How did the repair go? Good? Bad? Tell us!

[Mr. Fix-it]

Wulf,
Thanks for the reply and the information. Today I made a few more phone calls, one to the Saab dealer $9.80; I felt that that was just a scouch high. I called a fairly popular place with most of the DIYers Meyers Auto Parts and he about blew my doors off. His price is $.39 each. At 39 cents I figured that if it is possible I will find a way to screw up just one, so I bought 2, and a couple of 14mm at 38 cents each, for the up comming oil changes. So if you need them, I'll be happy to furnish their phone number and they can ship them out.

By the way, it seems that it was suggested that one should warm up the auto before changing the ATF. Is there a reason other than the chalange of not getting burned by the hot oil.

[Shazam]

By the way, it seems that it was suggested that one should warm up the auto before changing the ATF. Is there a reason other than the chalange of not getting burned by the hot oil.

I think it's more that if there is any particulate in the ATF, it will become suspended in the fluid rather than settled at the bottom (in spots it won't drain) like when it is cold. I don't think it's caused because of the heat, but because it's been moving around mixing everything up, and you know it's been moving around quite a bit once it's hot.

[Mr. Fix-it]

That makes sense to an extent. As I said, I am chicken as I do seem to get injurred easily, therefore I tend to be a little causious, I'll give her a spin around the block this morning, then I will tickle her belly with my spanner and watch the dark flluid rush out. This will be change number two and who knows, maybe I will have an opportunity to do number three in the PM.

I am sure that you guys must be envious, because I can lay out in my garage under my auto with it being over 100 degrees and hardly raise a swet. Today it only got up to 106 degrees with between 8 and 14% humidity.

Tonight the temp has dropped to 96 degrees due to 25 mile per hr winds.

Got the Stickers today, they are Great.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[J-Rod]

I forgot all about this repair...a few years back, I had my Mustang at my grandpa's garage doing a brake job on. First of all, the front brakes were seized (car was dragged on and off a truck) so I had to use a torch to cut off the drums. I only had about two hours a day to work on the car, and I had never done a brake job before, so after three days I had the old brakes, all the lines, and master cylinder off the car.

My grandpa is the kind of guy that says the best way to learn how to do something is to do it. He told me to make sure I noted what everything looked like before I took it off, because he wasn't going to tell me how to do it.

I was converting the car to power brakes, and I got the booster, master cylinder, and lines on all right (so I thought) and started replacing all the brake assemblies at each wheel, starting at the back. After probably a week of on-off work on them I got the rear assemblies done. I brought my grandpa over to inspect my work (I thought I was showing off that I had done it). When he came over to the car, he had already known what I did wrong, he just pointed to the brake assembly, and said "You sure that's right?" trying to hold back laughter. I studied it for minute and finally realized what I had done wrong. I put everything on backwards. When he saw that I knew what I did he busted out laughing, and so did I.

So, I took everything off again, and put it all back on the right way, and did the front brakes

Part two of the story: After everything checked out it was time to take the car outside and clean the motor. Before pulling it out, my grandpa asked if I made sure all the lines were tight and connected, and I said yes. When I started to pull the car out, I was having a hard time heaving the thing to the right (no power steering) to avoid a Jeep parked in the garage, so I gave it some gas, attempting to lift the front end so I could turn, but I gave a bit too much and I was rolling straight at the Jeep. I pressed down on the brake pedal....and nothing happened. No brakes. I freaked out and jammed the car into park, about a foot from the Jeep.

Apparently, I didn't tighten one of line from the master cylinder and it blew off when hit the brakes. Lesson learned, and now I always make sure everything if fully tightened before I move the car.

Cliff notes: first brake job, put the rear brakes on backwards, grandpa laughs at me, had to redo rear brakes, forgot to tighten brake line, almost hit a Jeep.

[nordwulf]

I replaced the thermostat and coolant temp sensor on my 9-5 last night. One of my least favorite jobs so far..

