If your car has no dipstick, the oil level is read electronically by an oil level sensor in the pan, and you check it on the instrument cluster or infotainment screen. Here is how to check oil on a car with no dipstick: warm the engine to operating temperature on level ground, leave it running … Read more
Brake dust comes off a driveway by dissolving the oily binder that glues it to the concrete, then rinsing the loosened iron particles up out of the pores. Scrubbing it dry does the opposite — the metal acts like sandpaper under the bristles and drives itself deeper into the slab — and that single habit … Read more
You can tell if brake fluid is contaminated by looking for five things: dark fluid with sediment in it, a cloudy or separated sample, a pedal that sinks or feels springy, longer stopping distances or fade under repeated stops, and rust or metal residue around the lines and calipers. None of those is proof on … Read more
How to drain oil without making a mess comes down to one move: loosen the drain plug only until oil just begins to seep, hold it part way out of the hole to throttle the flow, and pull it free once most of the oil is already gone. Add a high-wall pan, cardboard under the … Read more
DOT 5 brake fluid is a silicone-based hydraulic fluid used in classic cars, vintage motorcycles, military vehicles and cars in long-term storage. It transmits pedal pressure through the brake lines and it does not absorb moisture the way glycol-based DOT 3, DOT 4 and DOT 5.1 fluids do. It belongs only in a system that … Read more
A sealed, unopened bottle of brake fluid is good for roughly 2 to 5 years from the date it was sealed, and an opened bottle should be used within about 3 to 12 months before it gets discarded. That split is the whole answer, and everything else is a detail about how well the bottle … Read more
Brakes rust when a car sits because the rotor and drum surfaces are bare cast iron, and iron needs moisture plus oxygen to turn into iron oxide. A parked car gives that combination all day and every night, with no braking to wipe the oxide away. The good news: a thin, even orange film is … Read more
Hybrid brakes last longer because regenerative braking handles most of the slowing down. The electric motor runs backward as a generator, sending energy back to the battery instead of turning it into heat through the pads and rotors. Your friction brakes only step in when regen cannot do the job alone. That is the short … Read more
Short answer: most cars take a 19mm or 21mm deep socket, with 17mm and 22mm close behind, and you want a 6-point lug nut socket on a 1/2 inch drive. If that is the question you came with, the table below covers the common sizes and the steps to confirm yours in about a minute. … Read more
If you are searching for what tools do you need for basic car maintenance, the honest answer is shorter than most tool sales pages suggest: a floor jack and a pair of jack stands, a tire-changing kit, a socket and ratchet set in both metric and SAE with a few extensions, a handful of hand … Read more