Zero cost car repair.

blades

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29 May 2023
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Indiana, USA
Yesterday my digital screen in the Subaru lit up like a christmas tree with warning lights and it turned off all the features. The best clue I had was the brake warning light. The brakes, however, were working perfectly. I got into my garage and set the electronic parking brake. It wouldn't set. Usually this sort of thing results from an inadequate level of brake fluid. Not the problem because I had changed the fluid and bled the brakes just last month.

So I jacked up the back of the car. I Removed the right rear wheel and went to see if the brake piston was stuck. It wasn't but the electrical connection was loose. So I pushed it back up and secured it to the brake caliper with a large, long cable tie. I went to the other side of the car and repeated the process. That connection was not loose but I added a cable tie to it anyway. Problem solved.

I already had the cable ties so there was no cost. Imagine what would have happened had I had the car towed to the dealer and had the dealer handle it. It would have been pricey. The car is back to normal. A win in what otherwise was an awful week. Yay!!!
 
Yesterday my digital screen in the Subaru lit up like a christmas tree with warning lights and it turned off all the features. The best clue I had was the brake warning light. The brakes, however, were working perfectly. I got into my garage and set the electronic parking brake. It wouldn't set. Usually this sort of thing results from an inadequate level of brake fluid. Not the problem because I had changed the fluid and bled the brakes just last month.

So I jacked up the back of the car. I Removed the right rear wheel and went to see if the brake piston was stuck. It wasn't but the electrical connection was loose. So I pushed it back up and secured it to the brake caliper with a large, long cable tie. I went to the other side of the car and repeated the process. That connection was not loose but I added a cable tie to it anyway. Problem solved.

I already had the cable ties so there was no cost. Imagine what would have happened had I had the car towed to the dealer and had the dealer handle it. It would have been pricey. The car is back to normal. A win in what otherwise was an awful week. Yay!!!

Nice work! I love it when a potential disaster doesn’t happen due to a cheap fix.
Especially if it’s cable ties, duct tape or epoxy resin 😂
 
Nice work! I love it when a potential disaster doesn’t happen due to a cheap fix.
Especially if it’s cable ties, duct tape or epoxy resin 😂
My brother range rang me once to tell me he had broken down at the side of the motorway. The accelerator cable had come out of the back of the pedal and did I think he could glue it back in to place.

My response was that if it was meant to have been glued into the back of the pedal it already would have been!
 
My brother range rang me once to tell me he had broken down at the side of the motorway. The accelerator cable had come out of the back of the pedal and did I think he could glue it back in to place.

My response was that if it was meant to have been glued into the back of the pedal it already would have been!
At least he's looking for advice from the right person.
 
At least he's looking for advice from the right person.
True.

I do remember one vehicle he proudly showed me that he'd just bought. A very old Volvo. I took one look at it and told him to get rid of it. It was a death trap. Rust everywhere, absolutely everywhere. So he took my advice. Even the battery couldn't be changed or secured... it was actually bought by the original a Top Gear team to show what death traps were on the roads with valid MOT certificates etc. They did point out though that the person they'd purchased it from had been honest and said it was very bad and they'd only just bought and been told by a member of their family to get rid of it... it had been an eBay purchase. Thankfully he's a bit better at choosing vehicles now, but not that much! Lol
 
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