Auto Mechanics

Directions

Auto Mechanics Car advice, tips, troubleshooting, and answers to your car questions. ...

Real work truck, or just an $80,000 status symbol that never sees a speck of dirt?Let me say this up front: I get that p...
10/25/2026

Real work truck, or just an $80,000 status symbol that never sees a speck of dirt?

Let me say this up front: I get that plenty of people truly need a truck. I live on a farm, and we keep a few old beaters around just for the work. That's my point, though. They're beaters. Nobody I know is buying an $80k truck to drag through the mud and toss greasy tools and oil cans in the bed.

Back in high school, I'd guess about a third of the cars in our suburban parking lot were giant trucks. I'd bet money that fewer than half of them ever did a real truck job.

So I'm saying it: it's okay to drive a sports car. They're more fun, usually better on gas, safer for pedestrians and everyone else on the road, and way easier to share a lane with. And older guys are the worst about this. They buy a brand-new truck every five years and call it the "responsible" choice. Come on. Half of them were muscle-car guys back in the day. Go buy the Camaro you always wanted.

To be clear, I'm not talking about people who actually use their trucks for truck stuff. I'm talking about the ones who don't. If it's about image anyway, why not pick something cheaper, more fun, more efficient and safer for everybody else? Honestly, most of the things people tell me they "need" a truck for don't call for a full-size or heavy-duty pickup at all. A lot of these guys would be just fine in a Prius or a RAV4.

Image is for illustration purposes only.

Smart buy on a dream car, or the fastest way for a 19-year-old to go broke?A parent reached out with a situation a lot o...
10/25/2026

Smart buy on a dream car, or the fastest way for a 19-year-old to go broke?

A parent reached out with a situation a lot of families have been through. Their 19-year-old son found a 2015 Maserati Ghibli with 55,000 miles for $12,000, and he's pushing hard to buy it. He even paid for the Carfax himself. The report shows 5 previous owners, 33 service records, and the very first entry lists it as a rental car. His current ride is a 2016 Corolla with 90,000 miles, peeling paint and bubbling window tint. Mom and dad think he'd be better off spending a couple thousand fixing up the Corolla, and they asked for honest opinions to show him.

Image is for illustration purposes only.

10/22/2026

I cut a hole big enough for the studs n hammer them out

10/22/2026

How do I get this axle out without damaging the housing? 🔩

Tried to pull the axle out and now I’m stuck. Does anyone have any tricks to get this out?
Not sure how to proceed from here without risking damage to the housing

Every mechanic knows this screw. You turn it once, it strips, and now your 10 minute job has a drill involved.
10/19/2026

Every mechanic knows this screw. You turn it once, it strips, and now your 10 minute job has a drill involved.

Customer said his front vents don’t work, so he called a plumber instead of a mechanic.
10/18/2026

Customer said his front vents don’t work, so he called a plumber instead of a mechanic.

10/12/2026

Master Tech here. Lost a couple of the driveshaft bolts somewhere during the job and I’m not paying dealership prices for new hardware, so I ran some heavy-duty zip ties through the bolt holes and pulled them as tight as I could. People keep telling me this is “dangerous” like zip ties aren’t literally designed to hold things together. I’m obviously not saying it’s permanent, I just need it to hold for a couple weeks until payday when I can afford the correct bolts. I’ll keep it under 70 and avoid hard launches. Y’all think this will hold?

Rear axle bearing job on a 2011 F-150 Raptor. The rented bearing puller grabbed what it could, but it only yanked out th...
10/11/2026

Rear axle bearing job on a 2011 F-150 Raptor. The rented bearing puller grabbed what it could, but it only yanked out the rollers. The outer race is still pressed tight in the end of the axle tube, sitting perfectly flush, with nothing behind it for the puller to catch.

What you're looking at: the axle shaft is out, and this is the end of the axle tube with the brake backing plate and parking brake shoes around it. The shiny ring inside the tube is the bearing's outer race. It's a press fit, which is why it won't just slide out.

