In memory of my previous job at a Toyota dealership, which I left two years ago today, here’s a post from the day before, March 14th, 2016.
Usually Fridays are the day you look forward to, if you don’t work on Saturdays. But when working as a mechanic, you never really know what you’re going to get, or what mistake you’re going to make that’ll make you wish you didn’t even come to work that day.
Dropping tools or bolts while working on a car is annoying, especially when it’s into the engine bay. When a mechanic drops something there’s always a silent pause while they wait to hear if it hits the ground. If not, it might take some time to find what was dropped.
The left rear wheel bearing on my 1997 Civic had been making a lot of noise for a while so I finally replaced it, and it was easier than I expected. If you have to do this yourself, here’s a guide. This applies to 1996 to 2000 Honda Civics with rear drum brakes.
New cars just keep adding more and more plastic covers on the undersides. They are usually for aerodynamics or protection of less-robust parts. It can make it harder to perform some services because of having to remove these shields, but they can also cause their own problems.
It’s important to check your tires regularly. Tire pressures should be checked every month, especially in places with widely varying temperatures. Every 10 degrees Fahrenheit of temperature change will affect the tire pressure by 1 PSI. Proper tire pressure is important for good wear, fuel economy, and safety.
I took my truck to lunch one day, and later that afternoon I noticed that the lens from my left headlight was missing. The housing is broken so there’s very little holding it in, so I figured it probably fell out while driving through a bumpy parking lot.
As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, my 1990 Ford F-250 has had its wiring hacked together by previous owners. Recently this came to light again as my brake lights stopped working.
Getting the right battery for your car is important. It needs to have enough power to start your engine on a cold morning, and that depends on how big your engine in. Batteries are usually rated by their cranking amps (CA), cold cranking amps (CCA), and reserve capacity (RC), but along with those there’s also the size and design that need to be right.
We recently had a Civic in the shop with zero oil pressure. The oil was full, but while running there was no oil coming out of the oil filter or pressure gauge port. That meant that it needed a new engine, and unlike a lot of times, we were able to keep the old engine. The master tech that did the engine swap was curious what the reason for the lack of oil pressure was, so he gave it to another tech, Tatiana, to take apart.
A CR-V came into the shop with a complaint that it went dead every few days. After confirming that the battery is good, the next step is to check for a parasitic draw on the battery, which is when something is using power when the car is off. There was a draw, and the first step is to remove any aftermarket accessories. This car had an aftermarket remote start system.
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Mechanical Malarkey 