I was afraid of automotive AC, until last summer. Then someone posted a question here about it, and got a learning handed to him. I took that learning, and ran with it, too, and completely replaced the AC system on my Bravada. Bought the gauge set from HF, along with the vacuum pump, and now the AC works great!
You can do it!
RealMiniNoMore said:I was afraid of automotive AC, until last summer. Then someone posted a question here about it, and got a learning handed to him. I took that learning, and ran with it, too, and completely replaced the AC system on my Bravada. Bought the gauge set from HF, along with the vacuum pump, and now the AC works great!
You can do it!
I'm glad you're confident in my abilities.
I'm not so sure yet. I've already messed up so far.
Bad wind storm last night. My wife sent me these pictures . I'm worried. I was called into work at 2:30 AM.
Itll be fine. Msybe dented a bit, but all the glass is still there so it can't be too bad.
Looks like the roof bars took the brunt of the branch.
It's fine.
I see a bent roof rack rail which I think unbolting requires the removal of the headliner. Maybe some slight metal bending in that same roof rack area but slight. Generally a lot of upper surface scratching.
If the car is well insured and you want to make a claim, I think you might end up getting a check that gets you all your recent purchase price money back yet still lets you keep the car. Otherwise, you now have a car with some slight cosmetic damage that I personally probably wouldn't bother to actually fix. If I remember correctly, this car is excellent mechanical shape. I like these cars. I would keep it.
Your next real challenge is removing the large branch w/o doing further damage like allowing the branch to scrape down the side of the car.
Oh man, that sucks. 
I lost my Saab to a tree a couple years back. Trees are JERKS. Hopfeully that roof rack saved it.
No insurance
Mazdax605 said:No insurance
No problem. I just re-read this thread. For the small price you paid, even with some new cosmetic issues you are still way under value for this car. It will be fine. I suspect nothing needs to be fixed. As stated above, just be careful with the big branch removal. You don't want that big branch to slide down and lop off the side mirror, etc.
In reply to John Welsh :
if by "branch removal" you mean "drive out from under it" then i wouldn't worry so much about further damage.
It looks like a tall sturdy feller could just hold up the branch from the passenger side while the vehicle is driven out. If it's much heavier than it looks then heed my lessons: Only cut parts off the tree that ARENT helping hold it up. So basically, only cut off parts that aren't touching anything, because anything that's touching anything might be holding some weight off and cutting it might make the tree push on the car harder.
But yeah, it looks fine. Scratches, boo hoo. $500 car.
I can't post pictures right now, but there are some good sized branches on the Project Pokemontero too. Hopefully that's okay, but the Vibe is more of a worry for me as it's a much nicer vehicle.
glueguy said:Cans of R134a are currently $4.88 at my Wal-Mart. I bought a lot.
I bought a case at Sam’s for a ridiculously low price per can. I bought it when they started talking about r-134a being replaced and I didn’t want to get caught with my pants down like with R-12.
My son just got home from school, and said he looked at the Vibe, and the rear hatch glass is blown out. My wife said earlier that there was no broken glass, but apparently she didn't look hard enough.
I have not updated the thread on my Vibe but I replaced the hatch which leaves me with a spare rear glass. If you're passing through Northern Ohio but it's probably just easier to source on on car-part.com
When looking search for rear glass but if you do not find one then search for an entire hatch. When you find one, call the JY and ask them how much for just the glass.
I'll verify when I get back home but the glass should be a bolt-in affair. Open just the glass portion of the back and the hinge should bolt right to the main portion of the hatch. Should be very easy.
That's the hidden blessing of a separately opening glass. It's not glued in!!
Stopped by a local salvage yard. They have a vibe with the rear glass intact. $50 if I remove. $75 if they remove. Looks easy enough, but I couldn't just open the glass to see how it is attached. With some time I can probably figure it out though.
Interesting dilemma... The glass portion of the hatch only seem to open via an electric latch which is activated by either the button on the dashboard or the button on the clicker. I looked but could not find a manual release function. Therefore, if your JY car has a dead battery then you may not be able to open the glass portion, and, you need the glass portion open to access the bolts for the glass.
Might try to bring a jumper box or battery with cables to the JY.
I took these two quick photos.
Worst fears on the Montero project have been met.
I had a tree fall several years ago and the house insurance paid to have the tree removed and fixed all that it damaged. A car wasn't involved so that might be different
That sucks, time to whip.out the chain saw and get rid of those damn trees. That's 3 cars they have taken out, off with their heads!
Worst part is, I think this was my neighbors tree this time.
All fixed
Minor dent on the hatch below the window. Nothing major. Gonna possibly try to get the roof rack off of the salvage yard car to replace this bent one.
I brought a jump pack with me to the salvage yard so I could pop the rear glass, but the wiring for the fuse block and battery was hacked up so that didn't work. Thankfully I was able to get the inner trim panel off easily and popping the window latch wasn't too hard to do. After going back out to my Sienna in the parking lot to get my hockey stick to hold the whole hatch open because of the missing lift struts. Gotta use what you have on hand. Lol
Congratulations and job well done!
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