Ever fixed something that didn't need fixing?

[dja4260]

Let me vent my frustration real quick.

03 civic. Grinding noise up front, louder when turning, wheel bearing correct?

I change both wheel bearing and same noise. Issue was the tires were cupped!

Today, brake is rubbing on front right. I'm thinking "stuck caliper". I replace caliper and bleed brakes. During reassembly I notice a wiggle in the rotor. The Large nut backed off allowing rotor to rub caliper wall.

I've spent hundreds $$$$ in parts and hours fixing stuff that didn't need fixing........

Somehow I overlooked these problems but I'll be sure to check it next time!

My father laughed and said that hes shared a few of these but one came to mind. My uncle had a 32 ft cabin boat and he swore the trans was going out. After yanking motor, then trans did he realize that it was the vacuum secondaries making that noise and the trans was just fine!!!!! That is alot of work!!!!

Anyone else share my frustration?

 

[dparm]

I'd say in general that I tend to perform regular maintenance at intervals that are too short. Factory recommends spark plug changes at 55k, I do them at about 20k (since I race the car, among other things). The plugs have looked fine each time but I replace them anyways.

 

[RedCorvette]

This is a very famous advert that played in the UK, and perhaps over Europe. It's perhaps not as frustrating plus he didn't go off and rip everything apart before he found the problem.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: RedCorvette
This is a very famous advert that played in the UK, and perhaps over Europe. It's perhaps not as frustrating plus he didn't go off and rip everything apart before he found the problem.





That's awesome. I'm going to have to save that clip!

I'm not a fan of replacing parts until the issue goes away. Try to trouble-shoot until the culprit presents itself. Otherwise, if it's not dangerous, forget about it.

I can see making the mistake on the bearings, but with the calipers? You heard a rubbing noise and replaced the caliper? The first thing I would have checked is the shield, then put my hand over the wheel to see if it was sticking.

My fiancee's old Civic actually did have a seized caliper, but it took a little while to properly diagnose it. I bought an infrared heat gun on sale and monitored temps after exercising the caliper, just to see if it wasn't stuck slides. It seemed to improve, and the gf (at the time) continued to report good things, so I let it go. A couple months down the road, I get the chance to drive the thing, and holy moly! The freaking sound that was coming out of that front end was scary. She didn't think it was that bad - "oh, that old noise??" /exaggeration haha. In a little over two months, that one pad was worn down to almost nothing, while the other looked fine. The temp reading on the heat gun was screaming, too!

 

[morris]

a 1959 ply with a chry 392 hemi. replaced the rear end. what was wrong? u-joint. i dont know who beat who the most, my dad or me

 

[Rick in PA]

Replace a "noisy" hydraulic lifter in my '68 Scout when I was a young man. Funny, the old lifter looked fine. THEN, I checked the oil... 1-1/2 quarts low. Ah, the lifter probably needed replacing anyway.

Life's lessons.

 

[slo town]

My first car, a 1962 Volkswagen bug. Brake lights didn't work. The bug had a hydraulic brake light switch on the master cylinder. I replaced this and bled the brakes. A bit of a hassle. Still no brake lights. BOTH bulbs had burned out!!!

Scott

 

[Astro14]

Anyone who's turned wrenches for a while has made this kind of mistake (I can't even remember all of mine) but we've all gained some more understanding, and become better diagnosticians, as a result...

 

[bdcardinal]

On my Volvo both foglights were out at the same time. Checked the fuse, it was good. Switch was good because all the other components on it worked. Picked up a new relay and the lights were still out. Finally opened up the housings and they were filled with water. Two new bulbs and all is good until they fill up again.

 

[Kestas]

I replaced the compressor, drier, and converted to r134 because the a/c wouldn't work on my 90 LeBaron. These things were quoted by my mechanic after diagnosis. Later on I found it was the a/c relay, a $25 part.

I too replaced both front wheel bearings on my 85 Omni that turned out to be only rusty brakes.

 

[dja4260]

Glad that I'm not the only one....

