Unique Tips And Tricks

[rambojoe]

Stop leak stuff is gauranteed to not work for very long- it plugs the tiny holes in the head gaskets and kills heat transfer.
Im a "its been 70,000m lets change it" guy anyway. The only trick i know of is cracking an egg in the rad, but i just dont keep pepper or eggs while out in the cuts...

 

[ggunn]

As cheap as it is to buy radiator stop leak products and Walmarts all over the place, why would anyone opt to use home remedies for a leaky radiator

Because I already had a tin of black pepper in the kitchen and I was 20-something??

 

[Sea Nile]

Because I already had a tin of black pepper in the kitchen and I was 20-something??

If it works, then it works
And as someone said in previous post, stop leak doesn't work.
The only reason I brought it up was that the thread is about tips and tricks that makes your life easier in today's world. Don't know if stop leak was around when you were in your 20s. I just figured that there are so many products available now why would you risk some of these old mechanic tricks in today's modern vehicles.

 

[ggunn]

Here's what my mom tells me was the only tip she remembers her dad giving her: Never run with your hands in your pockets.

 

[drcampbell]

... why would you risk some of these old mechanic tricks in today's modern vehicles.

Hear here!

On the other hand, my experience has been that when using the specified coolant and monitoring/maintaining its chemistry according to the manufacturer's specs, I don't encounter leaks in modern vehicles.

Which is sometimes a challenge. A friend's Honda specified "Asian Blue", and nobody in town -- least of all WalMart -- carried it. We finally ended up at Canadian Tire. (which was only a 20-kilometer drive; I live only 16 km north of the Canadian border)

 

[Jraef]

Black pepper, wood dust, or almost anything finely powered that isn't going to cake up. And not much of the stuff, it make take a few days to stop the leak.

"Hmm, the recipe says to cook for 300 miles at 65mph."

Not electrical rated, but this reminded me of something I learned in an emergency. I was on a jobsite working on a rock crusher, and they were putting penstock pipe down the middle of a dirt road. The road was set with dynamite and blasting caps, so if I wanted to get home, I had to drive over them before they blasted, otherwise I'd be stuck on the site for 4 more days. So I drove like a maniac on that dirt road and punched a hole in my gas tank. I made it off the road and in to town, but nobody would touch my leaking tank. I had some 3M insulation repair wrap pads with me, but the gas ate through the adhesive. Some old timer was watching me try to make that work and told me to go buy a bar of Ivory soap. No other brand, it HAD to be Ivory, and rub it really hard in the hole. I did it, it totally worked! Apparently Ivory soap is NOT soluble in gasoline, who knew?!! This was in Oregon, I lived in Seattle, so naturally it rained before I got home and the rain washed away the soap. So I went to a covered parking lot, plugged the hole with the soap again, then dried off the entire area and put the 3M pad over the soap! The soap kept the gas away from the 3M pad, the 3M pad kept the water away from the soap! I traded that truck in 2 years later, that pad / soap was still on there...

 

[Little Bill]

Not electrical rated, but this reminded me of something I learned in an emergency. I was on a jobsite working on a rock crusher, and they were putting penstock pipe down the middle of a dirt road. The road was set with dynamite and blasting caps, so if I wanted to get home, I had to drive over them before they blasted, otherwise I'd be stuck on the site for 4 more days. So I drove like a maniac on that dirt road and punched a hole in my gas tank. I made it off the road and in to town, but nobody would touch my leaking tank. I had some 3M insulation repair wrap pads with me, but the gas ate through the adhesive. Some old timer was watching me try to make that work and told me to go buy a bar of Ivory soap. No other brand, it HAD to be Ivory, and rub it really hard in the hole. I did it, it totally worked! Apparently Ivory soap is NOT soluble in gasoline, who knew?!! This was in Oregon, I lived in Seattle, so naturally it rained before I got home and the rain washed away the soap. So I went to a covered parking lot, plugged the hole with the soap again, then dried off the entire area and put the 3M pad over the soap! The soap kept the gas away from the 3M pad, the 3M pad kept the water away from the soap! I traded that truck in 2 years later, that pad / soap was still on there...

Now that's what you call clean driving!

 

[Ravenvalor]

I was commenting on another thread this morning and thought it would be interesting to hear some unique Tips and Tricks you all have for our trade.

I'm thinking about stuff that you don't often see others doing. Or that garners comments from others about your unique ideas.

For instance, we often get asked about why we weigh our wire. I've collected wire weights for all our common wire types and put them in a spreadsheet. My installers all have scales and they record wire in and wire out of a job. When I'm billing I just plug it into the spreadsheet and it calculates how much were to bill for.

Rob G, Seattle

Thanks for this great tip. I have been thinking about building a meter that will measure the length of a piece of wire but never considered weighing it.

The only contribution that I may be able to make to this discussion is the Power Driver by 3M. It's designed to help in the installation of wirenuts. This little device has definitely been a game changer for me and my aching hands. Plus the splice is super tight and the installation time is reduced.

 

[Strathead]

Thanks for this great tip. I have been thinking about building a meter that will measure the length of a piece of wire but never considered weighing it.

Why don't you just buy one?

 

[PaulMmn]

I have a good one for you electronic/amp guys... intstead of the 15$ solder remover for circuit board terms, go to the "baby" aisle at the grocery store and get some baby nasal aspirators.. works great! $2... View attachment 2568295

Only advantage the 'official' solder-suckers have is a teflon tip so solder doesn't melt the business end!

 

[wwhitney]

Not electrical rated, but this reminded me of something I learned in an emergency.

This thread has gone on long enough that you posted the same story (with less detail) 4+ months and 120 posts ago.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[ruxton.stanislaw]

When troubleshooting a circuit with a direct short circuit to either neutral or ground, it's difficult to find the fault because you can't keep the power on long enough to look, so the only other way to find the offending undesired connection is visually, box by box.

I typically use a rubber socket with a 150-watt bulb screwed into it, and wire it in series with the problem circuit at the panel. I disconnect the circuit's hot wire from the breaker terminal, connect the socket's black wire to the breaker, and wire-nut the circuit's hot wire to the socket's white wire.

With the high-wattage bulb in series with the circuit, the breaker will stay on because the most current that can flow is that of the bulb, so it acts as a current limiter. It also functions as an indicator, steady bright for a direct short, flickering for an arcing fault, etc., with you or a helper watching it.

This is a good tip! Just don't do it with MWBCs, especially if you know there is equipment on the circuits.

 

[LarryFine]

This is a good tip! Just don't do it with MWBCs, especially if you know there is equipment on the circuits.

That shouldn't make any difference; I'm not suggesting opening the neutral.

 

[ruxton.stanislaw]

That shouldn't make any difference; I'm not suggesting opening the neutral.

Sorry, I misread. That makes even more sense.