Don't Rely On Jiffy Lube to Maintain Your Car

Since I've been spending so much time under the hood of my own car making sure any current maintenance items are being taken care of, I figured it was time to take a look at my wife's car and see how things look.  What I found was a bit shocking, especially considering that she had recently got an oil change at Jiffy Lube and they are supposed to check tire pressure and all fluids.

Howto: Convert Drum Brakes to Disc on Grand Am

The 2005 Pontiac Grand am comes with disc brakes in the front and drum in the rear.  In 1902 the brake drum was modern technology, but around 1960-1970 they started to be replaced by disc brakes on new cars.  For quite some time many cars were made with disc in the front and drum in the rear, due to the fact that rear brakes aren't under as much stress as front brakes, and drums are cheaper than disc.

Before - No street cred at all with rusty drums behind those shiny new wheels.

Howto: Clean up corroded battery terminals

Every time I open the hood they're there, mocking me - my corroded battery terminals.  I've cleaned off the corrosion before only to have it come right back.  Plus my brother also points it out every time as well, and reminds me that the Grand Am never has that problem.  So last time we were at the auto parts store I noticed a packet of "Battery No Corrode Gel", and decided it was time to fix this problem for good. This gel is supposed to insulate the terminals from corrosion, and it "sets" after drying so it doesn't remain goopy like other substances people use for the same purpose (such as petroleum jelly).

If your battery terminals look like a snow man, you need to read this article!

Diagnosing Check Engine Light Issues

It's a submarine! It's a helicopter! It's an airplane!
No, it's an artist's rendition of your engine.

That pesky check engine light (CEL, otherwise known as the Malfunction Indicator Lamp/MIL in the business) is one of the characteristics of any modern car with computer control, and is enough to make most people pucker their rear o-ring and clutch their wallet tight when it remains lit after starting the car. Some people have been known to trade in their car for a new one based on this light.

Howto: Replacing Front Engine Mount on Acura TL

Looking around online it seems that bad engine mounts seem pretty common on my car (2002 Acura TL Type S).  Most people were saying their mounts went bad around 60K to 100K miles.  I have almost 177K on mine, so surely mine must be shot as well, I thought.

This does explain some symptoms I was seeing with oscillations in the drive train in certain conditions, and wheel hop under hard acceleration.  Looking at the DIY steps it seemed like something we would be able to tackle ourselves and save a ton of money, so I decided to order some new engine mounts and give it a try.

Welcome to Havener Garage

Let me start out by saying this: A real man should be able to work on his own car.  Of course there will always be some things that are out of reach due to skill level or available tools.  Not everyone will be able to rebuild an engine or adjust valves.  But at the bare minimum, we should be able to do an oil change, replace an air filter, check all the fluid levels, replace spark plugs, etc.

Personally, I feel pretty emasculated if I have to take my car someone to let some other guy work on it.  Especially oil changes - I may as well wear a dress to Jiffy Lube.  The fact is though that some jobs are still out of reach, but I'm finding that as long as you have good instructions, good tools, some patience, and ideally someone else to work with, it can be done.