Your piggies have a lot to do. One has to go to market, another is into the roast beef, the last thing you want is for one of your piggies to get smashed by a 200-pound car part. Protecting the piggies is a must. That's why steel toe shoes or boots are non-negotiable in my shop. I've gotten a lot of flack before by guys who think they'll be suffering through the day wearing a hot, stiff, uncomfortable boot. Do they think that I would deal with that level of discomfort? No way. My partner and I have spent years dealing with shoe and boot options to arrive at what we think is the perfect compromise between protection, comfort, and style. Protection comes first, of course, so the steel toe is a must. Comfort is next, because we spend most of the day on our feet and fatigue can lead to costly mistakes, not to mention wrestling matches and fisticuffs in the shop. Style has to be part of the equation while we're working on $100,000 Porsches, but doesn't everybody want to look great? We're serious about steel toe boots, and equally serious about which boots we wear at work. Don't be a tool and think you won't be the one that ends up wearing a cast.

Read about our pick for top boot, and why.

"Hungry bear suspected in diesel spill." That's the headline for a story that appeared in the SITnews newsletter this week. How could you see this headline and not want to read the article? The story only gets better as you read on. The spill involved 1000 gallons of diesel fuel stored at a remote fishing camp in British Columbia (that's Canada for any geographically challenged Yanks in the crowd). I know times can be tough, but diesel? Maybe the bear ran out of Wild Turkey and wasn't ready to call it a night. It's a funny story with an unfortunately bad outcome for the environment. You can check out the details on Sitnews.us

Special thanks to Dwayne at Carriage Works for sending this story to us!

The battle for Right to Repair legislation has been raging for years. Independent repair shops want access to repair information they need to properly service the newest models. Proponents have been working from coast to coast on both state and national levels. Recently there has been a lot of attention given the cause in the New England area. This comes recently from Massachusetts:

Massachusetts is proving to be a very receptive state for landmark legislation that would protect consumers’ right to choose where they have their cars repaired. The legislation (H4892) would require car manufacturers to provide independent repair shops equal access to the same diagnostic repair information and tools they provide for their dealer mechanics.
Over the course of the session, the legislation advanced further In Massachusetts than it has in any other state or in Congress where it has been pending. Against a coordinated assault by major car manufacturers to kill the Right to Repair legislation outright, the pro-consumer rights bill was reported out favorably from the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee and made it to the House floor this week. While the formal session ended yesterday, the bill remains active on the House calendar.

Learn more about Right to Repair legislation at www.righttorepair.org.

I'm generally one to scoff when I hear somebody referring to "bad gas." Sure, if gas sits around and turns brassy or if your fuel tank gets contaminated with water, it's bad. But the phrase is thrown around a lot when it comes to car problems. If somebody can't figure out why a car or truck is running poorly, they can always resort to the "bad gas" theory. It's usually just a way for a shop to get a customer to go away rather than wasting diagnostic hours (which are billed in real time) when their techs could be building up service hours (which are billed by how many hours the book says). But I digress. The point is that there is seldom such a thing as bad gas that has been freshly pumped from a gas station. I say seldom because a recent burst of complaints has me rethinking my earlier theories on bad gas.

The media attention has focused on drivers in Corpus Christi, Texas who have seen premature failures of fuel system components, especially fuel pumps. Technicians are seeing late model, low mileage cars and trucks with worn fuel pumps and they're blaming bad gas. More specifically, they're blaming a higher than acceptable (average of 120 parts per million) sulfur content in the gas. More sulfur equals worse than a rotten egg smell from the tailpipe, it can abrasively damage the inside of your fuel pump causing it to wear out early -- very early. There are lots of articles on the problem in Corpus Christi, and some name a specific chain of fuel retailer as the cuprit. The chain, Valero, has denied the claims that they've been serving up bad gas.

There have been similar bursts of sulfur damage. In 1994 Shell had to shut down a number of stations in Florida and Louisiana due to high levels of sulfur in the fuel that resulted in fuel system damage. In other words, the sulfur part of the theory wasn't pulled out of thin air and has been substantiated in the past by the oil companies themselves. Hopefully this is a problem that will stop in the Corpus Christi area, but it's something we should all be aware of. If you replace your fuel pump or install a new fuel filter, and quickly find yourself in the same boat, you could be a victim of bad gas.