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With all the new late model cars with advanced Emission Systems, there is a whole never set of problems that are created. O2 sensors Catalytic Converters, Purge Solenoids, EGR Valves all can create New DRIVE-ABILITY problems like hesitation poor gas mileage fuel oder, and just adds a lot to repair costs. The old Check Engine light comes on and you don’t really know what it is, most likely its a O2 sensor code and it will just cost you gas mileage. As a car ages the O2 sensor eventually wears out and costs you gas mileage and can turn on  your light. A upstream sensor is before catalytic converter and a down stream is after the converter. A EGR valve recirculates exhaust gas back into your intake to reburn  to get rid of excess emissions.

Written by/Jeremy Jennings

Automotive fuel systems can be a daunting task for the average person but some simple how to info can go a long way to get it fixed the first time. The first thing to check is do you have gas in the tank? If you do you need to check if the pump is working. The easiest way is to have someone cycle the ignition switch on and and take the gas cap off and see if you can hear the pump making noise. Another way is to just get a fuel pressure tester and just screw it on the fuel rail and turn the key on and see what PSI you have. If you have almost no pressure your pump isn’t working but it could still be a relay. Most fuel pumps go out around 100k miles on domestic cars and longer on imports. If you have good fuel pressure your pump is obviously working which means the relay is too so it could be the fuel injector isn’t firing and that usually means its a bad cam and/or crank sensor. Fuel pumps are pretty easy to replace, just drain or siphon the tank then take of the 2 straps holding the tank up while supporting it with a jack. when the tank is empty it doesn’t weigh very much. Lower it down and disconnect the fuel lines, wiring harness, and the filler neck and just lower down and remove. Most pumps are held in the tank with a lock ring just remove the ring and the pump and replace. If you can get to the main plug on the pump without removing the tank you can check for voltage there to see if your getting power to the pump. If there is power at the pump and the pump doesn’t work the pump is bad. Remember fuel is very flammable.

Written by/Jeremy Jennings

Automotive Ignition systems can be very easy to diagnose and fix with a little simple information on how they operate. There a basicly two types of systems, the old points type distrubuter system used into the early 1970′s and slowly fazed out over the years, and distrubuless ignitions systems used on present cars.
The old points system worked by using a set of points that open and close to send a reference signal on when the coil should fire. The points were a wear item and went out all the time. The new distibluless system uses these simply parts to operate.

• Spark Plug
• Plug Wire
• Ignition Coil
• Cam/and or Crank sensor
• Ignition Module
• Engine Computer

In order to have spark the cam and or crank sensors will have to tell the Ignition Module where they are at in there revolution and then the Ignition Module will consult the ECM and adjust based on temp., load, and other info. The Ignition module will then tell the coil to fire and it fires to the spark plug thru the wire. If you have a misfire or won’t run when it warms up i would look at the ignition module. Alot of them can be checked at your local parts store. If you have a decent code scanner and can read live data you can look to see if you have a crank speed reading that will tell you if your crank sensor is working. Most ignition coils have two wires coming to them, a ground, and a signal pulse. You can use a simple test light to see if you have a pulse signal at your connector but don’t use a test light to see if you have your spark coming out of your high voltage. If you have pulse to your coil and no fire to your plug its either the wire or the coil.If you don’t have a pulse signal you would go backward to you your ignition module or crank sensor. A bad miss or bad stumble on acceleration could be a bad plug or coil. Always try the easy stuff first spark plugs can go bad inside and not work at all causing a big problem on a 4 cylinder car. The order above on the parts is usually the the likelihood of the parts going bad too, spark plug being the most common. I would start to check a car like this start and see if you have spark at the plug, if you don’t check the coil, if you don’t have pulse at the coil keep going backwards to the module then the sensors. If you have spark coming out of your plugs and the car still wont run its most likely a fuel issue.

Its a lot easier to treat the problem like a path its either one way or the other based on the info you collect on the way.

Brakes are the most common wear parts to go bad on your car. As you drive and use your brakes it wears a brake pad or shoe. Abrake pad or shoe is easily replaceable and can range from $20-$50 bucks on average for the part. As the brake pads or shoes wear they  rub on a brake rotor if it has disc brakes or a brake drum if it has shoes. The rotor can wear out over time from heat and use. If you allow your Brakes to wear all the material off the pad then the metal backing plate starts grinding into your rotor or drum. Usually if you hear a grinding noise coming from your brakes you need pads and rotors.If you have a front wheel drive car your brakes on the front of the car wear out many times faster that the back brakes. If you have like a truck or SUV its a little more even front to back. If you know how to change a tire brakes are usually not much harder especially disc brakes. Once you take your wheel off you can see the round brake disc and caliper. The caliper squeezes the brake pad against the rotor the stop  your car. To check your brake pads simply look at the pad and see how much material is left between the rotor and the pad backing plate. You can always get a set of pads to compare too. If they look thin replace as they get real thin they heat up and don’t stop you very good. If your pedal ever pulsates when you hit the the brakes almost always your front brake rotors are warped. On a lot of front wheel cars all you need to to replace the rotor is take of the caliper and the caliper mounting bracket if it in the way, two bolts each usually. New rotors have anti-corrosion oil on them and need to be prayed of with Brake cleaner before you install them.  To push your caliper back in so you have room to put your pads in use a big C clamp or big pliers. Some caliper do use larger sized Allen or Torx bits for the caliper bolts, other than that all the rest of the tools you need are very common. You can save hundreds of dollars by doing your own brakes all you need is a little mechanical dexterity.

