What are you working on today?

The body shop called
Project Milan is totaled
Apparently 2010-2011 Milan hoods/headlights are hard to come by, and discontinued by Ford
It needs $6500-$7500 worth of work, and NYS 75% threshold is $5800, assuming an ideal $7700 valuation
State Farm adjuster will come out Friday, and I'm gonna push for a higher valuation, considering the money I've put into it in the 14 months of ownership
If parts should turn up, possibly if I give them $2500 they can fix it and return it to us, we'll see what the story is
I'm quite upset 😭
View attachment 114949
I wish you the best. It doesn’t take much to total a car these days
 
Today is an easy job. I think I will take some old oil to the parts store and turn it in to the recycle bin. Then home to change oil on the truck. Just got back from road trip and miles are up on the previous oil. Had a great time.
 
Nothing major today. Throttle body on a Saab 9-3 with the Ecotec, all 4 tie rods and both adjusting sleeves on a Ford E350, a couple diag's, repaired a bad ground wire for the LF turn signal on a Caravan. All very blah. We are coming up on a holiday weekend, after all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: D60
Just changed the dif fluid on my 2010 Ford Crown Victoria P7B, 119k miles on the car and it looks like the department changed the fluid out at 60k something miles according to the paint pen writing on the cover, fluid came out very black but the magnetic fill plug had very little build up on it and internally everything looked to be in very good shape, I replaced the fluid with 2.5 qts of Amsoil Severe Gear 75w140 and 4oz of lube guard friction modifier won’t be back in there for at least 60-70k miles although according to Amsoil I should be good for at least 100k miles.
 
F150 2.7EB got an oil change and a walk-around before a road trip to help my eldest step daughter with some home repairs tomorrow. Spent more money than I cared to on some ryobi batteries. Hint- they are cheaper in kits than individually. Rough week at work, work-wise and people-wise. Oil change in the 80F sunset with a fan blowing to keep the bugs away may have been a high point for the week. it truly was a nice moment of quiet.

oh. Mobile 1 10-30 EP with motorcraft filter. Loving this M1 sale at Walmart. I bought 8 jugs for all of the anticipated changes.
 
Pretty proud of myself this week for changing the serpentine belt in my 09 Camry hybrid which has been making a squeal for the longest time (especially when the roads are wet) and recharged the AC system in my Odyssey. Belt seems very quiet, but we've had no rain (of course). My cars have always been dealer maintained, but during the pandemic, a Honda dealer error caused me to have a change of heart where I realized I could be saving money and learning something new with tools I mostly already had and knowing the work was actually done. For the tools I don't have, Husky or HF are fine for me. I live very close to several toyota dealers and have discovered the discounts that can be had if you order parts online versus just walk up to the counter.

Next learning opportunity...brakes...but hesitant to do so...because...well...they're brakes!!! If I don't do it properly, the car won't stop, LOL. I've realized this past 2 years how much I've learned with basic maintenance and how much money I could have saved by doing something I enjoy outside of my day job.

Have a safe weekend all!
 
Tried working with one of my new guys. I let the other ones work mostly by themselves and helped when needed. One guy I’m trying to work with one on one but he can’t grasp anything because he thinks he is above his level. He thinks since he is in school he knows everything. Like today I said this says they want a cabin filter too do you know how to replace one of those? Yeah he said then he opens the glovebox and just stares at it he said well what would you do next for some reason it’s not coming down. I said well look take the dampener off for one thing but also you have to squeeze the sides it’s not just going to fall down on it’s own. Showed him what to do he said that doesn’t make sense you would not compress the sides that could break it I think you need a screwdriver to pry down on it. I said no don’t get a screwdriver listen to me. Finally I had to do it and he was so shocked and confused. I’m trying to help him we all are it’s just he doesn’t want to listen and has the mentality he is above everyone. He got snippy with me about having to do an oil change and said I should let him do more I said dude you can’t change a cabin filter or wiper blade on your own why would I trust you with a big job? He did the same thing with a wiper it’s one of the beam blades you just press the little tab up top down and slide it off couldn’t grasp that either. I don’t think he is a bad kid just I think he is better suited back in the parts department. If he would listen and learn maybe he would be successful. He stands there until you instruct him on what to do as well like if you have an oil change to do he pulls the car in then gets out and waits for you to guide him. I also think the tools have a big influence on his attitude too, his dad was a tech for 28 years and had nothing but tool truck stuff and so he says his stuff is better than everyone else’s. I’ll work with him for a little bit longer after that I’m talking and seeing what we need to do with him.
 
