Engine Tune Ups

Auto Repair

Engine Tune Ups

Engine tune ups have become a whole lot simpler since about 1992 and further back on some vehicles. Since then, distributor points, distributors and setting of the engine timing have slowly been fazed away. Today’s engines are now fuel injected which made those tricky fuel and engine idle adjustments obsolete. Now all those precise engine settings and adjustments are controlled by the vehicles computers and its many sensors. When a problem arises concerning any of these many computer controlled settings, your check engine or service engine light will light up on your instrument panel. When this happens, unless you left your gas cap loose, take your beloved chariot to the repair facility. Without costly test equipment and specific information, you will not be able to diagnose or repair the problem. Guesses here are costly.

A tune up today consists of replacing the engine spark plugs, air filter, fuel filter and PCV valve if it is the replaceable type. Check the owners manual for the intervals these parts should be replaced. Rule of thumb is all these parts get replaced every 30,000 miles except if the spark plugs are platinum... Platinum spark plugs get replaced every 100,000 miles.

When it comes to cleaning of the fuel injectors, many dealers and repair facilities choose to ignore the warning given by many of the manufactures. The manufactures state that damage to the injectors could occur from the traditional cleaning and an inexperienced person could cause major damage to the engine if done improperly. The preferred method is to simply purchase a recommended additive that gets added to the gas tank when the tank is filled. The injectors are then cleaned as you drive. Note of caution here is, beware of some of the additives on the market... If in doubt, check with your local dealer. The dealer can advise you on the additive in question and provide you with the recommend intervals the additive should be added. I myself like to see this done at least every 15,000 miles.

Auto Repair

Windshield Cracks And Repairs

Auto Repair

Windshield Cracks And Repairs

Windshield stone chips, like in the above picture, can easily be repaired for about $50.00 or much less if you do the repair yourself. With the kit below, all repairs are quick, easy to do and transparent.

If you ignore the stone chip, moisture in the air will get into the chip or crack. Couple the moisture in the stone chip with the difference in temperature between inside the vehicle and outside of the glass and mix this with a few bumps on the road and the little stone chip will grow into a big crack, like in the second picture above. This condition will happen more frequently in the winter, but with air conditioning in the vehicle and the hot summer sun outside, this condition is not exempt from the warm months.

The full fledged crack like in the second picture will require a windshield replacement. The price of a windshield can range between $180.00 to $1200.00 or higher. The price is dependent not only on the year and type of vehicle, but also if the glass was new from the manufacture, used from the salvage yard or from an independent source other then the manufacture of the vehicle.

Places to contact for this repair: New and Used car dealers: Windshield repair facilities: Glass specialists:

For the Do It Yourself-er the stone chip or crack can be repaired for less then $20.00. Follow the simple step by step instructions and you will find the repair quick to do, easy and professional.

Click On The Blue LINK Below.

RII WINDSHIELD REPAIR KIT

RII WINDSHIELD REPAIR KIT PROFESSIONAL QUALITY SAFETY GLASS REPAIR KIT Don't replace a chipped windshield repair it! Professional quality--for the best repairs possible. Enough for numerous repairs. Professional-style bridge forces glass resin into damaged areas under high pressure for virtually undetectable repairs! Just 3 easy steps. Enough for numerous repairs. Kit includes injector, bridge, 1/8 oz. glass resin, adjusting screw and razor blade. Don't replace your entire windshield just because of a break or star in the glass. And don't shell out big bucks to a garage or shop to fix the break. Do it yourself and save. Instructions included with kit.

Auto Repair

Oil & Filter Change

Auto Repair

Oil & Filter Change

Tools needed: Jack to raise vehicle so you can get underneath it. Jack stands to keep vehicle from falling on you. Drain pan to catch oil. Wrench to loosen engine drain plug. Oil filter wrench to loosen oil filter. Note #: Some vehicles have shields or covers blocking access to the oil filter and other tools may be required to remove this covering.

Parts required: Oil filter: Note #: I prefer OEM filters as they are designed by the manufacture specifically for your vehicle, but there are many good quality filters on the market. Oil: Usually 5W30 or 10W30 oil is recommended. Synthetic motor oil is required in some vehicles... Check under the hood or the owner’s manual for the type of oil required. Note #: On some vehicles you can not get the filter off without spilling some oil on the engine or frame. A spray cleaner in an aerosol can will help clean up this mess.

Procedure: Raise vehicle in the air and secure it safely so it won’t roll back or fall on you. Position drain pan to catch oil. Remove only what is needed to gain access to the oil filter. Turn drain plug and filter in counter clockwise direction for removal. After oil is drained, turn drain plug in a clockwise direction to install. Clean surface where filter seals and put a light coating of oil on new seal. Install new oil filter by turning it in a clockwise direction and tighten. Fill engine with manufactures specified amount of oil. Lower the vehicle and start the engine and make certain the oil light goes out. Run the engine a few minuets before shutting it off. Check dip stick for proper oil level. Check for oil leaks and clean up as required.

Things to be careful of: Avoid cross threading of drain plug and oil filter by spinning then on first with you fingers before putting a wrench on them. Check drain plug for condition of metal, copper or fiber seal. Replace if needed but don’t forget it. Make certain old oil filter seal came off with old filter and that the new filter has a seal on it. This is usually not a problem if you use OEM or good quality filters. Don’t over tighten the drain plug or engine oil filter. I like to turn the oil filter on until it is snug then tighten it ¼ to ½ turn with the oil filter wrench. Don’t leave drain plug or filter loose. If engine oil light doesn’t turn off soon after you start the engine, turn off the engine right away. Something is wrong.

