I work at a Honda dealership, so 99% of the cars that come in are Hondas, but once in a while I have to work on something else, but as long as it’s something basic, it’s basically the same as working on a Honda. A Dodge Grand Caravan came into the shop with some problems, and it wasn’t bad to work on, considering it was just suspension work.
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-Dan
I was looking over a Honda Odyssey that was a few years old, and noticed a few things that were amiss in the engine bay. The first thing I noticed was that the cover for the PCM was missing, and then that the wiring harnesses weren’t clipped into their holders right, and the coolant expansion tank wasn’t properly secured. My first thought was the timing belt had been replaced, but it was way before the mileage when that’s needed, and it didn’t look like the engine had been touched.
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-Dan
A Honda Accord came into the shop with only a few thousand miles on it and a check engine light. It had a code for no signal from the radiator coolant temperature sensor, so I got started on electrical diagnostics.
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-Dan
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
Originally posted March 27, 2017.
I recently had an older Honda Odyssey come into the shop for a few recalls and other repairs, and found that it had some codes in the computer indicating misfires. It was misfiring on all 6 cylinders. First thing to do when you have a misfire is to pull the ignition coils and spark plugs for the cylinders that are misfiring. I quickly found the problem.
It’s not too unusual for a coil spring on a higher-mileage car to eventually break, I’ve seen it many times. A lot of times it’s just half a loop from the top or bottom and it rattles around and makes an awful noise. If it breaks more in the middle of the spring it can all collapse and get twisted all together and make noise too.
I was starting to work on another Honda Accord axle shaft recall and was giving the car a quick once-over when I noticed that the left front lower ball joint was loose, along with some other suspension issues. After pricing out parts for the service advisor, I set to work on the recall.
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