Your writing is so good that it looks easy. And I know it's not.

I'm glad you got your Volvo running again. May you enjoy many care-free miles!

Truly.

Changed out the 12V battery myself for <$50, saved at least $150.

Now I'm working on how to replace the HID headlamp, but there's no consensus among the youtube posters; one says take the bumper off, the other says go in from the top...

But true, much of what we need to learn we can find on the Internet.

This has huge implications for education BTW, as in the Kahn Academy and the Flipped Classroom, and these excite me.

The Internet is becoming the real Universal University. It's a great thing.

You may want to check eligibility--the dealer will replace free of charge if covered.

I've used it for many things. An example is once I found a tick in my dogs ear flap and found out how to take it out without leaving the tick's head to fester under the skin. Take tweezers and clamp onto the body, which is incredibly hard to crush and pull it out smoothly and quickly in the opposite direction that it went in. That way you don't break the head off and by doing it quickly the tick doesn't get a chance to burrow deeper.

I like your story. People do like to share their knowledge and people do like to help others.

Only persons who believe in community and who actually love their old car will provide such wonderful service to others.

The video in that case was made by a guy who also sold parts -- sort of a "here's how to put in the part, if you need help sourcing parts I'm your man" sort of thing.

I bought the part from him. Seemed the right move, considering the helpfulness of the video.

internet is the ONLY way.

my kids f'ed this POS up and I have no sound, no video, zero speed, especially with pictures.
But even with all that, I get more info from the innertubes than from any where else.
I still have e-mail, free contact with friends at my fingertips. Facebook, not so much. Too much to load up.
My monitor has been losing it's brightness lately. If I hit it just right, like the Fonz on the jukebox, it lights up again.
Jeannie is threatening to get me a new set-up. She's too good to me.

You took money out of your local mechanic's pocket even more directly than someone pirating music takes it from the artist they're listening to.

Because the car would have gone to scrap otherwise..

Not worth putting $800 in = Scrap it.

if the CD wasn't downloaded, it wouldn't have been bought or listened to, but since it was available for download, it was listened to.

Are you implying that MM violated copyright by following instructions freely posted on the internet?

That's a fairly serious accusation.

whether it's an obscure owners manual or the latest pop sensation.

Information wants to be free. Profit can be made by introducing artificial constraints and charging for access.

The instructions were created by the person who posted them.

Perhaps you could try again?

suing some university students for using napster or limewire or whatever the latest sharing tools are is wrong.

though I don't have a link handy.

That's why I phrased it the way I did earlier.

to snark at me. It didn't work, and the two things are in no way equivalent. Sorry.

You can't possibly be serious.

No. I'd have junked the car. I don't have $800 to spare. I am my local mechanic, sometimes. On the other hand, I have never downloaded a single piece of copyright material from the Internet without paying for it. I don't need that material. I needed information on how to R&R that part. No comparison.

DIY = stealing from someone?

you win. the internet is complete.

Plan accordingly.

Who made some articles is no longer helping since there's no profit anymore. But some things still have a use value and people are willing to take the time. Just like our many posters here that bring us the news, most likely unpaid, that help us put things in perspective. That was a well-expressed OP, too, MM. Thanks.

a recent problem with the fuel pump too, a really weird one. Usually it will start and run perfectly, then occasionally it would just not start, damn, always away from home ... but if you pulled the air filter and depressed what was called in the old carbs a butterfly valve, which is a large circular diaphragm plate of sorts in this car it will start ... which some have said creates enough of a vacuum to pull some gas in from the injectors ... there is no accelerator pump to my knowledge. Anyway, long story short it works!

So, it has a buried under the dash a fuel pump relay that is really a lot more than a relay. When the ignition comes on to start it's supposed to turn on the fuel pump for 5 seconds to prime the engine which it was not always doing. Then, when the computer senses the engine has started and is running OK it turns the pump off. Apparently the relay is completely controlled by the computer on demand, then above a certain RPM it locks out the pump. Weird. Generally I think electric fuel pumps run and maintain a pressure and excess pressure is just bled off, but the pump keeps running.

