Truck Repairs Made Easy

Around Thanksgiving, I wrote my traditional post of things I am thankful for, cleverly titled “I Am Thankful For…” One of the things I mentioned in the post was the internet. Interestingly, after that time the post received several hits from people searching for “I am thankful for the internet.” I guess I am not alone. So with that, here is one of the reasons why I am thankful for the internet.

One Saturday morning in early December, we got into our truck to go somewhere; we don’t drive the truck every day, but it is nice to have when you need it. To our dismay, we discovered that the heat in the truck wasn’t working. No matter how much you turned the temperature control knob, the air coming out would not get any warmer. Fortunately, it wasn’t all that cold that day, so we made it just fine. Except for knowing that something was going to need to be fixed.

I never have been a big fan of getting repairs done on cars. It seems like it is always such a big hassle, not to mention the cost of it all, which at times can seem to get out of hand for something minor. So I held off taking it anywhere for a few days.

Finally, the time came to do something about it. But right before I picked up the phone to call our usual auto repair place, I thought I would just look on the internet to see if anyone had reported anything similar.

Sure enough, without much searching at all, I found a site that said, “The first thing to check is the heat exchange door. Here is a video of how to replace it. And we will sell the part to you for only $50.” So I watched the video, and the guy removed the glove box, took the old door out, and put the new one in, all in under three minutes. The more I read about it, the more that the problems people were describing sounded just like the problem we were having.

And then I searched a little more, and I found the same part for only $27. With free shipping on top of that. I figured for no more than that cost, and for as easy as it looked in the video, it was worth a shot. If it didn’t work, I would only be out some time and $27. So I ordered the part, which came a few days later.

I am not naive enough to think that I can do what a trained repair person can do in the same amount of time. And I know that often times the things that people make to look really easy may not be quite as easy for those of us who haven’t done it before. I figured it would take me a good bit more than three minutes.

Once I finally got some time, I went out with everything I thought I would need: the new part, a screwdriver, and a flashlight. Removing the glove box was easy, because I had done that before in one of our other cars. And then, sure enough, the old part came right out after I disconnected the electrical wires, and the new one went in relatively easily after a couple of tries. It took about ten minutes, which isn’t too bad for me.

Then the final test came: I started the truck and turned on the heat. After a few minutes for the truck to warm up, hot air started coming out of the vents. I turned the temperature knob to cold, and got cold air. Back to hot, and I got hot air. It worked!

So why am I thankful for the internet? Because instead of a few hundred dollars for a truck repair, with the internet it only cost me $27.

Plus the cost of internet service, of course. Still, I came out ahead.

So, who needs some repairs done?