"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
06/27/2014 at 15:18 • Filed to: success
7
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"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
06/27/2014 at 15:18 • Filed to: success | 7
| 13 |
The fuel line on my 12-year-old lawn mower dried out, cracked and started leaking. I was reluctant to fix it myself, since I have no small engine experience (or any real engine experience, for that matter), and I wasn't sure if I wanted to be messing with the fuel line. So I looked up lawn mower repair at Sears where I bought the mower:
$100 to diagnose and repair, parts extra
Well, that's ridiculous. I really ought to be able to figure this out. So I looked online and found a video of somebody replacing the fuel line. That's easy! I can do it myself, I just need to get the fuel line. So I went to the Sears website, chatted online with "Boyer" in their parts division, and ordered a fuel line, which came with new clamps.
$24 for fuel line from Sears
I went down to the hardware store to pick up the motor relay I needed to fix the dryer, and took the old fuel line with me to see if I could a new one there. This is an old-school hardware store, not a chain. Awesome place. Harrell's on Oltorf, for any Austinites here. Hardware guy directed me to an auto parts store to ask for a length of fuel line.
$1.50 for 12" of fuel line
So I went from $100+ having somebody else do it to about $5 in parts and runaround gas to pick it up. I was still out $20, though, because I had to buy lunch for me and my boys at Whataburger.
This was actually a great teaching moment for my boys. My father could never fix anything. He couldn't drive a nail straight. My brother is an amazing fixit guy, obviously getting his genes from his grandfather (on my dad's side, so they must have skipped a generation). I'm no Mr. Goodwrench, but I've learned that with just a little education and a reasonable set of tools, you can save yourself a shitload of money. Not news to this crowd, I'm sure, but I made sure my boys know that just because it's broken, you don't always have to call the repair guy.
Now, to get after that dryer motor relay....
f86sabre
> ttyymmnn
06/27/2014 at 15:25 |
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Nicely done. Internet high five for you!
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> ttyymmnn
06/27/2014 at 15:25 |
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Since we have a small engine blog now, I shared this there. Hope you don't mind.
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ttyymmnn
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
06/27/2014 at 15:26 |
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Not at all.
ly2v8-Brian
> ttyymmnn
06/27/2014 at 15:27 |
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You have taken your first steps into a larger world.
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ttyymmnn
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
06/27/2014 at 15:29 |
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Do you have a link to this blog?
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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> ttyymmnn
06/27/2014 at 15:30 |
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http://pull-start-my-heart.kinja.com/welcome-to-pul…
desertdog5051
> ttyymmnn
06/27/2014 at 15:35 |
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Good for you for taking the attitude "I can do this." I started with just tearing apart broken things to find out how it worked. It came in handy when I started driving. Family rule was if you want to have a car, you buy it. No borrowing our cars. Sooo, I also had to learn how to work on it cause no money. Made some mistakes but learned a lot. Both my kids were required to attempt to fix their own with dad giving advice. Now they can afford to pay to get them fixed but they know the basics of how stuff works and so are less likely to get taken. Teach your children well.
thebigbossyboss
> ttyymmnn
06/27/2014 at 15:38 |
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This is what I am learning also. I am no mechanical genius, but when faced with a $1200 bill, or learning to DIY....that's not a real choice.
I was so proud of my self (edit: for putting the struts on the car) With the power of youtube...it's amazing what you can learn to do.
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ttyymmnn
> thebigbossyboss
06/27/2014 at 15:44 |
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Absolutely. Last year I replaced the heating element in my dryer. I borrowed a voltmeter to determine the part was bad, and watched YouTube to see how to replace it. I think the replacement part was about $75. That was probably a $300 repair at least. Fixing something yourself and saving a significant amount of money is a great feeling.
George McNally
> ttyymmnn
06/29/2014 at 11:59 |
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I'm a computer nerd with just enough mechanical knowledge (and tools) to get myself into trouble.
If your computer is doing dumb stuff, has a virus or doesn't boot up?
I can probably fix that with my eyes closed.
Replace a A/C compressor, condenser,etc on my 2000 Saturn?
I'm paying my mechanic to do that.
In theroy, it doesn't look that difficult, but the 1000 bucks I am going to spend on replacing the entire A/C system on this turd is money I'll spend just to make sure it works correctly and to get the lifetime warranty on all the parts.
Lifetime warranty on a 15 year old Saturn probably isn't very long.......
Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
> ttyymmnn
07/02/2014 at 15:36 |
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Want authorship?
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ttyymmnn
> Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
07/02/2014 at 15:38 |
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That would be nice, but I'm not sure what I would post there. On the other hand, I want to learn more about my lawn mower, weed whacker, etc., and it would be a good place to post newb questions. So, yeah. That would be great. Thanks.
Jordaneer, The Mountaineer Man
> ttyymmnn
07/04/2014 at 01:49 |
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this is obnoxious, we had to fix the starter cord on our mower, and the cord was like 5 bucks, fine, and the uy made it sound like to put the cord in it would only be 5 bucks, turns out it was $50 and he gave us a "deal" for $38.95. FORTY FREAKIN DOLLARS TO REPLACE A STARTER CORD!!! WUT!!!!