The community repair thread

Kittyfrisk

normula1 said:

I had a HP Laserjet from 2000 until last year with bits of paper lodged in various sensors and a big notice written in sharpie to power off before lifting the lid as I'd wedged the laser open.... All the plastics had started to fail.

Your dedication to maintaining the old HP LJ is admirable, but close to an exercise in turd polishing 

boogieman

Emp_Fab said:

Well, after the success of the alternator, I went shopping to Tescos (about a 15 minute drive).  When I got out of the car there was a strong smell of burning brake material.  The rear right wheel was too hot to touch.  Bugger.  Stuck caliper.  I managed to get it to back off a fraction with brute force from a screwdriver and did my shopping.  By the time I came out, it had all cooled down, but now I had to try to make it back home without touching the brakes as I was 99% sure that the instant that piston moved, it was going to stay put and overheat again.

I'm very pleased to say I managed it !  Using a combination of engine braking and anticipation at junctions, I got all the way home without touching the brake pedal until I pulled up outside my house.

I spent an hour or so tackling it this afternoon.  I was going to photograph it all but I was getting eaten alive by bloody mosquitos.  I must have killed about 20 of the buggers and it didn't do much for my temper so I wasn't in the best of moods.
Basically, the caliper needs cleaning out and rebuilding with new seals etc.  A rebuild kit is about £15, but a complete new caliper is only £30, so fuck rebuilding it.  It'll be an hour of shitty dirty work when for another £15 I can just slap a nice shiny clean one on.

Once I've replaced the front pads and put the new caliper on the rear, it'll be good to go for a while.  At least it'll be able to stop !

So now you’ve done all that there’ll be no new car for another year or so I’m guessing? 

normula1

Kittyfrisk said:

normula1 said:

I had a HP Laserjet from 2000 until last year with bits of paper lodged in various sensors and a big notice written in sharpie to power off before lifting the lid as I'd wedged the laser open.... All the plastics had started to fail.

Your dedication to maintaining the old HP LJ is admirable, but close to an exercise in turd polishing 

Absolutely a case of turd polishing, but for the amount of printng I do and the fact the toner cartridge was good for 15 thousand copies I couldn't bring myself to take it to the dump. I only got rid of it as I was testing a hulking great all-in-one inkjet for work that it wouldn't fit in my office anymore and I kept tripping over it in the garage

I did consider getting replacement plastics but on the grounds they would be of a similar vintage and also be breaking down I left it in its bodged state

Emp_Fab

boogieman said:

Emp_Fab said:

Well, after the success of the alternator, I went shopping to Tescos (about a 15 minute drive).  When I got out of the car there was a strong smell of burning brake material.  The rear right wheel was too hot to touch.  Bugger.  Stuck caliper.  I managed to get it to back off a fraction with brute force from a screwdriver and did my shopping.  By the time I came out, it had all cooled down, but now I had to try to make it back home without touching the brakes as I was 99% sure that the instant that piston moved, it was going to stay put and overheat again.

I'm very pleased to say I managed it !  Using a combination of engine braking and anticipation at junctions, I got all the way home without touching the brake pedal until I pulled up outside my house.

I spent an hour or so tackling it this afternoon.  I was going to photograph it all but I was getting eaten alive by bloody mosquitos.  I must have killed about 20 of the buggers and it didn't do much for my temper so I wasn't in the best of moods.
Basically, the caliper needs cleaning out and rebuilding with new seals etc.  A rebuild kit is about £15, but a complete new caliper is only £30, so fuck rebuilding it.  It'll be an hour of shitty dirty work when for another £15 I can just slap a nice shiny clean one on.

Once I've replaced the front pads and put the new caliper on the rear, it'll be good to go for a while.  At least it'll be able to stop !

So now you’ve done all that there’ll be no new car for another year or so I’m guessing? 

