Thread: In Control, Of Nothing,,,,,,,

Hirlau,



Many, many years ago, my motorcycle would not start. Checked it out, no spark.

Right - stripped the bike down, wiring loom removed off the 'bike and onto the table and out with the test gear.

Went outside to put a tarp over the bike, and found that I had accidentally clicked on the kill switch when I parked the 'bike the day before

I felt a right pillock !

Three hours wasted, but much wiser at the end

Have fun

Best regards

Russ

A smart man knows what he knows . . . a wise man knows what he doesn't.

Don't you just love it

Originally Posted by Hirlau

I was told as a child, "The older you get son, the wiser you will be." The first big lie told to me.

With the aid of YouTube & GOOGLE,, I can do anything,,, I lied to myself.

My latest examples of the above,,,,,,

3 weeks ago, my CZ-82 goes double action only,,, not a problem,, a Gunsmith I will be. Three days of trying to get the sear & sear spring under the auto safety, has left me with a bag gun & a dislike for CZ-82's.

2 weeks ago I decide my hot water heater needs replacing,,,, not a problem,,,I take measurements, photographs, research brands etc. ,,, I head to Home Depot to get it. Find it & start to pull it out to roll to register,,, then I notice the one next to it looks the same, but is 8 more gallons,. I get it instead. Fight it up 2 flights of stairs. But, I get smart & call a plumber to install it. He shows today, sets up, we open the box & he says, "You bought the wrong one,it's too big." He was right,,
He goes to Home Depot & gets the right one, the one I looked at first. He installs it. I load the other one back into the car & take it back. I arrive, but have lost my receipt. I get store credit minus $20.00 for it.

At 9 pm tonight, I notice my A/C is blowing warm air & the fan outside is not turning,,, not a problem,,,I saw the A/C tech. fix it last time,,, he replaced a round thing attached to the side of the outside unit. I run to GOOGLE & YouTube & determined that round thing is a capacitor. I learn that it must be "discharged". I learn that & start looking for my tools & multi-meter. It's 9:25 now ,,,, I race into the darkness with my son in tow & a flashlight. I pull the capacitor & fuses. It's 9:40 now,,, we jump in the car & head to Home Depot,,, they sell the fuses, but not the capacitor. I curse all the way home,,,,
I put the old capacitor back on & head upstairs to turn the electricity back on. I go to turn off the A/C so it does not burn something else out & I see that the switch on the A/C thermostat is turned to "FAN ONLY" (never used this option in 18 years) I switch it to "AUTO" & the cold air begins to flow,,, I run outside & the fan is spinning.

It's been a long day,,,,,,,,,,,,,

You are loved by every repair man alive. sniff sniff me too

Originally Posted by PhatMan

Hirlau,



Many, many years ago, my motorcycle would not start. Checked it out, no spark.

Right - stripped the bike down, wiring loom removed off the 'bike and onto the table and out with the test gear.

Went outside to put a tarp over the bike, and found that I had accidentally clicked on the kill switch when I parked the 'bike the day before

I felt a right pillock !

Three hours wasted, but much wiser at the end

Have fun

Best regards

Russ

Yes sir. This is a "must have" lesson for all bike owners. I pushed my bike up and down two blocks of a steep hill over and over to try to push start it only to find out the same thing-damn kill switch was off. Now it's the first thing I check. I can't tell you how many times I've heard this story from others too.

John, we have all been there.

Just spent $110 to have a tech fix my AC. Seems mice had nested in the compressor wiring box over the winter. Would not have been a problem except they got hungry and ate wires.

Tech's advice was (his previous call was for the same mouse problem) to put some dryer sheets or mothballs around the compressor wiring box and to also turn off the breaker. Seems there is just enough juice to the box to give off a little warmth. Not sure if I buy this but I will throw the breaker next winter just in case.

Yes sir, some days life feels like an out of control joy ride and I feel like a crash test dummy along for the ride. You have my sympathy.

Bob

John, see my signature ? I can fix just about anything. But the list of stories that got me here all contain about the same things as yours. some cost more than others but this is how we learn. The handy man that comes to fix your stuff has plenty of them also :<0)

The BEST way to learn is to mess up.
I tell my kids all the time.... I will never say I'm smarter than you, I've just done more stupid $h!t than you.

Since moving from the epitome of Suburban life (We are talking Cul de Sac here) to the Boonies of North Idaho I have learned more "Skills" then I care to mention..

I will admit Youtube has helped quite a bit, honestly when I bought the big Kubota there was no way I was going to pay somebody $500 to change all the fluids..
I watched a vid of a guy learning as he went through his, and damn if it didn't all work exactly that way but we are talking long hours of waiting for GALLONS of oil to drain out yes I said gallons

Many of the lessons have been costly and painful especially that first few years, I look back and think "What the Heck were you thinking"

My latest misadventures were dropping two bad trees, all the others came down just where I wanted them to (Learned a few tricks on Youtube) these last two both tried to take me out


As they say "An expert has failed more times then a novice has tried"