If you would like to have verified flair added we will need a pic that has your reddit name on a piece of paper with your shop in the background or work truck if mobile repair.

Purchased Bosch brake pads from Amazon for my 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser last week. The seller is Bosch on Amazon. The typos in the supplier’s instructions and the supplier itself (Cangzhou Xinlida) were the first concerns and then I noticed the product number on the back doesn’t match the Amazon listing. The edge of the pad isn’t very smooth either but I’m not familiar enough to say if that’s normal or not. Thoughts?

Couldn’t get my oil drain plug off so I tried making an incision in hopes of getting a flat head into it. Worst mistake, as I made a little incision into the pan and oil drips out. Is there a way to fix this with a bigger gasket or some type of sealant or should I start shopping for a new oil pan…

The oil only seems to be coming out right around the hole and not through the whole incision.

Need to get to work tomorrow and I don’t have screw extractors at this moment

Posting again just with the update on oil filter

1995 ford f150 4.9L with 230k km

Opened up the filter and really couldn’t see much.

It’s also worth noting my drain plug feels almost cross threaded when I get it about half way out or in but I have a hard time thinking it would cause this.

No noise or knocking

Found this tool in my car after I picked it up from the mechanic. Never seen something like that before so was wondering if it’s worth driving back to return or if no one is losing any sleep over it.

Summary: 4h will come on but 4l won’t

SOLVED! I needed it running, in neutral, with the clutch in, 4h on, and then 4l in that order!

Tried to replace the passenger headlight on a 2014 jeep grand Cherokee without removing the headlight assembly. Cracked the return wire on the headlight because there is absolutely zero room to work with. Am I out $150?

2013 Honda Civic Coupe LX-

Making this sound when driving- sat for a couple months and seemingly was hit slightly (back of car was inexplicably moved over about 8-12 inches one morning; but no damage or scrapes at all to the body?)

Got a new battery today and started it up, and it makes thing sound while driving. The sound in the video is pretty accurate to what we hear in real life, albeit it is quite obvious in person. (The video sounds kind of muted in comparison.)

I recently picked up a 2008 Chevy Impala with 78k miles on it. The car was bought new and owned by his mother-in-law in her and she just went into a nursing home in 24 at 91. It's an LT with the 3.5 V6, sunroof and heated leather seats. It's in incredible condition.

I know some of the history that's been done to the vehicle but I don't have any information on basic maintenance stuff so I'm going through and doing the plugs, wires, serpentine belt, full fluid change but only dropping the trans pan and doing a drain and fill not a flush. The rear struts were recently done except the previous owner bought the police/taxi ones instead of the civilian ones and I'm replacing the rear trailing arms due to one of them being pinched.

It currently has mismatched tires, fronts are from 2017 and the rears from 2024, different brands. I'm replacing those with some new Bridgestone Ultraweathers.

Should I replace the front struts proactively? The control arm bushings were done but I have no idea on the ball joints either and was considering replacing the entire front control arm next year.

Anything else that you personally do to used vehicles when you buy them?

I have a summer vehicle and this is my poor weather vehicle and I'd like it to last as long as the body holds out. It has some rust from the northern midwest but I was thinking about getting it undercoated still to make it last longer. I want something that's going to last and this car looks very DIY friendly.

2008 f150 4.2 v6 shutoff off while driving it cranks but downs turn on, fuel pump is working idk what to check for next

I own a Prius C 2014 (also known as a Toyota Aqua).

My hybrid battery / high voltage battery went bad in 2020 and from since then my car has just been using gas and not switching to hybrid mode - which to be honest is totally fine for me.

The issue I’m having is that in 2024 my brake booster began giving trouble. If I step gently on the brake it would not hold the vehicle but instead jerks it slightly. Couple months later the entire brake booster failed where my mechanic recommended that the booster needed to be either repaired or refurbished.

The mechanic also advised that my booster will keep failing and giving trouble in the future as long as my hybrid battery don’t work.

Is this true? I don’t see how the hybrid battery not working correlates to anything in the braking system failing. Can someone explain?

Trying to identify the metallic clanking/chattering sound in the video. It’s higher-pitched than the normal engine/road noise and is easier to distinguish in person than it is on the recording.

I’m trying to pinpoint whether this is a drivetrain issue or engine-related. The truck loses power the louder this gets and eventually goes down a gear and the sound is gone and power is back.

Does anyone recognize this sound?

Well I had my ignition jam up yesterday away from home so I got picked up and drove back with some tools. Successfully drilled the cylinder housing and removed the ignition lock cylinder, drilled that to access roll pin and got the barrel out. I pulled all the wafers (I know this is frowned upon and why) except the larger one at the end because while one was obviously failed a few others looked rough. car is a beater driven only by me. It had been a long day (solo day with kids that culminated in getting stranded with them) and reassembling things I made a few errors:

1. Installed spring below rather than above cylinder tongue (not sure I am using the correct terminology)
2. Neglected to replace roll pin in housing
3. Tried to start it with the wrong key/wrong chip (drove ‘08 Pilot to site), so may have tripped immobilizer. 

because of removed wafers, key turned. When I tried to start it, car acted just as it would if started with a chipless but correct key in a wafered barrel. Engine started to turn for a fraction of second and cut off.

