Friday, December 8, 2023

27-year-old Jenn-air refrigerator door repair

 I suppose the door on our 27-year-old refrigerator could fairly have a little trouble closing easily. On inspection I could see the door had dropped a little when compared to the freezer door. Also, some rust on the lower hinge pin appeared as I swung the door back and forth while inspecting. So, with Nate's help we took the 15 minutes to empty all the contents stored in the door and removed the door. We greased the hinge pin and placed a large washer on the hinge pin which raised the door 1/8 of an inch. Now the door swings perfectly easy and shuts like new. This refrigerator looks as good as new and the door now shuts as good as new.





Saturday, July 22, 2023

Sonicare toothbrush had little charge and it bled down without using.

Replacing the battery from Amazon - 

Disassembly was difficult. To remove the base plate next time, I would squeeze the white handle in a vise slightly with the switch toward the jaws of the vice. Maybe 1/16 inch and then using small screwdriver pry base plate from handle. Start prying with a small screwdriver then use medium screwdriver to work the base plate slightly off. (The charging wires need to remain attached to the base plate.) Then push the end that attaches to the brush until the inner board slips out the back. 

My Sonicare had no screw holding the base plate secure but some Sonicare's have a screw securing the center of the base plate. I was then able to remove the rubber support pieces and unsolder the battery. I was able to get all back together and the sonic is working. The base plate no longer locks in place so some electrical tape secures the base plate quite securely. I will use it until the battery gets low and recharge to see if the recharge portion is still working. 





2006 Honda Odyssey minivan air conditioner failed.

 2006 Honda Odyssey minivan air conditioner failed. 

I checked the Freon pressure which was 92 psi, which is good. I noticed the AC compressor pump’s clutch was not engaging. Checked 3 related fuses all ok. In the fuse / relay box on the passenger side of the engine compartment by the firewall I swapped R1 Radiator Fan Relay with R4 the air compressor clutch relay and the air conditioner started working. I ordered two new relays from Amazon that took 3 days to get and replace the bad relay. ($10 for two relays.) 

I cut off the case of the bad relay and it appears to have worn out contacts. 

Unfortunately, I purchased a can of Freon with a hose attached along with an attached pressure gauge which, I suspect, is what Washington state requires. However, the Freon was not low so the Freon was not used.  

Great help watching YouTube videos. I took the picture below from a helpful video. 




Relay R4 with top cut off.


Contacts in the center of the relay are rough and dirty. 

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Cub Cadet lawnmower sounds like a steam engine.

Our 18-year-old Cub Cadet lawnmower sounded like a steam engine. I replaced the driver side head gasket this Winter as the compression was low on that side. Now I was able to actually feel the pressure escaping from the passenger head gasket. It is actually a rather big job to remove the intake manifold screws to the head unless one takes the motor completely off. And taking the motor off would also be a bigger job. 

I completed the job enough to cut all the grass today. Now I need to put the tools away and look for a few missing screws, mainly for securing the hood. It sure sounds and runs better. I kicked a can of screws by mistake, losing the order of reassembly. Lots of different sized screws in separate cans but still a difficult assembly.

Also replaced the broken throttle cable. 




Special tool to get intake screws out and in. 

gasket leak at bottom. 







Thursday, April 13, 2023

Replace the damaged section of laminate flooring in kitchen.

 Several years ago, a large bowl or something fell off the top of the fridge and damaged the laminate floor. Today I thought it was time to replace that section of flooring. We needed to make a little tool using wire probably from an old coat hanger. The wire tool enabled us to tilt the first panel that was under the kick plate of the kitchen cupboards enough to unsnap and remove the panel. After that it was rather easy getting enough panels removed and to simply replace the damaged panel. Reassembly went quickly. 

Damage





Using wire tool to lift the first section to unsnap and remove.



Cleaning floor.


Beginning reassembly. 


All done except moving the fridge back in place. 


Thursday, February 9, 2023

Al's lawn mower would not start

 


Worked on Al's lawnmower that would not start after Winter (Feb 9, 2023). Using starter fluid or gas poured into the carb it would run for 3 seconds. Took carb apart and cleaned, no help. Found a good video on-line which showed how to take the carb further apart.

New plastic carburetor - easy cleaning parts teardown Briggs & Stratton Ethanol clogs - Bing video

After following the video and cleaning the ports with small wire and carb cleaner motor started great. 

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Husqvarna Model 221A with Briggs & Stratten Motor 675EXI 163cc. (675 series)

Spark Plug RC12YC

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

GE microwave oven fan on with door open?

Our GE microwave and stove vent has a problem. When one opens the door, the fan turns on. The door latch has 3 microswitches and on one YouTube video they replaced the bottom two switches to correct the problem. About 4 months ago I took the switches out and tested them when the failure occurred and they tested good. After reassembly all continued to work fine until now. In the meantime, I ordered new replacements. Today I replaced the switches and all works correctly once again. Hopefully the problem is solved; only time will tell.


We purchased the microwave in 2002. I replaced the magnetron with a free warranty repair in 2011. It is a great microwave.