Smack it with your palm between the nut and the joint until it breaks loose. Once you feel it give way, push down at the joint with one hand and pull it off the post with the other

Sounds like a bad clockspring. It’s a spiral cable that goes through the steering column to the wheel to provide power to the horn and buttons on the wheel. If nothing on the wheel works that’s probably the culprit

One thing to consider is that a cat doesn’t just go bad for no reason. So even if you opt to replace it you will still have to figure out why it failed and fix that problem. Possible reasons are excess unburned fuel from a misfire or other poor running condition, engine burning coolant or oil, mechanical damage, etc.

Walmart’s Everstarts are the same as Autozone’s Duralast Gold batteries, except $30-40 cheaper.

If I could buy them wholesale and sell them in my shop I probably would

No. Those are all snake oil. Some can actually counteract the benefits of the additive package in the oil itself.

Could be a blown fuse, but fuses don’t blow for no reason. Most likely a faulty blower motor, which is the thing that drives the fan that creates air flow. If the motor shorts out it will blow the fuse. But this could also be a wiring problem or a fault in the control unit

Book time on labor is 1 hour. Depending on brand of alternator, $500-600 would be a good total price

Unless you’re in San Francisco, then $900 is probably reasonable

I’m concerned about how the car “ran out” of brake fluid, as that generally doesn’t happen unless there is a leak. But, to your question, you can drive it without ABS, you will just have the regular brakes, which seem to be functioning

For one thing, I would never take this car to the dealership. $1200 for brakes on a 06 Accord is absolutely ludicrous. Talk about getting scammed! I would charge about $400 for that job. A reputable independent shop is always best for anything out of warranty.

You really have no evidence to accuse this mechanic of sabotage, but if you don’t trust him then get a second opinion from another shop and ask them to use UV dye to trace the leak and provide photos and of course their own estimate

I don’t see where they called the mechanic a scammer. But this mechanic is obviously unwilling or unable to diagnose the problem. As you pointed out there will be a code whether the engine light is on or not, so the fact that he said there’s no problem is ridiculous. I agree that a different mechanic who either specializes in these cars or in diagnostics is what OP needs

To address your original question, the heater core, and also the ac evaporator, is inside a box in the cabin which the blower motor is also attached to. You get heat—or cooling—by having the blower move air across the hot heater core or the cold evaporator. Mounting a core elsewhere would do nothing because it would no longer be integrated into the hvac box or connected to the ducts and vents

No

It probably needs to be programmed. Who installed it?

The blinkers and hazards have nothing to do with the headlamps so no, you can’t assume the bulbs are good. While it seems unlikely they would both burn out at the same time, it’s not impossible. It could be a wiring, switch, or module issue, but I’d check a bulb first

This could be an injector issue, or something like a crank sensor glitching when it gets hot. But considering how many parts have already been thrown at it, I hate to speculate. Sorry you’ve had no luck with shops so far, but you really need someone who can properly interpret the engine data and/or utilize an oscilloscope to capture the glitch.

Is there not a switch in the center console?

Absolutely. Always. You’ll get any repairable punctures fixed for free and and non-repairable tire replaced for free within a certain time period and then pro-rated after that. Without it you’re 100% responsible for the cost.

You’re asking kind of a lot for a tool in that price range. But Launch probably has good functionality in that range. Topdon might be a contender as well. You may find 2 years free subscription with some, but eventually you’ll have to pay to keep it current

You did what?

The brake pedal is only easy to push in the first place because the system uses vacuum assist to reduce the mechanical effort required from the driver. Basically, vacuum from the running engine makes it easier to push the pedal. When you turn off the engine there’s no more vacuum, except what’s stored in a chamber. Next time you park and turn the engine off, pump the brake pedal a couple times and you’ll notice it goes from easy to hard within a couple pumps. That’s what happened after you didn’t drive for a couple days except it just naturally bled off over that time.