c/diy-car-fixes

Pro tip: check your alternator belt before blaming the battery in 5 degree weather

Honestly, last January in Minneapolis my car wouldn't start and I was dead set on replacing the battery. Spent $140 on a new one from AutoZone, put it in, still clicking like crazy. Turns out the alternator belt was so loose it wouldn't spin the alternator properly, so the new battery drained in about 15 minutes of driving. A friend at work told me to just tighten the belt tensioner with a 3/8 ratchet, took maybe ten minutes. That old belt had 87,000 miles on it and I never even thought to check it. Now I do a quick visual and push-test on the belt every oil change. Anyone else had a dead battery actually be a belt issue?

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wren_smith44•6d ago

Surprise find: my torque wrench was lying to me this whole time

I was chasing a weird vibration after swapping brake rotors last week and kept blaming the parts. Turns out my click-style torque wrench from Harbor Freight was off by nearly 15 foot-pounds on the lug nuts. I borrowed a buddy's digital one and re-torqued everything, vibration gone immediately. Anyone else tested their torque wrench against a known good one lately?

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taylorcarr•10d ago

Called out for cross-threading lug nuts, now I cant decide if torque sticks are worth it

My buddy watched me zip wheels on with an impact and said I was gonna snap a stud, so I switched to a torque wrench and found I had been over-torquing by like 30 ft-lbs. But now it takes twice as long for every tire rotation, so is the safety gain really worth the extra 15 minutes per car?

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caseyw12•10d ago

Bought a $45 hydraulic jack adapter, thought it was a gimmick until my van

Ngl I figured the cup just sat on the floor jack, but it actually locked into the pinch weld and lifted my 2012 Odyssey straight up without bending anything. Used it last week on a rear brake job and it beat the heck out of my old scissor jack setup. Anyone else trust these over ramps for quick work?

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noahchen•11d ago

Rant: the guy at the parts store saved me $80 with one question

Was about to drop $140 on a new alternator for my 2004 Civic after it died at a gas station off I-75. The counter guy, maybe 60, asked if I checked the battery terminals before I blamed the alternator. Told him the multimeter said 11.9V with the car off, so yeah it was bad. He said 'cool, now check the ground strap from the block to the frame.' Sure enough it was corroded to almost nothing, cleaned it with a wire brush for 5 minutes and the car fired right up. That was 3 weeks ago and it's been solid since. Has anyone else had a bad ground mimic a dying part like that?

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rowan666•13d ago

Rant: Found out I was stripping my lug nuts for 3 years

I was rotating my tires last weekend and one of the lug nuts just spun without getting any tighter. That's when I realized I had been tightening them with my impact gun on full blast this whole time. My buddy who works at a shop in Austin came over and showed me the torque marks were all wrong. He said I had been over-torquing them by like 60 foot-pounds easy. Turns out you're supposed to hand tighten them with a torque wrench to spec, not just gun it down. I had to replace all four wheel studs on my truck and it cost me about $80 in parts. Has anyone else ever messed up their lug nuts from using an impact gun too hard?

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hugo50•13d ago

Found an oil leak fix using a turkey baster in my driveway

I was talking to my neighbor Ron last weekend while he was changing his oil and he said he uses a turkey baster to pull old fluid from tight spots. He showed me how it works for brake fluid reservoirs and even power steering pumps without making a mess. Has anyone else tried kitchen tools for car maintenance or am I just late to the party?

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lewis.diana•15d ago

Stripped a bolt at a rest stop in Ohio and fixed it with a rubber band

I was outside Toledo changing my battery terminals when I over tightened a bolt and stripped the head. No tools nearby and it was getting dark. I grabbed a thick rubber band from my glove box, pressed it over the bolt head, and the socket bit right in. Got it out in under a minute. Anyone else carry weird stuff like that for emergencies?

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sandra715•15d ago

My buddy's brake job warning finally made sense after I messed up my own

He told me to always bleed the lines when changing pads, but I skipped it since it looked fine. Then my pedal went soft halfway down the highway last Tuesday. Cost me $40 in fluid and 2 hours of driveway time to fix what should have been a 15 minute step.

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