Tech Talk: Get Your Bearings
Have you ever heard the phrase “old wives’ tales”? My father used it all the time whenever something didn’t seem to make sense to him for the moment. For instance, most everyone knows these: “Don’t cross your eyes or they’ll stay that way” and “feed a cold, starve a fever.” Like I said, they’re “old
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
Mitch’s World: A Total Eclipse of the Son
Not all that long ago, an entire generation learned about high performance and hot rods from Jan & Dean and The Beach Boys. Their lyrics romanticized surfing, cars and the California lifestyle. I knew kids who quoted those lyrics as they described either the car they were driving, or the one they desperately wanted to
Carley’s Corner: Will High Gas Prices Help or Hurt Your Business?
Summer is back and so are higher gasoline prices. Though the price of gasoline dipped as low as $2.00 a gallon in many areas of the U.S. over the winter, the price shot back up in late spring to more than $3.25 in many parts of the country. Where the prices will peak is anybody’s
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
Direct from Rancho to Your Garage: The 2007 Rancho Master Catalog
Rancho, a frequent "first-to-market" off-road suspension innovator, has captured its latest exclusive technologies and product offering inside a new, enhanced 2007 Rancho Master Catalog. It features more than 25 product highlight and technical pages.
Tech Tip: Understanding Vehicle Electrical Systems Begins and Ends with the Alternator
The alternator’s job has definitely become more complex during the past decade. Years ago, the typical import vehicle could live very happily with 40 amps of electrical current, which was enough to power the ignition, fuel and lighting systems. Today, that threshold is rapidly advancing toward 100 amps of current.
Hobart Brothers Offers New Welding Poster
Continuing its educational outreach efforts, Hobart Brothers now offers "Welding Types and Positions," the second in a series of electrode technical posters. The newly available poster shows the five types of welds and the 12 welding positions with clear and easy-to-understand diagrams, including descriptions and corresponding welding terminology.
Mitch Schneider: When Bad Luck is Really Good Luck…
About the worst thing that can happen around here is a week where all kinds of bizarre things accumulate. Aside from the absolute chaos it inflicts on everyone, including me, the crush of dealing with multiple crises makes it almost impossible to identify where one calamity ends and another begins.