Springfield

I always put anti-sieze on plugs, not loctite :laugh:

They're hard enough to get out after 100k anyways (i.e. impossible)

Not impossible with a 1/2" drive air gun!

(kidding, please don't ever do that)

But yeah, with the platinum spark plugs that are designed for 100K miles, it certainly gives plenty of time for the plug to bond with the cylinder head. Also the location of some of these spark plugs (especially some 6 cylinders and a few V-8's) makes it nearly impossible to get a good angle for some leverage when turning the ratchet.

Also curious if the key is original or one that had to get made at some point. Sometimes a locksmith doesn't do a good job and that key that never seemed to work just right wears out the lock cylinder.

I've ran into that before, the locksmith doesn't use the right blank (uncut key) or just cuts the key poorly. Usually when that happens though, it's a problem the first time you try and put it into the ignition. I could see a key that is just slightly off causing problems in the long term.

When your shop replaces parts, do you offer them back to the customer?

Two points for this question:

1/. Any part that comes off a vehicle is the property of the vehicle owner, and

2/. Indicates that any part shown on the work order as being replaced has actually been replaced.

Short answer for you, no. When I sell a job, I do not go out of my way to ask the customer if they would like the parts returned to them. The fact is most people don't want to see the parts. They don't want the dirty, greasy parts in their car and then up to them to dispose of after they get done looking at the replaced parts. Most people won't even know what they are looking at and sometimes, even if you have a part, there is no way to tell visually that it has failed.

I agree with your points though. The parts off of the customer's vehicle are the customer's property. Returning the parts to the customer gurantees (or at least shows the possibity) that the work has been performed. That said, most customers don't want the parts and don't want to bother cleaning their dirty hands after handling used parts (that stuff can be hard to get off).

On occasion, if there seems like there might be a problem, we will save the parts and show them to the customer when they come to pick up their vehicle. That way, they can see their parts and not have to worry about disposing of them or getting their hands dirty.

If somebody does not tell me to save their parts when I talk to them on the phone but asks for them back when they come to pick up the vehicle, I would gladly go digging through the trash to find the customer's parts. As you said, they are their parts and they have all rights to them after they are replaced. I can guantee you though, any part a customer pays for replaced is definitely replaced.

There are hardly any problems operating this way and I feel the customer is overall more satisfied not having to dispose of parts when they discover them after they get home.

Thanks, I will give it a shot tonight. So far beating the hell out of it has accomplished nothing. If this works, its as simple as you can get!

2000 Buick Regal BTW.

I agree with twa here. If the key isn't worn, it will probably need to have the ignition lock replaced. Couple of other things to add, GM ignition locks fail at a rate greater than other makes. Not that GM igniton locks are hugely problematic, but if a vehicle's ignition lock fails, I find it likely to be a GM vehicle. Also, if you have a lot of things hanging off of your keychain, this weight will cause premature wear on your ignition lock.

SS, great thread man. I don't care what your girl says, its a great idea and appreciated.

Thanks. I usually don't care what she says anyhow.:laugh:

Thanks for the appreciation though, I'm glad to help.

My milage isn't bad, close to 20 mpg, which is fantastic for a full size.

Thanks, kind of what I was thinking.

Another question. After I did my plug change, the plugs seem to come loose. I used loc tight and torqued them to specs, but still I'll hear that tapping every once in a while and bang, out comes a plug. What can I do?

I already had to do one helli coil, stupid 3 threads in aluminum heads, thanks Ford. I don't like Ford either anymore. This truck has made me a life long Chevy fan now.

Also, and this one is important. The Coils love to die on me. I have replaced them about 10 times now, over 3 years. Why will they not last? It seems they like to build moisture up before quiting. I don't know how to seel them up and would worry about building to much heat if I did. I have tryed a little/ a lot of electrode grease with no results.

Anything for that one?

Well, 20 mpg on any full size truck is pretty damn good.

As far as your spark plug problem, it sure is a pain in the ass having to heli coil the head all of those times. Shouldn't you be using "anti sieze" on your plugs instead of "lock tite"? I would assume that the plugs are becoming siezed in the head and pulling out the threads somehow. I haven't seen this problem at all though, which leads me to believing you might be doing something wrong. Personally, I don't use the torque specs when tightening down spark plugs (which is usually just on my personal vehicles), instead I just use the old German "guten tight" adage.

