Replacing the screen on a ZenFone 2 Laser

The kid was having a bad day with his motorcycle repair. And then he dropped his phone, shattering the digitizer and breaking the LCD display and making his bad day even worse. Luckily for him, I had a spare phone. The spare phone was another ZenFone 2 with better specs. I let him borrow it while we waited for the replacement screen to arrive. 

It only made sense to get a $30 replacement display with the digitizer included to fix a $230 phone.

I watched a youtube video that showed how to disassemble the phone. The first parts were easy. Getting the back off, removing the battery, and the dozen screws (don't forget the one under the security sticker!) was easy. The back lifted right off after getting the screws all out.

The speaker module was stuck in with adhesive, so a little pulling got it out without too much trouble. The vibration motor came out without having to deal with any adhesive.

Watch a video that shows you how to remove the ribbon cables for the display and digitizer. You'll want to flip up the little plastic bar before sliding the connectors out.

Now, I don't know why the video shows them prying on the power switch. You don't need to pry on it or even remove it. Just leave it where it is. You can see on the left, it's still there in the picture below.

There is a white thermally conductive pad that you'll need to save or replace. I just added some thermal compound and stuck it back on when it was time to reassemble it.

If you've done this much, you're in for a treat. I recommend safety glasses for this next part. Prying on glass that's glued down could send tiny glass fragments flying. The best place to start is on the corner that's shattered. That way, you can get underneath the glass and separate it from the phone body. There's glue all the way around the entire edge. Separating the display from the phone is a tedious ordeal that will try your patience. And just now I realized that I should have used a hair dryer to heat it up. I don't do these very often, thankfully.

After getting the phone and screen separated, I removed the remaining adhesive from the phone because I didn't want any uneven edges. I'm sure glad I did a test fit before gluing the new screen in. I had to scrape out a corner so the new glass would fit in. The phone was bent on the corner that it dropped on, so I also had to bend that corner back.

You can see on the old screen (top) that the top right corner is bent. That's where the phone landed. The replacement screen (bottom) matches the old one.

I realized that the new screen didn't come with any replacement adhesive. I wasn't going to wait for an order of adhesive strips, so I decided to use contact cement. It's not the best idea, but it seems to be holding, at least for now.

Success! It worked! I got your phone fixed. Do you want to switch back? Nope, he said. "This one's battery lasts much longer." And that's why I like to have a spare phone, just in case.

Crankshaft Seal Sleeve Repair

It didn't look like that big of a deal. It was holding oil when I installed it. But that little nick in the crankshaft pulley was enough to create an annoying leak. The dent was smooth to the touch, but it was right where the seal contacted the pulley. It didn't take long for the oil to start leaking. When the oil gets all over the wheel and you can see it on the side of the car, you know you have a problem. 

It didn't leak at idle. After the engine was warm, you had to hold the engine at about 3000 RPM for a bit and then you'd see oil draining from the seal.  

I had at least two options. One was to buy a new pulley. I didn't even want to look it up to see how expensive a new pulley would be. I found it, finally. I had to look under harmonic balancer, and it was actually only $69.43 at fordparts.com. But I decided to try a repair sleeve, sometimes called a speedy sleeve or redi-sleeve. 

I've never had to do a repair sleeve for a seal before, and now was my chance. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. It was actually harder to install the seal than it was to install the repair sleeve. 

The instructions on the repair sleeve said to use a non-hardening sealer, so my best guess was Ultra RTV Black. I smeared that on the crank pulley and then used the included tool and a hammer to tap the sleeve into place. I just tapped lightly in circles until it was installed to the correct depth. 

Here's a picture of the pulley with the sleeve installed, and the tool sitting there on the pulley. I greased up the new surface to get it ready to install. The directions said that you could use the original seal and it would fit just fine. I made a preliminary test-fit before installing the new seal on the engine and verified that it fit. 

