm not sure how much patience DW has with me derping around at my usual "learn a topic from scratch pace". Since the car is 15 years old, the smart thing to do might be to buy a similar younger model and use the older one for parts and experiments.

My real problem likely is that I don't think cars are cool. However, despite being together with DW for 20 years now, I've never managed to talk her out of having a car.

[Lemur]

I’n familiar with those cables. I had a Nissan Maxima when I lived in Guam and those terminals rusted all the time due to the humid and rainy environment. I had a wire brush handy and it was standard maintenance to keep the terminals cleaned. Usually performed at the same time as doing the oil change.

Also once had a 1981 Ford F-150 that lasted until about 600k miles. That car was basically on life support. Engine block literally blew up on the road. Fun while it lasted. Purchased for only $700, no major repairs, and I got a year out of it.

Occasionally older cars are easier to work on because they typically have larger engine bays, the engine components are less compacted, less sensors, and overall easier design. I always used www.Rockauto.com to find older parts.

Best thing to do is find vehicles with reputations for easy designs and interchangeable parts between models. 90s Toyota Corollas are a good bet as well as 2000s Honda Civics. Never owned a Honda Fit…do have a 2012 Prius now that I have had since 2018 or so. I got that car for half the blue book value at the time simply because it had an incident of being t-boned once…but since the damage was just the door and not the engine, I took a chance. Have only had one repair since and that one I was not confident enough to do on my own (rear axle replacement).

ETA: I have sometimes wondered about the tradeoff of getting a much newer vehicle with low mileage and keeping it alive for as long as possible versus a treadmill of used cars at 8-12 year old range. Tough to analyze even when considering depreciation schedules…newer vehicles have better safety features typically and usually more fuel efficient too. Not to mention not having to dig through junk yards for older car parts.

[zbigi]

ETA: I have sometimes wondered about the tradeoff of getting a much newer vehicle with low mileage and keeping it alive for as long as possible versus a treadmill of used cars at 8-12 year old range. Tough to analyze even when considering depreciation schedules…newer vehicles have better safety features typically and usually more fuel efficient too. Not to mention not having to dig through junk yards for older car parts.

That's my strategy. I bought a brand new Mitsubishi Lancer in 2013 and hadn't had a single failure so far (apart from battery dying from old age). It was only $15k at the time, and I hope to use it for the next 10-15 years. $15k amortized over 300 month (25 years) is just $50 a month, which can't be much more that going through several old clunkers over the same time period.

[Sclass]

Missed a few days. Glad you solved the car issues. I had terminal on my Accord corrode badly a few years ago. I bought one of the clamp on ends from the auto parts store and fixed it. The thing to understand about starting is the currents are so high that it doesn’t take much resistance on a bad connection to drop your voltage to nothing.

A voltmeter is a great way to trace these drops. Just start with the black probe on the negative side of the battery. Use the red to probe voltage from points at the positive side of the battery along to the circuit to the motor and then on to the negative side. While current is flowing - you may need a partner to crank the car. Copper wires and good connections should have no drop. The load (starter motor) should have a massive drop. It’s just simple physics. You want all your energy going to the motor.

This process solves 90% of electrical problems. And I estimate starting and battery related stuff to be half of all breakdowns. Once you get this down you have the majority of bugs under control.

[loutfard]

My wife recently bought an unused new in package blender thingie from the non-profit thrift store for 9€. It didn't work. I opened it up. I didn't have my multimeter around, but I had a box of Wago clamps.

I bridged power to the motor directly. That worked fine, so it was something to do with a switch or a sensor. Then I got lazy. I just rewired things internally to just use the one button we really needed. Fifteen minutes later, I made a banana milkshake with it.



P.S. Don't worry about this going wrong. I properly immobilised the power cord, and I put back the protective hood for the motor too.

