DIY Car Repairs Gone Wrong: Common Mistakes & How to Fix Them Before They Break You
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Part
battery
A car battery gives power to start the engine and run lights, radio, and other electronics.
Part
four cylinder engine
A four-cylinder engine is a type of car engine with four cylinders that make the car move.
Part
shocks
Shocks help your car stay smooth when you hit bumps. They absorb the jolt so you don’t feel every bump in the road.
Brand
Tesla
Tesla makes cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline. They’re famous for their fast acceleration and large touchscreens.
Concept
legacy brands
Legacy brands are the older car makers like Ford, GM, Toyota, etc., that have been around for a long time and still make gasoline cars.
Term
EV
An EV is a car that runs on electricity, so it doesn’t use gasoline and produces no tailpipe emissions.
Concept
charging stations
Charging stations are places where you can plug in an electric car to get more power, similar to a gas station for gasoline cars.
Concept
lifecycle of an EV
It looks at everything that happens to an electric car from the factory, through its use, and when it’s retired or recycled.
Term
wheel alignment geometry
Wheel alignment geometry is how the wheels are set up on a car so they point in the right direction, which helps the car drive straight and use tires evenly.
Part
control arms
Control arms are parts of a car’s suspension that help keep the wheels in the right place as the car moves over bumps.
Car
Model 3
The Model 3 is a small electric car from Tesla that many people like because it’s not too expensive and can go a good distance on one charge.
Term
Plaid
Plaid is a special version of the Model 3 that can go very fast because it has extra power from three electric motors.
Car
Cybertruck
The Cybertruck is a big electric truck from Tesla that looks very different from other trucks and can haul heavy loads.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Mustang is a classic American sports car that people love for its fast engine and cool look. It’s been made for many years, so it’s a well-known name in car culture.
Term
Movia S
Movia S is a small sensor that helps cars see their surroundings using light, and it’s cheaper than many other options.
Term
solid state LiDAR
Solid-state LiDAR is a type of sensor that doesn’t have moving parts, so it’s more reliable and cheaper to make.
Car
Ford Expedition
It’s a big, family‑friendly pickup truck from Ford that can carry people and cargo.
Term
driverless vehicle
It’s a car that can drive itself, using computers and sensors instead of a person behind the wheel.
Company
Parts Authority
Parts Authority sells car parts like brakes, batteries, and other components that people use to fix or upgrade their vehicles.
Company
Wrench Nation
Wrench Nation is a store where mechanics and DIYers can buy tools like wrenches, sockets, and other gear needed for car repairs.
Part
snorkel
A snorkel is a tube that brings in fresh air from outside the car, helping the engine run better. It’s usually added to make the car faster or to keep it running cleanly.
Company
Denso
Denso makes parts for cars, like the small pieces that help your engine start and run smoothly.
Part
spark plugs
Spark plugs are tiny parts that help your car’s engine start by creating a spark in the cylinders.
Concept
tune up
A tune up is when a mechanic checks parts that help your car start and run well, like spark plugs and filters.
Car
Chevrolet Spark
The Spark is a tiny, cheap car that’s easy to park and doesn’t use much gas. It’s good for city driving.
Car
Chrysler Pacific
The Pacifica is a large family van that can seat many people and has nice features like a built‑in screen. It’s designed to be comfortable for long trips.
Term
diesel
Diesel is a kind of engine that runs on diesel fuel, which gives more pulling power and uses less gas than regular gasoline engines.
Concept
jump start
If your car won’t start because the battery is dead, you can use another car’s battery to give it a boost. You connect the batteries with cables and let the good battery power up the bad one.
Brand
Volvo
Volvo makes cars that are famous for being safe and reliable. They’re a well-known brand from Sweden.
Term
memory saver
When a car’s battery dies, the car can lose settings like radio stations or seat positions. A memory saver keeps those settings saved so you don’t have to re‑set them every time the battery is replaced.
Term
data link connector
It’s a small plug‑in spot in the car where you can connect tools or gadgets to talk to the car’s computer, like a USB port but for cars.
LIVE
Welcome back Ranch Nation always in order to hang out with you mechanical
maniacs right here from the East Valley Institute of Technology I see I'm sending
out a little brass love right here from the Bulldogs Bay
we're bringing you some great car tips you can use today I'm gonna tell you that right now
oh it's a big shout out to the Bulldogs band we love the small bands that come out they're
not like they've got a following on Spotify if you want to check them out the Bulldogs band if
you like a rich deep brass baritone Susie sockets is in house from singing pandas you have always
loved that song it's been with us yeah you know I'll be honest I like I've considered changing
the opening song but I've not got you guys have not yelled at me yet so we're gonna keep it plus
I just love good brass and Aiden's in house yeah you were you playing brass in high school or
anything you pick up a musician like you know I wasn't playing brass but I definitely did pick up
the violin for a minute I'll tell you that you look like a violin do we have to have a certain
look for the instruments that we pick that's the question no did you play music in high school Susie
no I sing see there you look like a beautiful singer oh thank you Frank violin you know Aiden
I wouldn't I figured you'd be a lanky like me like a trombone player or something so violin guitar
and I was also a singer you were all three of the trifecta baby when you're gonna sing at our
restaurant yeah you just gotta you just gotta send me like an email invitation down there for free
so you what you're saying Susie is saying at singing panda do you hold additions at the restaurant
we don't hold additions but what I do is I like talent to come in on a Monday when we're closed
just so we can kind of check them out yep check in on the sound check if you don't know singing
panda you can have the delicacy of everything from egg rolls sweet and sour recognized award
winning in fact we're gonna mention a few things and get your groove on you have some musicians
that stop playing play this live music is just like a signature nobody's doing that awesome yeah no
we're we're unique that way well let's sort out this uh we're gonna talk automotive news
and I'm gonna introduce show topic but I gotta give you the floor you people listening I know
you're hungry right now it's four o'clock you're getting ready to eat what did you accomplish
recently as you and your team did something recently down there in Chandler talk about it
yeah so we recently just want one um best of Chandler in best takeout best asian best customer
service best kept secret band and best family entertainment and now we're competing best of
the east valley which is tempi Chandler Gilbert you're really going you're hitting all of them
you are hitting all I didn't see best of basket weeping well you know what you gotta work on
you nobody nominated us frank but you deserve it you got a great team down there super team and
it's really a place to enjoy I like the fact that I can bring 10 or 12 people
and enjoy a meal and let's face it you're listening you know if you go out to the