Ways people usually get a flush race out:
- The weld trick: run one or two short weld beads around the inside of the race. When the weld cools, it shrinks the race slightly, and it often loosens enough to tap or pry out. Keep the welds on the race only, not the tube
- Cut and crack: carefully grind a slot across the race with a die grinder or a small cutoff wheel, stopping just before you reach the tube. Then hit the thin spot with a chisel or punch, and the race cracks and collapses
- A blind-hole bearing puller with expanding jaws can sometimes bite on the inside edge of the race when a normal puller can't get behind it
- Pull the backing plate first. Removing its four bolts gives a lot more room for a grinder and a better angle

What to be careful about:
- Don't cut into the axle tube. A deep groove in the bore can let the new bearing spin or leak. If the grinder slips, clean up any nick with emery cloth
- Stuff a rag deep in the tube before cutting or welding so metal chips don't end up in the differential
- Wear eye protection. Hardened bearing races can send sharp chips flying when they crack
- Don't overheat the tube with a torch. It's a press-fit area and the shape matters

Putting it back together:
- Clean the bore, coat it lightly with gear oil, and drive the new bearing in straight with the correct size driver until it seats
- Use a new axle seal, and check whether the axle shaft has a groove worn where the old seal rode
- Refill the differential with the correct gear oil, plus friction modifier if your axle needs it

Once you've done one, the second side usually goes a lot faster.

Im being told to drive my Kia until the engine fails due to no oil. Is this really my only option?My 2019 Kia Soul is bu...
10/10/2026

Im being told to drive my Kia until the engine fails due to no oil. Is this really my only option?
My 2019 Kia Soul is burning or consuming oil. So my mechanic told me the dealership would do an oil consumption test and then replace the engine when it fails because there was a recall or defect with on these Kia engines. So I go to my dealership yesterday. I have the limited warranty and total loss protection. Told them why I wanted the test done. After going over my warranties and stuff, apparently I dont get power train warranty because im the second owner. And my limited warranty doesnt cover oil issues, only rod bearing issues. So the warranty lady told me to basically just keep up maintenance and drive like normal and pray that a rod bearing or other covered engine failure happens so the limited warranty kicks in. The man who walked with me back to my car told me he couldn't tell me in front of his coworker, but that if I put oil in it every 5,000 miles like Im supposed to and I dont check the oil level or fill it up between mechanic visits, that eventually the engine with blow and Kia will be forced to replace it

He said if it was him he would just drive it like normal until it blows.

So then I called my mechanic, I wanted another opinion. And he basically agreed with the other man. He said hes seen this alot with Kia and Hyundai. He said that eventually the oil will get low and the catalytic converter will get clogged up and fail, making the engine fail.

So basically Im being told to drive till the engine gets completed fu**ed. Is this the only actual solution? Its just insane to me that that is the best advice Ive gotten on how to handle this.

A new 2026 Hyundai Kona owner noticed something odd. All summer, the coolant in the reservoir would rise a lot when chec...
10/10/2026

A new 2026 Hyundai Kona owner noticed something odd. All summer, the coolant in the reservoir would rise a lot when checked a few minutes after driving. Now that the weather is cool and windy, it barely moves. Is something wrong? Most likely not. The coolant is just doing what liquids do when they heat up and cool down.

Why the level moves:
- Coolant expands as it heats up. A hot engine can push the level in the reservoir up by a noticeable amount
- The reservoir, also called the overflow or expansion tank, is there to catch that extra volume
- When the engine cools, the coolant shrinks and gets pulled back into the radiator, so the level drops again
- In summer, the engine runs hotter and stays hot longer, and the A/C adds heat too. Checking only five minutes after a drive means you're looking at a hot, expanded level
- In cool, windy weather, the engine and the coolant cool off faster, so the level after a drive is closer to the cold reading

The right way to check:
- Check it cold, ideally first thing in the morning before driving, on level ground
- When cold, the level should be between MIN and MAX
- A hot reading above MAX isn't automatically a problem. The cold reading is the one that counts

In this photo, the coolant looks like it's sitting close to the MIN line. If that's a cold reading:
- Top it up to between the marks with the coolant Hyundai specifies for the car. Don't mix in a random color or type
- Only open the reservoir cap when the engine is cold. Hot coolant is under pressure and can spray out and burn you

When to have it looked at:
- The cold level keeps dropping over a few weeks
- You see drips or pink crust under the car or around hoses
- A sweet smell from the engine bay or the vents, or fog on the inside of the windshield
- The temperature gauge climbs higher than normal

The good part: a steady level for a month, checked every few days, is exactly what a healthy cooling system looks like. And on a 2026, anything that does turn out to be a leak should be covered under warranty.

Address

New York, NY

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Auto Mechanics posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category