⬇️Scotty’s Top DIY Tools: 1. Bluetooth Scan Tool: amzn.to/2nfvmaD 2. Cheap Scan Tool: amzn.to/2D8Tvae 3. Professional Socket Set: amzn.to/2Bzmccg 4. Wrench Set: amzn.to/2kmBaOU 5. No Charging Required Car Jump Starter: amzn.to/2CthnUU 6. Battery Pack Car Jump Starter: amzn.to/2nrc6qR 🛠Check out my Garage to see what I use every day and highly recommend: www.amazon.com/shop/scottykilmer Consider subscribing and press the bell 🛎 icon to be notified of all new videos. Scotty on Social: Facebook ► facebook.com/scottymechanic/ Instagram ► instagram.com/scotty_the_mechanic/ Twitter ► twitter.com/Scottymechanic?lang=en
Scotty Kilmer,:Hey Scotty years ago I bought a 2002 Honda CRV, and it had a rough ride, so I figured that was the way it was supposed to ride, so when The factory stock 15" tire had worn out I replace them with 17" tire's and rim and that SUV had a way better and softer ride,then After a year later Honda started using 16 and17 " size wheels on the CRV because they found out that the 15" size wheels where to small for the 2nd gen, CRV so sometimes a wheel size upgrade will improve the handling and stopping of some vehicles
Scotty Kilmer hay Scotty I was wondering if you can help me out I own an Acura TL 2003 Type s the car shakes when I hit 80 the steering wheel Doesn’t shake just the car well it feels like the front mostly I feel like it might need an alignment but don’t know if you can see this and message back would really appreciate it thanks big fan never miss your vids
Scotty Kilmer Hello Scotty may be you can help me with this problem I have with a motorhome Is a ford 7.5 1990 thor motor home and my problem is I can't get lift gear out park. what I need to do to get the transmition out of park position ??
@Rafael G. I'm concerned you might be missing the point, but for the sake of satisfying curiosity, it was a 1999 Grand Caravan. I only paid $500 for it, and all in all, it was reliable enough that I certainly feel I got more than $500 worth of use out of it
1. Get drilled or slotted brake rotor discs to put on your car (DIY) 2. Get the right tires based on how you ride, drive and corner. 3. Replace your radiator with a metal one that has multiple rows
There is a lot of truth to that tbh, not only for mechanics. My Dad really knows his stuff maintaining machines in the likes of McDonalds, Starbucks, Subway, etc. building industrial fridge-rooms, repairing AC units, and such, and the back of his car looks like a war zone. Spanners, Sockets, pieces of metal, copper tubes, spare parts, etc. everywhere and he always finds what he needs in a minute, where as I need a whole hour just to dig through the mess.
Ray Brensike or he works in a mechanic chop where it’s been loud and yelling isn’t that uncommon except for the office setting when you go to charge someone
Mr killer you are the best car channel on you tube I am over 50 and have done many repairs and engine swaps. racing and other car builds you are so right on the money for all your videos and is why I am subscribed and tell others to do so too. keep up the great videos. I also share most of the videos I also like the notification system so that I don't miss a video I encourage everyone to ring that bell thanks man
He is wrong on drilled rotors on cars. Industry consensus is they don't help cooling and do crack faster and are just cosmetic. Big holes on those motorcycle rotors probably do help. Small holes on car rotors don't do jack.
Did you just use nascar as an example to try and compare with normal passenger car ? You cant resurface rotors if they are drilled and the conditions even a crazy driver would drive is still not enough to fall out of the performance spec, so there is no need or no added help with adding drilled rotors its as stupid as thinking people need nascar style breaks and you think that justifies your stupidity smh
I bought my car used, first i replaced the radiator, then i replaced the wheels from 15" to 16" so i can easily find ZR tires for my car, then i bought genuine brake rotors and pads all around, the car now is driving much better and it's better than what factory made it ( because of the wheels and tires) ✌️🏻✌️🏻
@@Detroit6V92TA Maybe good where you live, my friends in NYC ride with big rims and get sidewall blowouts constantly with all the potholes, and these are factory Beemer wheels!
Hi Scotty. I have a lot of respect for you, so please don't feel like I am trying to blast you like some sort of internet troll. But the whole "more cores is better" comes from a time when radiators were primarily made from copper and brass. Copper is great for heat conductivity however it is weak comparatively to aluminum, the tubes could not be made very wide before they began to balloon under pressure. I believe the industry standard for copper radiator tube is 1/2 in. In order for the tube to be wider it would also have to be much thicker to avoid ballooning. Thus in order to make a radiator that had superior heat dissipation manufacturers stacked more cores to allow for more surface area. And while this works to an extent it also significantly increases drag across the cores reducing air flow, creating what could be considered a rule for diminishing returns. Newer aluminum radiators from reputable brands (not cheap Chinese eBay radiators) are usually made with 1.0" tubes ( industry-standard for aluminum radiators) and there are many companies that make radiators with 1.25" tubes. I have even seen performance radiators with 1.5" tubes. I would say that a quality aluminum radiator with a dual 1 inch core would be better than any 4 core radiator back in the day of copper-brass. I am running a dual core radiator with 1.25 inch tubes on my LS3 powered truck. I couldn't get that thing to overheat pulling my trailer up a 10% grade in 100+ degree last summer. When it comes down to it a radiator from a trusted manufacturer made from quality materials is going to perform far better then a radiator purchased based on how many cores it has. -Morgan
Denver driver here. I was always a cheap tire guy (just like Dad) until recently. I put Yokohama YK 580's on my 2006 Sonata and wow what difference compared to the Falken Sincera's it came with. Great in the snow, great mileage and excellent handling. After those wore out I put Continental Contact Control Touring AS tires on - since they were out of Yokohama's at the discount tire store and sweeeet jesus what a step up from the Yokohama's. They cost less than the Yokohama's and perform better too. I can turn the wheel with one finger and the shock absorbing is great, since hyundai is notorious for a rough ride. They're also excellent in the deep snow and slush and a p*l*e*a*s*u*r*e to drive on dry pavement. And so quiet. Ahhhhh.
Deer Scottie. My name is Earnesto Miguel Valencio Hernandez. Every day me and mi familia watch your mechanics for autobile fixing videos every night during our eating of the dinner. Today, my daughter, Cynthia Emerelda Los Lobos Hernandez asked why you said big wheels is bad for car and can ruin it? I tell her that is only for new cars, cuz our 1978 Ford LTD Lincoln has 26 inch rims and it still takes me and the entire family to the local walmart. Thank you.
I’m a control engineer and I reckon you’re one of the few people on youtube who talk about car mods while actually knowing what they’re talking about, I love your channel Scotty.
Scotty, if you grew up driving in the mountains with four drum brakes like I did, I don't think you truly ever depend on your brakes to stop you! I've got a great story I've lived to tell about losing my brakes due to heat fade coming down a windy pass into Lake Tahoe... just me being careless! The tech has come far. Love your videos!
A few months ago, I bought a 4 wheel brake set, which included 4 drilled and slotted rotors and 8 ceramic brake pads, costing less the $150 for the 2007 Honda Odyssey. They worked better than the OEM brake rotors and pads. No signs of cracking on the rotors just because it's drilled. Around each hole there is somthing around the edge of the hole that prevent the rotor from cracking.
hey Scotty, thanks to you and your videos, I am able to educate customers better every day at my job. Yes I work at an instant oil change place (used to work in major chain garages). But, I follow your advice seriously. Thanks to your automotive experience and dedication to quality content, I can now pass along great information to the average person and do my part to help people maintain their vehicles.
I put a 3 core all alluminum radiator in my 26 year old Ranger, and man did it make a difference. Even on really hot days it won't go even slightly above about 60% before it opens the thermostat and cools it wayy back down. Definitely the best thing I've done to the vehicle
They also make more noise when you stop. I swapped out my dodge and it always made a growling noise when stopping at red lights or creeping to a stopping point. I try not to make a habit of having to stop at 100+ mph
Exactly and every retard replying doesnt know it would cost you twice the money since you cant resurface drilled rotors sonyou cant even extend the life of the rotors you HAVE to replace
This is just my one time experience. I had a '79 F150 302 no air.Radiator was plugged.(Yes it was over heating bad.) It was a one row. Got it recored to a 2 row. Temp gauge barely moved after that.Even after thermostat change. that was 20 years ago.I'm sure it's gone and it is now metal for a newer car.
Excellent advice about the brakes. The first mod I did on my 76 CJ was converting from Drum to Disk Brakes. Back then I think it cost about $200. Along with that mod I added stronger springs and a brush guard with winch. Followed by bigger tires. By the time I sold the Jeep, I had installed a complete Clifford Research system (Cam, intake manifold with 350 cfm Holley carb, and ARB locking differentials front and rear. I bought the Jeep for $3,500 new and sold it for $6,500 ten years and over 100,000 miles later. The only vehicle I ever made my money back on. American cars in the late fifties through early 70's were designed to last an average of 4 years. My friend's father was an engineer for GM and later Chrysler, and he confirmed that. My friend who also ended up as an engineer for Chrysler, said that in the mid 70's, because of competition from foreign manufacturers, they began to design cars to last on average 8 then 10 years. So while planned obsolescence is still there, it is not as bad as in the fifties and sixties. Those few old cars still on the road were the best of the best and not indicative of the average car built back then. The last new car I had to bring back for warranty service was built in the late 80's. All new cars built in the nineties and later, never had a bit of warranty repair under 90,000 miles.
Yeah, I remember Clifford Research, I still have 1 of their old catalogs from the mid 80's. I had a friend from High school that bought a rare 1968 Pontiac Firebird with the 250 cid OHC 6, and he was so happy and surprised when I showed him parts for his car out of my catalog...Sadly, he did not get around to modifying the car as it was totaled in a car accident within a couple of years...
These really are the best “mods” my car is 65,000 miles in and I’m now changing the stock OEM brakes and tires to the improved version. The radiator I didn’t think about so thank you for the great advice
A friend of mine replaced the plastic water pump in his BMW with a high quality material one (i think it was aluminum) and has never complained about it since.
WTF are you on about because the water pump as the name implies just pumps the water around and it's the job of the radiator to radiate the heat and cool the engine down.
Plastic car parts for the engine are never a good idea. And so many of these parts manufacturers are changing over to them. Why? Cheaper to manufacture than metal. Also, the plastic parts will fail from absorbing too much heat from the engine which means we have to replace them sooner. It's a win/win for them.
unfortunately there is no way to make a BMW reliable, better replace the whole car with a more reliable one. It is such a shame too, they are fun to drive, attractive and have high quality workmanship.
Peter Chopelas I guess I’m one of the lucky ones I own a 2007 328i with 260k miles with only having to change the timing chain and Alternator once 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️. And I had more issues with my newer Corolla than my unreliable bmw. Like I said I was lucky 🍀 not like my other friends that bring their bmw to the shop every other month for something
When it comes to modifying cars, I honestly want to do that but I don't have the knowledge or budget to even start it. It can be hard to find which car mods work best to last a while but it all comes down to quality which can be extremely expensive not going to lie. Definitely giving this video a big LIKE.👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
This is a perfect Scotty list. All boring mods that people still won't do but they should be the FIRST thing they do before trying to add power. Great list.
If a car is lowered it is a race car and trailered to a race track which is flat without steep driveways and speed bumps. To drive a lowered car on the highway is to destroy a perfectly good suspension system.
Yep, got me a triple core, super flow rad, and since then it will drop that temp needle like a rock. I can sometimes see this when it begins to warm up in the mornings, when the thermostat opens. Many years later I began to have heating problems. I blamed the thermostat. However, what happened is, over the years some oil kept spilling when I added oil and over the years it dripped right onto the radiator because there was a weep hole where it spilled from all the times I filled with oil. I had about a square foot section of the rad that was clogged with grease. Degreased and washed that off and I'm back running cool again.
Hey Scotty, My smoothest riding car is my 1981 volkswagen rabbit diesel! I put all new Michelin destiny tires on, and replaced the shocks and struts. Huge difference! Thanks for sharing!
@@ColoradoForestBeings Oh great, a climate denialist. The two subjects are not related and yeah, there is a scientific consensus that AGW is real. Sheesh.
The correct tires are extremely important, but so is your wheel size. My mom's '97 Buick Park Avenue upgraded from 15" wheels to 16" wheels with Michelin tires, and the boat handles like a dream. Buicks of that era had Grand Touring packages that would come standard with the 16" wheels. This is the next upgrade that will go on my '99 Buick LeSabre when I can afford it. You'd be surprised at how well these boats can corner.
I wonder about the worth of changing a radiator that is working fine. Even Scotty in his old Toyota has the original radiator. Learned about rotors - never crossed my mind to look into that. Thanks Scotty!
Yeah, I question the idea of changing a working radiator, too. I think a better upgrade is to actually drain and replace the coolant rather than replace the radiator.
truest words I ever heard someone say is that brakes are worth every penny.Can never go wrong with a brake upgrade and some good tires.Anyway awsome video and informative as always!!!!
Hell yes. Tires make such a difference. I put nice tires on the wires car. She called to say how much better it was. Great videos I've been learning more and more.
I modified my 2012 Honda Odyssey with slotted and drilled rotors because it has been known for premature warping due to OEM rotors in about 11k miles. Drilled rotors now have been redesigned with chamfered holes to help alleviate premature cracking. My Odyssey doesn't experience warping now that I did the same to my 2009 Toyota Venza AWD V6.
What you said Scooty is so true... I always see guys doing expensive mods on their vehicles which would only benefit them if they were on a track going really, really fast. When all you really need is some good mods to make your car last longer. Afterall you just need to get down the road from point A to point B and then park it the rest of the day or night.
Great video Scotty! Two suggestions (which are really maintenance items)- replace your headlight bulbs on a regular basis (they go dim gradually; new, stock, bulbs make a BIG difference; nothing fancy needed); Replace stock shocks/struts with the highest quality STOCK-type you can afford. You will enjoy your car every time you drive it, especially if you have the satisfaction of having done it yourself!
With non-halogen tungsten bulbs, the degradation from tungsten deposits on the envelope was fairly linear and quite significant (upt to 60%) until failure. It made sense to replace them on number of hours, as performance was significantly degraded. With halogen tungsten bulbs, the degradation is still linear, but there's a much flatter slope, followed by sudden failure. The degradation isn't very severe even just before it fails (about 15%, I believe), so it actually makes sense to replace them only when they fail.
Is it even possible to get better radiators for common cars? Because most of the listings I find online are either exact aftermarket replacements or just high performance racing ones 🤷🏻♂️
Absolutely agree. I used to have a 94 F 350 with a 400 in it. I had a flatbed installed and drug a 24' dovetail trailer around with it. The only mod I made under the hood was the radiator based on the suggestion of a very good mechanic. The engine stayed so cool even under load that I think that the only reason the fan ever came on was to cool the a/c compressor. It was a great truck.
For someone who loves cars but is a functioning illiterate when it comes to knowing anything technically about them, Scotty's instructional videos are great for me!
Never said either weren't true. Scotty is talking about performance in this video and any real car nut will tell you that blank rotors perform better than slotted rotors. The reason high end sport cars use slotted rotors is bc they look cooler. Slotted rotors were better once upon a time bc of some oily compound they used to use in brake pads, but are no longer used. This doesn't mean that slotted rotors are bad, just not as good performance-wise. U might wanna do some research next time and trust me buddy not everything u see online is true.
i would say with my 2 years of xp with the open country tires they are some of the best rugged daily driver tires they are more of an "offroady" type but they last a very long time and get very good all season and winter traction along with haveing 4X4 never have needed chains or any thing but 4X4 and these tires gone through mud snow ice water and plain road without any isuies and they are used as daily drivers! love your videos scotty kilmer cris fix and travish are very good inspiring people!
I just put a high flow water pump and a triple core aluminum radiator with a °180 thermostat the truck runs between 160 and 180. Heater works amazing. Now with summer it's time to see what it's going to run at with ac full blast . I'm about to put power stop drilled slotted vented zink rotors and wilwood calipers. I cant wait to see how they perform vs stock
Scotty, really enjoy your videos and have a few friends watching now too. I agree on a top 10 list and a Never Buy List. I would also like your opinion on GM 3.6, 3.8, 3.9 v6 engines (after the addressed head gasket issue and combined pushrod with vvt technology) attached to the 4 spd automatic transmissions as they cover many lower cost used car platforms, a lot of which you can still work on at home. I’m a reader of the info, but don’t have practical experience. Thank you!
Drilled rotors have been proven to effect performance negatively..... Slotted have been shown to slightly increase performance, but drilled are for looks.... and an aluminum radiator will do nothing unless there is already a problem with the factory one..... thermostat controls engine temperature.... I really enjoy watching your videos just to see how much b/s you can come up with that I can correct you on.... FUN!!!
Thermostat Does NOT Control Engine Temperature, It Allows the Coolant to Circulate Through the Radiator, After Reaching the Operating Temperature for Optimal Cooling !!! That IS Why the Road Train's Tractor in Australia has Not Extra, or Bigger Thermostat, But a 16 Inch, Extra Volume Radiator, to Handle the Harder Working Engine In the Extreme Australian Heat !!!
Time Laps This I wouldn't recommend removing it. It's gonna cause it to run too cool and throw your computer off causing your check engine light to come on. Use the same temperature thermostat that the old one was.
Thermostats can fail in many ways. Sometimes they'll begin to open early over time as the spring wears out, other times, they may never close. If your car comes up to temp fine in a reasonable period of time, and you can see the thermostat open on the temp gauge, then it's probably fine. If your car takes a really long time to heat up, your thermostat could be stuck open, or partially open. If your car is prone to overheating, well the thermostat could well be the cause if your coolant level is fine. I don't really see a point in upgrading or deleting the thermostat. There isn't much benefit to either, as it's not really a performance part. Deleting it would give you an always open condition which would increase engine wear, and upgrading it would just make the car run hotter and also potentially increase engine wear. I doubt it'd make enough difference to really change how you drive the car. Just make sure it's working, and it should be good enough.
Good advise about tyres but better advice is actual tyre pressure . And advising the local handy man to drill holes in the brake disc's can open up a real can of worms in just balance alone . Cheers from Down Under in Australia .
Tires with snowflake symbol are way better in snow than all seasons and work great anywhere. I bought nitro grappler awt and drove then around lake Arrowhead can and palm springs. Then pulled a toy hauler from 29 palms to eastport Maine over the summer. Then to Upper Peninsula in fall and winter. Tires are great and highly recommend. No loss only gains vs passenger tires. 2000 Lincoln navigator.