restaurant you got people coming in town uh whatever from whatever part of the country and
you want to take them out to our lovely southwest here sometimes look let's you 10 or more people
you lose like service starts to like oh they forgot this they forgot that you do it consistently
we do it consistently because we're group service so not just one person is gonna wait on you we're
all gonna wait on you is that a thing in the restaurant business group service like being able
to it's not common yeah it really isn't common because a lot of food servers want their own
station make their own money what's your challenge in the restaurant business when you have a group
um individuals might think another individual isn't uh capable or shouldn't deserve 100 of the tips
that would be the that would be a challenge oh on the business side yeah on the business
oh let's talk about that yes um so I knew a couple of old school like concierge level
hosts I won't mention the fine dining Italian restaurant um was this a phenomenon because
traditionally you earned your tips you owed and maybe you did the bus boy thing right but now
it's a whole group night thing why do they do that um well it for one thing it allows everybody to
wait on all the tables you think okay right you're not chasing tables right and it's not like hey
they got sat last I should get sat next what if somebody's having a bad night as a waiter or waitress
and they're not really pulling the do they do they talk about it do they get less our team no
no our team doesn't really do that they don't they they all come they all come with game but I
would imagine in that type of pay environment like if you're paying the whole staff yep everybody
team it we're a team we're going to win the Super Bowl every dang night what like if somebody falls
short yeah we pick them up we just pick them up you pick them up yeah you don't like him a sleeping
bag party absolutely not we don't we don't put them that you know we don't put them in the back
of the house we keep them in the front I don't even know because I it's been god 30 years since I
was in the restaurant business as you know you get a little high school gig or not right
some people do it professionally and they do it really well and I want to salute you because
I recognize you listening some of you are getting ready to do a night shift tonight right now you've
been working in grinding at a restaurant you love you're proud you're not a part-timer we need to
salute these folks absolutely because I think the consumer doesn't feel like that's a real job
food service is a tough job it really is why it's well okay now I don't mean to talk about
gratuity but I'm going to talk about gratuity I'm open I want to do it so we had a last our last
table last night came in pretty late it was a little over a hundred dollars and I got the
merchant receipt and it didn't have a tip on there oh so I politely went over to him and I said
hey did you want to recognize the food servers with the gratuities like I guess I can and he
put five dollars you know how I feel about tips oh yeah in fact I have gotten some hate on it
people I get it it's a tight economy but it's tight because you people ain't tipping these people
right right how much you tip what's fair uh you know 20 20 percent I think is fair I know I know
it's like most people will say 15 percent 20 percent yep I think 20 percent is very fair
you you find that it reinvigorates like it's hard work it reinvigorates based upon this is what
folks are making so they had a really good night with tips and most people did 20 percent
do you find that I'm gonna show up again tomorrow I'm hungry now oh absolutely not just chasing money
but we all want to listen don't lie to yourself we all want to be recognized in ways uh for our
effort we want to work for a nice place we want to it's like paying mechanics you get like pay a
mechanic yeah well yeah if you make some mistake it's an opportunity for everybody right but you
know what the tip is is actually driven by the experience I like this conversation I want to
continue on we will cover a show topic you guys hang with us because I have more questions um
what what would deem not only you but most restaurants to fire somebody without a sit down
what could fire immediately a waiter or waitress with no sit down opportunity in other words you're
now I can think of one um it was we're not talking about poisoning food yeah yeah no this was uh
this was a couple years ago food server actually forgot to put the food in and when he went to
the table and the table says where's our food he blamed it on the kitchen in fighting yes he
blamed it on the kitchen and so I asked him I said what did you tell them well I told him the
kitchen was behind that's not the truth you go back out there and you'd apologize to them
and you tell them the truth that you take accountability and you say you forgot to put
the order in this is why you got the awards because what you're doing is removing the
barrier it's the same in a service bay advisors folks that deal with the consumer directly with
their car repair and service um if not done properly there can be some serious infighting
with the guys in the back absolutely uh an example on that level as I twisted up into the automotive
here is that the technician says I need this that and the other thing this car will be fixed
properly the advisor says no we're just going to do one or two things explains it to the consumer
tells stories and gets that technician half of what it takes to do that surgery properly right
that's then there's infighting yeah let me let me tell you something as consumers buying automotive
service maintenance repair all of that let me tell you that there is a process happening quietly
behind the scenes so that everyone in order to build a team we all have to be accountable
because if not there's finger pointing and uh I will just give you a golden rule
the surgeons in the back lead the front now the front you can dance with a consumer you can
entertain them I've been known to do that I'll sing for you because I'm so grateful you're
spending money in my establishment but I never even as a season technician of 35 plus years
if my technician in the back says this is what the surgery needs that's what gets done then yep
you you say it with conviction and that's what it's that's how you're gonna do it right
wow that was backpedaling do you have a gut instinct about people that way do you know when
somebody how do you prove somebody's lying um in business well you know I was grateful that when
I asked him what did you tell them they he told me the truth I was grateful for that but it warranted
a you can't be here anymore you're small business like if you allowed that to go you'd have no
exactly yeah I don't know yeah that's restaurant restaurant industry is is interesting
it is interesting I think it's uh like any um well many categories I think like hair stylist who
are in the business of service I had this conversation with my stylist yes I have a stylist and you've
got nice hair I'm bougie I always get made fun of when I do my tv segments like whatever anyway
I asked him I said man what if you get the color wrong if you're coloring hair and that
like so there's a consultation yeah for and because can you can you you can't reverse right
but that would be their version of a comeback yeah but I think anybody coloring hair they're
those are usually seasoned people am I right I don't think you could be starting that game
as a colorist you're just gonna get cut in hair and then you train train train uh shout out to
Eveta that's where I go you do I have oh you are bougie I am bougie Eveta because they're
organic people they're not killing wild animals for your hair product although I still use Paul
