Carfacts tips.........

Carfacts Tips

Here at the CarFacts Tips page I will give you a few examples of common ripoffs and how to spot and avoid them.........

In my years as an automotive adjuster and inspections noy only do some shops ripoff their customers they also try to ripoff the Warranty company by adding unneeded repair our over charging on the repair.The reason for Warranty companies using automotive inspectors is to protect them from this kind of repair shop and abuse of the Warranty.

There are many ripoff schemes in the automotive business that will range from high end tansmission and engine scams to the most popular quick under car repairs done in exhaust and muffler shops.

These questionable shops like the pre 1990 vehicles the best as the were not equipted with as much computer technology and were eaiser to scam (and the mechanics probably don't know how to work on the newer systems as well).

Some popular major repair is on engine oil consumption and transmission leak and shift problems.

To mention a few engine scams for oil consumption and or a smoking engine.The mechanic will get your in on the lift and if you have an oil leak at the valve cover (on top of engine) it could leak down over and around engine a drip off the headgasket area or rear main seal and oil pan area.He would then state that the leak was severe and if you didn't get it fixed you could wind up buying an engine.

The best way to confront this would be to have them clean all old oil off(where the suspect leak was stated to be) and then add oil dye to engine and let run or drive vehicle a few miles and then check with black light (most good shops will have these) and where ever there was a leak you could see the dye coming out (to see dye you use a special pair of glasses that comes with the black light) the oil-dye mixture will be a bright yellow.

If the shop dosn't want to clean your engine or wants to charge a heffty fee to do it,go to your local discount auto parts store and purchase a bottle of engine oil dye then take your vehicle to your local car wash and use the high pressure spray to clean top and bottom areas of your engine.Make sure you don't spray a lot of water on wiring or if vehicle has a distributor don't get wet.

Then return to the shop or another shop and have them check for the oil leak with their black light.

At that time you will be able to see the exact problem and make an informed decision on what repair is needed.

On the oil consumption and smoking out the tail pipe,you may be told you need an engine or an engine rebuild or other "MAJOR" repair.This may sometimes be true but if you are about to get ripped off there are a couple of common things that may be the problem.

Lets start with smoking out the tail pipe.If you have smoke out the tail pipe after sitting over night or sitting for a while after first start you may have some valve stem seals that are not sealing the oil from running down the valve stem and into engine causing blue smoke for up to a minute and then clearing up.This is also true if sitting still after a stop and then taking off and a puff of blue comes out tail pipe,you can also have a puff of blue smoke while diving and letting off accelerator and getting back on accelerator.

This repair most of the time can be made without removing the heads,by removing spark plugs and putting air into cylinder (to hold valve up) removing valve spring,removing and installing a new seal.

On some vehicles the guides may become loose and drop down past valve stem seal and cause a constant flow of blue smoke.This repair may also be done witout removing the cylinder head on some vehicles by using a special tool to pull guide back in place and installing a retainer to hold it from dropping again.This is a common problem with some Chrysler,Dodge and Plymouth 3.0 V/6 engines.

In any case just make sure you go to a legitimate shop and are comfortable with the mechanic before any major repair is attempted.

Some common transmission shift complaints that could result in you being ripped off are,transmission hangs in gear and dosn't shift out or shifts hard when it does shift,transmission on take off flares up and bangs into gear.

Lets start with "hangs in gear and no shift".This problem may be a problem with the "throttle position sensor"(TPS), the "Speed Sensor" or with some vehicles a cable adjustment or band adjustment on side of transmission.An unreliable shop may try to sell you a transmission overhaul and you only need one of the above for a cost of $100.00 or less. Engines and transmision will set a "code" if someting in the system is not working properly,so make sure engine is scanned for any codes and you see the code or shop has a print out of test that you can see and evaluate.

A common problem with a "flares and slips on take off then bangs into gear",again the problem may be with the "speed sensor" getting the wrong or no signal,but the most likely problem may be your transmission is low on fluid and it will slip or flare when taking off then will pick up enough fluid and pressure jumps up and will bang into gear.

This can be checked by checking on dipstick to see if transmission is low and if so look under vehicle or have raised on a lift to see where leak is coming from,it will be red or reddish brown in color depending on age and condition of fluid.

On front wheel drive vehicles leaks occur at the transmission pan (bottom of transmission) from side cover gasket (cover on side of trans that covers the valve body),from front pump ot torque converter (will leak in area between transmission and engine).

Some common leaks on rear wheel and 4X4 vehicles are at front pump-torque converter area (between engine and transmission),transmission pan hasket (on bottom of transmission),rear seal where the driveshaft goes into transmission.

On 4X4 vehicles the same will apply as above but can also leak at transfercase seal where bolts to rear of transmission,case half seal (transfercase is in two sections with a seal between them) and at seal where front and rear driveshafts go into transfercase.

Again make sure transmision has a scan test to determine if transmission has an electrcal,pressure or internal problem before approving a major repair.

For these and other reports make sure to check out my up coming book on Carfacts and check back here at the Carfacts Ripoff page or any of the Carfacts pages often as I will up date and add more reports.

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