Are you a DIY guy? Google + DIY = saves $$

[kin0kin]

Personally I am a DIY freak. I do everything myself, whenever time permits. As much as I love to support the service industry, sometimes I don't trust people "fixing" my stuff...well, to a certain limit. I like to get things done with my own hands whenever possible. Many things seem to fixable with a little bit of google. My car started to squeal just last week when I start up for the first few mins..I popped opened the hood and propped a little and suspected that the alternator belt is the culprit. Googled, and sprayed a little WD40 when the belt is running, and just about once the wd40 hits the belt, the squealing stopped :cheesygri

Still have some rattling problem to fix in the dashboard...tearing the whole thing off and waiting for my new speakers so that I can tear the doors off too :lol:

[B0000rt]

Yeah, I spent 3 days once changing the LIM gasket on my Grand Am, man that was tiring.

[CheapScotsman]

I DIY as much as I can. Replaced the entire exhaust system in my civic, rewired the headlights, replaced the alternator, starter .... working towards the $50 paint job.

Trying persuade the wife to let me build an electric car from scratch but she is unconvinced .... I think I can sway her once I finish my DIY laser eye surgery kit.

[bobby5]

I try to do as much of anything up to 80000km-service myself. Anything above usually involves complex/expensive tools and extensive knowledge/experience.

[DaVibe]

I don't because I never have but it's not a bad idea between my father and I to figure this stuff out ... he's been the car fix guy, not me.
The internet is a beautiful resource though.

Side Note: Why isn't there a site like "Car Guys" or something where people (like a common message board) get together and solve all the problems the car may have themselves, using the dealership/getting it fixed as a last resort.
I'm sure that kinda thing must exist somewhere, anyone know of any?

[jason9945]

Wait... you put wd-40 on the belt?

That seems like a really really bad idea. Petrolium based lube on a rubber belt. Maybe its just me.

[curls00]

I love puttering around in the garage, and DIY maintenance, repair, and stuff for friends is no exception! My major jobs thus far (1yr of owning my own 10x20' single-car garage attached to my house) are:
- timing belt and water pump on 2002 Protege5 (automatic) (Wife's car)
- timing belt and water pump on 2002 Protege5 (manual) (Sisters' car)
- Oil pan change on 2002 Protege5
- Washer fluid reservoir repair on 2002 Protege5
- F+R brakes on 2002 Protege5, and 2004 Acura TSX (my car)
- Rear sway bar (2004 TSX)
- short shifter (2004 TSX)
- O2 sensor (2004 TSX)
- 4 new shocks on 2004 TSX
- and your typical maintenance such as oil changes, winter/summer tire changeover, air filter cleaning/replacement, brake servicing (lube calipers, fluid flush), coolant change, etc...

I love to do it and have saved myself and my family/friends thousands in the process! I am set up to do a water pump on a 2001 VW Golf 2.0L on Thursday for a friend as well... (and to think the t-belt/water pump was changed 14 months ago and the pump is already leaking around the shaft... POS part installed by Canadian Tire I assume!).

[kin0kin]

I used WD40 as it seems to work with everything, I did read that WD40 dries up rubber. I have some castrol syntec grease but I didn't want to apply those straight away as I wasn't sure if lubing the belt would fix the problem, and I wasn't sure if it was too greasy..would the belt slip off...and if it did, I'd be SOL. Regardless, I'd prolly put on some synthetic grease on it when the weather permits (raining this whole week).

I also noticed that when I accelerate, there's also some sort of squealing sound. Google says it's the fan belt...My car is at 77,000 km, and it's due for a serious maintenance. But I think I'm gonna hold till next summer to get it done.

So far I have done the following in the past few weeks:

- Removed Fog lights and headlights, wet sanded with 800, 1000, 2000 grit. Compounded with turtle wax (brown color stuff), compounded with 3M compound (black bottle), used Meguiar's Scratch removal to remove the swirl marks, polished with Meguair #2 polish, waxed with turtle wax. Exterior of the lights look like new now :D
- Changed stock fog lights to Nokya 55w 2500k piss yellow bulbs
- Stripped off the whole trunk, rear seats, A, B, C pillars, Quarter panels, rear tray. Dampened the whole trunk and rear of the car with asphalt based roof liner (dynamat alternative), Foam tape, and some carpet underlayment. Bought them from RONA during clearance for $3 a roll. Home depot selling them at $18 a roll. No more rattling sound from the back of the car.
- Removed visor, visor holder, coat hangar. Preparing to drop the headliner, remove the sunroof and replace the sunroof belt (TSB on my car for a particular problem)
- Fixed alternator belt squeal with WD40, will replace with some sythetic lube.
- Replaced stock rear sway bar with TRD rear sway bar

