CarFacts...Save on repair
You can do some of the minor things yourself,like oil changes,minor tune up,flushing your cooling system changing automatic transmission fluid and filter and changing standard transmission gear oil and differential gear oil. Some of these may require you to have some basic automotive knowledge. If you feel you cannot perform any of the above there are several technical books available at most of the discount parts stores,a couple of brands that are good and covers a lot of simple repair and even some harder repair are "HAYNES BOOKS" and "CLASSIC MOTORBOOKS".But a word to the wise is to do only what you feel comfortable with so as not to get yourself into trouble and have to pay more to fix the problem. The basic tools you will need is a floor jack,jack stands,an oil filter wrench,a oil drain pan and some basic hand tools such as wrenches,a ratchet and socket set,screwdriver set and some pliers,a 5/8" and 3/4" spark plug socket.You should have wrenches and sockets in both standard and metric as some cars have one or the other or both.Sizes should range from 3/8"-3/4" standard and 6mm-17mm in metric,this should cover most anything you want to do at home. For all your carfacts tips join my carfacts newsletter when it is go online. Also check out my new carfacts book when it is published.
Carfacts and CHANGING YOUR OIL.......... The first thing you should do is go to your local discount auto store or WalMart and purchase your oil and filter. I would suggest getting a good synthetic or synthetic blend (I have used Castrol Syntec for many years) most good brands have them.Use a synthetic oil for newer vehicles under 40,000 miles and a blend over 40,000 miles.These oils will help with saving your engine and saving fuel.Also purchase a good oil filter,one with a check valve in it to keep oil from running back into oil pan when engine is shut off.This will also help the life of your engine as there will be oil on critical parts when engine is restarted,Fram and Purolator makes good ones. With this purchase you have the best you can put in your engines oiling system.A typical engine will take 4-5 quarts of oil on a change,so it will cost you around $15.00-$20.00 depending on synthetic or blend oil.This is about the cost of a regular oil change at the Speedy Marts.They would charge $40.00-$50.00 for the synthetics and best filter.So now you have saved $20.00-$30.00 and you have the best you can put in your engine. Think of your car as one of your children or grand children you want to keep it for a long time so don't skimp on putting good products in it,it will pay off in the long run with less major breakdowns. Engine repair or the new cars can run from $1,500.00 to around $7,000.00 depending on what you drive.From a Geo Metro to a big SUV or Diesel Pick-up. O.K. now you have your oil and filter,time to get to work.Find a solid spot on the front or side of vehicle undercarriage (frame or engine cradle) put jack under vehicle and raise it up high enough to get your jack stands under it then let car down on stands and remove jack.Always,always be safe and use the jack stands whenever you are working under your car. Your engine should be warm when changing your oil so that most of old oil will drain out. Find the drain plug in the deep end of the oil pan,it will probably take a 1/2" or 9/16" standard closed end wrench,if metric should be a 13mm or 15mm closed end wrench. Put your wrench on the plug and turn counter clockwise (make sure your drain pan is close)remove plug and let drain into pan.After all the old oil is drained,put the plug back in and tighten (clockwise) make sure this plug is TIGHT. Then find your oil filter it they are in several different places depending on your vehicle and engine,they are located on either one side of the engine or in the front of the engine (belt area).Most filters are now small so get a small or adjustable filter wrench put it on filter(as close to top as possible)it also turns off counter clockwise after it is loose you can take wrench off and spin it off by hand.Have your drain pan under filter area to catch remaining oil.Make sure the old filter rubber seal comes off with filter if not make sure you reach up and pull it off then wipe filter housing clean(makes for a good seal for new filter.Then fill new filter with some new oil and put some oil around the rubber seal on new filter and spin it clockwise onto filter housing.Make sure it's TIGHT. Raise your car again and take out jack stands and let car back down. Raise hood and find oil fill,most will be in the valve cover of the engine or a tube with a cap that says "OIL" on it,remove the cap and add remaing oil to engine (should be around 4 & 1/2 quarts,you put aprox.1/2 quart in filter).After all oil put into engine replace the oil cap and start engine,let it run for a couple of minutes while looking under vehicle to make sure you got everything tight and have no leaks.If your satisfied nothings leaking shut off engine and locate oil dipstick,pull it out then wipe it off clean and stick back into dipstick tube all the way in,then pull back out and make sure it's close to the full mark. If your oil checks o.k. you are almost done.Make