Headlight Hell

The passenger side headlight went out in Jen's car.

That's easy enough. The way headlights are today you just pop a clip, pull out the bulb, put the new one in and reset the clip.

It took me nearly two hours to do that in Jen's car. If it had been the drivers side, it would have gone much faster.

In her Prius, to change the passenger side bulb, you need to first remove an engine cowl then an air intake. Once that's done, you have a tiny little space you can't see to work in upside down.

The next step is removing the waterproof cover. The instructions say "turn counter-clockwise (but it's backwards) and pull. If it sticks wiggle it a little". I pulled, wiggled, pulled, wiggled, cursed, threw some tools, etc before the damn thing popped off.

The next step is the clip (locks the bulb in place) - like any headlight clip, just unclip it - but it's backwards and upside down. Fumbling for the clip I managed to dislodge the bulb from under the clip, but not enough to remove the bulb - only enough to prevent the clip from being unclipped.

Did I mention it was freezing outside even in the garage? My fingers felt like wooden pegs. I couldn't feel it when they cut on some sharp edge. I'd pull my greasy fingers out bleeding and not realize it till I saw it.

Finally I asked Jen for some kind of mirror. She had an old compact I was able to use and see what happened.

Using the mirror I could see the bulb, see the clip and see where it all got messed up. Unfortunately I couldn't hold the mirror and work on the bulb at the same time. I had to commit to memory what I saw, reverse it, then translate it to what I felt with my wooden peg fingers.

It took a while. It took a long while and some tool throwing before I got the old bulb back in the right spot so I could finally unclip it. The bulb came out. The new one went in. I snapped the clip back in place, then reassembled the rest.

I really hate this crap. That was two freaking hours of frustration and freezing. For two pleasant hours of my life, I would have easily paid $50 to have my mechanic do that.

- b

Truck Alternator

Back when my father was here in May I started having issues with my truck. The battery didn't seem to want to hold a charge.

I don't drive my 21 year old truck with 277,000 miles much anymore, so the battery has a tendency to go dead from time to time. Usually I charge it and everything is good for the short while I need the truck.

In May I charged it, then drove it some and ended up having to get a jump in some parking lot somewhere.

When I was done needing it for the chores my father and I were working on then, I charged the battery and let the truck sit a while (2 months). When it came time to need it again, I'd see if the battery held the charge. If the battery held the charge while not being driven for two months, that would tell me the battery was good but the alternator was bad. If the battery didn't hold the charge, then it was time for a new battery.

This week I fired it up and the battery held the charge. That told me it was the alternator, which wouldn't surprise me. I've put 2 alternators on the truck (both roadside installs) in its lifetime. This would be its 4th alternator.

To be sure I first had the battery tested. It tested fine. To test the alternator, I had to remove it and take it back to the parts store.

Being that my experiences with alternators had always been roadside repairs, I was kind of dreading removing it to just test it.

I actually started the removal in a very inefficient way (I'm out of practice when it comes to car maintenance).

(I wish blogger was smart enough not to rotate my pictures incorrectly)

It didn't take long for me to get smarter and upgrade my tool.

Then get smarter still...

and had that thing yanked out in five minutes.

So I took it to the parts store to test it and it tested ok.

Huh?

Now what?

Just put it all back together and hope it works ok I guess.
Maybe the battery was just never fully charged those times I needed a jump and I hadn't driven far enough for the alternator to charge.

I guess we'll find out.

- b