Recent content by ecotourist

My 2007 Honda Accord has 2 fully functioning key fobs. They both failed but using heavy duty tools I was able to loosen a tiny screw and open them up and replace the batteries. They're working just fine again. The original batteries lasted about 15 years so no complaints there. But the gorilla...

I don't know of any automatic read out system that can tell you the quality of motor oil. Some of us like to pull the dipstick to see how dark the oil is, to check for metallic bits, milky substances or excessive fuel odour. If you've paid someone to change your oil, with a dash read out you...

I thought of doing it once. The "change oil" light was on from the start. The rental was only a few days so I put up with the light. When I took it back I told the girl behind the counter. "No", she said, "it doesn't need an oil change. I checked the dip stick myself and it has plenty of oil."...

Remember when anything made in Japan was crap? Over the years my family has had a few decorative items "made in occupied Japan". Not great quality. When Japanese cars first arrived in Canada (Honda products, about 1968), Japanese stuff had come off its "going to be bad" reputation but still...

But new old stock (NOS) might be better.

My Volvo specialist in Winnipeg replaced the water pump on my Volvo with aftermarket parts at least twice (maybe 3 times) over a period of 6 years. When I got back to Edmonton and the water pump failed again, my Volvo specialist there said the problem was using aftermarket parts. He replaced it...

I keep a spread sheet on maintenance on every car I ever own, so closer to proactive. The spread sheet also states my best information on service intervals. Which is why I'm asking. In my younger days I was very proactive, but I've loosened up a bit. I suspect I wasted money and effort...

My Model 3 is coming up to 4 years old. Time for some preventive maintenance. Here is a good video on the required and recommended maintenance on Teslas. What do you think? He doesn't even recommend replacing the brake fluid periodically, which is probably okay in the short or even medium...

I'm convinced that my BMW saved my butt one day because it handled so well. I was driving about 70 - 80 km/hr in the outer of two lanes when I came up to a traffic light. My light was green. Just as I got there a car blundered into the intersection from the side and blocked my whole lane. I...

A small piece of information from the distant past. 25 or 30 years ago a man I worked with had lost his parents and his in-laws in separate car accidents. So he spent a lot of time looking at wrecked cars in bone yards. His conclusion was that Mercedes and Volvos stood up better than other cars...

If you're having to replace pads and rotors because of "warping" [which I suspect is really uneven brake pad deposits] then you'd be better off to stop being gentle and "use them brakes". It might actually cost less. The big take away is not sitting with the brakes engaged after a hard stop or...

Whoa, that's got me thinking. What's the purpose of the oil in 2 stroke fuel? I thought that in addition to lubricating, it got combusted, and that was how a 2-stroke engine worked. Is there any advantage to using a synthetic oil in a 2 stroke engine? Should you use the same ratio of 2...

The other possibility is that by being very gentle on the brakes you're not getting the discs bedded in properly. Bedding means getting an even coating of brake pad material all over the brake discs which somehow seems to prevent or minimize later pad build up. You do that with a series of...

You don't need a hard stop. A long hill where you use some brakes (giving you hot rotors) with a stop at the bottom (where you hold the pads against those hot rotors) would do the same thing. I had a really long hill on my usual commute and geared down (manual transmissions) but still had lots...

Can you bed in brake discs once there has been pad deposition? I didn't think that was possible.