Getting the new seal installed into the timing cover was a little difficult. I had a wooden block with a hole in it for the crankshaft just for installing timing cover seals. I'd get it started and then it would start to go crooked. I'd tap one side and the other would pop right out. 

Sometimes it seems cars just want to try your patience. But I had more determination and showed it just who was boss. Sometimes it takes a firm smack in just the right place to get it to cooperate. I got the new seal in and re-installed the pulley with my pulley tool. No more leak. Yay!

Strange Driveability Problems on a 2002 Nissan Sentra

I recently had the opportunity to work on a 2002 Nissan Sentra that had some strange symptoms. For just the solution, you can skip to the last two paragraphs. 

Here is a list of the problems:

• Power loss at part to mid throttle
• Hesitation
• Rough idle
• Random misfire on multiple cylinders
• Hard shifts at part throttle
• But it still had full power at full throttle

I got involved last spring when a neighbor needed help with a misfire. My OBD-II scanner showed it had a crankshaft position sensor code. I figured this was going to be an easy fix. I put a new crank sensor in and thought that was it. Nope. The check engine light came on soon after. This time it was for catalyst efficiency below threshold. 

The misfire situation melted the catalytic converter (as I discovered later). Just replacing the crankshaft position sensor didn't solve the strange driveablility problems listed above, so I cleaned the mass airflow sensor and checked the engine for signs of any vacuum leaks. I think I remember changing the spark plugs, but my neighbor thinks we didn't. 

I figured that since the car had 200k miles on it, it was time to replace the upstream oxygen sensors. That didn't help. I finally ran an exhaust back-pressure test and saw that the pressure was high. That in combination with the catalyst efficiency codes led us to replace the converter. The borescope images weren't really good, but showed what appeared to be melted honeycomb. 

Here's what it looked like after I got it off the car. 

Melted catalytic converter

After replacing the catalytic converter, I was careful to put the oxygen sensors back in the same places that they were in before. Even though the plugs were color coded and wouldn't fit in the wrong plug, I had a feeling in the back of my mind that it would still be possible to swap the oxygen sensors on the exhaust by installing them in the wrong hole. But I figured that if I was just careful not to swap them, we'd be ok. 

With the new converter, the car still had the same driveability problems as before. I was beginning to worry at this point. 

By the way, the new converter didn't match-up exactly on the lower mounting bolts. One hole was over a centimeter off, so I couldn't get the bolt in, but it'll work and pass inspection. 

If the engine was worn out, nothing else would matter much, so for a sanity check, I ran a compression test. Here are the results:

Cylinder 1: 122 PSI

Cylinder 2: 117 PSI

Cylinder 3: 120 PSI

Cylinder 4: 121 PSI

I cranked it with all the plugs in, but all the ignition coils removed. I cranked it on each cylinder for about eight compression strokes (until there was no more increase on the gauge). When re-installing the plugs, I used anti-seize compound on the spark plug threads, and dielectric tune-up grease on the inside of the plug boots. I Cleaned the MAF again, looked for vacuum leaks, and took it for a test drive. 

It should have run well, but there was no improvement. 

I connected my OBD-II scanner to it and saw that one bank's oxygen sensor was lean, and the other was rich. As the computer further leaned out one bank, and further enriched the other, I realized what the problem was. The upstream oxygen sensors were swapped. The blue connectors are for bank 1, and the green plugs are for bank 2. The outside two connectors are for the upstream sensors, while the inside two are for the downstream sensors. 

A quick google search got me the verification I wanted. Indeed, the upstream oxygen sensors were swapped. I put them in their correct places and took it for a test drive. Although it drove like a 14 year old car that needed shocks and struts, the engine was back to normal. 

I have no idea when the sensors got swapped, or if it was even my fault. I didn't verify that the sensors were correct, so that's on me. I just went off of where they were before. But at least it's fixed now. 

2008 Ford F250 Hydroboost Power Brake Unit Replacement

When I got the truck, I thought someone spilled something on the driver's side floor. I had no idea that it was power steering fluid from the power brake booster.

