Looks pretty simple doesn't it?
Looks can be deceiving.

A reader writes to me this week to tell a tale about a MINI with a Constant Velocity Transmission:

"Did you see the news item on CTV National News re the lady in Toronto with a warranty expired Mini?
Apparently her automatic transmission failed and BMW told her they do not import parts to fix transmissions.
They replace the whole Unit .
Cost is $10,000 and they are firm.
She has parked it on their lot until a more reasonable arrangement can be found.
Amazed they let her put it on national television".

So, as predicted here a couple of years ago, the downside of CVTs (apart from the dreadful driving experience), 
is the downstream costs and you should be aware dear reader, because CVTs require much careful thought before
purchase! Certainly, CVTs become another item that I would not go near in buying a second hand vehicle, right alongside
turbo engines. Except, of-course for diesels where you have no choice.

First, CVTs absolutely cannot be used to tow ANYTHING. I see Nissan Muranos, which come with CVTs as standard,
like most Nissans these days equipped with huge square trailer hitches and I think
"There goes an owner that's about to be caught in the warranty trap".
Irony of ironies, Nissan dealers will sell you a trailer hitch for a Murano if you ask.
It remains to be seen if they then use abusive towing as an excuse to void the warranty when the tranny fails!
Or if the vehicle is traded in, the second owner is going to rue the day he bought a CVT.
Which means no second hand hybrids, because they are not only equipped with this expensive transmission,
but also with an equally expensive set of batteries.

Repeat after me:
When buying a new hybrid or any other new  vehicle equipped with a CVT, make SURE you are always fully covered
by a comprehensive manufacturers warranty, no matter what that costs.

The internet is starting to fill up with complaints from CVT owners who now find that a "new" transmission is going to cost
US$6000 or more.

Not BMW MINI pricing, exactly, but bad enough.

The MINI that has a CVT has it as an option!

First, who on earth would buy a neatly agile little go-kart like the MINI and then weight it down with a CVT?
And secondly, the towing restriction is even worse. MINI says 1000 pounds and but I doubt that there is much out
there of the follow - along - kind that weighs that little.

MINI, of-course has neatly built in a get-out clause to void their warranty.

"Sir, this transmission has seriously abused, looks like you've been pulling a 40 foot sail boat with it"

You'll notice that the Saturn Vue came with a CVT - for about six months and then GM discontinued it.
I don't know the inside story, but some transmission engineers at head office found something they really
didn't like about CVTs and the alarm bells went off.

My transmission supplier was at a seminar in the USA recently and was told that CVTs CANNOT be repaired,
they have to be replaced with a new unit. 

On a related topic. the new six and seven speed automatic transmissions being installed in a lot of high priced
cars are going to cost as much as $12000 to repair (not replace), REPAIR.

Maybe Bill Gates and The Donald don't care much, ( the Donald probably pays more than that for a new hairpiece),
but you should care.

A decision to buy some of this "green" technology can cost you lots and lots of pesos!

12th-June-2009

 
Yep, if I dig deep enough, I can just about afford a used one of those.

Depressed used car prices can tempt you into buying something that is just a whole heap
of trouble looking for somewhere to happen.

For instance, I know a guy who was happy to be on the cutting edge of hybrid technology when he bought
a Toyota Prius a few years ago.

He's less happy to be on the cutting edge of hybrid-technology repairs. He just paid a bundle to replace the cars transaxle,
part of the vehicle's new-wave continuously variable transmission, which failed just after the warranty expired.

"The dealer initially told me it would be $3,000 just for the labour, and $5,000 for the part.
That's almost 40% of the original base price of the car!"

He says "I pushed back and they waived the cost of the part, maybe because they had recently and regretfully
bought a second Prius from them. … But the labour charge remained. Ouch."

Much of today's coolest car technology is expensive up front and even more expensive to fix. Even the most mundane repair
or replacement can cost a small fortune. You easily could shell out $1,000 to replace a key or a side mirror, $2,000 to fix a
headlight and thousands more to mend more intricate systems such as adaptive cruise control or a rear-view camera.

