Guide
There Is a Puddle Under the Car
The colour and the position identify the fluid, and the first useful step costs nothing. What each one means, which two mean stop driving, and when dye is worth it.
5 min read
Diagnostics
Finding out what is actually wrong before spending money on parts.
Start here
Diagnostic Tools That Stop You Guessing at Parts
Five measurements that turn a symptom into a diagnosis, ordered by how much each one saves you against the parts you would otherwise buy on suspicion.
Comparison
OBD2 Dongle vs Handheld Scanner
The dongle is cheaper and better until the battery is flat or the phone is not there. Which failure you would rather have is what actually decides this.
4 min read
Guide
The Combustion Leak Test for a Head Gasket
A blue fluid that turns yellow is the cheapest way to answer the most expensive question on a car. What it proves, and the two ways it lies to you.
6 min read
Guide
A Mechanic's Stethoscope, and What It Settles
A noise you can hear from the driver's seat tells you almost nothing about where it comes from. This is the cheapest tool that answers that question.
5 min read
Guide
A Timing Light, and When You Need One
On a distributor engine a timing light settles a fault nothing else can see. On a modern one it is a tool with no job. Which car you have decides it.
6 min read
Guide
Brake Fluid Moisture Testers
Brake fluid absorbs water from the air and the boiling point falls as it does. A cheap tester turns an invisible service item into something you can see.
4 min read
Guide
Coolant System Pressure Tester
A cooling system that loses coolant with nothing on the driveway is the case this tool exists for. It finds the leak cold, without running the engine.
5 min read
Guide
An Infrared Thermometer for Car Diagnosis
It measures a surface, not a fluid, and it reads what it can see. Understand those two limits and it settles questions nothing else answers cheaply.
6 min read
Comparison
Leak-Down vs Compression Test
A compression test tells you a cylinder is weak. A leak-down test tells you where the air is going. One screens, the other diagnoses, and they are not alternatives.
4 min read
Review
OTC 5605 Review: The Adapter Decides If It Reaches
A compression kit whose value is its adapters and its deep-well connector, not its gauge. Reaching a recessed plug is the part cheap kits fail at.
4 min read
Fix 8 · Ugly 5
Review
Klein MM400 Review: The Fuse Is the Whole Point
An auto-ranging meter that publishes what most competitors leave out — the rating of the fuse protecting its current jack. That silence is the buying decision.
4 min read
Fix 9 · Ugly 4
Collection
Diagnostic Tools That Stop You Guessing at Parts
Five measurements that turn a symptom into a diagnosis, ordered by how much each one saves you against the parts you would otherwise buy on suspicion.
2 min read
Guide
Two Cheap Tools That Check a Used Car Before You Buy
A paint gauge finds filler and repainted panels a walk-round misses, and a borescope sees inside a cylinder without anyone removing anything expensive.
3 min read
Guide
The Old-School Vacuum Gauge as an Engine Diagnostic
A compression test reads one cylinder at a time on a dead engine — a vacuum gauge reads the whole running engine, and the needle's movement is the message.
3 min read
Guide
What a Compression Test Tells You Before Buying Parts
The absolute numbers matter less than how close the cylinders are to each other — and a wet retest separates worn rings from a valve or head gasket problem.
3 min read
Comparison
Test Light vs Multimeter: Which to Buy First
A test light answers is there power here faster than anything else — and on a modern car the cheap incandescent kind can damage the circuit it is testing.
3 min read
Guide
Find an Electrical Short Without Pulling Every Fuse
Swapping the blown fuse for a breaker and tracing the field it makes turns a wiring short from a teardown job into something you follow along the loom.
3 min read
Guide
How to Test a Car Relay Before Replacing It
Swapping in an identical relay from elsewhere in the box is the free test most people skip — and a relay that clicks can still be failing under load.
3 min read
Guide
How to Test a Car Connector Without Damaging It
Pushing a meter probe into a connector spreads the terminal permanently — a back-probe pin reaches the same contact from behind without opening it up.
3 min read
Guide
When Do You Actually Need a TPMS Reset Tool?
Plenty of cars relearn tyre sensor positions by driving, some need a menu, and only some genuinely need a tool — check which you own before buying one.
3 min read
Comparison
OBD2 Scanner vs Multimeter: Which One First?
One reads what the car's computer reports; one measures the actual electricity. Which diagnostic tool to buy first depends on the symptom, not preference.
4 min read
Guide
A Multimeter for Car Owners, Not Electricians
Six checks cover nearly everything you need: battery state, charging, a fuse, a bulb, a bad earth, a parasitic drain. Plus the one feature you cannot skip.
5 min read
Guide
Using a Multimeter to Find a Parasitic Drain
The measurement three other pages on this site tell you to take. How to take it without blowing the meter fuse, and how to isolate the circuit responsible.
5 min read
Guide
Best OBD2 Scanners for Normal Owners
How to choose a Bluetooth OBD2 scanner without buying workshop equipment — plus the port compatibility warning that older-car owners need to read first.
6 min read
Find one by feature
Narrow by what actually matters for your case. Selecting more than one narrows further, it does not broaden — this is a filter, not a search.
