fast bloke

It is just me or does anyone else get an almost insane sense of pleasure from fixing things that an 'expert' has told you should be binned and replaced. I usually just go with the advice, but this being the first week of August, I've just paid the taxman his pound of flesh and am trying to organise this years skiing, so chucking away a hundred quid here and two there for easy replacements does not hold its normal attraction.

Thanks to Scoobynet advice, I salvaged a £150.00 brush cutter last week for 10p.

Then the washing machine started making strange noises. Washing machine man told me it was the drum bearings and it would be more economical to replace the machine than attempt a repair. As it was 'scrap' I took it to bits and found a stray cable tie stuck in the drum mounting, playing its own little tune every time the drum went round. Put it back together (eventually) and it is fine. no cost.

Pressure hose on the pressure washer split a few weeks ago. I was going to get a new hose at 80 quid, but I don't use it that much, so it was on my list of things to do. Buoyed by my recent successes, I set about working out a fix. Tried a few things unsuccessfully, then happened upon a roll of Duck tape (strong but not waterproof) and self amalgamating tape (waterproof but not strong) in the garage. 3 alternate layers of each..... pressure hose sorted.

Today I left my car (pickup truck) in to have back brake shoes replaced for MOT. Mechanic came to the house after an hour and asked me to have a look at something. Slave cylinder at the back was leaking and both front calipers were seized. He had tried to remove one of the sliders in the caliper carrier at the front and had taken the head off it. The other three were completely seized. The front discs were also in bad shape. He recommended replacing everything as you can't buy the carriers without the calipers etc etc. 800 quid for parts? wtf - I had left it in to have a 30 quid set of shoes replaced. The truck is really only there to get us about when it snows or I need to take old broken things to the dump, and probably isn't worth much more than 800 quid, so I asked him to leave it and let me have a think. Tried every scrappers yard I could find for the carriers, but no luck, so I asked him if I could work on it for an hour myself (using his tools....... well he broke it.....) Removed calipers, carriers discs and drums (a few bolts each) and brought them back to the magical place that is my workbench. 15 minutes with a blow torch had three of the sliders out. another 15 minutes with a drill, tap and die kit and more blowtorch got the broken one out. The drums were OK, but the discs looked knackered. A mate builds kit cars, so I gave him a shout. He said "I have a brake lathe, bring the stuff up and we will have a go." - 10 minutes to put a perfect finish on the discs, another 5 to smooth off the drum inners. While I was there he dismantled the leaky slave cylinder, put a new seal on it and put it back together. I don't like to take the pee with favours, so I asked what I owed him. "Chuck us up a couple of bottles of your home brew"....... so a couple of hours effort, half a can of WD40 and a gallon of home brew have reduced the parts bill from 800 quid to 65 quid. (Although the slider that the mechanic sheared is 25 quid of that.... he broke it. Should I ask him to pay for it?)


Now I am looking for more stuff to fix. I reckon I would be more than 1500 quid down if I had just accepted 'it can't be fixed' in just one week

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

I try and fix everything myself but i'm an old school engineer.

Problem these days is a lot of the new breed are merely fitters, in that they only learn how to fault find and fit a new part, as spending 4/ 5 hours repairing an old part is seen by both fitter and customer as excessive especially at upwards of £30 / 40 an hour just to end up with a bodged job that may fail in 6 months.

You can hear the phone call now after someone has been charged £200 for a repair only to have it fail again a few months later.

Can't blame them really.

Jimbob

iTrader: (13)

Amazing what you can do with Gaffa tape.

scoobyvirgin

Get hold of a woman and try and fix her, one with more signs of "the mental" the better. You'll soon give up

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Like this on my apprenticeship. Sometimes we're given new parts to replace parts, which, with a bit of work, are salvageable. Then other times we're flogging a dead horse with trying to fix actual knackered parts. That's MT's for you

All part of the experience they say I'm a mechy fitter in the making.

RA Dunk

I love fixing things, only problem is I usually end up doing more damage when I try

what would scooby do

http://thereifixedit.failblog.org/

Chip

Recently fixed our Bosch oven. Was going to get a fitter around but on being told call out charge + parts estimate I decided on a new oven. However sat at home bored one day I though I'd take the oven out and have a look. I found a switch controlling the oven settings had broken so oredered a new one online for £44. It came the following day and was fitted in abot 20 mins.

Chip

TelBoy

I'm the sort of person who HATES it when things are broken or don't work as they should. Can't abide it. But on almost all cars or homes i go in, something doesn't work quite as it should. That would drive me insane. But obviously i'm in a minority.

oldsplice

You're not. You'd hate our house, Tel!

CREWJ

Good on you mate!

I wish more people were more like you. I love to fix things, it gives you so much satisfaction.

The Zohan

Spent two hours cleaning and attempting to get the downstairs sh*tters' cistern ball valve to stop leaking. Failed and then discovered that they are only 5-6 pounds from Wickes or B&Q. sometimes you (well me actually) just need to know when to let go

Recent wins include fitting a new grill element and also the over door glass seal failed and the glass was loose, found the right hi temp silicone sealant stripped it down and fixed it.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I honestly can't think of a car we've had where something hasn't been slightly wrong with it in one way or another.

Even the Celicas my mum had which were totally reliable in every way; They all had premature alloy wheel corrosion and even the best one had an annoying buzz/vibration behind the rear quarter trim. That upon strip down turned out to be a resonant vibration on the bracket that held the ABS module! I used some self adhesive butyl sheets to fix that. Shortly after it deveolped a rattle on the gearshift linkage. Grrrr.

