Mechanic's tidbits of advice
 

A recent post in Wayner's thread about getting a 928 (about the cut off switch in RKD 's 928) got me thinking about bits of advice I have gotten over the years about cars. THE most helpful piece of advice I got was from Mustang Bill, a guy who worked on Mustangs in Short Pump Va, long before the area became a big shopping mall.

One day, I took a high school friend's mustang in for advice. The heat didn't work. Mustang's Bill's words of wisdom were "Mustangs generally work. First thing to do is look for what the previous owner modified that screwed*** things up. Then, you will have found your solution.

In the case of my classmate's Mustang, the heater didn't work. Mustang Bill walked over to the car, and pointed to the aftermarket stereo. "That stereo is not original- look there first " he indicated with yoda like wisdom.

As a 16 year old, confused as to why a car stereo would mess up heating, I wiggled under the dash, where, sure enough, whoever installed the stereo had knocked the leads off the heat fan control knob.

Best piece of advice I have heard to date, and I use it on a daily basis for everything. I think there have been similar threads here on PPOT, but like a memory challenged old geezer, who's shared this many time before but can't remember, I wanted to share again for the sake of improving the world. You are welcome!:D

***screwed = "f#$%'d up"

I've told my two boys, from a very young age, that no matter what it is they have in front of them that does not work, look at the last thing they "fixed" first.

Sometimes, when fustrated, and nothing is working out correctly, just walk away. Go inside, wash your hands, sit down, have a drink, and most times the solution will come to you as an epiphany.......sometimes it takes coming back to the project the next day after sleeping on it.

I have had the most difficult,impossible situations seem simple the following day with a clear head.

If there's a new problem, look at where the last pair of hands have been - even if it was yours......

Had a new 2001 BoxsterS. After about a year and a half it didn't start on the first key turn. I thought a car only 1-1/2 years old should. Took it in and they replaced the MAF. That fixed the starting. But then it started voilently backfiring out the exhaust on deceleration. Violent enough that it blew the welds out of the muffler. Over another year and a half it took Porsche 3 sets of catalitic converters, two more mufflers, and an entire engine that threw a rod bearing and it still had the problem. Then they discovered they had replaced the MAF with the wrong one causing all the problems. The new engine did not include the MAF.

Frustrated me because I kept telling them the real problem started when they replaced the MAF. They even replaced it again. But instead of ordering the MAF that goes for that make, model, serial, they replaced it with the same wrong part number they took off.

Look for the easy stuff first.

Friend had a 1980 Mustang with the turbo 4-cylinder. Called me up, asked if I'd help trace down a turbo problem.
Popped the hood. Found a small-diameter hose that was partially broken at the nipple. Clip off the torn end, push it back on the nipple, and get to work.
Looking down, it's obvious the turbo controller must come out from the bottom. Get under the car, and it's obvious the turbo controller must come out the top. Grrrr..

After two hours, us two idiots had the turbo controller out. Now to figger out how it works.

Hmmm... A little vacuum hose attaches here. Where does the little vacuum hose go? trace it to the other end, and...... Yup. We fixed the problem in the first five minutes. Broken vacuum hose.

Lesson lernt. Sorta. I'm still an idiot pretty often.

If you're working on a 30+ year old car you can pretty much guarantee that during that car's life someone worked on it that had absolutely no clue what they were doing.

One of my previous employers (mechanic and shop owner) would ask mechanics applying for a job if they could do any tricks with their hand tools.

If they could, my old boss wouldn't hire them thinking that they spent too much time in the past screwing around instead of working....

With an electrical issue, cut the system in half so you know which half the issue is in.

I unplug harnesses until the problem circuit shuts off :) Quick and dirty.

rjp

:eek:

That's a good idea.

My mechanic told me if I hear a horrible noise while driving, I should shut off the engine and assess the situation. Works like a charm..but the gf isn't happy when I tell her to shut up. lol

Before you spin the wrench or haul on the ratchet handle, take good look at what your knuckles will encounter if you slip. Then change your hand position.

That and dont buy cheap tools.

So true, and great advice.

We see cars all the time where we need to undo what was previously done to hide problems, so then we can actually diagnose what the real issue is.

When was a teenager was visiting a friend. He had some sort of socket set. Just messing around and yakking about something had picked up the socket wrench with a socket on it and started spinning it around. Low and behold the neighbor across the street's garage door started opening and closing.

We rode our bikes around the neighborhood and at least two houses on each block the ratcheting socket wrench would open and close the door.

That's the only tool trick I know besides getting the broken thing on the car to work.

It is always easier to do it right the first time , than to do it again. It seems as if I have to re- teach myself this lesson periodically .

^^^ Wrench/socket trick. Weird.

I'm not a mechanic but the advice I give is "Change the oil often and don't thrash 'em when they're cold."

Advice I gave to my young niece "Buy a Toyota. Spend the extra cash and buy a really nice one. One that hasn't been messed about with. One that hasn't been owned by someone like me."

If you are working outside, especially if it is freezing cold, put a pan of old, gunky oil under the area where you are working. If you drop a nut, socket - any small item - will inevitably land in the goop, instead of getting lost in the grass/gravel/mud, etc.

The worse thing you can do to a car is not use it.