c/auto-mechanics

3

miles_perez•2d ago

The magic of swapping to full synthetic at 150k miles

My old 97 Ford F150 had been burning oil like crazy for about two years. I always ran conventional 10w30 because that's what my dad used and I figured the engine was too old to change now. Finally got tired of adding a quart every 400 miles and switched to full synthetic 5w30 after doing some reading online. The first oil change after the switch, I was shocked that the oil barely looked used after 3,000 miles. The ticking from the lifters quieted down too, which I honestly didn't expect. It's been about 6 months now and I've only had to add half a quart once. Anyone else seen this kind of difference switching an older high mileage engine over?

2

kelly.parker•2d ago

Was dead set against using a breaker bar on Honda crank bolts until this week

Ngl, I always used an impact gun for crank pulley bolts, figured it was fine. Then I had a 2010 Civic that wouldn't budge after 3 different impacts, so I finally grabbed my 24 inch breaker bar and a cheater pipe. Came right off after some PB Blaster and a solid 2 minutes of steady pressure. Anyone else find impacts just don't cut it on certain Honda engines?

17

jordanm19•3d ago

My Harbor Freight torque wrench was way off after six months of light use

Checked it against a Snap-on at a buddy's shop last week and it was clicking 15 pound-feet early on lug nuts. Has anyone else found the click style ones drifting that fast?

1

ruby290•3d ago

Spent 4 hours tracking down a parasitic drain on a 2012 Civic only to find it was the glove box light staying on

I finally found it after testing every fuse twice and nearly replacing the alternator, has anyone else had a stupid simple interior light cause that much headache?

1

alice808•3d ago

Had a rare perfect Wednesday at the shop near Akron last week

Last Wednesday, everything just clicked. I had a 2005 Honda Civic come in with a check engine light that three other shops couldn't figure out. Turns out it was a stuck purge valve that only acted up when the fuel tank was below half. Swapped it out in 20 minutes and the code cleared right up. The customer was a single mom who had been driving around with that light for four months, she almost cried when I told her the fix was only $80. Then my afternoon job, a Toyota with a rough idle, turned out to be a simple dirty MAF sensor instead of a major vacuum leak. I used my trusty CRC cleaner and it ran smooth as new. Been doing this 22 years and days like that remind me why I still love it. Anybody else have a day where the easy fixes just line up and make you feel like a hero?

21

ryanhayes•3d ago

The BMW specialty shop near Charlotte changed how I think about diagnostic fees

I used to think charging a flat $150 for diagnosis was a ripoff. But after 3 trips to a shop in Charlotte where they spent 45 minutes chasing an intermittent misfire on my F150, I changed my mind. The owner showed me how they use a Pico scope and waveform library to pinpoint issues in under 20 minutes. Their rate is $175 an hour, but they saved me from throwing parts at it. Has anyone else found a shop that actually proved their fee was worth it?

17

alice_wilson73•4d ago

Talking with a retired diesel mechanic last weekend

Was at a parts store in Cleveland. Old guy next to me said he could rebuild a carburetor blindfolded. Made me think. I can't even adjust a modern throttle body without a laptop. We lost something. He said computers made us lazy fixers. Kinda stung because he's right. Anyone else feel like we traded know-how for scan tools?

11

ryanhayes•5d ago

Stick welder or MIG for frame repair on my 84 F150?

I'm patching rust on an old farm truck frame and gotta choose between a cheap stick welder I borrowed and renting a MIG setup for the weekend. Went with the stick because it was free but now I'm fighting slag inclusions and wondering if the $80 rental would've saved me four hours of grinding. For guys who do this kind of work, is stick ever actually better than MIG for thin frame sections, or did I just make a dumb bet on my time?

0

davis.diana•5d ago

Just realized my impact gun was stripping bolts because I was using the wrong socket type

Overheard a guy at the parts counter say he only uses 6-point impact sockets on suspension bolts after I snapped a control arm bolt last week. Has anyone else learned this the hard way or am I the only one who thought 12-point was fine?