The entire job isn't too hard. It took around three hours. I'm slow. I was also back and forth helping a neighbor with brakes at the same time.

I figured I'd start with removing the fuel cooler / turbo pipe assembly. A couple hose clamps on top, banjo bolts for the fuel lines, and five mounting bolts later, it comes out as a unit. 

Again, I remembered to not forget that sneaky nut hiding behind the oil dipstick tube. There were a couple more small nuts holding the lower part of the bracket on. But these had worked themselves loose already. 

There, that wasn't too bad. Now to get the power booster out. 

 The hydraulic lines (in the picture below) weren't hardly even tight. 

There was adequate room, but you can remove the return nipple if you need to loosen or remove the line on the booster that it's blocking your wrench from getting at.

 I've un-bolted the master cylinder from the brake booster. There was no need to remove any brake lines.

 Next, I removed the four mounting nuts on the inside. I'm going to have to use laundry detergent and a hand-held carpet cleaner or something to clean the mess up from the power steering fluid.

 I had to take off this plastic clip so I could get to the other clip that holds the brake pedal on the push-rod.

 Here's how the brake light switch was mounted to the push rod and pedal (minus the yellow plastic clip). 

The metal spring clip.

Here's the plastic bushing thing that goes on there. Watch for this so you don't lose it.

And this photo of the brake pedal on the floor is just to give you nightmares. 

 New unit (left), and old unit (right). Notice that they didn't supply the push rod or even a new retainer. How did I get the retaining clip out? A little push here and pull there, with a twist here and turn there, and it finally came out.

And there it is on the new unit. Bonus on the patina finish, or rust, as we called it in Cleveland, giving the new unit that rustic feel.

Speaking of feel, the brakes felt a little better with the new power booster. 

Replacing the Power Steering Pressure Hose on a 2001 Honda Odyssey

Spending the afternoon working on a neighbor's car when I took the day off work because I'm sick is a sure-fire way to get in trouble with the wife.

I got a sore throat on Monday afternoon. It got so bad I didn't sleep nearly enough that night. So I took the day off work to recover. I usually take some essential oils to fix any sore throat before it can get a hold of me. But I was a little late this time. When those essential oils hit the sore spots in the throat, it really stings.

Then my neighbor called to say she dropped off her car for me to replace the power steering hose. I wasn't going to have time until maybe Friday, so I figured I'd replace it then. Besides, I told her on Sunday at church that I'd fix her car on Tuesday. How hard could it be?

Apparently three hours worth. I had to drop the sub-frame that holds the drivetrain down about an inch to get the hose in there.

The passenger side top motor mount needed to be removed to get a little more room. 

 

It looks like that motor mount needs to be replaced. 

I loosened the front mounting bolts, and removed the back ones and let the frame down with a floor jack. It stopped after about an inch. If I needed more room, I'd put the floor jack under it and find other things to un-bolt, like the struts. But that was enough room, barely.

This van needs both sway bar links replaced. I'd say these were well beyond their wear limit.

Fun With Cam Sprockets and a Home Made Spanner Wrench

Start at noon, and be done by 6:00PM, right? I figured the timing belt replacement shouldn't take longer than six hours. I thought wrong.

It was going fine, although a little behind schedule by the time I got to the cam sprockets. I needed to remove the bolt so I could take them off and replace the cam seals. I tried my impact wrench on the front cam, while holding the sprocket with some channel locks. That didn't work. I needed a very large spanner wrench.

I checked youtube to see how other people removed the cam sprockets. I saw some videos where these guys made contraptions using the old timing belt to hold the sprocket. The belt broke on at least one of the videos. I was going to need something that wouldn't break the first time.

I found the Lisle Universal Cam Adjuster Tool for $42, but it looked too wimpy. The ATD Tools 8614 Variable Pin Spanner Wrench for $54 with only a 1 lb shipping weight was definitely not going to hold back the torque I needed.