Some things that I plan to do in the next few weeks, before November.
- Replace stock low beam with philips HID conversion kit.
- Replace rear lights with led lights
- Remove Rust on the rotors, paint the rotors and calipers
- Fix squealing sound from parking brake
- Remove rust from under the car. Clean it with water pressure jet. Paint the whole bottom of the car with rust paint.
- Drop the headliner, replace the sunroof belt, fix an odd ticking sound from the rear windshield
- Strip the front doors, replace the stock speakers, wire a new amp, dampen the doors with more roof liner, and foam fill some hollow columns.
- Replace trunk light with 96cm white LED strip (can barely see anything with stock bulb)
- Replace glove box light with 24" white strip led
- Replace dome light with white festoon
- Replace map lights with white led bulbs

Gonna be really busy. How'd you change the suspension without a spring compressor? I'd need to get my whole suspension system replaced next summer (strut mount, shock absorber, lowering springs, bushing, and etc). Can this be DIY?

Also, changing the exhaust seems to be a little hardcore for me, I have no welding experience.

[DLFB]

As a person who doesn't know anything about fixing a car, how did you guys learn?

[kin0kin]

I have zero knowledge about cars. Internet is everything. Just google, download repair manual, or buy one if you can't find them. There are many dedicated forums on the net that you can find tons of info about your car. However, if you drive a really rare car, you may have trouble finding support. If you drive anything like civic, mazda3, corolla, and etc...chances are, you can find anything you ever want on the net.

[curls00]

How'd you change the suspension without a spring compressor? I'd need to get my whole suspension system replaced next summer (strut mount, shock absorber, lowering springs, bushing, and etc). Can this be DIY?

Canadian Tire and PartsSource both loan-out many, many specialized tools such as spring compressors, pulley pullers, ball joint removers, etc. Well worth the trip!

I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend you buy a service manual for your car if you plan on keeping it for a while and doing any major work. The main reasons are that some cars have quirky ways of doing things (like bleeding brakes... mine isn't typical in that I don't start furthest from the master cylinder). But the main reason is for torque specs -- these are crucial if you work on the engine, and somewhat crucial if you work on suspension bits.

I know for Honda/Acura, most manuals are about $75 USD from Helminc.com but for Toyota I wouldn't know where to find them -- look at some Toyota-specific forums online for a good trustworthy source. :)

[B0000rt]

I used WD40 as it seems to work with everything, I did read that WD40 dries up rubber. I have some castrol syntec grease but I didn't want to apply those straight away as I wasn't sure if lubing the belt would fix the problem, and I wasn't sure if it was too greasy..would the belt slip off...and if it did, I'd be SOL. Regardless, I'd prolly put on some synthetic grease on it when the weather permits (raining this whole week).

I also noticed that when I accelerate, there's also some sort of squealing sound. Google says it's the fan belt...My car is at 77,000 km, and it's due for a serious maintenance. But I think I'm gonna hold till next summer to get it done.

So far I have done the following in the past few weeks:

- Removed Fog lights and headlights, wet sanded with 800, 1000, 2000 grit. Compounded with turtle wax (brown color stuff), compounded with 3M compound (black bottle), used Meguiar's Scratch removal to remove the swirl marks, polished with Meguair #2 polish, waxed with turtle wax. Exterior of the lights look like new now :D
- Changed stock fog lights to Nokya 55w 2500k piss yellow bulbs
- Stripped off the whole trunk, rear seats, A, B, C pillars, Quarter panels, rear tray. Dampened the whole trunk and rear of the car with asphalt based roof liner (dynamat alternative), Foam tape, and some carpet underlayment. Bought them from RONA during clearance for $3 a roll. Home depot selling them at $18 a roll. No more rattling sound from the back of the car.
- Removed visor, visor holder, coat hangar. Preparing to drop the headliner, remove the sunroof and replace the sunroof belt (TSB on my car for a particular problem)
- Fixed alternator belt squeal with WD40, will replace with some sythetic lube.
- Replaced stock rear sway bar with TRD rear sway bar

