Besides the repairs themselves, one of the things technicians dislike most about recalls is the cars that come in that are absolute junk. I’ve never seen a car this rusty before.
It was supposed to be a simple job, just a factory trailer hitch installation on a Honda Odyssey. The only problem was it wasn’t a brand new Odyssey, it was a used one from 2014. The hitch attaches with six bolts in pre-threaded holes in the rear of the van, but because this was a 3 year old van, the holes were just rust and I couldn’t get the bolts to start in them.
Rusted threads shouldn’t be a problem, just run a tap in there, or even better, a thread chaser. I borrowed another tech’s thread chaser set and found the right size, but I couldn’t get it to start in the holes either. The next thing to try is a tap, so I go looking for the right size. I check my tap set as well as a few other sets different technicians had in the shop, but nobody had a 12×1.25 tap, only 12×1.5 and 12×1.75. My only choice was to wait for the Matco truck to come by later that afternoon and hope he had one with him. He did, and I bought it on the spot and was able to get back to work on the trailer hitch installation after standing around for two or three hours.
New blog posts every Monday and Thursday, plus pictures throughout the week on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Mechanical Malarkey stickers available for $5 anywhere in the US!
-Dan
When I was kid I remember finding an old car in the powerlines running near my home. I never saw it again and figured it had been removed when they put in a pipeline, but then last week my brother happened upon it and told me where to find it, so I went out last Sunday with a friend to go find it.
What’s that lurking in the trees?
A Honda Pilot came in for us to look at because the owner saw fluid leaking from the rear. I put it up on a lift and took a look. The rear differential was dry, but the subframe had some kind of fluid on it. I also noticed some running down the spare tire.
It used to be that when you were buying a new car there was a big list of factory options to choose from. Nowadays it seems like your choices are restricted to a trim level and then two or three options within that, with little customization available. That’s where dealer-installed accessories come in.
When starting as a mechanic, there are things you learn from reading, and things you learn from seeing and doing. After a while you know when not to bother with some things and when to skip straight to what’s usually the last option, brute force or the torch.
Almost all cars have sway bars, a long piece of metal running from one side of the car to the other. They tie each side of the suspension together to lessen body roll during cornering. Most cars have one in front and many have one in the rear as well.
 | Morgan on My Car: Sprung Drum Brake… |
 | Dan on Truck Caps |
 | Alex Dean on Truck Caps |
 | My Car: Sprung Drum… on My Car: Day-Off Debacle |
| More Animals in Cars… on Animals in Cars |
