Underhood Service: News
New Brochure Is A Perfect Teaching Tool The service advisor must educate customers about preventive maintenance and repair, and these professionals need tools to familiarize motorists with what’s under the hood and around the car. To make the service advisor’s job easier, the Car Care Council has developed a new brochure. Simply titled, Be Car
Confronting the Complete Cooling System Service
By now, it’s obvious to most service shops that cooling system service is an absolute “must-do” on any nameplate. Once a cooling system suffers long-term neglect, it turns into an ongoing source of problems for the owner and his service technician because, when corrosion starts to take place, the effects can’t be reversed. For that
Preventive Maintenance Pays Multiple Dividends
Oftentimes, the difference between winning or losing and succeeding or failing is in the details. If you apply this principle to your shop, you’ll find that you won’t have to search far for ways to grow your business. Take preventive vehicle maintenance, for example. Every vehicle that enters your bays represents an opportunity to better
Nissan Engine Diagnostics
You don’t have to be an import specialist to know that Nissan cars and trucks have a good reputation for reliability and longevity. Nissan, under the Datsun name, was one of the first Japanese automakers to break into the U.S. market. They did it right, by establishing a strong dealer network and offering a quality
How Engine Oil Becomes Engine Sludge
Fresh engine oil is a clear, free-flowing liquid blend of base stock and additives that contains no fuel, water, coolant, dirt or other contaminants. In engines that have failed prematurely, the oil has very often been transformed into a high viscosity deposit of brown or black goo, commonly referred to as “sludge.” When regular engine
Radiator Diagnostics & Troubleshooting
Although radiators aren’t glamorous, high-tech replacement parts like wide-band oxygen sensors and Karman-Vortex air flow sensors, diagnosing and replacing them when they become defective is becoming a more important part of vehicle maintenance today. There are at least three reasons why radiators are becoming important maintenance items. First, late-model vehicles are now being driven well
Muscling in on Restoration & Performance Work: Part 1
As automotive technology continues to become more complex with each new model year, you may be longing for the “good ol’ days” when engines had carburetors and distributors but no sensors, fuel injectors or computers. Most driveability problems were fairly simple to diagnose and only required a trained ear and a few basic tools. Alas,
Engine Series: Proper Maintenance Can Extend an Odyssey
We all know that some vehicle owners don’t adhere to preventative maintenance schedules for their vehicles. So when a customer’s vehicle is in for a major problem or service, take advantage of in-depth system inspections. It may be one of the few times that you get to check the vehicle for severely worn parts. Although
Boosting Your Shop’s Competitive Edge
What are the building blocks of your shop’s success? Lately, have you thought about what factors are directly linked to your shop’s profitability? Such an evaluation will provide direction for new initiatives and put the spotlight on areas where improvements are needed. In a recent survey of ImportCar readers, we asked, “What changes will you
Head Gasket Replacement
During some point in their service lives, most import engines built with cast-iron cylinder blocks and aluminum cylinder heads will need a cylinder head gasket replacement. The vulnerability of aluminum-head engines to head gasket failure is caused by the aluminum cylinder head expanding approximately 1.5 times more than the cast-iron block. Although measured in thousandths