Yearby Automotive Repair

Year/Make/Model:
• 2007 Chevy Impala (3.9L v6)

Issues/Symptoms:
• Oil pan gasket leaking & oil filter housing gasket tends to fail at the same time.

Repair:
• Replaced oil pan gasket and oil filter housing gasket…which requires removing:
- Air cleaner box
- Thottle body
- Serpentine belt
- A/C Compressor
- Starter
- Lifting the engine with a engine support bar/jack and removing engine/transmission mounts to access oil pan and oil filter housing bolts

Year/Make/Model:
• 2017 Ford F-250 Super Duty (6.2L v8 4WD)

Issues/Symptoms:
• Check Engine Light: Cylinder 2 misfire
• Rough idle
• Due for a tuneup. Air filter was restricted and when the engine air filter gets dirty it gets spark plugs dirty and leads to eventual misfiring. This is one reason spark plugs could cause a misfire, but in this case I recommend replacing all spark plugs, wires and coils at the same time along with a new air filter, cabin air filter, and fuel filters (when applicable but not in this truck).

Repair:
• Replaced spark plugs x16, ignition coils x8, spark plug wires x8, cabin air filter, and engine air filter

Year/Make/Model:
• 2009 Kia Sportage (2.7L v6 2WD)

Issues/Symptoms:
• Alternator replaced but charging issues still remained shown by low battery voltage. Below 14 volts and would continue to lower to until the car dies.

Repair:
• Replaced blown alternator fuse and voltage was able to get above 14 volts which shows a good alternator

Not a service I can offer 24/7, but If you catch me at the right time I do have a lockout kit if you lock your keys in your car.

Just helped my brother on a Lexus ES300, mission successful.

Year/Make/Model:
• 2007 Honda Pilot 4WD

Issues/Symptoms:
• Clicking noise and required multiple tries to start the vehicle

Repair:
• Replaced Starter

Year/Make/Model:
• 2003 Volkswagen Passat (1.8T)

Issues/Symptoms:
• CV axle boot ripped causing grease to leak out of the area.
• Made some noises when accelerating and turning at the same thing that got worse over time. Most likely due to dirt/contaminants getting inside of the broken CV axle boot.
• Also had a fuel pressure issue where the fuel pressure would immediately drop to zero after turning the car off which is not normal.

Repair:
• Replaced driver side CV axle
• Replaced Fuel Pressure Regulator

Year/Make/Model:
• 2004 Toyota 4Runner (4.0L v6 4WD)

Issues/Symptoms:
• Maintenance light on - oil change due

Repair:
• Oil change and complimentary tire inflation with all my oil changes 🙂

Year/Make/Model:
• 2009 Kia Sportage (2.7L v6 2WD)

Issues/Symptoms:
• Car would start but die shortly after and battery light illuminated

Repair:
• Replaced the alternator & had the battery charged since the car has been sitting for months. This is a tougher alternator to get to, which requires taking off the passenger tire, serpentine belt, wheel well cover, & CV axle in order to create enough space to remove and replace.

Year/Make/Model:
• 2015 Ford F350 Super Duty 6.7L PowerStroke Turbo Diesel with Dual Rear Wheels

Issues/Symptoms:
• Noisy brakes

Repair:
• Had the rotors turned, replaced all sets of brake pads, & refilled the rear differential fluid which gets drained in the process of replacing the rear rotors because the truck has Dually’s (dual rear wheels).

Year/Make/Model:
• 2014 Acura MDX SH

Issues/Symptoms:
• Outter Brake lights not working but center brake light still working

Repair:
• Both bulbs needed to be replaced

All 4 speakers upgraded in a 2007 Chevy Silverado, sounds so much better!

