[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/diy/ - Do It Yourself

View post   
File: 9 KB, 215x215, thermostat.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
288876 No.288876 [Reply] [Original]

itt: how your diy skills saved you lots of money

> car is boiling, barely make it home
> ask repair guy: "that'll be around $500"
> tells me he needs to take the engine apart n shit
> no.jpg
> buy new thermostat and additonal plastic flange for $10
> replace both parts, refill coolant
> car still works perfectly fine
> $490 saved

>> No.288892

nissan primera sr20de, vakuum tube broken

original nissan part 40euro

20cm garden tube 0.60euro

runs well since 2011

>> No.288908

>>288876
Better check your oil every day for the next couple of weeks. If it looks grey and you're slowly losing coolant then you've got a blown head gasket and you're getting coolant in the oil, which will ruin the engine.

>> No.288909
File: 22 KB, 300x300, canopy.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
288909

>want canopy bed
>look online
>$500 for cheapest, not attractive at all and no curtains
>go to hardware store and fabric store
>custom canopy bed for $100 and a weekend's work

>> No.288924

>>288908
Oil is perfectly black. No brown sludge (it'd turn brown, not grey).

>> No.288929

>>288876
>how your diy skills saved you lots of money

Dang, where do I begin? I build my own house and did all the utilities inside. I DIY just about everything. I garden and can my food. I hunt and fish. That isn't even a start of a good list.

>> No.288934

>>288892
better hope the tubes are made from the same material, coating and all.
>2011
>under a year ago
>automobile
>hipsters not using OEM parts

>> No.289000

>>288924
But engine oil isn't suppose to be black. Change that shit, you left it in way too long.

>> No.289013

>>288876

if you overheat the engine excessively, you'll cook the oil as well.... and it turns black!

replace the oil asap, use and engine flush, refill with fresh oil.

>> No.289018

>>289013
>Flush Engine
>Not expecting clogs
>Telling OP to blow up his Engine
>2012

>> No.289021

Did brakes on my own car. Saved some insane amount and the car stops really, really well.

>> No.289045

I patched a hole in my friends wall, burned down the back yard and killed a pile of baby rats in their garage, then puked on what used to be their cat that I found wedged in a corner of the garage, the rats were feeding on it. I think all that counts as saving money. Long story short, I stopped being friends with one of the dirtiest people I know, and she's a fucking nurse. I was considering dating her, I mean she seems to really have her shit together at work. BLEW MY FUCKING MIND! What else can I say? It's been a hell of a day /diy/.

>> No.289078

I made two of my prom dresses in my fashion design class. So I got a good grade on both and saved plenty of money on a pre-made dress.

I've altered plenty of clothing that didn't take too much work. People have even paid me for very minor alterations.

I don't think I've saved a large amount at one time like OP, but throughout the years of my alterations and sewing, I've definitely saved at least $500.

>> No.289097

>>289078
Damn, I'm jelly of you home-ec lady types. I have no aptitude for it, but I do want to sew custom stuff.

>> No.289180
File: 1.68 MB, 3264x2448, 20120908_161918.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
289180

>be trying to install large white board in apartment
>OfficeMax has 4'x6' boards for hundreds of dollars
>go to home depot
>get 4'x8' piece of panel board for $13
>wire and hooks for another $10
>drill holes in board, hang giant white board for $23

Pic related

>> No.289222

Buying literally everything from Amazon, with Amazon Prime, free 2 day shipping.

I've probably saved thousands.

>> No.289234

>can of soup costs like ~$3
>$3 of lentils/split peas is enough to make like ~50+ meals

inb4 >>>/ck/

>> No.289271

My drivers side lock motor died. The mechanic said it would be $400 just for the lock assembly.

I took apart the door, lock assembly, and motir. The connection was fixed with a small piece of tin foil. Saved myself $500 give or take.

>> No.289282

My passenger side window roller broke. Window went down sideways. Teh fuk? Garage wanted $300 and for me to leave my car there for the weekend. Nope.com, went in ebay and bought a new pair of rollers for $9 shipped. Installation took an hour. It was my first time doing too. That feel

>> No.289286

>guy buys very nice digital Fluke multimeter off a snap on truck
>stops working correctly after the point of no return
>part of the screen doesn't work so you can't read the proper numbers
>sells it to my dad for cheap
>dad takes it over to an avionics guy where he works
>avionics guy just takes off the cover and cleans some contacts
>multimeter works perfectly now

Sometimes it's not what you know, it's who you know. People and situations are resources too. Use them like you use anything else

>> No.289315

>>288876
>>289271
>>289282
The reason mechanics want obscene amounts of money for these jobs is the annoyance factor. They know you can do this shit; they know it's easy; and they usually know the tricks. However, it's just a ballache having to do that kinda thing so you stick a massive price-tag on it.