Mitchell oh yeah you know I told you the story like when I was younger people like Frank ready to
do the head blah blah blah I said well I was in the city as a kid winter cold my hair would freeze
because I'd wet my hair it would be frozen to the old man in the elevator said sunny why don't you
use Dippity-Doo Dippity-Doo I love Dippity-Doo which now everything is like got all fancy and branded
now you got all these labels but yeah that's basically Dippity-Doo yeah anyway we totally
got side twisted oh yes people we are an automotive show but we'd like to life it I'm gonna extend the
break because Aiden I'm gonna get to your weird news I want to announce the show topic I did a
channel three segment this weekend and thank you guys you checked it out I usually do Sundays
around seven o'clock with the morning show over there big shout out to Paul Horton my friend Paul
Horton we have a fun time but I covered the common mistakes that you can make with repairs that you
are doing yourself I'm not talking about rebuilding engines I'm saying like you're gonna maybe want to
do your battery maybe want to give it a little tune up a yellow four cylinder fair enough you'll
want to do your breaks I want to cover some of the common mistakes and how to fix them before
they break you or your spouse comes out there yelling at you I know I see on the weekend you're
working on your ride there are some mistakes that you can void from strip bolts to some of the mystery
leaks that can happen after you fix something that shouldn't be leaking we're gonna dive into some of
the vital steps that you can avoid we're gonna cover break jobs spark plugs cooling system in
other words you may go in there and let's say you got an easy overflow bottle that's leaking
something that you think you can handle and we respect that we actually promoted
suspension works I mean you want to do your own shocks and some of the basic electric fixes
yes this is a mouthful and we only have a little 45 50 minutes to cover this but we're
going to go fast and furious but I do have some news I want to bring this up I think we saw this
coming with Tesla Susie we mentioned the rebates money is going away the incentives yes what just
happened with Tesla I don't know my tesla mafia people ain't gonna be happy uh oh tesla owners
are starting to shift to legacy brands for gas vehicles hybrids uh as that ev brand loyalty
is currently dropping really tesla for the first time in a long time people went from number one
as the royal crown of loyalty to number two who's number one now would you like to guess what
vehicle manufacturers number one i'm gonna as an ev no just anything all manufacturers who's
number one right now as of what is today september 8 2025 aid you want to take a guess who's number
one right now for loyalty for brand i'd have no clue tesla went to number two toy no you got to
throw it out there man you're at a poker table at least put some cards down i'm going to order
honestly toyota was my first guess too toyota is number four oh what number one honda
ford what can you i was shocked i love ford you know my ford i'm a ford truck guy ford is number
one i'll give you the specifics uh 59.6 percent is what ford's taking barely in all fairness to teslas
teslas still makes a rock star product 58 one percent is where tesla came in number three is
chevrolet now you're saying well frank where do they get these reports they just like go to the
neighborhood and just ask 10 people no these are uh i can't quote where it doesn't tell me trust me
i'm not trying to fake news this but uh you can find it online how about that wow i'll quote automotive
news i subscribe to them uh article written by uh laurence illiff september 10th 130 this afternoon
tesla owners are defecting to legacy brands you are jumping ship okay now the question would be why
well here's why well let me back up do you think they're loyal because it's an ev or do you think
they're loyal because of what rebates i'm gonna get hate people gonna say oh you don't know what
you're talking about you ice mechanic i don't know if it's the rebates they like the styling
let's give that the stylings although i think the lineup could get more exciting they better get more
exciting i think yeah now is there like when you go when you go to a parking lot and you see those
charging stations is there a cost for that or are they free no they pay for that okay yeah it doesn't
fluctuate like gas well there's a lot of controversy we've reported on over the years
like if you did the lifecycle of an ev how much did it really cost you remember you're gonna play
you're gonna replace tires uh a little more frequent uh frequent regarding geometry and
i'm not the authority on it i've had folks like tex got brown out of claremont mesa who's just a
tesla underhood guru um but you're gonna go through the tires you're gonna go through the
control arms you will go to breaks i in fact i joke around you won't see me for an old change
one old service i should say but you may see me because your tires are worn because the geometry
in the weight of the battery okay but they dropped to the number two and to answer your question
i i don't know for sure but i do believe um remember this is loyalty it doesn't tell me if this is
new or existing it says tesla owners are defecting to legacy brands in greater numbers
let's look for the why compared to last year because last year was sky high loyalty numbers
they're leaving the ev maker because of an aging lineup according to this story there we go an aging
lineup now is that debatable and i just said i've been saying this for a long time i love elon musky's
brilliant he is not from this planet right now he's out there he's out there he created a car company
he totally but there's rebates right there's rebates and i've been saying it
they're gonna have to do something with their lineup okay would you agree listening
you're driving your model three you've been driving you love it would you get another model
three maybe you're gonna bump it up you got a raise you're gonna get a model says maybe something
i'm gonna get a plaid what a really good cyber truck but you're a cyber truck oh cyber you either
love it or you hate it everybody i mean what are you thinking now i gotta ask because you you
had brought up aging lineup is it possible you remember that story i covered a few weeks back
i think it was maybe last week about how ford was doing like brand new names new new copyrights
is it possible that maybe some ford heavyweight like diehards are getting wind of this too
is that possibly i think the answer in that yeah i think to answer you think by the way ford is
investing buku money they're gonna be players in the market oh absolutely uh some of you would
disagree a lot of you tesla drivers allow that emak mustang no no no no but that emak mustang
for a while was just sitting there but there's an uptick i think we reported on it a few weeks
back they're starting to sell those emak mustangs i think the i think the the um the lineup could be
debatable some of you like no they make wonderful cars i can wrap it what do you mean frank i can
i can style it the way i want that's fine but you gotta watch the competition field and here's
another one this is secondary to this what happened to elon elon got on the political stage
yes and you know doge and you know department of government efficiency some of you didn't like
that you thought he you know that's the problem right now this country so politically divided
that way but um so that's the story we'll have to keep an eye on that i don't think tesla's going
anywhere anytime soon i think they're still gonna have some brand loyalty but they are number two
currently um as of this uh that was the second quarter report they dropped according to this