[jesmine]

I did a few minor repairs on some shoes. Once the original stitches/thread start wearing and tearing, it's not long before the shoe becomes dysfunctional. I have a small awl and some thread. I wish I had a smaller needle to do the finer work. The brown shoe seam was only overlapped by 1/8 inch and the top side of leather was folded but also ripped from breaking apart, so that repair stitch looks like shit, but it will hold good. I picked up a small spool of waxed coated sinew from the local Amish harness shop. An awl is really just a needle with a handle to make it easy to push and pull. The awl I have has a channel cut into the length of the needle for the thicker threads to lie in so as to make it easier to push and pull.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/uz9J5Pntbh3VUTDP6
Below is the stitching method I used with some knots to terminate the stitch. I overlap the new stitch with the old to lock it in. I let the old thread get mixed in with the new stitching. It doesn't look as neat, but doesn't hurt any either.

[Sclass]

I love that sewing tool. Big money saver. I had a sewing post years ago here where I showed how to make one of those sewing awl needles out of a sewing needle and a piece of almond wood. It’s a slow process but it will save high value items like shoes, backpacks, purses and sporting goods.

[Frita]

Our toilet had been taking up to three minutes to flush with the flapper not wanting to seal. When I was cleaning the bowl, I noticed the syphon hole (term learned from toilet schematics) was completely blocked with mineral buildup. After scraping out a few tablespoons of mineral deposit, it flushes well again without flapper issues.

[Cam]

I might have stumbled upon a gem. Was scrolling through Kijiji recently and spotted a wine cooler in the "free stuff" section. The description said "needs a new start capacitor. All other components functional" I thought that's interesting. I googled it - turns out the thing is worth $1700 new.

https://rosehillwinecellars.com/product ... 9pEALw_wcB

I was confused. If the person knew exactly what fix it needed - why not do it? Especially because if he is techy enough to know how to diagnose the issue, he would know how cheap parts are. My best guess was that he just didn't have the time. People with $1700 wine coolers likely have lots of money and very little time

I recruited my brother to help me load it in my car. We went out yesterday morning, and I bought him some fancy donuts as a thank you for his help. I didn't want to go by myself, because one of my pet peeves with giving stuff away is when people come and then ask for helping moving something heavy/awkward...no thanks I am already giving something perfectly functional away and don't need to risk hurting myself in the process.

Anyways - we went out yesterday morning. I emptied out my car, and put the seats down. I threw more blankets and pillows in to cushion everything. We drove out, and arrived at his place. It was exactly as I had guessed. This guy was loaded (with money and/or debt) - big truck, big house, big shop etc. He said it needed that one part and it was good to go, but he just didn't have the time, plus he had three more of the same cooler already

I plugged it in today after the 24 hour period, and it seems exactly as he said. No power to the display or anything. The power cord is fine. The first thing it runs to is the start capacitor. Apparently it is just clipped in.

I don't need a wine chiller, so when I do get this fixed it's going up on Kijiji. I'm not sure how much to discount it yet. So far I am pretty excited though. Will post photos once I get my USB C cable down to my girlfriends (all photos are on my dumb phone).

[Sclass]

No power to the display or anything. The power cord is fine. The first thing it runs to is the start capacitor. Apparently it is just clipped in.

Not sure it’s the capacitor. The capacitor is likely used to start the compressor. If there is no display or lights I’d check for a fuse or circuit breaker. Perhaps a thermal fuse. Best to trace it out with a meter and see where the power is going (or not going).

ETA - ooh stopped by https://winecellr.ca/

I found their marketing nauseating. “Be Audacious. Live the moment.”

Yeah Cam I’d look at the power supply, fusing etc. before jumping into the start capacitor. I doubt the capacitor would take out the function of the electronics. Since the electronics likely governs the cycling of the compressor, no electronics means no start of the compressor. The fact there are no lights suggests the problem is in the DC power supply to the electronics. If you’re lucky it’s a bad connection or a burned fuse.

[Cam]

Thanks Sclass I'll have a look around. Good point about the electronics governing the cycling of the compressor. I'll take another look and upload some photos later.

I don't know if it's possible to truly live in the moment without knowing your wine is staying right at 8.5 C. Not knowing would weigh heavily on my conscience.