Bleeding brakes! Simplest thing in the world, unless it's my wife's Toyota Matrix. I think there's an air bubble trapped in the ABS actuator, and without access to the dealership's magic scantool, it patently refuses to come out.
Almost anything else I need to do is doable. The obstacles are almost always time and facilities, not the task itself.
In reply to DarkMonohue :
Gravel road + multiple hard stops to activate the ABS. Then bleed again. Worked on my old Silverado
In reply to calteg :
Thanks. I've tried that before, and it seemed to help, but the pedal eventually got soft again. Maybe there's still some air in it. And maybe I should just act like a big boy and pony up for an OBD/USB cable and a 48-hour Techstream pass.
wspohn said:Changing the timing chain on a DOHC engine without removing the engine from the car.
As long as the timing chain has a master link you can get the chain out of there and feed another new one in as you do it, and even manage to restore correct timing, but the kryptonite part is the time (OK, times plural) where just as you are rejoining the two ends of the new chain, you hear a sudden tinkle as the master link falls into the front timing case (followed swiftly by a loud and usually either blasphemous or biologically improbable expostulation of extreme disappointment) .
I had a physical and audible reaction to reading your description. The horror...the horror....
Evap codes are my nemesis. I can't say I've ever fixed an evap leak by knowing what I was doing. I've either reset the computer until I get lucky and the leak doesn't trigger on the way to the emissions station, or I threw parts at it until something fixed it.
Time.
Sometimes, just getting started.
Rust. Simple projects become events.
Threading brake calipers pins on a BMW X3, man that sucked.
Chasing electrical gremlins in old wiring. I know how but darn do I hate it.
I need to add another one to the list: dipsticks.
Both my Trans Am and my Power Wagon have given me major headaches due to dipstick-related issues. On the Trans Am, when I built the Pontiac 400 engine, I infamously had to pull the engine after installation due to the lower oil dipstick tube getting dislodged and falling into the pan. Had to pull the pan off, weld a tab onto it (the original broke off), and bolt it back in.
On the truck, the 318's oil dipstick never read right, so I ordered a replacement, which also never read right because it was too short. Also, the tube snapped off in the block. Then, on the new 360, after swapping pans, the original dipstick wouldn't go in no matter how I twisted or bent it. After breaking the original dipstick in half trying to put a twist in it, I ordered a new one, and that wouldn't go in, either! I finally got it to go in after spending hours bending the stick and the tube to the optimum angle. Ugh!
Noddaz said:Sometimes, just getting started.
Finishing a project. After the initial flood of highly focused enthusiasm, I loose momentum. I have so many half started/finished projects.
Tony Sestito said:On the truck, the 318's oil dipstick never read right, so I ordered a replacement, which also never read right because it was too short. Also, the tube snapped off in the block. Then, on the new 360, after swapping pans, the original dipstick wouldn't go in no matter how I twisted or bent it. After breaking the original dipstick in half trying to put a twist in it, I ordered a new one, and that wouldn't go in, either! I finally got it to go in after spending hours bending the stick and the tube to the optimum angle. Ugh!
My memory is a little feeble after several years without it, but I think I remember the dipstick in our 5.2 Magnum ZJ being a real SOB to get down the tube without a metric crapton of oscillation and an equal amount of luck. So maybe it's more a case of a sloppy design than an Achilles heel. Considering other issues, like how difficult replacing the distributor cap on that ZJ was, I'd be inclined to shift some of the blame off of yourself and onto mother Mopar.
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