Also, most mechanics won't use Ebay to source parts.

>> No.289331

>>289315
That's because most mechanics already get a pretty good parts discount from the local dealers. Why would they want the hassle of buying over E-bay.

>> No.289332

Yes of course there are plenty of shady mechanics out there, but I myself paid my way through vocational school, spent a shit ton of money of tools, and consider myself a fair and good automotive tech. Alot of the prices for repairs done on cars are not made up, most shops follow set labor times developed by the society of auto engineers.. i feel mechanics are not given a fair chance..

>> No.289354

>>289332
It depends on where you work, generally if you are a tech and you can get away with it, you will quote higher depending on what the job is, and if you actually want to do it. If you don't want a certain job just quote an obscene labor time and they will go away, or be stupid an pay out the ass. The whole flat rate thing is a scam that works out for the owners of the garages and dealers, it's pretty much bullshit, so if you want to blame anyone it's the management.

>> No.289373

>>288876

A bad thermostat will stay open, allowing coolant to run through the engine continuously. This will cause the car to have a hard time heating up, not the other way around. Stop making things up and potentially putting people on the wrong track when they encounter the same problem.

Most of my DIY skills are automotive related. Brakes, fluid changes, gaskets, body work, electrical, and so on. If I had to guess I probably save between $500-$1000 a year between all of my cars, although it varies widely.

>> No.289380

>>289373

Wrong. I had a bad thermostat stay closed on the B20 engine of my old Volvo. Replaced it myself. Problem solved.

>> No.289381

>>289373
Uh, no. A bad thermostat normally stays closed. You can buy thermostats that stay open when they go bad but they are not common and will have the fact all over the package as a selling point.

>> No.289384

>>288876
Every birthday or holiday.

Example: Wife is a big reader. She reads about 30+ books/month.

Bought 6 old books that look cool but are not actually worth anything. Stacked them on top of each other, drilled a hole straight through them, put a washer around the hole between the bottom two that a metal pipe with a threaded end can screw into, run lamp cord through pipe, attach three-way lamp head, tear pages from a 7th book and make a lampshade out of pages.

Now it's a lamp that looks like a stack of books, that is bright enough to light her side of the room, but has three brightness settings so she can dim it when I'm sleeping so she can read.

I make gifts like this for everyone, generally taking less than 3 hours to complete and cost less than $10 but go over extremely well as a useful and personal gift.

>> No.289386
File: 47 KB, 480x640, med_Portable_brake_forge_008.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
289386

>>289021
I just did that too. My truck still had the original front brakes from 1993.

New rotors, pads, bearings,shims, etc.

Total: $150
Mechanic Quote: $350

Fuckyeah. Also, I kept the two old rotors to make a badass forge with, pic related. (My next DIY project will be this.)

>> No.289387

>>289315
Also a LOT of mechanics lie their asses off to overcharge you for shit you dont need. I once had a mechanic doing a tune up tell me I needed to replace my brakepads because they were old and worn. Brakepads I had replaced myself less than two months ago.

Anyhow, different story.
>Brakes go out. Told by the brake shop that the Prop valve is toast. Common among late 80s and early 90s S-10s
>Replacement valve will be $110 plus $60 for one hour for installation and bleeding the brakes.
>Go to wrecking yard, find a good Prop valve in a junked S-10. costs $3.
>Install myself, takes 15 minutes.
>Take truck to brake shop and have them bleed the brakes (Because it is a pain in the ass to do it yourself) Cost $30.
>Turn $170 repair into $33 repair with less than a half of an hour of my own time for work,

>> No.289388

>>289381

Both types exist, so don't get on the other guy's case for "making things up" when you yourself just admitted that depending on the thermostat, it may stay open or closed depending on the type.

>> No.289390

>>289388
That made no sense at all.

>dude 1 says: OP, stop making shit up. Bad thermostats stay open.

>dude 2 says: no, the more common ones stay closed. ones that stay open are rare and it's usually a selling point (implying it's unlikely to be a stock thermostat that stays open)

>you tell dude 2: stop getting one dude 1's case for "making things up"

You're like half replying to one guy and half replying to another all in one confused reply.