I finally dismissed the idea of finding an appropriate tool at the auto parts store, or even at a hardware store. I've never seen a spanner wrench of the kind I was going to need. I needed a Tim "The Toolman" Taylor's kind of spanner wrench for this job.

Thankfully, Home Depot had the materials I needed to build my own for less than $30.

(1) 1/4" thick steel, 1.5" wide x 48" long
(1) 1/4" thick steel, 1.5" wide x 36" long
(3) 5/8" x 2" bolts
(4) 5/8" nuts
(6) 5/8" flat washers

I already had a stepper bit and a drill press, so drilling 5/8" holes into the steel was no problem. Here's the finished product.

Home Made Spanner Wrench

I didn't need the extra length on the 36" bar, and could have just cut 12" off the 48" bar and had plenty of leverage, but this worked and it looks like it'll be able to handle all the torque I can muster. Plus, I can maneuver the spanner wrench from one end using the extra length on the short bar.

 If you look closely, you can see that I used two nuts on the pivot, for hopefully obvious reasons.

Back to the timing belt job, Mom was waiting while I was working, so it had to get done that night. This spanner wrench worked very well. I was able to put my longest breaker bar on the bolt with the spanner wrench holding the sprockets and with some effort, broke the bolts free. After that, it was all routine. I replaced the cam and crank seals, the water pump, and got the new timing belt on.

There were no instructions specific to this application, and I never figured out why the mark for the crank on the belt was off by five teeth. The belt had white line marks that lined up perfectly for the cams, but the white line on the belt for the crank pulley was off by five teeth. It didn't line up when I flipped the belt around either. Oh well. It's probably because the belt doesn't touch the crank pulley at the mark when they're all lined up.

I lined up the cam and crank marks before pulling the old belt off and made sure the marks were lined up perfectly before pulling the pin on the tensioner. I tried to keep it quiet, except for when I had to tighten the crank pulley bolt with an impact wrench. At least the neighbors can be grateful that it wasn't them out under the hood until late.

As the time passed, I had to go slowly and carefully to make sure I didn't miss anything like filling the coolant back up before sending Mom on her way. I finally got done at 12:55 AM.

How to Change the CVT Fluid and Filters on a 2007 Ford Freestyle

We bought this car with about 124,000 miles on it. It now has about 126,000 miles. I checked the maintenance recommendations and they didn't say anything about changing the transmission fluid and filter before 150k miles - just check the fluid. Well, minimum maintenance cost isn't going to get you maximum life out of your car. So here we are.

The drain plug is easy. That's a 6 mm allen wrench. The fill plug is located right on the top of the transmission. It has a 3/8" square hole that your socket extension fits right into. After removing the air filter cover and air hose, you can see the fill hole right on top.

The fill plug is on the top, next to the sticker.

Here's the fill plug. It even has a nice, green o-ring.

Getting to the high pressure filter is a little more involved. You pretty much need to take out that motor mount.

Here's the motor mount that was in the way.

 Now we can easily get to the torx screws holding the filter in. There are three screws that need to come out. Then pull on the thing and pry a little until it pops out.

Did I mention that the fluid would drain out and you'd need a bucket? That fluid looks like it was due for a change. There's an o-ring on this housing that didn't come with my filter. So I re-used it. I hope it doesn't leak.

And here's the original filter with 126,000 miles on it. The thing should have been changed at half that many miles. The element is starting to collapse. There's the new filter next to it, just for comparison. I had to pry and pull on that filter to get it out because of the o-ring. The new one was just as hard to put in. I put some new CV fluid on the o-ring so it could actually go in.

The rest of the job is pretty much like a standard transmission fluid and filter change. Just make sure you buy both filters, and fill it up with CV fluid. I used Valvoline. Get six quarts, just in case you need some of that sixth quart to get it up to the correct level.

The dipstick has the normal indicators for fluid level.