As far as your coil problem. I see it all the time, nice Ford design to blame on that one. Usually if a customer has a bad coil, we recommend to replace all 8 (because of the coil-over-plug design, there are 8 individual ignition coils for each spark plug). We find that if we only replace one coil, others will fail soon afterwords. The customer comes back because they think we botched the repair (same symptom, same check engine light), and we have to explain that it's a another coil that fails. On Fords (and Mazda's too, which uses the Ford coil design), we will always recommend to replace all 8 (or 6 or 4) ignition coils because of the exact problem you have. It would probably be worthwile to try an aftermarket coil (we use Carquest and another local distributor) because they may have solved some of the problems that Ford's coil design has.

I don't have time to answer any questions tonight guys, sorry. I'm having a cookout. As long as I'm not too hungover, I'll log on tomorrow to answer these questions.

Unfortunately, it does it when I start my car, too.

Thanks, I'll probably be doing that sometime soon.

Well, sorry then. I'm at a loss of thoughts for what your problem could be. See what your shop says, if you have any questions, I would happy to share my insight with you.

It sounds like the fan in the dash in the vents, despite having turned everything off and no air blowing out. It sounds like when I'm defrosting the windshields. If there's going to be a long-term consequence, that's gonna be another headache. If it doesn't really matter, I don't care.

Thanks for the help.

If it happens after you use the AC but turn it off, this may be normal. There can be a sound of the AC rushing through the evaporator after you turn the AC off.

You could possibly take it back to the people and say, "My car started making this noise, you guys fixed it a few weeks ago, can you come outside and hear it?" a reasonable shop would go listen to it on the spot as long as you think you can duplicate the noise. They shouldn't charge you anything for just listening to it either.

I recently had an AC leak repaired. Things were fine for a couple weeks. Lately, I've noticed it sounds like the fan is on when I have the AC off, but no air is blowing out. What is that?

Sounds like the fan in the dash (blower) or fan under the hood (radiator fan)? If it's the radiator fan, than that's normal, it comes on after the car warms up to help keep the radiator at a constant temperature. If it's the blower in the dash... do you have the interior fan on at all? How would you describe the sound?

It's highly unlikely that they disturbed anything while fixing an AC leak as far as the blower is concerned. Unless they were in the dash replaing the AC evaporator of course. Also, if there was a problem with what they did it would most likely have happened soon after the fix (within a day or two).

One question though. Does it sound like a wooshing sound, like air or water rushing from behind the dash? Most likely after you turn the AC off?

Alrighty. Thanks for the info. :applause:

Glad I could help.

I own a 2004 Nissan Altima 2.5 S with 76,000 miles on it. I get the oil changed every 3k. But what other services may it need now with these miles on it? For some reason it seems like 75,000 miles is a familiar number for maintenance on a car. And also, my car has a timing chain, correct? Thank you, sir.

It sure sound cliche, but since I don't have my trusty computer software here (the guide that tells me all of the maintenance intervals for every car), I'll have to say, consult the owners manual.

75K probably entails something along replacing the engine air filter, the cabin air filter and replacing the oil and oil filter. I can't be too sure though. 60K and 90K are probably more necessary (read: contain a lot more maintenance needs) than the 75K service. 105K is probably going to be fairly large as well I would assume.

Also note... if you haven't had any maintenance done at all, except for the normal oil changes, expect bad news with all of that stuff that says "inspect" next to it in the owner's manual for 75K.

Now for some Goalline blitz... whew!

Check out the statline of my RB, Runny MacRun. Tomlinson what?

http://goallineblitz.com/game/game.pl?game_id=43425

...

Probably cost near as much as the car is worth, but having JUST bought my wife a new one, and a baby due in 6 weeks I'd glady spend the $2-$3k if it will keep me going at least another two years.

Thanks man. Great thread that clearly a lot of people are getting good use out of.

Congrats on the baby! Or at leas soon to be born baby!

If I were on your shoes, I'd drive the car untill it failed in a forward gear (starts slipping I mean). It only happens in reverse for now, so you should usually be able to get where you are going. If you flush it, it could make it worse (to the point where reverse doesn't work or the forward gears are also affected), or have no impact at all in which case you basically wasted your money.

With a newborn on the way, I know every last penny you could save would be for the best. I'd rather not see you waste your money, if a transmission flush could accelerate the rate of failure of your transmission or have no affect on your transmission's symptom at all. Based on my experience, transmission flushes don't usually help Honda's that show signs of failure.

Also, I understand that you don't want a car that isn't reliable. So if your willing to spend the several thousand now, for a new transmission (if that's really what it needs), it's completely understandable.

