Car Repair Do-it-yourself

I am fired up. I haven't really done some serious auto work in quite a bit, but I just swapped out the the starter motor on my Accord. It was a bitch, but I got it done in under an hour.

No comprendo.

WTG Murph...it usually costs me double cause I screw up something else so now I just go to the mechanic and pay him double to begin with and no dirty fingernails, busted knuckles, and dirty swear words in front of the children.( who taught me them to begin with)

No Ingles?

Your bicycle has a starter, and you call it an Accord?????
I my observation, I think you may forget to turn on the fume hood at work on a regular basis .

Oh, and why doesn't your signature list # time Jackpot Winner .

You'll be chopping your springs and reupholstering in leopard print before you know it, hombre.

I've been a busy beaver the past month or so.

My old 230,000 mile Sable got a starter 2 weeks ago. Thankfully it decided to have issues before it got cold, and was under warranty. The positive terminal on the battery decided it wanted some attention too, and fell apart after the starter was done.
And more recently the cooling fans are running when they usually don't, and the temp gauge on the dash reads low. Great... This car knows it going to be retired soon because:

The Crown Vic got a serp belt, drivers side downstream O2 sensor, pulled the instrument cluster to replace a burned out bulb (found the Tremco anti-theft device in the process), and pulled out the Class 1 wiring harness for the lighting, radios, etc. That involved pulling some interior trim on the passenger side and the rear seat.

Still have to get into the wiring and see why the dome lamp isn't coming on with the doors (big thanx to DaveyDave for some info!), and towards the end of winter will have to gut the interior enough to get the headliner out so I can have the 2 holes in the roof filled.

This is sounding more like a finaltimeout post. Gonna stop now...

next is a master cylinder and a replacement door that got smashed in a hit and run. he got arrested, I got a nice check.

230,000 Bri, just getting broken in
my odometer says 200,000 but I think its closer to 300,000 because its not the original cluster which didn't work for years

Good Job, My wife always gives me a hard time when i do my own repairs. I say why pay a mechanic 100$ per hour to scratch his head, when i can scratch mine for free!

You'll be doing it again if you used an aftermarket starter

I learned boiler repair 101 this week,saved myself several grand I am sure.Between asking a few questions and the internet I was able to replace a temperature control unit and a relay on a boiler I was told needed replacing because parts where no longer available for this model.BS !!! Found some parts for newer models and retro fitted them. Works like new now.

It is good to have tools and know how to use them

Murph,

sounds like you're going to get another 250k out of that old war horse...

Yep.

aftermarket, rebuilt, probably right, we'll see what happens

Cheezus Murph.....help the freekin economy and buy a new freekin car !!!

why whats wrong with aftermarket? If my car had over 200k I wouldn't get a stealer starter for 3times the price of aftermarket. Just don't buy your electronic parts at those chain stores and you should be fine.

He probably means remanufactured starter. Aftermarket starters tend to be for racing/hi-perf applications.

Definitely stay away from the cheap chain store remans. Sure, they're warrantied for life, but who wants to swap it out every 18 months since it's poorly rebuilt. It's all about who rebuilt it, not really where you buy it.

News flash. Even dealers are very likely going to sell you a reman. I don't have an issue with using dealer parts for certain situations. The 4-wire O2 sensor for the Crown Vic was only 68 bucks.