This project has been a lot of fun and has had its challenges. For example my dad left who was my mentor and who had all the tools that I used which made it quite difficult to fix anything, but I still managed. I believe that becoming a mechanic or knowing the basic you able to help out a friend creating more community s it a community building activity.

Switching battery Termonals

This is another post that will talk about things that aren't always what they seem. I have a john deer 3x18 if, you want to be technical, but for the sake of some of my friends its a riding lawn mower. One of my batteries died completely, and it wasn't charging. So I had a choice to spend $120 on a new battery ,or i could spend $12 on new terminals because I have a battery that would work in the tractor. Even though I had an idea how to change the terminals it was still going to be a lot of work. The way I was thinking of fixing it could go very wrong and possibly mess it up. I called a friend and told him what I was planning. I was planning on removing the old terminals and putting the new ones one which sounds simple enough but it could become complicated. My friend advised me to do it a different way which makes it much easier because I would just screw the new terminal to the old terminal there will be a video so you can understand what I'm taking about.

Things you don't expect

A few weeks ago I bought a Volkswagen Jetta TD. I got my plates and was going to change them because previous owner didn't take off his plates. I was like, "OK this will just take a few minutes" I haven't been more wrong in my life. I started with the back license plate thinking this will just be a few screws or bolts. Something that I remember as soon as I looked at the screws and bolts and was like, "I don't have any tools my dad took them with him." Didn't stop me though, I had a few tools so I took them out. I started to loosen the bolts but I couldn't. I was getting pretty infuriated because I bought a car, insured it, and I couldn't drive it because I couldn't get a stupid licence plate off. I called up a friend to see if he could help me and he came thankfully after he was done work. In the mean time I took off the front license plate of which was a cinch I might add. My friend came and before I get into details it took us about an hour and a bit too take it off. The reason why it took so long is the bolts where completely rusted out. I had to take apart the back of my trunk to do this because the threaded socket, was spinning when it wasn't supposed to be because of the rust was holding the two together if that makes sense. That night figured out that everything isn't what it seems like, even taking a licence plate off.

Changing the oil

Last time I worked on taking the tint off my windows, and now every time I get into the my car i miss the tint. Its going to be something I have to live with, because the cops said it had to go.

This time I'm going to talk about the difference between oil changes in a diesel engine and gas engine, well at least the difference between a 2005 Jetta Volkswagen TDI and a 1997 Honda accord EX. 

The Honda and almost all other vehicles have the oil pan on the bottom of the vehicle, in the middle of the the two front tires. To Remove the oil from the oil pan is pretty simple, because all you need to do is unscrew one bolt. The only part is you need some sort of container, because other wise you will have a lot of oil pouring all over the floor. 

so make sure when you do this there is something there. Once this bolt is removed then it will take a while for the oil to drain all out. A tip for making the process go faster would be to run your vehicle so the temperature is higher. This will make the oil warmer and will flow easier. 

Once the oil is flowing into some sort of container it is time to take out the oil filter. How to do this is the different part in most vehicle because most vehicles are designed differently. With the Honda accord you need to go close to where the oil pan is over top of where the exhaust pipe line. Be careful thought because since you went for that drive to make the oil flow faster the exhaust line will be hot. Make sure not to forget your oil wrench though because you us it to take off the oil filter. To find the oil filter it is a cylinder container about the size of a big fist. Then just turn it counter clockwise this to you need to be carefully because in there will be some oil in the filter so the pan might be large enough but might not but the oil will spill but only just a little bit so then if its not big enough the just move it back. Once it is removed then you will need to put a new oil filter in. One thing that helps to seal it is if you put a little grease on it. Then put the new filter back.
When you tighten the oil filter makes sure that you don't over or under tighten it. If you over tighten it then you might not be able to get it off because when you drive your vehicle it tightens them because of the vibrating. If you under tighten it then it might fall off and would loss are your oil. After this is completed then the oil should be done pouring out. After that is done then put the bolt back in the oil pan make sure that little rubber peace is still on the bolt. Then tighten the bolt. After this is done then add 5W-30 to your engine add about 5 L. At first it will be over the the right amount on the dip stick but once you run your engine the oil will go into the oil filter and thorough the engine. After you run the engine it should be good. This is all for the Honda accord ex.
For the Jetta the oil filter is on the top of the engine close to the front in the middle you are able to see it it looks like a black cylinder. Once you loosen the the oil filter let's just say that its not exactly like the other filter. This black cylinder is actually just a cover for the oil filter that is used over and over again. and u just change the actual filter inside of the cover. Which is pretty simple just very dirty because the oil is dripping from the filter So be careful. Once you have changed the filter DO NOT put it back back we need to clean out the the hole that is still there. This will make sense if you have it or are doing it. For this you will need to use some kind of suction device because there is a small hole in the bottom of this already hole which holds quite a bit of oil in it so it needs to come out. When that is finished then you can put the filter back in its spot. just like the Honda again you add about 5L but this time you use 5W-40. There we go can change the oil in a Jetta TDI and a Honda accord. 

Tint

Last time I talked about how I changed a starter on our snow blower, so an update on that is it works perfectly now. I'm able to start it up and do my job of clearing the driveway. This was a relief for me because now I don't have to shovel the whole driveway anymore, The snow blower is a great invention. You  know what people say, "Boys don't grow up, their toys get more expensive." I'm not saying that's true, but if it was, the shovel was cheap so I must be growing up. That's besides the point, what I really want to talk about is what I have done this time around.

This time, I took the tint off my window on my jetta which i really didn't want to do but my dad got a ticket because the windows were too tinted and what ever else they don't like about having tinted windows. I might put tint on again but just a lighter shade. I don't think ill be applying it during the time of the passion project because I just don't have the money for it at this point of my life.
To be able to take the tint off is really easy actually but takes patients and time. There are a few things that you need to have: a razer blade, some kind of steamer, and a tinted window. The reason why you need to have a steamer is the tint is glued on and without the heat the glue stick's too much.

Pictures of taking tint off

First start at fixing things

OK so for stars are starter for are snow blower stopped working not that was a big surprise its like 35 years old i believe. Since i live in the country shoveling the snow takes approximately 2hr and its not easy. This was kinda a big thing so my dad said go for it he bought me another starter and way i went. This wasn't as hard as i thought it would be because working with my dad building are church showed me a few electrical thing. What i had to do was simply remove the old starter and solder the the starter to the wire attached to the old wire with the new starter.

Sorry now pick's this time but next time i promise to have some 

Radiator

One day it was just a regular morning getting ready for school then as I was leaving i noticed there was some colored snow on the ground. I know the first thing to think of is pee but it wasn't it was a different color then pee. So i decided when i got home to check what kind of fluid it was. Being who I em i decided to ask my dad what kind of fluid it was. As soon as he saw it he knew exactly what it would be radiator fluid because apparently it has a very distinctive smell to it. I checked to see how the radiator fluid was and it was dry as a bone i asked my dad why this was because he has almost babied this vehicle in the past. He told me its been like that for about 21 years. I had no idea why it was like that but if you would look in the actual radiator then it looked completely fine. After all of that I was like ok all done it broken but been like that for 19 years so it will probably be fine I checked to see if it had leaked again and it hadn't so I decided just to leave it.