Posts Tagged ‘car repair’

How To Fix Automotive Electrical Problems

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

One of the hardest do it yourself auto repair tasks is solving automotive electrical problems on your own. To be successful you will need a wiring diagram in most cases. But even when you have this electrical diagram in your hand it can still be hard to understand and diagnose circuit malfunctions.

automotive electrical circuit imageWhen you are tracing electrical circuits using a standard automotive wiring diagram you always want to work from the load or component back to the battery. Find the load device first, for example: light, horn, solenoid or actuator, then find its ground, and then find the battery on the diagram.

Trying to read a schematic from positive battery voltage to negative or ground does not work well. Always work from your load back toward the battery. This rule is important because it gives you a standard and correct direction of diagnosis. If you have proper power and grounds to your load component then you have just solved your problem on the first diagnostic test indicating that the failure is in the (more…)

Car maintenance

Friday, November 16th, 2007

Car maintenance

car maintenance imagewhen you are buying car maintenance you want to make sure that you receive what you paid for. A good example of this is that if you frequent a dealership and you purchase their 15,000 or even 30,000 mile maintenance service, there are a lot of things that are supposed to be performed on these checklists.

The 15,000 or 30,000 mile service is usually very expensive and includes many important car safety checks. If you are going to shell out $400 for a 30,000 mile service. Please take the time to review what is supposed to be accomplished During this expensive service.

How to buy car maintenance

A good way to verify that some of these vital safety checks were performed is to ask the dealership to provide information about some of the individual items that are checked. For example, there maybe a spot on the service that requires a brake inspection. Ask the dealership to document the percentage of the brakes that are remaining. In yet another example if the tire inflation is to be checked, again ask the dealership to document the tire pressure in all four tires as well.

As a mechanic that has worked at dealerships for more than 23 years, I can tell you that the technician is paid on a flat rate or percentage basis. The mechanic is motivated to move as fast as he can and may take some shortcuts. This means you have not received a good value for your car maintenance dollar.

Take some time to review, what is included in the individual car maintenance service and ask lots of questions about each item to your service adviser. This will put the dealership service department on notice that you are very hands on and involved in what is being done to your car. This will also make the dealership more likely to complete the maintenance service properly and to cut corners and rush on somebody else’s car.

Car maintenace tip

If your service includes a tire rotation take a minute to mark each tire with a crayon. So that you can verify the tires were rotated during the service. Also when the technician sees these marks on the tire.

He is immediately informed that you are watching him and is more likely to perform all the steps that are included in the maintenance service that you have paid hard earned money for.

Would you like to read more stories about car mechanics and what might happen during your auto service

Auto repair scam artists

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

Auto repair scam artists

auto repair shop imagesI can’t help but break into a story about one of the sharpest most evil service advisor’s I ever met. This man would go through your vehicle and find out as much as he could about the vehicle owner.

He would look for bank statements past due bills and any thing he could get his hands on to find out what your financial position was. He would go through the trunk, the glove box under the seats he was relentless.

One time he came out to my bay and started going through a vehicle and I asked him what he was doing. His reply was making us money. Then He yelled out bingo. I said what did you find.

He said the best thing of all a baby seat and baby toys. He then said this vehicle needs brakes. I said I didn’t look at the brakes yet. He said it didn’t matter what it needed it only mattered what they were getting.

Most people are scammed at some point by the auto repair business

Now in this case the brakes were about 25% remaining so selling brakes to this person didn’t hurt anyone. But the service adviser asked about the baby to set up the sale for family safety reasons.

If the customer hesitated to buy, the service adviser would explain it was for the safety of the baby and how if she performed an emergency stop the vehicle would take longer to stop with worn brakes and he was looking out for her baby. This guy was a shark and pulled down more than $100,000 a year just for selling service.

I tell you this story so you can be on guard if you run into a shark. The shark will start asking you personal questions while you are waiting for the vehicle to be brought into the shop. Not because he cares about you. He is trying to paint a picture of you so he can find the button he needs to push to make a sale. And do not forget to clean out the inside of your car including the glove box. You must protect yourself!

Here is a perfect example of the auto repair business hard at work taking money for unneeded repairs. View one of my online auto repair stories here