It’s Wrenching Wednesday! Each week, we use this space to welcome only the coolest car people (Autopian Members, specifically) to participate in an open forum about all things car repair/maintenance/modding related. Where the convo goes is entirely up to you, but it’s fun to have a prompt to get things rolling. So let’s roll!
Famed novelist, playwright, poet and haver of great hair Oscar Fingal O’Fflahertie Wills Wilde (yes, we’re using his full name, thank you very much) penned a bunch of epigrams that you can purchase on throw pillows and fake-patina’d wooden signs, and they’re pretty much all bangers. One of his greatest hits is, “Experience is the hardest kind of teacher; it gives you the test first and the lesson afterward.” But surprise, that’s the edited version; Wilde’s original included “… ask me how I know. I swear to God, this friggin’ curved-dash Oldsmobile will be the death of me.”
Experience truly is a great teacher in so many aspects of life, but especially so when it comes to wrenching. For decades, countless how-tos, diagrams, and repair manuals have been published to show you what parts go where, the torque specs for each fastener, which sequence A, B, and C must be removed and installed, and so on. But at best, that’s half of what you need to know. The rest? Experience. Like when teen-me did his first-ever oil change. Did I place a bucket under the oil pan before plucking the the plug out? Obviously. Did the hot oil shoot clear over and past the bucket in a perfect arc and completely Exxon-Valdez the driveway with burned 10W-40? You bet it did. Experience!
What has wrenching experience taught you? To the comments!
Images: open engine compartment by pavelkant/stock.adobe.com; facepalm guy by Vulp/stock.adobe.com; Oscar Wilde via Library of Congress; curved-dash Olds via National Museum of American History.
The little fork-thingy that engages and disengages the clutch on a 944? Yeah, it should look like it has a little cup for the shaft out of the slave cylinder to press into, not a half-sphere-lookin’ thing.
That was………..a few days of taking off and reinstalling the rear half of the drivetrain.
I cannot change a tire . . . sometimes.
The few times that I have had trouble changing a tire it was because the lugs were over tightened. I am not the strongest and the tire iron that came with my Ford Ranger did not allow much leverage. I ended up getting a flat while on a date, which gave me all the more motivation to show that I could get us back on the road. We pulled into a gas station at the corner of a busy intersection. I tried and tried to loosen the lugs. Nothin’. I even tried to use my body weight and jump on the wretch handle, but the flat was on a rear tire and the shocks were negating any force I was putting toward the wrench.
After bouncing for about 10 minutes, I gave up and called for help. My brother showed up a little later. When he asked what happened, I told him about the flat and (pointing to the lug wrench still on the wheel) how I couldn’t get the lugs to break. He looked at it and said, “What? This?”, and stepped on the wrenched handle. It moved with little effort.
sigh
It wasn’t the shocks absorbing anything unless you have some new and interesting way of changing a tire…
That right.
I was gripping the bed rail for balance and the whole back end was bouncing.
Don’t jump on tire irons. Use the jack to loosen the lugs. Rotate lug wrench 180 degrees insert jack under handle and casually crank it up till they come loose.
Wear proper PPE. Especially safety glasses, because we don’t have bionic eyes yet.
Magnetic tools are your friend.
Label everything.
Apply Liquid Wrench rust penetrant (or yours of choice, both Project Farm and myself like Liquid Wrench) a day ahead of working on any exposed fastener more than a few months old.
You can make a 1:1 schematic of what you’re working on in cardboard. In the same vein for each fastener you’ve removed poking each one through its corresponding hole on said schematic, and labeling the torque specs for each. This way you don’t lose fasteners, and you don’t wind up with more than you started.
Check gaskets (especially head and manifold gaskets) before bringing them home. They should be flat, with no bends, rolls, curls, etc.
Fasteners can’t be stuck if they’re liquid or close to it. Induction heaters are awesome.
Start your toolbox with cheap (but decent quality, so Harbor Freight and Northern Tool are OK, but Wish.com probably not) tools, and upgrade the ones you use most and/or that you need better functionality from. Your car doesn’t care what brand of tool you use or how big your toolbox is.
Good lighting is underrated.
If you can work in a climate controlled environment, do so. Heat in winter and fans/A/C in summer are such a treat and can help you work more effectively.
Take breaks. Hydrate. Don’t wrench under any strong influences, including fatigue. Listen to your body.
Two words: Torque Wrench
Nothing like the waves of despair/denial/despair/desperate praying/denial/despair when you hear that “ting” when torquing down a head bolt with your trusty 1/2″ ratchet.
When changing a head gasket, don’t get too carried away prepping the surface of the block. In my zeal to get a good seal, I once cleaned away a little too much crud (or metal, as it turned out) from the block right near a main oil channel. The resulting oil leak took about one day to form, and was more of a geyser than a leak. Oof.
A good braking system with working emergency brake is the most important system on a car. Always fix and maintain this over anything else.
Brake/Carb cleaner pretty much can clean anything.
Everytime I don’t wear gloves, I get a cut or tear in my skin that makes me think I should have worn gloves.