Bend a Line, Cook an Engine

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Dan

If you don’t know what it is, don’t drive over it. A Honda Odyssey came into the shop for a check engine light.

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More Animals in Cars

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Dan

As I’ve written about before, wild animals and cars don’t mix. They can cause damage or get themselves injured or killed by getting in places they shouldn’t be. I once found a dead mouse in an air filter box.

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Broken Engine Mount Bolts

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Dan

I had a late model Honda CR-V come in for a noise complaint. The customer said there was a rattle when taking off from a stop. I heard it immediately, and when I lifted it I found that the transmission/transfer case was actually hitting the subframe.

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Quick Fix: Dielectric Grease

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Dan

Recently my 1997 Civic had started running roughly and misfiring in the morning. Based on what my car did after driving through a puddle once I had an idea what the problem might be.

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New Family Car: 2014 Civic

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Dan

After my family’s 2003 Honda Accord’s engine bit the dust we were forced to start looking for a new car.

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Rear Turn Signals

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Dan

I’m a bigger fan of older car designs than the current ones a lot of the time. Sometimes it’s just the smallest design point that makes a big difference in the feeling of the whole design.

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Overtightened Drain Plug

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Dan

Sometimes it seems like the last person to do an oil change must have used their full weight on a breaker bar to tighten the drain plug.

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So Long, 2003 Accord

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Dan

After many faithful years of service to my family, our 2003 Honda Accord has been decommissioned.

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Mistakes Are Okay

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Dan

If you just replaced the wrong part, broke something, or damaged a car, this one’s for you.

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Small Stone, Big Screech

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Dan

A pretty new car came into the shop with a really bad constant high-pitched squealing noise that happened whenever it moved. With low miles, it’d be unlikely that the brakes had worn all the way down to reach metal-on-metal contact, so the likely culprit was that the backing plate had gotten pushed into the rotor and was rubbing as the car drove.

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