Just take a look at this price list to replace some of the gee-whiz parts on certain luxury autos:

2005 Mercedes C Class

     Adaptive cruise-control system, which maintains a set distance from the car in front: $3,742
   Xenon headlight with washer: $1,659
     Parking sensor $345

2005 Lexus RX330

     Adaptive headlight with washer: $1,627 per light
     Backup camera: $4,217
    Adaptive cruise control: $1,318

2005 BMW 5 Series

    Adaptive headlight with washer: $2,035
    Parking sensor: $372
     Adaptive cruise sensor: $2,222

2004 Cadillac Escalade

    Ultrasonic rear-parking assist: $934
   Xenon headlight: $765
     Heated side mirror with turn indicator: $997

Remember, this is just cost of the parts. Labor's extra. And the list doesn't touch some of the most popular technology,
like global-positioning systems, headset-mounted DVD players and built-in, hands-free calling systems.


Technology has even transformed one of the most deeply ingrained habits: losing keys.  $103,000 Mercedes-Benz  now
recognizes the key fob you carry in your pocket.
Should you lose it, a replacement would cost about $1,000.

Then there are hybrid technologies. The transmission, batteries and braking systems are costly to replace, and the number
of mechanics qualified to work on hybrids is limited. The potential costs aren't lost on consumers:
a recent poll found that 44% of those surveyed were "extremely concerned" hybrids would be expensive to fix.

Of course, auto repairs in general have become more expensive as manufacturers computerize more systems, incorporate
expensive lightweight materials and experiment with new designs. The cost of the average repair has risen more than 60%
since 1992, outpacing inflation. The average repair bill for the first half of 2005 was $3,912.

But the high cost of replacing electronics and other cutting-edge technology is what often sideswipes drivers.
Big bills from relatively small components also increase the likelihood that an insurer will declare a car totaled after a collision
because the damage is too expensive to fix.

And speaking of insurance, expect to pay more for that, too.

Insurance rates will also be affected by the fact that certain items -- think xenon headlights and airbags
 -- are the favorite targets
of thieves.

Does that mean you should opt for an old beater without any of today's safety or convenience features?
Not at all. But go in with your eyes open:

Scan the reviews, recalls and technical service bulletins. Some research up front can help you steer clear of the
most problematic cars and technologies.
The number and type of recalls and technical-service bulletins (TSBs), which are a kind of early warning
system for auto technicians, can be particularly informative.

You can pull up two cars and compare them and you might see one has no recalls and no technical-service
bulletins, while the other has three recalls and 15 TSBs, you'll find that problems surface in the first 60,000 kliks
Cars are either really solid early on, or the ones with problems become obvious.

Consider extended warranties. On many consumer products, extended warranties are a rip-off designed to pad sellers' profit.
On vehicles loaded with new technology, though, they might be a worthwhile investment if you plan to own the car for longer than
the standard warranty or if you're buying it used. Look for the manufacturers warranties rather than those offered by third parties,
which have a bad habit of disappearing. You typically can buy an extended warranty any time before the standard warranty expires,
so take some time to shop around for a good price.

It's a bad idea to buy a car bristling with new technology unless you've got some money to burn.
More modestly priced cars will almost certainly be cheaper to maintain, repair and insure. Besides, yesterday's luxury technology
often winds up as tomorrows standard equipment, so if you wait long enough you may be able to get the space-age goodies on a
mid-priced car. Multiple airbags, CD/MP3 players and heated seats were specialty items a decade ago but now are commonplace
on even some of the cheapest cars.

5th-June-2009

Me? Screw around with you? No, really?

ON a hot summer trip the minivan did a peculiar thing. After an hour on the road, it began to bake the children.
Mom and Dad were cool and comfortable up front, but heat was blasting into the rear of the van and it could not be turned off.

When three dealership visits, days of waiting and the cumbersome replacement of mechanical parts failed to fix the problem,
the owner took the van out and drove it until the oven fired up again. Then he rushed to the mechanic to look for a software error.

Indeed, the high-tech comfort system was confused. The rear temperature sensor of the van had gone bad and was
sending a signal that the children were freezing at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The loyal van was doggedly trying to warm them up.

