Auto Repair Articles

I have a 1995 Ford Mustang GT. I Drive it everyday and today It just cranks and cranks and smells like fuel. Has been running fine with no problems what so ever. I change the oil regularly and perform regular maintenance. It has about 142,000 miles on it and about 12,000 on the spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor. It seems to be getting plenty of gas but no spark. What could be my problem?

Response:

The most common reason for this would be the spark trigger in the distributor. You can replace it yourself if you feel comfortable removing the distributor. If you do not, have it replaced for you at your local repair shop. You can either have the entire distributor replaced or just the trigger inside the distributor.

Sometimes you usually do not need to take your automobile in to the mechanic because you are able to figure out what is wrong on your own. When you know what’s wrong ahead of time you might save from possessing to do repairs that you don’t really need. One more thing is this will allow you to uncover a predicament earlier so it is possible to fix a minor challenge prior to it becomes a major issue.

Car repair tips are extremely looked for on-line. If you ever do a few of these items relatively auto repair generally you’ll be doing your self and your auto a really large favor.

The very first factor it is possible to do is inspect your tires. Take a tire pressure gauge and check to make certain your tires inflated to where they ought to be. Obtaining a correctly inflated tires will make you safer, your tires will last longer and your vehicle will become a lot more fuel efficient.

My husband replaced the thermostat and the housing broke so he replaced that. My only problem before that was no heat but now it is stalling out. any clues to what he has done. The car was running before this repair. She was purring like a kitten-no stalling at all. The air bag light began flashing a couple days ago and i think she may need a little oil(couldnt get top off). I went to start her this morning and she wouldnt turn all the way over. I started her again again she ran for a few seconds and shut off. She did the same things a couple more times. She finally she idled for me so i let her warm up for about 10 minutes. I went back and put her in reverse and she stalled again…and again..I couldnt get her out of the driveway. I did smell like antifreeze and she sounded like she was reving up and down in idle. Last weekMy husband had mentioned that he thought that the altenator might be going but we hadnt had any problem, so i asked he he knew how to test it.

Response:

I have a 1997 Honda Civic EX, when accelerating, there is a rattle or a sound like cardboard stuck in a fan coming from under the hood,  could this be coming from any of the work i had done?  if not, what could it be?

Answer:

YES !! If the noise was not there to begin with and now it is there. More than likely the timing cover was not installed properly and it is now rubbing. Won’t affect the drive-ability of the vehicle, it will just be noisy. Take it back and politely ask the manager to listen to it as you are concerned. ( remember he is just a person just like you ) If he acts like an ass, then yeah scream and yell, but I think you will find that your mechanic will be more than willing to take care of the issue. If your mechanic is not, it may be time to look for a new one.

I need to locate the Oxygen Sensor so that I can replace it myself, my mechanic said that is why my check engine light went on and if I can save the money and replace myself?

Answer:

Nothing wrong with saving money that’s for sure. You have three o2 sensors . two are in front of the catalytic converter and one is behind the converter. You will need to find out which one. the 2 in front are called up stream sensors and the one behind it, yes you guessed it , is called down stream . the two in the front are up stream and referred to as bank 1 and bank 2 , bank 1 is on the side of the engine that has the Number 1 spark plug.  Now all you need to do is find out which one it is and replace it.

1983 Ford Thunderbird 5.0 EFI turns over but will not fire it getting fuel not sure where I should start.

Answer:

First you need to determine if it has spark or not ( you you only said it has fuel. Next you need to make sure it has at least 30 psi of fuel pressure of the injectors will not fire. These engine do not have a prone issue. So I would, if you determine it is only missing spark, look at the distributor cap and rotor closely.

I have compiled the information that you need here: NO START DIAGNOSTICS 

2003 Ford Excursion 4×4 6.0 Diesel keeps eating voltage regulators/alternators. Two brand new batteries charge on the charger and hold a charge. (I do have a 350ma parasitic draw while the truck is “sleeping.”) I even purchased a 200 amper from DB Electrical and installed an additional 0-gauge wire from the alternator to the battery. Checked the two alternator leads and soldered extra wire to relieve stress on the connector. No changes. At idle, the regulator side of the wire shows 11.6V. The batteries are barely charging at 11.88V. at 1K-RPM the battery voltage goes up to ~12.5. At 1.5K-RPM and above I get 13.89V maximum, sustained unless the RPM drops. This is repeatable.

Answer:

Sounds to me like you have a large load occurring with the engine running.Possible glow plugs staying on or FICM not coming out of injector preheat stage.I would suggest getting the load tested while engine running with a shunt type charging system tester and see how many amps are being pulled.If it has over 20 – 30 amp consistent load then you will need to determine what is causing the excessive load.A ford ids scanner will be needed to determine if ficm and gpc is operating normally.

I have the warning light up for Transmission fault on the dashboad. I have had it tested on a Snap On Solus this has brought up the code P0705 Transmission Range Circuit Sensor Malfunction. My Car is a Saab 95 Estate Auto Ecopower. Could you help with what part needs replacing or how this problem can be resolved.

Answer:

the range sensor is located on side of trans housing. The shifter cable goes to it. It send signal to computer indicating gear postion etc. for refernce. I have dealt with several posts lately where these have been a problem. It is not a recall. The range sensor new at dealer is around $295 plus 1.2 hours to change it. It can affect shifting or possible put trans in fail safe mode preventing shifting of transmission. A full scan of Trans controls can indicate if it is reading correctly through all functions.

You can try to unhook the battery, but that usually opens another can of beans with having to reprogram the radio and all.. OR, you can take it by AutoZone, and have them read the codes for you, and then reset the light. If the light comes back on then you have a problem. Correct the problem and reset/clear the codes with a scantool.

1996 Oldsmobile Achieva, SL, with 101,000 miles on it. I changed out the Instrument Panel because the odometer was not working. Now it seems the computer will not accept the new instrument panel. I think that it needs to have the computer reset or reprogrammed, because the car will run for approximately 10 seconds, then shut off and there doesn’t seem anything else wrong. Please explain how to reset the computer or tell me where I can find out how to reset the computer.

Answer:

When replacing the instrument panel on this model you must perform a relearn to the theft system after the repair has been made. Here is what I would recommend that you try.

Time required, approximately 10 minutes.

1. Insure that the battery is fully charged.
2. Use the scan tool in order to clear the DTCs.
3. Turn the ignition switch from the OFF position to the CRANK position attempting to start the vehicle. The vehicle will start and then stall.
4. Leave the ignition switch in the ON position while observing the security indicator.
5. When the security indicator turns off, which can take up to 10 minutes, turn the ignition switch off. Wait 10 seconds.
6. Turn ignition to start, at this point the vehicle should start and run.