Some projects that I need to do on my vehicle. Replace my alternator, replace my fuel filter, repair a rust spot above the rear passenger wheel well, replace spark plugs, secure exhaust heat shield with radiator clamps, and eventually replace front wind shield.
I was just informed that I may have to help my father change the oil on his 2013 Scion XB. Instead of using conventional oil, he’s going to be using AmsOil synthetic. However, he did’t get the oil filter for it yet. He’s parts man is ordering it. I suspect his filter is going to be a cartidge type, not the standard canister. If that’s the case, I need to get a sepcific type of wrench in order to remove the old one. I have the EcoTech type filter wrenches, not the ones Toyota uses. They use a metal cap that’s like a lock key lug. I’ll soon find out.
Remember a while ago when I told you guys I had helped someone from my church transport a television to there friends place. While driving there, I had heard somehting that sounded unusual from there vehicles engine compartment. To me, it sounded like it was the alternator. When I had mentioned it them, they freaked out. They said they would take it to there dealership the following day. They said they still have a warrenty it. Well, guess what. I was right. The dealership confirmed what I was hearing. I had told my friend it sounds like the bearing in her alternator had worn out. The dealership said the samething. Unfortunately, the only way to fix it is to replace the alternator. However, what I wasn’t expecting is what the dealership had told her. They no longer sell replacement parts for her vehicle. The only way to fix the alternator is either repair the current one or find a rebuilt one. Either way, that’s not good. Repairing one is basically rebuilding one and getting a rebuilt one is getting one that once was damaged. I’m not sure why they can’t find a new alternator for my friend. It could be that the vehicle is ten years old. But my vehicle is a 96 Honda Civic and I still can get or find new factory replacements for it. It could also have to do with Fiat buying out Chrysler. Either way, my church member is in a pickle. Hopefully she find one that’s new.
During the late summer of 2014, while sitting at my apartment editing a video, I had received a frantic phone call from one of my church members. They told me that there sister had pulled into one of the local grocery stores (I know which store it was. They told me. I’m not just going to tell you) to get a few items. When she pulled in, everthing went fine, but when she got back into her vehicle, that’s when everyhing went wrong. She told me once she started her vehicle and applied brake pressure, her brake pedal immediately lost all of its pressure and dropped to the floor. She said according to her sister it was fine when she pulled in. She wanted know if I could take a look at it. Before answering her question, I immediately became concern. To have brake pressure when pulling into somewhere and then to have none is very unusual and very scray. My thought was one of three things. Either her sisters brake lines rusted out, or one of the brake hoses wore out, or someone cut the brake hose or line. Either way, it’s not good. I then looked at my clock. It was 10pm. Unfortunately, I told her because of how late it was, I couldn’t help her. It’s dark out and even when I discover the issue, there aren’t going to be any parts stores open. I told her to take her sister with her and go to Walmart or to a gas station and pick up some DOT 3 brake fluid and over fill the brake resovoir. Typically your not supposed to over fill it. There’s an indicator line on them to as to how much your supposed to add, but because she has no brake pressure, this situation was ok. I told them to buy two bottles. Use one to fill it up and then drive the vehicle home slowly, with the hazzard lights on. I would take a look at it the following day. They asked me what’s the second bottle for. I told them it was to fill it up again for the following day. I would have to drive it to my friends garage, so there needs to be some brake fluid in it to get some pressure. They said that makes sense. So, the following morning, I went to go pick up and drove it to my friends garage. While I was there, my church member met me there. They wanted to see and what happened to cause the issue. I jacked the vehicle up, rested it on jack stands, took the tires off, popped the hood, and then began my investigation. The first thing I did was pull the brake resovoir cap off and toped it off with brake fluid. Depress the brake pedal a few times and then walked over to the vehicle to see if any leaks were to be found. I worked from the master cylinder, to the brake lines, and then to the brake hoses. Both the master cylinder and the lines were fine. The driver side hose was fine, but the passenger side was completey worn. Not only worn, but rotted and cut in several places.