Anyway, searching and searching on the internet I finally found others with this same weird problem. And learned these relays can develop this peculiar intermittent problem in the start cycle. I replace it from a supplier that sells good parts, not junk, and the car is now fine. So many suppliers do not sell quality parts anymore.

Much of the work I do on the car, but occasionally I take it to a good independent mechanic for things that really need a lift, etc. I wasn't very interested in taking it to anyone for this problem, it sounded like a rat hole to get into fixing.

The internet is such a valuable resource and a tremendous money saver.

online about our clunker cars- (240volvo's for the last 15+yrs till the rust finally won). There are so many people who share their knowledge and skills with us online and enrich each others lives.

We built our own outdoor bake oven with information provided online by others who had done the same- found advice on organic remedies for squash beetle infestations, how to troubleshoot almost any appliance- the wide variety and incredible knowledge that is available at no cost- by people who have done it themselves, and can point out the typical pit-falls while helping you solve a problem, or build something from nothing is invaluable.

I join you in offering thanks to all the people who share their knowledge and skills so generously and cheerfully.

From how to install a water pressure tank to replacing the battery in my phone to dealing with my dog's encounters with a skunk.

It's all out there, and thanks to some generous soul who's had the exact same problem as me, solved it, and decided to share that solution with the world. For free.

My hat's off to all of them!

For the most complex ones, we'll still call our handyman.

I am sure that plumbers and other skilled workers lose some business because of the Internet. However, we just can't afford to call a plumber for leaking faucets or toilets.

I actually love the challenge of fixing stuff.

First story. The moment I knew he internet changed everything.

I'm always trying to invent a better mouse trap so to speak. It's just the way I am.
Time is 1993/1994. I was working on a project and needed to know what the heat
resistant material used on the space shuttle for reentry was made of.

All the good libraries were off limits to the general public for various reasons. Princeton University Firestone library
became usable only to university members and alumni. Our state library had become only for state workers.
The local county and township libraries had nothing that was up to date.

I was frustrated to say the least. My girlfriend worked at a major phara firm running mail accounts. She said I will post
your question on the internet usenet forums. She sat behind a 21" monitor backed up with a T3 line.

We discussed it and decided to post in the science/space and science/ceramics usenet groups.

I didn't know what to expect. She posted my question in both forums and within a couple of days
I had responses from all over the world. Singapore, Australia, Europe, US and others.
I had responses from students, professors, scientist and laymen. All answered my question.
Some offered more, like, My current professor worked on that project for Nasa, I can ask him anything you need
to know. Or I'm with the Rutgers University School of Ceramic Engineering would be happy to help.

Over the next few days I had all the info I needed to do my experiments.

At that point I knew the internet would change forever the way we got information.
I was never able to make my idea work but I knew I would use this form of knowledge gathering
in place of the traditional methods.


Case number two. My Toyota 4Runner was starting to require regular infusion of power steering fluid. No
pools of fluid on the driveway. The local garage tried twice to find the leak and failed.

I put dye into the reservoir and checked for leak with a UV light. I could see the fluorescent dye in the
reservoir but no telltale signs of the leak. I finally googled something like "Where is my transmission fluid going, Toyota"
Eureka. Turns out Toyota products have a vacuum valve hooked up the the power steering pump. $150 for the valve and none were in stock. Option...remove the valve....put a plug in the hole and plug the vacuum lines. Worked like a charm.
Still running that configuration with no problems and no more fluid be used up either.

Two success stories. There are many more. I love the internet. most useful thing EVAH!

She needs a working compressor for the ac. Where can I send her for info on doing that. She cannot afford what it would cost to purchase a new one, and it is very hot without ac. Would love to know where you got your info. Thanks.

for about $250. Then there is the refrigerant to deal with. AC work requires special tools.
I wish I could be of more help to your friend. Did you check the fuses? Most AC problems
are from the refrigerant leaking out. Many parts stores and some mechanics will check
to see that the pressure is ok for free. Sometimes the system can be recharged and that is not to
expensive. Good luck.

Here's a link to a 4runner discussion board. Maybe you friend could get some advice.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/

...and open-source software. I'd rather donate to a group of people who create stuff and give it out freely, than pay someone who will only let me use it if I pay them for it.

It's really amazing some of the quality stuff that gets done, with no thought for money.

