Lazy Parking Brake Cable Installation

Posted on July 30, 2020 by

I was looking over a customer car that was in for normal service, and noticed that the parking brake cables had been replaced at some point, and whoever had done the job did not do it very well. I know from experience that parking brake cables can be a pain to replace, especially as cars get older and rustier, but I wouldn’t do it this badly.

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2011-2017 Honda Odyssey Rear Brake Replacement – Internal Parking Brake

Posted on July 27, 2020 by

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-Dan

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Rounded-Off Bolt Removed Via Welding

Posted on July 23, 2020 by

I was working on a car from the early 2000’s, and here in New York, that means it’s very rusty. I was replacing parking brake cables, and found that they ran above one of the exhaust heat shields. To remove that heat shield, I needed to remove a bolt, and so far I’d been pretty lucky with bolts coming out, but my luck ran out and I just rounded off the head of the bolt.

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Zip Tie Brake Line Separator

Posted on July 20, 2020 by

I was replacing the brake lines on an old Honda Odyssey. Because of the age of the car, almost all of the plastic brake line clips broke while removing the old lines. This meant that I had to try to hold the brake lines in place using zip ties, because I didn’t have any replacement clips.

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Be Careful Changing Wipers

Posted on July 16, 2020 by

Windshield wiper arms are spring-loaded, to press the wiper blades against the windshield so they clean it properly. These springs are pretty strong, so when you’re changing wiper blades, you need to be careful.

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2011-2017 Honda Odyssey HVAC Filter Replacement

Posted on July 13, 2020 by

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

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

-Dan

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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.

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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!

Watch Mechanical Malarkey on YouTube!

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

-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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