Wife's transmission is sticking. (And let's face it, 120,000 mi is a lot to ask of a car without maintence on the moving parts.) There's a pressure switch assembly buried inside that needs replacing. $946.99 - And if we don't fix it, it'll run down and stop shifting entirely. Already gave the order to start the work, but the wife wants to make sure I'm not getting ripped off, so trying to verify it with the other local transmission shop.
I -had- $700 in savings for new PC parts. Not no more.
I still do most of my own work, but I'm too old to crack open a transmission. I hope for that price you are getting most or all of a rebuild. Otherwise you're going to have to keep opening it up as every little thing goes wrong. So I would be looking at not having to mess with it and make sure I was getting a good rebuild. Also, if you're fairly handy with a wrench, you can take the trans off yourself and bring it in, which should save a bunch on labor.
I still do most of my own work, but I'm too old to crack open a transmission. I hope for that price you are getting most or all of a rebuild. Otherwise you're going to have to keep opening it up as every little thing goes wrong. So I would be looking at not having to mess with it and make sure I was getting a good rebuild. Also, if you're fairly handy with a wrench, you can take the trans off yourself and bring it in, which should save a bunch on labor.
That price is 75% labor and taxes - a rebuild is another grand that just isn't there right now - but it's the key part that controls putting the damn thing in gear, plus the electrics. If it blows out, I can buy a whole damn transmission with 25,000 miles on it out of the local scrapyard for that money, and have it put in.
Yeah, I wonder how much someplace like Pick-your-Part charges for one. It just seems to me like half the time I've paid someone to open one up, something else goes wrong with it, and I get nickel-and-dime'd past what a new/rebuilt one costs. I hate transmissions. I don't get what the big deal is. I've seen guys rebuild them and don't remember seeing any expensive machinery or custom tools- just a solvent tank and workbench.
Freecare Spiritwise wrote:Yeah, I wonder how much someplace like Pick-your-Part charges for one. It just seems to me like half the time I've paid someone to open one up, something else goes wrong with it, and I get nickel-and-dime'd past what a new/rebuilt one costs. I hate transmissions. I don't get what the big deal is. I've seen guys rebuild them and don't remember seeing any expensive machinery or custom tools- just a solvent tank and workbench.
It's a jigsaw puzzle of moving parts that takes an hour of getting it in-and-out of the car to cap it off - There's only $250 worth of electronics and hydraulics goin in, the rest is labor and fluid.
Dd, the answer is: Not enough value on the policy. We'd be a couple grand in the hole, she'd cratered her credit before she bought the car, so until I cosigned a refinance for her, she wasn't actually making progress on the loan value to own the thing.
Garrdor wrote:I have a bad starter and no $ to replace it. (for months now)
Walking is fun.
Could be something simple like the solenoid stuck or a loose connection. I had so many beater cars with shitty starters and wiring growing up, that I can still to this day figure that shit out in minutes. If you were closer to Spokane I would visit you and crawl under it. That's usually an easy/cheap fix assuming it's not something weird like your flywheel screwed up or something. You should be under $50 easy- probably much less.
It's going to be a good Christmas for us. The only word I can think of is ... blessed. And I'm just about to cut out of the office today with 5 days off, including doomsday (I said "can I have doomsday off?" haha). But I am thankful that the universe has treated me well, and I've tried to be as generous as possible.
Garrdor wrote:I have a bad starter and no $ to replace it. (for months now)
Walking is fun.
Could be something simple like the solenoid stuck or a loose connection. I had so many beater cars with shitty starters and wiring growing up, that I can still to this day figure that shit out in minutes. If you were closer to Spokane I would visit you and crawl under it. That's usually an easy/cheap fix assuming it's not something weird like your flywheel screwed up or something. You should be under $50 easy- probably much less.
It's going to be a good Christmas for us. The only word I can think of is ... blessed. And I'm just about to cut out of the office today with 5 days off, including doomsday (I said "can I have doomsday off?" haha). But I am thankful that the universe has treated me well, and I've tried to be as generous as possible.
This makes me feel a bit better. I've never had to deal with car stuff until recently. It's a nissan sentra. Getting to the stupid starter is a pain in the ass. I'm pretty herp-derp about the whole thing. But yeah, if you're near southern oregon anytime soon I'll pay you in IOUs/EQ plat to take a look at it I mean, I don't know for sure if it's the starter or anything. I tested the battery and it's good. The alternator is fine, because it charges the battery just fine. The damn thing won't turn over. Just one little "Click" noise. Dash lights come on/stereo/headlights/brights. Fuel pump turns on.
Someone mentioned it might be a bad "ignition relay". Whatever the hell that is.
Have an awesome christmas.
Didn't your mama ever tell you not to tango with a carrot?
"Ignition relay", usually AKA "Starter Solenoid", which has two purposes: 1) act as a relay, i.e. switch for the high-current starter and 2) engage the starter physically by pushing the starter gear out until it engages the flyweel and turns the crankshaft. A Nissan sentra should be fairly easy. That starter is probably pretty small. It maybe a little bit of a hassle to get to, but it shouldn't be too bad. You may be able to do it from the top. And these days, there's probably 100 youtube videos showing you how to take it out.
The solenoid usually rides piggy back on top of the starter. So you pull the starter, pull the solenoid off of it, and take that solenoid to the auto parts counter to get a new one or the junkyard to get a used one. Then you mount the new one on the starter, and so forth. A working used one should be $10-$20. If I were going to the junk yard for that, I'd probably just grab the whole starter/solenoid assembly at that point. But if you are hurting for money, then yes, I would just try the solenoid first.
