Tag Archives: diy car repair

DIY AC Recharge Questions

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automotive freon with leak stopCar air-conditioning recharge season is almost here. Since a lot of people who visit this site are inclined to jump into some do it yourself auto repairs I thought I would tackle two of the most asked questions about DIY AC recharge that I have received here on the automotive information blog.

Several law abiding citizens asked me if it was against the law to charge their own car air-conditioning at home. I had to do a little research on this question because I really wasn’t sure of the answer and I figured that it might depend on what State you live in. After doing some research over at the EPA website and looking around for individual State laws it would seem that most follow the EPA guidelines from title VI. Continue reading →

Timing Belt Kits

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image of an AC Delco timing belt kit

AC Delco timing belt kit

Why do you need to find a timing belt kit instead of just buying the belt by itself? I’m glad you asked because the very important answers will affect people that are getting the operation performed by professional mechanics as well as people that plan on doing the repairs in the driveway at home.

The first thing to cover is what is the difference between a timing belt and a complete kit. On some vehicles there is a huge difference between the two. This is mainly because on some models the water pump is driven via the timing belt.

Since maintenance is usually recommended somewhere between 60,000 and 100 thousand miles it only makes sense to replace this water pump at the same time as replacing its drive belt. Because we don’t want coolant dripping on the new rubber parts a week later! Some timing belt kits come with a lot of other stuff besides a water pump and belt. Continue reading →

Free Auto Repair Information

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auto-repair-mechanicSometimes Diy auto mechanics will spend a lot of time looking for free auto repair information. I mean who doesn’t like free. But what if all that time spent brings poor quality information and poor results.

Personally I would rather spend a few bucks to receive the best possible information and know at least my time and effort was heading in the right direction. Let me give you a quick example of this scenario.

Free auto repair information forums

I use to go to the popular automotive forums and try to help people with their auto repair questions. I noticed a common trend about these free car forums. A lot of people dispensing advice may mean well, but in some cases, the advice was very poor and in some instances harmful to the vehicle.

It was also very hard for the Diy auto mechanic who posted the specific question to pick out a quality answer from the massive amount of responses. The problem with using this method is that the people responding to your car repair questions may not actually be knowledgeable about the subject at hand.

But what if you did not need outside help because you had Continue reading →

Auto Repair Manual Questions

 

auto scan tool

Auto repair manual questions and answers. These next couple of posts will address some frequently asked questions about why I recommend using online car repair manuals. This next question is actually from a Diy car mechanic.

This driveway warrior and site visitor would like to know what brand I recommend and why. He also would like some information on auto scan tools. He asks what is a good choice for home car repairs. The actual conversation is posted below for you to review.

Auto repair manual questions

Question and Comment: I found your Great car site recently. I believe it was linked off somewhere else or found it off a search engine regarding OBD or auto repair information but can’t remember. I have read many of your pages and gave it a bookmark. You can be sure I will return to read the rest soon.

repair-diagram-websiteA car question for you; on one page you talk about and link to the Mitchell e Auto Repair online manuals, and on your Auto Repair Manuals page, you advocate All-Data repair diagrams website.

I have not used either one and my question is which do you like better from the aspect of a non professional but reasonably accomplished Diy car repair mechanic? I did auto mechanic work professionally till about 1981.

I then went to work for the Government in other non automotive specialty areas. I have not done major car repairs since, but have performed most of the minor repair work on my own vehicles when time permitted. I have not really kept up with the OBD II or electronic management systems which were just coming to fruition when I quit the automotive profession.

I am also interested in your take on OBD Scan tools which have the “enhanced code” capabilities Continue reading →

Auto Repair Information

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Auto Mechanic

Auto Mechanic

This was an auto repair information blog when I started it two years ago. Things stayed on topic, but changed a little when gas prices started to climb in early 2008. This is also when I purchased the water 4 gas systems and decided to share the details of my project with visitors. In today’s post I wanted to return to the original reason I started this blog. And that was to supply auto repair information for people that like to fix their own cars.

After fielding many questions over the last couple years on my car repair help page I have noticed one very common piece of advice that I continue to dispense. It also happens to be the first step in almost all of my automotive diagnosis procedures that I personally use. And this is the visual inspection. It is very common that I will uncover the cause of the car problem by simply performing a thorough visual inspection.

Auto repair visual inspections

Chevy Van

I’m going to provide some examples of what to look for, and some of the most common things that I have found. It would seem that a visual inspection during these winter months are more important then in the summer. But regardless, I perform this procedure as a quick first step in automotive diagnosis no matter what the weather is like.

My first example actually happened yesterday and got me thinking about how I should share this with website visitors. I was working on a 2006 Continue reading →