story a nine point four percentage points eight real quick give me weird story and then we got a
break and we're gonna give some guts the tips on some do it yourself repairs what do you got
so the company microvision has a new lidar system out called the movia s it's a small affordable
solid state lidar system using a tri lidar setup two corner ones one uh two corner ones plus a
long range unit and supposedly this is supposed to cost maybe two to three hundred dollars to
turn your average car like maybe a uh ford expedition into a driverless vehicle that
nice whoa because lidar you guys know lidar uh elon says we don't need lidar we can roll off
of cameras and uh uh you know radar that's the biggest thing that's the biggest difference
lidar is expensive but two to three hundred dollars to turn your ford expedition into a driverless
vehicle with just lidar well i well in theory let's think about this for a minute um it's a low
cost next generation sensor of sorts i wonder if google is this in israeli it goes to the three
to lidar setups with all the cameras and stuff goes to a powerful central computer to improve
object detection while fitting discreetly into parts like bumpers and headlights
so this thing can get built into your car for the low low price of two to three hundred dollars
i don't believe it by 2028 wow because lidar is expensive you see lidar if you watch waymo
all those waymos outfitted like they have every redundancy they have every sensor on there and
if you just take waymo if you just don't know about this EV autonomous just take waymo which
bulky does it's the my daughter loves waymo a lot of you love waymo you'd have to worry about a
driver who farts or whatever oh man i got the worst driver i want to give him a good review but
he's stuck then he kept trying to play music i don't like anyway uh but that autonomous if you
look at that waymo loaded they look at tesla already got the fsd right you pay for it full full
self-driving um i don't know man that boy would love to see that there's got to be criteria
we'd uh man if i'd love to get them on the show you know i'm gonna bookmark this i'm gonna get on
a linkedin i'm gonna find folks and my people will reach out to your people because they probably
want to talk about it you know what the first thing i thought about that was you remember the show
night writer oh yeah build that into the car man we're you got kit baby i know hey i remember
i think we already had the night writer i think night writer's been in oh yeah for like at least
five years night writer yeah but night night writer's a cool show that was a good show i love that you
put that into a classic car though and it looks a little bit more like night writer and the whole
kit thing yeah i'm gonna reach out microvision uh but it does say one thing though new trial
lidar architecture targets mass market adoption is this price for fleets or can i just go on amazon
buy it and then have my mechanic put it on i have so many questions i think that's an exciting
topic i'm gonna i'm gonna tap uh tap this company susie don't let me forget i won't let you forget
i'm trying to look for it myself all right every try to save a few bucks you try to avoid coming in
my garage you want to work on your ride but i am getting phone calls from you about the recent
battery or spark plugs or air filter you replace your own air filter and you've got now a world
famous check engine light how about we cover fast and furious we're moving on this topic
ways to save you money because this is what i see you making mistakes at how to avoid the
common mistakes and how to fix them before you break or your wife hits you upside the head stay
to rent a nation
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All right, listen, all my automotive family, big conference coming to town.
They hold these conferences across the country and we're honored to have Wrench and Wrench
Management Conference, the big boobop people, to help drive your shop forward.
Automotive operations, marketing, business, right here in Phoenix.
It's going to be nice, people don't worry, 100 degrees should be away, although we've
had a couple of hollow wings where, man, I'm sweating my costume.
Wrench and Wrench Management Conference is happening October 8th to 10th.
Right here, Renaissance, Phoenix, Glendale.
More information, rwconference.com.
I'm telling you, they got a lineup.
You think you know it all, but you don't know until you know.
And these are some talented folks, registration is open.
They have a full, full roster of classes where you can learn strategies to grow your shop.
You can kind of customize that experience, you can connect.
What I like, Susie, you connect with other people.
I love to learn.
And I've actually spoke at Wrench and Wrench, was honored to teach a few classes myself
and want to remind you if you are in the industry, especially all my podcasts, folks that hang
with the replay of the show, Wrench and Wrench Management Conference, more details, rwconference.com.
I'll be out there, people, I'll hang with you, we'll go see Frank.
We'll all hang.
There's a ton of talent.
We're going to talk more about that in coming weeks.
We talked about what can go wrong.
Don't be big shots.
A lot of you probably said, oh, I do my own stuff.
This guy's going to try to tell me how to get out of trouble.
It just takes one time.
It's even for a season mechanic or technician, master technician has done that same.
He says, oh, I got this job.
I've done it before and things can happen.
Things can go south.
What are those do it, you repair, do it yourself repairs that can go wrong?
What are the common mistakes?
I'm going to jump right to it.
Breaks.
Are you going to pick on the do it yourself first?
No, I'm going to help them.
Oh, there you go, Frank.
They call me, we're family, whether it's a do it for me, client, or I have somebody
that, hey, I need advice.
We're about that all day long.
And number one is breaks because a lot of you get comfortable with YouTube and I got
to say breaks is not rocket science.
However, you can get into trouble.
One is the quality of break pad.
Think about Christmas and what you're buying your wife by the way of shoes.
Are you going to buy her a $9 pair of shoes?
Will you buy a $9 pair of break pads?
Some of your cheap.
What if I got them online, like on the auction?
I make, I may get a good pair of shoes for nine bucks.
You're going to say used.
This ain't the rack.
We ain't going to, ain't going to Norseman's rack again.
Come on, it's Norseman's rack.
Those are all used shoes, aren't they?
No, I don't think so.
I bought a few, some of them.
Really?
They're used?
I smelled the shoe before.
But they are less expensive, but now it breaks people.
You got to go with the quality and that's debatable.
You know, just understand.
I will tell you, and I'll probably be people who argue this.
I think, I think 30 to $40 non-European, 30 to $40 is a good range.
If you're buying a break pad for $19, $20, $24, and I'm not talking about the online
deal.
So buy quality.
Some of you are saying, well, Frank, do I buy ceramic or semi-metallic?
You call me at the garage.
That's a deeper conversation.
Go with the factory calling on that.
Now, you can get, there's some debate about having a truck and loads and maybe you want
to get into a beefier pad.
So that's number one.
Find the quality.
Research it.
If you're not sure, reach out to me at the garage.
If you're down in Florida, I've got people all over the country.
You're not bleeding.
The brake system, you've messed up.
You've put those calipers in, brake fluids popping out.
It's leaking all over the place and you got to bleed the system.
That's when you got two people, a pump, you know, push, push, hold.
Yeah, it is.
