Since moving to our farm I have felt a growing desire to be more handy. I have really been wanting to be able to fix machinery, build things, and be able to correct problems around the house. I am not sure why I am feeling this way, but I am pretty sure it has roots in the fact that I am tired of paying others to do stuff that I should know how to do.

We have had a rash of things needing attention around here. It seems that things are breaking down left and right. So I had my pick of problems to start with.

I have a very long commute to Salt Lake City every weekday and so the thing that jumped to the top of the list was the air conditioning in my car. I took my car in to have the mechanic fix the air conditioning. The mechanic charged up the system with refrigerant and added some dye to locate the leak in my system. After a week I was able to see where the dye was leaking myself. We took the car back and we were told that the car needed a new condenser and that parts and labor would run $800.

I was encouraged by the fact that I was able to see where the refrigerant was leaking from. Never mind that it was right on top of the part that I was unable to identify as the condenser. I took the car over to my friend Eric’s house. Eric is a mechanic and I trade computer work with him for car repairs. I asked him about the findings and he verified that the condenser was the problem. He told me that the dryer should be replaced also. He walked me through the steps that would be needed to make the repair. By the time I got home that evening I really felt that I could make the repair myself!

I ordered the parts from Autozone (other parts places claimed they could not get the parts I needed) and the parts came in a couple days. I made arrangements with my carpool buddy to drive the next week just in case I had problems. Then on the designated Saturday, I went out to the garage with wrench in hand and set to work.

Condenser and Fan

The first step was to take out the radiator. No problem, I had it out in one piece in about 30 minutes. The next step was to remove the condenser, fan and dryer which are all connected. Again, no problem, in another 15-20 minutes I had the whole unit out. Sean came to help me at this point and we laid out the new condenser, took the fan from the old condenser and put it on the new condenser. At this point things were going really well, but things were about to change.

I removed a doohickey from the old dryer and using a wrench I put that doohickey on the new dryer. Sometimes super-human strength can be a curse. Apparently the doohickey and the dryer are both made out of aluminum and using my super-human strength I totally stripped the threads off of both parts. I was able to get a new dryer no problem, but the doohickey turned out to be a dual pressure switch which has to be special ordered from the dealership in Salt Lake City. It costs $98 and takes 3 days to get shipped and arrive in Salt Lake City.

Sean and I were prepared though. We needed to change the oil and filter in the car anyway and to replace the back break shoes. We had all the things we needed so we decided to change the oil and filter since we could not continue with the air conditioning. Sean drained the oil while I washed out the radiator, but he was having problems getting the oil filter out. We spent more time trying to get that oil filter out than it took to take the radiator, and the condenser out. We were very frustrated and then we noticed that we could just make out the numbers on the oil filter. We took the number to the parts store, found that it was the wrong filter for my car (thanks a lot to whoever I paid to change my oil for the very last time), and we bought the right tool to get that filter out. Five minutes later changing the oil was done, there really is something to having the right tool for the job.

Sean and I figured that we would go ahead and tackle the rear brakes. We jacked up the back end, used the impact wrench (worth every penny I paid for that tool) to get the rear tires off. The passenger side brake came off and went back together with no problems, although we did peek at the driver’s side brake to see how to put the passenger side back together. The driver’s side brake had a leaking wheel cylinder though, so I ran to the parts store and got a new one. While putting the wheel cylinder back on the super-human strength once again became a problem. I broke a bolt off in the new wheel cylinder. If the super-human strength were not so handy when I need to open pickle bottles I would gladly give the power up! We threw in the towel for the day. I did make one more run to the parts place to get a new bolt and to get tools needed to extract the broken bolt.

We took up the work again on Monday. My friend Paul extracted the bolt for me on Sunday. Even though I wanted to do it myself, I am very grateful for the help. The brakes were finished on Monday and Eric taught Sean and I how to bleed the brakes. The dual pressure switch came a couple days later and I put it on the dryer, connected the dryer to the condenser, and put the whole thing into the car and connected the hoses. The radiator went back in, and all the hoses were connected. We refilled the fluids and then tried to start the car. It all worked! Well the air conditioning still needed to be charged, but it was all back together and working so far.

Dual Pressure Switch

I had purchased the tools to recharge the air conditioning previously and following the instructions and with some help I was able to get the air conditioning all charged up. Here we are a couple weeks later and the air conditioning is still going strong! The mechanic wanted $800 to do the work, I spent about 8 hours and $400 to do the air conditioning, brakes, and an oil change and that included buying some tools and replacement parts.

Would I do it again? You bet I would. Having done it once, I am sure I could do it again faster. It is an experience that paid off in several ways. I got the work done that I needed, my air conditioning works, I saved money and I learned a lesson in self reliance. When I finished I thought of the words of the sage Red Green “If women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy”. I sure feel a lot more handy than I did a couple months ago.