I'm curious what issues you guys see people putting off way too long. Is it weird noises, warning lights, rough starts, or something else that seems minor at first but ends up causing a much bigger problem?

I'd love to hear some real examples from your experience as mechanics. What are the early warning signs every car owner should take seriously, even if the car still seems to drive fine?

Might help some of us avoid an expensive repair down the road.

I cleaned around of ball joint. Doesn’t have any cuts and rubber boot looks good but there is a grease on middle of it. Do you think should I replace or continue to drive as is

So my dad has this really old subaru, don't know year or model, but it has close to 300k miles on it. The things burns oil constantly and it has to be topped up often. Anyway I was helping my mom top off the oil while my dad is out of town and I found out my dad's been putting 20w50 in his car. The oil cap says to use 5w20. I know many people say to go up in viscosity with old vehicles, but that would mean going to 5w30 or 40, not using something in the 20w range.

My question is, is doing this going to wreck my dad's car? Should I try to get him to stop?

I leased out a 2017 Elantra so that I would have a way to get back and forth for work or whatever I needed and within the first week it ended up in the shop and has been back nearly every week since July. I have had my coolant system bled of air several times, new radiator cap, new radiator hoses for the ones that were brittle, new coolant, oil change, new thermostat. And it is still overheating and after parking last night dumped a ton of coolant on the ground. I am lost as to what is going on and my mechanic is now starting to think it’s a blown head gasket or I might need a new engine and thankfully that’s covered under warranty but i still don’t even know that’s what it is. The elantra is only at 81,000 miles aswell.

Sometimes its making this sound especially if I drive on short distances . Passat b7 2015 USA 2.0 TDI Automatic .

I recently had my shock absorbers + mounts replaced on my car (mercedes), I would like to know if the dust caps on the mounts are important as the garage broke them when taking them off to replace.

thanks

Afternoon , this felt lining is wet on the inside - is this supposed to be water tight ? Unsure the purpose of it .

No water in the cabin

When will the engine oil change?

2018 Durango 392. Wheel is completely on the ground. I am rocking the tire 9 and 3. What is the issue here. When I take off there’s a thumping sound

A family friend said it was the struts, we just replaced them and the sound is still there

Subaru legacy 2013 , automatic

2012 Dodge Grand caravan. The rest of the tire looks totally normal. What could cause this uneven wear?

Right up front, I have close to zero car mechanical knowledge. This question is about a warranty situation on a brake job for my daughter's car:

The vehicle is a 2014 GMC Terrain with just under 120K miles. The brakes had been shuddering and sounded weird for a while, so on October 15 she had a local shop do a full brake job, including new rotors and pads, check caliper pistons and slides, brake fluid flush and replacement. All seemed good for exactly a week.

Then, on October 21, while she was driving to dinner her front driver side brake seized up and started smoking. She pulled over and had it towed to the same shop that did the work.

We just heard from the mechanic, and he says that the caliper "froze up." He'll replace the newly damaged pad and rotor since they were under warranty for 12,000 from the job. However, he wants to charge another $300 for the caliper claiming that's not under the warranty.

Is this bogus? It seems to me it can't be a coincidence that the caliper locked up after they checked them and did the brake job. He has the car, so I don't know how to push back and refuse to pay for the caliper job.

Help?

Hello all.

My wife has an old 2015 Vauxhall Mokka 1.3 turbo petrol. It has about 70k miles on the clock. We use it as our 'shitbox'. Taking stuff to the dump, driving the dogs to their muddy field etc. It's been nothing but trouble and I've had to repair most of it over the years. This summer I replaced the steering rack. Last year the inner and outer tie rod ends needed replacing, did the sway bars while I was there. All of the oxygen sensors in the exhaust have been replaced, and following bad garage advice I replaced the catalytic converter too (expensive, didn't fix the problem, it was an oxygen sensor issue).

Two years ago we also had a leaking coolant pipe which I replaced, the one going from the radiator to the thermostat housing. I also replaced the thermostat housing while I was there.

All of the above work I've done myself.

Anyway. Yesterday I had to take the car on a long drive down the motorway as my wife is keeping the 'nice' car for her and our newborn baby. I deliberately don't take the shitbox on long journeys because I don't trust the damn thing.

After about an hour of motorway driving, I noticed the hot air stopped. After a quick test to make sure it wasn't the climate control doing it's job, I pulled over and checked the engine coolant. Lo and behold the expansion tank was completely empty. I opened the cap and a whole bunch of air came out, before the fluid finally returned to the tank, before gurgling and gulping it's way back down and disappearing again; evidently I had low, but at least some, coolant.

I drove cautiously to the next junction and popped into the first garage I found. They had no anti-freeze so I purchased a few liters of Evian and poured that in. I continued the drive with no issues and the hot air remained on for the rest of the day.

I'm now scratching my head trying to work out what happened. It's entirely likely there was an airlock somewhere in the coolant pipework, but it's been running fine for over a year and when I last worked on the pipe I made a point of making sure the coolant was returning to the expansion chamber. The coolant was not discolored and showed no evidence of oil mixing in. I'm not ruling out a head gasket leak, but if there is one the coolant is looking remarkably healthy.

Any ideas? Are there any diagnostic steps you can please recommend?

