How to Replace a Tie Rod in a Nissan Maxima

1. Buy tie rod ends that are specific to your Nissan Maxima's model year, as the parts can vary from model year to model year. These come with replacement nuts.
2. Disconnect the cable for the negative post of the battery. Loosen the lug nuts of the front wheels with a lug nut wrench, and jack up your vehicle. Support the vehicle on jack stands and remove the wheels.
3. Loosen the tie rod nut with a wrench and remove it. Separate the tie rod end from the steering knuckle with a tie rod separator or a ball joint separator.
4. Undo the nut at the top of the tie rod, and separate tie rod from the rack and pinion.
5. Slip in the tie rod into the rack and pinion and tighten the nut. Screw the tie rod end onto the tie rod and slip the tie rod end into the steering knuckle and tighten the nut to 29 foot pounds.
6. Put on the wheels and tighten the lug nuts to 80 foot pounds. Reconnect the battery cable and have your Nissan Maxima aligned.

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How to Remove the Shadowline on a BMW

1. Start with the front left or front right door. Remove the horizontal trim piece located at the base of the window. Place a length of masking tape on the door, along the edge of the trim.
2. Slide a small screwdriver or putty knife under the trim, using a piece of cloth between the screwdriver and the trim. Start at the rear edge of the window and pry up very gently, working towards the front edge of the window. The trim will lift enough for you to gently pull the trim up and off of the car.
3. Clean off the dirt and dust under the trim by spraying it with Windex or a similar mild cleaner, then brush it off with a soft bristle brush. Touch up any small scratches and scrapes that developed from removing the trim with the touch-up paint.
4. Remove the upper window trim next. Close the door and locate the rubber seal located above the trim and below the trim. Open the door and inspect its top edge. Locate the small, round, black plastic button that holds the end of the upper rubber door seal to the door. Pry the buttons off gently with the tip of a screwdriver.
5. Lift up the edge of the door seal and pull it up and away from the door. The seal should come loose easily. Pull the door seal loose from the rear edge of the door, all the way to the exterior rear view mirror mounted on the door. Let the trim hang by the window. Do not remove it entirely.
6. Remove the door trim by removing the clips (located under the door seal) that are now exposed. The clips hold onto the trim with two tabs that go through the square holes in the trim and fold over the trim. Use a set of pliers to squeeze the tabs together so that they can be slipped through the square holes in the trim. If you cannot get a grip on the edges of the tabs with the pliers, use a small, sharp screwdriver to pry up the tabs enough to grab them with the pliers.
7. Lift the trim off of the clips and away from the door once the clips are moved out of the way. Remove the clips from the car by sliding a screwdriver under the clips and lifting them while simultaneously twisting them. Do this slowly, so that you don’t scratch the paint.
8. Repeat the process above for all four doors (or all four windows, if the car is not a four door). Clean the dust and dirt off with the soft bristle brush and Windex. Touch up any nicks or scratches.

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How to Reset the Service Code for a 2005 Mercedes Benz

1. Find the diagnostic port that is the same shape and size as the connector on the OBD II scan tool. This port can be found on the driver's side dashboard near the steering column.
2. Plug the OBD II scan tool into this port. Put the key into the ignition and turn it to the 'ACC' position, but don't start the engine. This should power on most scan tools. If not, find the on/off switch on the scan tool and turn it on.
3. Wait while the scan tool retrieves the codes. Look for a command that says 'Delete Codes' or 'Erase Codes' or something similar. Select this command and wait for the tool to do the job.
4. Unplug the scan tool and start the engine. Verify that the 'Service Engine Soon' light on the instrument panel has turned off.

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How to Replace an Allroad Headlight

1. Park your Audi on a flat, level surface and turn off the engine. Let the car sit for 10 minutes to cool before popping the hood and securing it with the prop bar.
2. Go to the rear of the headlight assembly and locate the two T25 screws along the top of the headlight. Use your torx wrench to remove these screws. Be sure to place them somewhere safe so that they do not roll away during this procedure.
3. Fit your wrench with an extension. Locate and loosen the screws on either side. Do not completely remove these screws.
4. Slide the Allroad headlights out a few inches until you can access the wiring harness. Remove any clips and unplug the wires from the headlight assembly, then slide the headlight completely free.
5. Reverse the previous steps to install the new Allroad headlight into your Audi. Reattach the wires, clip them in place. Slide the headlight in to the headlight cavity. Tighten the side screws and insert the top screws. Close the hood.