I would still check the battery cable at both ends, and the ground cable too just for giggles. It should be tight enough where you can't move it with a good effort on both ends. And all those wires connected to the starter should be good and clean and tight too. Most of the time people ask me to look at a car that won't start, it's a loose connection. Also look for damage too. None of the wires/cables should have any real nicks in them.
You should also have enough charge in your battery. The cold weather makes a battery very inefficient. In the winter I have to start my truck every few days or I'll have to jump it. A quick, non-scientific test is to turn on the headlights and honk the horn. If you can do that, it probably has enough juice to start.
I would still put a voltmeter on it if you have one. I believe it should be 12.3. Brain fart, it's either 12.3 or 12.6, but it should go up to about 14 with the motor running, and that is also the best test of the charging system. I have this little 3 dollar gadget that plugs into the cigarette lighter and gives a digital display. That way I can test a charging system without popping the hood to get to the battery. But the voltage will also give you a good idea of the charge.
I know you're a smart guy, so think deductive reasoning. You want to look end-to-end, ruling anything out. So, you want to take the charge in your battery (which you hopefully have) and apply that charge to the starter, through nice, clean cables, making nice, tight connections, until you get to the starter. If the juice is getting all the way there and it doesn't work, then pull that sucker.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head after smoking a phatty. Sorry if it's rambling. Assuming you have the tools, you could get this thing working for maybe 10 to 20 bucks. Shit, you could get the cheap tools for 10 to 20 bucks too and still come out ahead. Even if it's the cheapest tools money can buy and you drop them into the trash afterwards, you'll still come out ahead. In the past, I've been so poor that I even return all the tools for a full refund (including the jack, jack stands, etc.) when I'm done.
If you had a bunch of time on your hands you could always just replace it yourself. Step-by-step books on that stuff are usually pretty easy to find. I won't begin to pretend it's easy though.
Its the starter...just a couple of bolts and its out...if you know anyone with car ramps you can usually just do it yourself and save some coin. Is the car stick or automatic?
Freecare Spiritwise wrote:
That's all I can think of off the top of my head after smoking a phatty. Sorry if it's rambling. Assuming you have the tools, you could get this thing working for maybe 10 to 20 bucks. Shit, you could get the cheap tools for 10 to 20 bucks too and still come out ahead. Even if it's the cheapest tools money can buy and you drop them into the trash afterwards, you'll still come out ahead. In the past, I've been so poor that I even return all the tools for a full refund (including the jack, jack stands, etc.) when I'm done.
Hell, these days, you don't even need to make the investment in the tools - I know Auto Zone and Advance Auto have tool-loan programs - I don't know what you have to leave in the store as collateral, but they have the programs. Also, your local library MAY have the Chilton or Haynes manuals, not to mention the great library of .torrent.
Also, 'easy' and 'simple' tend to all have different meanings, even when you have the step by step manual. I replaced my cabin fan this fall - This was a three hour operation, done standing on my head so I could see what I was doing, but all it really was was removing five panel screws, one plastic anchor (Which was the worst part of the whole thing, actually), three bolts around the fan, and one four prong electric connector, and then putting it back together. Simple, yes. Save a lot of cash, yes. It tested my temper, though.
Growing up, those same auto parts stores would treat you like a vagrant if you swapped a battery out in their parking lot. Now they come out and help you and loan you tools and stuff. They will even read your OBD codes and reset your computer. They also replace your windshield wipers if you ask nicely.
There's probably not a single thing in my toolbox that hasn't paid for itself several times over. Even when I was broke, I spent a good chunk of my paycheck on tools. I've tried to be well rounded in my collection because I could be fixing anything from a big truck to a vacuum cleaner or laptop.
So yeah, I look at buying tools as multiplying my money, in a sense. Just in the last couple months, I rebuilt 4 disc brakes (that the shop quoted me $1600) for about $150 in parts, rebuilt the turbine on a $300 SteamVac (the wife had even told me I could buy a new one - hah) and fixed a $300 over-the-stove-mounted microwave for $2 in parts, and we were also already shopping for a new one.
I thought that once I was a little more successful, I wouldn't be using my tools as much. But the opposite has been true. Having a larger empire just means that nothing ever fucking works, and "just take it out to the garage and put it on my workbench" is a phrase often uttered in our household. So, I've been buying more tools and diagnostic equipment.
FYI there's a few invaluable tools for cars. Those code readers are about $30 on the low end, and they plug into any car made after 1996 and give you the computer codes, as well as letting you interact with the computer. I got my multimeter from dealextreme.com for $14 and it's almost as accurate as my dad's expensive Fluke meter. The Craftsman precision made-in-the-USA screwdrivers I caught $19 on sale. These days you can have powerful diagnostic abilities for cheap.
Well, I scraped up enough for the first wave of the upgrades, anyway. i5-3570 or whatever the 3.4 Ghz 4 core is, some RAM that'll need to expand later. Is there a reasonably cheap option for Windows 7 these days? Don't want to move to 8, cheap or not.
I mean, I don't know for sure if it's the starter or anything. I tested the battery and it's good. The alternator is fine, because it charges the battery just fine. The damn thing won't turn over. Just one little "Click" noise. Dash lights come on/stereo/headlights/brights. Fuel pump turns on.