You will have more likely in your driveway, you'll be a push, push, hold two people, but
we do have stuff in the garage where one guy can technically go solo.
But most people are not going to have those tools.
Don't reuse the hardware.
What does that mean?
Well, you can buy brand new brakes.
They're quality.
I got them from the dealer.
But the hardware that keeps the brake pad in its cradle, right, sitting comfortably,
if you use the, reuse that hardware, they're springy, tensile-y, you'll have fancy word
for squeaks, harmonic issues, noises.
Okay?
So don't reuse that.
That's what I find.
I get these jobs in.
Well, Frank, it can't be my brakes, but I hear a squeak and we find that you reuse in
the brake pads.
Number two, some of you will do your brakes or number three or four, wherever we're at.
Some of you do your brakes.
You don't give the rotor attention.
Your pad slapping.
Now, listen, I hear you.
You know, if that's what you want to be when you grow up, you want to pad slap, go pad
slap with yourself.
You may have stopping, but brake pads burnish themselves onto the surface of the brake
rotor.
I'm going to take it down a couple of basement degrees.
The pad kisses the rotor.
The rotor turns.
Brake pad applies itself to rotor.
Over time, they get married.
They have a relationship that burnishing leaves pad material on the existing rotor.
Under a microscope, it'll blow your mind.
It looks like the Grand Canyon.
You may not see it.
Now, on extreme occasions, you will.
Rotors can groove.
They can have little blue spots, black spots, heat.
We know when you're breaking bad.
I've had warranty jobs, which we just take care of.
Within reason, you've burnt the brakes up because you're riding.
I can tell, we can tell by the condition of that brake rotor.
We'll still take care of you, but give the rotor attention.
Now, the debate is, well, Frank, do I re-service or replace them?
I say replace them.
Old school, we used to re-service.
We used to do all that.
But replace them and make sure you buy a quality brake rotor.
There are vast differences in prices.
Brake rotors have veins.
As that rotor spins, it's dissipating heat.
It's like a fan.
If you don't get enough of those veins, if you bought a cheap rotor, it's going to have
less of those veins to cool the brakes down and you can have problems.
Lastly, on brakes, and we had the Godfather brakes, by the way, I have an in-depth show.
Just get on a wrench nation and put in the search bar.
Just type in brakes.
I had the Godfather brakes on.
Man, my memory.
You know, what is that?
Ginkuba?
I need some memory stuff.
What do they call this?
I can't even remember.
I do so much.
Let me get the show.
Because I think it's going to help you.
A lot of you want to just skip out of this show right now and go back to a whole show
dedicated on quality brakes.
Show number 303 on the website, podcast, what have you.
October 23rd and 23, way back.
We had Dino.
Dino, the Godfather brakes.
Dino and Dan Bozinski.
Dino Crescentini with DFC, Dynamic Friction.
That whole show goes into that.
I can't cover all that now because we've got to move on.
But if you want an in-depth show, skip over to number 303.
Break it down.
The science is slowing down.
That show is great.
And they do give you the science.
So that's the brakes.
I don't think I missed anything.
That's the basics.
Yeah, that's the basics.
Oh, I was going to say, you people are just tightening those lug nuts and walking away.
You think because you went to the gym, you're going to tighten those?
I can.
No, man.
Get an inexpensive torque ratchet.
Oh, yeah.
You don't have to spend what we spend in the garage, you know, for the snap-ons and all
that that we get.
We use it commercially.
We got to have something that lasts.
You may use it once, whatever, twice a year.
It gives you a nice torque ratchet.
You can get on Amazon.
Find the torque spec for lug nuts.
Because if you over tighten lug nuts, or you don't get that right, that's a bad hair
day, you can have vibrations.
So plus it's good to keep your family safe, knowing if it called for whatever, 180 foot
pounds, you got it down.
You're like, no, I went to the gym.
I'm not tight my lug nuts.
Anyway, I hope that helps.
Make sure you bleed the brakes properly.
Don't reuse hardware.
Pick a good brake pad, take care of that brake rotor and take care of lug nuts.
So what's the next step?
Air filter.
I got to go into that.
Yeah.
Easy.
Everybody, I had people, Frank, I'd be in my own air filter.
What happens?
They come back with a check engine light.
It's real simple.
Some of you go too fast or it's like a mental block, no brainer.
It's like making cheeseburgers.
Everybody makes cheeseburgers.
But nobody makes a cheeseburger like you, Susan.
Oh my gosh.
And we all like our cheeseburgers.
That's right.
So now what causes the check engine light after a filter change, Frank?
I got a little sidetrack with the cheeseburger.
You did.
I'm bringing you back.
I'm hungry, though.
So the thing about an air filter is you are not putting all the plastics back together.
You are not clipping the clips properly.
You went too fast and you left a snorkel, the air induction hose or what.
Not in the check engine light will come on and that'll create a lean condition.
That's like stabbing a hole in your throat.
Is that from air coming in?
That's right.
Lean is there.
Lean is there.
Thank you, Susan.
You're welcome.
Some of you hit the wrong filter, air filter.
And you think you can cheat it.
It's not quite the right fit, but it seems like it'll work.
That can cause problems.
Lastly, I'll say about air filter.
If you're working on your car, get you a nice little industrial vacuum.
You don't have to spend big money.
Do not do a disservice to the air filter who loves that little homey lives in with all the
leave and debris that you did not vacuum.
Because guess what?
New air filter sucks it up.
So vacuum out the air box.
That's what I see regarding the air filter.
Tune up.
Some of you want to do your own tune up.
Well, yeah, tune up.
Susie, I know you've been around a car.
You were at the garage for many years.
You ever put spark plugs in a car?
I won't do it, Frank.
You won't?
No, I won't do it.
What's the biggest factor?
The biggest factor why I won't do it?
Yeah.
Well, to me, that just seems like it's like pulling the teeth and I don't know how to pull teeth.
I see.
It could be like pulling teeth because if you get this wrong.
Exactly.
I'm not putting it fear.
A lot of you I promote, learn it.
There's nothing wrong with that.
Some of you just starting out working on your own stuff and you've watched the.
Some of this that you can't get on YouTube is the rhythm and feel in your hands.
Can I say that?
This is why the skilled trades go from apprentice to journeyman.
You've come out of school.
