A major problem on many vehicles is a bad head gasket and sometimes simple replacement of the gasket will cure the problem completely but other times you will need to have your block or head resurfaced by a machine shop. Before you get into a costly situation that can leave you without your car for many days or sometimes weeks depending on how bad it is you want to make sure that the head …
Automotive
How To Tell If Your Fuel Pump Is Bad And Needs To Be Replaced
On older classic cars the fuel pump was part of the engine and cars that had carburetors had a fuel bowl that would hold enough gas to get your car started and allow the fuel pump to start pumping gas to your engine. Today most cars even carburetored engines have an electric fuel pump that sends fuel to the engine but all fuel injected vehicles have them and its probably likely that your car …
How To Increase Horsepower And Torque On Your Stock Engine
If you are like most people there are times when you wish your vehicle had a little more strength but upgrading your engine can seem pretty complex. In this How To we will look at the basic ways to increase your engine’s power and talk about the cost and how complex it can get for the average weekend mechanic.
The first thing you need to do is understand that there are only so many things …
How To Set Valve Lash On Hydraulic And Solid Lifter Engines
One of the things that many home mechanics run into that can be a little confusing the first time you do it is setting Valve Lash on Solid or Hydraulic Lifter Engines.
There are a variety of reasons that you might want to check or set your Valve Lash and that can be when you are rebuilding or repairing your engine. Maybe you are changing your camshaft or maybe you just want to do a …
How To Know When The Dealer Is The Best Place To Get Your Car Repaired
There are a lot of people that fear the dealer especially if they are someone on a budget but there are times when a dealer really is the best situation for your repairs. In this How To we will look at some of the repairs that a Factory Dealership does best and when it might be best that you find a local shop.
Cost is always going to be more at a Factory Dealership because …
How To Flush Your Automatic Transmission At Home With Basic Tools
If you have an older vehicle that you care for on your own then you know that saving some money and doing the work right will make your car last longer and reduce the chance of a big expense in the end.
I would not suggest that you perform this work on a car that is still under drive train warranty because your dealer can do this for you but if you have an older …
How To Use A Ball Hone To Prepare Your Engine’s Cylinder Walls For New Rings
If you are rebuilding an engine and replacing your piston rings it is normally suggested that you hone the cylinder walls to prepare them before assembly. This might not always be the case but most of the time you don’t want to skip this step because honing your cylinder walls is what keeps the oil on them.
For best results you are suppose to create a 45 degree cross hatch pattern on the cylinder wall. …
How To Remove Carbon Buildup On Your Pistons And Cylinder Walls During Head Gasket Replacement
When you are working on your engine and replacing the head gasket and you will need to clean your deck surface before you install the new gasket this is a good time to clean up any carbon buildup that might be on the top portion of your cylinder walls and the top of the pistons.
While doing so you will also be able to inspect the cylinder walls and deck and know if you need …
How To Paint Your Car With Canned Spray Paint
A lot of people are talking about how you can paint your car or large sections of your vehicle with Spray Paint vs commercial grade paint that requires mixing and a professional gun and compressor so we thought we would look at what they are talking about and whether it actually works.
The first thing to realize is that although they are painting with spray paint cans they are actually painting with professionally mixed paint. …
How To Inspect A Used Car And Check List
A friend asks about a couple older cars that they are considering buying just to get back and forth to college. The first is a Van and the other is a Commuter Sedan. Neither of them have extremely high resale value which is good for them and the prices that the owners are asking are below NADA Book Value. The Van is going for $1000 and has about 125,000 miles and the Sedan is only …