...in all likelihood has already been asked and answered. Adding "solved" to a search narrows the results too.

The Internet may be mankind's greatest creation.

I am not sure how much it would have cost to take the laptop in for service, I was thinking I might have to replace the entire laptop (which would have cost about $500.)

So I went looking online and sure enough there were youtube videos and also printed step by step instructions specific to the model of my laptop. And links to where I could buy a new screen. Total cost was $65.00

I was surprised when my librarian told me this when I was going to check out a manual to fix a friend's S-10 truck.

She told me to just go to their website and enter my card number. From there I could download and print all the pages I wanted to do the job for free.

Apparently, they do this to avoid the wear and tear on the only copy of each model they have.

On edit:
Instead of printing the pages, one can download them to a laptop and use it on the workbench while the repair is being performed. Save a tree, you know.

One of the problems with those is that they're written for professional mechanics, and often leave out information needed by the amateur or by someone who has no experience with a particular company's vehicles. In the case of this fuel pump, I can pretty much guarantee that they didn't describe the various manipulations needed to remove and replace the assembly. In a typical shop with a vehicle hoist, they'd almost certainly remove the fuel tank, rather than attempt the R&R through that access panel. The access panel is designed for replacing the hoses and other external work. It just happens that it's also possible to do the whole job through it.

Heck, if I had a hoist, I'd have pulled the tank, too. It's a lot easier that way, but it's difficult to pull a fuel tank lying on your back on the ground under the car.

Often the instruction in a shop manual will simply say: "Remove sending unit" with a picture of the tank. That's not very helpful for the layman.

I too seek additional aid from online sources when I do a job I'm unfamiliar with. Still, it's good to have a proffesional shop manual handy for any job beyond changing spark plugs. Such information as torque specs are seldom mentioned in general handyman sites.

The shop manuals for all official KIA shop manuals are online exclusively now, all in .pdf format, and access is free to them. I suspect that trend will expand even farther. Publishing paper shop manuals is about to become obsolete, I'm sure. I'm glad of that, even though I'll probably never do any of my own work on the KIA.

My neighbor is interested.

Having a second person there to take pictures would help on a dirty job like that. Having to stop to take pictures drags out the time too.

there's been more than once that we get a call at the shop asking about diagnosing some odd noise, and I usually answer the phone at the desk where we have our internet computer. As I'm listening to the customer, I might type in a google search for "2003 impala front end rattle" or something like that, and by the time the customer is done asking, I'll have an answer like "that year they had a common problem with the sway bar links - we could schedule you in and it would only take a few minutes to change it out, and ---$, if that's it".

More than once I've been able to go on internet hunches like that, have the parts ordered in, and fixed a problem quickly that was entirely new to me - but characteristic of a particular car. I agree - it has been incredibly useful, and its hard to imagine back in the day when information was so hard to come by.

I know DU is chock full of people with good knowledge, and are willing to share it. I share what little I know, too.

However, the Internet will piss me off, too, when I ask a question and get the immature response of "Just google it!" or "Google is your friend" as if I haven't ever heard of the search engine giant. This appears to be a problem endemic on message boards, and presumably, facebook. I've also noticed an ironic tendency of those with "professor" somewhere in their nicknames to be the least-willing to share knowledge and/or educate.

Didn't mean to piss on your thread; just had to point out my experience with the aggravating side of the Internet

is always a good idea before asking someone on a discussion forum. The other thing that I've noticed on discussion forums that are dedicated to some particular thing is questions that don't include enough information. I help out on a forum about repairing outboard motors sometimes. A common thing is for someone to post something like, My Evinrude won't start. Any ideas? Of course, there are many reasons an outboard won't start, so the process begins of prying the necessary information out of the poster. First, you have to ask what year and horsepower, then the exact nature of the problem, like did this just happen suddenly, and what was the outboard doing before it wouldn't start. You have to ask, "What have you tried?" and "Have you done anything to try to fix it?"

Often, the exchange will go on for a long time, trying to get the information one thing at a time. Despite a pinned post asking people to provide a full description when they have a question, it's a daily occurrence that someone just says, "My Evinrude won't start." The cycle begins again daily. It's a source of frustration for everyone who is trying to help.

