Automobile Repair Stories

Today at lunch we were swapping tales of woe.

Dennis told us about the time he had to replace the alternator on his Subaru. He's reading the repair manual and the instructions have a long list of steps that involved removing various components in order to get to the alternator: 1) remove the radiator, 2) remove the manifold, etc. etc. Then he finally gets to the end and it says: "Or, remove from underneath."

1982 Ford Fairmont

I had a heater core go bad in an old Ford Fairmont. I glanced at the shop manual and instructions are short, there are only four steps, so I think I can do this, it will be a piece of cake. So come Saturday I am ready to undertake this project and I take another look at the instructions. The first step is "remove the dashboard".

Once upon a time somebody gave Marc a car. It wasn't running, the problem unknown, but it was free, and it was near identical to another car he had, so if nothing else it would at least be good for parts. He tows it home and looks under the hood, opens the radiator cap and notices the radiator is dry. So he gets a hose and starts filling the radiator. Shortly there after he notices water running out from under the engine, running out as fast as he is putting it in. He can't see where the water is coming from, maybe a freeze plug has popped loose, so he reaches up in there to see if he can find the problem with his hand. So gropes around and eventually finds something loose. Hmmm, that's not right, have to tighten that up, but just what is it? Wait, I know what that shape is, it's a piston.

Update November 2015 replaced missing picture with different one.