Like the satisfying sound a can of soda makes when you pop the top, or the thunderous crack of a strike, or being able to easily open your car door.

I took some time away from the computer (and the TV) this weekend and repaired my beloved ‘Rolla. I was afraid that dismantling the door was going to be more difficult than it actually was. A few years back I had tried to take the inside door panel off a few year back, but was thwarted by the manual window handle, just could not get it to come off.

So a while back, when I had some time to kill, I found myself at AutoZone, in doing so I found there there is a special tool you need to be able to remove the little metal clip that holds the window handle on. I bought it, and some extra metal clips, assuming that I would end up destroying or losing the ones I would be removing.

Needless to say, I am glad I bought the clips, as when I used the tool, I promptly lost the metal clip. Not to mention that it shot off the handle at such a speed that I was glad I wasn’t in it’s path.

The hardest part of reassembling everything was getting the door lock back in the right spot. I had to basically get my arm inside the door frame to move the piece into place, to get a better hold on it all, I had to take a cross bear off, thankfully I remembered to put it back on.

The new door handle is working great, I do think I must have messed something up with the lock mechanism though, as I can unlock the door, but I cannot lock the door (from the outside with the key). Not a HUGE deal, so no worries.

Well I need to get back to coding, I am excited about next weekend, as I will be replacing the front door speakers, given that I now own a soldering iron.

Given the DIY repair projects of the last two weekends, I am also faced with the notion that our culture these days (prepare for gross generalization) is more likely to purchase entire replacement items vs repair a piece of technology or whatever the item may be.

Many appliances, furniture and items of consumer tech are no longer designed to be repaired, particularly not by the owner. Sometimes this is for their own good, BIG capacitors can kill, so I totally get that.

I hadn’t really thought much about this type of stuff until a few years back, I witnessed my father-in-law replacing the ‘fabric’ strips on a beach/lawn chair. The chairs were what one might call ‘vintage’, as they had seen quite a few seasons up at the cottage.

He had the roll of needed plastic fabric and the necessary tools to detach the old strips and secure the new strips. My first thought was, “Wow, I wonder how much a new chair costs vs the materials needed to repair?” eg, is it worth the effort to repair something like that. My next thought was ‘You know, I don’t think I have ever seen a lawn chair repair kit. Do you have to find a specialty store on the Internet?”

Needless to say, I was too scared to ask those questions, I didn’t want to insult my father-in-law or anything, not knowing how he might take those kinds of questions. (to which I am sure my mother-in-law, will let him know I said these things on my blog, so for the record, I think it is cool to repair stuff vs just buy a new one. Hello Brenda and Tom!!!)

But yeah, the thought of just repairing something vs getting a new one is I definitely think something we as a whole consumer culture don’t really do these days. We return it and get a new one, they might fix it back at the factory, but that is all “black-box” to us, “out-of-sight, out-of-mind”.

And, I totally forgot to post an update, the Samsung TV is working GREAT!!!

Gina took some pics of me and John working on the TV last weekend, many thanks to John he did pretty much all the soldering work, I tried to desolder the first capacitor for about 3-4 minutes with no real progress made. Apparently, they offered an electronics course at his High School. I remember taking electricity in Middle School and I think they offered a similar class at Sexton High School, but I don’t remember anyone mentioning an electronics course in the Lansing School District. (If they did offer on, I really regret not taking it.)

Back to the coding grind.

laterz

bdbenner corolla, diy car repair, door handle, repair, toyota

For those that haven’t heard yet, my beloved ‘Rolla has crossed the 200k mark. I had been thinking that as soon as I passed the 200k mark the tires would fall off. To my surprise, nothing bad happened as I crossed over that 200k milestone.

However, apparently 200,110 miles, my ‘Rolla decided to have a little bit of a breakdown.

Any idea what this is?

If you guessed ‘Driver’s Side Door Handle’ you are RIGHT!

After having dinner with some friends, I had opened the door to the ‘Rolla and we were chatting in the parking lot, a bit of time had gone by, so I decided that I should close the door. After some more chatting, we decided to take off, and I went to open the door and heard a ‘SNAP’ and the door handle FLEW through the air, in my mind I think back and see it flying high through the air in slow motion. However, given that I was able to pick it up off the ground only about two feet from the ‘Rolla, clearly this is just the dramatic moment playing tricks on my mind.

So, ummm yeah. Hey Toyota, any chance there are some outstanding recalls on the 1994 Toyota Corolla? Specifically a recall on the driver side door handle?

I am hoping i can simply order a part from AutoZone, but I suspect I might have to hit up eBay or a local ‘Pick-a-part’. I can see that I am not necessarily looking forward to dismantling whatever parts of the driver’s side door that I need to, in order to replace the broken door handle.