Also... thanks for your comments. Hopefully I didn't bite off more than I can chew with this thread. I've spent about 2 hours just answering questions and commenting. Haven't even had time to check out the religious/political mumbo jumbo on the Tailgate boards yet. It's fun though, I like helping people learn and educating people in the field that I chose to persue.

I agree with this. As soon as a service person tries to sell me a power steering flush I typically will never go back to them. I always thought that was BS. Apparently, my suspicians were correct.

Question. My girl has a 97 corolla with 90K, which should get in the 30's in terms of mpg. I bet it gets in the low 20's at the moment, horrible. I changed the plugs and wires, no effect. What should I do next? Fuel system cleaning?

A power steering flush isn't always useless. I've seen many times (especially on Fords), a power steering flush clear up a power steering whine. I has also been proven to prevent leaks in power steering components. Not saying you should do it every day, but a little maintenance now may prevent a $1200 power steering rack replacement.

As far as the mpg issue. Check tire pressure, check air filter, check throttle body. The first two are easy, as far as the throttle body, if it's dirty (you'll see black stuff all over it, especially the back side if it is) than you should have an induction service. Adding a can of injector cleaner to the tank probably won't do the trick. There are machines used to perform this induction service. Basically those machines atomize the chemicals and spray right into the throttle body, atomization looks like a fine mist by the way. Other chemicals go into the vacuum lines and clean those out too. Final thing to check... they way she drive the thing. Does she drive like a maniac? That would hurt fuel economy too, quite a bit I might add.

QUESTION:

2003 Saab 95 wagon, every time I turn on the AC all my coolant spills into the road and bells and whistles start going off on my dashboard. I refill, drive without AC and everything is fine. Next day, wife gets in car(not knowing about AC problem) same thing happens. How much is this gonna cost me?

Thanks in advance.

Again, with the cost... It's very hard to say, location and actual problem have a lot to do with this. I will however note that Saabs are pretty damn expensive to work on, just an FYI.

It sounds like possibly the AC is somehow putting up so much strain on the cooling system that it's causing the car to overheat. The strange thing is that after you fill it back up and everything is fine. I'd think maybe thermostat (coolant is not circulating because the thermostat won't open or is sticking) or water pump (coolant is not circulating enough). I'd personally lean more towards thermostat as your problem.

You should take it to a reputable service station though. See what they have to say.

how can you keep a car in good repair driving on super dusty to muddy dirt roads all the time?

The undercarraige looks pretty caked and there is insidious moon dust everywhere.....

It's very hard I'm sure. A pressure washer and some jackstands may help. Try and keep it as clean as possible, including the underside (at least of the engine). Some people would be right at home with your personal driving conditions, you know, the whole off roading, Jeep Wrangler driving type?

I've seen vehicles from the northeast come down here. Frames and underbody are completely rusted, to the point of almost falling apart. This is obviously because of the harsh winters they have up there. Basically I'm saying, it may be impossible to avoid future repairs because of your own personal driving conditions.

QUESTION:

94 Subaru Impreza, manual transmission. When I turn the fan on, it makes sort of a chugging wheezing sound like someone having trouble breathing. Not very loud, but noticeable and you can feel the engine struggle just a bit every time it "exhales." This is only when its idling. Once placed in gear and moving, it subsides until it goes away completely at highway speeds. If I idle long enough, it sometimes stalls. Does it with AC, heat, or just the fan. No symptoms of engine trouble at all when the fan is off. No check lights on. Started doing it right after my last oil change.

I'm assuming that you are talking about the fan in the car, the blower that blows head and AC on you. It kind of sounds like the fan may be locking up and drawing on the battery causing the engine to stumble because the battery power is not constant.

I doubt it has anything to do with your last oil change. I would recommed you take it into a shop because I don't really have an answer for you insofar as a common problem I see. I could be completely wrong about my thoughts, but if it's stalling, you should probably address that.

Pre 1996 (Pre OBD 2 or On Board Diagnostics 2) vehicles are very finicky with their check engine lights. They are not the most reliable when it comes to thinking you have a "real" problem with the car. Just a side note.

SS-

I change my oil every 5,000-6,000 miles because I have heard it is actually better for the engine and my owners manual actually says 5,000. The 3,000 miles from what I have heard is too soon and is just an industry standard set to get people to bring their cars into the shop sooner. What is your take on it?

:rant: BTW, can you tell me why Jiffy Lube is still in business? The last time I was in a Jiffy Lube was 3 years ago and I never went back after Honda said they hadn't changed my oil filter. Do you and others in your line of work look down on them as many of us do? I have read a lot of bad press about that company and I wonder how they can stay in business. God damn bunch of crooks. They seem to employee people that only have burger flipping skills.

