I once had 2000 BMW 740iL with a problem that wasn't immediately apparent, but was causing my oil to disappear into thin air. Large clouds of blue smoke after starting the vehicle were not fun. The...
Early Volvo XC90 V8 models were plagued with premature alternator failures, often happening well before 100k miles. This actually happened to my 2006 XC90 V8 at about 92k miles. When I was searching around to have it repaired, I got quotes of over $1400 to replace the alternator. Perfect...
If you own an E36 M3, chances are that you love it. Sometimes you may hate it; I mean really hate it - but when you get it back out on the road you forget you ever felt that way and the hate turns back into love. The reality is, even though the E36 M3 is a very strong car and can take a lot of...
An enthusiast-driven European vehicle will require diligent maintenance to keep it performing the way it was intended. There is a huge difference between brakes that "work," and brakes that work great. Vibration, grinding, or excess noise while braking can be signs that the brake pads or rotors...
As enthusiasts and avid car nuts, we tend to know from bumper to bumper what we are looking for when we go used car shopping. Be it a car we need for the daily commute, or for when we get it in our heads that maybe it's time for another project. We scour the usual online sites for what we think...
Having a leak can make owning a vehicle more stressful than it has to be. Instead of just driving the car, you're forced to open the hood multiple times a week just to make sure the car hasn't belched all of its fluids out when you weren't looking. "Get in and go" no longer applies, and it can be...
You could say that I’ve been around RWD Volvos for a while. When I was young enough to still need a booster seat, I sat on my dad’s lap and steered our Volvo 240 wagon into our driveway as part of my very first driving lesson. The 240 was replaced by a 1991 Toyota Previa when its frame started...
Brake bleeding has never been a particularly fun task. It's miserable; the fluid makes your hands feel weird, it eats away at paint, isn't water soluble, and doesn't even smell good. That, and the usual way of doing it requires two people - kind of inconvenient when you're trying to get the car...
Abnormal vibrations while shifting and accelerating could be the sign of failing engine mounts. Failed engine mounts can result in much more than just vibrations - they often allow the engine to twist and contact other things in the engine bay, resulting in either broken cooling system components...
Fuel pumps have a limited lifespan - usually somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 miles. Some owners are cautious and see the fuel pump as a maintenance item after the 100K mark, but for the majority of us, we run our fuel pumps until they die. There are valid arguments to be made for each...