elf89

I'm not much of a mechanic, but I managed to change the oil & filter, replace the air filter and replace the hood shocks last weekend.

My tip for the hood shocks is to enlist a helper. The clips are easy to get off and the ball and socket on the bottom works loose easily enough, but when you are lining up the new shock, you either have to raise the hood a bit too high endangering the windshield (people have cracked their windshields doing this!), or compress the shock a bit to line it up.

New hood shocks are hard to compress! I spent 15 minutes by myself on the first one gently lining it up before I got it and 2 seconds on the second one with a helper. I compressed the shock and had my wife push the pin in.

Now I don't have to worry about the hood closing while my head's in there. Should have installed the shocks before the oil change! Hood shocks are only 12.50 each from Paragon.

dave120

Yup..When we did mine I had to compress the shocks so my dad could slide the pins in.
It's a lot easier that way than trying to do it alone.


Definately be careful with the windshield. If you're not paying attention it'd be way too easy to mess it up.

Stefan

Wish I had this warning last year .... had the wife lift the hood a bit instead of compress the shocks .... she got overzealous and really LIFTED the hood .... *CRACK* ...

I can't believe how close the edges get to the windshield. Oh well ... good excuse for a new windshield <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />