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Well said…. Knowing when to quit…. This reminds me when I got a junkyard engine that went boom in about 2 weeks after install…. Paid $900 for the engine, but was so backlogged, that I did not install it until well after the warranty for it was over…. Everyone around me said to quit it, take the car to a scrapyard and cut my losses at about $1500…. Of course, I didn’t listen, instead, I doubled down, drove all the way from Columbus to Dayton and bought an engine for $300 which did not include the plenum (had the old engine still to take this from)… Turns out that it was an awesome engine, no issues and it still runs great… got lucky, could have gone the other way… I suppose that is Pride messing with me…
I really like how you include the errors in your vids, not everything goes together perfectly, especially when fatigue sets in… Which brings me about another type of quitting… When to quit for the day..
After around 8 hours of doing hard car work I notice I start to mess things up (break bolts, forget something, bang my head on the underside of the car, cut or wound myself stupidly somehow……) that is when I have learned to walk away and come back the next day when fresh…. How often have we had something stuck, or we couldn’t figure out and came back the next morning and ‘pop’ you got that stuck bolt off, or figured out how to get access to it in a minute or two….. Knowing when to quit for the day can save you time and money from making errors that probably won’t happen with a fresh body and mind…
JMHO
Great video and good luck with the reman transmission…
Karl
Thanks very much for your input. You make a good point about “quitting for the day”. Perhaps a future video on “Know When to Walk Away”.
The transmission has been in for a couple of weeks now and it’s doing great. Best money I’ve spent next to the tires.
I’ve taken my car into about 5 different shops in the last 9 years. Spent a lot of money over and over on mechanics that never yielded results on my main issue. Some even said “those cars are known for that it’s normal”. Needless to say not driving the car regularly for 9 years was because it was annoying and frustrating to drive. It wasn’t a pleasure to drive nor deal with mechanic after mechanic. Too many times people have recommended that I let it go. On the other hand I always hear about people who wish they still had their first car; their first love. That’s not something you can ever get back once you sell it. Then I started watching ETCG and he even helped me diagnose one big issue. It took me 2 weeks to fix but I would have never even looked there without Eric’s help. I’m glad that you mentioned sentimentality as a factor because it is a major factor for me.
I loved my automatic transmission and did not want to let it go. In a leap of faith I hoped that swapping to a manual transmission would solve most if not all of the issues. It certainly solved my main issue which I eventually found out was a broken torque converter. After spending months on doing the swap myself with no prior experience I found out the differential in the manual is bad… traded one problem for another.
This is hard to explain but my car and I have a symbiotic relationship. To give up on the car is to give up on myself. There is a big difference between quitting on a car that you care nothing about or a car that is your passion. To quit on your passion can be soul crushing. Find something you are passionate about and never let go. Even if most people don’t understand your passion at least they’ll respect that you have one.
If it’s a car, tranny, engine, etc.. that you don’t care about then fine, throw in the towel and swap in a new one. If it’s something you are passionate about then never give up otherwise you’ll live the rest of your life with regret. Like Rick Astley famously said,
[video width=550 height=309 type=youtube]dQw4w9WgXcQ[/video]
I have a very hard head. The more something “bawks” at me the more determined I am to complete what I started. I only may call it quits when blood starts dripping.. 😛
Great video Eric.What you said makes total sense. I am now at a stage where I am able to look at things from a realistic point of view and not ” Make life harder for myself “. In the beginning I would attempt everything myself and not stop until it was complete. I succeeded 99.99 % of the time however it makes sense to leave some things alone or even have parts replaced instead of rebuilding them.
Time is money and you can lose money by wasting your time on things that are not worth it. Some vehicles have too many issues and should not be serviced unless you have an unlimited cash base. Most times the vehicles are better off being thrown in the garbage.
Thanks again for the great video !!!
I know the feeling. The blower motor job I did in my GF’s Chrysler LeBaron was like that… The repair as a whole was a PITA, but the worst was (aside from a few screws only my petite sweetie could get to) routing the fan cable around the air box, which was right against the firewall. After 30 mins of cursing, sweating, and cramping– I was in an odd position to get back there (back down, relined seat, top down so my feet would clear)– I took a dinner break… when I was back, 5 mins and I got it through, albeit an a backwards way since the stock routing would require pulling the dash (way to go mopar!).
Ironically, It wasn’t nearly as bad as the work I’ve done on my astro van (but I can see why a spider job would suck so bad).
PS- good video, Eric!
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