DIY Windshield Chip and Crack Repair for $10

A couple of days ago I was driving down the freeway and got a pretty nasty chip with crack in my windshield. These things were covered by insurance but these past few years it gets more difficult to deal with the insurance companies and making a claim let alone time it takes to go get it filled or have someone come out to do it. For folks that don't want to deal with making a claim for the rock chip there are now lost of companies selling windshield chip repair kits. After doing some research I settled on the $10 Glass Star America Windshield Chip repair kit at Walmart. There are numerous YouTube videos on how to do it which are worth watching. I still read and follow the directions but seeing the videos before hand give me a good idea of what to expect. Here is a picture of what the package looks like.

The kit doesn't look like much but it really works great. This has been my second repair using this kit so I do have some prior experience. My first repair still left some signs of the chip but it did not spread any further which is what we need to happen. Here are a few before pictures of my chipped and cracked windshield.

Chipped and Cracked VW Windshield Before Repair

Chipped and Cracked Jetta Windshield Before

So after using the Glass Star America repair kit and about 35 minutes, I had an excellent windshield repair. I do a lot of highway driving so I anticipate more of these. Take a look at the after picture, not too shabby for a $10 Made in America windshield repair kit!

VW Jetta Crack and Chip Repair After Picture

Fix your Home A/C for $35.00, Bad Motor Run Capacitor

Hi All,

It happened again! My home air conditioning stopped working at 4:00am last night in the middle of one of the hottest summers in the desert Southwest! I had visions of $300 - $500 repair bills dancing in my head. The first time my A/C stopped working was due to bad bearings in the condenser fan motor. I figures this out by listening to what I couldn't hear and it was the fan motor turning on. The symptom was the A/C starting and then stopping.

Last night the A/C was running but was luke warm at best. I once again went out to the condenser and listened to what I couldn’t hear and it was the loud refrigerator noise that comes from the compressor/condenser. I did a quick google search and found a forum that talked about a bad motor run capacitor for the condenser. I took the cover off of the condenser motor/fan unit located outdoors and started looking for the capacitor. I of course pulled the quick disconnect power plug that runs four lines of 125VAC to the unit and verified with my voltmeter that I had zero voltage at the four lines. Here is a picture of the capacitor as it looked in the unit.

Bad Motor Run Capacitor for a Heil A/C Condenser

I also built and repaired a lot of computers in the past and one of the most common motherboard failures is a blown capacitor or two. Corrosion and a bulged top are dead give-aways to a bad capacitor. I must admit that I almost gave up and called a repair person but I started going through troubleshooting and my thinking was that the freon leaked out but I didn't think that was likely since the A/C was just working last night. The fear of a $500 repair bill forced me into doing more google research. A big thank you to the local Summit Electric who were able to locate me a replacement capacitor! Here is a picture of the old capacitor compared to the new capacitor.

New Capacitor compared to the old Capacitor.

How to Recycle and Reuse a Southwest Courtyard Gate

We wanted to share our latest project for our house. We found an old and weathered Southwest style courtyard gate. It is made of nice thick pine but showed some signs of water damage and was falling apart. We took measurements on the gate and compared them to the opening in our wall. The gate was almost perfect in width but needed to be cut down in height. This worked out well because the water damage was at the bottom of the gate. We ended up cutting almost 6 inches off of the bottom of our southwest gate. We then used a rubber mallet to pound the tongue and groove features back together. When everything was in place I used a lot of wood glue and long screws to keep it from falling apart again. Next we chose a nice bright light blue paint, I believe it was a good quality outdoor latex paint. Now we had to mount the door to our stuccoed courtyard wall. I chose the correct thickness door jambs, I think they were just the cedar fence planks from Home Depot. I also used simple gate hinges from Home Depot to attach the door to the jamb and then mounted the hinge side jamb to the stucco wall using the new concrete anchors from Home Depot. The latch side of the gate required a double thickness door jamb so that the rabbits don't come in eat our plants and flowers. We were very happy with the results and now have a rabbit barrier for our front yard. Here are some before and after pictures.

Old Weathered Southwest Style Courtyard Gate

Renovated Southwest Courtyard Gate

No More Oil Changes by Walmart

So this past weekend I decided that I should change the oil on my Subaru. My last two oil changes were done by Walmart. Part of my reasoning is because of money. Walmart's oil changes have slowly creeped up to over $30.00. In the past they were $16.00, but that was when oil was cheaper too. I purchased a filter and oil form Walmart for $14.00 so I am already saving money. I got home and started changing my oil. I went to take the oil pan drain nut off and it wouldn't budge. I know what kind of torque it should take to remove this drain plug and this plug was on way too tight. I got the drain plug off and nothing was stripped, thank goodness. I started looking at the plug and the mounting face on the oil pan and they were caked with RTV sealant. Now I was pissed off, frickin' 16 year old Walmart oil change techs can't grasp the concept of what a clean sealing surface should be so instead they apply RTV and over torque my oil pan plug. I scrapped off all of the RTV from the plug mounting surface and the oil pan surface. It was amazing how easily everything sealed tight with minimal torque. I went to remove the oil filter and it twisted off with barely any effort which does not match the tightening procedure on the new oil filter. Never taking my car to them again for oil changes.

Best way to Save Money at Home

One of the best ways to save money at home to to start doing your own automobile or truck maintenance. Start off with simple chores like changing your air filter and wiper blades. Don't laugh, these simple duties will get your started with the confidence you need to tackle bigger jobs to help you save money with your car repairs.