The minivan's problem was unusual only in the specific form it took. Owners across the country and around the globe have posted
anguished cries to Internet forums about electronic gremlins that stop windows from rolling all the way up, that unexpectedly dim the
interior lights, that drain batteries or that make engines sputter. While most automakers have had problems, quality rankings for some - particularly technology-intensive German luxury brands renowned for engineering - have plunged.

Not only are the glitches annoying, their root causes can be hard to find. Problems are often fleeting and may not be recorded
by on-board diagnostics systems.

Electronics may be the cause of 70% of all warranty claims.

The complexity is increasing and there's just a lot more electronics.

There is more software, too, and it comes from many sources.

It's one of the biggest quality issues the automotive industry is dealing with, the problem is that most of these applications in the
vehicle are being supplied by a lot of different suppliers.

The auto industry was not yet very good at integrating software, so buyers inherit fumbled systems that can interfere with one another
- just as installing incompatible programs can make a personal computer malfunction. A niche might soon emerge for companies
that integrate various software systems before they go into a vehicle, in the way that companies like Dell sell PC's with the operating
system and important programs already working in harmony.

32 percent of warranty costs could be attributed to dealership service visits at which no problem was found.

I.B.M. predicts that by 2010, almost all cars will have essentially the same mechanical systems.
What will make the cars different will be software that operates the systems in ways specific to the brand of car.
With so much of a vehicle's identity riding on computer code, carmakers must get the software right.

That would be fine with one frustrated consumer, who bought a fully equipped Mercedes-Benz C230 in 2001,
she has suffered through a string of hard-to-diagnose electronics problems.

She recounts episodes of her car shaking uncontrollably and sounding as if it's stalling. In October, on a freeway, it simply shut down.

"I take it down the street and it just shakes, people are looking at me, wondering what I'm doing."

This lady has kept a log of the problems, which sent her to the dealership 14 times in three years.
Despite all that scrutiny, technicians haven't found a digital explanation.

"Probably I'm just not used to driving the car," she says she was told.

She has made friends online with five or six other C230 owners, including one in South Africa, who are trying to
diagnose shared problems.
While she has considered legal action, she says what she really wants is simply for her car to work.

"Everything is a sensor," she said, reading from a list of attempted fixes:
"They replaced the fuel-level sensor three times. Replaced the main fuel filter two times.
Replaced crankshaft position sensor two times."

Among the electronic flaws on her car, the software-based service system that sends out maintenance reminders
went haywire, telling her at 12,000 kliks that the car needed its 16,000 klik service.
There have been no more reminders, though the mileage is now 65,000 Km.

As more electronics and software make their way into all sorts of vehicles, hard-to-diagnose problems have
cropped up repeatedly.
Late last year, Ford warned its dealers that software might disable the continuously variable transmissions in some
30,000 of its new Ford Taurus sedans and Freestyle sport wagons. The mechanical parts are fine, but a computer
control meant to detect dirty transmission fluid was putting some cars into sluggish "limp home" mode.
Ford had to rewrite software to fix the problem, which it says was caught before any vehicles reached customers.

But luxury cars packed with electronic features suffer more because they adopt new technology earlier.
And the gremlins may be especially galling to luxury buyers who expect their cars' pricey "surprise and delight"
features to delight them, not to surprise them in unpleasant ways.

Some complaints turn out to be not failures, but features that are difficult to use. Systems that combine many tasks
into a single controller, like BMW's iDrive system, draw lots of complaints.

BMW says it takes an ordinary driver about a month to become comfortable with iDrive.
To help new owners, the company suggests that they bring their cars back to the dealer after two weeks for an
intensive training session.

Mercedes-Benz had to replace many of its early Comand integrated control systems because of failures, and has
since worked to simplify the controls. The company has eliminated 600 electronic functions in its cars, to improve
quality and make the remaining functions easier to use. 

Complex systems that are hard to learn can frustrate early users, but are ultimately accepted.
Other systems, though, tend to crash, just like computers. When that happens, drivers can be maddened by failures
that force them to stop the car, then restart it; that illuminate the "check engine" light; or that send the car into
limp-home operation.

