Battery Terminal Corrosion

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Dan

Car batteries sometimes get white or blue-green corrosion on the terminals and hold-down clamps. This is a semi-common problem. I don’t see it a lot, but I see it enough for it to not surprise me. There’s a lot of chemistry that goes into causing it, stuff involving the different metals used in battery posts and clamps, and what happens when electricity flow through them.

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Spiral Cable

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Dan

It may be something you’ve wondered about, or never given a second thought to. How can you have buttons on your steering wheel? Even the most basic of cars have an airbag and a horn button on the steering wheel, while some have radio and cruise control buttons too.

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Brake Caliper Hangers

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Dan

Hello 2016!

I now have an Instagram account @mechanicalmalarkey where I’ll be posting pictures the day I take them, and you’ll get sneak peaks at possible upcoming blog posts. You can also find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/MechanicalMalarkey and on Twitter as @Mech_Malarkey.

 

When doing brake jobs, you have to take the brake caliper off the bracket. A lot of people I see just let it hang by the hose, which many others will tell you is not a great idea because it can damage the hose and connections. To prevent damage, you can buy specially made caliper hangers so you can hang it from a nearby piece of car.

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Honda CR-V Starter Failure

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Dan

My brother’s car wouldn’t start one day, and doing some digging of his own, he found that the bare wire from the starter solenoid to the starter had corroded away and fell apart as he poked it.

 

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Bent Tie Rod

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Dan

Once again, another car from the body shop came in to get mechanical repairs, and as usual, was major suspension damage.

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Abusing Screwdrivers

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Dan

Probably one of the most abused tools is the screwdriver. It gets used for all kinds of prying, scraping, and stabbing that it’s not designed for.

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Found in Tire: Key

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Dan

This last week I had a bunch of newly purchased cars come in with flat tires. Two only had 2-3,000 miles on it, and my last car on Friday only had 200 miles on it.

 

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Old Ford Bronco

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Dan

One day there was a really nice looking 60’s Ford Bronco parked next to the building next door, so I had to go look at it.

 

 

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Quick & Dirty Fix: Dome Light

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Dan

Ever since I bought my car, a 1997 Honda Civic, the interior dome light hasn’t worked when on the “door” setting. It would work with the “on” setting, so I could clearly tell it was receiving power. Because it wouldn’t work when any of the doors were opened, I could tell it was a problem between the light and where the wires from the four door sensors come together.

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Painted Brakes

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Dan

Many high-end performance cars have brakes that come painted, often red, so a popular appearance modification people do is to paint their brake calipers themselves. There’s paint sold specifically for this purpose, in spray form.

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