Recently, our power went out. About ten seconds later the lights came back on when our standby generator fired up, so I went about my business working on The Kneeslider. Then a couple of minutes later, the lights went out again, but this time, they stayed out. That got my attention, because it meant the generator wasn’t running.
Hoping mice hadn’t gotten inside and chewed through the wiring, I went out to take a look and found a “low oil pressure†error on the control panel as the reason for the shutdown, but the engine is not that complex and I maintain it pretty well, so what happened? A bit of troubleshooting and I discovered a faulty oil pressure sensor as the culprit. Luckily, the power came back on a few minutes later so my sidelined generator wasn’t a big problem and after a quick search online a new sensor was ordered and on its way.
Two days later it arrived and with a bit of penetrating oil and judicious persuasion I was able to unscrew the old one, install the new one, test run the generator and all was right with the world. The victory celebration was small since I was the only one there, 🙂 but I must admit, I was feeling pretty good.
Another opportunity to restore order in the universe
Fast forward a few weeks and we’re washing a load of clothes in our trusty Speed Queen. Halfway through the cycle I hear a long beep, which is odd since the normal signal beeps are usually short, so I walk in to the laundry room and there’s an “ED23” error code on the panel. (Why do washing machines need digital control panels, anyway?) A quick look at the code chart and no joy, the code isn’t on the chart. So after a minute or two online I find I’m not the first to experience this mystery error which others have already found translates to a bad motor control board. I check eBay and there are about a half dozen available, but figuring I’ll give the local guys some business, I call around and find only one in stock within 100 miles, unfortunately they want over $600!! for the part, so I order one on eBay for $149 and eagerly await its arrival.
A two day wait and I have it in hand and after about 30 minutes of lying on the floor contorting my body and arms into unpleasant positions while installing the replacement, and uttering several impolite words and phrases, I plugged the washer back in and it works just like it’s supposed to. Again, I smile.
Simple repairs – great satisfaction – huge savings
Putting my tools away it struck me how satisfying simple repairs like these can be. There’s no need to call anyone and wait, no wondering what to do, I, like many of you, just grab my meter and a few tools, figure out what the problem is and fix it. As I finished cleaning up I also thought about the shrinking number of people that can make repairs like that as hands on work continues to get far less respect than it should and that’s sad.
On the washer repair alone, I saved $500 on the part, had no charges for a service call that may have been several days away after which a part would be ordered, more waiting and then a final repair. Probably a week with no washer and a $700 or $800 repair bill. You can buy a lot of washing machines for less and that’s probably their intention. I spent $149 total and when the board is repaired, I have a spare.
Making the World Work Again
I really enjoy fixing things and I always have and I’m guessing many of you share the same feeling. Knowing how things work or figuring something out when the need arises is one of life’s most pleasant experiences and assuming you have the tools in your toolbox, mental as well as physical, you can get by with much less money and without dependence on someone else’s schedule. No waiting for the repairman, after all, you’re already there. (My wife, on the other hand, calls the repairman frequently, “Hey Paul, this thing isn’t working.”)
Motorcycle repair skills apply everywhere
Troubleshooting and repair is a cross functional skill, the more you know about mechanics, electricity, electronics and hydraulics, the more you’ll be able to fix because the knowledge applies everywhere. Learning to repair motorcycles teaches you how to fix a great many other things and vice versa. If you already understand those basics from some other field, motorcycles become accessible, too.
Those of us who are long time members of the society of the ever ready wrench, can find pleasure in almost any day with a trip to the toolbox. There’s always something to fix or adjust. For those of you who have yet to be inducted, there’s no need to wait and you shouldn’t. Today’s a good day to inventory your mental and physical toolbox and see what you need. The world of the fixer is a good one, it’s fun and you’ll save a lot of money, too. Buy some good tools and you’ll save you even more. Hey, there’s broken stuff all over the place. C’mon, start fixing!
One more thing: Here’s an article I wrote years ago about the golden age of parts. Check it out!
JP Kalishek says
Grew up poor. Fix it, build it, do it yourself is the only way you got a lot of things.
I have rebuilt “unrepairable” emissions solenoids for my truck because dealer new is the only option. The second time I put filters in to prevent any training getting into the works and have not needed to do it again.
Paul Crowe says
The factor that often decides what’s unrepairable is whether or not you have to hire someone to fix it. If you do, cost rapidly goes through the roof and they always install a brand new part instead of fixing the old one. Tools and know-how are the key. I couldn’t imagine not being able to fix things.
