**The Joy of Fixing Old Cars**

As I sat in my garage, surrounded by various car parts and tools, I couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction that comes with fixing old cars. My latest project was a 2006 Toyota Highlander, which had been plagued by issues related to fuel trim. The owner had taken it to me, hoping that I could help resolve the problem.

I began by inspecting the spark plugs, which were in dire need of replacement. The coil had come up, and the spark plug wrench was still attached, a testament to the previous mechanic's attempts to fix the issue. I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of the spark plug wrench getting stuck on those long threads. "They don't want them popping out," I thought to myself.

As I removed the spark plugs, I noticed that they were about the right color, a grayish-white hue. However, upon closer inspection, I saw tiny dots of burnt material, like fingernail files, scattered across their surface. These burn marks told me that the engine had run too lean, causing impurities in the gasoline to speckle the fuel injectors.

I knew that vacuum leaks were a common culprit when it came to issues with fuel trim, but fortunately, there were no obvious signs of a leak. Since one side was slightly more lean than the other, I suspected that the mass sensor might be at fault. However, both sides were fed by the same mass sensor, so it couldn't be that.

I considered the possibility that the fuel injectors had become worn over time, causing them to spray less-than-perfectly conical nozzles into the engine. This could lead to uneven airflow and, subsequently, a leaner mixture on one side of the engine compared to the other. But I was relieved to find that this wasn't the case.

With my suspicions alleviated, I decided to try a cleaner filter and see if it would make a difference. I chose a Purple Max Cleaner, which is not commonly available in stores anymore. Instead, I opted for BG Cleaner, which seemed like a viable alternative. After pouring the cleaner into the fuel tank, I started the engine and took it for a spin at 4000 rpm for about half an hour.

To my surprise, the problem was resolved almost immediately. The short-term fuel trim, which had been a whopping 8.4%, dropped to zero overnight. I couldn't believe it – a can of cleaner had fixed the issue! It was a testament to the power of preventive maintenance and the importance of using high-quality cleaning products.

As I reflected on the experience, I realized that this was exactly why I loved fixing old cars. The thrill of the hunt, the satisfaction of solving a problem, and the knowledge that my work would help keep people driving safely were all part of the appeal. And who knows? Maybe one day I'll get to share my expertise with someone who's looking for advice on how to fix their own car.

**Bonus Questions and Answers**

If you're in the market for a new car, but want to make sure it's in good condition before buying, consider hiring a mechanic like me for a pre-purchase inspection. I'll give you an honest assessment of the vehicle's condition and help you avoid any costly surprises down the road.

I'm currently based in Rhode Island, but I also have a location in Clarksville, Tennessee, where I'm splitting my time between visiting both sets of grandkids. If you're in either of these locations, feel free to bring your car by for an inspection – it's on the house! Just make sure to call ahead and let me know when you're coming.

One thing to keep in mind is that not all sellers are willing to have their cars inspected by a mechanic like me. Some may be hesitant due to fear of finding a problem, which they'd rather not deal with. But I'm here to help – so if you do find yourself in this situation, don't hesitate to reach out.