When I showed my discovery to my church member, they were shocked, mad, and wanted to know what could have caused that. I told them because this a rubber line, whenever you turn the front wheels or hit any bumps on the road, this line moves whatever the tires or suspension is doing. After moving so many times, eventually the rubber wears out (this includes weather conditions). By looking it at it, it appears her sister was loosing brake pressure a while ago. Either way, it had to be replaced. We went over to Nappa Auto Parts, got the new hose and a bottle of brake fluid. Replaced the line and then bled the brakes. Once pressure was regained, I gave the keys back to my church member, which she then gave back to her sister. Job done. The situation could have been much worse. Her sister could have been driving when she lost pressure. I’m just glad that didn’t happen and no one was hurt.
So, not to long ago, one of my church members asked me if I could help transport a television to one of there friends in Sterling, IL. I told sure, no problem. When I had arrived at there place, they told me the television was in there apartment and that we had to carry it two flights down. And let me tell you. This television wasn’t a flat screen. It was a bulky, heavy television that imitated a flat screen. Getting it down two flights of stairs wasn’t easy, but we did it. Once secured in her vehicle, we headed to Sterling, IL. As we traveled to our destination, I noticed her vehicle was beginning to make a terrible winding sound. The sound would only get louder as she accelerated faster. It wasn’t coming from her wheels. I could only hear it from the engine. I immediately recognized the sound. It was her alternator. She asked me what’s wrong. I told her, “Umm…Do you not hear that sound?” She said, “What sound?” I said, “Listen carefully, you’ll hear it.” She paused for a moment and listened. She was like, “Oh my gosh! Is that my vehicle? Don’t tell me there’s something wrong with my vehicle?” I said,”Well….it is. And yes, there’s something wrong with your vehicle. That terrible sound your hearing is your alternator. I recognize that sound from anywhere.” She began to freak out. She thought we were going break down along the side of the road. I assured we would be fine. We’ll get there and back. But I told her she should get that checked out as soon as possible. If she doesn’t, eventually the vehicle won’t start up at all. I told her if she wants me to fix it, I could. But she hasn’t gotten back to me on that.
Approximately three months ago, I had received a phone call from one of my church members wondering if I could stop by there place and take a look at there 2002 Caravan. They said when ever they’d hit a pump on the road, they could hear what sounded a clunk sound coming from the driver side. My first thought was either a ball joint or shock related. I asked, “You only hear when it hits a bump? Not when driving or braking?” They said, “Nope. Only bumps.” I said, “Sure. I’ll check it out.” When I arrived, they told me the vehicles repair history. They told me the ball joints were replaced three months ago, as well as the tie rods. I said, “Hmm….well let’s take a look at what’s going on.” The first thing I did was bounce the van on the driver side. Nothing. Did the same thing on the passenger side. Nothing as well. We then raised the vehicle. Even though he told me the tie rods and ball joints were replaced not too long ago, I still checked. Nothing. I then crawled under the vehicle. Now before I go any further. What I had failed to mention is that this particular Caravan is front wheel drive. Because of that, there are two CV Axles that connect to the Transaxle. One for the driver side, the other for the passenger side. The Transaxle rotates the CV Axles, which in then spins the front wheels. Now getting back to story. I checked to see if the CV boots were cracked. Nope. Nothing wrong with them. I then grabbed the passenger CV Axle shaft and gave a good thrust/tug spin. The purpose of the spin is to see of the axle makes any noise when I move it. The passenger side checked out ok. However, the driver side was a different story. As soon as I tugged/thrust it forward, it made a clunk sound. As soon as the sound appeared, my friend said, “That’s it! What is it?” I said, “Well, it appears that your driver side CV Axle is worn out. I’m not hearing anything coming within boots themselves. They’re not cracked or anything like that. But that doesn’t mean they’re worn out as well.” He wanted to know if it would be best to replace the boots or the whole CV Axle. I told him the whole thing. The new CV Axle should come with new boots. He also wanted know if this would also require an alignment once the part was replaced. I said, “Yes. When you ever mess with anything suspension related, you’ll have to re-align the vehicle.” While there, he wanted me to check the drive belt. I said sure. There was no indication of cracking or worn treads. I told him it was fine. But he insisted that he wanted to get them replaced. He hasn’t had the vehicle for very long and wasn’t sure when they were last replaced. I told him the it’s fine, but if he wants to, that’s within his right. Once I told him my prognosis, he immediately sent his vehicle to his mechanic and got it repaired. It sounds and runs better than it did.