Needless to say, I feel that the ‘Ghetto Sled’ has truly earned it’s name. As I may seriously have to start opening my door by leaning over the passenger seat, I really do not want to do that. So in addition to working on some code, I will be endeavoring to repair the ‘Rolla.

I mean, the car is a 1994, that is 16 years. If the car was only used to go to and from somewhere, once a day, that would mean the door handle was used at a minimum 11,680 times. Figure that it was used for two trips a day, this would mean, 23,360 times.

<pause while I look up some stuff on AutoZone.com>

Looky, Looky… $41.99 and I can have a fixed ‘Rolla, well $41.99 and a few hours for me to figure it out.

<pause while I searched for the part cheaper somewhere else>

I found it at O’Reilly AutoParts, $46.39 with delivery. The AutoZone one was going to be like $53. I didn’t pop for the 2 day delivery, as their delivery estimate showed that both options would arrive on Weds the 24th. So looks like, I am going to be trying to fix the ‘Rolla next Weds night or Thursday morning.

Well, it is late and need to get to bed. On a side note, I now have a similar setup at home as I do at the office, in terms of having a laptop stand for my mac book.

In other news, I am still doing Camp Gladiator, I will be definitely be doing it three times a week. Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The workouts are intense and having my coworkers there is a good motivation to keep going. I haven’t really started weighing myself regularly, but I did last night for the first time in a few weeks and it looks like I lost about six pounds. Right now, I am more so interested in improving my stamina, as each workout is getting a little bit easier and easier.

Night.

Laterz

bdbenner corolla car repair, corolla, repairs, toyota

On the way into work earlier this week the ‘Rolla rolled past 196,000 miles. The camera app on the iPhone took just a couple of seconds too long for me to snap a pic at 196,000 miles even. I am going to try to capture pics of the ‘Rolla hitting 197k, 198k, 199k and the covetted 200k!

laterz

bdbenner Cars, corolla Cars, corolla, mileage

I was worried that the Corolla was going to need some major exhaust repair, which would make me question whether or not I should get it repaired, much like we did with the Achieva.

I currently have about 187k miles on the Corolla and I want it to make it to 200k, that is the line I have drawn in the sand as to when I want to look for a new car. I think 200k is a good run for the Corolla, not to say I will put it out to pasture, if it is in decent condition still by that point I am sure someone would buy it for a couple of thousand dollars.

Well, as I stated earlier today I had to drop the car off for some maintenance and there was obviously something wrong with the exhaust system as it had gotten quite loud recently. I had been really hoping something had just come loose, but the likelihood of that seemed to be pretty slim.

I got the call from the mechanic a little while ago and as it turns out the bolts that connected the ‘lower pipe’ or something to the exhaust manifold had come undone (disappeared is what the mechanic said). He got it all reconnected. He charged me like $43 bucks in labor for getting it all fixed up.

Needless to say I am very excited by the news that it is just merely something that needed to be reconnected and not totally replaced.

Now, I just need to get some new tires, it is definitely getting to be about that time. Oh yeah, I also need to call around to some junkyards and get a new seat-belt re-tractor thing, as my belt doesn’t retract properly right now. A new one is like $400 bucks or so, just for the part.

I am pretty confident at the moment that the Corolla will see 200k miles.

Back to the grind.

Laterz

bdbenner Cars, corolla Cars, corolla, lucky, repairs

And I don’t have any real plans.

I need to get the house straightened up, finish doing some laundry and what not.

I just got the call that my new glasses are ready, my prescription changed a little, like -.25 or something in each eye. I was almost talked into getting these black plastic frames with little skulls on the sides. However, I think that would only work if I was in a band or was back in college.

I am debating about what to do with my current glasses. I could keep them as a spare pair, or I could get new lenses (tinted) put in them for about $70. Because, I would really like to have a pair of sun glasses again, though I am quite used to being blinded when I go outside.

The Corolla needed an oil change so I dropped it off this morning. However, a couple of days ago the engine started to sound really LOUD, at first I thought maybe it was just because it needed an oil change, but the volume was significantly higher than just a rough idle.

I could smell just a wee bit of exhaust fume from when you open the hood, so after some searching on the Internet and Jeremy hearing it too, I am convinced it is something to do with the exhaust assembly in the engine area. I am really hoping that it is just something that has come loose. But more likely something has a hole in it.

Which makes me think that a 14 year old car back in Michigan would like be on at least it’s second muffler and likely it’s third one. I have never replaced a muffler on it and the car was only 4 years old when I bought it so it is unlikely that was replaced back then either.

I am awaiting the call from Brake Specialists to let me know how much it is going to cost.

In the meantime I am installing Asterisk 1.4 for a work project. Fun, Fun I love installing from source.

(I really mean that, btw)

Back to the grind.

Laterz

bdbenner Cars, corolla, travel, work Cars, gina, travel, work