Saturday, December 14, 2013

Tips on Bleeding Brakes Without an Assistant.

Tips on Bleeding Brakes Without an Assistant. The best and simplest method to bleed the brakes without an assistant to step on the brake pedal is to simply use a lengthy of wood between the seat and the brake pedal and use the cushion of the seat to put pressure on the brake pedal. I used this method for years and it works fine. You may want to use a rag to protect the seat from the piece of wood. You could also use a container of clean brake fluid and a hose attacked to the bleeder nipple but I like the method of pushing all new clean brake fluid through the system. When you pump the brake pedal and let out the fluid at the brake bleeder nipple you are purging the system of all the old fluid which may be contaminated. I also use a mini pipe cutter if I need to splice in new brake lines. The mini pipe cutter will make a very straight smooth cut versus trying to use a hacksaw on making a cut in a brake line. You can bend brake lines and get smooth bends by hand if you are careful and go slow, but using the spring type bending tool with make getting a smooth bend on a brake line a lot easier by hand. DIY - brakes and auto brake repair

Fix - Can't Open Rusty, Frozen Brake Caliper Nipple

This is a method to free-up rusty, frozen brake caliper bolts or the brake bleeder nipple on the caliper or brake wheel cylinder. A lot of weekend, DIY, car mechanics do their own brakes and replace the pads on the disc brakes themselves. Often it is a good idea to change or flush through the brake lines new brake fluid and get out are the air and dirt trapped in the brake lines. Using this candle wax trick is a very old mechanics tip that usually works excellent. A great thing to know for the DIY weekend backyard mechanic. Almost every DIY weekend backyard mechanic runs into this problem of rusty frozen brake bleeder nipples when they are changing out disc brake pads or brake shoes or bleeding the brake lines of air.

Sebring Convertible - How to Re-Glue the Back Glass Window.

Sebring Convertible - How to Re-Glue the Back Glass Window. If the rear glass window is separating from the cloth top on your convertible, there is a way to re-glue it and make a permanent repair that will last many years. The main tricks are to clean the window of all dirt and grease and also roughen up the glass with sandpaper. The main problem of getting the glue to stick to glass is that glass is too smooth, so the glue has nothing to grip to. Roughen up the glass where you are gluing down the cloth top and it hold very well. I used Gorilla glue for this repair and I did a prior repair that is 4 years old and still holding, even being outside in the weather.

Friday, October 18, 2013

1999 Chrysler Sebring Manual Tire Change

1999 Chrysler Sebring Manual Tire Change. How to charge your own tires with a manual tire changer on a Sebring convertible. What to watch for. If you have the factory mag wheels the tire comes off from the front. Also the stock lugnuts sometimes have a problem with the decorative cap over the steel lugnut. If the outside of the lugnut seems like to is rounded off, just pull off the outer cap with pliers and then you can loosen the lugnut. Some tires require that they be installed with a certain side to the inside. Carefully examine the tire for any instructions that call for a special installation. It's always a good idea to clean off corrosion from the inside of the rims with a fine nylon abrasive wheel on a drill, so the tires seat well ad don't leak any air. I used some tire balancer and sealant in the tire and did not balance them. The test drive later showed the tire to run very smooth with that stuff in the tire.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Engine longevity secrets

Engine longevity secrets. Frequent oil changes undoubtedly will help an engine last much longer, but many people ignore the quality of the oil filter & also sometimes a much larger capacity oil filter can be used. It is also smart to let the engine oil drain for at least several hours to get the dirtiest oil out and to use a powerful magnet on the oil filter to trap fine metallic debris.