DIY Home and Auto

Another Rounded Off Nut

I recently got the chance to use one of my Craftsman Bolt-Out damaged bolt and nut removers.  I bought them when they went on sale a while back after seeing a mechanic use a similar set to remove a bolt for me after I had spent an entire evening cutting another nut off.  Read about that in my post How To Get Off a Rounded Nut.  This particular nut was a flange nut on the EGR valve on my 98 Honda Accord.  Due to the over sized top of the EGR valve, I couldn’t get a good grip on the nut with the socket because it was slightly angled.  I tried removing the nut, but it wouldn’t budge.  I applied some liquid wrench, but was impatient and didn’t wait for it to soak in like I should.  I tried some more and the socket was slipping off, it wasn’t long before I realized the nut was getting rounded.

Using the Damaged Bolt and Nut Removers

Frustrated, and recalling the experience I had with that last rounded nut, I realized that I would get to use my nut extractors.  Besides the Craftsman extractors I have, other options include this similar Bolt-Grip Bolt Extractor Set and Expansion Set by Irwin Industrial Tools and an option I have not yet tried, a set of Nut Splitters by TEKTON.  I found the appropriate size and put it on the end of the socket and placed it on the rounded nut.  On the first half hearted attempt, I put it on and twisted a bit, felt it grab a bit and slipped off.  Trying again, I gave it a couple of twists I could feel it starting to grab the nut and with a little more pressure it locked on good and tight.  I imagined the channels in the socked digging into the metal of the nut.  I was able to crank down on it real hard, and off came the nut.  I’m sure glad I got those damaged nut removers spending a few minutes getting off a rounded nut is much better than half a night.

Craftsman Bolt-Out Damaged Bolt and Nut Removers

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Honda Accord Leaking Coolant

While driving home from work one day I stopped to get some gas.  While pumping the gas, I noticed a pool of what appeared to be Radiator fluid under my car.  I wondered if my car was leaking coolant;  I bent down to look and did not see any antifreeze leaking from my car.  I determined the coolant must have come from some other car since I didn’t see any coolant leaks.  After finishing filling up my tank I continued home.  Eventually I noticed the temperature gauge behaving erratically so I pulled over and shut the car off.  I got out to inspect the car.  I found the mysterious pool of antifreeze, but again no obvious leak and the radiator and hoses seemed intact.  I knew I had a problem with leaking coolant, I just wasn’t sure what or where it was.

Finding the Coolant Leak

I cranked the engine and got out to inspect the car while it was running.  Looking under the car from behind the passenger front wheel I noticed water gushing out from behind the engine block spilling over the transmission.  I didn’t have any antifreeze with me and only had a little water.  A kind person stopped by to see if they could help, they were able to get some more water for me.  After a brief cool down period and filling up the radiator, I slowly made my way home.  I now knew the general area of the leak, but not exactly what was leaking.  To find the leak I had to use a few tricks such as sliding some cardboard under the car to identify the general area and tracing the leak back towards the source.  Eventually by finding wet spots and using a camera I identified a hose that had deteriorated in the back of the engine and was leaking from the bottom onto the transmission and then flowing out over the exhaust.  The hose is called a bypass inlet hose, it is a U-shaped hose and because of the tight turn in it, regular straight heater hose would not work so well, since it would tend to kink. Luckily this hose was fairly inexpensive at the Honda dealership, they did not have it in stock, but were able to order it and I had it in a few days.

Replacing the Bypass Inlet Hose

This hose is kind of difficult to get to, first I removed the Air Intake system and decided I would need to remove the EGR valve as well and disconnect some additional hoses.  The hose is connected to its two ports by spring clamps.  I was eventually able to get it free using some small clamps and vise grips to work the clamps down the hose so they were no longer putting pressure hose at the ports.  With lots of wiggling and pulling I was eventually able to get the hose free.

Bypass Inlet Hose

The new hose didn’t want to go on of course, I tried lubricating the interior of the hose somewhat and was able to get it a little more than half way with lots of struggling.  It would have been easier if I had taken more of the car apart, such as the fuel rail or the intake manifold, but I didn’t want to do that.  I decided to give up for a bit, the hose was mostly on and didn’t leak.