Honda brake calipers are known suck.
-Since I just did the bearings I was sure the shield wasn't rubbing. That side rotor was smoking hot compared to the other side. 9 times out of 10, its a sticking caliper.

 

[01rangerxl]

My truck's check fuel cap light came on and it threw a code for an EVAP leak. The fuel cap was secure, so I decided to try another one. Put the new cap on, reset the light, and within minutes it was back on for the same thing. At this point I got really nervous because I was thinking the charcoal canister might be damaged, and I might be looking at several hundred dollars for just the part. I started looking the EVAP system over from front to back. While inspecting the purge valve under the hood, I noticed a tiny vacuum line fitting had become disconnected. I hooked it back up and the check fuel cap light turned off immediately without a reset. Luckily the only money I wasted was on the fuel cap which wasn't too expensive. The actual fix was free.

 

[wirelessF]

Changed the oil pan gasket on my 91 Nissan Sentra trying to solve an oil leak. A week later it was still leaking. Found out the front main seal was bad as it was a common problem in these cars. It was easy to replace and no leaks after that.

 

[Newreet]

Here is a close-call story.

Several years ago the engine in my neighbor's old car was making a loud rattle noise. They took it to the dealer who diagnosed it a failing timing chain, and wanted to replace the timing chain and tensioner for more than the car itself was worth. So they asked me if I wanted the car for free.

I said "Hold the horses." I checked the oil level and it was very low. I added enough synthetic oil to get the level proper again, started the engine, and the noise was gone.

Today they are still driving their old car - and they check and top off the oil level regularly.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Anyone who's turned wrenches for a while has made this kind of mistake (I can't even remember all of mine) but we've all gained some more understanding, and become better diagnosticians, as a result...


^^THIS! Even the pros do it. When doing diagnostic work, I constantly have to remind myself to keep an open mind to ALL possibilities. I often have "blinders" on because I attack the problem starting with preconceived bias' of what I read or think the problem is.

Two of my stories: I was ready to do all sorts of work on my daughter's oil leaking 2.7 Sebring, only to learn that the oil pressure sensor ($30)is known to spring profuse oil leaks.

After my bad Caravan transmission was rebuilt(went out entirely), it continued to "slip". Three rebuilds later, the shop diagnosed a bad throttle position sensor on the engine. Ouch, for them. The third time they put in a different transmission all together!

What really irks me is when I spend a day failing to diagnose a problem, then someone walks up and says "what's this loose wire here all about?"!

Join the club. When you diy, its just part of life. In the end, I just tell myself at least I increased my education about things a bit more.

 

[cp3]

Yep....it happens.

New shocks and mounts on the back of the G6 yesterday, sound is still there. Did outer tie rods and stabilizer links on the front and now it's pulling under braking! At least you didn't make something worse...

 

[stephen9666]

Also, when you DIY, you're usually saving so much that you'll still be financially ahead if you replaced a couple unneeded parts. Or, you could say you replaced them "preemptively."

About 10 years ago I had a '66 Impala Convertible. It had a transmission leak that the previous owner told me was the front seal. I had the transmission half way out before I noticed the leak was actually coming from a bad gasket where a cable entered the trans housing. I just went ahead and replaced the front and rear seal anyway, since I had the transmission partway removed.

 

[Charlie1935]

When my 87 Dodge D100 was only 23 years old the head lights wouldn't one day. I got a new switch, put it in, still no lights. I then thought to check the dimmer switch. I now have a spare head light switch.

 

[Dakota1820]

^^^ your a good neighbor. I replaced the iac on the mx3 ivhad and come to find out the issue was a vac line under the intake. Mazda didn't build that car to be friendly to work on that's for sure

 

[ltslimjim]

I suppose being broke has it's advantages. I don't service enough cars yet myself, either FWIW.

I don't have money to replace components, like I'd like to lol, but it's forced me to get into a good habit of gathering evidence with so much time to worry about what all could be causing certain symptoms. This has provided enough motivation and I'm actually growing in a relative sense as a technician or diagnostics person. I'm not there as a mechanic, yet, though; at least that lags as I don't even have to setup to do all basics yet. Still gotta replace that jack someone stole, but it's all good.