25 of 25 match
- The First Drive After a Winter Standing StillThere Is a Puddle Under the CarThe Small Garage Kitand 4 more on this site
Telescoping inspection mirror
- OBD2 Dongle vs Handheld ScannerRange Planning Without a Trip ComputerOBD2 Scanner vs Multimeter: Which One First?and 1 more on this site
Veepeak Bluetooth OBD2 scanner
Veepeak
- Two Cheap Tools That Check a Used Car Before You BuyDropped a Bolt Into the Engine Bay? Recover It
WiFi / USB borescope inspection camera
- The First Drive After a Winter Standing StillCar Electrical Problems, in the Order to Check ThemOBD2 Dongle vs Handheld Scannerand 21 more on this site
Automotive multimeter
- Roadside Triage Before You Call AnyoneA Fuse Puller and a Spare RelayTiny Tools That Prevent Expensive Damageand 1 more on this site
Automotive test light
- Tiny Tools That Prevent Expensive DamageHow to Test a Car Connector Without Damaging It
Back-probe pin set
- Diagnostic Tools That Stop You Guessing at PartsFind an Electrical Short Without Pulling Every Fuse
Short-circuit tracer
- A Fuse Puller and a Spare RelayHow to Test a Car Relay Before Replacing It
Automotive relay tester
- When Do You Actually Need a TPMS Reset Tool?
TPMS reset tool
- The First Drive After a Winter Standing StillLeak-Down vs Compression TestA Classic's First Inspection After Long Storageand 4 more on this site
Engine compression tester
- A Timing Light, and When You Need OneCarburettor Cleaning and Re-TuningDiagnostic Tools That Stop You Guessing at Partsand 1 more on this site
Engine vacuum gauge
- Two Cheap Tools That Check a Used Car Before You Buy
Paint thickness gauge
- Contact Points vs Electronic Ignition on a ClassicKlein MM400 Review: The Fuse Is the Whole PointTest Light vs Multimeter: Which to Buy Firstand 5 more on this site
Klein Tools MM400 auto-ranging multimeter
Klein Tools
- Leak-Down vs Compression TestOTC 5605 Review: The Adapter Decides If It Reaches
OTC 5605 Deluxe compression tester kit
OTC
- Leak-Down vs Compression Test
Cylinder leak-down tester
- There Is a Puddle Under the CarThe Small Garage KitFinding Parts for a Car Nobody Stocksand 3 more on this site
Ullman A-2T telescoping inspection mirror
Ullman
- Bleeding Brakes on Your OwnBrake Fluid Moisture Testers
Brake fluid moisture tester
- There Is a Puddle Under the CarThe Combustion Leak Test for a Head GasketCoolant System Pressure Testerand 1 more on this site
Cooling system pressure tester
- The Combustion Leak Test for a Head GasketCoolant System Pressure Tester
Combustion leak (block) tester
- The Combustion Leak Test for a Head GasketA Mechanic's Stethoscope, and What It SettlesAn Infrared Thermometer for Car Diagnosis
Infrared thermometer
- The Combustion Leak Test for a Head GasketHose Clamp Pliers for Spring ClampsCoolant System Pressure Tester
Spill-free coolant fill funnel
- A Mechanic's Stethoscope, and What It SettlesA Timing Light, and When You Need One
Mechanic's stethoscope
- A Timing Light, and When You Need One
Inductive timing light
- OBD2 Dongle vs Handheld Scanner
Handheld OBD2 scanner
- There Is a Puddle Under the Car
UV leak detection kit
Other things that might be annoying you
- Warning lightThe light is on and nobody can tell me why.
- A long drive coming upSix hours in the car and I have not thought about any of it.
- Wi-Fi that keeps droppingThe PC is upstairs and the router is by the front door.
- The desk is set up wrongThe screen is too low, the chair is too high, and I have never changed either.
- A screen that is hard to look atGlare across it, or text I keep leaning in to read.
- Stuck at the roadsideSomething failed away from home and I had nothing useful with me.
- Taking a handheld awayCharging it, filling it, and getting it there in one piece.
- A PC that will not startIt was fine yesterday and now nothing happens at all.
- A car that barely movesIt sits far more than it drives, and that is its own problem.
- Nobody can hear me properlyHum, echo, or a microphone that picks up every keystroke.
- Losing work to a power cutA flickering supply, a failing drive, and no backup worth the name.
- Dead batteryThe car sat for a month and now it won't turn over.
- No garage spaceThe car fits, but only just, and nothing else does.
- Car clutterEverything I own is loose in the trunk and rattling.
- Dirty interiorThe interior has grit in places a vacuum cannot reach.
- Bad lightingI cannot see what I am doing under the hood or under the car.
- Lost toolsI own three 10 mm sockets and can find none of them.
- Loud PCIt sounds like a hairdryer the moment a game loads.
- PC runs hotFrame rate drops after twenty minutes and never recovers.
- Cable messBehind the desk is one knot I refuse to look at.
- Cannot drillI rent, so nothing can leave a hole or a mark.
- Nowhere to put itThe flat is full and there is nowhere left to put anything.
- Bag will not closeIt all went in last time and now the case will not shut.
- Everything needs chargingFour devices, one socket, and a flight in the morning.