I eventually was able to get the new hose on another way,   I started the car and let it run for a while, the heated antifreeze from the engine ran through the hose and warmed it.  With the hose now heated, it was much easier to work with.  Since the engine was pretty hot I had to be very cautious and avoid hot surfaces and coolant as much as I could.  I removed the hose one bib at a time to let some hot antifreeze get in the tips of the hose to help lubricate it and then proceeded to put it back on, I spilled some antifreeze on my hands, but thankfully it wasn’t as hot as the rest of the engine block.   I was able to get the hose ends completely onto the ports this way, it worked much more easily than my previous attempt with a cold hose.  I did the other end the same way and put the spring clamps back in place.

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When attempting to improve a cars performance and to avoid problems occurring over time, regular vehicle maintenance should be performed.  This article provides information on how to perform many of these basic maintenance tasks which can be performed by most owners with only a few hand tools and their owners manual as a guide.

If you do not have an owners manual you may be able to find owners manuals and repair guides on amazon.com.

For manufacturer recommendations on fluids, maintenance intervals and other recommendations you will need to get the specifications for your vehicle using your specific car’s owners manual, repair guide or the information found on your vehicle’s stickers found on the side of the door or under the hood.

Spark Plug Replacement

Spark plugs deteriorate and get corroded over time.  Various engine problems can be identified by the wear the spark plug shows. To replace spark plugs you generally only need a socket wrench and a spark plug socket that will fit your particular spark plug.  A spark plug gap gauge tool is a optional tool that will allow you to properly set your spark plug gap.

Spark plugs will usually come gapped correctly, but you can use the gap tool to check them before installing to confirm the gap is correct.  Spark plugs wires may also be changed and is fairly easy to do at the same time.   Care should be taken when replacing the spark plug wires that the proper wire positions are maintained.

Air Filter Replacement

The air filter should be changed per manufacturers recommendations found in your owners manual.  Generally these are fairly easy to replace, and can be done by removing the cover held in place by a few clips or screws and swapping out the old filter inside with a new one.

PCV Valve

The PCV or positive crankcase ventilation valve ventilates the crankcase by pulling harmful vapors and combustion by-products out of the crankcase into the intake where they are burned.  The valve can easily be removed.  remove the connecting hose from the valve and then pull the valve out of the valve cover with a twisting motion.   If you shake the valve, you should hear the bead rattle inside.  If it does not rattle, the valve has become clogged up and should be replaced.   Another test is to blow air into the valve, don’t use your mouth to this.  Air should flow in one direction only; when blowing the other direction the bead should prevent the air from going through the valve.

Other Fluids

You other automotive fluids should be filled to their recommended levels.  Some of these are listed below, again you should always check manufacturers recommendations for your specific vehicle.   Some of the more common fluids include the radiator coolant and overflow, brake fluid in one or more reservoirs, power steering fluid, transmission fluid for automatics, washer fluid, and battery water level for unsealed batteries.

Tires

You can check your tires for many problems yourself. you should at least check for uneven wear, minimum tread depth and proper tire pressure.  To perform these checks, you really only need a tire pressure gauge.   A tread depth indicator can be used to check tread depth, but it isn’t necessary since you can use anything that fits into the treads that has a known dimension to check the depth.  The tire pressure gauge is really an indespensible tool, you can keep one of the small pencil style tire pressure gauges in the glove box of each of your vehicles – It will come in handy anytime you suspect your tires are low on air and when filling them.

Uneven wear can be identified by measuring the tread depth of the tire at various points on the inner, center and outer treads.  if you do not have a depth gauge you can use a penny or a quarter to measure the depth of your treads.  To measure the depth with the coins you should place the coin upside down into the tread.  The top of Lincoln’s head on a penny is approximately 2/32 inch; the top of Washington’s head on a quarter is approximately 4/32 inch.  These measurements are the minimum depths your tires should have per various recommendations.

2/32 inches of remaining tread depth will have significantly less grip in poor conditions than 4/32 inch.  Frequent poor weather may dictate that you should have a minimum of 4/32 or greater tread depth.  Wear bars are bumps placed inside the grooves in the tire tread by the manufacturer that can assist you in determining if it is time to replace your tires.  When these wear bars appear flush with the tread, the tire has been worn to its useful life and should be replaced.

