Can't even get the oil filter adapter T60 wrench onto the bolt.

[DrMoab]

Actually you did say that in this thread.

As far as saving money? Dude... Even a cheap decent new car is $30k. Even paying myself $50 an hour for all the time I have worked on my XJ plus the cost I paid for it and all the aftermarket parts I am nowhere near that kind of money. I may put $200 a month into mine...on a bad month. That's including gas. A new car payment alone is twice that at least.

 

[bimmerjeeper]

Oops, you're right. I've been researching and working on this OFA fix since late November. That was a long time ago.

 

[kastein]

That says a lot more about you than us. I spent 5 bucks on my o-ring gasket set at Autozone and did it the next day. But then again I apparently have a "freakish blue collar grip" even though I'm an electrical engineer who spent the majority of the last 4 years pulling 50, 60, 80 hour weeks behind a desk typing on a computer.

And somehow I put two and two together and managed to pull and replace the entire drivetrain in my XJ in a parking lot with hand tools and an engine crane. Without consulting the internet to ask about every single bolt. In 12 hours.

You are way overthinking this, or trolling. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Oh, and I generally work salary positions. They don't pay any more if I do a few more hours of work instead of spending some time working on my car. So no, if I took it to the dealer, I would be losing money hand over fist.

 

[Ecomike]

Oops, you're right. I've been researching and working on this OFA fix since late November. That was a long time ago.

So don't quit your day job for a wrenching job!

 

[xcm]

This thread delivers like fedex, you are either a COMPLETE MORON, or an excellant troll. If the later, bravo!

Im just gonna stop replying to the stupid shit you say, as there isnt enough time in the day to respond to it properly.

My comments stand.

 

[Lurch]

Taking them off by hand requires that freakish blue collar finger grip strength developed over a lifetime of grabbing things all day.

Oh this just made my week.

 

[bimmerjeeper]

So don't quit your day job for a wrenching job!

LOL, if I tried to do this for a living, I'd be homeless. I'd have better chances making a living as an NFL player or pro golfer before that.

Every project is a train wreck, and takes about 5x longer than braggart forum estimates (head gasket? 13 minutes!) but I mange to do them, one by one. This is nothing more than an expensive and confusing hobby.

I've had the XJ for 2 months, and so far I've done: Hood Release Cable, Battery, New front and rear wipers, Battery cables and terminals, Air filter, Front Left Window Regulator, Bypass Lock button for passenger windows,
Serpentine belt, Driver’s door check pin and bracket, Center console, Rattling 4WD shifter, Oil Filter Adapter (3 o-rings).

Paid a rel mechanic to do Front U-joints, Front wheel bearings, Front brakes/rotors, muffler and catalytic converter. ($750)

Over the next 2 months, I will attempt these future train wrecks: VC gasket, clockspring, shocks, & cooling system. Stay tuned for some big laughs!

 

[bimmerjeeper]

you are either a COMPLETE MORON, or an excellant troll. If the later, bravo!
.

You spelled "excellent" wrong. :twak:

Trust me, from the outside, looking in, this stuff is much harder than you think. :attom:
Do it a few times, and it's like legos. But first time? Rocket science. (And I actually understand rocket science)

 

[bimmerjeeper]

Oh this just made my week.

If you're blessed with that freakish blue collar death grip, you have no idea how easy your wrenching life is. It's like being born Brad Pitt, and thinking all women always try to trick all men into having sex.

I have the death grip of a desperate housewife who gets manis and pedis. I have spent 30-60 minutes trying to detach an electrical connector in the past. Air filter? Tools. Definitely tools.

 

[DrMoab]

Lol. What do you do for a living?

 

[Ecomike]

Actually this is the most entertaining thread I have read in years. :laugh3:

I once had a mentor that asked me one day why I did engineering consulting work for free, just to close an order and sell equipment for a small profit. He later reminded me not to forget how much time and effort it took to learn everything I know that went into solving a problem in 5 minutes for others that had no idea how to solve the problem or how to figure it out.

That was when I got smart and went into the consulting business.

But I still enjoy teaching others, which is one of the many reasons I hang out here. I think it is why most of us hang out here, to share, and teach, and sometimes learn a new trick.

I use to think like bimmerjeeper, until my brand new car spent half the first year I owned it in the shop. Things only got worse from that point on. Over the years, I had to learn how to fix the stuff myself, or go broke (That was in the 1980s when Texas had 30-80% unemployment and every one went BK here but me.

Part of the problem was a lack of quality service. They always charged a quality price, but always left something undone to break a short while later. They would usually break more than they fixed at the stealership and take a week to break it. I tried other mechanics over the years, usually when I was too busy or the job was a major job, but over the years I noticed the mistakes they had made when I ended up fixing their errors next.

I finally got fed up and I now maintain 7 family vehicles (in my spare time), all of them over 200,000 miles, and all but 2 are over 25 years old. My last 10 years of road trips, I have been able to pop the hood when something went wrong in the middle of no where, on my 85 or 87 jeep (both nearing 300,000 miles each), and had them fixed (or driveable) in minutes. Worst one took me no more than 15 minutes.