One common problem comes not from software, but from pollution controls. On cars with second-generation
diagnostics, a sensor often interprets a loose gas cap as a failure of the evaporative emissions system,
tripping the "check engine" light.

Often, problems that seem like electronic failures are actually owner oversights. Read the owners' manual.
When you've got all this complexity, the first thing you have to do is spend half a day with the book.

Electronics problems are the bane of modern luxury cars and owners often don't know if they have the latest
version of the software that runs crucial systems.

29th May 2009
 
Honda Beat                                                                                             Suzuki Cappucino

A friend of mine collects cars. He has both of these cars and I've driven both of them.
Fabulous! They go like stink, handle well and are all round a sh!t load of fun.
They stem from the Japanese philosophy of KEI cars. Kei is a Japanese category of small automobiles, including passenger cars,
vans, and pickup trucks. They were designed to exploit local tax and insurance regulations, and in more rural areas are exempted from the requirement to certify that adequate parking is available for the vehicle. These standards originated in the times following the end of the
Second World War, when most Japanese could not afford a full-sized car, which is exactly what is going to happen again, but this time,
all over the world.

To promote the growth of the car industry, as well as to offer an alternative delivery method to small business and shop owners,
kei car standards were created.  Because the regulations only restrict physical size, engine displacement and power,
manufacturers have introduced many advanced technologies to the class. As a result, kei cars are often available with forced
induction engines, automatic and CVT transmissions, front-, rear- and four-wheel drive, hybrid drivetrains, air conditioning,
GPS and many other features.

The Honda Beat is a mid-engined two-seat roadster kei car produced from in May 1991 to February 1996.
The Beat was the last car to be approved by Soichiro Honda before he died in 1991. The total number of cars produced
was around 33,600. Most of the production (around two-thirds) occurred in the first year, and then production and sales fell
drastically. The design of the car originated from Pininfarina, who then sold the design plan to Honda.
The Beat was one of many cars designed to take advantage of Japan's tax-efficient K class.

There were two mainstream models of the Beat (the PP1-100 and the PP1-110) and a couple of limited edition versions.
Variations on the first model were just cosmetic updates. Only the second model had any real mechanical differences.
All the cars were offered with the option of a driver's side airbag.

In typical Honda fashion, the Beat's engine did not utilize a turbocharger or supercharger. The 656 cc (40.0 cu in) engine
was modified with the MTREC (Multi Throttle Responsive Engine Control) system, which included one throttle valve for
each of the three cylinders, to produce 63 bhp at 8100 rpm. Only a manual transmission was available.
The MTREC design would filter down to the 1993 Honda Today kei car.

The Beat was part of a wave of kei car-sized sports cars in the early 1990s; its competitors included the Suzuki Cappuccino
and Mazda's Autozam AZ-1. Together they predicted the arrival of the Smart Roadster over a decade later, while Japan
would not see a new model of the genre until the recent Daihatsu Copen.

The design plan for the car was sold to MG by Honda, which was then used to build the MGF.

The Suzuki Cappuccino is a small 2-door, 2-seater hard top roadster produced by Suzuki Motor Corporation.
The vehicle was designed to meet Kei car insurance in Japan. Weighing just 700 kg (1543 lb), the Cappuccino is powered
by a three-cylinder, all-alloy 657 cc DOHC engine (just under the 660 cc maximum displacement allowed for a Kei car).
Its dimensions also conformed to Kei car regulations on length and width, being 3295 mm (129.7 in) long and 1395 mm (54.9 in) wide. 

Front-rear weight distribution is claimed to be 50/50% when both seats are occupied. Layout is front mid-engined and rear-wheel drive.

Three removable roof panels mean that the car can be used as a closed coupé; T-top; targa; or, on retraction of the rear window
and roll bar, a full convertible. Roof panels stow in the trunk, and the rear window/rollcage assembly retracts into the body behind
the seats.