Note #: If you are concerned about oil from the filter spilling on the engine or frame, here is a tip that may help. Put a hole in the end of the oil filter before you remove it and let the oil drain. Since the end of the filter is several inches from the engine and only holds a small amount of oil, you can usually get a small container there to catch the draining oil before it hits the engine or frame.

Auto Repairs

Pricing Of Repairs

Auto Repair

Pricing of Repairs

So you decided to pay for someone to repair your vehicle. When you enter the repair facility you see a sign on the wall, Labor Rate $94.00 An Hour and your heart stops beating. Nervously you ask the person, “how much is this going to cost?” The person says about $310.00 dollars. After gulping, you nervously ask “how long is this going to take”? The person says a little over two hours. So in your mind you quickly conclude about $200.00 in labor and the rest in parts.

Its now 9:00AM in the morning when you reluctantly give your approval to do the repairs. A little after 10:00 AM, you are told your vehicle is finished. Great! You think, they must have put a fast guy on the repair and I am going to save about $100.00. You are feeling just fantastic until you look at the bill for $206.80 in labor and $93.20 in parts. Your blood begins to boil and you scream, “HOW CAN THIS BE! YOU ONLY WORKED ON MY VEHICLE ABOUT ONE HOUR?”

Now’s the time for a little education on how this business works. All reputable repair facilities, independents and dealerships alike, have books to look at or software on their computers called labor time guides. Labor time guides are time studies done on many different technicians by the manufactures and independent companies to find out what time it should take an average technician to perform any given repair. These labor time studies are then published and sold yearly to the different repair facilities.

When it is determined what repair is to be done on a vehicle, the owner or manager of the facility checks the published labor time study for how much published time is listed for that repair and multiplies the published time by their posted labor rate. Thus in our story, the published labor time for the job being done was 2.2 hours. Multiply the 2.2 times $94.00 which is the posted facility labor rate and you have $206.80 labor for the job being done.

Most repair facilities do not pay their technicians by the physical time they are there. Most technicians get paid for the published labor hours they complete. The published time listed on our job here is 2.2 hours. That means the technician will be paid 2.2 hours of pay for doing this job. It doesn't matter if the technician spends one hour or two full days doing this job. When the job is finished, the technician is due 2.2 hours of pay as published in the labor time guide So if a time study was done on all these published jobs, how does the job get done so fast?

Technicians are responsible for purchasing all their own hand tools and are experts when it comes to tools. A good technician will study tools like a fishermen studies tackle. When a tool is discovered that is believed to save a little time on the job, a good technician will purchase the tool in order to beat the published labor rate time. It is not uncommon for a good technician to have purchased $18,000 to $20,000 worth of tools. It is also not uncommon for a good technician to get paid 60 hours and more each week for 40 physical or actual hours on the clock. Nor is it uncommon to see a technician paid only 25 hours for the same 40 hours on the clock.

Auto Repair

Who Repairs The Vehicle

Auto Repair

Who Repairs Your Vehicle

When it comes to having routine auto maintenance or needed repairs performed, we have three choices. One choice is to do the maintenance or repairs ourselves. Another choice is to have an independent repair person or independent repair facility perform the maintenance or repairs. Our finale choice is to have one of the auto manufactures dealership perform the maintenance or repairs.

Each choice should be thought through carefully as there are positive and negative things in each to consider.

Our first choice is to do the work ourselves. On a positive note, this is the least expensive of the three choices, providing we are not just guessing at what needs to be done and we have the skills and knowledge to perform the work. Another positive note is we can have the work done at any time of the day, night or week we choose.

The negative side of this choice is the person's lack of proper tools, equipment, training and informational resources available.

Our second choice is to have an independent repair person or facility perform the work. Some positive notes here are better equipment, tools, training and informational resources available to the independents. One might ask, "isn't the lower price the independents tend to charge when compared to dealerships a big positive?" While many folks look at the lower prices of the independents work as a positive, we must understand the reason for the lower prices. More often then not, the reason for the independents lower prices is not in the price of the labor as most folks think but it comes from the price and quality of the parts used for the repairs. Many will argue that the quality of these lower priced parts are equal to or exceed those made by the manufacture. I have no information to say yea or nay here so you will have to form your own opinion on this matter.

The negative side here is the technology used in each make vehicle, model and year is so different and changing that the independents can't keep up with all the equipment, tools and informational resources needed to efficiently diagnose and repair all the items on every make, model and year vehicle that may come into their repair facility.

Our third choice is the manufactures dealerships. Some positive notes start with the manufactures unique relationship with their dealerships. They provide to the dealerships technicians, training, tools, equipment, informational resources and a direct connection to the manufacturer's engineers that is second to none. When it comes to diagnosing and repairing the vehicles made by the manufacture, no expenses are spared. The manufacture realizes that if their products can't be repaired properly, no one will purchase them. The parts used in the repairs are direct from the manufacture and made with specifications exclusively for the vehicle being repaired. In most cases the warranties given on the repairs and maintenance performed, exceed the warranties given by many of the independents.

The negative side here comes with how each individual dealership is staffed and run. Due to the management of the individual dealership and how much emphasis is given to profit, not every technician is permitted or encouraged to take advantage of all the training and resources offered by the manufacture. Appointments sometimes are not convenient. Prices are higher on a lot of the competitive repairs and maintenance which most of the repair industry competes for. As mentioned earlier, this higher cost of repairs is not in the labor but in higher price of the manufactures parts used. The manufactures justifies these higher parts prices with the claim of higher quality. A comparison given to the difference in parts is to think of the difference in terms of a wool suit verses a polyester suit. Both may fit but which one will wear better and last longer?

Auto Repair