Oil Change

Every few thousand miles the oil should be changed. Check your manufacturer’s manual to find the specific mileage recommendation.  When changing the oil you should also change the oil filter. The recommended oil weight and amount will also be listed in your owners manual.

Changing the oil is a little more involved than the other maintenance previously described in this article since it will generally require you to go under the car.  A good quality jack, wheels blocks and stands or ramps are needed in addition to an oil filter wrench, something to drain the used oil into and sockets.  Most auto parts stores will recycle your used oil for free.  For these reasons some people prefer not to change their own oil, many repair shops will offer discounts and coupons that often compete well with the cost of doing it yourself.

Cap and Rotor

The distributor cap and rotor are are inside the engine compartment and mounted on the distributor.  The spark plug wires connect to the cap.  The contacts inside the cap and on the rotor deteriorate over time and your engine will produce less spark.  You can remove the cap by taking off the wires – mark each wires location on the cap before removing them, you don’t want to mix them up – and then removing the screw holding the cap on.  Inspect the contacts in the cap and on the rotor for wear.  The rotor is underneath the distributor cap and may have a set screw holding it in place.  It can generally be pried off after loosing the set screw.

Many of these items are things that are normally performed in a tune up at a shop, learning to do these things yourself can save you money and help keep your car running well.  Most of the maintenance items discussed in this article can be performed easily with minimal tools and experience and the owners manual or repair guide.

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Things break and wear out on old cars – My drivers side door handle had been broken for some time on my 93 Honda Accord, I just recently replaced it. I knew a few people that had some same generation Hondas they had decided to get rid of. Although it would have been nice to have a couple extra ones for parts, or to fix up and resell, I don’t really have the resources for that – So I asked for a few parts instead. This door handle was one of the parts that I got. I could also have gotten a 93 Honda Accord door handle on amazon, at a junk yard or an auto parts store. [Read more →]

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My CV joint was not worn, there was no clicking sound when turning the car.  I found the torn boot by looking on the inside of the front wheels at the black accordion- like boot and seeing a tear in it.  If you have a torn boot, you will also likely notice axle grease sprayed around on the back side of the wheels and in the wheel well.

Torn CV Boot

This wasn’t a job I was willing to attempt to fix on my own, since I lacked some of the necessary tools and experience, but thankfully I have a friend that was willing to help and instead of paying $160-200 to get this job done – we got to get dirty, learn a bit and go out to dinner later.  The new boot cost me about $20.

Replacing the CV Boot

I bought a Dorman Uni-Fit CV Joint Boot Kit; which comes with the boot, two clamps, some axle grease and instructions – then drove to my friends house and we started the job.

First we took off the front wheel.  After getting the wheel off,  we removed the cotter pin from nut securing the lower ball joint – pliers and a hammer came in handy here.  Once the cotter pin was out we loosened the nut on the ball joint.

After getting the nut off  we were ready to separate the ball joint.  To pop out the ball joint we used a 2/3 jaw reversible gear puller - We could have also used a Ball Joint Separator or a Ball Joint Fork and hammer, however using a fork and hammer would likely destroy the boot on the ball joint and then we would have had to replace that also. 

After getting the ball joint separated, the wheel assembly could be moved pretty freely.  We needed to get the half shaft (axle) out of the wheel now, to do this had to remove the axle nut.  The axle nut was held securly in position by a portion of its lip being bent into a grove in the axle.  We use a hammer and screwdriver to bend this out of the way.  We then removed the axle nut with a 36mm socket and breaker bar, we didn’t actually have the socket so we had to take a break at this point and went down to an auto parts store and got a loaner axle nut socket tool set.

Axel nut on the wheel

We used a hammer to knock the axle out of the wheel and then swing the wheel assembly back and set it on a jackstand for support so that the brake lines would not be supporting the weight.

CV Half Shaft

With the axle out of the wheel we were able to start cutting away the old boot and clamps, this is where it really begain to get messy with all axle grease.  Once we had the old boot and clamps off we cleaned the CV Joint as best we could.  I could feel some grit in the grease – a sign that some dirt had penetrated the boot and would eventually get into the joint and cause wear.