Year/Make/Model:
• 2007 GMC Acadia

Issues/Symptoms:
• Service Airbag message & airbag warning light illuminated on dashboard.
• Scan tools not communicating with Inflatable Restraint Sensing & Diagnostic Module (SDM) aka airbag module
• Both airbag fuses were good so there had to be a grounding issue or voltage drop somewhere on the circuit.
• Next steps were to check to make sure power and ground were getting to the SDM. Ground was good but power was only good on 1 pin. Just divide and conquer the circuit from there


Repair:
• Traced the dead wire until I found a broken spliced connection that clearly had signs of calcification meaning water damage.
• Repaired the connection, and took some extra precautions to waterproof and better protect the wires in the future.
• Scan tool was able to communicate with the SDM module afterwards to clear the airbag fault codes which resolved the service airbag message & airbag warning light on the dashboard.

Year/Make/Model:
• 2005 Ford Escape 3.0L v6

Issues/Symptoms:
• Battery light on dashboard, battery over voltage code (+ a few other codes), and battery voltage was at 15-16 and fluctuating when checked with a multimeter
• No power and stalls under heavy load

Repair:
• Replaced alternator and that fixed the battery over voltage issue but unfortunately did not fix the car dying under heavy load. After this repair I cleared the fault codes and codes for 3 of the 6 ignition coil primary circuits returned. Likely that’s where the remaining problem is, but customer had a family friend who decided he’s gonna take it from here.

PS. To the engineer who designed this alternator location…🖕🏽

Year/Make/Model:
• 2011 Chevy Silverado LT 6.0L

Issues/Symptoms:
• Belt squeaking. Very loud on cold starts

Repair:
• Belt tensioner and belt

Year/Make/Model:
• 2010 Mazda3

Issues/Symptoms:
• Coolant leak causing the car to overheat. This is a very common coolant leak spot on Mazda’s. I performed a smoke leak test and you could see smoke pouring out of the side of the engine where the gasket had blown.

Repair:
• Thermostat housing, gasket, coolant temperature sensor, & coolant refill/burp

Year/Make/Model:
• 2017 Nissan Rogue SV 2WD 2.5L

Issues/Symptoms:
• Brakes starting to squeak and this car hasn’t had a brake job yet as the mileage is low. Front wheel drive so first suspect is the front brakes and sure enough the pads had less than 3mm left of brake material.

Repair:
• Front brake pads & rotors

Year/Make/Model:
• 2008 Kia Optima 2.4L

Issues/Symptoms:
• Battery light on dashboard illuminated and car stalled under load.

Repair:
• Suspected the Alternator but upon removal and testing it passed. Reinstalled alternator and belt & found a blown fuse causing the issue. Car has been running great for a couple weeks now!

Year/Make/Model:
• 2011 Mazda6 2.5L

Issues/Symptoms:
• Squeaking when braking. Front brakes had been serviced relatively recently so had to be rear. Pads were down to the metal and rotors showed signs of metal on metal rubbing indicating replacement.

Repair:
•Rear brake pads and rotors

Side note*
I forgot to take pictures before and after of the brakes for this job, so this picture is from a different repair. I still want to post this repair though for my own records.

Year, Make, & Model:
• 2003 Land Rover Discovery SE7

Issue/Symptoms:
• A fairly common electrical fault with this generation of Land Rovers called the “3 Amigos Lights” which includes the ABS, traction control, and hill descent control lights warning lights all being illuminated on the dashboard.
• Serpentine belt noisy

Repair(s):
• Replaced the Shuttle Valve that connects to the ABS Pump and modified the electrical wiring connections. The stock connector gets corroded and leads to the shuttle valve failure, so this mod helps prevent that. It’s a popular mod called “Option B” for your research purposes or just message me and I can help!
• Replaced serpentine belt

Year, Make, & Model:
• 2007 GMC Acadia SLT

Issue/Symptoms:
• Engine overheating
• low battery voltage (the seller told us it needed a new ECM…) so wouldn’t start or even turn the electronics of the car on.

