[PSA] DIY Auto Mechanics

trop said:
dont be lazy solder ur connections
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Was rewiring my front speakers in a parking garage cause the loft I live in doesnt have one and I didnt want spear chuckers reminicsing every 5min about that car they owned one time 10 years ago...its a busy sidewalk.

But yea, no solder, just some highly skilled splicing.



what were we talking about?
 
Mantua said:
why do you need a wiring diagram to change a starter?
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problem is wiring, i haven't looked at it yet, i think it will be related to poorly installed remote starter, or possibly the transaxle switch or relay. he bought the car knowing it had intermittent starting.

gonna help him with it Tuesday.





as far as soldering vs crimping, I prefer a properly crimped connection to solder on a car. solder is great if wiring isn't moving, but on a car, wires almost always break where the solder ends in the wire, same is true with aircraft which is why nothing is soldered anymore. You do not want to use a cheap crimper, a good crimper makes a world of difference.

Exception: Solid wire, I always solder solid wire.
 
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I was at a gig last night typing on my iPhone but had more to say.

When I was finishing high school and still living at home, I asked for a tool set and chest for a Christmas present, because the set we had in the garage sucked. Mom and I went to Sears and bought a tool box and a starter set. Then I added to it. That was 30 years ago, I still have the chest and tools to this day.

Fixing things, I look up YouTube videos. For example, I have a leaky tub faucet. Guess what? It's easy to take off and replace after watching videos.

Same thing with car repairs, there's usually videos for common stuff like brake repairs. You do need the correct tools, but once you have the knowledge, you can figure it out. Even if you can't do the repair, if you know what's involved, that helps. Some car repairs are best in a shop garage, for that find a mechanic who works on the side. I have a mechanic who works at the dealer, but works on my car on the side. I pay him cash.
 
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ThrillKillKulT said:
problem is wiring, i haven't looked at it yet, i think it will be related to poorly installed remote starter, or possibly the transaxle switch or relay. he bought the car knowing it had intermittent starting.

gonna help him with it Tuesday.





as far as soldering vs crimping, I prefer a properly crimped connection to solder on a car. solder is great if wiring isn't moving, but on a car, wires almost always break where the solder ends in the wire, same is true with aircraft which is why nothing is soldered anymore. You do not want to use a cheap crimper, a good crimper makes a world of difference.

Exception: Solid wire, I always solder solid wire.
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I prefer to solder wire terminals rather than rely on crimps alone and plus black heat wrap looks way better than bright blue crappy crimped terminals. I recently found out that I can make battery cables by crimping a terminal on the cable with pliers and then melting solder into the terminal with a torch - looks way pro.
 
KingSobieski said:
I prefer to solder wire terminals rather than rely on crimps alone and plus black heat wrap looks way better than bright blue crappy crimped terminals. I recently found out that I can make battery cables by crimping a terminal on the cable with pliers and then melting solder into the terminal with a torch - looks way pro.
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you really wanna be real pro, silver solder or better yet braze battery connections. battery terminals can get pretty warm and may reflow the solder causing it to get a cold joint. Soldering has to be done perfect to be effective, not enough solder, connection fails, too much, connection fails. on smaller wires it makes the wire more rigid, then it fails because of metal fatigue. I can't even begin to tell you how many problems i found to be caused by solder. Crimping has to be done right too, but even when it isn't, it is more forgiving.

as far as looks go, i don't really care about that.
 
Ah, solder vs crimp. I always use wire nuts on cars when possible. If it's a connection that requires a crimped connector, I'll crimp, pull test it, then grease and shrink wrap it. I rarely see failures.
 
Plasmatic said:
Ah, solder vs crimp. I always use wire nuts on cars when possible. If it's a connection that requires a crimped connector, I'll crimp, pull test it, then grease and shrink wrap it. I rarely see failures.
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same here, that electrical grease is awesome. don't use wire nuts though, i use the raychem butt splices which have sealant in their ends.
 
I joined a racing series that required our car to be a $500 beater. 9 months and a shit-ton of breakdowns/tool purchases later, and I know a lot about how to fix a car now.

Also, the Craftsman tool sets from sears are huge value for the money. A solid tool set, some cheater bars, and a couple torque wrenches will take care of most of the stuff you'll have to do on a car.

It's also definitely worth it to buy a repair manual if you plan on doing much more than oil changes/brake pads.
 
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