[living hell] swapping the alt. In son’s crap box
 

Holy crap. My sons 2010 Sebring blew its alternator bearing and the shop wanted over $1k to fix. Son was ready to spend the money (he has it, but zero sense of what it is worth because he has never had trouble making money for some reason.)

Instead, I thought it a better life lesson to have him fix it “himself” with me just supervising. I owed him $400 so I picked up the parts.

Of course I ended up digging in with him. We got it done in four hours. There is only about three inches of space to work in. Changed out idler pulleys and tensioner too. Great lesson. But man did it suck.

Alternator on my Caddy is 3 hrs easy(usually 4 plus) to R&R if have a lift to do it on, so far I've changed 3 of them between the two cars. Ac compressor is an hr and a half...
Lots of beer needed for that alt swap... And motrin.

Woof. I did the AC on my C5. Never. Again.

Eye protection? :willy:

:rofl:

:iagree:

I knew a guy in Utah. He did lift kits on Jeeps as a hobby. He never wore eye protection. Yep, a trip to Univ of Utah Eye Specialists fixed that. Also, he'll never have 20-20 vision again. The left eye is fukked now.

One of the great lessons in life is showing kids how to fix cars, homes, computers etc.
Good deal man! :cert:
Scott

It sucks that all of these things are buried these days. Makes doing something that should be straightforward a monumental pain in the ass. They probably suspended the alternator in mid air and built the car around it. :Jeff '79:

Daughter or I can swap out the alternator in either the Miatas or the Vettes in under 7 minutes. We both worked on my wife's previous Lexus RX and it took us a day and a half. :willy:

Wife has a clapped out 01 Fukus, SE, DOHC 4 cyl......there is not ONE moving part on that damn POS I not changed out, except steering......both front and rear......a/c comp TWICE.....ALT 3X, p/s pump once, water pump once, timing belt once, acc drive belt 2x......drive shafts/complete brakes, complete front suspension......complete rear suspension, brakes all around, rotors and drums of course......rear shoes are such a mess, I had to pay 40 bux to get help....

but that excluded the trans and short block, of course.....both of which are untouched by ME......but it does have over 200k on it now....

:issues:

Ever thought about a nice Toyota? :lol:

Stuck with this one.....near 7 years now, I did the brake pads on her daughter's '11 Toy Corolla last week......:kick:

:iagree:Some of the best time I ever spent with my dad was rebuilding the engine in my '57 Ford when I was 16. He had never worked on a Y-Block Ford before, but he was an aircraft mechanic and could turn a wrench on just about anything.:yesnod:

My Dad did all but heaviest jobs around the house, and had a bunch of left over tools from his construction/carpenter daze, as well as a very few car tools, but me being into electronics, it was totally outta his fields.....so I was on my own in that hobby.....but being a kid with my first car, I started buying tools like mad.....either that or walk......

:issues:

I found out when I was 16 that my parents were going to buy me a used car, one that I didn't like. I asked them to buy me tools instead and let me select and buy my own car.

My parents gave me my first car, an Oldsmobile. When those "it's not your father's Oldsmobile" commercials came out, I was like, "That's a big fat lie....it IS my father's Oldsmobile!"

My entire driving start up was screwed from the beginning.....It was a one car family, Dad had a '59 Caddy Fleetwood 75? that was longer than the garage by about 2' or so....and I learned to drive on that car....but could not parellel park it for SHIT!!! they finally gave up and took me to the test, and I parked it fine, first shot......:D age 17.....being a one car family, Dad needing it for work, I never bothered to get a date for Sr. Prom night.....

So off to kolledge, and stayed on campus....4 years worth, outta there in '66, and into the Army.....bad lo back, extra vert L6 and so outta there, home again and so first REAL full time job, but in that 4 year span, folks moved and Mom got her own car....not that she had ANY interest in driving it....a '63 Olds F85 4 dr 215 ci aluminum V8......
so bummed Mom's car for a few months to get $$$ for my own '60 vette

one grand 500 down and Dad cosigned bank note for another 500 bux....

the house the went to was 15 mile one way to groceries, 6 miles to gas station, and so I burnt a tank+ a week just commuting for jobs that paid 2.50/hour.....

lost the vette in a wreck, tail assed light...rain.... so into Pontiacs for some 20 years, '61 Catalina drag race winner....456 rear, just great on gas...NOT!!!! driving near 40 miles to job, EACH WAY......changed rear to 273 eventually....

spent a year in FW/Tejas with a buddy who got outta the Navy, he met/married his wife in the apt complex we hung and partied at.....I went back to DC region.....married/divorced first wife.....and sorry I did not get back together with her.....but was dating the kid's mom then......

moved to Florida and married wife here now 18.5 years of fun now....

my buddy in Tejas passed on ~5 years ago.....age 68, sux....

:sadangel:

Kind of like me.

My dad could turn a wrench tho. He was an aviation/motor-pool mechanic in the Army. He always worked on the family cars, but I never really paid attention growing up until I got my own ride. Then I started to watch.

Shortly after, I moved out. And then out of necessity (I was broke) I had to start working on my own stuff. It was either pay a guy to fix my car, or don't eat. So I started dealing with it myself. :island14:

There were some father son moments that made it worth it. Car runs way better now. I think he learned a few things.

Meh. What's the big deal? You lose one, it'll grow back, right? Right?


:ohnoes: