ThrottleHolic

Why Take Your Car to the Mechanic When You Can Simpy DIY?

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How to Reset ‘Maint Reqd’ Light on a Lexus or Toyota

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The 'Maint Reqd' light on a Lexus or Toyota is an indication of an engine oil and filter change becoming due. It's aimed to remind you to change your engine oil and oil filter. Requiring only a reset, the maintenance required indication, illuminating your instrument cluster is not an indication ...

Help Your Car’s Starter Battery Last Longer, Reliably

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Have you ever been in a tight fix when your starter battery packs up after just serving for two years, and its replacement follows the same pattern of annoyance, leaving you stranded and fed up simultaneously? For many years, this was me: none of my starter batteries ever crossed the two-year ma...

5 Lies You Need to Stop Your Mechanic From Saying

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Most mechanics, especially in the developing world, tackle most vehicle repairs based on a trial-and-error approach. This is a quick guide to making sure that your car isn't their guinea pig Kazeem was as confident as the devil, riding a broomstick. "Madam," he started, brimming with confide...

Ancel BA101: The Battery Tester You Should Own (Right Away)

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The Ancel BA101 review is one review that gives me joy down to my very bones. Why? The answer is quite simple and to the point: buying a used car or a starter battery has always been a tricky business - there's always a degree of uncertainty as you part with your money. As you walk away, you ask...

Automatic Tranny Shift Bushing Replacement on a Lexus

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Failure of the automatic transmission shift cable bushing can leave you stranded...but, it's an easy DIY-friendly fix. If someone had told me that the transmission shift cable bushing would be such a pain in the butt while being such a simple component both in looks and its fixing proced...

Using Vegetable Oil as Engine Oil Replacement

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Will cooking oil (palm or vegetable) serve as engine oil? Turns out you don't need to try - there has been a lot of research in the field already Some time ago, I came across a seemingly 'crazy' video of a bald man, passionately turning cooking palm oil into the crankcase of his motorcycle. ...

Ask Throttle (1st Episode): Clunking Noise, Guzzling, Et Al.

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The auto world is an interesting (and complex) one. If you understand a vehicle (and its problems), handling it is usually a piece of cake, whether the car is a new one or an older model. You just diagnose and fix (without conscious thought). On the flip side, if you're not conversant with the c...

Ending The New vs Used Car Debate (Without ANY Sentiment)

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Recently, a friend who is way richer than I am called me and asked a simple question. “Throttle,” he inquired, “Is it better to buy a new or used car?" Without waiting for him to ask me what I thought, I answered: “Buy a brand new car, if you can afford it…damn the economists and accountants!” ...

Change Oil Every 5000 Miles: Is This ‘Wisdom’ Still Valid?

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You may have heard (or read) somewhere that it makes sense to change oil every 5000 miles (or so). Changing engine oil every 5k miles or generally, six months (whichever comes first) has now become the minimum standard for engine longevity. But are there no better alternatives? Compounding the a...

Single Cell To Double Cell Radiator: Why This Achieves Nothing

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There’s a trend going on in Nigeria at the moment — a very disturbing one at that: most vehicles with single-core radiators, once they have an overheating episode, are replaced with dual-core options. They call the radiators ‘single cell’ — and they replace the units with what they call ‘double c...