Some things that I plan to do in the next few weeks, before November.
- Replace stock low beam with philips HID conversion kit.
- Replace rear lights with led lights
- Remove Rust on the rotors, paint the rotors and calipers
- Fix squealing sound from parking brake
- Remove rust from under the car. Clean it with water pressure jet. Paint the whole bottom of the car with rust paint.
- Drop the headliner, replace the sunroof belt, fix an odd ticking sound from the rear windshield
- Strip the front doors, replace the stock speakers, wire a new amp, dampen the doors with more roof liner, and foam fill some hollow columns.
- Replace trunk light with 96cm white LED strip (can barely see anything with stock bulb)
- Replace glove box light with 24" white strip led
- Replace dome light with white festoon
- Replace map lights with white led bulbs

Gonna be really busy. How'd you change the suspension without a spring compressor? I'd need to get my whole suspension system replaced next summer (strut mount, shock absorber, lowering springs, bushing, and etc). Can this be DIY?

Also, changing the exhaust seems to be a little hardcore for me, I have no welding experience.
Partsource, but man, those handheld spring compressors are horrible. A friend of mine owns a shop now so I just drop by every now and then to fix stuff, if he's busy, I borrow his floor jack, if not, I put her on the lift. Shocks/struts are actually really easy to do, I've watched him do a couple and doesn't take him more than 15-20mins a corner!

+10 for the manual also.

I believe GMs use Helms also...

[kin0kin]

Thanks for the heads up, didn't know they rent tools! I have the complete repair manual of my car, directly from Toyota :D downloaded it online from a forum FOC. TBH, I'd really hate to change the springs since I'd have to strip off the back again to access to strut mount bolts. One thing I hate about stripping the interior is that sometimes when pulling out the panels, clips break, or they'd just fly away and I'd have to search for them later on. Especially tedious if it flies into the dash. Is it worth the hassle to DIY replacing the suspension? I think most garage charges like $180 to get everything done? (alignment not included). How much do they usually charge a day to rent out the tools? I'd imagine 2 days are needed to replace everything (front and rear) for first time DIY.

[bob0]

umm...putting wd40 on a belt is really just masking the problem. you should really check out what's causing the squealing. it may be you just need to tension the belt properly, worse case is that the belt is old and ready to be replaced.

other then that, i agree totally, fixing yourself if you have time will save you a lot of money. many jobs are not hard to do at all. if you are not car savy, start off with the small stuff.... changing the air filter, changing the oil, spark plugs, etc

and invest in a set of tools, floor jack and jack stands. having the right tool just makes a world of a difference.


edit: oh and replacing the suspension...it's really not that hard. i'd say it's about half a days to a full days work if you have no idea what you're doing. so i guess ask yourself is a full day worth $180 to you

[Rekognize]

Canadian Tire and PartsSource both loan-out many, many specialized tools such as spring compressors, pulley pullers, ball joint removers, etc. Well worth the trip!

I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend you buy a service manual for your car if you plan on keeping it for a while and doing any major work. The main reasons are that some cars have quirky ways of doing things (like bleeding brakes... mine isn't typical in that I don't start furthest from the master cylinder). But the main reason is for torque specs -- these are crucial if you work on the engine, and somewhat crucial if you work on suspension bits.

I know for Honda/Acura, most manuals are about $75 USD from Helminc.com but for Toyota I wouldn't know where to find them -- look at some Toyota-specific forums online for a good trustworthy source. :)

Or you can go to the library and borrow it for free, you can do holds online and they will even deliver the book to your local library.

[Pete_Coach]

Wait... you put wd-40 on the belt?

That seems like a really really bad idea. Petrolium based lube on a rubber belt. Maybe its just me.

umm...putting wd40 on a belt is really just masking the problem. you should really check out what's causing the squealing. it may be you just need to tension the belt properly, worse case is that the belt is old and ready to be replaced.


There is special belt dressing to be used on belts. WD 40 is a lubricant/water displacement (WD) product. WD 40 must likely just swelled up the belt a bit and added a lubricant to the pulleys.
You have a squealing belt because there is something wrong. Don't put grease on it, it is supposed to grip, not slip. Greasing will reduce the noise but will stop the other stuff from turning and it will take forever to clean up when you need to put a new belt on.
The internet is a wonderful thing bit there is as much bad information and opinion as there is good so be selective in your sources and validate the info.

[AudiDude]

As a person who doesn't know anything about fixing a car, how did you guys learn?

I took two auto classed in highschool. The first was for servicing a car and dealt with fluid levels and oil changes, tire pressure etc. The second was engine rebuilding and each semester a class would rebuild most of an engine, and if you were lucky, it would be completed in your semester and you got to fire it up. I was the only person to build a whole engine while the others screwed around.

