Hot Auto Maintenance & Repairs How-Tos « Auto Maintenance & Repairs

How To: Open Your Car Door Without a Key: 6 Easy Ways to Get in When Locked Out

Locking your keys inside of your car is frustrating, to say the least, especially if you're in a hurry to get somewhere. You can always call AAA roadside assistance or a locksmith, but you'll probably have to fork over some money, as well as wait for them to get to you. You might even get towed.

How To: Unlock a Car Door Using a Cell Phone and a Faraway Keyless Remote (Faux-To?)

What if you forgot your car keys and that keyless entry remote banded to them, how are you going to get in your car? Well, if you haven't forgotten your cell phone, too, you can call up someone who has access to that keyless remote, so you can unlock your car or truck via the wireless mobile phone! What?!?

How To: Fix Your Car Dent with a Hair Dryer

If you've ever dinged your car—or worse, a friend's or parent's car—and caused a dent, you know how expensive it can be to fix. A two-second mistake can end up costing hundreds of dollars, but you can save yourself repairs costs and a headache with just a couple of household items.

How To: Fix a Huge Dent in Your Car at Home Without Ruining the Paint Job

There are two options when it comes to a dent in your car — live with it, cringing each time it enters your view, or get rid of it. While the latter is obviously the best option, most of us will probably just live with dents and dings since spare money is better spent on the actual functionality of the vehicle. However, there is a way to knock out automobile dents yourself with relatively little cash in the bank.

How To: Fix Broken Plastic Tabs on Bumper

A common problem on bumper covers is that the tabs that attach the bumper to the car get broken. This is critical, as this is what secures and aligns the bumper cover. Many times, a broken tab is all that is wrong with the bumper cover. With the cost of these plastic parts $200 to $700, the replacement cost can break the bank.

How To: Keyless Entry Remote Not Working? Try This Quick Fix Before Buying a New One

Most cars made in the last ten or fifteen years can be unlocked with a keyless remote, and once you get used to them, unlocking your car with a traditional key feels like a pain. The most common reason they stop working is just because the battery needs replacing, but when they're broken for real, a new one can cost a small fortune. So before you go out and buy one, try this quick fix that worked for Redditor diggalator, and cost absolutely nothing. Basically, he pried the remote apart and to...

How To: Use Lysol to Clean Bacteria Out of Your Car's Air Conditioning System

Air conditioning systems are cold and wet and make great breeding grounds for bacteria and mold, and adding a nasty odor to the air coming out of the vents.

How To: Get a Car Dent Out with a Pot & Vacuum Cleaner

Instead of taking your car to the mechanic, save yourself some money by going MacGyver and creating your own suction-style car dent puller from objects you've got laying around at home. All you need is a pot (or bucket), a vacuum cleaner, and some tape and you're pretty much set.

How to Fix Car Dents: 8 Easy Ways to Remove Dents Yourself Without Ruining the Paint

Only three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and getting a dent in your car or truck. Even if you're as careful as possible, you can't always account for runaway shopping carts, wrongly thrown footballs, out-of-nowhere light posts, and other real-life annoyances.

How To: Troubleshoot and fix broken windshield wipers

If your windshield wipers don't come on when you turn the switch, then try out the solutions in this video! First, check to see if there's a blown fuse. If that's okay, next check the power going to the wiper motor. You have to take the wiper arms off to get to the motor. Watch Scotty Kilmer in this video for all the remaining troubleshooting tips for broken windshield wipers.

Boiled Water: The Easiest Way to Remove Dents from a Car Bumper

Even if you're lucky enough to not be injured in a car accident, it's rare to escape without some sort of damage to your vehicle. It goes without saying that there are some things you shouldn't try to fix yourself, but if it's just a scratch or dent, DIY can be a cheaper way to go.

How To: Reset a Busted Speedometer After Jump-Starting or Replacing a Vehicle's Battery

In the past, most mechanics ended up having to replace the speedometer head when a vehicle came in with a broken speedometer. Nowadays, there's a possible reset procedure that can be used, and it can be done by most car owners right at home.