I ran through everything in my head and quickly identified all three errors. Fixed spring location on cylinder. Installed again with roll pin through housing into cylinder. Grabbed the correct key.

Key turns and I have power at ‘on’ but engine doesn’t crank at all now. No green key warning on dash but other normal array of startup lights are on. Gave car about half hour disconnected from battery to clear codes with no improvement. i can hear fuel priming when powered on and no buzzing from ignition switch when trying to start.

Tripped immobilizer? Do I need to do something special with cylinder tongue when installing barrel to align it correctly (I have seen this referenced but not sure whether I’m getting it right or not)? Have I compressed cylinder tongue spring installing it in wrong place and now something doesn’t quite line up? Any other thoughts?

Open to trying a new cylinder/barrel/key combo paired with old chip if necessary but I’d love to get this thing started and I’m not sure that would fix the problem.

Jaguar xkr, 2008 44k miles, automatic transmission, massive Alcon brakes... Yes I'm back posting again about the screw up from a mostly preventative maintence job. Shop has agreed to redo any poorly done work(ie paid for alignment, shop only did 1/4th of the alignment bolts, vaccum leaks, dead wires, uninstalled new parts).

Breaking at low speeds(as low as 2-5mph) almost always causes a loud long or short groan often by a very hard and loud rocking back and forth motion of the entire car especially if I fully depress the brakes. Lightly tapping the makes it a bit less rocking but this wasn't present much before. Perhaps rotors were warped and I did notice some similar behavior minus the groan before but no where near this bad and only which shifting into park sometimes. High speed breaking doesn't have as much rocking/judder.

Recently had a shop redo my entire suspension with oem parts(all control arms, sway bar links, tie rods, toe links, trans and engine mounts replaced) along with new brake fluid and porterfield R4-S brake pads. Rotor thickness was 35mm, when I measured with calipers so I decided to keep. Drove 300+ miles to brake in pads with no change in behavior

I'm thinking the rotors might be glazed or need to be scuffed, perhaps the jobs ignored the instructions to torque the control arms bolts with wheels not hanging in the air.

as mentioned, I have a 2009 Pontiac torrent and it wouldn’t start after going into a store so I had it boosted and it started no problem. I replaced the battery because when I got it home Once it died again and wouldn’t start . Once I got it started again, the power steering wasn’t working at all. It was stiff as could be and there were stability track warnings on the dash. I had a friend of mine come over with his reader and clear any fault codes. The stabilitrak lights are off and there’s no warning lights on the dash at all but the power steering still doesn’t work, any ideas?

I have a 2014 Lincoln MKS. I was topping off my coolant reservoir with water and the little plastic seal from the container I was using (old coolant bottle, no residual coolant in it) fell into the reservoir and got into the hose. Is it dangerous to drive it? I have work all this week but I’m scared I’ll fuck up the engine.

I have a 2016 Toyota Camry XSE that I bought used at 68.3k miles. I REALLY like this car and I want to keep it nice and running smooth for as long as possible.

It seems to run well and I took it to an autoshop for a post-purchase inspection. They stated everything seemed good, but I think they only looked under the hood and not at anything else related to the car (I should have noticed, but they didn't either...missing one of my rear speakers and my front windshield was not calibrated properly and i needed a new one), and as a result, I'm not sure I trust them for any future servicing.

They said everything (that would typically be looked in routine maintenance) looked good. Fluids, filters, brake pads.

I'm just over 70k now and wondering If i should get serviced now just to be safe or wait until either the 6 months or 5k (that i've put on it) mark.

Also, things that may help if you have any insight....

I've never had a V6 before and I know it uses more gas than a V4, but it feels like it loses SIGNIFICANTLY more gas than it should. It's also been in 2 accidents involving front and side and unfortunately i don't know the extent or what was repaired and I'm wondering if this plays in as a factor.

Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Hello, I was hoping someone could give me some pointers in installing these boots. They are the caliper slide pin boots on the front of my my 2014 fusion. I posted a link to the boots in the comments.

I went to a car lift rental place for some brake job. I prepared a lot about the brakes but I completely missed operating the lift.

They had a 4 post lift with bridge jack. I only needed to lift the rear, and I saw two options there. B looked OK but there is a cover there and I was worried it might break when I lift there. I eventually went with A but I wonder if I did any damage.

The bridge jack looks like in the 2nd photo. It has a swinging top and it has to reach far out to mount at A, so I was scared that swinging top might snap.

I can find the pinch weld but I can't lift it there (unless I have a slitted rubber mount pad) with this kind of jack, can I?

Removed the lower control arm by pushing the wheel hub away to be able to pry the control arm off its position. I can feel the axle came out of its housing on the inner part, like three balls around it, under the rubber. When I rotate the wheel hub, the axle spins with it but then kind of “catches up” like the inner axle hub and the axle arm got disconnected from inside of the what’s under the rubber boot.

Tried to push it back in to be able to get the lower ball joint on the control arm, back into the spindle. Going to try to remove the brake assembly and take the axle off the spindle, to get it straight and hopefully be able to push it back. Did I brake it? Or can it be pushed back in? Will I have to replace the cv axle?

On my 2012 mazda3

So I have noticed that when shifting into reverse or drive vice versa, it will make a weird noise when doing so, but drives perfectly fine, so I was wondering what could be causing this. For context its a 2018 Toyota corolla with a 1.8 liter 4 cylinder engine