I graduated highschool after that semester and two weeks later got involved in a project to build a car with my sister's boyfriend who was lazy, so I built the engine and he watched. After that, the secondary parts on the car like fuel systems and brakes, seemed trivial.

Eventually we built a 7.5 L performance car and started racing. I bought the smaller original engine and bought a chassis (and swapped it in my driveway). After that, I started porting heads and intake manifolds and modifying throttle bodies. I'd skip school during/after lunch to swap in a camshaft and then show up just as school got out with it installed.

I read tons of magazines to gain the knowledge. You have to like it, or you'll just end up endangering your life and the lives of others if you don't/cant do a proper job of car maintenance.

[sunnybono]

Personally I am a DIY freak. I do everything myself, whenever time permits. As much as I love to support the service industry, sometimes I don't trust people "fixing" my stuff...well, to a certain limit. I like to get things done with my own hands whenever possible. Many things seem to fixable with a little bit of google. My car started to squeal just last week when I start up for the first few mins..I popped opened the hood and propped a little and suspected that the alternator belt is the culprit. Googled, and sprayed a little WD40 when the belt is running, and just about once the wd40 hits the belt, the squealing stopped :cheesygri

Still have some rattling problem to fix in the dashboard...tearing the whole thing off and waiting for my new speakers so that I can tear the doors off too :lol:

I'm not sure if WD40 is a good idea on rubber belts!! There are belt dressing that you can get at crappy tire, but me personally, when it comes to rubber, whether it be belts or door seals, I like to use Silicone Spray.

sk

[kin0kin]

Actually the WD40 dried up already lol, I only applied a tad on the belt to see if it works. I was aware of belt dressing, but wanted to try something that I know would "wear off" WD40 fits the bill. It is squealing again, and I am trying to figure out how to tighten the tension.

[Pete_Coach]

Actually the WD40 dried up already lol, I only applied a tad on the belt to see if it works. I was aware of belt dressing, but wanted to try something that I know would "wear off" WD40 fits the bill. It is squealing again, and I am trying to figure out how to tighten the tension.

It has not dried up, it has penetrated your belt and distributed itself on all the pulleys and belt tensioner. You have compromised the belt rubber/cloth/composite integrity and it needs to be replaced but before you do that, tell the mechanic you sprayed WD 40 all over it and he should spend time cleaning the junk off, if he does not, there is a problem.
I don't know what type of car you have but you generally tension your belt by adjusting the alternator position.

[craftsman]

Wait... you put wd-40 on the belt?

That seems like a really really bad idea. Petrolium based lube on a rubber belt. Maybe its just me.

+1!

Never put any oils or lube on a belt. If you must spray the belt, get some belt dressing otherwise adjust the tension on the belt or replace it.

[pitz]

Yeah, I spent 3 days once changing the LIM gasket on my Grand Am, man that was tiring.

Me too. Darn 60 degree V6 engine and crappy GM gasket design.

Hope you used the revised torque spec, the upgraded gaskets, and either used the new intake bolts (pre-coated with thread sealant), or re-used the old intake bolts with your own added thread sealant.

Otherwise, its bound to fail again...

[B0000rt]

Me too. Darn 60 degree V6 engine and crappy GM gasket design.

Hope you used the revised torque spec, the upgraded gaskets, and either used the new intake bolts (pre-coated with thread sealant), or re-used the old intake bolts with your own added thread sealant.

Otherwise, its bound to fail again...
Yep, used the new stuff, with some RTV goop and threadlocker...

Car was sold a year later, went about 40,000kms on the new gaskets She hit past 400,000... Reman'd Tranny at 280k and engine swapped with one from a junk yard at 290k for $800 :D

[BobyYoo]

It has not dried up, it has penetrated your belt and distributed itself on all the pulleys and belt tensioner. You have compromised the belt rubber/cloth/composite integrity and it needs to be replaced but before you do that, tell the mechanic you sprayed WD 40 all over it and he should spend time cleaning the junk off, if he does not, there is a problem.
I don't know what type of car you have but you generally tension your belt by adjusting the alternator position.

agree with you, wd-40 is not meant to use on that.
Seem like everybody think that wd-40 is the solution to everything.
I have seen people putting oil to stop squeezing too and that's a big NoNo

Also, original poster said wanting to change all his car light to led. That's a No No and waste of money too. It will look cool at the beginning but you will find out after few months, the leds will start to flicker and some of them might as well die. Especially leds that are inside a casing, such as tail light, corner light, dome light. I believe it is the heat generated in summer time that kills those leds. Trust me on that.

