The Long-Lasting Brake Job: Can Your Brake Job Go 12, 000 Miles Without a Problem?
All shops what to see a customer again, but not for a brake comeback. What is the magic number of miles that can separate a comeback from a service situation? In my opinion, the minimum is 12,000-miles. Even installing new friction, rotors and calipers will not ensure a long-lasting brake job. The long-lasting brake job
Maintenance Essentials…, OBD II & Chassis Checks
All cars need maintenance. The fact is mechanical devices wear and fail in normal use, and deteriorate over time, so being able to diagnose a future failure has become a part of the automotive repair and service industry. Customers always ask how long it will be before a component will fail, and are usually not
‘My Rotors are Warped!’
Warped rotors are probably one of the most common complaints from a drive upon entering any shop that does brakes. The less confident or sophisticated driver may complain that when he hits the brakes, “my pedal pulses,” “the vehicle chucks during a stop” or “it shakes my teeth during braking.” Generally a quick turn of
Kia: Timing Belt Replacement
This month, we’re going to take a look at timing belt replacement on the increasingly popular Kia line of vehicles. Kia has made strong inroads into the market by offering high-quality vehicles at an affordable price. As import car techs, we’re prepared to handle any of these cars: We have the required skills and, with
Diagnostic Solutions: Brake Maintenance & Inspection
” height=”234″ alt=”” border=”0″ align=”right” /> Although brake systems wear at a relatively glacial rate, a point will be reached when they can no longer stop the vehicle in an emergency situation and brake system inspections are therefore required to prevent accidents caused by brake component failure. Inspection procedures vary from area to area. Mountainous
Predicting Failures
spect that at one time or another, we’ve all had a customer return with a check engine light on with a new fault code that wasn’t there last time they were in. The events probably went something like this: Customer: “You couldn’t see that when you looked at it last time?” Shop: “No ma’am, there’s
Diagnostic Dilemmas: Symptom Diagnosis…The Journey Begins
When I first began my automotive career way back in 1957, the symptoms of an ailing engine were very apparent. A carburetor with a worn accelerator pump, for example, would characteristically stumble on acceleration and a closed-up set of distributor contact points would cause the engine to become very sluggish. Low fuel pressure caused by
Foreign Affairs: Getting Nissan Engines Back to Peak Performance
/Articles/06_01_2007/60754gif_00000014067.gif” width=”156″ height=”146″ alt=”” border=”0″ align=”right” /> In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the common problems that affect engine performance. With on-board diagnostics (OBD), many of these problems will cause a check engine lamp (CEL) and store a code. With most of us becoming comfortable and proficient while working with OBD
Emissions Analyzers: What is Really Going On Inside that Engine?
An emissions analyzer is one of the most useful pieces of diagnostic equipment you can own. Scan tools are great for reading fault codes and sensor data, but a scan tool by itself can’t tell you what is actually going on inside the engine’s combustion chambers. A scan tool can read misfires and tell you
New Tools: What’s Old is New Again
There is an old saying that there is nothing new under the sun. A recent trend in the tool industry might lead you to think there is some truth to that statement. It seems that although a new tool gets introduced every few minutes — with suppliers bringing more and more new items to market