>> No.289395

Are >>289373 and >>289381 not the same dude?

>> No.289444

Changed head gaskets, timing belts, rollers, waterpumps, rocker arms and other enginerelated parts on my older beemers myself. Don't really count it as saving money though, as taking them to a mechanic wouldn't be an option anyways.

Other than that i buy almost everything except food from the interwebs. Has probably saved thousands doing so

>> No.289460

>>289384
30 books a month?! Jesus!

>> No.289466

>>289384
more gift examples? shit's inspiring

>> No.289468

is it me or do most mechanics lie about your car to get more money? Seems like it happens at national chain places too

>> No.289481

Rebuilt numerous engines and cars from the ground up, saved thousands (that I then promptly spent in performance mods etc).

Electricianfag by trade, so everything is DIY for me.
4 years of crap pay during my apprenticeship now saves me bucket loads of money as I have the tools, know-how and connections to get anything done cheap.

feels_goodman.jpg

>> No.289487

>>288908
Truth right here. I had a mechanic do a lick-and-spittle job like that on my car. I thought it had a blown head gasket, he said it was something else.

Unfortunately, I was right, and by the time another mechanic fixed everything he screwed up, it set me back $3500.

>> No.289488

>>288924
My oil looked good, too. The only way they found the head gasket problem was by running a lot of tests. Even the compression test turned out okay. It was the combustion gas test that finally revealed the problem, when the blue shit turned color.

>> No.289489

My DIY money-saving skills have mostly been in the area of home repairs, like plumbing, etc.

I recently fixed my toilet for less than $8. A plumber would've cost a fortune, esp. since I live pretty far from the nearest city and they charge for travel.

>> No.289493

>>289222
This Guy. I seriously have haved mroe money on just GAS alone going this route; nto even entioning the bullshit taxes I sued to pay.

>> No.289498

>>288876

Taking apart the engine is because he wanted to check the cylinder-head gasket, which gets easily damaged if you drive with malfunctioning cooling.

>> No.289501

>>289489
>>289489
>they charge for travel
the fuck? i guess im old school then. i only charge labor and 10% markup on everything

>> No.289506

>>289501
Damn, we need more guys like you. Around here, they charge by the hour. So for a one hour drive (30 min. each way), I would have to pay for an extra hour during which the plumber is doing nothing but sitting on his ass behind the wheel and enjoying the scenery.

And it's not just plumbers. Computer techs, electricians, they all charge the same way.

>> No.289526

>>289498
>internal combustion engine
>2012
lol

>> No.289539

>>288876

Smelt something burning in my room. Electrical power goes out.

Turn off computers and turn off electricity at panel. Open up socket that was on fire, figure out my land-lord was using old ass sockets he probably got from a land-fill.

Went to Home-Depot, came back and replaced all the outlets. Showed him receipt from purchases and he deducted it from rent.

In the end I'm positive the rest of the house was wired the same way. Land-lord got a professional installation for free.

>> No.289546

>>289539
>Smelt

Did you use this guy's forge? >>289386

>> No.289571

I fixed my mom's AC unit with a $10 cap. The repair guy would have wanted at least $100. Going to have do her front pads+rotors. Going to be able to get the parts for $80 rather than spending $200+ at a service center. I also do bike repair. Not saving much yet, but you need many expensive bike specific tools to do all your own work. All I need now is a set of cone wrenches and a work stand.

Funniest DIY repair was done by my friend
>pick up 5.1 channel amp for $5 at a yard sale
>buzzing sound around 60hz
>give to friend
>some how makes the amp catch on fire
>find burnt lead on bottom of board
>new wire
>buzzing sound is gone.

>> No.289626

>>289488
That's the test where they suck air from the open coolant reservoir into that glass pipe? I had that test done a year or two ago with my car and the color change was so minimal that the tech wasn't sure if anything's wrong.
The car is still running today

>> No.289996

>>289180

Holy fuck. Want.

Although I wouldn't use hooks as that would make it unstable while writing and require more holes than necessary. Why not use 2 strips of metal at points equal to eachother from the edges and drill holes in those and place screws / bolts in the hole that are attached to the wall?

>> No.290003

>>289626

Vacuum test? HET Apprentice here.

Yeah, we off the cap and use a tube with a gauge that reads the Pressure in the rad. If you lose more than 2psi in a minute your rad's fucked.

Used for isolating the cap as the problem without buying a new one. YOu can test the cap too and the tool usually comes in the same kit.