So my driver's side low beam in my 2k2 has been out for about 4 or 5 months now. I thought it blew because i accidentally touched the bulb while stripping my headlights apart to black them out ! I have been pulled over 3 times for it too and evrytime when they asked me: "If you knew it was out why haven't you fixed it yet?" my response has been "I'm broke and its $110 to fix!" but anyways... finally fed up with it being out i took my headlight out just to be sure that all the connections were good and tight. i noticed that the connection between the bulb and the HID ballast didn't look tight so i push the connection together and hear a small 'click'! at this point my heart is racing with excitement. i rush into my car and turn on the lights...It came on!! thats my story. i was excited and just wanted to share my excitement with everyone

 

I'm kicking myself now for being an idiot for the past 5 months

 

now

 

LOL!! I know how that feels When there is something wrong with the car and your like man now i have to waste money in fixing it then when you least expect it it works again and you dont have to worry bout it again.

 

LOL! Don't worry we have all done it. I did something stupid also a few days ago. So my battery was dying cause I noticed my radio went out and then my gauges went so I drove home quickly as possible. I left the car running and opened the hood. As soon as a shook the postive battery terminal it died. It was bad and became so loose that I could pull it off the battery. So I then cleaned the battery and replaced the terminal. I didn't drive it till two days later because I got knee surgery. So I go out on the road and my car died. I was like I JUST FIXED THIS Then I remembered I never charged my battery the day I replaced my terminal. I kicked myself for that one as a sat there waiting for my father to come jump my car...

 

lol

 

lol, let this be a lesson to everyone to check the simple things first

 

If you managed to start the car your battery had enogh charge at that time. From that point on it was supposed to be charging from the car charging system. If it died then you have charging problem and jumping the car won't get you far, IMHO.

 

Wow great story...

 

lol.. good stuff man.. saving money on doing something yourself is always a good feeling.. especially when it's just a "click!" imagine all the idiots out there that would have ran to the dealer and paid them $110 to do what you just did

 

Love when that happens! 3 months though?? thats a long time to go w/ 1 headlight

 

"Car charging system" is alternator attached by a belt thats connected to the engine indirectly and the alternator is the "wound up" producing eletricity which is then sent to the battery which then charges it.

I trickle charged it and your right didn't get me far. I replaced the alternator which is a pain in the ***. You gotta remove the air intake snorkel, the shroud of the radiator (the things with the fans I don't know if thats the correct term) and move the compressor over. While only working with very little space. Its ridiculous. Inexperienced took me two hours to do but saved me some money!

 

two hours is not bad at all, i believe the book says 1.6 so that really good. There are a few guys here who have done the alt. and it took them close to a whole day.


It's always the little things that make you kick yourself in the *** afterward. One time I brought the car to the dealership for a computer diagnostic, paid $90 for them to tell me it was a fuse.

Never do that again.

 

You forgot voltage regulator and rectifiers which are part of the alternator nowadays anyway. Very impressive time for replacement, I wouldn't finish it in twice as much.

 

Damn your right again! I knew I forgot something. But I had my friend help me do the little things like holding the compressor out of the way so it was easy and less frustrating for me. But thanks for the compliment.

 

When i was hooking up my aftermarket amp, i was going to use the existing speaker wire to the speakers. So i cut the speakers wire i needed to from the harness, and hooked up the amp. I didnt hear nothing. I seen plenty of smoke though. I ended up pluging the outputs of the aftermarket up to the outpus of the factory.
Woops.
It isnt exactly on the same story line as you all but i did do a double facepalm.

 

This is so true and AHEM to you my brother. I really hate going to the dealership and being charged for a $92 diagnostic charge for a simple fix.

Me said to service monkey, "you are charging me fee to tell me what is wrong my vehicle?"

So, I went out and bought a scanner for $145 to read my own codes. Now I can use that same scanner for my other car - Trailblazer SS.

 

Haha we've all done something stupid with our cars man. Usually its from the excitement of adding something new or fear we f*cked something up.

 

Haha yea I've done something like that, but it wasn't left alone for 4 to 5 months.... lol your car pwned you.