I personally change my oil every 3,000 miles, or at least I did on my old car, running conventional oil. When I switch my new car over to Mobil 1, I'll be changine my oil ever 5,000 miles.

I think, back on page 1 or 2, I had a nice little rundown of the difference between conventional oil and synthetic oil. Long story short, Synthetic has no sulfur which means the oil won't brake down nearly as quick when compaired to conventianl oil. When oil breaks down, it's because sulfuric acid builds up in the oil which then eats away at the additives in the oil (friction modifiers, seal conditioners, etc.). A broken down oil doesn't lubricate very well and will cause leaks and such. I can't say confidently that you're not safe at 5,000 miles, but I can't say confidently that you are either. I know for a fact, at 3,000 miles, on conventional oil, you are still safe.

So I perfer the 3,000 mile oil change interval. Hell, it's less costly than a tank of gas. If they want to sell you something when you are there, just say no, plain and simple, or a good line like "OK, I'm going to have my mechanic check it out.", that will make them shut right up.

As far as the old Jiffy Lube... they're still in business because they are making a boatload of money. They are making more money than the dealerships and the private shops combined. They do this with things like upselling and time efficiency. People can be talked into pretty much anything and time is usually of the upmost importance. Come to my shop, well have your oil changed in 30 minutes to an hour in most cases. Go to the old Jiffy Lube and you're in and out with in 15 minutes in most cases. Were more honest and personable at my shop, but who cares when time is at stake?

Yes, I do look down on Jiffy Lube. You can teach a monkey to do the things they do to a car if you had 30 minutes. They are mostly unskilled and not very knowledgable. Their saving grace is that they have the assembly line oil change down to a tee.

Ignition in my car will not turn back all the way. At first I could play with it and get it to turn completely off and get the key out like normal. Now it will not return to the off position. I had to leave it like that when I got home last night and shocker, my battery is cooked now.

I'll charge it back up and try again. Any chance there's something that an impatient, not very mechanically minded person might be able to do without paying a ton?

As twa said, you could certainly try the WD-40. Spray it into the ignition lock (where you put the key) and turn a few times, see if that helps. I doubt it will and you will probably need to get the ignition lock or switch replaced, but it's worth a shot.

started a thread on this not too long ago, haven't done anything to address the problem yet. Wondering if I'll get the same answer from you...

I've got a 99 accord ex, about 160k miles. Auto transmission

Lately, sometimes if I have to hit the gas to reverse up an incline, I'm going a couple feet and then it's like I'm between reverse and neutral. Engine revs hard but I don't go very far (but don't roll forward either). If I put it into drive and then back into reverse, it will either work fine, or do the same thing again (back a couple feet, then nothing). No problems idling in reverse out of a space or in drive. It has happened once or twice on very slight inclines, but for the most part it's only happening on bigger inclines with no troubles on flat surface. Transmission fluid level is fine.

Thoughts?

I don't know what answers you got on the other thread, but to me it sounds like your going to need a transmission soon. Sounds to me like what you are describing is the transmission slipping, which on an automatic is not good, especially if the fluid level is fine.

Your saving grace is that this is only happening in reverese, which you don't need to use hardly at all. I would guess this problem will get worse and worse over time, hopefully this doesn't happen to your forward moving gears (most of the Honda transmission failures happen in drive gears).

That's my thought, although you can't be too sure unless you actually have it checked out. I'd bet the might try flushing the transmission (or drain and fill, if your car has no cooler lines) and if that is unsuccessful you'll have a bill for a new transmisison on your hands. A flush certainly could cause your otherwise normally working transmission to go to **** in this situation though, just to give you a heads up. Either way, sounds like a transmission replacement is in your future my friend.

i have a 2005 Cadillac CTS-V. It says to use 93 octane in the book. Its not turbo charged or anything but it has a 5.7L Corvette LT1 engine in it. Could I use a lower octane without messing it up. Also I bought it used with 45k on it. Are there any special services I should get done on it. I just bought it a month ago an Im not sure what has been done recently. Thanks in advance.

Nice car choice, first of all...

Guys, I'll have to say this (and not directed at stoney)... If the manual says "Premium Unleaded Only", please use it. I know gas is expensive, it's a damn shame, but the 30 extra cents per gallon are well worth it. It would probably cost you $8000 to have that motor replaced stoney, is that risk worth the extra $1000 you would spend on gas a year?