Well, if you recognize this vehicle. It’s the same vehicle I worked on when I replaced the brake hose on the passenger side. This time it come over for something else. Approximately three months ago, I received a phone from one of the sisters that was driving it, complaining that the vehicle had a engine flash code and it the engine sounded terrible. She wanted to know if she drive it over to my place and have me do a test drive with her to try and figure out what the problem could be. At first I didn’t think it was wise to drive a vehicle with engine flash code, plus whatever’s going on with the engine. But I knew she didn’t want to pay to a toe truck driver to have it toed to my place. So I said, “Sure, but be extremely careful. Don’t push the engine too hard. Drive slow.” Mercilessly, she made it. When she pulled in my apartment parking lot, I didn’t notice or hear anything out of the ordinary. But when I got in and we drove off, that’s different story. Sure enough the engine was vibrating erratically and there was indeed a engine flash code. Immediately, I began to wonder if there was a engine misfire. Usually, when check engine flashes, that means there’s misfire of some kind. Not wanting to do any more damage to the engine, I her pull the vehicle into the CVS parking lot. I told her to keep the engine running while I pop the hood. Once I popped that hood, the could see the engine shaking, but I also could hear what sounded like air escaping. I checked all the air lines that were going to the manifold, but could not find anything. I began to get concern that the intake manifold may have cracked. The manifold on this vehicle was not made of aluminum nor steel. It was plastic. I told my friend to shut off the engine and that I wanted to check one last thing. As I was about to my thing, she began to tell me her sister had the vehicle at a shop to get an oil change. While it was there, the vehicle was supposed to a transmission flush. But her sister didn’t want to pay for the flush. I told her that her sister should have gotten the flush. You can’t ignore your transmission when it comes to it fluids. Once the the fluid goes bad or low, the transmission is ruined. She wasn’t exactly thrilled when I told her that. Getting back to what I was going to do, I checked the air filter. Knowing in order for the engine to work properly, air must enter from outside. The air filters job is to trap any contaminates from the outside. Once the air filter gets dirty, air cannot circulate through the engine properly. Which then in turn could do some damage to your engine. Well, I had hopped I would find a foul air filter, but I did. The air filter was beyond plugged. It was clogged and wet. I showed my friend what I had discovered and she was shocked. I told her, “When your sister got the oil change, did they even bother to check the air filter?” She said,”By looks of things, NO!” I told her, “I’m beginning to think this dirty air filter may have something to do with the engine running rough. The fouled up air filter may have restricted the air flow in her sister engine, possibly cracking the intake manifold. But without the proper tools (scan tool mainly), I can’t confirm my theory.” I told her she to take the vehicle to a shop ASAP and while there have them do a transmission flush. She didn’t want to go alone and wanted me to come with her. So I did. Once we arrived, she wanted me to explain situation to the service adviser. I did and then she intervened asking the service adviser to have them do to a transmission flush was well. Moving forward, a week later I received a phone call from my friend, telling me I was right. It was the intake manifold that was cracked. They felt it was due the fouled up air filter. I told her that great. I then told to her tell her sister the next time she takes it for an oil change, make she asks if they checked everything, including the air filter. And yes, they cleared the engine code.
During the summer of 2014, my father had bought a 2001 Dodge Intrepid for my sister. Before delivering the vehicle, he had notice the vehicle was leaking coolant. He wanted me to take a look at it. It was a simple fix. The upper radiator hose was worn. I told my Dad the problem and also told him it would be a good idea to replace the lower one and get a jug of 50/50 coolant. He did and we replaced the hoses and bled (burped the system) the coolant
I’m not going to tell you the type of vehicle this tire came off of, but I can tell you what had happen. It’s a funny story. We had this customer that come to the shop complaining that she suspects that she has a tire leak somewhere. She’s had to put air in the passenger rear tire everyday of every hour. Well, it didn’t take our technician long to find the problem. When he rotated the passenger rear tire, he discovered that the tire had somehow exploded. What was weird about it, as he inspected the tire, he noticed the treads on it were in excellent condition. He suspected that the customer had over inflated the tire at point and as the tire spun down the road, it hit either a pot hole or a train track, causing the tire to explode upon impact. If you look at the tire, it does look like it may have been over inflated. There’s a bulge of some kind sticking out on the side of it. In the end, the customer got a new tire and was sent on it’s way. But not with a lesson in proper air tire pressure. 30 to 35 lbs. Always make sure put the right about of air in your tires otherwise this could happen to you.
Mark Pierce 