2018-04-03 02:47
Entrapment. My top fear, right after heights and too thick (or thin, for that matter) a glaze on my creme brulee. No matter what I do to ensure my car is properly lifted and secu… Read More
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500 Dollar Car Blog
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Buying, repairing and living with a car costing one third less than a cellphone
2018-03-26 03:11
Not that RCA.Root cause. The next few posts will be about root cause analysis disguised as automobile repair. Properly doing an RCA means identifying the problem, understanding it well… Read More
2018-02-22 01:54
On my way to work this AM, hit the 300K mark. Pulled over and got a snapshot of the odometer. Mechanical odometers, as they quite literally rolled over were a bit more satisfying… Read More
2018-02-11 04:08
Owning a cheap car means compromising with various things sort-of-but-not-entirely working. You don't drive the car, you negotiate travel to your intended destination. Anyway...T… Read More
2018-02-05 03:36
As noted, several times, my battery has died after letting the car sit unstarted, for shorter and shorter intervals. Usually, after a jump and a nice drive later, all of the electrons… Read More
2018-01-26 12:34
Probably the originalWhile the car was in the garage getting exhaust work done, I figured why not change the fuel filter as well? While I was at it, I ripped apart the old one to check… Read More
2018-01-19 02:49
Rusted flex pipeThe exhaust project breaks down into two parts: out with the old and then in with the new. After a struggle removing the old part, installation of the new piping was a… Read More
2018-01-14 04:14
It's been a while since my last dispatch. The Freestyle hasn't been on the road for the last six weeks due due the following:The exhaust was leaking, this needed to be fixed for PA sta… Read More
2017-04-06 02:26
Back in October of last year, I figured it was time to keep better track of my miles driven, fuel consumption and the like, maybe some patterns would emerge, maybe I could get a semi-accurat… Read More
2017-03-15 01:59
The CEL started to glow and the resulting error codes were P0171 and P0174 both mean that the engine is running lean, which means too much air and not enough gas. Not being sure what the pro… Read More
2017-02-27 03:05
After a few weeks of smooth running, I see the check engine light, I thought it was the fuel cap not tightened. Fired-up Torque and the codes P0171 and P0174 came forth from the engine… Read More
2017-02-22 02:46
Maximum package, minimum productMy new lift supports were purchased from RockAuto and shipped to me thusly. Seems like a lot of box for not that much product. Padding? The… Read More
2017-02-09 23:58
Technology has a habit of hanging around well past its welcome, like a dinner guest who, despite their empty wine glass and the clatter of dishes being cleaned lingers until being handed the… Read More
2017-01-25 03:20
Just doing my errands, heading home from the grocery store and what do I see but the return of the wrench and engine lights along with the RPMs leaping as the engine decides that limping hom… Read More
2017-01-19 02:47
More like 290,0017 mile mark, just 10,000 miles shy of 300,000 miles. At my current driving pace of ~625 miles per month, that's about 16 months away, I think I can eek out that… Read More
2017-01-18 04:09
After Christmas, we headed out to Birmingham, AL, mostly because I hadn't been there and my wife refused to visit Paducah, KY. Why Paducah? Not really sure, but the city's o… Read More
2016-12-25 01:01
We went to our local tree farm (being out in the country, there are several tree farms to pick from) to slay our Christmas tree. The "product" of a fresh-cut tree involves climbing on… Read More
2016-12-07 03:57
Oil from torn sealWhen my new water pump failed, the ground metal from the water pump tore newly installed seal into bits, causing another oil leak. Here's what I saw when I removed th… Read More
2016-12-05 04:11
When your correspondent last wrote, my Freestyle stranded me on the way home from the PittsburghFrownieairport. Something in the cooling system failed (I was guessing the thermostat, w… Read More
2016-11-08 04:21
I was out of town for most of last week, at a company site in CA. When I travel to our offices in California, I usually take the early AM flight Monday from PIT to SFO and drive to San… Read More
2016-11-01 03:12
Boo!The Freestyle has passed an important milestone in my household. Not in dollars spent or miles driven, something more substantial. My wife likes the car enough to start decor… Read More
2016-10-28 03:24
On my way over to Wal-Mart to get some provisions, and what did I see, but a Continental GT parked off by itself, so I decided to give it a little company whist shopping. While pulling… Read More
2016-10-19 01:27
My Freestyle came with a broken seat recliner handle. The seat has motors to move it fore and aft, but reclining the seat is a manual affair in my trim level and the handle that did this was… Read More
2016-10-05 02:05
So, my accessory belt broke again. The first time the belt broke, I wrote the problem off to possibly the age of the belt. It didn't seem unreasonable that the belt was not repla… Read More
2016-09-26 03:12