sure you keep a log or put a sticker on windshield when next change is due.Then get an old empty milk jug or something like it and use a funnel and put your old oil in it,seal it tight and take it back to where you bought your oil and they will dispose of it for you. This sounds like a lot of work but total time if you have never done it before should be less than a half hour.After you do it a few times it will take 10-15 minuets,and you will feel good knowing you actually done this yourself and that you saved money doing it. More carfacts tips will be available on an on going basis here on the carfacts repair page.Also the carfacts newsletter will have numerous carfacts tips in every publication,and when my new carfacts book is published you will have a wealth of carfacts tips at your fingertips. CARFACTS ENGINE TUNE UP TIPS.............. I will list a few carfacts tune up tips here and when you are done here check out the other carfacts pages. On the newer fuel injected electronic controled engines tune ups are not required as often as on the old carburetor and distributor engines. You can go 60,000-70,000 miles without to much worry.And then most that will need done would be to replace the spark plugs and clean the fuel injectors. If your engine starts to run really rough and the SES light comes on you may need to take it and have the engine scanned.At most of the discount parts stores they will do an engine scan free.It will bring up engine codes that will let you know what kind of problem you may be having. If engine is scanned and has a misfire code for plug wires or fuel injectors you can make this repair yourself and save quite a lot of money. If you get your engine scanned free at the parts store make sure you buy your parts there to support their efforts. If misfire comes up as a fuel injector and it's just dirty and not shorted a fix for it is go into store and purchase a bottle of "LUCAS" fuel injector cleaner(I have tried a lot of different ones and "LUCAS" is the cheapest and only one I found to work). Pour the "LUCAS" injector cleaner in your fuel tank(about 1/2 full or less wolud be ideal).Drive your car 50-75 miles and it should start working.It may take a couple of bottles but at about $3.00 a bottle it's worth the try.If you take it to a shop it will cost about $150.00 for them to do it and if it dosn't work you will still need to replace injectors (about $800.00).It would be better to be out the $3.00-$6.00 rather than $150.00 and still need to replace injectors. I have used this cleaner many,many times with good results as have people that I recomended this to. It is a good idea to put a bottle of "LUCAS" injector cleaner in your fuel about every 10,000 miles or so to keep your fuel system clean and to stop a problem before it happens. Now that the fuel system is clean and you have 60,000-70,000 miles on your vehicle and want to do a tune up to prevent a problem before it starts,go down to your discount auto parts store and get the proper spark plugs and wires for your engine. Raise the hood on your vehicle and look for the spark plug wires and see where they go.They should all go to what is called a coil pack(used to be a distributor cap. A little tip before you get started,the spark plugs will be a little easier to remove if engine is warmed up before starting to work on it.But don't get it so warm you burn youself working on it. Twist all the wires on the coil pack and spark plugs back and forth until they feel free(don't remove any yet). If you have never done this before just go one at a time. Remove wire at spark plug and then at coil pack,match it up with a new wire from set you bought(make sure same length)connect it to coil pack and route it the same way you took the old one off. Then take your spark plug socket(and probably a short extension)and ratchet and remove that spark plug.Make sure gap in plug at electrode is right before installing plug.They are gapped at factory but sometimes get bumped and closed up in packaging. Just repeat this process with all of the wires and spark plugs.If you done this properly you won't need to do it again for another 60,000-70,000 miles. You just saved yourself an awful lot of money,depending on what engine you have 4-6-8 cylinders. Shop cost:Fuel injection clean $150.00,tune up 6 cylinder engine parts and labor $130.00.Spark plug wires and labor to install $125.00.Total of $405.00. Your cost:Fuel injection clean $6.00.tune up $25.00 (6 spark plugs) and spark plug wires $40.00 (typical 6 cylinder set).For a total of $71.00. You just saved yourself $334.00.This will take a while longer than the oil change but well worth it.Should still only have a couple of hours in it. This is just a couple of tips on how to save youself some money on repair.I will add different ones from time to time and will have new ones in newsletter also. If you purchased one of the books that I mentioned at the start you can look through them and read the parts on how to repair what ever project you may want to attempt next.Or just read them and learn more about your vehicle. Go to any of the carfacts links below for more tips and information.
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