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How to Change the Headlights on a 323Ci

1. Turn off the car completely and put on your safety glasses and gloves.
2. Open the hood, and locate the bulbs you need to change. The low beam bulb will be closer to the outside of the vehicle, and the high beams are closer to the inside, right behind the light cover near the engine.
3. Turn the bulb holder to the left, and pull it straight off, and then unscrew the burned-out bulb. Put it somewhere out of the way.
4. Twist the new bulb carefully into place using a cloth or clean gloves, without touching it directly.
5. Replace the bulb holder and tighten it into place. If more bulbs need replacing, repeat this process as necessary.

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How to Change Brakes on a BMW

1. Loosen the lug nuts on both front wheels by turning them 1/4 turn counterclockwise.
2. Raise the BMW up using the floor jack. Jack under the front jack point.
3. Place jack stands underneath the pinch welds of the BMW and lower the vehicle onto the jack stands.
4. Finish loosening the lug nuts and take the wheel off.
5. Unbolt the top and bottom brake caliper mounting bolts on the BMW and secure the caliper to the coil spring above the brake assembly with the zip ties.
6. Remove the brake pads by taping them out with a rubber mallet.
7. Place the face of the brake pad over the caliper piston and then place the c-clamp over the back of the brake pad and caliper assembly. Gently force the caliper piston back into the caliper by tightening the c-clamp.
8. Insert the new pads and reassemble the brake system. Installation is the reverse of removal.
9. Repeat steps 4 - 8 with the other front wheel.
10. Put the wheels back on, tighten the lug nuts and lower the vehicle. Torque the lug nuts to 100 foot-lbs once the wheel is back on the ground.
11. Raise the rear of the BMW using the rear jack point and place the jack stands under the pinch welds in the rear of the vehicle.
12. Lower the vehicle onto the jack stands and then repeat steps 4 - 8 for the rear wheels.
13. Put the wheels back on, tighten the lug nuts, and lower the rear of the vehicle. Then, tighten the lug nuts to 100 foot-lbs.

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How to Change a Turn Signal Light on a BMW

How to Change a Turn Signal Light on a BMW
1. Pop the hood on the car and use the flashlight to locate the four separate bolts that fasten the given light on the front of the car.
2. Loosen all four easily-seen bolts using the socket wrench and place bolts to the side taking care to remember which bolt goes where.
3. Once the bolts have been removed from the car, carefully yet firmly pull the entire lighting unit toward you. (The side marker light has a separate clip and you must apply slightly more pressure to that side of the light to get it loose from the vehicle.)
4. With the light pulled roughly six inches from the car, carefully loosen the bulb housing unit on the defective turn signal.
5. After removing the bulb, place the new bulb in the socket and gently turn slightly to the left while pushing down. This action will cause the bulb to slide down into the given slots on the housing unit.
6. After securing the bulb, make sure to turn your emergency lights on to see if the bulb is working.
7. If the bulb works, carefully slide the light back into place by applying an equal amount of pressure to the entire housing unit.
8. After the light has been slid firmly back into place, tighten the bolts back into their given grooves and close the hood.

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How to Remove a BMW Grill

1. Open the hood of your car and examine the area where the front grills are installed.
2. Remove the mounting screws if there are any visible at the top of the kidney grills. If there are plastic clips visible instead of screws, insert the flathead screwdriver between the clip and the surface and gently pry up to pop the grill out.
3. Slowly pull the grill out of place after you have unclipped it or unscrewed the mounting hardware.

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How to Number the Injectors on a BMW 740i

1. Walk around the front of your BMW and open the hood.
2. Locate the fuel injectors on top of the engine. You will see one injector per cylinder--four injectors on the left and four on the right.
3. Grab a piece of paper and pencil and write down the numbers 4, 3, 2, and 1 on a single column to the left of the paper. Make sure there is some space on top and bottom of this column.
4. Write down the numbers 8, 7, 6, and 5 on a single column to the right of the first column of numbers.
5. Write down the word 'rear' on top of the two columns of numbers, and the word 'front' at the bottom of the two columns of numbers.
6. Grab your piece of paper with the two columns of numbers and stand in front of the engine, facing the drive belt. If you look at your notes on the piece of paper, the two columns of numbers represent the cylinder numbers in your BMW 740i. The word 'rear' represents the back of the engine and the 'front' represents the front of the engine, which you are facing right now.
7. Label each of the fuel injectors using a piece of masking tape and a black marker, according to the numbers you have assigned to the each cylinder.

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How to Replace the Battery in Your BMW Key

1. Turn your key over--with the BMW emblem facing away from you.
2. Press the button on the top-right side of the unit to release the integrated mechanical key. Pull the key out of the unit; this will expose the edge of the battery cover.
3. Flip open the battery cover with your fingernail. Pull the old battery out carefully.
4. Insert the new battery with the positive symbol (+) facing up. Close the battery cover. Re-insert the integrated mechanical key.

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