Or rather…the power door locks decided to stop opening (popping up) a few days back on my Ford Bronco II. In light of my Blog entry about one month ago…”It Helps To Be Technically Minded”… I thought I’d share this story with you.
After about an hour of cleaning electrical contacts…unplugging and plugging in the concerned solenoids..there are two of them…one for the locking and one for the unlocking functions…I finally decided it was a defective solenoid. I had replaced both of them about 1.5 years ago when I was in Pensacola, Florida.
So I stopped a NAPA Auto Parts and bought a new one. Buying electrical auto parts can be chancy…if you’ve guessed wrong. Once you’ve walked out of the door there is no returning them for a refund of your money. In my case the part number and diagram on the solenoid I was guessing was defective did not match the unit that the NAPA guy said was the right NAPA part…according to his computer.
Fortunately I guessed right and the NAPA guy was right. I installed the NAPA solenoid…doors now lock and unlock as the are meant to do. Another problem fixed. Shouldn’t electrical devices last longer than 1.5 years?
As discussed in the earlier Blog entry…by doing the repair myself I probably saved myself $120 an hour labor charge and a 100% mark-up on the $23 solenoid if I had gone to an auto repair shop. Instead I get to put that money into the motorhome gas tank and move on down the road!
In other news…
Yesterday we moved the motorhome the about 15 miles back to Thousand Trails RV Resort in Bow, Washington. They primary reason for the move was so that Mary can enjoy her daily swim in the Olympic-sized swimming pool here. We expect to be here for an eight-day stay.
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
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Que Sera, Sera... Whatever Will Be, Will Be... 