The thermostat is actually not in a difficult place to access because it is near the top of the engine facing the firewall. There are many wires, hoses, connectors and brackets that make it difficult to access with any wrenches or sockets. And it is difficult to access with your hands as well. So a job that looks easy in the WIS takes a few hours to complete.

And I lost the new gasket when I put the new thermostat in place so I had to use the old one. Hope it will hold up and doesn't start to leak.

As Jeremy would say "How hard can it be".....? Just a few bolts. right...

[rpiereck]

I have loads of stories of "quick" repairs that went into the night with frustration, skinned knuckles and drunk guys just having fun taking a pick at each other's mechanical inadequacies, but most of those stories are from my time in Alaska and involve us working on Jeeps. My Saabs have been very reliable (so far! Knock on wood!), so not much time has been spent wrenching on them...

Two occasions however come to mind. The first was the time when I installed new shocks, bushings and springs on my NG900. I was doing it at the auto craft shop oin the military base I work at. You can rent a lift bay for $8 an hour, and use all the tools. They open ten hours a day and I imagined ten hours would be more than enough time to do everything, but boy was I wrong! Being that it was the first time I was doing struts it took me a while, specially the first one. I was also trying to do it all alone... By the seventh hour I realized I had too much of my car apart and not enough hours to put it back together. I managed to call two friends who were sober on a Saturday afternoon and they came over, and in two and a half hours the two extra sets of hands, eyes and brains really helped me. Thanks to them I managed to finish the car a few minutes they closed the place. If I would have to leave my car there overnight they would have changed me $30 for the night and I would have to bum a ride home and back!

The second time was a few weeks back when my NG900 got a Check Engine Light for a defective engine coolant sensor. I bought the part, read through the WIS, and much like Frank's thermostat it was a case of "how hard can it be?" Obviously not hard at all! Disconnect an electrical connector, unscrew the old sensor, screw in the new sensor. Since it's coolant some of it will come out, but according to most accounts on the internet you can do a quick swap from old to new and only a minimum amount of coolant will come out. Well, I even waited half an hour for the engine to cool so I wouldn't burn my hands in boiling coolant... and I didn't wait enough! That was mistake #1. As soon as the old sensor came out I was doused with a very warm and very large stream of green coolant. It just flowed, and flowed, and flowed. Mistake #2 was not depressurizing the system. Even when the coolant is just warm (maybe 100-some degrees) it's under pressure. Dummy here forgot that, and in the process I had a puddle of green stuff on the garage floor. Mistake #3 was not buying coolant. I figured I'd just top off what little would leak with water. That was wishful thinking. By the time I got the new sensor in I was tasting coolant in my tongue and my expansion tank and probably most of my radiator was empty. Live and learn. Next time allow 1 hour for cool down before opening the cooling system, remember to depressurize, and bring extra coolant!

[nordwulf]

And I lost the new gasket when I put the new thermostat in place so I had to use the old one. Hope it will hold up and doesn't start to leak.

Well.. I filled my cooling system with fresh coolant the other day and I smell that certain burned coolant smell under the hood. I really wanted to ignore it but you know what you have to do.. I put a paper towel under the thermostat housing (almost burned my hand..) and it was wet and orange. So... I need to order a $1.50 part, pay $8.50 shipping and do this damn repair all over again. Just because I was getting tired of fiddling with the thermostat and wanted to hurry and finish it. That's when you start making mistakes which can cost even more time.

Ah well, it'll be the the third time taking off the thermostat housing (once on a previous 9-5) so more experience, right?

[Shazam]

In the middle of new calipers and rotors and some of the brake lines. Everything has gone smoothly, but getting that bubble flare on the end of the brake line is a pain in the ass. Wanted to rent the tool from Autozone or Advance, but neither had it for rent so I had to buy one. $35.00 later and the tool sucks. Going to return it tomorrow.