Repair(s):
• Charged battery
• Replaced Thermostat (stuck closed)
• Replaced heater core outlet hose (tore off the thermostat causing a massive leak)
• Replaced coolant temperature sensor and connector

No longer overheating and starts right up every time!!

Year, Make, & Model:
• 2012 Chrysler Town & Country 3.6L v6

Issue/Symptoms:
• Misfiring, check engine light, and rough idle. Due for a tuneup.

Repair(s):
• Replaced all 6 spark plugs and the air intake filter and now the car runs great with no fault lights.

Year, Make, & Model:
• 2018 Volkswagen Passat SE

Issue/Symptoms:
• Brake noise

Repair(s):
• Replaced front brake pads & rotors & l**ed the slide pins & abutment clips

Year, Make, & Model:
• 2010 Mazda6 2.5L 4cyl

Issue/Symptoms:
• Faulty Coolant Temperature Sensor
• Contaminated Coolant and air in the system
• Upper radiator hose blew off of the radiator due to faulty coolant temperature sensor. The coolant temperature sensor gives incorrect information to the cars ECM & leads to excessive pressure buildup, which causes the hose to blew off to relieve the pressure.

Repair(s):
• Replaced Coolant Temperature Sensor.
• Reattached upper radiator hose
• Refilled & burped coolant to get air bubbles and dirt out of the system. As you can see from the pictures, a piece of the plastic from the upper radiator hose inlet broke off and got stuck in the upper portion of the radiator. By burping the system I was able get the plastic broken up and to come out of the system without completely draining the coolant or removing the radiator.

Year, Make, & Model:
• 2012 Chrysler Town & Country 3.6L v6

Issue/Symptoms:
• Check engine (Cylinder #2 Misfire) causing a slight rough idle

Repair(s):
•I swapped spark plugs #2 & #4 but first I cleaned the spark plugs. Cleaning the spark plugs and clearing the codes resulted in a short term fix. The check engine light hasn’t came back on and the car is idling better.
• I Recommended the customer to get a tuneup (spark plugs x6 & air filter) when they have the money but this should hold them over till then.
* Cabin air filter probably needs to be replaced. For a thorough tune-up, I like to do an upper engine decarbonization using Seafoam spray into the intake to remove carbon build up on the engine valves and inside the combustion chamber.

Year, Make, & Model:
• 2003 Volkswagen Passat 1.8T

Issue/Symptoms:
• Oil leak and DTC’s for Secondary Air Injection Pump (SAIP) & Combi-Valve

Repair(s):
• Replaced Combi-Valve which was stuck closed & that leads to exhaust gas condensation to drain into the SAIP and ruin that as well.
• Replaced Cam Chain Tensioner gasket, half moon gasket, and valve cover gasket due to oil leaks.
• Verified timing was correct (16 roller links from exhaust camshaft to intake camshaft, while engine is at Top Dead Center (TDC)

Year, Make, & Model:
• 2019 Honda Accord LX 1.5L Turbo

Issue/Symptoms:
• Broken side view mirror, TPMS light on, cabin air filter dirty & oil change due

Repair(s):
• Replaced side view mirror, aired up tires and reset TMPS light, replaced cabin air filter, & changed oil

Year, Make, & Model:
• 2007 Nissan Altima 2.5L

Issue/Symptoms:
• Engine is misfiring, causing rough idle and acceleration issues

Repair(s):
• Replaced fuel pump, spark plugs x4, replaced 1 ignition coil that continued to misfire after new spark plugs, ignition coil hold down bolt insert repair, air filter, & air intake hose

Year, Make, & Model:
• 2014 Ford Fusion Titanium

Issue/Symptoms:
• Oil change due and brakes squeaking

Repair(s):
• Changed oil & replaced front brake pads and rotors.

Important brake job tip:
• It is critical to l**e the caliper slide pins, face of caliper piston, and the brake hardware that makes contact with the brake pads to prevent noisy brakes or uneven brake wear.