Once Again, Under the Hood

One of the lost pleasures in this modern world is the opportunity to work on your own car.

Today’s automobiles are so wired up with electronic circuitry that it’s pretty much impossible for the weekend grease-monkey to crawl under the hood for much of anything beyond refilling the windshield-washer tank.

Gone are the days of rebuilding water pumps, re-gapping spark plugs, and replacing starters. Now it all falls to the professional mechanic, who for about $80 an hour will hook up your vehicle to his electronic trouble-shooting apparatus and, with luck, cure what ails it.

So it was with a great sense of determination that I set out last week to do a little repair of my own. The amber light on the front left of my SUV was out and needed to be replaced before I took the car for inspection.

I’m not quite clear what purpose those amber lights serve. In some circles they are called parking lights. Do they help you park? Not that I’m aware. In any event, I felt this was one maintenance mountaintop that I could still climb.

Before buying the replacement bulb, I wanted to make sure I could actually remove the dead bulb without an investment in special tools. The lighting clusters on today’s automobiles are no longer just functional, but fanciful—all molded up into the fenders as part of the aerodynamics. It’s kind of intimidating. Would they be too complicated to conquer?

Under the hood, I found good news and bad. The good news: bulb’s housing was designed to be removed from the rear. The bad news: The particular bulb I needed to get to was lodged up against the battery. It would take a contortionist with 2-inch wrists and foot-long fingers to perform the push-and-turn maneuver required to remove the bulb.

I practiced first on the right side—the good side—where there is no battery and I had clear access to the bulb. Mastering the maneuver, I plunged in to the left side, pushed and turned, and pushed and turned, and pushed and turned—until finally the bulb popped free.

With the blood still oozing from my knuckles, I drove to the dealership in hopes that this itsy bitsy bulb would actually be in stock. Yes they had it, and here’s the best news: Part number 34908-SB6-671 costs exactly $1.28, tax included.

I took the bulb from the parts clerk to the next window, where the cashier refused to take my change. Who needs 28 cents when you are selling whole cars for $40,000? Back home, I popped in the replacement bulb with relative ease—my fingers now adept at the push-and-turn.

Entire cost of the job: $1 and three bloody knuckles. Next challenge: new wiper blades.

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Tags: car | automobile

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