Torching Bolts

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Dan

Up here in the rust belt, everything gets rusty, especially exhaust systems. And when we need to replace part of the exhaust, it often requires heating up the nuts and bolts that hold it together so they’ll come apart.

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Christmas Tool Gift Guide

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Dan

It’s already December, which means Christmas is coming up. If you have a mechanic in your life or just a tool fanatic, here’s a couple suggestions for tools you could buy them, with links to these tools on Amazon.

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Fueled by Dog Food

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Dan

So far the only dirty air filter pictures I’ve posted were the cabin air filter, but once in a while I do find something in the engine air filter.

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Thanksgiving 2015

Posted on November 26, 2015 by Dan

Taking a little break from the usual Thursday post, because it’s Thanksgiving here, and I just wanted to write a little post about some things I’m thankful for.

I’m thankful that I found a career I liked. There’s no way I could stand an office job. I’m thankful that I don’t have to move away from home to get a job as a mechanic, there’s no shortage anywhere.

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Photo by Hannah Kathleen Photography

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Lost & Found: Golf Clubs

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Dan

One of my neighboring techs was doing a used car inspection, seeing what was needed to get it ready to sell. Once in a while we find interesting items left behind in cars, but this one was the biggest I’ve seen.

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Do We Have Parts?

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Dan

It can be really hard to guess whether we’ll have the parts we need for some jobs or not. A car needed a new glove box and we had it, which I didn’t expect at all, but then something I would is more common, we don’t have.

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Bad Design in Brakes

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Dan

So many times I’m working on a car and run into problems doing so because the engineers don’t expect you to ever work on them and put things in the worst locations. Brakes are a frequently serviced part of the car, but some designers don’t seem to realize that. Toyotas are very well designed and easy to work on, but the few Hyundais, Kias, and Infinitis I’ve done brakes on were a pain.

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Off-Road Prius?

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Dan

This is the time of year when people get snow tires put on their car, sometimes on a second set of plain steel wheels. A lot of times this looks to me as if they have off-road tires, because of the aggressive snow tread.

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Suspension Carnage

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Dan

Our collision center is right next door, so we do all the mechanical repairs to the cars they do bodywork on. A lot of times this means we get to see some nicely destroyed parts.

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Time For a New Truck

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Dan

The repair order said something along the lines of “customer states frame is broken”. As it was being pulled into the bay I looked underneath and saw that, yes, the frame is broken.

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