Tried working with one of my new guys. I let the other ones work mostly by themselves and helped when needed. One guy I’m trying to work with one on one but he can’t grasp anything because he thinks he is above his level. He thinks since he is in school he knows everything. Like today I said this says they want a cabin filter too do you know how to replace one of those? Yeah he said then he opens the glovebox and just stares at it he said well what would you do next for some reason it’s not coming down. I said well look take the dampener off for one thing but also you have to squeeze the sides it’s not just going to fall down on it’s own. Showed him what to do he said that doesn’t make sense you would not compress the sides that could break it I think you need a screwdriver to pry down on it. I said no don’t get a screwdriver listen to me. Finally I had to do it and he was so shocked and confused. I’m trying to help him we all are it’s just he doesn’t want to listen and has the mentality he is above everyone. He got snippy with me about having to do an oil change and said I should let him do more I said dude you can’t change a cabin filter or wiper blade on your own why would I trust you with a big job? He did the same thing with a wiper it’s one of the beam blades you just press the little tab up top down and slide it off couldn’t grasp that either. I don’t think he is a bad kid just I think he is better suited back in the parts department. If he would listen and learn maybe he would be successful. He stands there until you instruct him on what to do as well like if you have an oil change to do he pulls the car in then gets out and waits for you to guide him. I also think the tools have a big influence on his attitude too, his dad was a tech for 28 years and had nothing but tool truck stuff and so he says his stuff is better than everyone else’s. I’ll work with him for a little bit longer after that I’m talking and seeing what we need to do with him.
What he needs is fired. No questions asked. Saw a lot of losers like him before. Just think: if he broke down on way to work he’d be royally screwed, and jobless.
 
Late afternoon into the night Hellwig 7697 front sway bar install on the 2001 Toyota Tundra and driver side steering rack boot replacement. After the rear sway bar install, wanted to upgrade the pencil thin front sway bar to a much beefer unit. Never test drove it yet but I bet it would make a huge improvement for this 21 year old truck.

F1046D69-693C-49C3-9C95-06BB64A1A1FD.jpeg
 
Thursday
2001 Ford F-150
Right front upper control arm assembly, right front lower ball joint, right front wheel hub

Friday
2007 Nissan Quest
Front sway bar links, right front CV axle, right side inner tie rod, oil change.

Last night installed a gen3 Beretta locking block kit on my Taurus PT92. Today I'll be doing some house cleaning if I can get my sleepy but woke up. 😴
 
Trying to fix transmission issues on my SHO, auto tranny. Removed valvebody to change few valves and shift solenoids. Hopefully this PITA job is worth the trouble because i have cursed for two days now :mad:🤬 (also my daily car in the background)
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20220903_140544732_MFNR.jpg
    IMG_20220903_140544732_MFNR.jpg
    150.5 KB · Views: 21
  • IMG_20220903_140552299_MFNR.jpg
    IMG_20220903_140552299_MFNR.jpg
    153.5 KB · Views: 21
My son 06 Corolla with 135k-oil change with valvoline HM 5w-30 and purolator one filter,Check brakes all 4 wheels,cabin filter and air filter checked not bad since I changed them last March. These for preparation for winter's.Battery checked clean post,check date 9/19 still good.
 
Had new gray carpet installed upstairs. I needed new floor thresholds to match the floor and carpet. Made these with a router table and table saw.

Stained then to match the laminate floor, the put a thin wash of weathered gray stain over that to blend the floor and carpet.
Will install with brass screws.
Just put on a third coat of poly.
IMG_20220903_191350001.jpg




IMG_20220903_191443455.jpg
IMG_20220903_191419392.jpg
 
Put new wiper blades on the Mazda B2200. Finally after I bought the wipers like 2 weeks ago lol. Wipe much better now. Just same ole Michelin conventional 18 inch blades. Never understood the point of high dollar wiper blades as long as they are name brand they are ok with me. Also checked the oil in the mowers and looked at my curb find tiller more closely since I hadn’t really had the chance too. It sure is heavy to push around lol.
 
Replaced the two belts on the Escape. Replaced the boys entire door, frame and all. I'm getting rather good at putting in doors but theirs only one left. Rest is all solid cores now. Started pulling the tank to replace the Dakotas fuel pump. Couldn't figure out the connectors so will finish tomorrow.

Yesterday assembled a Ikea full bed frame and night stand. That was a horrid experience. I'd like to think I'm not the dumbest rock on the planet but sure felt like it after that!
 
Intermittent failing of left rear turn signal and parking light on a 2005 s500. Mercedes does not run wires to every light, the tail light itself is both positive and a ground circuit board.

Look like water may have slowly corroded one socket on the tail light assembly. After closer inspection, what I found was a insect at the corroded connection. Beats me.
PXL_20220905_160640014.jpg


Cleaned the assembly with some deoxit, and replaced the bulb and it's holder.

PXL_20220905_160711720.jpg
PXL_20220905_160719706.jpg
 
Intermittent failing of left rear turn signal and parking light on a 2005 s500. Mercedes does not run wires to every light, the tail light itself is both positive and a ground circuit board.

Look like water may have slowly corroded one socket on the tail light assembly. After closer inspection, what I found was a insect at the corroded connection. Beats me.View attachment 115684

Cleaned the assembly with some deoxit, and replaced the bulb and it's holder.

View attachment 115685View attachment 115686
My old Type 43 Audi used something like a printed circuit at the taillights....always seemed unnecessary to me.
 
Back
Top