Voyeurism & Van Dwelling and Car Living 25 Aug 2006 02:08 pm
A strapping good time: serpentine belt replacement
So the belt is on and for the couple of minutes I’ve run the engine all seems well. I’m so happy I was observant as a small child and learned the gumption necessarily to just do my own stuff and not be afraid or confused by mechanical things.
I took a little walk and with some guidance, from a repair shop ironically, I found the hidden auto parts store. It was an old timey shop with about fifty years of grit tucked in it’s corners. The counter guy thankfully took me seriously when I, stupid woman, asked for a new serpentine belt. He was really great and we narrowed down which belt would be needed based on what accessories it had and the engine size. He asked if I might by chance have it with me and I said, “well, the other half of my shopping list is a breaker bar so I can get the leverage needed to get the belt off.” He chuckled.
Fifty three dollars later and I was walking back and feeling very butch indeed with my two and half foot breaker bar in hand.
Returning to the parking lot I was secretly hoping I’d get some random man to lend his superior upper body strength to help–or perhaps an athletic woman. As I’m neither of those two I was really counting on the astoundingly long tool for leverage.
As it turned out the parking lot had plenty of traffic which flowed in a disturbing pattern. All men completely acted as if I didn’t exist. Older women would sort of look, but kept their distance. Who actually inquired if I needed help? Three separate younger women, in their 20s and 30s. Just where is chivalry these days and the good old fashioned neighborly lend a hand? The first two women offered their cell phones and moral support, making sure I was okay though not being able to offer practical help. The third one though, who came as I was wrapping up, was also mechanically able but by that point I was nearly done.
Thankfully that monster breaker bar gave me plenty of leverage to move the tensioner. I’ve failed miserably with shorter ones in the past and will keep this one in a place of esteemed honor as it shines gloriously in its function. Though long as it was I needed to remove the window washer fluid tank and vacuum accumulator to get enough swing. Small price indeed though to get running again.
The belt was beyond bad, it was completely fraying apart and worse than my initial inspection saw. The long separation must have been hiding somewhere. I inspected all the pulleys and they looked fine so I’m hoping it was just a belt gone bad of old age. I’d of course really rather not have another breakage and be told I need more work to prevent the same in the future.
And again, thanks to my father for taking the time to explain things to me when I came and sat with him when I was little. Though not the most patient of men he did always take the time to explain not only the process of repair but the deductive reasoning behind why this was the correct way to repair whatever the problem was.
on 30 Aug 2006 at 9:33 am 1.matty said …
Hello. I’ve been reading some of your posts after finding you through google. You seem to spend a lot of money that I wouldn’t, as a poor student. The first thing that came to mind was, borrow the bar from the helpful mechanic guy. No go? Rent one. No go? Pawn shop or thrift store. Only as a very last resort would I buy a brand new tool of any kind, for any job. As for the belt, if I were strapped, I’d try and get it at a salvage/junkyard first. I’m not trying to criticize, I just think you could stand to learn some of the tricks of the chronically poor.
on 30 Aug 2006 at 2:14 pm 2.April said …
Matty,
Do bear in mind that I try to do things as cheaply as possible, so the choices I’ve made are influenced by numerous factors–not all of which have appeared here. For instance, the town I was in when the belt broke apart has a population of 10,000 people and about ten miles from the next town. With an immobilized vehicle I was hardly ready to go wandering around looking for things and price shopping on foot. The nearest pawn shop, as indicated by Yahoo!’s Yellow Page search was 9.6 miles away and the nearest junk yard was 25.4. Not to mention that the problem with my belt was it was old and tired despite is healthy appearance just days earlier. These are mighty far distances to be walking assuming they’d even have the items I’d want and need. Like finding a like new condition belt of a specific size in a junk vehicle. The parts store said there was eight different ones for my model year and only though elimination did we narrow it between two sizes and then guessed from there as I hadn’t brought the old one with me. The problem that stranded me was having an old belt so the idea of putting on an equally questionable belt is silly especially when traveling through rural areas. Consumable parts like that, ones that are inherently inexpensive, need to just be bought new. Also bear in mind the town had no cab service and no public transportation so indeed it’d be a mighty long walk to any other parts or tool retailer and should that junk yard belt snap it could have easily been a ten mile walk just to get to the nearest town be it of 10 or 10,000 people. In rural USA vehicle reliability is an asset I’m not eager to gamble on.
So we’re back to finding locally. I did inquire about renting or borrowing a breaker bar as I really didn’t want to buy one but that wasn’t an option on such a basic tool. It was either purchase or do without and the longest socket wrench I had was about nine inches long and could move the tensioner not even a smidgen.
I did take great care when removing the breaker bar’s packaging though so that I could potentially clean it off, repackage it and return it. But as I was working, and debating on the ethics of doing this, I realized that I’d not feel well of myself for this. Even though it was good as new I’d still feel dishonest returning it even though I’d be the only person to know it was used. Plus, there are many times when I struggle to get things turned when working on my van–as I can’t justify paying someone else to do the work–so it’ll get used again many times.
I just think you could stand to learn some of the tricks of the chronically poor.
Like doing my own auto repair instead of paying someone else and paying for a tow to get it there? Like doing the repair I’ve never done before on the spot in some strange town with limited resources? I’ve been poor a long time and know plenty of tricks and I also know about false economies. Like when I see poeple drive all over town in quest of a couple cents of saving not realizing the gas burned up and the wear and tear incured.
In an ideal world I’d have found a breaker bar at a garage sale for a dollar. But had I ever seen one at that price, or any thing close, I’d have already bought one knowing that one day I’d need the leverage if only to compensate for my relatively weak upper body strength not to mention breaking apart rusted bolts. People often speak of bargains at pawn shops but that’s something I’ve yet to find. Usually I’ve been able to source new or things from reputable suppliers for the same or little more money than the pawn and resale shops I’ve visited. My suspicion is they just prey on broke people as goods suppliers and people who don’t know how to shop as buyers and all the while making a really healthy split between the two transactions.
Being as you’re a student I’m going to make the assumption that you’re speaking of college. This would put your age at approximately 20 years, give or take a couple. That means that I’ve probably lived poor, to some degree and in some way, for more years than you’ve been alive and have had a long time to spend with my grandparents who survived the Great Depression. So I’ve learned plenty about being cheap, and being frugal, and how to figure out which will end up costing you more in the long run. Even when the family had money growing up we still lived as if we were poor because that’s just how you did it lest you get caught in the next great crash.
Criticism I don’t mind at all, in fact, I rather enjoy them. Before coming to my own conclusions I usually batter my own ideas with internal criticism to see if they stand up. In the quest to forever improve I’m always open to others doing the same and your suggestions do seem genuine. Assumptions though are the dangerous thing. Such as my own. Last I saw the median age for college students in the US, assuming you are in the US of course, is 35. Though generally these middle age students are in school for career development and not primary college education and therefore are typically not poor. So please don’t assume that my being broke is a new thing and that I’ve not thought through the options and I’ll not be surprised if you’re actually a poor retiree auditing classes for free at your local community college and eating at soup kitchens because your fixed income is serious broken.