It was originally equipped with the F6A engine: later models were fitted with a K6A engine which was lighter and had chain-driven,
rather than belt-driven, camshafts. Both are DOHC 12-valve, inline 3-cylinder engines that were turbocharged and intercooled.
Power output was a claimed 63 hp for Kei car purposes. 

The Cappuccino featured 4-wheel disc brakes, possibly the first production iteration of electric power-assisted steering,
aluminium double wishbone suspension and rear wheel drive. Production began in 1991 and ceased in 1997. The Cappuccino's
closest competitor of the time were the Autozam AZ-1, Honda Beat and the Daihatsu Leeza Spyder.
(The Autozam AZ-1, Honda Beat and Suzuki Cappuccino were together called the Sporty K-Car's ABC.)

In 1991 Suzuki GB opened discussions with Suzuki Motor Corporation about launching the car in the United Kingdom
and meeting the needs of British National Type Approval. It took 18 months of negotiation and technical co-operation
between SMC and SGB to get the Suzuki Cappuccino type approved and homologated. There were 23 adaptations to
the Japanese Cappuccino to conform to British NTA, with the work done at the Kosai Plant and at the Suzuki Import Centre.
In October 1992 the Cappuccino had its first public viewing outside Japan, at the British International Motor Show.
At the show, the Cappuccino won two prestigious IBCAM Design awards: "best sportscar under £20,000" and "best car of the show".
In October 1993 the Cappuccino was officially launched in the UK with a price of £11,995 (C$20,000).
Due to the car's initial success in Japan, and the tight import quota of Japanese products to the UK, the original allocation
of 1,500 cars was cut to 1,182. Such limited quantities dictated a streamlined colour choice: red and silver in the ratio 80:20.
Between 1993–95 a total of 1,110 cars were registered in the UK, with the balance was sold to other Suzuki distributors
across Europe: Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden.

22nd May 2009.


World crude oil, condensate and oil sands production peaked in 2008 at an average of 73.78 million barrels
per day (mbd) which just exceeded the previous peak of 73.74 mbd in 2005, according to recent EIA production data.
Production is expected to decline further as non OPEC oil production peaked in 2004 and is forecast to decline at a
faster rate in 2009 and beyond due mainly to big declines from Russia, Norway, the UK and Mexico.
Saudi Arabia's crude oil production peaked in 2005. By 2011, OPEC will not have the ability to offset cumulative
non OPEC declines and world oil production is forecast to stay below its 2008 peak. - The Oil Drum

Obama is on the right track, but for the wrong reasons. His latest fuel consumption legislation is predicated on global warming,
when in fact, it's energy conservation that needs to be addressed. The IEA (International Energy Agency) chart shown above will
ironically bring about the reduction in carbon emissions that the tree huggers and econazis want.

As anyone who reads this column regularly knows very well, I and thousands of scientists, don't believe that human activity is
influencing climate change very much, if at all. But energy conservation is vital. Don't count on nuclear power, windmills or
solar energy to fill the gap, not at least for the next 15 years, if then.

We are stuck with using up the worlds' supply of liquid carbon fuels and their cost is going to rise significantly.

What does this mean to the transportation industry?

Small cars, or big cars with small engines.
If you look at what has happened in Europe, one can see that small cars are a way of life.
When gas prices hit $2.50 a litre, everyone goes for maximum economy. In Europe, this has led to the use of diesel power
and hopefully, the Americans will realise that this is the answer for us too. The phenomenal pulling power of a diesel engine
and its outstanding fuel economy, now that diesel prices are back below the price of gasoline, will make large cars and trucks,
equipped with small engines a reality. After all, why does anyone WANT a minivan with performance?
That's not its' role in life.
And hybrids are not the answer.
If the reason for owning a small car is to save money, then the long term costs of owning a hybrid cancel out the savings
advantage early on.

Less trucking.
The whole idea of JIT (just in time) or "same day, right away" is based on low energy costs.
One locomotive can pull a load equal to, or better than 200 trucks at a huge saving in energy.
So our roads will be much less congested at rush hour as the mighty 53 footers prove to be energy
guzzlers of the worst kind.

