Sue Tackles Viewer Questions Top Comments from Our Most Popular Videos

Hi, I'm Sue from 1A Auto and I asked you guys to write in questions and comments and you did and I am so thankful. And in this video, I'm gonna answer them.

All right. So, I did a video on common brake bleeding mistakes and we got quite a few comments. Couple of them I answered in the video but you didn't watch all the way through, but I'll do it again for you because that's why I'm here. So Skypirate King...sorry, Skypirate King writes, "How can I tell if my brake booster's going bad?" Well, I already said it in the video, but I'll tell you again for you. Before you start it, pump the brakes up and they'll get really firm because you're pushing the air out of the vacuum booster and there's no air going into it because the engine is not running and that's what supplies the vacuum to the vacuum booster. So, pump up the brakes before you start the car, hold the pedal firmly, start the car up. Once the vacuum gets to that booster, that pedal will throttle right down. Okay, Skypirate?

Lexus & Toyota Maintenance asked a question. He asked us...not sure if you missed it where I had the key on and off for...but you didn't complete the question. For the brake bleed or for to test the booster, the brake booster? Well, when you're bleeding the brakes, the key doesn't have to be on or off. It can be on your lap. It could be in the cupholder. You're just applying brake pressure and hydraulic pressure, shall I say, to each caliper. That's all you need to worry about.

There were a couple of questions about the ABS system, when should you bleed it, what about how should I bleed it if it's on the right side of the fender and the master's on the left or vice versa. Well, in a regular brake performance job and you have no brake issues other than the fact you might've changed a caliper unless you run that master cylinder empty because you weren't checking it when I told you to keep checking it, that's the only time you need to worry about your ABS. If you have an ABS light on with the brake light, you have a code. So you need to find out if there's a module that's no good in that ABS system. You can't just apply brakes and do a brake bleed if you have an ABS light on and flashing. There's a code involved. You have to check that out first. If you're doing just a regular brake bleed, do not touch the ABS system. It doesn't need to be touched. And if you're doing a regular brake job and you're not replacing the caliper, not replacing flex hoses, you're not even touching the hydraulics, the best thing ever, and I do it in all my videos is I open that bleeder screw before I push that piston back because ABS systems, you don't want any dirt, fluid...any dirty fluid or dirt flying back into that module. It will damage the module. It's easier just to open that bleeder screw, push the piston back, lock the bleeder screw and continue with your regular brake job.

Oh, so this question is...it has...it's a two-question, two-part question and it was written and it says...it's about the video I did with the brake light on only when I turn the car. So ended up being the master was low and I got into depth talking about seepage, checking for leaks, where to look, and if a caliper has a slow leak, what to do. So, I talked about a caliper dust seal and the internal seal. And yeah. If you can get a caliper kit, you can rebuild that and put it all back together. Easy-peasy. If you can get a caliper kit, go for it but you've gotta check for any scoring on that piston, replace the piston if it's got a hairline crack in it. So, you gotta go into depth. Sometimes when you look at it per ratio of hour, your time, building it, hopefully, it works and doesn't leak compared to buying a caliper that has a warranty on it that's already been remanufactured or rebuilt, it kinda weighs out the difference. So do that kinda homework. He also asked, "Sometimes on cold starts, my brakes have a drag to them but once I give it gas, I hear a thud and they break free." What do I think that could be? Well, first thing I would do is check your sliders. Cold weather. If you do not have the proper brake caliper grease in there whether it's silicone grease, synthetic grease, if it's not up to the temperature of the cold weather, yeah. It's binding up on that slider and that caliper's stuck on there and it doesn't release. That's the first thing I would look for.

So, another pile of answers which I was so grateful for when I asked was dog hair in vehicles. I had to go online. I ordered several items and I gotta tell you out of all the items I ordered, one of the greatest suggestions was, like, a window squeegee or rubber squeegee. So, this is just like that. This thing is kinda cool. So, you just push everything down to one section and it gathers all the hair up, as you can see. The rubber gives a little static to it and this rubber brush does the same thing. And then I picked it up with this thing. You go vigorously back and forth. Pretty cool, huh? And the best quote of all and answer was to take the top off and go 90. I'll get back to you on that one.

Last but not least, questions about the octane video I did. And it was about my car calls for 91 octane, I put 87 in it. They say it's okay. Is that okay? Well, no, it's not. And in the video, I explained why. The reasoning is why. Why are you putting 87 in a 91? What are you saving? What are you saving? Literally a $1.40 for a whole gallon. I mean, a tankful. If you save a buck 40 for a tankful and you're not getting the performance out of the car and you could be causing internal damage. Valve seats crack, knocking, valve knocking. It's just not worth it, dude. If you call for 91, put 91 in it. You're not saving.

Hey, Sue, what are you doing?

I'm complexed. I'm trying to do some simple math to figure out why people won't put the proper octane in their car. They bought the car knowing...I hope they did. But what the difference is...look at...I just figured it out. So, 87 octane average right now is around 3.19, 3.20 a gallon. Okay? Just so you have 20 gallons. It's gonna cost you $63.80 to fill the tank. $63,80. I'm not happy about it. If you have 91 octane, that requires your car to have 91 octane. Okay? $3.50 a gallon average for 20 gallons. It costs you 70. Rounded 70. You are saving by putting the wrong octane in, $6.20. Would you spend $6.20 at the Dollar General throwing it on stuff that you don't need? Because you're gonna...engine repair costs thousands of dollars. What are people thinking?

Well, that about does it for the questions and answering on your submissions. So, listen, if you're not a subscriber, please subscribe. Ring that bell and don't forget to turn on all your notifications. Sun melts me. And if you enjoyed the video, watch the rest of them because you...guess what? If you ring the bell, you won't miss any videos. I gotta go. That last one really just got to me. That last question really made me angry. What are people thinking?