Mild self loathing

[HammerheadFistpunch]

I hate myself a little this morning. Took my Cruiser in to be worked on. I know the problem, I have the parts and tools, and I could fix it...but I just don't want to. It would be about half a day's work and I just don't have it to give right now. It's at the dealer, partly because their rates are the same as any other competent mechanic and their work is better...and partly because this dealership is extremely familiar with old cruisers. The son of the founder and owner is the owner of the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum (a collection that is mostly his personal land cruisers) and a lot of the mechanics that service the fleet are here. I've been pretty happy with their work. I won tbe happy with the bill, but thats the trade I'm making. Oh well.

For anyone who's curious, its the common P0401 code that these cruisers get. Oil blowby from the EGR valve builds up in a narrow port in the intake manifold for that system, and when it gets completely choked off...boom, Exhaust Gas Recirculation Flow insufficient. It happens about every 100,000 miles. I need to get a catch can, but I keep putting it off. I guess I should now.

I've been having intermittent codes for about a year, but it finally decided it was done with my shennanigans.

You'd think I'd get a discount considering my daughter is the CFO of the company (in her 5th grade biztown thing)

[Tripper]

@hammerheadfistpunch said in Mild self loathing:

I know the problem, I have the parts and tools, and I could fix it...but I just don't want to. It would be about half a day's work and I just don't have it to give right now.

Sometimes ya gotta farm it out. I did something similar with the window of the eldest Bimmer. It was expensive, but they broke the window in the process of replacing the bracket that had broken and I thought, "if they broke it, I definitely would have broken it"

Hurts now and when you pay the bill but all gravy after that (assuming it's fixed)

[Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist]

@hammerheadfistpunch I guess your discount depends on how good the Halloween candy is this year.

[ForSweden]

Gotta pump up that self loathing to at least a medium

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@forsweden Loath level purple.

[CarsOfFortLangley]

@hammerheadfistpunch Ah, I wouldn't be too upset. Just think of the free time you've gotten back... and you won't get dirty.

It's always nicer to have someone else do it.

[Manwich]

@hammerheadfistpunch

Don't feel bad just because you can't do 100% of all the repairs yourself.

Sometimes, you just won't have the time and/or tools and/or knowledge.

Or sometimes, you just need to take a break.

Nothing wrong with that.

So turn that self-loathing into self-LOAFING... bake a nice loaf of bread for yourself... or buy one from a bakery!

I recommend a nice Challah loaf like this:

[Highlander]

@hammerheadfistpunch years ago I was going to do a thermostat on my Mazda3, I took one look at it's location and all the crap you have to remove to replace this one small plastic fitting and I noped it to the mechanic. When I picked it up they were like that 1.5h book time was very optimistic. Some of these things are feasible but really not worth it.

[mocamino]

I understand these feels very much. My wife's Grand Vitara has been slowly bleeding my willingness to work on it away. When we bought it we knew the timing chains and tensioners needed to be changed. The book time for that job is 12 hours. My Detroit steel loving self looked at it and figured "heck, we'll pull the engine in an afternoon, swap the chain, tensioners, oil pump, and water pump in another afternoon, and reinstall the engine in a third one." I figured book time was 12, we should be able to do it in 20 tops (we even have a hoist!). No problem, right?

Granted, a nasty-cold winter, the holidays, the pandemic, and a healthy dose of "I don't wanna" got in the way, but it took almost a year to get it back on the road. I don't regret it a bit. I ended up with several tools I wouldn't have otherwise, and learned a lot. And in general, it's been a very good vehicle for my wife in which we have invested about half what it's worth.

HOWEVER...the bane of my existence has been the oil pan setup on this thing. It has an upper oil galley and a lower pan. They interface with the timing cover on the front of the engine. THERE ARE NO GASKETS INVOLVED. It's all machined aluminum and RTV. I can not seem to make this thing not leak. And when it leaks, the wind underneath makes the leaking oil blow up onto the cats. So it smokes profusely when it comes to a stop until the cats cool off (or it burns off all the oil).

Sometime this month I'll try to seal the pans the fourth time. You have to pull the front axle and steering rack to get the pans out. I've gotten good at the process now, just not the actual sealing part. I've been quoted $600 by a local shop for the job. My wife has informed me that if I can't get it this time, we're gonna pay to have it done. As much as I hate that...I honestly will be okay with it. There will be self-loathing involved, for sure. I'm just ready for this freaking thing to stop leaking.

[nth256]

@hammerheadfistpunch - Dude, I'm so sick of car shopping, I kinda just want someone to buy me a car and say "here, this is your car now, you no longer have to decide anything". I just don't have the mental bandwidth to deal with it anymore, I almost don't care what I drive anymore. (Now that I've confessed this, do I need to physically surrender my Oppo card to another member, or can I just cut it up once my name is stricken from the records?)

Letting someone else handle the repairs for a change is just a necessary mental self-preservation technique. You're still a certified Oppo badass, no respect is lost for your decision.

[Shop-Teacher]

@hammerheadfistpunch I see no shame is this. Sometimes the time is more valuable than the money you'd save. Sometimes much more so. I may teach shop, but I do not do all of my own work. I actually don't know a single shop teacher that does everything themselves, even if its something they're perfectly competent in. Sometimes you just don't have the time. Sometimes you just don't want to.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@manwich It has been a while since I bread baked. I need to get an oven-style dutch oven. All my DO's are for outdoor use and don't work so well in the oven.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@nth256 I freaking hate cate shopping. I got so little sleep for months looking for an 80 series.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@shop-teacher Im not too ashamed. Just mild self-loathing. I just hate spending money I technically don't need to spend.

[Shop-Teacher]

@hammerheadfistpunch I totally understand that, but try and get over it. It's OK to buy your own time sometimes.

[ttyymmnn]

@hammerheadfistpunch

I need to replace the PCV valve in my Odyssey. I've watched the repair on YouTube and it's relatively simple. Still, I'm going to call my mobile mechanic and have him do it. I don't want the hassle, he'll come to my house, I get my car fixed, he makes a few bucks. Everybody wins.