One of the things that needed some work on my old 1993 Mazda MX-6 were the leather seats. One of the issues was a destroyed bolster on the driver’s side, which I couldn’t do too much about. The other was that the leather material was quite dirty and stiff. I used Pine-sol to clean and condition the leather afterwards, but it turns out Pine-sol is just too strong of a solution to use for cleaning. My seats stayed pretty stiff, but it sure was clean.
I finally got my Acura CL Type-S moved (pushed) into my driveway. Now that I’m able to work on the CL in the comfort of my own driveway, I started getting to work. The hood struts unfortunately are no longer working, so the hood keeps falling down on my head. Annoyingly, every time I need to work under the hood, I have to prop it up with various 2×4’s that I have laying around the house. I figure that one of the first things I need to take care of are the hood struts (shocks) as it will make working on anything else under the hood much easier.
This front side marker light bulb went out on this 2002 Toyota 4Runner the bulb needed to be replaced. The replacement is a simple change-out of the bulb, but there are a few things to keep in mind when changing out the bulb that will make the replacement easier and prevent any damage to the nearby body panels. The front side marker light uses a 2825 Bulb that can be found at auto parts stores or online.
It’s an inevitable issue on the early model 4th generation Toyota 4Runners: the A/C Light suddenly starts flashing or blinking and the cold air coming from your vents suddenly becomes warm. This happens to almost all of us 4th gen 4Runner owners; it’s happened to me around the time I bought my car more than 7 years ago, and it happened to me again recently. The issue is typically not simply that the air conditioner system has failed, but simply an electrical relay that was destined to fail over time. This magnetic clutch relay is located in the fuse box located under the hood. This relay will need to be replaced in order for the a/c light flashing issue to be resolved.
Years ago, the speedometer on my 4th Generation 4Runner had been working intermittently; it appeared that the stepper motor had stopped working. I replaced the stepper motor and the speedometer had started working again. About a year later, my speedometer had failed again but this time several of my gauges stopped working. Since stepper motors can be costly, especially if you’re replacing more than one, sometimes it’s more cost-effective to replace the entire instrument cluster.
Replacing the front shocks and coil springs is not difficult to do. However, it’s very important to understand how your front suspension works before doing this. Just like I did, I’d recommend reading guides, watch videos, and do as much research as you can when dealing with compressed springs in a suspension system. Here’s my guide for replacing the front coil springs and shocks using the “No Spring Compressor Method” on the 4th generation Toyota 4Runner.
A little over a year ago, I picked up a 2003 Acura CL Type-S as I was looking for a new project car to work on. I honestly wasn’t even looking for a CL Type-S specifically, but I spotted this one on Craigslist with a 6-speed manual transmission. For those who are familiar with the Acura CL, and the Type-S model in particular, you will know how rare it is to find a CL-S in a manual transmission. It is estimated that there were about 2700 Acura CL Type-S cars ever produced in a 6-speed manual transmission.
There are a variety of reasons for needing to change out rear coils on any car, but there are typically two main reasons for changing them out on the 4Runner. One is to simply replace damaged or worn coils for factory stock coils. The other is to lift the vehicle to a higher ride height. Changing out the rear coils is very easy to do and doesn’t require much time nor tools.
Pretty much every 4th generation Toyota 4Runner owner will find themselves with climate control bulbs that go out. I’ve provided some diagrams together showing what part numbers would be needed depending on whether you have the SR5/Sport or Limited model, as well as what bulbs power what on the center dash. You may choose to replace the bulbs whole (bulb with bulb holder) or you might want to save some money by wiring up bulbs to the existing bulb holders. I’ve shown both methods below as well as the products you’ll need whichever way you choose to proceed with.