You've killed it.
You know it.
I got it.
But then it's this rhythm and to get the journeyman.
That's really it's just that experience and rhythm and feel.
Spark plugs can be that way because a lot of times you do not see you can pull the plug out.
You don't quite see the whole.
But if that plug doesn't align properly and you cross thread it, that's a problem.
Right.
My only advice with you.
Yes, you're watching YouTube videos.
Get acquainted with the lay of the land.
I'm for that.
But I would really, I would really be cautious on the plugs because I've had them come in the
garage where and it's weird because it doesn't happen like right away after you do the tune up.
You'll come in like two weeks, three weeks later and you have a misfire.
And then you say, I can't be plugs is something else.
And slowly, but surely either one of two things happened or a combination of things.
One, it was cross threaded, got you by just barely.
And two, the electrode was smashed.
That electrode is that little bridge, that little gap.
You take that voltage, jump the gap.
That's the spark.
Now we explode fire fuel power.
Right.
If that gap is bent, that can cause a misfire.
Although that typically happens right away after you do it.
So just be cautious.
And then what about using generic plugs?
I'm a factory guy.
You want to be careful.
Some of you are on a budget.
I get it.
But you want to go with whatever factory.
Denso, Aysen, typically Japanese, European is Bosch.
I'm not going to mention the spark plugs.
I'm not a fan of because I'll get in trouble.
But just stick to factory.
And look, a lot of that you can find online.
If you're not sure, who do I trust online?
That's a good question these days.
There's so much online.
There is.
Susie, do you ever question what you see online?
Of course I do.
You do.
How do you prove it?
Now you chat.
Well, I go to different sources to see if it's the same.
And if I say the same, then I'm going with that.
I guess that's fair.
Aiden, you do the same.
How do you prove stuff's right on the internet?
I kind of do a little bit of a same approach, yeah.
You should just call me because I got that crystal ball.
You always got something, Frank.
Spark plugs.
So be careful.
Take your time.
Do not go in there with a little Milwaukee ratchet
when you put it in there.
You have to be gentle.
That porcelain on the spark plug, porcelain, porcelain.
It's like, fine china.
It is.
It'll crack.
You develop a misfire.
So here's another thing that's a bit debatable.
Of course, you are going to do the wires or insulators,
the little rubber booties, or if it has a conventional ignition
wire, don't have make it wires and plugs.
And of course, if it's old school cap, rotor, wires, plugs,
you can do the whole nine.
Here's the second thing.
And this is a little debatable.
And we've been burnt in the garage by not doing this.
And one of the reasons why we don't,
because it gets expensive ignition coils.
Hear me out.
You got a 120,000 mile vehicle.
You want to do your plugs.
You put the new plugs.
Remember we talked about the electrodes.
That's that bridge.
You got this new fresh bridge with this 130,000 mile coil.
And a lot of these are coil, like direct ignition, right?
They're coil on top of each plug.
Man, if you can swing it, save your pennies, do it right,
replace the coils.
Especially if you've got something that's over 100K.
Because you can come back in with a misfire.
Yeah. And you're there anyways.
Yes. The problem is they can, you know, I would whatever,
put a price that's 60, 70 bucks if you're buying it yourself.
You know, garage is going to have a markup on good coils.
Not much extra labor.
You're there.
You got to pull it off.
In fact, there's no labor for the most part.
But it adds on eight coils at 60, some on 70.
Maybe more dollars.
That's another five, six hundred dollars to what you already
bought was an 18 to $22 good plug to the math.
So if you're not ready for the tune up financially,
just save your money, you know, because you will come back.
It's frustrating.
It's happened to me personally working on cars.
And so we give the consumer the option.
This is this is what we're recommending.
So they don't come back thinking you just did the plugs
and now my coils are bad.
What did you do wrong?
So just if you can swing it, I would definitely recommend that.
If you're working on a Ford truck, you know, they're 4.6, 5.4.
There's some special tooling.
Spark plug tools have come a long way.
It used to be just one or two little sockets.
Now they're specialized.
So make sure you research that properly, you know, for that.
Susie, can you think of anything else world famous?
Underhood.
My car don't start.
What am I going to replace?
Starter.
But no, no.
Oh, you started.
No, actually, boy, I give you credit.
Some of these starters are buried underneath the inside.
Yeah, they are.
They're very expensive because you get to start, stop.
No, battery, a battery, the battery.
Oh, the battery.
A lot of you will replace your battery.
If you go on a WrenchNation.tv, you can watch the video.
Channel three segment this past Sunday.
I did cover this.
If you're going to do your battery, here's a major tip.
Some of you say, well, Frank, it's easy.
Negative, positive, whatever.
Start with negative, start with negative, and with negative.
Remember this, start with negative.
Pull that negative first, then positive.
And then negative first, negative last.
Why?
That's a safe procedure.
Really?
You can have a glitchity glitch.
Now, negative first, negative last.
Okay.
A lot of you don't do it.
I'll be honest with you.
I've over the years, I haven't followed that rule.
Maybe nothing happens.
It just takes that one time.
Okay, so you're doing the dead battery, negative first, right?
When you're replacing the battery, negative first,
and then the charging, and then the...
The red side, right?
Positive.
Usually red.
A lot of you old cars, you can't even see what you got.
You're just like, all right, this looks positive.
Usually that negative is more of a single strand,
especially on the newer vehicles,
although that's changing their harness-type setups.
But just remember, simple people, just do it right.
Negative first, negative last.
Now, when actually jump-starting a battery,
this is what I have found the last two times I've had to do that.
I've actually had to take the negative and put it on the metal,
like a ground, not on the post.
Well, let's bring that up.
So a lot of times your batteries are hidden.
Costs more money?
I've seen batteries go up in price and labor.
Some of them are in some of the old...
Well, like Chrysler Pacific, it's in the fender well,
and your mechanic is telling you,
ah, it's going to be like 90 bucks.
What do you mean 90 bucks?
Think five minutes.
They're hiding these batteries.
People, they don't want you in it.
Don't blame me.
I've got to charge you more money.
It's under the seat.
It's under the trunk.
We do work on a lot of European vehicles there
at our Cave Creek location, Desert Car Care.
It's got to be programmed, too.
Amp hours.
