Damn My Car
Today I fought trying to fix my car.
I had to replace the "clutch master cylinder", which is a little piston behind the clutch pedal that uses oil pressure to disengage the clutch. For such a small thing, I had to fight mighty hard to replace it.
In order to disconnect the hoses, I had to remove the fuse box and battery and battery tray from under the hood. And then I had to squeeze my hand into a tiny space between the wheel well and the ABS system in order to remove the clips that held the hoses together. Getting my hand, let alone a screwdriver to pry the clips off, was hell. I have this suspicious feeling all car engineers are people who never actually TOUCH a car's insides. They're popped-collar Yale master-degree douches who never get their hands dirty and sit in a cubicle all day. How anyone could squeeze important hoses in such a tiny space is beyond me.
It was even worse replacing the clips once I got the new cylinder in. I was able to get the top one in after a little trouble, but the bottom one was a bitch. It would pop back off, it would fall down and get lost in the engine compartment, it would be half on but then I couldn't push it all the way on and then it would pop off again. I lost the clip for a while and flipped out. You could stand a mile away and hear FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. I flailed and punched and sat down and nearly cried. I finally found the clip again. Finally, I got it half on, got a small wrench in there, and pinched the clip all the way on the hose.
The master cylinder itself inside the car was just as annoying. The screws holding it on were in tight spaces and required a long time to remove and then tighten them back on. And I had to twist and break the old one out, and then bend a piece of metal out of the way just to get the new one wedged in place.
And then I had to stuff my hand and a wrench into a mess of wiring just to bleed the damn system. I found it was easier to loosen the screw by hand while I bled it and abandoned the wrench. My mother pumped the pedal and I got it to the point where no air was in the drain hose anymore and figured it was bled. The pedal felt spongy at first but firmed up after a mile of driving.
A job I thought would take at most 2 hours ended up taking about 4 hours. And people wonder why I don't want to do this for a living.
I had to replace the "clutch master cylinder", which is a little piston behind the clutch pedal that uses oil pressure to disengage the clutch. For such a small thing, I had to fight mighty hard to replace it.
In order to disconnect the hoses, I had to remove the fuse box and battery and battery tray from under the hood. And then I had to squeeze my hand into a tiny space between the wheel well and the ABS system in order to remove the clips that held the hoses together. Getting my hand, let alone a screwdriver to pry the clips off, was hell. I have this suspicious feeling all car engineers are people who never actually TOUCH a car's insides. They're popped-collar Yale master-degree douches who never get their hands dirty and sit in a cubicle all day. How anyone could squeeze important hoses in such a tiny space is beyond me.
It was even worse replacing the clips once I got the new cylinder in. I was able to get the top one in after a little trouble, but the bottom one was a bitch. It would pop back off, it would fall down and get lost in the engine compartment, it would be half on but then I couldn't push it all the way on and then it would pop off again. I lost the clip for a while and flipped out. You could stand a mile away and hear FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. I flailed and punched and sat down and nearly cried. I finally found the clip again. Finally, I got it half on, got a small wrench in there, and pinched the clip all the way on the hose.
The master cylinder itself inside the car was just as annoying. The screws holding it on were in tight spaces and required a long time to remove and then tighten them back on. And I had to twist and break the old one out, and then bend a piece of metal out of the way just to get the new one wedged in place.
And then I had to stuff my hand and a wrench into a mess of wiring just to bleed the damn system. I found it was easier to loosen the screw by hand while I bled it and abandoned the wrench. My mother pumped the pedal and I got it to the point where no air was in the drain hose anymore and figured it was bled. The pedal felt spongy at first but firmed up after a mile of driving.
A job I thought would take at most 2 hours ended up taking about 4 hours. And people wonder why I don't want to do this for a living.