The whole head broke off? Part of it broke off so you can’t get the bracket off? Or is it stripped?
Head broke off so imagine those two torx bolts in the photo I posted with one broken off. It is extended out of the back plate though a little bit so I’m thinking of undoing the other torx bolt and hoping I can slide the front plate/thing out of the way completely by shifting into far right L1 gear then hopefully even a vice grip should be able to get it possibly.
It won’t go into park and is all loose going into gears now so worried about other breaking and then I’d have to just pay up lol.
That sounds like how to get it off. Drilling stuff out is often almost impossible. The auto part steel is usually super hard and you’ll end up just breaking lots of bits (if that’s what you were thinking of doing).
That’s what I tried but have never done that before. If I can slide that aside I could just drill it out and rent the threading thing auto part stores rent and rethread it at the very worst. Has to be cheaper and easier than dropping out the whole steering column and dash lmao.
Are you thinking of using the vice grips on the broken head side or on the tip of the bolt extending out of the back plate? (the video made it look like the left bolt may have enough to grip on the back side to work it out a few turns and give you more to grab on to on the broken side to pull the rest of the way out, not sure if that’s what you meant) If you can get any part of the shaft exposed you might have better luck with a socket type bolt extractor. If you get the right size it will need less to grab on to and it will be much easier to get even pressure all the way around with all the torque around the shaft axis = less likely to snap off what little you can get exposed, more likely to back out cleanly.
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Posted this in LC, will try again here:
Offer two seems good, but I feel like it is only offered if that dealer has a high degree of certainty that future rebates will be >= current rebates. Also I’m a little worried because only one guy made an offer like this and everyone else said they couldn’t. I’ve been negotiating online with about 6 dealers.
What deal do we like better?
I guess what I’m really after is whether there is any norm as far as how rebates go in the model year. Do they go up, go down, is it completely random?
My cruise control stopped working and the dealer said that it’s the switch. They quoted me 'bout $350 to fix it, the part is $100 for oem and $15 for a bootleg on amazon. I’ll pay it if necessary because I take very long drives a couple times a year but that seems excessive to replace a switch.
My car’s run great for 10+ years and this is the first repair I’ve ever had to pay for, should I just pay them their money or find a better deal? I suck at doing things other than clicking buttons and don’t really want to do it myself.
You didn’t give much info about your car as far as make and model (I gather it’s about 10 years old), but generally speaking, what you’ve been quoted sounds unremarkable. I’d pony up for the OEM switch. The cheaper stuff (especially if it’s 1/10th the cost) is very likely to be garbage.
It sounds like you’ve run good as far as car expenditures so far. Driving a car costs money, that’s just how it is. If you value your time at all, find a mechanic you trust and just let them handle it.
* Source: was mechanic from approx. 1990 to 2000.
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This is true. For some things I thought for sure non-oem would be good enough, it wasn’t. A model-specific forum is a good place to check.
If you’re handy at all, a youtube search is worthwhile to see if a repair is something you can handle yourself. There was a guy doing videos on my specific car model that really helped me out. I surprised myself with the range of repairs I was able to do. Saved a bunch. Otherwise would have had to borrow money for repairs or a newer car.
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That’s one I’d try myself with the cheap parts. When considering whether to take on a repair myself there are a lot of factors i consider and they all point towards trying the cheap repair.
- Is it a time consuming repair? In this case probably not.
- Does the cost delta make it worth my while? $15 vs $350, yeah.
- Is it technically challenging and require tools I don’t have? Not likely.
- Will I fuck up my car worse and possibly make it undrivable? Doubt it.
- Could I potentially make the pro repair more expensive if I fuck up? Not really.
Its $15 and an hour of your time with little to no other downsides to potentially save over $300. And it’s for a feature you want but don’t use that often so it’s not like there is a huge loss from not having cruise for a few more weeks.
This isn’t a project you should take on yourself if you aren’t familiar with electrical or general wiring, imo. The Amazon part could be just fine for the price but it’s the other things involved that could make things worse, ie disassembling the steering column if need be, not blowing anything else out or disconnecting and assembling things back to perfect working order. I’d personally wouldn’t spend the money and just go back to putting my foot on a pedal to save myself 350 bucks but that is just me. If you decide to do it, pay some one.
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Yeah I booked it, ty guys.
Luckily I don’t need this vehicle much other than a few weeks of the year. I am going to have to drop the whole steering column and get it out that way. So far, it looks like 2 bolts holding it but I haven’t gone further yet. Easy but time consuming for a simple broken bolt
Had to get that stupid bolt out and it just had to be 95 degrees out. Could only grab the non threaded end with a needle nose vise that i could only clamp at one specific width and then it was such a tight squeeze, after I crawled under the dash while entering with back down, I could clamp the vise on and turn it about 1/8 a turn. The threaded side was flush with what it was bolted into. Took a few hours but got that pos out.
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Never done it either but this guy does a decent job of explaining stuff even if not highest production quality. He also has a couple of wheel bearing videos.
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Applying the Koss checklist of “should I try this” I’d probably pass and take it to just about any shop. Wheel Bearings are fairly commonly replaced components so most shops can do this with their eyes closed, but for you, it could be a big PITA like you said.
- Is it a time consuming repair? It definitely can be. It’s probably a 2 to 4 hour job for a mech depending on the configuration. So double that if you’re a first timer, and that’s if things go well.
- Does the cost delta make it worth my while? Maybe. Wheel bearings are about $100 to $200 for the parts, and probably closer to $200 or a bit more for labor. So you’re looking at possibly $200ish in savings.
- Is it technically challenging and require tools I don’t have? Almost certainly. There are typically two types of wheel bearings. Ones that are integrated in the hub. Those are a bit easier but often need a bearing puller to remove. Others have to be removed from the hub and a new one pressed in. That requires a hydraulic press and is significantly more complicated.
- Will I fuck up my car worse and possibly make it undrivable? You’re probably not going to fuck it up worse, but the challenge here is once you start the repair at home you can’t really drive it to a shop if you can’t complete it at home, so that’s a bit of a problem.
- Could I potentially make the pro repair more expensive if I fuck up? Not likely unless you damage the brakes in the process, which can occasionally happen. The issue is more the same as above, you are committed to finishing once you start.
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Ha. I like his videos because they don’t always go smooth and he has to do something inventive. Just like me!
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I don’t think you need to open up the brake lines to compete this repair. This guy did it without removing the hub from the ball joint, but the ball joint was brand new so idk why he didn’t just do the bearing and ball joint at the same time:
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Some of those get so stuck they need a hydraulic press.
Unless it was a bolt or tool that broke. 
Well done.
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