[BobyYoo]

I used WD40 as it seems to work with everything, I did read that WD40 dries up rubber. I have some castrol syntec grease but I didn't want to apply those straight away as I wasn't sure if lubing the belt would fix the problem, and I wasn't sure if it was too greasy..would the belt slip off...and if it did, I'd be SOL. Regardless, I'd prolly put on some synthetic grease on it when the weather permits (raining this whole week).

I also noticed that when I accelerate, there's also some sort of squealing sound. Google says it's the fan belt...My car is at 77,000 km, and it's due for a serious maintenance. But I think I'm gonna hold till next summer to get it done.

So far I have done the following in the past few weeks:

- Removed Fog lights and headlights, wet sanded with 800, 1000, 2000 grit. Compounded with turtle wax (brown color stuff), compounded with 3M compound (black bottle), used Meguiar's Scratch removal to remove the swirl marks, polished with Meguair #2 polish, waxed with turtle wax. Exterior of the lights look like new now :D
- Changed stock fog lights to Nokya 55w 2500k piss yellow bulbs
- Stripped off the whole trunk, rear seats, A, B, C pillars, Quarter panels, rear tray. Dampened the whole trunk and rear of the car with asphalt based roof liner (dynamat alternative), Foam tape, and some carpet underlayment. Bought them from RONA during clearance for $3 a roll. Home depot selling them at $18 a roll. No more rattling sound from the back of the car.
- Removed visor, visor holder, coat hangar. Preparing to drop the headliner, remove the sunroof and replace the sunroof belt (TSB on my car for a particular problem)
- Fixed alternator belt squeal with WD40, will replace with some sythetic lube.
- Replaced stock rear sway bar with TRD rear sway bar

Some things that I plan to do in the next few weeks, before November.
- Replace stock low beam with philips HID conversion kit.
- Replace rear lights with led lights
- Remove Rust on the rotors, paint the rotors and calipers
- Fix squealing sound from parking brake
- Remove rust from under the car. Clean it with water pressure jet. Paint the whole bottom of the car with rust paint.
- Drop the headliner, replace the sunroof belt, fix an odd ticking sound from the rear windshield
- Strip the front doors, replace the stock speakers, wire a new amp, dampen the doors with more roof liner, and foam fill some hollow columns.
- Replace trunk light with 96cm white LED strip (can barely see anything with stock bulb)
- Replace glove box light with 24" white strip led
- Replace dome light with white festoon
- Replace map lights with white led bulbs

Gonna be really busy. How'd you change the suspension without a spring compressor? I'd need to get my whole suspension system replaced next summer (strut mount, shock absorber, lowering springs, bushing, and etc). Can this be DIY?

Also, changing the exhaust seems to be a little hardcore for me, I have no welding experience.

by reading this whole post, you seem to be someone is early 20's that just started DIY

it is good to learn things and DIY but you still have alot of search to do.

First, that roof liner that you put on your trunk etc.. I wouldn't recommend that either. I have seen people cheap out on dynamat and use these as replacement. They do the job, but in hot summer time when it is 30degree, usually this kind of product will tend to heat up and produce this nasty burn smell. Sometime, the product will kinda melt like glue, very nasty. Depeding on your car and the product. Some people have no problem. I wouldn't recommend it.

AS for changing spring on suspension, i definetely dont recommend you to do it yourself. If you're asking that question, you definetely not experienced enought to do it yourself. I have a friend- friend that bought a cheap spring compressor, he did the DIY himself. He positioned the suspension vertical in front of him. So the cheap spring compressor broke. Guess what happened :| The spring bounce to the wall and then bounce back to his guts... :arrow: Nasty heh

Think about it... some stuff are not meant to DIY unless you really know what you're doing...Changing light bulb is not a problem.

But when it comes to suspension and big job... bring it to the mechanic. If your health is important. Think before :idea:

Also, if you're planning to do jobs under the car, make sure the car is on Jackstand.
My mom's friend die using a hydrolic jack only, the jack fail and the car crushed on him. Can you imagine the kids without father just because he wanted to save a few dollars

[Piro21]

- Replace stock low beam with philips HID conversion kit.

Don't do this. You headlights are built to use incandescents, not HIDs. The reflectors in your headlights won't function as intended with them and you'll piss a lot of people off and get a lot more attention from the police.