Once we had the joint and axle pretty clean we were ready to put the new boot on.  We flipped the new boot inside outwards and greased up the inside to make it a little easier to pull over the axle.  This turned out to be the hardest part of the job, and one of the most painful.  Pulling, stretching, prying – all sorts of ways were tried to get that boot on there – being carefult not to puncture or tear it.  Eventually perserverance ratchets and screwdrivers were able to help us get the boot on.  I think I may have put a small hole in it but, that portion was covered up by the clamp, so I wasn’t concerned by it. 

Next came the boot clamps.  The clamps were strips of metal that are wrapped around the boot and axle, once pulled tight they are crimped down to keep them in place.  This involved more pulling and fighting, the clamps did not stay in position easily, plus there was grease everywhere and that didn’t help.  This turned out to me the other really painful part of the job.  When we finally were able to put on the boot clamps we did this using a regular set of pliers and screwdrivers – doing it this way it was difficult to get the clamps very tight, a better solution would have been to use a CV Boot Clamp Tightening Wrench.  When choosing a wrench or banding tool, make certain you get the type appropriate for the type of clamps you have. 

Alternate Ways to Fix a Torn CV Boot

This was one of the more difficult ways this job could have been done – I think it took me a week to get clean and nearly two to heal.  Having some of the additional tools mentioned in this article would have definatly have made this easier.  Another method of replacing the boot would have been to take out the axle and disassemble the joints, install the new boot, reassemble the joints and replace the axle – this would have saved us the struggle of pulling the boot over the axle.   I also understand that just replacing the axle is easier, but a bit more expensive – however, if your CV joint is clicking when you turn, you don’t have any other option than to replace the axle. 

Another tool that could have made this job easier

This CV Boot Air Tool could have made our job a lot easier by stretching the boot for us and helping us to more easily get it on the axle, but you will need an air compressor to operate it.  There is also a manual installation tool made by dorman that seems to use some cones and a spreader.  Please leave some comments if you have some experience with any of these other methods or tools.

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My AC, heater and thermostat stopped working one day.  It wasn’t just one piece of the system, but everything and I wasn’t in the mood for a huge repair bill.  I got out my multimeter, screwdriver, voltage detector and started looking and asking questions.  This is how I solved the problem.

[Read more →]

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Some time ago I began noticing some erratic behavior with my 93 Honda Accord transmission.  The problem turned out to be related to the transmission computer and I was able to fix it myself for only a few dollars. [Read more →]

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On my way to work the other day, my car began to behave erratically. When taking off from a stop sign, the transmission seemed to have a problem engaging, it needed higher rpms than usual to get going.  The experience was similar to what you would experience with low transmission fluid.  Shortly there after, I noticed another hiccup in the transmission and saw the “D” and “3″ positions light up simultaneiously on the console. I pulled over and checked my fluid – I had plenty of transmission fluid.  I’ve been experiencing electrical issues lately, so I assumed it could easily be related to that.

After driving a bit further at a high rate of speed, I felt the transmission become sluggish briefly. I had enough at this point and decided that I wouldn’t drive it in to work not wanting to risk getting stuck somewhere with a broken car, I drove around a bit more near home without incident and eventually returned home.

I really don’t know really anthing about work, so I decided I’d start doing a bit of research before just taking the car in. The first thing I decided to do was to get the OBD1 codes from the car. This post will explain just how I did that.

The OBD1 connector is located behind the passenger side kick panel in front of the door, underneath the dash. The panel is pretty snug – it is held in by at least three clips and tucked under the trim that runs along the bottom of the door frame.  I removed this panel by getting the panel tip out from underneath the doorframe trim and then getting my hands behind the panel near the clips and pulling it straight out.  My clips were metal and it required a pretty good bit of force. If there is a better way, leave a comment.

After you have the kick panel off, you will see a black plastic tube holding cables running up along the door frame. I found my ODB1 connector taped to this tube with blue electrical tape. The connector has two wires going into it and nothing connected to it.

OBD1 Connector Location

Using a spare paperclip I had in my car, I jumped the two wires by inserting the two ends of the paperclip into the two connection points of the connector.

