I swapped a used O2 sensor into a '98 Civic in Phoenix last week because the old one was throwing a code, and the new one looked mint. Turns out it was just as dead, wasted 2 hours chasing a vacuum leak for nothing. Has anyone else gotten burned by parts that looked fine but were totally shot?
Had to drill it out and use an extractor but a buddy told me to hit it with PB Blaster first and let it soak for 2 hours, has anyone else had luck with that method on rusty hardware?
This guy rolls in last Tuesday with a 2010 Honda Civic, says the check engine light has been on for three days. I plug in the scanner, no codes, nothing. I look under the dash and there's a wad of gum stuck to the cluster lens. It was covering the light but reflecting it weird. I peeled it off and the light was actually off the whole time. He paid me $20 for the inspection and left laughing. Has anyone else had a dumb fake-out like this or was it just me?
I had to decide between a used Snap-On Solus Pro for $900 or a brand new Autel ML629 for $350 last spring. My buddy kept telling me the Autel does everything you need, but I have a soft spot for old Snap-On stuff. I went with the Snap-On from a retired mechanic in Denver, and honestly it has been a mixed bag. The live data streams are way smoother and easier to read than I expected, but it does not cover any newer cars past 2018. I did a full ABS bleed on a 2012 F-150 last week and it flagged every sensor without any lag. The downside is I still have to borrow a friend's scanner for a 2022 Civic we had in the shop. Has anyone else picked older pro stuff over new budget gear and found a good middle ground?
Been chasing a random stall issue on a '96 F-150 for about three weeks. Turns out the IAC valve was clogged up with carbon, but only when it got hot. Cleaned it out with some brake cleaner and she purrs like a kitten now. Anyone else ever had a Ford IAC valve act up only after 20 minutes of driving?
Kept telling customers it was just overpriced wax in a bottle. My own truck got the hood paint baked by the Texas sun, so I gave in. Bought a $60 kit from Griot's, spent 4 hours on a Saturday. That was 14 months ago, truck sits outside in the heat every day. Water still beads up like day one, no swirl marks from my washes. Painted bumpers on my work van are already fading but the hood on the truck looks new. Anyone else have a product they swore was snake oil that actually held up?
Back in 2018 I was working on a Ford 5.4 and the head bolts just felt loose when I was doing them by hand. This guy Phil who had been turning wrenches since the 70s told me to stop guessing and just set the wrench to factory spec. I second guessed him because the bolts went in so easy but I followed his advice anyway. 60,000 miles later that engine is still running smooth with no leaks. Has anyone else had a gut feeling fight against the specs and the specs won out?
Was cleaning up after a 4L60E rebuild yesterday and it suddenly dawned on me I just cracked 500. That seems like a lot but I been doing this for 22 years now so I guess it adds up. Started out in a tiny shop in Tulsa back in 02 where the old guys would laugh at me for even trying. First trans I ever did alone was a TH350 in a 78 Chevy pickup and it took me 3 days and I still got it wrong. Now I can knock out a 6L80 in my sleep pretty much. Funny thing is half those rebuilds were probably the same damn units from the same trucks coming back every 60k miles. Anyone else ever count up something like that and get surprised? What was your number?
There was this old guy named Pete who worked at a dealership near Austin for like 40 years. He told me whenever you get a no-start that looks weird, always check your grounds before you touch anything else. I ignored him for about 6 months and kept chasing fuel pumps and crankshaft sensors on cars with bad battery cables or loose ground straps. After one 2012 F-150 ate up 3 hours of my Saturday because I skipped the grounds, I finally listened. Now I start every electrical diag by looking at the battery terminals and frame ground points. Has anyone else had a senior tech give them advice they wish they had taken sooner?
I hit 10,000 oil changes last Tuesday on a 2014 Civic that had sludge so bad it looked like pudding. Even after all that work, customers still skip changes for 8 months and wonder why their engines knock. Anybody else keep count of how many you've done over the years?
Pulled the plugs, checked coils, even swapped the intake manifold gasket and it was still running rough. Turns out the wiring harness had rubbed through right against the engine mount bracket, took me four extra hours to spot it. Anyone else run into hidden wiring damage that should have been obvious way sooner?