[B0000rt]

Getting into DIY automotive should also get yourself into DIY around the house. You will make a good handman husband now ;)

[Odysseus_Maximus]

I do a lot of auto DIY where I can, but avoid suspension and power train work.

[kin0kin]

The roof liner doesn't smell even when it is hot, nor does it peel due to temperature change. I believe this is the Velux skylight underlayment. After applying it, I heat it up with heatgun till the asphalt melts a little to ensure the bond is tight. Btw, the melting point is pretty high, it wont melt in summer, unless you bought really crappy stuff.

I've dropped the idea of installing the philips HID. The philips hid doesn't seem to cause as much glare as other hids, it also depends on how you aim it. Yesterday some civic was driving behind me and this hid kit he had was blindingly bright...even from my rear mirror. I bought a pair of Nokya 5000k (closest to 4300k) cosmic white bulbs instead, rated 80w. Have a 2500k yellow fog lights. Much brighter than the stock Sylvania.

I'm not going to do my own suspension, I'm just interested in learning and curious about it.

As for led burning out, man, I'm not sure what to say..I've bought various LEDs from ebay before, some are really really crappy, the current draw is very imprecise, and they don't last. Some others last a long time. Btw, the LED tail light is stock gen 2.5 solara tail light. If it's going to burn out, I don't think manufacturers these days will use led. As for other leds replacement bulbs, really it depends very much on the quality. LED's longevity is much better than conventional bulb.

Yeah jackstand is a much, I can't stress enough about that too myself when I see people talk about holding the car with just the jack.

[untaka]

This past month I have since I got my new car and wanted to do everything myself, so far:

- Changed Spark Plugs
- Changed Oil/Filter
- Changed Ignition Coils

Things left to do
- Change struts
- Fuel Filter
- (Searching up now) Replacing CTS

I don't really search google I search forums :D

[THINKPADT61]

I try DIY when I can...

With my previous ride (focus), some of things I had done are:
- Replace utility belt and belt tensioner
- I had some wire shorted on me, causes problem to many of my electrical component... Eventually solve the issue, took about a week to figure it out.
- Replace spark plugs, wires, air filter, wipers, fuel filter, PVC value, fuse.
- Replace dash board light
- Replace battery

[jed]

Mmm, A bit off-topic but I'd like to point out the repairs done to a foreign car/cars below? Just a bit of a prod to all the fanboys out there...:cheesygri

I love puttering around in the garage, and DIY maintenance, repair, and stuff for friends is no exception! My major jobs thus far (1yr of owning my own 10x20' single-car garage attached to my house) are:
- timing belt and water pump on 2002 Protege5 (automatic) (Wife's car)
- timing belt and water pump on 2002 Protege5 (manual) (Sisters' car)
- Oil pan change on 2002 Protege5
- Washer fluid reservoir repair on 2002 Protege5
- F+R brakes on 2002 Protege5, and 2004 Acura TSX (my car)
- Rear sway bar (2004 TSX)
- short shifter (2004 TSX)
- O2 sensor (2004 TSX)
- 4 new shocks on 2004 TSX
- and your typical maintenance such as oil changes, winter/summer tire changeover, air filter cleaning/replacement, brake servicing (lube calipers, fluid flush), coolant change, etc...

I love to do it and have saved myself and my family/friends thousands in the process! I am set up to do a water pump on a 2001 VW Golf 2.0L on Thursday for a friend as well... (and to think the t-belt/water pump was changed 14 months ago and the pump is already leaking around the shaft... POS part installed by Canadian Tire I assume!).

[curls00]

Mmm, A bit off-topic but I'd like to point out the repairs done to a foreign car/cars below? Just a bit of a prod to all the fanboys out there...:cheesygri

I'd like to point out that NONE of these were for any reason other than the following:

- upgrade for fun (ie: swaybar, short shifter, etc etc etc...)
- the result of an accident damaging the stock component (in the case of the TSX, the RF corner was smashed and the shock was damaged, so I replaced the other 3 to have a matching set as recommended by experts. In the case of the Protege5 oil pan, it hit a raised manhole cover and created a crack, and the washer fluid reservoir was because of the RF corner of that car being hit as well).
- routine maintenance (scheduled as per owners' manual, ie; timing belt, coolant flushes, oil changes, etc...)

NONE OF THE REPAIRS WERE A RESULT OF A COMPONENT FAILURE. Nice try though!