Check Used Parts Before Installation

Posted on July 9, 2020 by

One of the techs in the shop was replacing the transmission in a Honda Fit. He was installing a used one from a junkyard, and everything went fine until he started it up.

2020_07_09_01 Continue reading →

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Plastic in the Differential

Posted on July 2, 2020 by

A customer brought in their Honda CR-V with a complaint of some noise from the rear. The technician put the car up on a lift and found that a plastic bag had gotten wrapped around one of the rear axles. Normally, we would simply remove the plastic and send the customer on their way, but this time was a little different.

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My 1990 Ford F-250

Posted on June 29, 2020 by

New blog posts every Monday and Thursday, plus pictures throughout the week on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

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-Dan

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Low Quality Aftermarket Accessories

Posted on June 25, 2020 by

There’s no shortage of options when it comes to accessories for your car. If you don’t want to get them from the dealer, you can get accessories made by other companies. Some are designed for just any vehicle, while some may be more model specific. The problem is that model-specific parts may not fit properly if they weren’t made carefully.

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Honda Pilots with Grille Guards

Posted on June 22, 2020 by

As I’ve written about many times, a lot of people like to put accessories on their cars, whether they make sense or not. Sometimes those accessories have a practical use, but are installed on cars that aren’t used in a way that would necessitate those additions.

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Toasted A/C Compressor

Posted on June 18, 2020 by

Dead batteries have been a common problem with a lot of people stuck at home in social distancing the last few months, but that’s not the only problem that can happen when a car sits for a long period of time.

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2001-2007 Dodge Grand Caravan Power Steering Cooler Replacement

Posted on June 15, 2020 by

New blog posts every Monday and Thursday, plus pictures throughout the week on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Watch Mechanical Malarkey on YouTube!

Mechanical Malarkey T-shirts, hats, and stickers are available to order!

-Dan

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Missing Keyless Antenna

Posted on June 11, 2020 by

Many new cars come with keyless entry and ignition systems. So the car can tell where the key is, there are several antennas in different parts of the vehicle. If something goes wrong with one of the antennas, the car can have trouble recognizing that the key is in or near the vehicle, and will usually cause a diagnostic code in the computer.

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Snapped Timing Belt

Posted on June 8, 2020 by

The most common reasons to have to push a car into the shop are a failed starter, or something majorly wrong with the engine. When this Odyssey got pushed into the shop, it was because the engine was damaged. The timing belt had been replaced recently, and it had snapped.

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Rear Rotors In The Front

Posted on June 4, 2020 by

The front brakes of a car do most of the work in stopping a car, so they are usually larger diameter, with bigger brake pads, and the rotors are vented because of how hot they get during use. The rear rotors on most passenger cars are not vented, because they don’t have to do as much work and get as hot.

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