A Citizen's Guide to His Metro
Jul. 30th, 2009 01:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
errantemberI made two repairs to the Metro recently, after having made the final payment for it (a total of $700 for a fairly well-known vehicle) and sent off the title paperwork for the third time.
First, I noticed that sometimes it was hard to get the car into gear, which worried me since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
trippedbreaker and I spent months replacing the clutch. However, I realized that the disengage for the clutch was in the *middle* of the pedal's throw rather than at the end, where it belonged. Two rotations of the tensioning nut at the end of the clutch cable, though, and now it works perfectly.
I wouldn't have bought the car if I didn't know the AC worked, but it had been kind of intermittent for a while, and just before I made my trip to Lockhart (30 miles away) to type a 10-digit number into my Dad's new Powerbook, it stopped working completely. After nearly dying during the round trip in 103 degree heat, I decided this state of affairs was Not OK, and pulled out the shop manual. I read up the on A/C system, and decided the blower was the first thing to try out. It turns out the problem was with the blower switch, which had previously 1) melted and 2) been repaired before. I pulled apart the console, found the switch, and took it apart. About half way through trying to whittle it back into the correct shape, it occurred to me that it might just be a $15 part. It wasn't. It was a $110 part!
So I went back to whittling.
I'm not sure the repair will last forever, but it was much better than the previous repair, and I'm happy to report the air conditioning is worth of a Chevy (who marketed the Geo line) instead of a Suzuki (who built it.) Although it's probably killing my fuel economy, it's a necessary option for our over-100-for-months summers here in Austin.
Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can continue the trend by adding the gaskets that I didn't even know existed to the exhaust system I installed a few weeks ago. Hopefully this will reduce, but not quite eliminate, the aggressive, throaty growl that gave the car it's new name.
First, I noticed that sometimes it was hard to get the car into gear, which worried me since
trippedbreaker and I spent months replacing the clutch. However, I realized that the disengage for the clutch was in the *middle* of the pedal's throw rather than at the end, where it belonged. Two rotations of the tensioning nut at the end of the clutch cable, though, and now it works perfectly.I wouldn't have bought the car if I didn't know the AC worked, but it had been kind of intermittent for a while, and just before I made my trip to Lockhart (30 miles away) to type a 10-digit number into my Dad's new Powerbook, it stopped working completely. After nearly dying during the round trip in 103 degree heat, I decided this state of affairs was Not OK, and pulled out the shop manual. I read up the on A/C system, and decided the blower was the first thing to try out. It turns out the problem was with the blower switch, which had previously 1) melted and 2) been repaired before. I pulled apart the console, found the switch, and took it apart. About half way through trying to whittle it back into the correct shape, it occurred to me that it might just be a $15 part. It wasn't. It was a $110 part!
So I went back to whittling.
I'm not sure the repair will last forever, but it was much better than the previous repair, and I'm happy to report the air conditioning is worth of a Chevy (who marketed the Geo line) instead of a Suzuki (who built it.) Although it's probably killing my fuel economy, it's a necessary option for our over-100-for-months summers here in Austin.
Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can continue the trend by adding the gaskets that I didn't even know existed to the exhaust system I installed a few weeks ago. Hopefully this will reduce, but not quite eliminate, the aggressive, throaty growl that gave the car it's new name.