Written by/Jeremy Jennings

There are many different sensors on new cars these days. With the addition to fuel injection and computer controlled ignition systems it can be daunting for the regular guy to try to fix thats for sure. We will talk about each sensor individually and talk about how they work and how to test them. The throttle position sensor is simply a resistor, based on how far the pedal is pushed correlates to a voltage measurement. Most decent code scanners can read live engine data and you can read the voltage go up and down in real time. By seeing it change you can tell if its working correctly. As the pedal goes down the voltage goes up. Symptoms of a bad TPS sensor could include no power,high idle, or idle that doesn’t go down how it should. The Idle Air Control valve is just a small motor that goes in and out to a desired amount to control idle speed. As the ECM tells it too. You can also tell if its working by using a code scanner to see if the no. of counts the valve is moving either up or down. Sometimes on many IAC valves debris builds up on the end and causes idle problems a lot of times taking it out and cleaning with carb. cleaner can fix a idle issue. O2 sensors simply changes voltage based on amount of Oxygen thats in the exhaust. The O2 sensor often sets off your check engine light. Most of the time a O2 sensor gets inaccurate over time and costs you gas mileage but doesn’t cause much drive ability issues. The best way to check is your gas mileage. Its very easy to change most O2 sensors just one connector and on socket and just screw it out and screw a new one in there. If your guessing always try the upstream one first it get the most abuse. The crank and cam sensors create a signal and sends it to the ignition module to control spark timing. If you have spark these sensors are good.If one or more of these sensors are bad you will have no spark or fuel injector pulse. Ignition modules are small computers that often can be removed and tested at your local parts store. Alot of times when you have a vehicle that dies only when it warms up and restarts when it cools down this could be the problem. The thermostat i a sensor that mechanically moves in and out to control coolant flow into the radiator. As your car warms up this valve should open. If it sticks close your car will overheat very quickly in 5-10 minutes.If it sticks open your heater will never blow warm or take forever too. If your radiator still feels cold after5-10 minutes its stuck open.Temp. sensors can be read on you scanner too or just compare temp from the gauge to what the scanner says. If your temp gauge is all over the place its probably bad or you have air in the cooling system like if you just drained and flushed the system. All you need is spark fuel and air for a car to run.If you have no spark its somewhere in the ignition system.No fuel just see if it tries to run on a little shot of carb. cleaner, if it does you know it has spark now so you would look at the fuel system. A no start can be simple to fix if you follow these simple procedures.

Written by/Jeremy Jennings

I have 2 Neon’s ones a 1995 and ones a 1999 and both of them had a bad Instrument cluster circuit board. Its actually not very hard to fix on your own, all you need is a screwdrivers, torx screwdriver and a soldering iron. The top of the dash is held down by a few clips just pry between cluster cover and lift dashboard up and take out 4 Phillips screws and pull out the whole cluster.Once you have the cluster out you can take off the cardboard cover and clips and remove circuit board for inspection.Careful the board is delicate, look at the board with a magnifying glass and look for cracks in the solder joints.It usually cracks behind where the 2 black connectors are soldered too. Usually just a touch with the iron will remelt the solder and its fixed. Takes about an hr labor.

Written by/Jeremy Jennings

You know how it goes you wake up late and get ready for work and then your won’t.Here are a few things to check that anybody can do and will save you money from not getting taken advantage of when you get your car fixed.

1. Do you have power, does your lights work or radio come on still?
2. If you have power first can you hear the engine crank over?
3. Does your car crank or sounds like its trying to start but doesn’t start and go?
4. Do you have enough gas in the tank?

The most likely causes of a car not starting is in this order of likelihood.

• Dead battery or bad battery. Solution:Recharge battery or replace
• Bad starter and/or solenoid. Solution:Replace
• No gas
• bad fuel pump
• bad ignition components

The easiest way to check a fuel pump to see if its working is to take off the gas cap and listen to see if you can hear a noise come on and then go off when the key is turned into the on position. If you hear it most likely something else.

The easiest way to check your ignition is to take a plug wire off and see if you have spark with a old plug or spark tester. If you have spark that means your crank and cam sensors are working and ignition coil and your ignition module are good too. Usually if you have spark at your spark plugs you should go check your fuel system and test.

Always check and test the easiest things first like battery or starter and if your battery is good and your hear a clicking noise when you try to crank your car its probably your starter or battery connections. Remember battery terminal connections need to be tight and clean.

Written by/Jeremy Jennings

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