David Blackburn says
Well said. And with YouTube and Google in the toolbox, once daunting tasks can be easily handled by the do-it-yourselfer. And now I’m off to find out what’s wrong with the heater in our hot tub. 🙁
Eric Cherry says
I found myself watching YouTube more than any other media now. It has all my interests covered, subscribed to a good many creators whose content range from fabricating motorized bicycles, repairing old VWs, mowers, microcontrollers, etc.
Had a bit of an epiphany about YouTube (least the way I’m watching it), it’s become a surrogate Father to this generation. For these kids who didn’t have a Father, parents were divorced and didn’t get as much time, Dads who didn’t own tools or know how to fix anything. Parents who don’t know how to change a tire.
For those kids who have an interest, where could they go to learn this beforehand? Sure there’s avenues, but YouTube is so accessible and casts a wide net on a great many subjects of expertise.
Even if you had a great Dad with a full shop, experience and all the time in the world to spare, Lets say as a kid you were fascinated with airplane engines. How many opportunities would we normally get up close to even one airplane engine? Let alone see one being put together. Probably wouldn’t get the opportunity till you were 18 and went off to a tech school or joined the Air Force.
But with YouTube you can find 1000s of hours of content on the subject. Watch over the guy’s shoulder, shares what he’s doing, answers questions. It’s a pretty great thing for us all.
Course on the other hand it’s full of trash, narcissists and nutjobs as well. Like all tools, there’s a right and a wrong way to use it and YouTube’s no different.
Paul Crowe says
Even if you have lots of repair experience, YouTube can offer tips from those who have very specific skills and hands on time with something you haven’t worked on before. I like to check the repair manual, but they often have long, drawn out procedures where an experienced tech can show you the quick and easy adjustment in a minute or two. It’s very cool.
Greg Jetnikoff says
And sometimes the replacement part itself is so expensive it ain’t worth the trouble.
Recently my Samsung LED TV decided it was going to switch on and off all by itself. Trusty Google soon had the obvious culprit and diagnostic procedure to check it was the problem. Literally tens of thousands os hits of exactly the same problem. TV was only a unit number of years old , so thinks ” worth fixing . Just get the powersupply board. A bit of surfing and the cheapest , out of China, was $400…for a power supply board…what??? Obviously a huge desparate market willing to pay what is mass produced in the hundred of thousands. New smart TV, with a slightly bigger screen ( very small lounge room. 3 metre max viewing distance, so bigger screen is useless…) $600…no contest. Needless to say the new tv was NOT a Samsung…
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Paul Crowe says
That’s what I ran into with the board shown above. $600 for a new replacement, but there were some available on eBay for much less and the board itself is repairable. There’s one business I found that repairs them for a reasonable fee, though I can probably do that myself. The issue with some boards is the large number of extremely small surface mount components, which are designed to be soldered by heating the whole board, and extremely difficult to replace yourself unless you’re REALLY good at soldering in very close and very tiny spaces.
Their intent is never to help you repair the item with a replacement part, just to sell you a whole new unit. I’m not a fan of that business model.
Eric Cherry says
I dumpster dove a 55″ Samsung TV, took it apart and saw 3 swollen capacitors. Ran down to Radio Shack (they existed still at the time) and overpaid for a few. Ran home, desoldered the old and soldered in the new ones. Worked. Paid $0.68 for that TV and I overpaid.
9/10 times with modern electronics it’s a capacitor. When it doubt, swap em out.
Paul Crowe says
Nice fix on that TV. Remember when Radio Shack had racks full of components? Those were the days. It’s all online now, but it was nice to browse in a real store. We had a few other local electronics stores, too, long gone now, like so much else.
The relays I refer to in the photo caption, the black rectangular boxes on that board, are another high failure rate item. Between relays and caps, you’re probably going to fix it 99% of the time. On old stuff, with electrolytic capacitors, replacing those is step one.
Eric Cherry says
I live in Huntsville, AL and there’s a ton of manufacturers and distributors for electronic components. Mostly to support the areospace/defense industry that this town is known for. But not a single place sells to the public! Which is kinda crazy considering I can’t hold my arms outright anywhere in town without touching an engineer with each hand.
Paul Crowe says
You would think someone at those companies would see a nice potential business there, even if just to try it out and see what the response was. Or, if as a wholesale distributor they couldn’t, perhaps some enterprising person could approach them about setting up some kind of retail operation that was a central source for all of the different kinds of components. What we could really use in the USA is at least one city like Shenzhen, China, where you can buy any electronic components you can think of in any quantity at very low prices. Huge shopping malls of nothing but electronics.
scritch says
Slightly ironically, our Radio Shack space has been filled with an O’Reilly auto parts store. With shelves of parts to fix things.
scritch says
I have a lot of mechanic’s tools that I’ve picked up off of the road for decades. Some of them pretty good stuff, like Snap-On sockets. But over the last decade or so I’ve noticed a distinct drop-off in “road-kill”. I think cars are getting so complex and well-built that people aren’t able to work on their cars at home, but don’t have to. As a scrounge, it’s a shame for me, but good for most.
