Tire Blowout? Accidental Off-Roading?

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Dan

Sometimes there are cars outside the body shop at the dealership that have interesting damage. I rarely get to hear what happened to cause the damage, so I have to try to guess what might have caused it.

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A Quick Word on Safety

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Dan

Today’s video is about safety while working on cars.

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Click here or on the video above to watch it.

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Comedic Emblem

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Dan

Sometimes cars seem to have a sense of humor. I was looking over a Honda CR-V that was well past its prime. It was close to 200,000 miles, and had a lot of problems.

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Faking a Race Car

Posted on June 3, 2019 by Dan

I’ve posted before about when people put stickers on their car to try to impress people with what features their car allegedly has. Often it’s fake, and anybody who actually knows about what features are available would know that the car doesn’t actually have what it claims to have. A lot of times it’s a VTEC sticker, or a “turbo” emblem, or even an emblem denoting a high performance trim level, like a Civic Type R.

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Long Tire Life

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Dan

Recently I had a 2013 CR-V in the shop. While looking it over I measured the tires, and there was 3/32nds on the front and 5/32nds on the rear, which is right around when it’s time to get new tires. The tires also had a lot of dry rot cracks developing, which happens to most tires as they get older.

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Announcing the Mechanical Malarkey YouTube Channel

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Dan

That’s right, Mechanical Malarkey is no longer just words and pictures, it will now also be in video! Click below to watch the YouTube channel introduction video.

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Click here or on the video above to watch the introduction video.

This channel will be an extension of the blog. You’ll get videos of DIY instructions on various car repairs, videos of working on my cars, and stories about working on cars.

I hope you’re interested and subscribe. Thanks!

-Dan

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Home Improvement Store Car Repair

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Dan

As someone who loved his first car more than it deserved, I understand holding onto a car longer than I should. That being said, this is just a bit too far. This car should’ve gone to the junkyard years ago.

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New Wheels on Old Cars

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Dan

Most people leave the same wheels on a car for its entire life. Some replace them because they don’t like the look, or because they keep leaking due to corrosion. Usually when they do this they use aftermarket wheels, because there are a lot of options that are far cheaper than OEM wheels.

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Car Fires

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Dan

Recently I had the experience of putting out a car fire. Usually, if your car catches fire, you don’t want to try to fight it. Just get out, get away, and call the fire department. Pretty much everything on a car is flammable, with all the plastics, foam, paint, tires, and almost all the fluids will burn well too.

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Be Careful With Gloves

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Dan

A lot of mechanics don’t wear gloves. A lot do wear gloves. For most it’s a personal preference. I prefer wearing them instead of having to wash my hands frequently, and definitely wear them when working with various automotive chemicals. Sometimes they can be dangerous though. If you’ve ever read an instruction manual for any type of power tool with spinning or moving parts, you may have noticed that it says not to wear loose clothing or have long hair hanging loose, and probably says not to wear gloves. This is all because you don’t want to get grabbed by the tool, which can lead to some pretty bad injury.

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