33

jason_kelly8•11d ago

Debate: Is it better to torque oil pan bolts by feel or use a spec?

I see guys at my shop in Phoenix cranking down on these new plastic oil pans with a torque wrench set to 18 lb-ft, but then I had one crack on a 2019 Escape after doing it exactly by the book. My old mentor swore by snugging them by hand and driving the car around the block to let everything settle before giving each bolt a quarter turn. What's your take - follow the factory spec or trust your gut on these modern pans?

7

fisher.reese•12d ago

Tried the zip tie trick on a stubborn brake caliper bracket bolt yesterday

Was fighting a 2002 F-150 in my driveway near Tulsa, that caliper bracket bolt would not budge even with PB Blaster and a breaker bar. I wrapped a zip tie around the bolt head and put the socket on, it gave me just enough grip to crack it loose. Any of you guys ever use zip ties for weird security situations like that?

5

emmasmith•14d ago

Remember when timing belts had a service interval you could actually trust?

Back in 2008 I was working at a shop outside of Akron, Ohio. Had a customer come in with a 97 Honda Accord, 180,000 miles on it, original timing belt. He wanted me to just do a tune-up and send him on his way. I told him that belt was a time bomb, but he said he'd take his chances. Three weeks later he called me from a gas station off Route 8. Engine went clunk and died on the highway. I had to tow it in and replace the whole head because the valves got bent. Cost him $1,200 instead of the $350 belt job I quoted. These days the intervals are longer but the belts themselves seem thinner and more brittle. Has anyone else noticed the quality going downhill on the new OEM belts?

12

kelly.parker•15d ago

Customer told me his brake job quote was a scam until his rotor fell off at a stop sign

Guy comes into the shop in Tulsa, argues that $350 for pads and rotors is highway robbery. Two days later he's getting towed in with his caliper dragging on the pavement. Did you ever have someone refuse a repair then come back with a bigger bill?

6

terry1•15d ago

Talked to a kid at the parts counter who made me feel old

Some 20 year old kid working the counter at Napa asked me if I had ever worked on a car with a carburetor. I told him I rebuilt a Quadrajet on a 77 Trans Am in high school back in 95. He looked at me like I was a dinosaur. Then he asked why anyone would want to mess with that when you can just plug in a laptop to tune a modern car. It got me thinking about how much the basics have faded. Do you guys ever run into younger techs who have no clue about older systems? How do you handle passing that knowledge along without coming off like a grumpy old guy?

26

davis.diana•15d ago

Finally got my scan tool payback yesterday

Been two weeks since I picked up an Autel tablet from the tool truck and it already paid for itself on a 2019 F-150 with a weird EVAP code. The old code reader just said 'small leak' but this thing showed me the purge valve duty cycle was off by 12 percent. Anyone else find that spending big money on a scanner actually saves you money in the long run?

31

cole_walker26•16d ago

Took me 3 years to figure out I was over-torquing lug nuts on every car

Honestly, I was just going by feel and using a 2-foot breaker bar on everything until a customer came back with a warped rotor on his 2018 Civic after I rotated his tires. The vibration at 60 mph tipped me off, and then my torque wrench confirmed I was cranking them to like 120 ft-lbs instead of 80. How do you guys balance speed with actually getting torque specs right on busy days?

7

emmap16•17d ago

Shoutout to the guy who showed me the zip tie trick for brake caliper hangers

Was fighting with a 2005 Honda Accord rear brake job last Saturday, and the caliper kept flopping around while I was trying to get the rotor off. Tried using a bungee cord but it slipped after 2 minutes. An old timer at the Napa on Main Street showed me to just run a zip tie through the caliper bracket and around the strut spring. Kept it out of the way perfectly for the whole job. Anyone else got a weird trick that just makes a routine job way less annoying?

