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KyAllroad (Jeremy)
KyAllroad (Jeremy) UltimaDork
5/13/19 7:54 a.m.
rdcyclist said:

More times than I can count. The worst one was an alternator too. Except this was in an '00 Audi A6 Avant. One of the most difficult alternator R&R's I've ever experienced and I had not one but two bad alternators from my local pro-parts house. I ended up getting my core back and taking it to a local rebuilder. I don't get remanufactured alternators if I can avoid it and if I can't I get 'em tested before I leave the store.

I was half paying attention for the first part of this post until I read "most difficult alternator R&R..." and I thought "can't be as bad as my 2000 Passat 2.8"   So I baacked up and saw it was the same car.  WTF were they thinking with that design??

You're a better man than I, a bad replacement would probably caused me to shove the thing into the yard and torching it.

Daylan C
Daylan C UltraDork
5/13/19 7:54 a.m.

2006 scion xb. Driver side wheel cylinder. Duralast part number 33869. You can't put both the mounting bolt and the bleed screw through the backing plate at the same time. 3rd one I've tried. Now to find something to open up the hole around the bleed screw I guess because this was supposed to be done Friday and I'm not even getting paid for this.

pinchvalve
pinchvalve MegaDork
5/13/19 7:56 a.m.

Oh it's happened, you get a bad electric motor now and again or a switch that isn't making a connection. I bought a replacement recirc pump for the hot tub and spent a day trying to figure out why it wasn't working before wiring it directly and discovering it was junk. 

Tyler H
Tyler H UberDork
5/13/19 8:07 a.m.
The0retical said:

Doing stuff at home it's always a freaking master cylinder. I'm not sure why they're so hard to produce or reman but the Vibe is on its 3rd in 1.5 years and the current one is partially bypassing.

This is why I have reverted to buying the overhaul kits from Toyota and rebuilding all the hydraulics myself.  

Here's where I started to doubt myself --

Found an E28 that had been parked and wouldn't start.  Rolled up with my trailer and looked the car over and it was pretty nice.  Asked if I could troubleshoot it for a few minutes, immediately noticed that the main ground lug was loose.  Snugged it up and jumped it off and it fired right up, much to the seller's amazement.  

Felt pretty good.  Dropped my kids off the next day at school and on the way home it just died.  LONG story short, no amount of troubleshooting would revive it.  I tested everything.  I methodically validated every wire in the harness.  Checked the crank sensors, swapped the DME from another car, validated fuel pressure.  Finally sold it to a real BMW specialist. It never came back off my trailer until I dumped it.

He said they put a secondary fuel pump in it.  They story I got from the shop tech indicates that it was the bane of their existence and they threw everything at it until it miraculously decided to work again....then it got dumped and subsequently died again on the next guy.

This cycle got repeated, and it's probably still out there to this day....dying and miraculously reviving only to die on the next guy.

If you see a black E28 535i with cardinal interior, be afraid.

 

Toyman01
Toyman01 MegaDork
5/13/19 8:08 a.m.

I've been wrenching on cars for 38 years. At this point, with the quality of parts that are available, I pretty much always assume the problem is with the parts rather than the install. 

If it doesn't fit properly, I double check everything including my work, and either modify the part to fit if possible or return it. 90% of the time it's tolerances that aren't quite right and few seconds with a grinding tool or a spacer will solve the problem.

thedoc
thedoc Reader
5/14/19 4:37 a.m.

In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :

I threw a belt on my mustang while auto crossing in Limestone, Maine.  Limestone is so far out there that your phone service jumps to Canada.  One of the mechanics (thanks Brian) helped me put the belt back on.  I drove home gently just praying that it would stay on for the five hour trip through hours of bleak highway without a parts store in sight.

Made it home fine and Kenne Bell sent me a new blower.  I'll tell you that their instructions and tech help were awesome while I  put on the blower.  Really first rate.  New belt on, all was good.  Until the next auto cross where I threw the belt.  New idler pulley, right. Picked up an aftermarket one and the belt screeched like there was a rabbit stuck in it.  I asked the company to send me a new idler pulley, which they did.  Screeched even worse.  I could not find  which pulley was bad.  I gave up and brought the car into my mechanic.

He calls me within minutes to tell me what was wrong:  Kenne belle sent me the wrong belt.  I never even thought to check if that was the problem.

Knurled.
Knurled. MegaDork
5/14/19 5:45 a.m.
Tyler H said:
The0retical said:

Doing stuff at home it's always a freaking master cylinder. I'm not sure why they're so hard to produce or reman but the Vibe is on its 3rd in 1.5 years and the current one is partially bypassing.

This is why I have reverted to buying the overhaul kits from Toyota and rebuilding all the hydraulics myself.  

Here's where I started to doubt myself --

Found an E28 that had been parked and wouldn't start.  Rolled up with my trailer and looked the car over and it was pretty nice.  Asked if I could troubleshoot it for a few minutes, immediately noticed that the main ground lug was loose.  Snugged it up and jumped it off and it fired right up, much to the seller's amazement.  

Felt pretty good.  Dropped my kids off the next day at school and on the way home it just died.  LONG story short, no amount of troubleshooting would revive it.  I tested everything.  I methodically validated every wire in the harness.  Checked the crank sensors, swapped the DME from another car, validated fuel pressure.  Finally sold it to a real BMW specialist. It never came back off my trailer until I dumped it.

He said they put a secondary fuel pump in it.  They story I got from the shop tech indicates that it was the bane of their existence and they threw everything at it until it miraculously decided to work again....then it got dumped and subsequently died again on the next guy.

This cycle got repeated, and it's probably still out there to this day....dying and miraculously reviving only to die on the next guy.

If you see a black E28 535i with cardinal interior, be afraid.

 

Hell no. I like a challenge.  Where's it at?

The0retical
The0retical UberDork
5/14/19 9:12 a.m.
Tyler H said:
The0retical said:

Doing stuff at home it's always a freaking master cylinder. I'm not sure why they're so hard to produce or reman but the Vibe is on its 3rd in 1.5 years and the current one is partially bypassing.

This is why I have reverted to buying the overhaul kits from Toyota and rebuilding all the hydraulics myself. 

I didn't know Toyota sold kits. Now I do and I bought one.

04493-01020 for the 03 to 08 for those playing along.

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