These days I've given up fixing annoying niggles on cars...owning a VW does that to you. And the Jag is ALWAYS broken.

As for stuff in teh home; nothing is out of bounds. If its broke, I will always attempt to fix it myself. I even fix stuff I pull out of other people's skips!

Leslie

Years ago it was standard practice to repair your own things that went wrong and no one thought anything about it.

Only the very rich took their cars to a garage for repair.

Good on you for saving all that money.

Les

David Lock

HOW MUCH?

DL

Chip

Les and David,

I bet you have both fitted a new element in a kettle haven't you

Chip

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Yep, I love it and it saves a fortune, needed new taps int he bathroom as they were dripping and washers didnt sort it, bought two new ones for £75, some fittings and got on with it, took a couple of hours as was fiddly but they are fine, a plumber would have charged I reckon between £150 and £200 if I could get one that would actually honour us by turning up. Part of the benefit is not having to deal with tradesmen as by and large they are unreliable and greedy, with the money I saved I treated myself to a new adjustable wrench at £30 from the builders merchants.

Dishwasher wasnt draining, took it apart and found some cotton round the impeller, removed it and put it back together, sweet as anything, saving £100 plus for a call out and labour.

Needed some cupboard doors in the bathroom, got the mdf, cut it to size, routed the edges, cut some wholes with a hinge bit, fitted, painted and they look great.

The engine on the wife's Fiat exploded, I rebuilt it with a bit of advice from my dad.

I do all the servicing on the cars, brakes and suspension, will have a go at anything now, bodywork etc.

Was quoted £300 to fit a new cold water tank as ours was corroded, bought one new off Ebay for £75 and fitted it, total cost £100.

If the computers break they get fixed, am actually pretty expert now.

Bought a welder so I can make up brackets and stuff, welded the wheel back on my ancient Samsonite suitcase when the rubber broke, saving £150 on the new one I was going to buy, welded the door on the Fiat the other day to align the door pins, door no longer drops.

Ebay is fantastic for bits and pieces, just decide I need something and I have pcs in the garage and man shed, just fire one up and order it, arrives usually pretty quickly.

I buy tools as I go along, each job allows me some leeway to get tools and now have a resonable selection.

I do all the decorating and I do a better job than the ones we have had in, I take my time and it comes out really well.

Built a shed from offcuts of wood, looks pretty good.

Always save bits if I cant fix something, springs, washers, bearings, screws, bolts and bits of handy looking metal then can usually match something if I need a part, adapt it and do what I need to do.

The internet is fantastic, does away with a lot of trial and error and gives you tips.

The money saved is great but as Fast Bloke says the satisfaction is immense as are the "man points" you get.

I reckon I could turn my hand to pretty much anything like that, any job is rules, regs, measuring, buying parts, measuring again, common sense, dexterity and some experience.

windyboy

I love fixing or trying to fix things, or just taking things apart to see how they work, the last thing I tried to fix was the central heating pump, I adjusted the wrong valve and ended up frying the pump - it turns out I had adusted the pressure regulator and the oil was being burned at too high a temperature as it was being pumped in too fast, we went through a lot of oil that week in January (the cold one this year).
I also tried to fix out tumble drier and found that it was breaking drum belts, I took it apart and then with help from t'interweb I found out how to replace it, a week later it broke another belt in the same way ( the belt had worn through at a single point) and the drum was making a funny grinding noise so we just bought a new drier as the first one had been around for years and was used nearly every day.

A while ago I took my cd changer apart and found this:





I have coffee jars in the garage full of nuts and bolts and screws and things in case I find a need for them one day

windyboy

oldsplice

Well, I'm sure you're all very clever, but I bet NONE of you know how to change a loo roll!

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

A what???

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Er... what's wrong with that? He asked sheepishly

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Some pics of the repairs to my Pioneer headunit: I hit the volume/control button when ramming the car full of junk - then the radio wouldn't work at all.

Turned out the jolt to the volume **** cracked the PCB and went straight through a dozen tracks


But never fear...my soldering iron/glue-gun is always near, pic sequence as follows:

Hairline crack on one track-->mid repair--->finish-->random pic of the dog being cute

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Civic Type R - satnav - stopped working. Honda said they all do that £450 for a new one please.

So I took it out, took it apart, cleaned the whole mechanism and DVD laser, put it back together,replaced it in the car and.... fixed!

The Zohan

As i said to her in doors just the other day - I'll change the roll and put the seat lid down when you can **** as high up a wall as i can!

john banks

I'm love repairing things. Probably spend more timing doing it than the cost of replacement. Just moved house and trying to do a lot myself, as I pay workmen out of taxed income (income tax, NI) and they pay income tax NI and VAT on what I pay them - net result is that it can be cheaper to DIY.

oldsplice

That'd be about an inch then!


Wurzel.........don't tell me you're still using dock leaves!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Hmm, tradesmen who pay the correctTax, NI and VAT, they are as rare as the ones that turn up on time to do a quote, give a decent quote, turn up at the agreed time on the correct day and do a good job, and dont have sugar in tea.

StickyMicky

Previous car wash experiance tells me that the pressure washer hose repair will not last, although you can usually get them cut, remove the split bit and add 2 connectors to join them back together, i used to do this before i found a bloke selling them crazy cheap (cheaper than fixing them!)

StickyMicky

I know a window cleaner that does all of the above!!

Chip

Nothing of course , just showing your age there.

And less of the sheep comments please

Chip