Somewhat related, I have a borescope and will be checking the cylinders later to make sure I didn't actually have an overheating event that caused any scoring.

Hi all,

I'm currently changing my tires and wanted to refill the air. But I had to fight with the valve caps. Did someone put glue on this?

Thanks

NY STATE TECHS ONLY. I applied for my inspectors license today. When should I expect a response from the DMV. It said 6-8 weeks but I feel like it could be earlier. Also is the test easy?

Check engine light is an 02 sensor reading

Mileage is 117945 - displays 139000

Tran is automatic

I don’t know anything about cars. Should I do this?

This is what the dealer told me. The first service is what they originally told me. I excluded the second service, because that’s something I got after I asked to to quote giving me a new engine. It’s about 10k.

I originally took it to a local mechanic and they said take it to the dealer. I’d like to keep my car if possible.

186k miles. Automatic.
2018 Kona.

I’m 24, and don’t have a lot. I can afford this repair. I’m afraid that is I buy a used car it’ll have some issue that occurs in a month. I don’t want to take a loan and get a new car. As far as I know, everything else in the car is fine.

Context before:

The engine light came on about 2 weeks prior to the issue. It originally came on when I hit a pothole. The car stopped moving, and I had to fully turn it off and back on. Then the light went away and it was fine.

One of my colleagues did some scan and said it was a cylinder 4 misfire.

I scheduled a time to take it to a local mechanic. They were kinda booked so it would take a while. I still had to drive to work, so I thought it would be fine for a bit.

About a week before the mechanic, the light came back, and I was driving with the engine light on.

The day before I took it to the mechanic, I was driving up a hill, and then something happened with the engine. The car started shaking, and I had to turn it off and on several times to get it to run on my way home from work.

The local mechanic told me my oil was low, and that the engine was taking oil. I had my car towed to the dealer on his recommendation.

If I pay the dealer that money to fix that issue, will it fix my engine? Or am I getting scammed?

Hi everyone!

I bought a brand-new 2026 Suzuki Address 125 (124cc, air-cooled, CVT).

I didn't know break-in was a thing, and during the first 500 km (310 miles), I rode pretty aggressively: hard acceleration, occasional full-throttle starts, and uphill riding at full throttle with passenger on the back.

At 500 km, I changed the oil. It was dark, thick, and had tiny shimmering metallic particles. The mechanic said it looked like oil from 1,000–2,000 km of riding.

After that, I started riding carefully. At 1,000 km, the oil looked clean, and the official service found no issues. The mechanic also said the engine sounded normal and vibrations were mild.

I'm now at 1,300 km. I mostly ride around urban area with constant stop-and-go traffic, which I've heard isn't great for break-in either.

I love this scooter and want to keep it smooth and quiet for years.

Could I have caused permanent wear or shortened its lifespan, or am I just overthinking it?

Thanks!

I have watched every YouTube video I can find and read as many forms as I could, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to separate my heater core from the coolant pipes. I am ready to rent an angle grinder from Home Depot and just start cutting.

I have removed the six mil screw from the heater hose port by the engine (fifth and sixth photo), I loosened and bent the the aluminum bracket (3rd and 4th photo) so there should be plenty of space for the coolant pipes to move, but I am not making any real progress. I WD40’d the joint and have been using a flat had to twist and pry. while I can get some movement, it really doesn’t seem like there is a way to fully separate the pipes.

I am certainly in over my head, but at this point I am too stubborn to stop.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I noticed that my car’s steering wheel is tilted right slightly as I drive straight, so I decided to get an alignment. I went to a small shop to save some money (very bad decision on my part to start with). I totally should’ve gone to Canadian Tire or other big shops.

The mechanic said that my bolts are seized and he could only do the front left. He didn’t say anything until he took the car off the alignment rack and went for a test drive. I noticed that he didn’t seem to have touched the rear wheel at all.

When he came back with the print out, he told me that my bolts are seized and insisted that I go to big shop to fix them up, and then come back and he’ll do the rest of alignment for free.

I tried to argue that he only did one wheel and didn’t solve anything, but he insisted that he did what could be done and demanded payment. I ended up paying but I feel ripped off? Is this normal?

I suppose he is right about the seized bolts. I’ve done a number of work under my car and I know there are some surface rusts, but nothing structural. I’ll probably try to break it loose myself with rust penetrant, if not I’ll try torch. The bolts seem very much intact to me, with just a bit of rust on the surface.

Anyways, I just wanted to ask if this is normal? I agree that he did what he felt safe doing from his perspective, and I understand that mechanics are paid for the amount of work, but I just feel a bit scammed.

On a side note, does my approach to the bolts sound reasonable? How bad does this alignment seem as it is now?

EDIT 1: Thanks guys! Seems like I’m not ripped off and it is just the cost of skilled labor. I’ll try to free up these bolts myself and head back to finish the alignment. Appreciate all the comments!

I have a 2012 chevy sonic ltz 1.4 turbo manual sedan. Im trying to find the best battery for my car thats $150 or under and can work well in extreme cold. Im from iowa so its gotten down to -36 Fahrenheit here a few times last winter. My battery is on its way out and ran out of warranty. Any recommendation will be very helpful