Jumping the OBD1 connector with a paperclip

After doing this, I turned the ignition to the on position, but did not start the car.  The indicators on the dash displayed codes by flashing several times.  It is a good idea to have a pencil and paper handy in the event you are given several codes.  A long flash represents a value of 10, short quick flashes represent values of 1.  There is a pause between the different codes that are presented.  Once all of the codes are displayed, it repeats them again.  The two indicators that will display codes are the Check Engine Light, which will send codes from the ECU (Engine Control Unit – The main computer for the car) and the Gear Shift “D” (Drive) indicator showing TCU (Transmission Control Unit) codes.  Once I had all of my codes written down I began research on the problems my car was experiencing using both the internet and my well worn Haynes 1993 Accord Repair Manual.

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This is part 3 of the Lock Rekeying Series. 

In part 1 I discussed your options for Getting Your Locks Rekeyed.  I also introduced the subject of lock rekeying kits and discussed three different types: a single use small rekeying kit, a custom rekey kit good for occasional use, and a full size manufacturers Rekeying Kit designed for heavy use.

In part 2 I defined the Tools and Parts Commonly Found in Lock Rekeying Kits. 

In this article I will relate my experience rekeying a Schlage deadbolt lock. 

I have never rekeyed a lock and had only a minor understanding of how locks worked.  I found some guides from the Schlage website and read about rekeying my particular lock.  I then purchased a custom rekeying kit on EBay.  I was able to successfully rekey my lock and I am happy to have the custom kit in the event I need to rekey more locks later and the experience and new found knowledge.

I found the tools a bit unwieldy, somewhat due to their small size, inexperience and a less than perfect fit – I do not know if the tools were OEM Schlages or not, however I would guess that OEM tools may have been easier to use.  If anyone has experience with this please comment.  Specifically I found the follower to be an extremely tight fit which made it difficult to move and the cap remover teeth did not match up correctly with the scallops on the cap, the tools circumference seemed smaller than that of the cap - nevertheless, I was able to use the tools successfully.

Lock Rekeying Reference

Here are the manuals for Schlage Lock Rekeying that I used for rekeying locks:

http://consumer.schlage.com/customerservice/pdfs/SCH191_Rekeying_Guide_Final.pdf

http://consumer.schlage.com/installations/P513-325_Rekeying_Manual.pdf

Rekeying the Lock

This is the basic process I went through to rekey my lock,  if you are going to rekey a lock use one of the manuals from the manufacturer as your reference.

With the deadbolt in my hand I  lifted the plastic retainer off of the lock.  Once the retaining ring was off, I lifted the crank off.

I then used the cap remover, I attempted to align the teeth of the cap remover with the scallops on the cap.  I also discovered I must simultaneously depress the cap pin with the cap remover tool while loosening the cap (the pin’s purpose is to prevent the cap from turning).

Once the cap was off,  I removed the tailpiece and the washer and then dumped out the cap pin and its spring.

With the old key in the plug and turned to about two o’clock, I attempted to insert the follower and push the plug out of the cylinder – I found this difficult because of the extremely tight fit of my follower, after a few tries the follower became worn enough that I was successfully able to remove the plug. 

You may spill the bottom pins which are inside the plug during this process – this is ok, you will be dumping them out anyways.  If you  spill the top pins which are in the cylinder, you will have some extra work to do to get these back in (the follower is designed to prevent you from spilling the top pins).

Once I had the plug out, I replaced the old bottom pins with the new bottom pins to make my new key work.  When the correct pins are in place, the tops of the pins sit flush with the plug surface when the key is fully inserted.  I tested several different pins to find the right match, it wasn’t until later that I discovered that the numbers corresponding to the pins are printed right on the key – This is mentioned in the manuals linked above, but I not completely read them.

After I had installed my new pins, I reassembled the lock, installed it in the door and tested my work.  It worked wonderfully.  It probably took me an hour or more to rekey and install the lock, now that I’ve done it once, I should be able to rekey similar locks much quicker.

Articles in this series

Part 1:  Getting Your Locks Rekeyed

Part 2: Tools and Parts Commonly Found in Lock Rekeying Kits

Part 3: Rekeying a Schlage Deadbolt Lock