How To: Replace an oil pressure sending unit to fix a low engine oil pressure gauge

Your "check gauges" light comes on inside your vehicle, which prompts you to notice your oil pressure gauge, which is reading pretty low. What do you do to resolve this car problem? In this video, Scotty Kilmer shows you what you can do to shut that low engine oil light off for good!

How To: Fix transmission and oil seal leaks fast with AT-205 Re-Seal

If you've got an oil seal leak in a very inconvenient place, then this video by Scotty Kilmer will show you how a little bottle of re-sealer may be able to fix that leak. The vehicle in this video has a leak in the front main seal of the automatic transmission. The seal is pretty cheap, but you have to pull the transmission off to replace it, which can take a serious amount of time. The re-sealer is a better solution, a polymer oil that can mix with all kinds of oils. If you mix AT-205 Re-Sea...

How To: Remove a Vehicle Dent with a Hair Dryer & Compressed Air

Got a dent in your car? Joe Kelley and Greg Swanson show you how to get it out with a hair dryer and a can of compressed air. See how easy it is to remove minor vehicle dents without going to a shop.

How To: Figure out why your car A/C isn't blowing cold air

If your A/C in your car turns on but isn't blowing any cold air, you might have one of a few problems. In this video you will learn how to check the compressor, the pressure in the system, and how to add refrigerant if it's low.

How To: Clean your AC drain if water is spilling into your car

This next tutorial is going to be showing you how to take care of a problem that is very common amongst drivers. If water has ever spilled on you from inside your car, it's probably from your HVAC. When you use your A/C, condensation builds up as well, and this usually goes down a drain. But if it gets clogged then you might have a problem.

How To: Fix error code P0300 for random misfires on your car

Error code P0300 is one of the most infamous in auto maintenance, indicating random misfires in the engine. This can mean several different things, and in this video mechanic Scotty Kilmer will teach you how to figure out where the problem is and fix it.

How To: Find and fix leaking spark plug tubes in your engine

If you pull the spark plugs out of your engine and they are covered in oil, that might seem terrible, but the problem really isn't that bad in all likelihood. Your probably have a spark plug tube leak, and this video will show you how to find and fix just such a problem.

How To: Get Out Car Dents & Dings Without Damaging Your Paint Job

According to George Gjoka, a professional Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) technician, when you attempt to take a dent out of your car, you're probably doing it wrong.

How To: Confirm error code P 0340 on a Nissan by checking the cam sensor

Just because your car shows an error code doesn't mean you should pull any parts. This video will show you how to confirm error code P 0340 on a Nissan (Bad Cam Sensor) by using a lab scope to check the cam sensor.

How To: Replace the rear wheel bearings on a Toyota car

Replacing the rear wheel bearings on a car is a great place to start for at-home mechanics, as you don't need to fully lift the car or work with any really complicated parts. This video will teach you everything you need to know to change out the rear wheel bearings on any Toyota car.

How To: Touch up the paint on a car and fill in any missing spots

A small scrape or spot on your car where the paint has been removed can hurt the value of your car and lead to rust. This step-by-step video will walk you through touching up the paint on your car in a safe and easy way. Take a look at how they manage to repair the scrape in the blue paint of this automobile. Touch up the paint on a car and fill in any missing spots.

How To: Repair a minor dent on a car with body filler & block sanding

In this thorough 30 minute video tutorial, Donnie Smith shows you a method of repairing a minor dent on a car with body filler and also shows you how to block sand the filler. For the novice who wants to learn more about car maintenance, this is the perfect tutorial.

How To: Cut R&R (remove & replace) time for an engine in a 2000 Chevrolet Express van

For most vehicles, the way you remove and replace (often referred to as R&R) an engine is by disconnecting everything from the motor and pulling it out of the frame. With the 2000 Chevrolet Express, the book time states 22 hours for R&R of the engine this way. But there is a shortcut, and it cuts the time nearly in half! It involves the backwards approach, where you lift the body of the Chevy Express off the frame, then pull the engine out.

