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