I dunno....   it still looks like it's done half a dozen 'demolition derby' races.  It still works though....  If I was to continue with the repairs, (presuming I had a go at bashing out the dents), it would need both front shocks and top mounts doing next.  It would then be mechanically sound.  I had a look at my savings account recently and started wondering whether a replacement car is really an essential purchase.

boogieman

Emp_Fab said:

boogieman said:

Emp_Fab said:

Well, after the success of the alternator, I went shopping to Tescos (about a 15 minute drive).  When I got out of the car there was a strong smell of burning brake material.  The rear right wheel was too hot to touch.  Bugger.  Stuck caliper.  I managed to get it to back off a fraction with brute force from a screwdriver and did my shopping.  By the time I came out, it had all cooled down, but now I had to try to make it back home without touching the brakes as I was 99% sure that the instant that piston moved, it was going to stay put and overheat again.

I'm very pleased to say I managed it !  Using a combination of engine braking and anticipation at junctions, I got all the way home without touching the brake pedal until I pulled up outside my house.

I spent an hour or so tackling it this afternoon.  I was going to photograph it all but I was getting eaten alive by bloody mosquitos.  I must have killed about 20 of the buggers and it didn't do much for my temper so I wasn't in the best of moods.
Basically, the caliper needs cleaning out and rebuilding with new seals etc.  A rebuild kit is about £15, but a complete new caliper is only £30, so fuck rebuilding it.  It'll be an hour of shitty dirty work when for another £15 I can just slap a nice shiny clean one on.

Once I've replaced the front pads and put the new caliper on the rear, it'll be good to go for a while.  At least it'll be able to stop !

So now you’ve done all that there’ll be no new car for another year or so I’m guessing? 

I dunno....   it still looks like it's done half a dozen 'demolition derby' races.  It still works though....  If I was to continue with the repairs, (presuming I had a go at bashing out the dents), it would need both front shocks and top mounts doing next.  It would then be mechanically sound.  I had a look at my savings account recently and started wondering whether a replacement car is really an essential purchase.

That’s always the conundrum…do you keep throwing money at an old bucket of nails, because you’ve already poured so much into it? Or cut your losses (and buy a Yeti ). 

paulnb57

boogieman said:

Emp_Fab said:

boogieman said:

Emp_Fab said:

Well, after the success of the alternator, I went shopping to Tescos (about a 15 minute drive).  When I got out of the car there was a strong smell of burning brake material.  The rear right wheel was too hot to touch.  Bugger.  Stuck caliper.  I managed to get it to back off a fraction with brute force from a screwdriver and did my shopping.  By the time I came out, it had all cooled down, but now I had to try to make it back home without touching the brakes as I was 99% sure that the instant that piston moved, it was going to stay put and overheat again.

I'm very pleased to say I managed it !  Using a combination of engine braking and anticipation at junctions, I got all the way home without touching the brake pedal until I pulled up outside my house.

I spent an hour or so tackling it this afternoon.  I was going to photograph it all but I was getting eaten alive by bloody mosquitos.  I must have killed about 20 of the buggers and it didn't do much for my temper so I wasn't in the best of moods.
Basically, the caliper needs cleaning out and rebuilding with new seals etc.  A rebuild kit is about £15, but a complete new caliper is only £30, so fuck rebuilding it.  It'll be an hour of shitty dirty work when for another £15 I can just slap a nice shiny clean one on.

Once I've replaced the front pads and put the new caliper on the rear, it'll be good to go for a while.  At least it'll be able to stop !

So now you’ve done all that there’ll be no new car for another year or so I’m guessing? 

I dunno....   it still looks like it's done half a dozen 'demolition derby' races.  It still works though....  If I was to continue with the repairs, (presuming I had a go at bashing out the dents), it would need both front shocks and top mounts doing next.  It would then be mechanically sound.  I had a look at my savings account recently and started wondering whether a replacement car is really an essential purchase.

That’s always the conundrum…do you keep throwing money at an old bucket of nails, because you’ve already poured so much into it? Or cut your losses (and buy a Yeti ). 

Buy a Yeti
Weve got a Yeti 4x4 fabulous car!

vasselmeyer

Please don't derail this really useful thread with Emp's new car shenanigans. Let's leave it for now. 

