Lesson learned, don’t live in Florida

I volunteered to replace the serpentine belt tensioner on my wife’s Camry. It’s fairly accessible, the part’s pretty cheap, no specialty tools needed, I can get it done before lunch. She gets home and finds me with my head between my knees. I turned one of the two fastening bolts the wrong way and it snapped off in…

When working on my Porsche, I learned I needed the triple squares. Get a set that can be used with an impact wrench.

I get it, but it’s a safety issue down the line, and I could see liability arising if consumers aren’t properly warned. Forget the home mechanic, when Joe Shmo takes his 10 year old car to Pep Boys to get his brakes done, they aren’t going to know those bolts are torque to yield, and will probably treat them just like…

Yes, as I mentioned previously, I see that and will be getting that. The kit you can rent from O’Reilly’s did not have the appropriate orientation of the prongs.

It’s not a metal fatigue issue.

Those carrier bolts are torque to yield. That means you permanently stretch the bolt, this creates a more uniforming clamping load in the joint, and thus you can’t reach the same torque/clamp load reliably again with that fastener.

It’s a pain in the ass for the home wrench but as a…

I had to hunt down a tool truck. I literally drove around on a Friday afternoon (God I miss days off) trying to find a Snap On guy to find that 14mm XZN socket.

Then I had to use a 3/8ths breaker bar (which I bent) and my jack to finally bust that sucker free.

Life before I had a lift was hell, absolute hell.

I think you’re my long lost brother. That’s exactly how my adventure went. Thanks for that link. I’ll be buying that spreader at the very least when I go to do my Jetta (very soon). Everything else on my wife’s Tiguan is much simpler than my Jetta. She doesn’t have the bullshit…

What year Jetta did you work on? Fortunately I did replace the bolts. I replaced every part with new.

Either drum brakes or split rim wheels were designed for this exact purpose. I’m partially convinced that these two single inventions are responsible for workman’s comp legislation. Those, and the pneumatic nail gun.

Yeah - drum brakes...sigh. If they aren’t fishooking you they are shooting that ‘Jesus’ clip across the shop. We call it the Jesus clip because that’s what you’re shouting as it shoots past your ear to parts unknown.

We have a saying in my family - It’s not yours until it makes you bleed.

Indeed. I think the original idea was to sacrifice mechanics to them, but who can afford to buy a mechanic as a broke college student?

The whole point of brake system is to stop the car so you don’t die. However, the drum brake system is designed like a bear trap. Any attempt at touching it will kill you thereby defeating original purpose.

I did the same thing on an ‘04 Grand Prix. Fortunately after half an hour of trying to squeeze them with a clamp and putting a small tear in the rubber boot my dad came out and asked “are you sure it doesn’t twist in”?

Drum brake springs + pliers = blood streaming down face.

Ooh! This one just happened to me. I was replacing the lower control arm bushings on my LS-swapped BMW 318ti. I got them put in faster than I thought and was so excited to take it up the canyon to see the difference it made in the handling. I had two jack stands supporting the front of the car. I jacked up the left…

When I was about 26 in the mid aughts I had about $3.5K saved up to buy a car. I had never owned a classic, I ended up buying a 280ZX turbo with a blown head gasket and taking it to a shop to have a new turbo thrown in and the head gasket replaced. About $3K total, and I was on the road, but the car never really ran…

If your car doesn’t have at least 10% of your own blood inside it, it isn’t operating at peak efficiency.

I offered some guy from the internet my crapcan XJ for free if he would just haul it away. Instead, after driving half the day he showed up at my house, drank all my beer, and pissed off all my neighbors by wrenching on it in my driveway half the night. Then he crashed on my couch, covering it and my dog grease. In…