Tech Feature: Keeping the Tire in Contact with the Road Surface
Confused about modern ride control technology? Sometimes looking back into automotive history can put such technology into a more usable framework. A good illustration is how ride control technology evolved from the simple, early-century friction shock absorber to the electronic variable-rate shocks and MacPherson struts being installed on today’s cars and light trucks. When early automobile manufacturers first mated a gasoline engine to ….
OBD II Engine Diagnostics: Not as Simple as it Seems
Anybody can plug a scan tool into a vehicle and read codes. But do they know what the codes mean, how to diagnose the fault or, most importantly, how to fix the vehicle? The problem with reading OBD II codes is that the code tells you only that a fault has occurred. It does not
Mustang Tech Tip: Oil Leak or Oil Weepage Can Result in Burning Smell
Some vehicles equipped with the Romeo 4.6L 2V engine or 5.4L 2V Windsor and 5.4L Supercharged engine may exhibit an oil leak or oil weepage from the cylinder head gasket at the right-hand rear or the left-hand front of the engine. Oil weepage is not considered detrimental to engine performance or durability. An oil leak may be caused by metal chip debris lodged between the head gasket and the block, chip debris between the cylinder head and the head gasket, or by damage to the cylinder head sealing surface that ….
Mode $06 Diagnostic Update
Mode $06 has been around since the introduction of second-generation onboard diagnostic (OBD II) systems back in the mid-1990s. Essentially, Mode $06 is the raw test data the OBD II system uses to evaluate the operating status of various components in the engine management and emission control systems
Tech Tip: Tackling Timing Belts
Several years ago, the phone rang about 10 a.m. with a voice on the other end introducing herself as the service writer for a well-known import shop in a nearby state. The conversation revealed that the son of a very good customer had broken the timing belt on his 2000 Toyota Pathfinder. Based upon the mileage of the vehicle, the import shop had previously recommended a timing belt replacement on the 3.4 L engine, but the owner had postponed the ….
Tech Tip: Adding a Fluid Flush Can Boost a Shop’s Average Repair Order
Many shops are recovering revenues lost to a shrinking repair market by "upselling" fluid maintenance services or, as they’re commonly called in the aftermarket, "fluid flushes." In other words, adding a fluid flush to a money-losing routine oil change can boost a shop’s average repair order amount into the range needed for true profitability ….
ASE Introduces New A9 Auto Series Test
The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) is introducing a new addition to the Automobile Technician certification test series – the Light Vehicle Diesel Engines Test (A9). The new A9 test comes as a response to industry interest in having ASE provide a ….
Tech Tip: Evolving Ignition Control Systems
The key to diagnosing many cranking, no-start and stalling problems found on the late-model import is to understand how the crankshaft and camshaft position sensors function and what their mechanical relationship is to each other. During the past 30 years, ignition control systems have evolved from distributor-type, to distributorless, to coil-on-plug ignition systems. Similarly, fuel injection systems have ….
Tech Tip: Single Fix for Multiple Nissan O2 Sensor Codes
If one of the vehicles listed in this Tech Tip comes into the shop with the "Malfunction Indicator Lamp" (MIL) "ON" and one or more of the following Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) are stored in Engine Control Module (ECM), the repair may be as simple as installing an additional ground sub-harness ….
Tech Feature: Servicing Jeep and Ford Feedback Carburetors
Lately, it seems, more people are "going retro" by rehabilitating older cars and trucks. Perhaps it’s the longing for the simplicity of a bygone era or perhaps it’s the sentimental attachment to a particular vehicle that’s driving the retro movement. Although in the Rustbelt East, the survival rate of these vehicles is probably very low, their survival rate is very high in the arid West ….