How To: Lubricate the caliper pins or replace the brake pads on a Ford F-250 truck

Full-size pickups are more difficult than cars when or smaller trucks when it comes to repairs. Even something as simple as replacing the brake pads can become daunting. But if you're changing the brake pads on your Ford F-250 truck, this video will give you some much needed help.

How To: Change the fuel filter on a Ford Escape and most other cars

Changing the fuel filter on your car isn't too hard and is great way to save money for the DIY automotive enthusiast. This video will teach you how to replace the fuel filter on a Ford Escape, but these principles apply to most other cars too.

How To: Replace the stock air filter on a Ninja motorcycle

In this tutorial, we learn how to replace the stock air filter on a Ninja motorcycle. Start off by opening up the air box using an Allen wrench. After this, take the bolts out of this and set the air box cover down. Now, remove the air filter to see how dirty it is. If the air filter is full of residue, then you need to change it! Now, clean the inside of the air filter area with a wash cloth . After this, replace your new air filter back into the right spot. Next, apply the filter cover back...

How To: replace Wheel Bearing on Grand Prix

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How To: Get a Dent Out of a Car Using Just a Plunger

Paying for someone to get a small dent out of your car can be expensive, especially when you realize that you can just do it yourself. If you've got a bathroom—and you probably do—then it's a surefire bet that you've also got a plunger.

How To: Unlock Your Car Door with a Shoelace in 10 Seconds

Have you locked yourself out of your car? Well, as long as you have a shoelace, you may be able to get back in.

How To: Bypass the kickstand safety switch on a motorcycle

In this tutorial, we learn how to bypass the kickstand safety switch on a motorcycle. If you have broke your kickstand switch, you can easily bypass it while you are on the road so you can set your bike. All you need to do this is a piece of electric tape. If you don't have this on your bike, the vehicle will completely turn off while it's in use. To do this, unplug the switch that is the kickstand safety switch. There will be two electrical tabs in this, stick a screwdriver in them to remove...

How To: Lift a pickup truck bed instead of dropping the tank for fuel pump access

For most vehicles, the only way to replace the fuel pump is by dropping the tank, which could take a long time. But on most flatbed pickup trucks, there's a simpler way to access the troublesome fuel pump. Simply unbolt the bed and lift that sucker up! See the trick to avoiding the gas tank.

How To: Use Fiberglass Filler For Auto Body Repair

Assuring A Proper Repair When Welding Vehicle Sheet Metal Any weld that is performed on a vehicle requires certain steps to assure a proper repair. For example, weld-through-primer must be applied to the welded surface being welded; corrosion protection must be applied to the back side of the welded area, etc. In this article we are going to discuss why fiberglass is required for auto body repair.

How To: Fix a spark plug well oil leak in a Honda Accord

If you've got oil leaking into the spark plug wells on your Honda Accord, you're not alone. This a pretty common problem, and fortunately for you this video is here to show you how to fix it, assuming you're decent at auto maintenance already. Make sure you line everything up when you reinstall the rock assembly!

How To: Repair the ABS & speed sensor in a Dodge Dakota truck

In this automotive repair video you will learn how to fix the ABS and speed sensor in a Dodge Dakota truck. Learn how to read diagnostic trouble code to evaluate trouble indicators and fix broken sensors. So if your speed sensor or ABS brake system are on the fritz in your Dodge Dakota truck, watch this video and learn how to check and fix them.

How To: Find electrical shorts in a car with a test light and fix a broken 12v plug

Your car's electrical system is massive and complicated. Trying to find a short in the system might sound like a job for a professional, but in this video you will learn how you can use an $8 test light to locate a shorts in your car's electrical system. It will also teach you how to fix it if the problem is the cigarette lighter, now more commonly known as the 12 volt plug.