Shadetree Car Repair And More

Changing Spark Plugs

2008-07-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

If you can see and get to the plugs and wires on you car, you should be able to change them yourself. Make sure the plugs you buy have already been gapped or gap them yourself using a plug gapper. You can buy these cheap at the parts store. Ask what to gap them at or look it up in your repair manual. Replace the plugs and wires one at a time and you shouldn't have any problem.

Repair Videos

2008-07-30T19:01:00.001-07:00

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

My First Attempt At Car Repair

2008-07-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking I was around 19 years old. I had a 67 mustang and someone told me the spark plugs and wires should be changed. Well I looked under the hood and decided it couldn't be that hard, so I went and got the stuff. The next thing I done was pull all the wires off and tossed them aside and proceeded to screw out all the plugs. So far so good. I got all the new plugs in with no problem and then put all the wires back on. I noticed the looked kinda funny and twisted up, but I thought I'd go ahead and start it up. The car started but was running really bad. I thought, hmm maybe those wires go on a certain way and I had no idea which way they went, but I kept my cool, (I used to smoke a lot of pot) and decided to try and put them on where they looked right. The shortest one went the shortest distance and so forth. Believe it or not I finally got the car running right. I didn't have a clue about firing order back then, but now I know how to put an engine in time on the gears, replace timing belt, chain, set the distributor, (back in the day when they had them) plug wires, timing light, whatever, and for the most part it was all self taught, If that's not enough, I'm female! I even timed an engine once that had the timing marks wrong on the crank pulley. It was right, I had a mechanic check it.

Do It Yourself

2008-07-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

I used to take my car in to the shop to get it fixed, see what was wrong with it and so on. I spent a lot of money and many times my car was still messed up! I didn't know anything about a car, but I did have a little sense. I started hearing stories such as someone taking their car in to a certain garage and it came back with a different motor! The lady wouldn't have known, but her sons did because they had put some custom stuff on the car and that was all gone. I started paying more attention and trying to learn what I could about car repair. That was years ago and I've come a long way since then.