7

sethb45•17d ago

Pro tip: stop using those cheap $20 oil filter wrenches on tight filters

Spent 45 minutes under a 2008 Ford Focus last night trying to get a stuck filter off with one of those claw-style wrenches before I broke down and grabbed a strap wrench from my truck, and it popped right off in about 3 seconds flat, so why do we keep buying the crap that just slips and crushes the filter instead of the thing that actually works?

13

hannah240•19d ago

Swapped to a cordless ratchet for dash work and I'm never going back

I spent 4 hours yesterday fighting with a pneumatic ratchet under a 2015 Ford dash to get a blower motor out. The air hose kept snagging on the seat rails and I had to keep repositioning the compressor. Got so frustrated I borrowed my coworker's Milwaukee cordless ratchet for the next one, a 2018 F-150. Same job took me 45 minutes tops. No hose, no fighting for reach, just straight in and out. The torque is way more than enough for interior stuff too. Anyone else made the switch and felt dumb for not doing it sooner?

8

david701•20d ago

Old timer at the shop told me to check distributor cap first, he was right

Got a 97 F150 in last week that was missing and stumbling under load. I was about to dive into fuel injectors and all that. Old Bob from the bay next to me just said "check the cap and rotor first kid, 90% of the time it's that." Pulled the cap off and there was green crust all over the terminals inside. New cap and rotor cost me like $30 and the truck runs perfect now. Anyone else got a guy like that who saves you hours with one tip?

16

thea143•21d ago

Changed my mind about that $60 fuel pressure tester kit I bought on Amazon

I always thought the cheap mechanical gauges were fine for occasional use. But after struggling with a leaky fitting on a 2005 Civic last week that gave me false low readings, I finally swapped to the higher end Actron kit a buddy recommended. Took me maybe 15 minutes to pinpoint a bad fuel pump on a F-150 after that. Cost me $60 but it already paid for itself in saved diagnostic time. Anybody else have a tool purchase they fought but ended up loving?

13

patricia_singh81•23d ago

That one week where I lost 3 wheel studs on the same Silverado job

Last Tuesday I had a 2014 Silverado come in for a brake job, nothing special. But when I pulled the rear drum off, two wheel studs snapped off just from the impact gun vibration. Then on Thursday I got a 2018 Silverado with a wobbling rear tire and found one stud completely sheared off and the other three barely hanging on. Three different trucks, same problem in one week. Is anyone else seeing a lot of these GM half-ton trucks with wheel stud failures, or was I just unlucky?

4

nina_butler•24d ago

Spent 7 hours tracking a parasitic drain on a 2010 Accord, turned out to be the trunk light switch

I was pulling my hair out on this one. Tested every fuse twice, pulled the aftermarket stereo, even checked the alternator diodes. Battery was dead every morning. Finally gave up and just started leaving the trunk open while I worked. Sure enough, the dome light stayed on. That little plunger switch was barely sticking. Replaced it for $8 at the dealer. Anyone else have a simple fix that took way too long to find?

13

jamiegreen•26d ago

That cheap Harbor Freight torque wrench I swore I'd never use saved my butt yesterday

I've been turning wrenches for about 8 years now and always laughed at guys using those cheap beam-style torque wrenches. But yesterday I was doing a valve cover gasket on a 2010 Honda Accord at my buddy's shop in Tulsa and my good digital one crapped out mid-job. I grabbed his $20 Harbor Freight special just to finish and it clicked exactly right on every fastener. I torqued one bolt later with my borrowed Snap-On just to test and it was dead on. Now I'm wondering if I've been way too snobby about tools. Anyone else have a cheap tool that surprised the crap out of you?

25

flores.emma•27d ago

PSA: Hit 300,000 miles on my F-150 last Tuesday with zero major repairs

I rolled past 300k miles on my 2007 Ford F-150 last week and my mechanic buddy was shocked I never replaced the transmission or timing chain. I've just been doing oil changes every 5,000 miles with full synthetic and swapping the fuel filter every 30k like the manual says. Anyone else hit a high mileage number that made you double take?