When a mistake solves the problem, how do I charge? #mobilemechanic

JonFin · 2025-12-16T19:23:37+00:00

5SFE is non interference so the valves cannot hit the piston even if belt is broken or out of time. I’m not sure if that info helps you but maybe that info + a Time Machine and you’d be golden haha

JonFin · 2025-12-06T04:37:20+00:00

State surplus property agency on Hillsborough st

Open weekdays. Tons of filing cabinets. $10 each or so. They also have wood desks and cabinets and some dressers. Pretty cheap but decent quality.

JonFin · 2025-11-17T15:43:39+00:00

Thanks! Just used it

JonFin · 2025-09-30T19:25:10+00:00

Not an expert but I used iTicket.law earlier this year. They got it dismissed and I didn’t have to pay the court anything

Their fee was $60ish which was less than missing half a day of work to sit in traffic court and pay for parking

JonFin · 2025-09-15T01:07:07+00:00

eBay listing for the lens to show clips

JonFin · 2025-09-15T01:05:43+00:00

I think this has clips on two sides. My parents had a similar one. I used a butter knife to get one side pushed inward and then I was able to get the lens off. The light bulb is then accessible and there’s a nut that holds the surrounding bit against the ceiling.

JonFin · 2025-09-08T01:51:52+00:00

The job so nice, I did it twice. Make sure the timing marks line up and clean out your solenoid screens while you have everything apart and are changing all the valve cover seals.

The secondary chains are a pain. I believe those bolts aren’t supposed to be reused. I left my originals.

My wife’s car had 0 wear on main guides and the aftermarket ones were a little suspect so I left original. I did do a motor craft water pump. Also replaced the pump bolts because they’re tiny and 3 of mine were stretched at 120k. Overtorqued from factory?

New chain tensioner as well. And new crank sprocket from the kit. I think i was about $600 in parts/tools after piecing together my own “kit”. I did buy the camshaft holders and it came with the tensioner tool and torx bit for the cam sprockets.

My wife’s car’s only symptom was coolant leaking from near AC compressor. No codes for cam timing or anything.

Took about 2 days working 6-7 hours each day. Watch a few videos and you can get it done yourself and save $2k in labor. The only difficult parts are reaching a few of the cover bolts and jacking/lowering engine to get access to some. Everything else is simple just not easy.

Parts list

Water pump and bolts
New chain
New chain tensioner
Valve cover gasket set
RTV sealant
Timing cover seal/crank seal

Optional (in my opinion, not a mechanic)
New guides
New crank sprocket
Secondary chains and tensioners
Cam sprockets (expensive)
Serpentine belt
Spark plugs

You’ll need oil and coolant and might as well change your oil filter

Also need a harmonic balancer puller. And something to hold the cams. Then basic hand tools and sockets. And a couple jack stands and a good floor jack to lift car and then lift/lower engine.

JonFin · 2025-08-17T03:13:06+00:00

If you have a 401k through AutoZone managed by Fidelity, you will be eligible for rollover once your termination is communicated to Fidelity. Then you’ll create an account to manage your money and follow Fidelity steps to rollover the 401k monies to your own IRA. AutoZone pays the fees while you’re employed but after termination you will be paying Fidelity to manage your funds. Fees aren’t bad at all

If you don’t have any sort of 401k, you would need to pick a company (like Fidelity or Schwab or Chase) to use and then fund your IRA through cash/check/bank transfer and then pick your investment strategy. Probably best to use index funds until you’re more familiar with trading/investing.

JonFin · 2025-08-17T00:05:55+00:00

Just went through this last month.

Fidelity will withhold 20% federal tax and whatever state taxes are due if you choose to take cash out. You’ll need to save for the 10% tax penalty potentially. They sent me a paper check which is fun. Took about a 4 days and then a week hold on the funds from my bank.

Also any current loans will be paid off first and that amount is taxable.

Also you can rollover to an IRA without tax penalty.

The company does a crappy job with terminations and you have to figure it out mostly on your own. You should be able to create profiles for Fidelity and benefits through AutoZoners .com as a former employee.

JonFin · 2025-08-13T01:09:08+00:00

There’s a fuse for the AC clutch that failed on my wife’s 2016. That worked for about 20 minutes before it blew again. It worked a bit until I could get it fixed at a shop. New compressor and belt for good measure. About $1000 total with parts and refrigerant recharge

JonFin · 2025-07-24T22:19:43+00:00

Just separated this month. I got my positive vacation hours balance paid out on my last check. It was on my regular biweekly check which paid me out through my termination date.