There are still things on our cars I can do, like brake jobs and oil changes. I still get a feeling of satisfaction from those tasks.
Sleeping Dog says
When I was a young man, I defined financial success as being able to afford to pay someone else to fix the car. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t fix it myself. But I had the option and knew that a repair bill wouldn’t be a set back.
Paul Crowe says
Even when you can afford the repair, there’s a point where the cost difference is just obscene. The washer repair I reference is around $600 or $700 less if you do it yourself. That’s just throwing money away when you don’t. Since my total labor time on the washer repair was about 30 minutes, the savings work out to $1200 to $1400 per hour. That’s hard to beat.
Also, paying someone else doesn’t guarantee a competent person will arrive to do the work. The quality of repair techs in almost any field today varies to the extreme.
Bob says
Usually, when someone asks “Where’d you get the money for something like that?”, that answer isn’t about the money.
Prime example: John Britten’s home.
Drew says
I was just telling my girlfriend about the distinct pleasure, almost “high,” I get when I am able to bring life back to something that’s been cast aside because it’s broken and simply easier to replace than fix. I find purpose in leaving things better than I find them, be it fixing something that’s not working or simply moving shopping carts from their inevitable “front 2 wheels on the curb” position to their corrals in the parking lot. I tend to get antsy if I don’t have a project that needs my attention.
Currently I’m driving a minivan with 261k miles on it that my mom was ready to cast aside because it ran poorly and she couldn’t get the check engine light to turn off no matter how many visits to the shop it had. After 4 hours and $150 in tune-up parts (spark plugs, wires, O2 sensors, and a new coil pack) it runs better than it has in 10 years. She was ready to drive it to the scrap yard.
I recently bought a ’79 Kawasaki KE100 that had been cast aside because it lost spark. “I can’t figure out why it won’t spark!” it’s previous owner told me when I picked it up. Turns out that was code for “I don’t want to try fix it, I just want something new.” Once I can get it tuned and tagged, I’ll have a fun little town bike. I can’t wait to see other projects I discover in the coming years.
SW Gunn says
Do not buy a washer/dryer with a digital control panel- that’s a common failure point. You can still find models that have the good old-fashioned dial controls. The machine will last longer… I was told this by a salesman after my last washer with a digital panel died after only a couple of years. Dial models are cheaper too.
Paul Crowe says
I will probably look for the manual model next time around, but I hope that’s a long way off in the future since this one is only a few years old.
Coleman Horn says
The essence of your post reminded me exactly of a fantastic book, “Shop Class as Soulcraft, An Inquiry into the Value of Work”. By: Matthew B. Crawford.. Matthew is a motorcycle mechanic, and runs a small shop, and writes eloquently and philosophically about the beauty and art of fixing things (bikes) … In fact, he would make a great interview for your site..
Paul Crowe says
Wrote about that book a long time ago when it was just coming out. The title of this article is a play on the title of another book I mentioned in that article. Too few people seem to want to understand how the world around them actually, physically works, to the point where they can fix it. They’re missing out.
Scott says
My whole process for fixing things has changed over the last five years.
It used to be basic troubleshooting: A + B = C, if you’re not getting C, check out A and B to make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing and go from there.
Now, I take a picture of the make/model label/tag of the offending item and punch that info into Google with a short description of the problem being observed. Nine times out of ten there are videos directly related to the problem along with the solution. Once any videos are identified, I watch all of them (some multiple times). Then I order/obtain the replacement part(s). With parts in hand, I may watch the videos again. This usually leads to the actual repair taking minimal time.
I did this process recently with the brake lights staying illuminated on my 99 Honda Civic. A quick Google search reveals there’s a plastic plug that is on the brake lever that depresses the brake light switch when the brake pedal is pushed in. The forum I looked up said if you have plastic debris in your footwell that looks like this , this is your problem. The fix took less than five minutes. My old habits would’ve had me outside with a multi-meter going down an electronic rabbit hole. My new habit has me inside drinking beer long before I would’ve identified the problem through traditional means.
I’ve done this process to fix my cars multiple times, my washer (twice), my AC unit (twice), a donated lawn mower and two pressure washers.
The first time everything is reassembled with the new parts, and everything actually works, is the closest I can imagine what having real magical powers would feel like.
Long story short, it’s a great time to be alive!