On the other hand, one guy wrote a similar post on that forum that had the entire forum rolling on the floor for days.

All the post said was, "My Johnson doesn't work."

but I don't agree with it, especially with regards to picking the better-educated brains on DU. I feel I'm more likely to get the answer I came for here than what I might find after spending an hour sifting through the crap returned in a google search. When I'm told "just google it" I find that dismissive, as if the poster can't be bothered with writing a valid answer that takes only a few seconds more.

I'd rather get a slew of "I don't know"s than "Go away kid, you're bothering me"

If it's a straight historical question or something like that, Google will give you a good answer, as long as you phrase the question well. If it's a political question that may have more than one possible answer, then Google won't work. Google is great for finding facts, though.

I go to Google first, because I don't feel comfortable asking questions that I can find answers to quickly on Google. I'd be asking someone to take time and write an answer for me, when the answer is readily available to me already.

That's especially true for questions like "Who was the 36th President." Almost nobody can answer that without looking it up, so asking it on DU means that the person who answers it probably had to search for it.

If you're spending an hour sifting through Google results for simple questions, you may not be phrasing your query properly.

Normally, I do use it, as I also use Wikipedia and other sources specific to certain easily-answered topics.

However, for most of the political and social topics we discuss here, I assume there are more people with far better (and immediate) knowledge than having to sift through google results that are just as likely to be RW talking points. Without a handbook of said talking points, it can make the search more difficult and take longer.

DU teaches, mostly because it's a message-board filled with people that are willing to teach. Just as is the case with your examples for the marine community message-board. Places filled with people that want to share their information.

My "problem" is with those people on this and other boards that are not willing to teach, and resort to the "just google it" mantra. It's dismissive and condescending, and I see it even here on DU.

This is my "complaint." That even on DU and the rest of the boards that welcome questions, you still have the worst of the bunch giving a bad name to the idea that the Internet is a wealth of freely available information. It is that, and it's aggravating having to deal with the immature ones that make you wonder why they're even online at all.

I bought the part, it was the front piece, installed it, but it sags. I can not find any place to tighten the cable or adjust it. I searched the web and found how to take out the old broken parts and put in the new one, but now I guess I'll have to take it to a shop. The parts house may have sold me the wrong part, maybe one for a truck with a longer bed?

On the Volvo, if I had just gone to a parts house and ordered a fuel pump, I would have gotten the wrong one, since mine was an oddball one, used on just some cars that year. I had to buy the right part from a Volvo parts specialist outfit on the web. The people that work at auto parts stores often don't go deeply enough into finding the part you need. You're probably right. You got the cable for the long-bed version of your truck. That parts place should have asked you the question, but didn't.

My story:
After being laid off in 2003, I decided I wanted to work from home. I stumbled across a website dedicated to free dissemination of plans for a very robust, large CNC router designed by a fellow in South Africa. I downloaded the plans (200 pages of them) and, with the help of the most generous author, built one. I now sell boat kits with the machine I built with Gerald's help. The machine has paid for itself many, many times over.

He gave away his many hundreds of hours of design work, simply to improve the lives of people he never met.

wisdom is an excellent thing.

I used to participate heavily in a forum dealing with boating. When I bought a 1958 model Johnson 35 hp outboard, and was working on it, some of the members of that forum took the time to answer my questions, including a couple of guys who were outboard motor mechanics when that outboard was new. After I got it running, I started sharing information about repairing small outboard motors, something I was very familiar with, especially some offbeat brands that I have owned and repaired. I knew where to get parts, how to fix them, and so on. I was trying to repay those nice people who had helped me.

There is much joy in sharing things you know with others. Often, those things are not information that is a source of income, but can help others with problems you have solved. The Internet does that singularly well, and I doubt that will change. There are many generous, helpful people out there who will take the time to share what they know.

You've benefited from this, as have millions of other people. I'm glad you were able to make the acquaintance of the man who designed that CNC router.

I've fixed, my cars, dryer and other stuff, all by the click of some keys or the asking on a forum. I use google to search part numbers. That in itself is amazing a strand of numbers is sometimes a gold mine.

Thanks!

help out with your experience and knowledge you may never meet, but the positive karma may flow just the same. Good on you MineralMan for taking the initiative to DIY.