Yeah, you're not just buying a standard battery.
You've got to get the right amp hours and all that.
So be very specific, research it, and to answer your question.
So if your battery's under the seat, you've got to pull paneling.
We're in the trunk.
You've got to have your family's clothes in the trunk.
You don't need to...
I'm not moving that stuff.
There is a stud.
This is why I tell you to study the owner's manual.
Just go right to YouTube.
When you buy a car, you should understand,
how do I jump my car?
It could save you a lot.
Like, you'd be stuck on the side of the road.
Like, how can I get out of this?
You get your little jumper pack.
You can buy those on Amazon.
Fairly cheap.
Keep them charged.
I have two or three of them.
I love to play rescue mechanic at Circle Play.
Boom, boom, boom.
I did it with a diesel.
Nice.
The guy at Home Depot.
I didn't understand his...
Well, I did.
He spoke Spanish to me, but I helped him with the thing.
But anyway, there is a stud.
You'll see it.
It's a red plastic marked stud.
Stud just means not aiding,
but a metal stud.
That's the contact point.
You put your positive there.
And you take that negative and you find earth.
Yes.
Ground negative on your car.
And you should be able to jump start.
And that's what you're talking about.
That's exactly what I'm talking about.
Which vehicle?
Volvo?
It was on the Volvo.
Yeah.
Volvo does that.
A lot of newer vehicles are doing that.
I don't know why they decided to make...
Well, I'm just a lowly mechanic.
I'm not an engineer.
Why did they start moving batteries around?
Who knows?
I have a theory, but I don't want to get too sidetracked.
EPA mandates to make engines more efficient.
They had to find room bigger batteries.
Bigger batteries, right?
So with the battery, negative first, negative last.
WrenchNation.tv.
You can watch the video.
There's a visual.
Second, some of you are locking yourself out of your factory stereo
and you're upset or it's your wife's car
or some of my ladies you're fixing your husband's car.
And you want to do a service on Sunday.
You know, I'm going to take care of my spouse's car.
So they're ready for Monday morning.
Car starts and everything's great.
You walk away and in the morning,
what are you doing in the morning?
You want some tunes?
Oh, yeah.
There's stereos locked out as you locked it out.
So I have a big tip for you.
Amazon, you can buy a battery saver.
Oh, okay.
You're going to spend a couple bucks.
But if you have, as I said in the segment on a channel three,
if you have three or four cars in the family,
what's the likelihood of batteries every other year?
You're going to have to, if you want to dance with it,
you connect the memory saver to the data link connector,
which is underneath, usually on newer vehicles,
meaning the last 10, 12, 13, 14 years,
left side of your knee as you're sitting driving.
In that little area, you will find a connector
that links to the data.
You connect to your data link connector.
Turn this memory battery saver device on.
It'll maintain voltage while you change a battery.
Oh, really?
Because some of you are driving a vehicle
and you do not know the security code for that radio
as you bought it, used.
It's supposed to be in the owner's manual,
but a lot of you don't have the original owner's manual.
So save yourself trouble.
If this was a little confusing for you,
just reach out to me on the garage.
But that memory saver is huge.
Batteries are leak acid.
Be careful when you do that.
You want to, if you're putting new battery in it,
just be aware that that acid is very corrosive.
Aiden, you every place your battery?
Mostly I usually go to AutoZone or something
and they usually take care of it.
How often do you think you change?
I mean, have you had problems changing?
How frequent would you say?
Is it drama in your life?
I've only really done it once on my car
because I've only had it for maybe about a year.
It was already losing battery.
Susie, I know you've had a worldly experience with batteries.
Oh, heck yeah.
But Frank, when I changed my battery,
can I just throw the old battery in the trash can?
Well, you're so green, girl.
I love it.
No, heck no, you can't do that.
Where do I take it, Frank?
Well, there's a core charge.
Yes.
Let's talk about core because some of you are like,
hey, they didn't want to charge me extra money.
I don't want to give my battery or core charge in general.
With any part, the core is the part you will be turning in.
Now, some of you are questioning that.
Why wouldn't I, don't they just throw this out?
No, they repurpose, remanufacture, resell it.
You know, one of the greenest industries,
you people beat up the salvage yards.
Some of you call them junk yards.
You go down to Broadway or wherever.
They always hide these wrecking yards,
these salvage junk yards in a part of town you never go to.
Oh, that's the way the junk yards live.
Where are we at?
Chula Vista?
Well, no, in San Diego would be,
well, it's east.
I forget it slipped my mind,
but this is neighborhoods by the border.
And then you go down there and you're like, wow,
look at all these wreck, this is nasty junk yards.
We in the automotive industry as respectable salvage yards
are really green.
We're recycling big time and my salvage yard people,
those that get it, appreciate this shout out that way.
So don't beat up that.
It's St. Samford and Son junk yard.
These are very, but they'll actually repurpose,
resell, rebuild.
If you have an older car with parts that are not really available,
I get a lot of those in the garage, the core charge.
So if you don't return that part,
you don't return the battery.
They'll charge you 15 bucks.
Right.
So you return that and it's rebuilt.
So that's part of that recycling effort to keep us green.
What's the name of the gallon overseas?
Greta Thornberg.
She, Greta Thornberg, she needs to talk about the junk yard.
She's good, but she don't help the,
she needs to help the automotive trades.
Help with our salvage yards.
I love going to salvage yards though, Frank.
I love it.
I love it.
I like a good old junk yard dog.
I got pictures on my Facebook.
It's me and the junk yard dog.
They're fun.
Something about a junk yard dog.
Yeah.
He's nice, but man, at night, don't mess with the junk.
You know what?
I've been looking at Cano Corsos.
What is that?
It's a big, sloppy, big dog, big 38-inch head dog.
Yeah, but my wife won't have that right now.
You got a bunch of little dogs.
I just want, I just have this vision
that I'm going to have a big, overgrown, sloppy,
you know, sloppy, like you wake up with him and his spit and just
drooling your whole life.
Big mama-duke dog.
I'm going through a midlife crisis.
I don't know why.
How many?
Oh, Frank.
How many got big dogs?
You got used to all that slobbering in the cheeks.
You got the rag.
Oddly enough, I could see you with a German Shepherd
or like a dog.
