Why Can't They Do It Right The First Time?

I had a crack in the windshield of the Safari which I finally got around to having replaced. Since there is only one place in the town we live in, I thought I would help the local economy and keep my business and money in town. That was a mistake.

The place installed a new window, but when the first rain came, it leaked. He came around today to fix it while we were at the Toronto Zoo. I never should have let him at the car a second time. His idea of a fix was to slather the compound they use to seal the window along the top of the window, thus effectively sealing the window to the headliner. I have no idea if that will actually seal the window leak, but it may very well redirect the water to above the headliner. I have not seen it in the light, but it feels like a real hack job, and the attempt at a picture made it look that way as well.

I'm not sure if I want him touching the van again, as this "fix" made things look worse. I can only imagine what a third attempt might result in.

I'm not sure what my options are now, but I will take the van out for a test drive and listen for wind noise, and then I will give it a good drenching with the hose to see if there are any leaks.

I just wonder how a guy can keep in business with that sort of lack of quality. If that is typical, I would guess that word would get around town. I know even if he corrects this--I'm not sure how he could as no matter what the compound is on the headliner and I doubt it will come off--I will not be doing business with him when I replace the window on our mazda protege. He had his chance, and has lost my business and the business of anyone I talk to as well.

Any one know if the windshield can be removed and replaced without breaking it? If it can I may call around in London where there are lots of places, and see about someone else fixing his mistakes although in the long run is may require removing the front headliner and repairing it.

Some More Work On The Van

I haven't cleaned the van yet, but I did get some other work on it done. I put the summer tires on, and although they need to be replaced and I will probably do that this year, they are better than what was on there. I also replaced the centre caps with a different style. The new one look like this.

It is OFF

I finally got the one fender off my Sunrunner. What was holding me up were two screws that were somewhat inaccessible and quite rusted. After soaking them for a long time (weeks in fact) with penetrating oil, I finally got it off. Of course now I see all the rust that was hidden underneath, but with it off, I can now access those points and hopefully get it fixed while I am fixing the fender. This is all a learning experience and in many ways an experiment to see what I can do. Up to this point all my attempts to do body work has been quite a failure. Hopefully this will be less of a problem with the actual fender off. It certainly will be easier to get at working on it one a workbench rather than on the vehicle.

Brakes are DONE!!!

I finally got the brakes done on my Sunrunner. I decided to give up on putting a useful fitting on the line I had bent up as I could not get the flare correct when I was practicing on some extra brake line. I decided to go and check at Napa to see if their fittings were threaded all the way to the end. Sure enough they are, so I grabbed a line there and bent it up. Thirty minutes of work or so, and the Sunrunner is working again. I still will need to bleed the brakes another time, but they work!!!

Now all that is left is getting the Mazda to run smoothly, and some work on the van (door pins, blower regulator [I only have high on the heat/AC blower], oil change). I will probably will do the van first as it is the more needed vehicle, although when I am at the Banner if we take the van, Annette will need something to drive that the car seat can go in.

Car Repairs

one of the down sides of cars and truchs is that they need constant maintainence. Lately that has been especially true for us. Our van needed a new rear door handle. Thankfully I found one on E-bay for a great price. That, however is not where things end. The front doors of the van need new pins as the current ones are wornout. The car is not running right either. I just did the plugs, cap and rotor on her, but she is running very rough so I need to fix that, not to mention that the alternator is showing signs of seizing up as well.

Lastly, the sunrunner which runs fine is still in the process of having the brakelines replaced. I got stuck at a point and have not been able to get any further. While it is great to find I can do my own work on them, it would be nice to get back to regular maintenance again.