05May2010
Brake light on?
Is your brake pad light on? Car making odd grinding noises, worse when you hit the brakes? Weird fluid seeping out underneath one of your wheels? Might want to get your brakes checked! This is from a BMW that came in yesterday. I have never in my life seen a rotor this bad, it was so bad the piston actually popped out of the brake caliper because it was over extended! No wonder the car didn’t stop! Seriously, brakes are …
14Apr2010
What in the hell……
Somehow a 1999 MB 320 showed up. So I did a full brake job on it and sent it on it’s way 🙂 Luckily, the owner also has a Boxster S 🙂 The rears were about 30% remaining, but the fronts were almost down to the metal….somehow the pad sensor light had not gone off yet….odd. Also, luckily this MB did not require the Star Diagnostics to do the brake job.
22Feb2010
330Ci continued
Edit: 2/23/2010 Last night I got the front and rear brakes on with new pad sensors. Tonight I am hoping to get the brakes bleed, and transaxle and differential serviced. That should wrap up this service. Tues: Finished up the fluid swap last night, and started in on the front control arm bushings (FCAB’s). There is a little trick to getting them off and back on, but it isn’t too bad of a job 🙂 One final test drive and …
26Dec2009
Explorer repair in Seattle
While Val and I were out in Seattle for Xmas, I did some work on my mom’s 2002 Explorer. The ford trucks from the late 90’s to the mid 2000’s have an issue with the digital odometer not lighting up randomly. Some days it will work, others it will not and you can’t read the display. Eventually, it will stop lighting up completely (this does not mean it will stop accumulating miles, lol) The issue is from cold solder joints …
22Dec2009
Squeaks gets a new fuel pump
Val’s jeep has had a couple of no start issues in the past year, all of which quickly subsided after sitting a few hours, but none the less, I was afraid it would leave her stranded somewhere eventually. The jeeps have a fuel leak down issue on occasion, which requires updating some seals in the fuel sender unit. Since I would be in there, I replaced the fuel pump and the filter/regulator as well. Well, I got to do the …
I had been doing some maintenance on Val’s 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee the other day when I noticed a leaking rear axle seal on the passenger side. I had actually smelled gear lube after arriving in SD for thanksgiving, so I pretty much knew what I would find when I looked under the rear of the truck. Jeeps are pretty notorious for this issue, and I had replaced the driver’s side a couple of years ago. The process is fairly …
And that is hunting…….. Thanksgiving (and usually xmas) week every year is spent hunting up in South Dakota with family. Every year my wife and I (and the polar bear of a dog) head up for some deer and pheasant hunting. Having family up there is really nice in regard to land access, and great hunting grounds at that. Left late friday night, and were up early on Saturday to head out for some scouting. I typically pull a doe …
24Aug2009
Follow along a little Journey…….
It all started as a crazy idea my good friend Jim had. Pick up a 60’s Caddy, Lincoln, or Buick, and journey across the US using maps and roads only from the 60’s. Well, everyone liked the idea so much, that we decided to go forward with the project. We recently picked up a ’67 Cadillac Fleetwood out of Oklahoma City, and will begin prepping the car for it’s spring road trip! The initial plan is to head south through …
30Apr2009
Pre Purchase Inspections (PPI)
What is a Pre-Purchase Inspection, and why would you want one? The names says it all. An inspection made before purchasing a car, to help point out the pro’s and con’s of the car you are about to purchase. The inspection should be done by someone who really knows the car being inspected. In other words, having a Honda mechanic inspect a Porsche, might not be the best idea. He might catch some obvious things that need attention, but might …