I did.
I grew up with the German Shepherds.
I love them.
But now I got a bunch of little, you know,
Fufu Gucci dogs.
I love them.
Little Bichons.
How many you got Bichons?
Yeah, yeah.
They're nice.
They're cute.
They are.
They just, you give them food, they look at you.
They're very picky.
They are picky.
You know, big slobbering dog.
You just give them a bark of a tree and he'll eat it.
He'll just eat it.
So there it is.
I think we covered some of that.
I can't, I don't think of any like breaks we covered.
And listen, I'm here for you.
The show moves fast.
And if you're on the podcast, of course,
Spotify, our heart, all that goodness.
Lately, I've been late doing all that,
but it eventually will be up there.
I'm here to help you.
You know, I'm here.
I'm here to help you, you know, get it done.
And I want to switch from this topic.
And Aiden, I want to mention some things
that I've got to give you kudos for.
And I would like to talk about this.
You got Susie here, been in business.
And I'm not trying to come off as an OG,
but we like to recognize young people
that are consistent, that don't give up.
And that's you.
Well, thank you.
Nice.
I want to, it's out of nowhere because I'm cranial.
I do want to bring this up.
And it relates to many that are listening now
that feel like giving up.
Susie, let's talk about it.
We got about five minutes.
I think it's important.
I got kids and I have, once I have these discussions,
and we have this platform.
And a lot of you hanging with us
or in positions where you're so close
to doing what you want to do,
but you give up because of a people place or thing
that just put it into you that you ain't good enough.
You're in a restaurant business.
You've come up in business, right?
Mom and dad, you've got some history in the valley.
What is your biggest challenge?
Have you lately, lately, and you can ask me the same,
and I'll share with you transparently,
that made you feel like this ain't working out.
Maybe not walking away from the business,
but maybe making a rash decision
because emotionally you felt like
taking it out on somebody.
Well, so currently, right now,
a lot of patrons are not eating out.
So when you're seeing less foot traffic come in...
It gives you the audacity.
Yes, a little stress.
Yeah, I feel the same way.
Our businesses can be up and down.
We got a certain gut, I guess.
It's almost, we can call ourselves entrepreneurs.
Many listening are like that.
How do you keep a good frame of mind?
How do you not reflect that frustration to your people?
What's your advice to people that are not trying to crack?
Oh, gosh, you know what?
In front of therapy because business is off.
Yeah, no leadership.
You have to be consistent.
You just have to be consistent to keep them motivated, obviously.
And do those little things like last night
when I saw somebody didn't tip.
I'm going to go ask them because I want to make sure
that my food servers are taken care of.
Without being bold.
Without being bold.
And I wasn't bold.
No, no, no, no.
I'm just thinking, you never, you never.
We got a couple of minutes.
I'm going to share what I do because I experienced this.
I mean, who cares, Frank?
I've been doing this since 90 and business is 95.
I just want to share with you what works for me.
And I can have those days.
In the morning, I call three people,
ask them how their day is going, and I turn it around.
And I put that energy into helping people over the phone
or in person.
And some of you say, well, that's like Pinterest.
Giddy, what are you saying?
Motivational quotes?
Yeah, I do, actually.
I'll be honest with you.
The more that I can bring that out,
it just changes things a little bit.
That works for me.
Now, all those leadership things, that's a whole lot.
We've had shows, I guess, with folks.
You can find it in our library.
But, Aiden, I do want to commend you
because one of the things that people do is we'll crap out.
And if I can tell you, if you can be consistent
with the place that you're at,
especially some of these, you know,
you're not an attorney, you're not an adult.
You're doing some good work,
but it's maybe some retail-type work.
Hang in there.
Want to tell the people that you may have a step up in the ladder.
Yeah, I'm in line for a promotion at work right now.
Look at you, look at you.
Look at you, good job.
The biggest thing I can say is,
it's about who you surround yourself with.
Even sometimes, those people can change.
I hear people say that.
I mean, yeah, you've got to surround yourself
with good people, that's for sure.
But sometimes those people change, too.
I've seen it.
I've had some good people around me,
and then they got married and they changed,
or something, just something.
You got to be able to know if that goes south.
Well, it's about who you surround yourself with,
but you also got to put in that time and effort
to make sure that they surround themselves
with good people as well.
Look at you, sage wisdom.
But you got to take care of you.
And so this is what I used to do growing up.
Every position I ever held,
I always treated it as if it was my own business.
Yeah, I can see you.
You basket weave, and damn it, buy my basket.
We love you for hanging with Wrench Nation.
Almost 10 years, I believe, over 300 shows.
We're all extremely busy with you.
We try to make this happen.
If you haven't been to the Evet campus,
we're just honored to do this show here.
Support the school, support the students.
It's phenomenal.
They have programs galore here.
I invite you for a campus tour.
Until then, we'll see you next week.
As I tell you, every week, be safe, hug each other,
and never forget the huggedy hug of the cannon.
If you leave me, sage wisdom.
I was hunting the talibans.
If you give me a lot of money.
I'm doing the war next to you.
If you leave me, it would be your gold.
I was going to be the general of the world.
They shared the world.
They shared the world.
They shared Africa.
Without consulting us.
It's all that we are disunited.
A part of the Mandan lamp is found at the Wall Off.
A part of the Mosin lamp is found in the Ghana.
A part of the Sousou lamp is found in the Mandan lamp.
A part of the Mandan lamp is found at the Mosin.
They shared Africa.
Without consulting us.
Without asking us.
They shared the world.
They shared the world.
About this episode
Exploring the pitfalls of DIY car repairs, this episode dives into common mistakes and how to avoid them. From brake jobs to spark plug replacements, the hosts share essential tips to ensure your repairs don't lead to bigger problems. They also discuss the importance of quality parts and proper techniques, emphasizing the need for accountability in both automotive and restaurant service. With insights from the restaurant industry, the episode highlights the parallels between service sectors and the necessity of teamwork and communication.
Original notes
Ever try to save a few bucks by wrenching on your own ride, only to end up with a driveway disaster? From stripped bolts to mystery leaks, we’re diving into the most common DIY car repairs that can go sideways — and the small but vital steps that often get overlooked.
Wrench Nation
Frank Leutz
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