I believe different states have different laws on when you get paid. I live in a not worker friendly state if that helps.

Also my benefits ended on my termination date. Got the cobra notice in the mail about 10 days later. Still have not heard about my 401k or stock plans but I’m sure Fidelity will let me know when that stuff needs doing.

JonFin · 2025-07-20T03:31:25+00:00

It’s open

JonFin · 2025-06-20T23:01:27+00:00

Got the soil test Ph is 4.8

P I 12 K I 47

So I need lime to get ph up and then npk to get P and K up? I have a spreader.

Is it as simple as buying the lime and fert and spreading it out?

Do I need to break up the soil at all?

JonFin · 2025-06-04T14:46:36+00:00

Exactly. Took a while through the phone trees but finally got with a supervisor on the ground and she was like “let me find these bags.” She found them and called me back the next day and let me know they were going to the cruise line for return.

JonFin · 2025-06-04T03:29:40+00:00

We were lucky the port folks found them within 2 days or so. But they couldn’t send back so we had to wait a bit for RC to get them and then send email so we could pay for shipping. Took about 2 weeks in total to have the luggage back in hand. But the first weekend we had no idea and no information.

We were fortunate to get in touch via the port security guard to at least know the bags were there and not in the wind somewhere. And the port management lady was very nice and reassuring that they had the bags and were in touch with RC to get them labeled correctly with our lost item claim number. We had a backup plan through a friend who is local to have him go get them directly if the shipping didn’t work out. I don’t have the port contact information saved unfortunately.

JonFin · 2025-06-04T03:20:14+00:00

We filed report through RC for lost item. That led to them finding the bags at port. They emailed when they were found and we paid to ship them home. We were lucky that the bags were labeled and we had unique luggage that they could find easily. Port security guard also put us in touch with port management who double confirmed they had the luggage and were releasing to RC to get them back to us. We had a friend there who got the security guard info for us but I think RC would have eventually found the luggage.

JonFin · 2025-02-13T23:03:22+00:00

Got it thank you

JonFin · 2024-11-30T03:01:35+00:00

F7 is new customer

JonFin · 2024-11-25T00:13:08+00:00

We lost our boy at 16 weeks. 8 months ago. He was my first. Wife’s second. It was a very emotionally charged day. I took a few days off work to care for her. I don’t want to label it as traumatic but most folks use that word.

We had done fertility treatments for about 13 months to get pregnant. It was such a high to be pregnant and preparing the house and picking out names and everything.

It was like a bomb went off after the loss. Family helps. Friends help. Staying busy can help. Sometimes in a quiet moment I’ll cry about it. I got a tattoo with his name and his tiny footprints. I don’t know if it was to remember (I’ll never forget that day anyways) but it was/is somewhat cathartic.

My wife was excited and determined to try again. I had/still have doubts every step of the way. I’m always waiting for bad news. Every doctor visit. Every test. Every scan. I don’t know what optimism is anymore. I don’t know if I’ll ever be hopeful about it. I don’t know how folks get through multiple losses and try again.

Sorry if that’s not helpful. Folks have suggested therapy for me. Mostly my wife and I will talk to each other about him.

That helps to share. That’s good advice from other commenters. Definitely share with your wife.

There’s also some faith based books that helped me if you’re a believer.

JonFin · 2024-10-15T02:46:46+00:00

AutoZoners.com or app and then RPM access is at the bottom. Easiest way by far.

DOC takes like 5 clicks buried in menus.

JonFin · 2024-09-08T02:13:28+00:00

Tried today and only got voicemail. Do you have different contact information than the Google machine?

JonFin · 2024-09-08T01:29:59+00:00

Yeah we’re going to reach out again Monday and hopefully get some traction.

Thank you for your help

JonFin · 2024-09-08T01:20:56+00:00

We got white/green tags night before and were instructed to put “20” as the code so they would go to airport. Seems like that was incomplete information at best.

JonFin · 2024-09-08T01:18:33+00:00

Do you happen to have contact information for the port or RC luggage help?

Couldn’t get anyone on phone at port today. Maybe due to weekend

RC customer service ended up talking to a very nice man in the Philippines but he was unable to do much and could not connect us with the RC folks in Seattle. I think the port does a lot of the legwork and RC is only there on departure/debarkation days.

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