Auto Repair

There are lots of auto repairs and maintenance you can do yourself, but there's nothing more satisfying to an entry level DIY mechanic than performing your own oil change. It's easy to do on even the most sophisticated cars, and every gas or diesel engine needs an oil change on a regular basis. Changing your own oil really is a great way to start down the road of home auto repair. If you've never changed your own oil, try it out. You'll feel satisfied and accomplished when it's done, and you'll only use up an hour or two of your weekend!

I recently wrote about common causes of engine overheating and received a great tip from a reader. Allan wrote to share this common overheating issue:

Many modern vehicles use solid state relays instead of the electro-mechanical ones of the past. The fans they control draw a huge amount of current and the connectors which plug into the solid state felays to power these high current fans fail over time. The connectors get to HOT the pins melt which causes high resistance and finally an open circuit and the fan shuts down. This is so common the dealerships actually sell the connectors to be spliced onto the wiring harness with butt connectors without having to replace the entire harness. This is almost unheard of except that it has become so common the manufacturers had to do something about it. If you have an electric fan problem be SURE to pull off the connector going to the solid state relay and look INSIDE of the connector and smell it(the inside). It will smell burnt and look like charcoal if it is bad. You can't tell by looking at the outside surface. You MUST pull it OFF and look and smell on the INSIDE.

Having a community of repair people sharing their experience means no stone goes unturned in diagnosing your car or truck's problems. Thanks for the tip, Allan!

If you have an overheating problem, or if your engine just seems to be running hot, you should check out this quick list of things that can cause your engine to build up excessive heat. It won't solve all of your cooling problems, but knowing the most common overheating causes could help you diagnose your hot engine problem more quickly, and save you money.

If your car is having starting problems, or you have a sudden bout of no-startedness, you should have a look at this No-Start Troubleshooting Checklist. It could really help you narrow down the problem if your car down't start, and can save you some serious cash. It's always worth taking the time to see if you can diagnose or troubleshoot a problem before you have it looked at by a pro. If nothing else, it will leave you a little more educated and prepared for the bill.

Your suspension is the most abused system on your car or truck. It's no wonder that your shocks and struts will start to complain after a few years of hard work. Before you start replacing components of your suspension system, you should do a little troubleshooting to be sure you don't waste time and money replacing something that won't help your situation. Check out this suspension troubleshooting helper to see what your worn components may be.

I am a huge proponent of saving money by recharging your own air conditioning system. If your AC is blowing warm, a recharge can give you a cool summer. But every time I mention recharging an AC system, the expert chime in saying, "If your AC system needs a recharge, it's leaking and needs professional repair." In some cases this is true. Recharging a leaky AC system is a temporary fix. But to find a more universal answer, I turned to physics. Without going into details that I can't fully explain to you, suffice it to say that even a healthy AC system will naturally lose some of its gas and pressure over time. If your car is 10 years old, it's had 10 years to leach little bits of refrigerant and lose pressure. This may be enough on its own to cause the system to lose the ability to compress and cool. Whether your air conditioning has leached over the years, or you're perfectly happy putting a band-aid over the problem, I still say you can save huge money by recharging it yourself.

I've talked about this list of car repair mantras before, but every time I read it I'm tickled. The 10 Commandments of Auto Repair are words to live by, and words to laugh at while you live. That's a winning combo in my book. Check out The 10 Commandments of Auto Repair yourself and add a little levity to the serious of shop safety.

If your car or truck has an in-tank, or submersible fuel pump, it's actually easier to replace than the externally mounted type. Access is easier, and the whole process is much cleaner (if that matters to you). It's always a good idea to consult a proper service manual before you embark on an adventure like this, but check out this tutorial on replacing an in-tank fuel pump and you'll get some ideas and tips on how to make it easy and safe.

When I was a much younger man, and a much broker man, there was a shop just south of the city that specialized in used tires. They sold singles or sets, whatever they could get their hands on. Back then a 50-series tire was $200, so getting an entire set for the price, with decent tread left, seemed like a great idea. I'm a huge proponent of making full use of our resources. I consider a tire with 50% of its tread intact a resource, as well. There are far too many tires discarded with lots of good tread left. Buying these tires used, and having them inspected, mounted and balanced professionally, can save you big money. But before you make the leap, you should understand how to check out a set of used tires. Things like tire size and speed rating are imporant, but did you know that there is a date of manufacture cast into the tire, too? If a tire is more than 5 years old it might be closer to the end of its useful life than you planned. Check out all the details in this Tire Buying Guide. You'll thank yourself later.

Engine timing is a very technical and heady topic. Some people want to know everything about their engine, how it works, why it works that way, and what went wrong when it stopped. Other people don't want to know about any of this -- they just want the car fixed. Then there are those people in between. They don't care too much about getting super technical, but they are genuinely curious about how a basic engine is operating. This timing primer is for those people. Not too much info, but just enough to get the gist of what's happening timing-wise every time you step on the gas.