At 40 yrs.old now, my 1st DIY at 16 was to help my Dad save $ by doing waterpump replacement for him on his Lincoln.
Me and a friend did it all night one night, gettin' silly listening to Gloria, by whatshername, then had several bolts left over after.
It seemed to work fine, and nothing else came loose or didn't work, so we did save him at least $200.
Replaced ignition cylinder in 280ZX column once in middle of frozen winter in Dallas. Snow on the ground, car parked on street cuz key was
so worn it wouldn't unlock cylinder and turn, allowing me to go to work, worklight wired 100 ft. across lawn. It's like 30 degrees, I'm in
big-ass coat, drilling out pin in cylinder. Replace new, $12.00 cylinder. Car starts right up. YEAH !!! Then go to test drive, pull off curb,
and steering wheel locks into place. I'd put cylinder in 180 degrees wrong(upside-down), so steering wheel was locked only when car was running.
Had to do whole thing over again.
Later, I replaced leaky fuel injectors on my 280ZX. Pools of gas were collecting on top of the manifold. So I carried a fire extinguisher around
for awhile. Bought new injectors and rubber grommets(washers), then proceeded, marking everything as I went, unlike 1st DIY. Car has
overhead, metal fuel lines, which have to be cranked back after MANY bolts, so that wuz fun. Replaced injectors, started her up, and it still leaked!
WTF......I hadn't put in new rubber washers. Had to do the whole thing over again. In 1/2 the time, tho.
Friend was putting Pioneer SuperTuner in his auto during lunch break at work. Said it wasn't working after installation, could I take a look.
He said the in-line fuse kept blowing, so he just put a piece of foil in there instead. New radio....now trash.
AND THE PIECE DE' RESISTANCE - (scariest) - Stopped for gas on my lunch break in current love, 92 Teg RS. Put $10.00 in, then drove away.
But car just sputtered, and ran worse with acceleration? Idling was only luck, so at 3 mph, I returned to station. Barely made it up incline,
needing the one shot to do it across oncoming traffic. Examining situation, seems I'd grabbed the diesel handle by mistake, right next to the
unleaded ones (same bank). Called dealership, and told them about dumbass friend, and asked what would happen if so-and-so had happened.
After polite chuckle, guy explains how diesel explodes under pressure, and how it could be bad. I'm almost cryin' now.
Says I should be able to drain diesel through drain plug on bottom of tank (excellent device), then run perhaps some
Super Unleaded through there, maybe flush system later, and it could be fine....no telling. So in broad daylight, I pushed car over rain grate in
their lot, and drained that muther. Pushed back, put only $3 I had in there, and after lengthy start, and 5 min. of sputtering, car ran fine. Flushed
and changed fuel filter later, and all was/is great, 6 years now. Even made it back to work on time. Sometimes learning the hard way is best. Many other DIY's, and I'm at least $2000 ahead on labor charges. Cool.