That engine, if I'm not mistaken, has a fairly high compresson ratio. Meaning that all of the air that is sucked into the engine is compressed into a very tiny space. All of that compression (a lot of air in a small space) makes the temperature of that air/fuel charge very high. High enough compression and you will cause preignition at lower octanes. Read the post a few above for more about octane ratings.

Long story short, you should use 93 on that car.

As far as your mileage services, it's probably nothing more than an air filter or cabin filter. Check your owners manual. Cadillacs are surprisingly light on maintenance if I remember correctly. Of course have the brakes, tires, belt, hoses, fluids and stuff checked too.

I just paid 650.00 to have a new alternator and battery installed. How big of a sucker am I?

98 ford exploder..

That sounds fairly close for your area... Assuming you got good quality parts of course.

Another thing to remember as far as the car repair costs... The vary by area a WHOLE (that's right, I used caps and underline:laugh: ) lot. What costs $200 somewhere, may end up like something more in the area of $500 somewhere else in the country.

In my area, prices are sky high, sucks for the consumer but good for me.

my take on these issues is strictly financial... 93 is about 30 cents more expensive than 87. in a 20 gallon tank, that's an extra $6 for the high octane. if you run through 2 tanks per week (a lot in my world... i only fill up twice a month), it's only an extra $625 for that gas. a lot of money, but not that much compared to just about any mech work done on your engine.

Exactly... It would cost much, much more to rebuild or replace that turbo. It ain't cheap guys.

QUESTION:

I have a 2007 Subaru Forrester XT Sport. It has a turbocharger and "requires" premium gas (93). What would happen if i put regular in (87)? My manual says very bad things. However, i read online in a forum that since the late 1980s, there has been a law requiring automakers to make all their cars run on regular gas. Allegedly, if i put 87 in, not only will i be saving money on gas, but i will get better gas mileage due to the turbocharger being shut off (when the sensors detect 87 instead of 93). is this claim true or bogus. it would be GREAT to save some money on gas, even if it comes at the expense of performance.

Short answer: Use the premium gas.

Long answer: First I will explain the basic theory of the turbocharger... After the exhasut manifold there is a turbocharger in the exhaust coming from the engine. Inside the turbo, there are vanes (think pinwheel that you used to blow on as a kid that would sping when you blew at it), that spin with the gas that is being exhausted from the engine. These vanes are connected to the intake (which sucks air into the engine) and help suck more air in as the engine RPM increases and the vanes spin faster and faster. The more air you can fit into the engine (combustion chamber) the better, because more air means more gas which means bigger (read more powerfull) combustion or explosion. This increases horespower at higher RPM (or however the turbo is designed to be most efficient) as opposed to a naturally asparated engine (non-turbo and non-supercharger).

Why regular gas isn't good on your turbocharged engine... Gas is rated on it's resistance to spark knock or predetonation. The combustion process is supposed to start when the spark plug fires, I think that's fairly common knowledge to assume. If the temperature is too hot in the combustion chamber the air/fuel mixture will ignite all by itself without a spark from the spark plug. 93 Premium fuel is more resistant to this when compaired to 87 or 89 octane. When all of this air is forced into the engine from your turbo (or supercharger, or just high compression ratio) it will heat up, more air compressed means more heat. 87 Octane has a much higher chance of preigniting than 93.

Now... Why preignition isn't good for your turbocharger or engine in general. As far as the engine is concerned, preignition will cause the air/fuel mixutre to ignite before the piston gets to the top of it's travel and much too soon. This means the piston is being forced back down even before it's at the top and it will still need to travel to the top even under the pressure of it being forced back down. This means bad news for things like the bearings that carry all of the load on the engine while the crankshaft is moving, basically much, much premature wear. As far as your turbo is concerned... this preignition will also hurt that. If the air/fuel mixture preignites with the valves still open, it will want to push the combustion out any exit from the combustion chamber it can find, possibly to those turbo vanes. Soon enough those turbo vanes will be nonexistent and you won't have that fun boost of power when your car is revving up. A turbo rebuild is mighty expensive too I might add.

Lastly (I think), the turbo does have protection from building up too much pressure. A Blow off valve, wastegate or whatever you want to call it. It releases excessive pressure in the system to prevent damage to either the turbo or the engine. This may help if you decide to use 87 octane in your turbocharged car, it may not, I can't honestly say.

If it were my car, I'd use 93 octane, just like the engineers who designed the car wanted.

Well, i dont own a hot rod, truck, or piece of junk. Maybe just let the OP handle the questions.

Anybody else who wants to field some questions and think you know what you are talking about can go ahead. If I see something that I percieve to be wrong, I'll try and correct it.