Another One Bites The Rust

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Dan

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.

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Nobody Has The Right Tap?

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Dan

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.

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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.

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Abandoned 1960 Chevrolet

Posted on June 15, 2017 by 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.

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What’s that lurking in the trees?

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Unusual Fluid Leak

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Dan

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.

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New Car Accessories

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Dan

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.

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Just Get The Torch

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Dan

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.

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Sway Bar Link Mistake

Posted on June 1, 2017 by Dan

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.

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My Car: Sprung Drum Brakes

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Dan

Rarely a dull moment with my car, which isn’t surprising given that it’s a 1997 Civic with over 200,000 miles. I was driving along as usual, when suddenly I heard a clunk and a horrible rotational scraping noise started. I knew it had to be something with the rear brakes, which was surprising because I rebuilt them back in December.

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Wholesale Rust

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Dan

Many times dealerships get trade-ins that aren’t worth their time or effort to fix up and sell. Older cars, higher mileage, damaged, rusted. When they decide not to do anything with them they get put on the wholesale line where other dealers sometimes buy from, or they get sent to an auction.

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Throwback Thursday: Using The Tools You’ve Got

Posted on May 18, 2017 by Dan

Today I’m going back to a time before I was a mechanic. Before college, I’d never really done any mechanic type work, except for a little bit on our lawn mower with my dad and brother. One year, the starter died, and we had to replace it. This led to some creativity with the few tools that we had.

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