I was standing in my shop last Tuesday looking at two impact wrenches. One was the Snap-on that cost me $450 and the other was a $60 one from Harbor Freight I picked up on a whim. I grabbed the cheap one first because I was scared of dropping the expensive one on a greasy floor. It actually held up fine for 3 months of brake jobs and tire rotations, but then the anvil started wobbling on a rusty Ford F-150 lug nut. I switched to the Snap-on and it broke that nut loose in one shot, no drama. Has anyone else found a surprising use for those budget tools where they actually outperform the high-end stuff?
I was driving through Kansas for a family thing and pulled into a one-bay garage to check a weird noise in my truck. The guy running it was maybe 70, and he diagnosed a loose heat shield in about 30 seconds without even putting it on a lift. He just crawled under there with a flashlight and a screwdriver. Made me think about how much skill gets lost when shops rely on scanners for everything. Has anyone else run into an old timer who could find problems just by listening?
I always bought the cheapest oil filters at the parts store for my 2010 F150, like the ones for 3 bucks. Last month I grabbed a Wix filter for $8 just to see what the hype was about. After 3,000 miles I pulled it off and the thing still looked solid, no dents or leaks. The cheap ones always had the canister bulging a little by the time I changed the oil. I cut both open and the Wix had way more filter media and a stronger base plate. The cheap filter was basically cardboard inside. Has anyone else seen that big of a difference just from switching filter brands?
Guy at the meet said you can swap a serpentine belt in 5 minutes without pulling the tensioner pulley, but I tried that on a 2012 Focus and it slipped back off twice... has anyone else found those shortcuts just waste more time?
I was at my shop in Phoenix last Thursday when a guy walks in and gives me a key fob with literally NOTHING attached to it, just the plastic part with chips inside. He said the blade snapped off three days ago and he's been driving around hoping I could fix it. How do you lose your ONLY car key and not notice the metal part is missing for three days?
I thought I needed the fancy digital one with all the bells and whistles to set timing on my old Chevy 350. Turns out my buddy's $35 gun from Harbor Freight works just as good for checking base timing. Has anyone else overspent on a tool you barely use?
I was fighting with this lower control arm bolt on a 2012 F-150 yesterday, soaked it in PB for like 20 mins, nothing. Got frustrated and grabbed the brake cleaner can by accident, sprayed it on there. Heard it sizzle and the bolt came loose with just my ratchet. Something about the acetone in it dissolves gunk way faster for dry seized stuff. Has anyone else found weird uses for brake cleaner like that?
Went with the cloyes kit after a buddy said his melted a belt in stop-and-go traffic last July, and so far no stretch at 20,000 miles has anyone else had issues with the cheap kits from RockAuto?
I was torquing head bolts on a 6.0 Powerstroke and he just huffed and walked over. Said I was using a clicker type for a job that needed a beam style with a flex handle. I brushed him off at first but decided to try his way and the bolt felt way more consistent. Makes me wonder how many of my older jobs had uneven clamping force I just never caught. Anybody else ever get put in their place by some retired guy who clearly knows more than you?.
I was at Pull-A-Part in Columbus last Saturday grabbing a window regulator for a customer's Accord. Walked past this guy in the next aisle who had a Motive pressure bleeder hooked up to an old Civic, bleeding the brakes by himself. Nobody else around, no second person in the car, just him and that bottle. Made me realize how much time I waste doing the two-person method on older stuff. Anybody else switch to a pressure bleeder and never look back?
I always thought those high end scan tools were just for guys with more money than sense. But last month I borrowed a Snap-on Zeus from a buddy to chase down a weird misfire on a 2018 Ford F-150 with 80k miles. That thing showed me cylinder pressure waveforms live and I found a stuck intake valve in like 10 minutes, something my old $200 reader would have never caught. Anyone else had a tool they dismissed turn out to be worth every penny?
Bought this expensive jump pack from a brand I won't name, and when it died after 6 months they said the warranty doesn't cover 'wear and tear.' Used it maybe 4 times. Has anyone actually had luck getting a replacement out of these companies?
I was cleaning out my old parts bin and decided to count them, and the total was exactly one thousand. That's a lot of time spent under cars in the last fifteen years. Anyone else ever tally up a random, oddly specific part like that?
The car was shaking pretty bad at stoplights, and the owner said it had been getting worse over the last few months. I pulled the throttle body off and it was caked with black carbon, maybe a quarter inch thick in spots. After a good scrub with some cleaner and a new gasket, it idled smooth as new. Has anyone else seen a throttle body get that dirty and cause such a big change in how it runs?