Emp_Fab

I agree.

Emp_Fab

But....   I took a few pics of the brake pad replacement I did this afternoon....   Not quite up to the standard of some of the other repairs here but still.....

Started off with loosening the wheel nuts (ignore the filthy wheel !)




Then get it up on the jack...



Wheel off....   That strut is leaking badly....  that'll be next to get fixed...



Two bolts hold the caliper to the carrier....  Off with them, pull the caliper away and pull the old pads out....

Emp_Fab

It would appear I got there just in time....  there was about a fag-paper's thickness of pad material left !!



Compared with a new one !!




Check the brake fluid level in the reservoir as it's about to go up




Here's the caliper with the piston mostly extended....  this needs to be pushed back in to make room for the new, thicker pads.  Doing this will push brake fluid back up into the reservoir and I need to make sure it doesn't overflow...




The easiest way to push the piston back in is with a caliper wind-back tool...

Emp_Fab

Using the tool to push the piston back inside the caliper... 








Meanwhile, plonk the new pads into the carrier...




Refit the caliper and bolt it back on with new bolts that came with the pads...




Refit the wheel.... then go around the other side and do it all again....

Keefy

In the days when I used to replace my own brake pads, a caliper wind-back tool was known as a ‘piece of wood’.

boogieman

Keefy said:

In the days when I used to replace my own brake pads, a caliper wind-back tool was known as a ‘piece of wood’.

Agreed, although I always used a g-clamp and a bit of wood. Trouble is a lot of pistons nowadays are threaded and wind out (and back in) so you can’t just force them back into the caliper with leverage. If the car has an electronic parking brake working on the rear disc it’s even more fun .. you have to find a solution to running the electric motor backwards to get it to back off before you can replace the brake pads. Sometimes it’s fairly easy, like just pressing the parking brake button and some dash buttons in the right sequence, other times it can be really complicated and a right pain in the arse. 

Emp_Fab

Yeah, I had to buy the wind-back kit because the rear calipers are the integrated handbrake type and need screwing and pushing.  The fronts are normal calipers but I had the right tool so... !

BillDL

Great job @Emp_Fab   I'm really glad you are now fit enough to undertake jobs like this again.

Emp_Fab

Thanks Bill!  I can't say I really enjoy it much to be honest but that's the problem with knowing how to fix something yourself - you're loathe to pay someone else to do it, because you don't need to.

midiman1962

 Just had a look at this lighting controller which has had a channel not working for at least 10 years . Dry joints seem to be the issue but how to fix - looking for advice on how to remove the large red components to enable a re-solder ?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lqWIp3xYEHSXJdmYuieUauZJMn7Jra7i/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CLPmqnu2GiEKa_9-i5SHoEV4LqExQcbM/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bVtjShNRi2MyLKcJiHiMqhexSBJSLTeM/view?usp=drivesdk

Keefy

midiman1962 said:

 Just had a look at this lighting controller which has had a channel not working for at least 10 years . Dry joints seem to be the issue but how to fix - looking for advice on how to remove the large red components to enable a re-solder ?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lqWIp3xYEHSXJdmYuieUauZJMn7Jra7i/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CLPmqnu2GiEKa_9-i5SHoEV4LqExQcbM/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bVtjShNRi2MyLKcJiHiMqhexSBJSLTeM/view?usp=drivesdk

You don’t need to remove the component.- Add some new solder to the joint to encourage it to flow, then remove with a solder sucker or de-soldering braid.
- Apply some flux to component pins and PCB pads.
- Heat both sides of the joint with a wetted iron and run in fresh solder.

Emp_Fab

Well, I've decided to replace the front shocks and rear springs on the Civic.  I've ordered the parts....  Let's see how my repair goes (to be documented).

Neilybob

My Makita drill has stopped drilling. The motor still makes noise when the button is pressed but the bit doesn't spin. Anyone has this issue before? 

I probably need to open it up and take a look inside.