My testing harness for dashboard warnings lights, which, incidentally can be used for transportation, presented me with a coolant low light. And, in fact, the coolant was low, so the s… Read More
2016-09-10 01:35
Quick update: State inspection is done, along with two tires and an alignment. Total cost: $397.57, or about $100 shy of the cost of the car.Here's how we got to that number:- Two Mast… Read More
2016-09-06 20:56
Coolant low lightI got a new light on the dash, this one for low coolant. It seems like my car is the best test harness for warning light testing on the road today. Checked the coolant… Read More
2016-08-31 01:32
My Freestyle's due for PA inspection. In my county, I'm required to get both a "safety" inspection and an emissions inspection. The Freestyle was in need of new front tires … Read More
2016-08-22 16:54
While in my garage for a few days, I left the map lights on in the car. The result: a dead battery. Not just a "sort of dead battery" that has enough current to run some of the e… Read More
2016-08-14 13:12
Been doing lots of brake replacements in the last 6 months (including the back brakes on my Freestyle), leaving me a bunch of rotors in the garage. I took them over to the local recycling pl… Read More
2016-08-12 19:32
I was taking the dog out for her evening walk (we have a Captain Dick / Moby Ahab thing going on with a loitering ground hog in the park) and what do I see: A pink Cadillac. Not… Read More
2016-08-11 01:26
I paid $15,000 for our first house; purchased it from a family member who sold it to me as a way of evicting the current residents, who were, from my estimation, auditioning for "Hoarders: B… Read More
2016-08-02 03:05
I got the idea I should replace the CVT fluid. In the process of removing the housing for the high pressure filter, I encountered a stripped T-40 torx fastener. Being determined… Read More
2016-07-27 02:52
My Freestyle's engine puts its power to the wheels via a CVT transmission. CVT stands for "Continuously Variable Transmission" so the oft-said phrase " CVT transmission" is a bit like… Read More
2016-07-22 00:37
ThankspicgifsJust as I was about to take this in for inspection: the air bag light started to blink and then stayed on steady. Another light for my dashboard Christmas tree. The… Read More
2016-07-20 01:59
Worn tireOn the way home with the Freestyle, we noticed an imprecise feeling when we were steering and some tire squealing when we were headed around corners (my second oldest son was piloti… Read More
2016-07-14 02:43
While taking things apart to fix that torque bushing, I removed the throttle body,Close-up of dirty throttle bodyheld on by four 9mm bolts to get access to the bolts holding the torque arm i… Read More
2016-07-07 02:21
Thanks makeameme.orgWhen replacing the brakes, many (let say most?) home mechanics overlook doing the same for the brake fluid. Brake fluid works hard and needs to be replaced wit… Read More
2016-06-29 17:44
Like nearly every Ford Freestyle on planet earth, the bushing in the upper engine Torque mount is brokentorque mount was broken. Reading some other forums, this failure seems to d… Read More
2016-06-21 02:34
A car, like any complex machinery contains components that wear and fail; and in a car, some parts, like brakes, wear by their very nature and should be regularly inspected. So, to be s… Read More
2016-06-14 01:08
Getting to the water pump meant removing a cooling manifold containing the thermostat. There's two things going on here:Thermostat This component works by blocking the flow of coolant… Read More
2016-06-01 02:43
My Freestyle needs a water pump. I expected this to be a "mystery leak" and expected to be driving about with a store of water in the trunk and ready apologies as I left a trail of drainage… Read More
2016-05-23 03:06
Thanks Relatably.comBehind the leaking water pump lurked a leaking camshaft seal. For just a few dollars, I was able to replace this component and since everything else was apart, it made se… Read More
2016-05-18 02:02
As advertised, my Freestyle leaks coolant; in this case, water, because the prior There's the leak owner (PO) just filled the cooling system with water as coolant steadily leaked out. … Read More
2016-05-14 22:10
Mirror, broken, missing decorative coverWhen I purchased the vehicle, the driver’s side mirror was broken. The prior owner (PO) parked it on the street and, and on his street at… Read More
2016-05-12 00:00
The interior is in excellent shape. No rips, tears, holes... What really impressed me was the how well the seat fabric and cushions wore over the last 10 years/289K miles. I've d… Read More
2016-05-02 03:29
As advertised, our Freestyle leaked oil from the drain plug. There's four possible problems:1) Drain plug was loose2) Drain plug threading on the pan was stripped3) The pan was cracked… Read More
2016-04-29 02:14
Not really sure what I expected when I started actually shopping. Started my search with craigslist, figuring that any ad more than free would be too costly for the seller. Here'… Read More
2016-04-29 02:14
This wasn't as difficult as I expected. I hit the refresh button and found this on CLGave the number a call, turns out I was the first to get in touch. Since the sellers were clo… Read More
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