Feature Articles

Readers of this magazine already know Jorge (pronounced “George”) Menchu from the articles he’s written for us and for other (lesser) aftermarket magazines.

What are your plans for the computers in your shop? Are you going to replace them? Network them? Banish them forever? What will you use the computers in your shop for in years to come?

As the carmakers include more features and new kinds of driveability and emissions controls into their cars, scanner manufacturers have to follow the lead of the carmakers and make their tools fit the cars on the road.

While the four-valve cylinder does have the advantages of high rpm for racing and other high-speed purposes, that’s not what they’re for in most of the ordinary cars we see in the shop.

In important and unexpected ways, the information in wiring diagrams is our most valuable diagnostic tool; so most good mechanics use them frequently for just such troubleshooting.

A’87 Merkur XR4ti with no heater fan on all speeds except High. The customer also mentioned that he had recently begun to notice a few drops of oil on his garage floor and an occasional hesitation problem on moderate acceleration, primarily in second and third gears.

The purpose of the loan presentation package is to provide the bank with the information needed to analyze your loan request.

Fishless Antenna Replacement; Timing Cover Tip; Valves and MAP Sensor; Timing Belt Heads-up; Cranky Crank Pully Bolts; (Don’t) Lean On Me

You’re no doubt familiar with using a vacuum to test an A/C system’s ability to retain its refrigerant without leaking.

Sometimes they sputter for a while first, and sometimes they just drop dead in an instant, but every automotive fuel pump will eventually fail. For most motorists, this means a no-start or (making no slur against a certain carmaker) a fount-on-road-dead. Then the fix-it job for most cars is neither cheap nor quick.

We’ve selected some of the more interesting and commonly encountered problems we have heard recently.

Today we have automotive electronics from bumper to bumper, and we’re up to our elbows in electronics every day.

Our primary responsibility when we write up a repair order is to do our best to repair the problem in a professional and cost-effective manner.

This begins several articles we’ll do about independent training services – training, that is, with no direct connection to and no dependence upon any carmaker, toolmaker, parts manufacturer or reference information provider.

A “constant-velocity” joint doesn’t turn at a constant velocity; it moves a roughly the speed the driveshaft does, as the motorist decides.