Suspension

Some car use Macpherson struts and others use the SLA Suspension (short,long arm)

Macpherson is a regular shock with the coil spring around it. This type only has a lower control arm.

SLA suspension has both and upper and lower control arm and a coil spring in between.

Tools

So i bought my tools the other day i ended up spending like a thousand dollars on everything. First i went online to sears and looked at all the different tool boxes they had and i finally chose the midnight blue bundle tool box with a roll box and a mini one on top for like $455. Then i went to sears and picked out all the tools that i would need for this quarter, pretty much all the basic tools like screw drivers, wrenches, sockets etc. When i got all the tools that i thought were enough it was a total of $535. So at the end i spent almost like $1000 but this is just for the first quarter there will be way more tools on the way later on.

Finals

Dam finals are next week. This quarter went by pretty fast, i remember the first day when i didn't know much about cars and now i have the basics down. For the final we are going to be separated into 2 groups. Then there will be like 9 different stations where you will have 15 minutes to complete each inspection. I hope i get a good grade on it, i think i got it but i have a feeling that i might forget things when i'm actually there.

Transmission Fluid

So yesterday i was doing an inspection on my 98 Cavalier and the transmission had a milky texture to it. Of course its not suppose to be like that. it turns out that the fluid was contaminated. Somehow water when into the transmission and that's why it was milky white. So i went to buy new transmission fluid and did the flush and put in the new fluid. Mine is a manual transmission so it needs Dexron Synchromesh don't let them convince you otherwise.

Oh and about the slave cylinder i am going to wait until next quarter to drop the engine and transmission. Hopefully it will last that long.

New Problem

So today i was in class and told my instructor that my clutch felt a little soft so we checked it and it turns out that i need to replace the slave cylinder from the transmission. He also said that since i'm already going to be in there might as well put in a new clutch and flywheel. But because we are at the end of the quarter i will not be able to install everything in our nice shop with lifts and numerous amount of tools. I will try to install everything at my house by myself. I will post an update later on. But it wont be until two or three weeks.

Brake Inspection

Start out by going into your car and step on the brake pedal and see if its stiff or if it has a spongy feeling. If its spongy then you might need to bleed your brakes. If you step on the brake pedal and it slowly goes down to the floor then you might have a bad master cylinder and must be replace as soon as possible. After the pedal test start removing the tires. If you are using a jack don't forget the jack stands. Start out by checking the front disk brakes. Check the brake lines for any cracks or bends. Then move on to the rotors, rub your finger on the rotor and see if its smooth or wavy. In some cases the rotor will be wavy but that does not always mean its bad. Next check the brake pads and see if they still have enough in them, if not start thinking on buying some new ones. Now check the drum brakes, if you have rear disk brakes then repeat the first steps. Remove the drum, some drums might need to be muscled out or hammered out. Check the brake shoes if they a thin or cracked then you should buy new ones. Check the wheel cylinder for leaks if leaks are present then new hardware should be put on. After you inspect everything put the wheels back on and make sure to torque them up properly.