Hot Coolant To Cold Cash
The key to diagnosing a cooling system problem is a good understanding of the basics.
SAAB and GO
When a vehicle is towed to your shop with a “cranks but will not start” complaint, you hope that it will remain in a no-start situation after it arrives so that you can quickly diagnose and repair the problem.
Subaru EndWrench Summer 1998
In this issue: Subaru OBD Systems; Subaru Electrical Connector Handling and Terminal Sliding Resistance Measurement; Subaru Ignition Coil Testing
Test Bench: The Perception Is Reality
You would be hard-pressed to find an automotive technician who has not used an oscilloscope to diagnose a particular problem.
When Do You Dig Deeper
Sometimes circumstances just erase all doubts: the engine drips oil from the stump of a connecting rod hanging out are covered with recently-molten aluminum: a sample of oil from the crankcase twinkles with tiny shards of journal and bearing metal, grit rubbing sharply between your fingers.
Mazda Fan-Fare
While factory shop manuals and diagnostic flow charts may help you get by, there is no substitute for knowing how a system actually works.
Hot and Cold
What a difference a year makes. In ’97 the big fear was availability of R-12 at a reasonable price, and being ready to do a retrofit to R-13a if it wasn’t.
Test Bench: Here Comes The Sun
While working for the past three years on the tech line at Automotive Information Systems, I found that a great number of the automotive technicians I assisted were using computers in their shops as well as at home.
Tech Tips
The Bounce Test; Slosh Slosh; Alternator Diagnostic Shortcut; Nuke It; Clarification; Balancing Act; Gaining Clearance; Master Cylinder Removal; Color Code
Positive Identification Part Two The Interrogation
Generator testing can be performed while the generator is on the car, and without the use of expensive test equipment.
Tick, Tick, Tick, Your Computer Clocks Are Ticking
The Millennium Bug, the Year 2000 Problem, Y2K – whatever name it goes by, it refers to the problem created by storing dates on computers using two-digit years instead of four-digit years.
Mercedes-Benz Climate Control Quick Checks
These differences may be referred to by some as “over-engineering,” but once you understand the reasoning behind the differences, it becomes clear why these vehicles have achieved such enviable reliability record.
Test Bench: Bottle Fed
It wasn’t so very long ago when the tune-up was seen by many motorists as the cure-all for a wide variety of engine ailments.
Test Bench: Is there an advantage with Vantage?
Do I need a Vantage? Like many of you, I was confused as to why I needed another multimeter when the Vantage first appeared.
Open PC Standards: Part Three
The Custom Solutions Group standard is based upon the Open Architecture Systems for integrated systems.
Friendly Fire!
With all the talk these days about DSOs and graphing multimeters, we sometimes lose sight of how to apply these tools to a diagnosis.
Business Briefs
Mercedes-Benz Wholesale Parts Initiative; Timing Belt Tensioner Tool; Heat Seeker Thermometer/Pyrometer; 1998 Gasket Installation Tips Booklet; Blue Thunder Ignition Wire Sets; Deluxe Refrigerant Identifier; Tire Pressure Monitor System; Illuminating Screwdriver; Battery Tester; Spanish Edition Timing Belt Manual
Is It Dead Or Alive?
Are you ready to suggest an appropriate course of action when one of your customers brings you a sick vehicle, with an even sicker-sounding engine?
Subaru EndWrench Spring 1998
In this issue: Subaru 2.2 Liter Engine; Avoid Potential Subaru AWD Transmission Damage; De-Powered Subaru Air Bags Bulletin
De-Powered Subaru Air Bags Bulletin 17-03-98 (Replaces Bulletin 17-01-98)
The automotive industry has been directed by the Federal Government to have “DE-POWERED” AIR BAGS installed in 1998 model year vehicles.
Positive Identification
Using the word alternator to describe what we have been calling an alternator for many years can lead to a case of mistaken identity.