Yesterday, I tried working on my camry, and I struggled. I'll list what I struggled with.
First, to change the ball joint, do I have to take the wheel off? After lifting it up on a jack/jack stands, i saw that I could see the ball joint underneath if i crawled under, and that it takes a 17mm socket/wrench, not 19mm, but can you take it out with just a 17mm wrench, or do you need more specialized tools, and can you take it out and replace it without removing the wheel?
Speaking of wheels, it brings me to the next point. I stuggled taking the lug nuts off. Two of them on that front passenger wheel (lower front passenger/right ball joint is supposedly "bad") just would not come off. I used pb blaster, I used a crossbar lug wrench and used a hammer to hit the other side of the crossbar, and I tried stepping on it and it just wouldn't move. Would wd40 help, or is somethign wrong and i"m not using the right technique to remove the lug nuts? I have the car serviced at belle/discount tire, so they might overtighten it, so how do you deal with that, and when you put the nuts back on, how much do you need to tighten it by? Hand tight definitely isn't enough, but how much more/beyond do you go after you hand tigten it with the lug wrench? I heard you use a torque wrench, but if you don't have that, could you tighten it effectively with a lug wrench? And do I need to remove the wheel?
Speaking of ball joints, I saw the joint and it wasn't leaking oil and seemed fine. What other steps can I do to inspect that ball joint to determine if it's going bad or not?
Now, onto another area I struggled on. I planned to change just the filter yesterday as the oil is 1000 miles but the filter has 5000 on it, but I struggled to take the filter off. It woulnd't come off, and I have that plastic cap thing that you put over a socket wrench. Would a metal cap that goes over the filter be any better? In addition, I tried those other filter wrenches, the one that look like pliers and that woulnd't work on my car as you can't get you hand in there with that, and the type that wraps around also doesn't work, so would a metal cap wrench work better?
I also tried changing out the washer pump, as the washer fluid isn't coming out anymore, and I bought an ACI part to replace the denso, but the one I got doesn't look like the denso at all. Should I return it or have them reverify it's the rigth part as the ACI also makes a delco part and they could've gotten it mixed up? Any experiences with the camry ACI aftermarket vs the denso oem pump? There's a junkyard with my car, so I'm considering getting a denso from the junkyard. That's about it for now, and thanks.
First, to change the ball joint, do I have to take the wheel off? After lifting it up on a jack/jack stands, i saw that I could see the ball joint underneath if i crawled under, and that it takes a 17mm socket/wrench, not 19mm, but can you take it out with just a 17mm wrench, or do you need more specialized tools, and can you take it out and replace it without removing the wheel?
Speaking of wheels, it brings me to the next point. I stuggled taking the lug nuts off. Two of them on that front passenger wheel (lower front passenger/right ball joint is supposedly "bad") just would not come off. I used pb blaster, I used a crossbar lug wrench and used a hammer to hit the other side of the crossbar, and I tried stepping on it and it just wouldn't move. Would wd40 help, or is somethign wrong and i"m not using the right technique to remove the lug nuts? I have the car serviced at belle/discount tire, so they might overtighten it, so how do you deal with that, and when you put the nuts back on, how much do you need to tighten it by? Hand tight definitely isn't enough, but how much more/beyond do you go after you hand tigten it with the lug wrench? I heard you use a torque wrench, but if you don't have that, could you tighten it effectively with a lug wrench? And do I need to remove the wheel?
Speaking of ball joints, I saw the joint and it wasn't leaking oil and seemed fine. What other steps can I do to inspect that ball joint to determine if it's going bad or not?
Now, onto another area I struggled on. I planned to change just the filter yesterday as the oil is 1000 miles but the filter has 5000 on it, but I struggled to take the filter off. It woulnd't come off, and I have that plastic cap thing that you put over a socket wrench. Would a metal cap that goes over the filter be any better? In addition, I tried those other filter wrenches, the one that look like pliers and that woulnd't work on my car as you can't get you hand in there with that, and the type that wraps around also doesn't work, so would a metal cap wrench work better?
I also tried changing out the washer pump, as the washer fluid isn't coming out anymore, and I bought an ACI part to replace the denso, but the one I got doesn't look like the denso at all. Should I return it or have them reverify it's the rigth part as the ACI also makes a delco part and they could've gotten it mixed up? Any experiences with the camry ACI aftermarket vs the denso oem pump? There's a junkyard with my car, so I'm considering getting a denso from the junkyard. That's about it for now, and thanks.
