Recently my mechanic told me I had a few oil leaks in my 2019 Jeep Cherokee 3.2L V-6. One was the rear valve cover gasket and the other the dreaded oil filter / cooler housing leak. These are rather simple fixes but labor intensive since there is much to move out of the way. I've done my share of mechanical work, so I thought why not save some money and do it myself. And to sweeten the deal, one of my grandsons wanted to help me.

We dug into the project and completed it in an acceptable amount of time. Thanks to RockAuto for an all metal replacement filter housing (the original was plastic), gaskets and spark plugs. I fired it up and all looked well. I took the Jeep out for a spin and stopped by my mechanic, to brag a bit. But when I restarted the Jeep, I got a check engine light. He ran the code for me, and it flagged the oil sensor that is located on the oil filter housing I had just replaced and which is buried under the intake manifold.

His first question was, "Are you sure you plugged it in?" I responded, "Of course I did!" A few days later, I pulled the plenum and the intake and there it was. Staring up at me was the unplugged connector to the sensor, seemingly laughing at me. I now check, and double check, all connectors when putting things back together.

Galen in Pennsylvania

A couple of months ago, I was helping my youngest daughter replace the radiator hoses on her 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe. The job took about twice as long as necessary because we struggled to keep pliers' jaws on the spring clamps' tabs. Most of the hose clamps were oriented so the tabs were just out of reach and/or difficult to squeeze with enough pressure. Maybe a few vehicle assembly line workers took pleasure in installing hose clamps so the tabs were in precisely the wrong spot for some unfortunate future DIYer. More likely, the hose clamps were just installed much earlier in the assembly process when there was lots of room for easy access.

As we wrestled with the clamps and pliers, I started to have flashbacks to a moment decades ago when I attempted to use needle nose pliers to install the spring on a 1968 Chrysler 300's drum brake and ended up with the pliers stuck in the center of my forehead. Using the wrong tool can waste blood as well as time!

Tool vendors park their trucks in professional mechanics' parking lots to showcase the latest specialty tools. Alternatively, both DIYers and professionals can go to the "Tools & Universal Parts" tab at RockAuto.com to see affordable specialized tools they may not know even exist. That is where I looked to buy some cool hose clamp pliers so I was ready to help my oldest daughter replace the hoses on her 2005 Mustang.

The specialized hose clamp pliers made it much easier to get the pliers' jaws on the hose clamp tabs and keep them there. I was pleasantly surprised that the pliers also locked to keep the hose clamps open. That made it painless to slide and situate the clamps perfectly on the new hoses. You typically press a (red) arm to unlock the pliers. It is so nice not having the pliers slip off those darn tabs!

My favorite hose clamp pliers have jaws on the end of a cable. It was like someone imagined melding vise grips with a hood release cable and then actually figured out a way to do it. I can do amazing feats such as squeezing and locking in place the tabs on the lower radiator hose clamp while standing in front of the car (as shown in photos). Instead of having either my daughter or me just sympathetically watching the other, one of us can place the jaws on the hose clamp tabs and the other can squeeze/release the pliers' grips.

Hose clamp pliers with jaws on the end of a cable

Most specialized hose clamp pliers work on a variety of hose clamp designs and sizes. Once you experience using a great specialized tool (oil filter wrench, snap wring pliers, breaker bar...), you can't imagine doing a job without it even if you only use it once every few months or years. Find hose clamp pliers under "Hoses/Lines & Clamps," and enjoy perusing all the other fun tools available under RockAuto's "Tools & Universal Parts" tab!

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

To read more of Tom's articles, click this link and choose from story titles on the Newsletter Archives page.