I went to the Auto Parts Store the other day and picked up some parts for the 2004 Crown Victoria. I was nearing the end of the life on the spark plugs and I got a set of them. I noticed that the rough bumps on Tecumseh Road was not nearly as nice as it had been earlier and with 80,000 miles I was about 30,000 miles beyond the replacement miles. The counter man gave me the parts and I went home with a smile on my face.
I found a video on line about how to change the plugs and while it wasn't the easiest job, it was kind of fun to change them one at a time and see how and where they run. I listened to the guy in the tape and did them one at a time just like he said.
I wish I could say the same thing about the front shocks. Nope, they are struts and you have to rebuild them. There isn't a "Giffy Kit" that just replaces the whole thing. You have to take the struts apart and "rebuild" them. Not being one to read the manual fully, I managed to take the top nut off the struts while the spring was under pressure. It went bang and shot the shock one direction and the spring the other. It managed to scatter parts and tools everywhere and thank god I managed to not get hit or lose a finger. The kinetic potential in that spring was enormous. I did have to go back to the parts store and change the $33 shocks into a $96 strut rebuild kit. I also had to rent a spring compressor to put the whole thing back together. I had to conduct a police call on the driveway to find all the bolts and parts.
I managed to get one strut rebuilt and will work into the other side tomorrow. I have a good bike ride in my schedule.
MUD
MUD, I recently put a new motor on my driver's side power window.
ReplyDeleteShould have read the directions fully first.
I didn't get injured when the spring sprang, but the very helpful guy at O'Reilly Auto Parts who insisted on taking the old motor off the mechanism for me so that I wouldn't have to make another trip back to return it for the "core charge" did.
Bet he won't do that again...