Local manufacturing.
Building a car in China and then shipping it 10,000 miles will no longer be possible. The cost of the energy to move the
cars over long distances can easily exceed the cost of manufacturing the car in the first place.
IKEA opened a factory in the USA last year, simply because the cost of shipping furniture from Sweden had
become prohibitive.

Bigger aeroplane seats.
Airline tickets will double or triple in cost. Resulting in the common man being excluded from buying a ticket for a weeks
wages and then taking 12 months to pay for it. I'm not (much) of a snob, but any flight crew will tell you that much of the
trouble that they have to deal with in flight comes from the trailer park trash.  
There won't be a need for business class, all the seats will be just as large and spacious.

Specialist vehicle builders.

The Bernie Madoffs of this world will still want a 1000 horsepower Escalade type vehicle, but obviously, the volume will
be quite small, so one can see the the specialty manufacturers filling this demand and flying below the EPA ratings system
by producing less than 10,000 units per year.

So the cost of motoring is what will eventually bring about a reduction in emissions whether we need to reduce them or not.

I'm sure the lunatic left will still mumble on about farting cows, but their voices will slowly fade as the reality of scarce oil
and natural gas brings us all back down to earth.

Hopefully this scarcity of cheap energy, as one article suggests, won't result in us all living in highly insulated filing
cabinets for people, with no cars, except (of course) for the Government officials who are remotely controlling the
thermostat on your wall.

15th-May-2009



Last year the Shell Oil Company  started running some TV ads that were so dishonest, it was hard to believe
that anyone could be sucked in to believing the story.

You may have seen the "Our gas vs Cheap gas" commercial in which they apparently filled one car with "Our gas"
and one car with "Cheap gas" and ran them over the same course. Then they (supposedly) stripped the engines down
and proudly showed our exhaust valves and their exhaust valves.

Apparently, their exhaust valves are covered in carbon and our exhaust valves are nice and clean.

Now they're at it again with nitrogen enhanced fuel. Last years' little deception didn't work, so now they're back.

All gas stations have to distribute gasoline that includes additives designed to clean important engine parts
-- the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires it. But if you've watched television or driven by a Shell
gas station recently, you may have noticed advertisements for a special kind of gasoline with a fancy, vaguely
scientific name:
Shell Nitrogen Enriched Gasoline.
In March, the Shell gas company began pumping this gasoline at its stations and emphasized the fuel's formidable
cleaning power.

As fuel prices continue to jump around only to settle back down unexpectedly, many drivers are looking for more
efficient ways to use and conserve fuel. There are several driving habits people can alter or improve, including paying
attention to local speed limits and avoiding hard braking and rapid acceleration.

But taking care of your car's engine is important, too. The performance of your vehicle's engine is a big factor in fuel
economy. A properly maintained, well-cared-for engine will give you better fuel efficiency, and therefore you'll spend
less time watching the prices tick away at the pump. The types of gas you use could possibly affect your engine, too,
and Shell would like you to think that its particular blend of gasoline will affect your engine positively.

So, how does Shell's nitrogen-enriched gas work in a car's engine?
Does Shell's gas really perform better than other types of gasoline, or are they simply jumping onto the efficiency
bandwagon with a gimmicky advertising campaign? 

A major by-product of combustion is carbon deposit build-up, or what Shell has hereby dubbed in their ad campaign "gunk."
Gunk is essentially what it sounds like -- it's black soot that can harden on the cylinders, pistons and valves of an engine.
If too much collects, this gunk can negatively affect engine performance, causing your car to burn more oil, overheat and
even burn gasoline less efficiently. Valves inside an engine are designed to let in a specific amount of air and fuel,
and when this process is interrupted by carbon deposit build-up, your car won't be performing up to its potential.

So what does Shell's nitrogen-enriched gasoline have to do with this?
The nitrogen formula in this specific type of gas functions as a detergent. Special detergents or additives are added to
fuels to help clean engines. When Shell's nitrogen-enriched gasoline runs through your engine, it is supposed to pass over
and comes into contact with the system's valves.  Even though the air being pulled into the engine is already
78% nitrogen - go figure.

