Author: Jason Kent

I’ll hopefully write up more on this later but if not here are the photos I took nonetheless. The car was leaking coolant from the thermostat housing outlet pipe. (part #AJ89485)

We’ve had the car going on 8 years now and I’ve replaced these 2 or 3 times if I recall. I’m not sure I’ll ever write up how I did this but I’m going through posting photos that I mean to post when I do the write ups. A picture is worth a thousand words anyway, right?These photos are from the June 2021 coolant reservoir failure 

I was in the Honda Ridgeline last week for the first time this year. I noticed the clock was not right and was a bit confused, this clock has always set itself with satellites or something magic like that. I talked with my son who is the main driver of the Ridgeline these days and he told me he’d noticed that and read some forum posts about it. It’s been a while since I’ve posted to this site and I want to start doing it more again. I decided to post this here so I can update it if we…

This time of year I like to take a little time to change the cabin filters on our vehicles. Most manufacturers recommend to replace them around 15,000 miles which is about how many miles we drive our cars in a year. If you have to drive your car on a dusty gravel road often then you might want to consider changing it a couple of times a year. Fram Fresh Breeze Cabin Filter Open the glove compartment Remove the stop retainers on each side and the slow rod from the right side if equipped Lower the glove box out of the…

I need to get myself inspired to put in work on my 1996 300ZX. There is a bolt broken off in the motor at this time so it is going to have to be pulled to fix. My original plan was to just do a standard VG30DETT Twin Turbo swap but I’m leaning towards dropping a VH45 V8 in it now. Videos like this inspire me to do so, I love the potential sounds that can be made with the right exhaust setup on a high-revving V8!

Regular oil changes are a must for proper engine maintenance and to help extend the life of your vehicle. When I started changing my oil back in the 80s the school of thought was that you should change it every 3 months or 3,000 miles. With the advancement of synthetic oils and engine technology this oil change interval is outdated in most cases. I suppose if you do a lot of stop and go driving in a very hot dusty environment on a daily basis then you should change your oil every 3,000 miles but for most of us it is not…

Sometimes the normal routine that you use to clean your car isn’t good enough. If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having calcium buildup on your car then you know this all too well. Most of the time this happens when a car is parked underneath something that is leaking water with high mineral contents (hard water). This often happens in parking garages with overhead fire suppression pipes that leak. Distilled White Vinegar Cotton Shop Towel Automotive Wax Wax Applicator Pads I recently dealt with this situation, the car was parked under a leaky pipe in a parking garage for an extended period and…

One of the first things that I do when I buy a used car is make a check-list of all the items that I need to address. Sometimes this list includes big things like engine issues but most of the time it is a handful of non-critical things. I like to get things close to if not better than they were when the car was new. When we purchased our 2005 Jaguar Vanden Plas one of the items I needed to take care of was a couple of side marker lights that weren’t working. VW Side Marker Socket – 1H0949111 Motorking Light Harness…

While investigating rough idle and stalling issues with our 2001 Volvo S60 I came across this helpful video from a guy named Robert. The more Volvo issues that I’ve researched the more I’ve come across his videos. He does a great job of explaining things in layman’s terms and showing the steps to take to diagnose and fix many common issues. Heavy Duty Rubber Gloves Shop Towels Robert DIY – YouTube Channel This particular video helped me to decide if I needed to service our PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventiliation) system or if something else was causing the idle issues. After taking just a few…

If you are having issues with a rough idle on your Volvo and you don’t have a record of the throttle body ever being cleaned then this is something you’ll want to consider doing. If there is an inexpensive project like this that I can do that removes grime from where it shouldn’t be and will possibly improve performance then I’m all for it. I did this project on our Volvo S60 last year and there is no doubt that it improved an idle issue that we were having. The car had intermittent problems prior to the cleaning with completely stalling out when we…