Old Engines

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Dan

While I was in school, an older friend invited me to her husband’s engine shop. It was pretty cool seeing the shop, all the specialized equipment, and the engines they were working on.

2015_10_29_01 2015_10_29_02

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Just Making It Work

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Dan

Many times when working on cars we encounter bolts in really awkward locations, that make it a pain to work on. The Toyota 4Runner has a bolt buried behind the alternator that took me an hour to get out. Hyundai brakes have bolts in the worst places, preventing using power tools and making a brake job take twice as long as it needs to. The bolts need to come out, so we just make it work.

2015_10_26_01

Continue reading →

Posted in In The Shop | Tagged | Leave a comment

Broken Timing Belt

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Dan

The timing belt is one of the most important parts of an engine. It makes the camshafts turn in time with the crankshaft, so without it an engine wouldn’t run. Some engines are what’s known as an interference engine, which means that when the valves open they take up space that the piston will take up when it’s at the top of its stroke, and this means that if the timing belt breaks, your engine is going to run into itself and destroy itself.

2015_10_22_01

Continue reading →

Posted in In The Shop | Tagged | 3 Comments

Flat Tires

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Dan

A flat tire isn’t a fun thing to get when you’re driving, but sometimes it can be a pain for the mechanic fixing your tire. Most flat tires I’ve seen are just a puncture and usually we can just plug it. Sometimes it’s not in a part of the tire we can fix so the whole tire needs replacing.

2015_10_15_01

Continue reading →

Posted in In The Shop | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Subaru Oil Filter

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Dan

There are a lot of times that a mechanic has to wonder what the engineers that designed the car were thinking. Bolts barely accessible with any wrench, parts in odd places, etc.

2015_10_12_01

Continue reading →

Posted in In The Shop | Tagged | 1 Comment

Water Damage

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Dan

We had a very heavy rainstorm a couple months ago. I had parked in a low part of the parking lot, and I was very glad I had waterproof boots when I went out at the end of the day.

2015_10_08_01

Continue reading →

Posted in In The Shop, On The Road | Tagged | 1 Comment

Don’t Stack Wheel Weights

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Dan

I was doing a tire rotation on a Sienna minivan, and when I was all done and pulling out of the shop to park it, I heard a ticking noise. It’s always a bad feeling when there’s a new sound after you’ve worked on a car. I took it back into the shop and quickly determined which wheel the sound was coming from.

2015_10_05_01

Continue reading →

Posted in In The Shop | Tagged | Leave a comment

Pet Peeve: Wheel Corrosion

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Dan

If there’s one thing I hate to find when working on cars, it’s wheel and hub corrosion. Aluminum and steel have this thing where if they touch, they get all corroded.

2015_10_01_02 2015_10_01_01

Continue reading →

Posted in In The Shop | Tagged | 2 Comments

DIY Heatshield Repair

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Dan

Customer said he wanted us to look at a heatshield under the car that he had temporarily resecured.

2015_09_28_01

Spiderman duct tape. It actually was holding pretty well, but I removed it because I thought I heard it hitting the exhaust pipe.

-Dan

Posted in In The Shop | Tagged | Leave a comment

Tool Review: Grey Pneumatic Duo Sockets

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Dan

They’re grey. They’re for use on pneumatic tools. And they are sockets. Duo?

2015_09_17_01

I first heard about these from EricTheCarGuy. Grey Pneumatic is a company specializing in impact sockets. Their Grey Pneumatic are a cross between impact sockets and your traditional chrome sockets. They’re about the same thickness as a chrome socket but are designed to be able to be used with impact tools. Continue reading →

Posted in Tool Review | Tagged , | 1 Comment