Leave The Wrenching To The Pros

I love doing small repairs and "upgrades" to the DWA! Porsche 944, but when it comes to big jobs like the head gasket, timing belt, etc., I like to leave those to the professionals. When I was a poor highschool/college student, and my dad had a huge garage with a lift, I would do everything myself (with the help of my dad). These days, I try to work on my cars as little as possible , but every once in awhile I'll trick myself into tackling a small project thinking it will be cost and time efficient...that is rarely the case.

While driving home from work in my 2005 Acura TSX the other night in the pouring rain, my battery light went on and I had a loss of power steering. The serpentine belt had fallen off or broken, but I wasn't going to stop and check, because I needed to make it the last 20 miles home. I made it to my house, ordered a belt and tensioner on Amazon.com, and it was on my doorstep in 36 hours. 

I tackled the job on Saturday morning and it was pretty straightforward, although I did have to grind a socket down to fit it on the tensioner. The job took me about an hour and I was fairly happy with my decision to work on the car myself. The I started the car and almost immediately I heard an Awful clicking noise, then the belt fell off...FUCK! I put the belt back on again and it fell off right away. I was focused in the tensioner and didn't realize that the water pump roller was moving all over the place. At this point, I was 3 hours in and mentally defeated.  

I now have an appointment to have the water pump replaced at a shop, and I wasted my Saturday and about $100 in parts.  

The next time I think about wrenching on my daily driver, I'll refer to this blog post to bring me to my senses.