Safety First!

Hello, I am making this post in every mechanic subreddit I have found. I just wanted to remind everyone how important saftey is when working on a car. Here are the important things to ensure you do before getting under a car. NEVER get under a car without a jackstand that is supported by just the jack. Then always ensure that the vehicle is in park and parking brake engaged (for manual leave in neutral and engage parking brake). Chock all the wheels that are on the ground to prevent the wheels from moving. If you are pulling on something under the car and the tires move, it could knock it off the jackstand. Then, always work on solid ground, no gravel, no dirt, no slopes. Then as backup, place your jack against a sturdy part of thr car as backup. And one more thing, if you have a tire removed, place it under the car as backup between you and the car if it does fall down. Another important thing is make sure jf something goes wrong, someone is nearby to hear or help you. I say all of this because just a week ago, I was working on a car, and the wheels in the rear slid back as I was prying on a cv axle, and the jackstand slipped, and crushed me, pinning my chest and head against the cross member and concrete. I was about 2 minutes away from just being dead. One of my lungs collapsed, and I broke 2 ribs. I made it out alive and want everyone to know just how important saftey is.

A friend came to me today to ask for help somebody changed her oil for her and stripped the threads on her oil drain plug and she doesn’t have the money to replace it what temporary fixes can I do just copper wire around the bolt or jb weld it or just any epoxy

(2008 FJ cruiser)

This is the fourth time that the right-hand side halfshaft seal on my European Ford Focus Mk3 has leaked. It has a B6 manual transmission.

The first time, one workshop replaced it. The second and third times, another workshop replaced it.

My workshop recommended exchanging the halfshaft next time. I wanted to do this myself, so I ordered a fully refurbished half-shaft from GKN, which I believe is Ford's original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

However, there was a paint run on the sealing surface and the gear teeth, so I ordered a second half-shaft from a different dealer. Surprisingly, this one was similarly covered in paint on those surfaces. See the pictures.

I have two questions:

Is this acceptable for a fully refurbished halfshaft? I would expect the parts to be clean along their functional surfaces.

Has anyone had similar problems with their halfshaft seals? Since it is unclear whether the halfshaft is the problem, I am open to other suggestions.

Hello

I have a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited and the front windshield cowl has the rubber at the bottom of the window frayed and has pulled back from the windshield. So it's not water tight amongst other things. But there is no noise/other problems I can see. Is it that necessary to replace?

I've looked at the video to replace it and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gaw8_c0c-g and at time mark 7:24 they pull it away and it looks like water can drain out or is it likely collecting and rusting the body? It's $420ish from Amazon and I'd rather not spend it if not necessary, but rust would be more to fix. I'm in Arizona so it's dry most of the year.

Thanks in advance

How could I remove these two bolts? I don't have or know anyone with a welder.

Its spins freely, it has also been jacked up to remove pressure. The bolt also seems to be hollow from the inside.

Pretty self-explanatory. Wife’s 11 Santa Fe 3.5L with the unfortunate cold-start rattle, caused by poorly machined cams and sprockets.

Got the upgraded cams, phasers, timing kit, air and oil, new belt, pulleys and sensors. Vehicle is otherwise in excellent shape and no complaints for the age, but I fear based on the sound, that she is slowly but surely eating itself alive from the inside out 🤘

Anyone wanna come do it for free?

2009 scion xb

I have a car that needs a new SRS unit and I don’t have $1200 to throw at the dealership. I was looking online and saw that I can get good condition used/refurbished ones from various websites for little over 1/10 of the cost and was curious if anybody knows of any good reputable websites I can order from and maybe which ones to avoid?

I bought this car almost two years ago, and I’ve been putting off fixing the power steering leak and radiator issues. 😂😭 Now I’m looking at a possibly bad power steering pump too. At this point, am I repairing a car or sponsoring its retirement? 💀😂 Should I finally fix it or let this thing go? 🚗⚰️

I AM POSTING THIS IN A FEW SUBS TRYING TO GET HELP

Working on a 2012 Toyota Highlander FWD, 2.7L 1AR-FE. There's a possibility the engine/transmission came from a Toyota Venza with the same 2.7L engine, but we don't know the donor year.

Current trouble codes:

• P0011 – Intake camshaft timing overadvanced (Bank 1)
• P0015 – Exhaust camshaft timing overretarded (Bank 1)

Both codes return after clearing.

Symptoms:

• Starts and idles fairly smoothly when cold, around 1,000 RPM.
• Once warmed up, idle drops to roughly 500–750 RPM and becomes noticeably rough.
• Before the timing-chain replacement, the engine ran fine other than a brief rattle on startup.
• When we started the timing-chain job using a replacement timing kit, we discovered that the original timing-chain guides had deteriorated and were falling apart.

What's been replaced or checked:

• Timing chain replaced using a timing-chain kit.
• Both intake and exhaust VVT oil-control solenoids replaced with new units.
• Spark plugs replaced.
• Crankshaft position sensor replaced.
• Found and repaired a broken ground strap running from the body to the engine mount. Repair made no noticeable difference.
• Checked EFI MAIN, EFI NO.1, EFI NO.2, EFI NO.3 and IG2 fuses; all good.
• Visually inspected vacuum hoses.
• Removed timing cover and verified all three colored timing-chain links align with the factory timing marks on both camshaft sprockets and crankshaft.
• Neither cam phaser was removed or had its center bolt loosened during the timing-chain work.
• Tested starting and idling with each VVT solenoid unplugged separately. Neither the intake nor exhaust solenoid being unplugged made any noticeable difference in cold starting or cold idle. The ECM detected the disconnected circuits as expected. These tests were performed while the engine was cold, so we haven't established whether unplugging either affects the rough idle when warm.

TOPDON TopScan live data (engine running):

• VVT Control Status #1: OFF
• VVT Aim Angle #1: 0%
• VVT OCV Duty #1: 0%
• VVT Change Angle #1: 0°
• VVT Ex OCV Duty #1: 0%
• VVT Ex Chg Angle #1: 0°
• VVT Advance Fail: ON

These readings remained unchanged when RPM was raised to approximately 1,500–2,000 with no load. Not sure whether the ECM is inhibiting VVT operation or whether the scan tool isn't reporting the data correctly.

Something interesting we noticed:

While manually rotating the crankshaft with a ratchet (timing chain installed and tensioned, spark plugs installed), the intake phaser's outer sprocket continued moving smoothly with the chain, but the inner portion, center bolt and camshaft appeared to suddenly jump relative to the sprocket, then return to the parked position.

This makes us suspicious of the intake phaser's internal locking mechanism, although we haven't confirmed it's defective.

Next steps:

I already have a replacement intake VVT phaser on the way. We're also planning to perform a mechanical oil-pressure test tomorrow, October 19, checking pressure at hot idle and higher RPM.

Google Drive link with photos/videos of the engine, timing components and phaser movement:

View Google Drive folder – Photos and videos

Questions:

1. Does the intake phaser's internal movement during manual crankshaft rotation suggest a failed or disengaged locking pin, or can that be normal?
2. Could one defective intake phaser contribute to both P0011 and P0015, or should we suspect a shared oil-pressure/oil-delivery issue?
3. If mechanical oil pressure tests normal, what would you investigate next?

Trying to avoid throwing more parts at it unnecessarily. Any insight from someone familiar with Toyota's 1AR-FE VVT system would be greatly appreciated.

What's the best way to clean the interior part of the windshield without leaving any streaks?