That is peace of mind to me!!!

Bimmer, your only problem is you started with a vehicle that needed a lot TLC right away, and you had (have) a huge learning curve to go through first (which you already know now). But the day may come where you look back and think wow, I am so glad I can do this stuff myself!!!

 

[Ecomike]

Lol. What do you do for a living?

X2!!!!!!

"I have the death grip of a desperate housewife who gets manis and pedis"

:laugh3:

 

[Lurch]

If you're blessed with that freakish blue collar death grip, you have no idea how easy your wrenching life is. It's like being born Brad Pitt, and thinking all women always try to trick all men into having sex.

All I've wanted in life is to be able to take lug nuts off with my bare hands. Alas, I went to college and got a desk job. My fate is sealed.

 

[crimsondragon]

Ah this thread brings me back to my early starts in wrenching...which was only 5 years ago. Five years, 2 months ago, I have never worked on a car, didn't know what I wanted to do and was already a year into college. Then one day, my dad gave me his black 1998 Eclipse GST with a dead O2 sensor which was quoted by the dealer as a $450 fix, $60 of that was just for the sensor, the rest into labor. I said **** that, picked up a Powerbuilt tool kit and an O2 sensor socket from Pepboys, spent 5 days on the forums reading every thread on changing it, then spent that weekend in 30-40*F weather from sunup to sundown. When I emerged from underneath, with the new sensor hooked up and with the car running smooth, I felt absolute ecstasy and elation. I could go into the details of all the wrongs that went on, but I'll just say this; I cried, laughed, went mad, felt defeated, was cold and hungry, and depressed. But the end was worth it all. Since then, I've fixed aircraft cabins, aircraft parts, electric and gas vehicles, learned to mig and oxy weld, tore down and built up the Eclipse, and now the Jeep, fixed friend's vehicles in various places with nothing but a Leatherman, work at Sears Auto and am about to work for an airline again fixing aircraft. I come home with my whole body sore, my hands numb, rough, covered in dirt, oil splashes on my shirt, and smelling like gasoline. But everyday I learn something new, and after every job I feel a sense of pride and that keeps me going in such a low paying, dangerous, and detrimental to your health industry. Some people just aren't cut out for it and shouldn't be in it.

 

[Matthew Currie]

The funny thing is that last time I did ball joints it was a cinch. All I needed was the right tool, and to take the time to figure out what way to use it. The oil filter adapter was probably my second worst hangup on an XJ, the first being a hub on my son's 96. One bolt had rusted into the hole and was seized by rusty junk so solidly that it sheared off. I finally had to torch the ear off the old hub, then burn the bolt out of the hole with a torch, a little at a time. I could not drive the residue out until the last inch or so, it was that tight. Too hours, and without a welding torch I'd have been out of luck entirely. It took longer to do that than it did to remove and put back a transmission!

 

[Original_MudButt]

... All I needed was the right tool...

Which I offered up on the second page of this thread.... The tool I make will remove that stupid torx bolt with little to no effort.... Took me less than 20 minutes to do the o-rings on my OFA, and I had never done one before.

But did he take advantage of my offer?

Nope. Because he wanted to save 10 bux... :conceited

 

[Rush Power Systems]

Look Bimmerjeeper AKA onthefence is a well known internet troll, stop feeding him and he will go away.

 

[bimmerjeeper]

EcoMike,
Your story reminds me of the story of the repairman charging $100 to kick the side of the washing machine to get it working again. $100 for 5 minutes of work? Well, he replied, it really took 5 mins. and 20 years to know to do that. I like learning new things, but do not fool myself for a second that I am saving money. I would launch a $100,000/year producing website in the time it will take to "restore" this XJ over the next few months. But, like you said, it's a good feeling to learn how cars work. My only point is that this learning this stuff is very hard, and that's why almost no one on the planet knows how to do it.

Crimson,
Great story about your first O2. And good work noting that it took you 5 straight days of research and 8 hours to get it replaced. People ALL forget that. All they can see is the present, where "it takes me 48 seconds to remove/replace an O2 sensor". Yea, no shit, if you've done it 26 times.

Mudd,
I didn't need your tool b/c someone else offered to mail me their bit. It did not make sense to spend $25 (shipped) on a large welded tool, and waste your time, and have it take longer, when I could have someone mail me their existing bit the very next day for $1? Thanks again for the offer.

Rush,
Troll? Who is the one trolling all my threads, adding nothing, and harassing and stalking me? Sorry your ego was so offended I didn't want to buy your 1-off homemade headlight harness that wasn't even prototyped yet. I told you that, as a beginner, I preferred to pay $20 more for a road-tested commercial product with widespread adoption and commercial documentation (ARB, RJM, etc), and not just a box of undocumented cables and some email on how to install it. That's way over my head. No offense, so please get over it, and I will ask you yet again to leave me alone. If you don't like my threads, no one is forcing you to read them. Thank you.

 

[Rush Power Systems]

:wave1::roflmao:

 

[alex673]

I welded a t60 bit onto a bit of bent bar stock, and it worked a charm! Took 10 mins to fabricate the tool, then 5 mins to undo the bolt...