Shell claims that nitrogen-enriched molecules chemically react with carbon deposits that have collected on the valves.
These nitrogen-enriched molecules then clean the valves and permit maximum gasoline and air compression within the cylinder.

So, is Shell's nitrogen-enriched gasoline a big deal?
Is it really something to get excited about? 

When Shell launched its advertising campaign pushing the new fuel, a series of commercials ran on several major channels,
including MSNBC, Oxygen, USA, A&E, the Discovery Channel, ESPN, Speed and the Golf Channel.
These ads, part of what Shell dubbed the "Passionate Experts" campaign, featured goofy, somewhat aloof scientists
promoting the nitrogen-enriched fuel. And repeating animations of those silly scientists are there, too, trading secret
handshakes, playing rock-paper-scissors and generally being inane.

Shell's engine-cleaning gas isn't technically anything new, either, since all gasoline products have been required by the
EPA to include a minimum amount of additives and detergents [source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency].

However, Shell's gasoline, along with many others, does meet and exceed TOP TIER Gasoline Detergent standards,
which is a voluntary standard that several major automakers including Audi, BMW, General Motors, Honda, Toyota
and Volkswagen created in order to improve the quality of gasoline.

But the most revealing reason behind Shell's efforts to push nitrogen-enriched gas might be its decision to suspend
research on alternative fuels. In March 2009, Shell announced it would hold back indefinitely on funding and research
for solar and wind power. Hydrogen power was given the boot, too. Analysts cited recent drops in oil prices and an
economic downturn as possible reasons for the move

Shell doesn't tell us what the definition of "cheap gas" is.
Is it Esso gas that happens to be a penny cheaper?
Is it gas bought out in the wilds of Deliverance country?
What IS it exactly?
How far did you run the cars?
Is one of the car engines a worn out oil consumer and the other one not an oil burner?
How do you know this?
Did you doctor the "cheap fuel" with !0% diesel to make the gasoline burning engine carbon up?

You think these things are beyond the travails of an ad agency? Think again and remember the leaky fuel tanks on
GM pick up trucks that were doctored to MAKE 'em leak.

Older drivers will remember the famous "Put a tiger in your tank" promotion that Esso ran years ago. Implying that our
gas would give more performance and economy than their gas. At least Esso didn't suggest that their gas would screw
with your engine internals.

But let's be clear on this: ALL MODERN, NAME BRAND GASOLINES ARE THE SAME.

In Canada, a lot of gasolines are imported from Venezuela and then doctored up with the oil companies' favourite additives.
Mine's bigger than yours then becomes the basis for these stupid TV ads.

Ironically, a lot of gasoline is coming to us from Europe. Why?

Because they have switched over massively to the use of diesel fuel and in the process have produced gasoline
they don't need or want.  That should tell you something about the origins of the gas you're putting in your tank

The oil companies are in enough trouble with their public relations as it is, with out these meaningless and downright
dishonest ad campaigns.

The bottom line is this, just as with nitrogen for inflating tires, if  this comes at no price premium, then using it is
not harmful.
But what are you going to do to prove the point? Disassemble your engine and check the cleanliness of the valves?
No, you're not and so you only have the word that this "nitrogen advantage" is worthwhile from an oil company.
And you trust them?

8th- May- 2009.


                                                                ELVA Courier                                                 Not the MG, but a mouse nest just the same

Last week, a good friend of mine and I went down to the Eastern Townships to rescue our sports cars from winter storage.

We were late leaving because the roads in the country were very muddy and both my Porsche 944 and my friends fully
restored Elva Courier have about four inches of ground clearance and muddy roads are just not possible.

My 944 was stored in a barn at a third friends' farm and his MGB and the Courier were stored elsewhere in a modern,
concrete floored, steel building, otherwise full of boats, trampolines and lawn tractors.

My Porsche started first shot and was no worse for wear, so we left it outside in the sunshine and set off to traverse
some pretty bad roads in a new RAV4.

In passing, I must say that the Toyota suspension was well up to the job and the suspension was really smooth over
some pretty wild terrain.