And as always, remember to ring that bell when you subscribe to my channel for more car repair videos!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enrev up your engines yes toyota tacoma's probably the best truck you can get but like anything else eventually everything breaks this one's misfiring a little bit let's try to figure it out i realize everything is electronic these days first test the battery and alternator i've seen guys spend thousands of dollars oh no one can find out what's wrong with my car they bring it to me i check it out it needs a battery an alternator so first we check that you just need a tester negative negative positive on positive and make sure they're tight that's decent static voltage but that's not what we're really testing we're going to test this 12 volt in vehicle top post regular we'll go buy call cranking amps in this case it's 750 that's exactly what's on the battery you get confused there it is under the dirt 750 cold cranking amps so away we go good battery it cranks up crank is normal nothing wrong with that now we'll check the charging system you did all the tests man now what does it say turn off loads and engine press to continue so i press enter no problems pretty close load no load everything's working fine now it's pretty funny because earlier i checked it and said the battery needed to be recharged me running in a short time it says it doesn't he uses this on the weekend so if you have a car you don't use much and you check it and it says battery is good but it needs recharging and then you check the charging system and it works and you think well i drive it why doesn't he charge it it's cause you don't drive it enough so get yourself a trickle charger hook it up if you're worried about that now the battery and alternator okay if the battery and alternator were not okay everything the ignition system the fuel system all the electronic systems they might not operate right it could be that simple it could even be as stupid as a loose or corroded battery terminal these are on tight but if you watch that one video of mine the guy had it on so loose you could turn it it was the only thing that was wrong with his car now never forget the obvious things especially with the vehicle got 154 000 miles on it so we'll look for vacuum leaks listen i don't hear anything about a normal engine now you can hear a little bit of valve train noise that's typical on a toyota engine with this mileage toyotas don't use hydraulic lifters they have solid stainless steel shims that the cams move the valves with generally they can last forever adjusting them as a royal pain you got to get a special tool you got to pull the cams off but i've seen these things with 500 000 miles and they made noise a little more than this but they still ran so who cares standing here i can feel a slight misfire let's hook up the scan tool i like this anova it's proven to be pretty good it's like any other you just plug it in but make sure it's on tight or it won't give good reading now it's on most toyotas it quickly came up with everything's green there's no trouble codes of course that's the beginning so we'll go to system status we'll go all the way down to toyota oem enhanced we want the enhanced data o6 tacoma yes away we go there's no enhanced codes there's no codes so let's do an all module scan it's scanning everything it would take me hours to attempt to do this by hand as we go we'll keep going down zero zero zero zero zero tire pressure monitor that we don't care about that's not gonna make the car run bad on this particular old thing turns out that the sensors the batteries have worn out on the tires who cares you can check your own tire pressure but there's nothing that's going to help us with this so let's go to live data ld here we go we're going to get the live data we'll learn some stuff here now we can see the short term fuel on bank one it's adding a little bit of fuel and the long-term fuel it's adding 7.8 percent fuel and for bank 2 it's adding the same 1.6 short-term fuel let's go down and the long-term it's adding 10 so it's adding a little bit more fuel on bank too than it is on bank one but it is adding fuel nevertheless so the little jiggle i feel is because it's running a little bit too lean but it's not tripping to lean code because it's not that lean handling converters themselves are working pretty good temperature bank one sense one is 364 celsius bank two sensor one is 365. bank one sensor two is 101 and bank two sensor two 100 202 it's almost exactly the same so those are okay so basically the only thing i can see wrong so far is the bank 2 was running at just a little bit more lean than bank one like 10 percent versus 8 percent long term but when you go a little further it's interesting check this out when i look at the drive cycle i can see the oxygen sensor is not enabled and neither is the catalyst monitor those are two monitors that should be completed sometimes they call them complete incomplete this goes enable disabled these are not passing the test see the oxygen sensor monitor matters how much oxygen is and since this thing is running a little bit lean it's not tripping a code but it won't enable it to say that it passed its test so it's in no man's land for some reason this thing is running slightly lean causing a lean misfire now this is nothing with it running bad has nothing to do at all with it running my butt check out the roof well the roof is rusted that's because this baby was made in california fremont where i guess they didn't care that much about painting cars they got scotty says this was made in california now all the tacomas are being made in mexico and they're only making the big old tundras in san antonio you can still get good used ones made in san antonio it's california boys i guess they're too much into ecological stuff where they use water-based paint stuff and then it fades off because i did have a toyota that was made in the united states paint faded off because they'd use water-based paint they didn't know how to do it right another disadvantage of water-based paint they made it out of oil to begin with because it's stronger come on what's stronger oil and lacquer or water it only makes common sense let's get back to the matter of hand why is it got that tiny misfire well couldn't be as dumb as an air filter no pull it out it's not the air filter it's clean i can see the sun through it so i've seen this a million times just worn out sparkles will do it the guy changed the sparks with himself thirty thousand miles ago they shouldn't be one up but let's look at them anyway simple job getting them out take off the coil on plug ten millimeter bolt then the coil comes up and goes the spark plug wrench take that off i'm getting old they got long threads on these things they don't want them popping out you don't see them popping out like ford engines all right now here's the plug it's about the right color you want it kind of a grayish white the only thing i can see is if you look closely little bitty dots of burnt material kind of like a fingernail file you can feel it that is burn marks from it running too lean they run too lean they get too hot then what happens is any impurities in your gasoline will speckle it that's from gasoline that wasn't perfectly made that was running a bit too lean he just uses regular gasoline from all kinds of different stations it's leaving this little bit of residue now that in itself isn't going to make it run particularly rich or lean that's more with a fuel system now there's no obvious vacuum leaks and since one side is slightly more lean than the other it can't be a central thing let's say your mass sensor was bad both sides are fed by the same mass sensor they would both be equally off and they aren't one side's running a little bit leaner than the other more often that stuff like the fuel injectors over time have gotten worn they don't spray perfectly conical spray into the engine and now one side will run a bit leaner than the other and this one is a good engine because it's an older one it's all still metal the ones with plastic intakes and plastic stuff over time they crack they suck air but this isn't doing that and these aren't known for that anyway fuel injectors are probably a little bit dirty so put the spark plugs in try a little cleaner filter back in it's off to the auto parts store so we'll pour some cleaner in this case i'm trying to roar a purple max clean i wanted to get bg cleaner but nobody sells it anymore so if this doesn't work the owner is going to get some bg online and try that now we start up we'll take it for a spin now i drive it around at 4000 rpm maybe half an hour let's see if it's done anything normally it won't work this fast but let's see so i'll plug the scan tool back in and we'll check out the live data here we go and look what's happened to the short-term fuel trim point eight percent and point eight percent rather shocking isn't it i wouldn't have expected it to work that fast but obviously that's a decent cleaner did a pretty good job look at that we fixed it with a can of cleaner even i wouldn't believe this unless i saw it with my own eyes and to top it off it was a cleaner that i've never used before now you've learned a little bit more about toyotas they're well built they can have little problems maybe the computer won't even tell you about it if you can fix it as easy as i just did hey you can thank me i like helping the world out you never know what's going to happen the machines don't lie that's why it's a good idea to buy one of these machines you don't have to buy one this fancy you could get a 50 one that would give you a short and long term fuel trip tells you a lot and here's some bonus questions and answers 1648 says scotty would you do a pre-purchase inspection for me i'm looking at either a lexus rx 350 or toyota rav4 toyota highland all right well you picked good cars now for the next two months i'm here in rhode island and yeah if you could make it here with the car sure no problem i would check it out now i'm going to be back in clarksville tennessee in june and then if you're around there no problem i'll be there for you know the rest of the year i'm splitting between both grandkids setups here yeah i check them out for free for everybody then if i find a problem that i can warn the rest of the world about it i definitely would if you're around here if you can get the car here that's the only problem is a lot of guys they're selling cars they don't want a guy like me checking out the car unless it's the perfect car i've had many people not be able to bring cars to me because the seller said no we're not going to because they knew something was wrong they didn't want a good mechanic to look at it so yeah if you're around rhode island feel free to get a hold of me and you get this beautiful view too while you're waiting no extra charge so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that bell you\n"