I'm not a certified welder by any stretch, but I don't remember my first welds looking anything close to this bad! Most of these look like they were done without any shielding gas, cleaning, metal prep, or even a modicum of pride. I know we all started somewhere, but my goodness! This was on an … Continue reading Tech Tip Tuesday: Don’t Weld Like Alex
First thing's first - what's an orifice tube? An orifice tube is a device placed in a high side line of a mobile A/C system that creates a calibrated restriction, dividing the high side from the low side. As you can see from the picture below, it also acts as a filter to catch any … Continue reading Tech Tip Tuesday: Replace your orifice tube with an A/C repair
Sometimes it's hard to get your hands where they need to be to start a bolt by hand, but if you put the bolt in a socket it falls out before you can reach the hole. What to do? Tape it! You can use a little bit of electrical or duct tape to hold the … Continue reading Tech Tip Tuesday: How to Keep a Bolt From Falling Out of a Socket
Starter Relay wiring Red - 12V constant Black - ground Purple - starter feed Yellow - control signal (ignition switch) We had a '95 Chevy S10 towed in to the shop for a no start the other day, and I started with the usual; checked the battery cables for tightness and corrosion, booster pack to … Continue reading Chevy S10 4.3 No Start
Back in the day, you took your car in every 20-30,000 miles to have her “tuned up.” That meant Goober at the local filling station changed your oil and filter, air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs and wires, distributor cap and rotor button, replaced/adjusted/filed your ignition points, and maybe replaced the condenser. That was considered … Continue reading Tech Tip Tuesday: What is a “Tune Up”?
Have you ever been doing a disc brake job and you just couldn't get the new pads to fit in the bracket right? Perhaps you even read through my front disc brake walkthrough or my rear disc brake caliper service posts looking for a clue and didn't find anything. Sometimes when new brake pads are manufactured a … Continue reading Tech Tip Tuesday: Making Brake Pads Fit
If you're up to replacing these riveted ball joints I'll assume you feel comfortable removing the components necessary to get to the ball joints. This post will cover my preferred method of replacing riveted ball joints specifically. Let's get dirty! First, you'll want to get the control arms free from the steering knuckle. On this … Continue reading S10 Ball Joint Replacement
Rust. It's a mechanic's worst nightmare. Rust eats through body panels and frames, corrodes bolt heads beyond recognition, seizes bolts and parts together so they can only be removed with a torch, and eats away steel brake, fuel, and transmission lines like there's no tomorrow. If you're wrenching in the north, you're no doubt intimately familiar … Continue reading Tech Tip Tuesday: Bending Brake Lines
If you're mechanically inclined enough to tackle a timing belt or chain, you probably know that when you're replacing a timing belt or chain, it is absolutely critical that the camshaft(s) and crankshaft be synced and timed properly. This is usually done by a series of marks on each timed gear or sprocket that … Continue reading Tech Tip Tuesday: DIY Timing Pointers
If you have a 2004 (except Heritage) - 2008 Ford F150 or similar truck with power windows that work sporadically or not at all, then thispost is for you! A new master switch for the F150 isn't really all that expensive ($40 or so for a Dorman), but I'm always up for saving a … Continue reading Ford F150 Window Switch Repair
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