When we got up to the modern storage building, the MG and the Elva started right away and then a check up discovered
a mouse nest in the MG the size of a soccer ball with a lot of mouse droppings and the Elva had small nuggets of dog food
that had been transported from elsewhere in the building to the Elva trunk for "safe keeping".

It was decided that the MG should be driven home to be emptied and vacuumed free of mouse habitat. The way back was
a long way round over roads that were mud free and graded. I followed along in the RAV4.

Half way home, the owner of the MG suddenly pulled up and leapt out of the car. As he did so, a mouse, which had been
still resident and was running backward and forward across the dashboard, dove out of the door opening and plunged into
the nearest ditch.

When we got back to the farm, we found a cardboard tube in the trunk which was from a roll of paper towels.
The towels were what had formed the super size mouse nest. With industrial gloves, the nest was removed and the MG
was otherwise OK, the mice hadn't had time to start on the carpets. The towel roll was probably a very lucky leave behind
item in the fall, otherwise the mice would have attacked anything that was useful as nest material.

The Elva hadn't been attacked, the storage of dry dog food hadn't been going on very long.

At this time of year, many people start to think about going camping or hiking.

One client of mine left his SUV for a week and when he got back, he started the air conditioner, only to be bombarded by
a hail storm of sunflower seeds. Some mice had discovered his intake system and started to store their whole supply
of food in there.

In another case I know of, the hikers got started back to civilization, only to have the engine almost immediately overheat and
expire in a large cloud of steam. Apparently, racoons like the taste of rubber. It seems to have a slightly salty taste, and they
had chewed through all the water hoses down at the bottom of the radiator.

If it's possible to park in a protected space while you're away enjoying natures' bounty, all well and good.

If not, a careful check of your vehicle before you drive away upon your return is a very good plan.  

In one case we encountered, a vintage BMW came to us for repair and the owner said the tech manual was in the glove
compartment. The car had been in storage in a barn over the winter. When we opened up the glove compartment, we found
a shredded tech manual, all neatly wound up into the dearest little mouse nest you ever saw.

The debris falling from budding trees, especially maples, combined with wild animals that need to store food can play
havoc with cars and trucks of all kinds.

A top notch security system will not stop a squirrel for more than a few moments. If he wants in, he'll get in and he may find
your upholstery just what he needs for reinforcing his nest in the tree next door.

Keep an eye open and be aware that this is the time for outside natural forces to start to interfere with your vehicles'
ability to run smoothly and reliably during the summer months.

April 24th 2009.



The worlds' most asinine question, at least in the car repair business is:

 "What's your hourly rate?"

This question is asked usually by e-mail or on the telephone.
And I understand where it's coming from.

The only place in a dealership that's making any money right now is the service department.
I'm seeing hourly rates approaching $100 an hour and in some cases, $120 an hour.

Warranty repairs at a dealership are regulated by the manufacturer, so the opportunity for profit lies in the
repair of out of warranty vehicles, hopefully as old as possible.

I'm being asked to check cars that have been to a dealership and have had an estimate for repair that is
approaching $2000. When we check such cars, we find that maybe half the work is necessary now and the
other half might become a problem sometime in the future.

You can't quite nail the dealer because the ball joint he recommended be changed IS slightly loose, but is nowhere
near ready for replacement.

So we're into a grey area of "should we or shouldn't we?"

In these estimates, of course, come the labour costs and this can be quite a large number, hence the origin of the
stupid question.

But think about it for a moment.

There is nothing more open to fraud than hours worked.

In the case of a dealership, if a super technician gets something done in half the allowed time, he gets a bonus
and you pay the "standard" charge for that job.

In our case, we punch in and out out and the time taken is what's charged.

But suppose you are told that the hourly rate is $50. It's easy to make that rate $75 dollars by charging an hour and
a half for something that actually only took an hour to complete. So shopping around by telephone or e-mail and only
asking for hourly rate is a fools' errand.

It has the benefit of telling us that this is probably a potential client we don't really want to work for. Because it generally
gets worse after the car is in the shop.

We usually and cynically refer them to the "big red triangle". Once they've gone through the experience of lowest labour
rate and highest possible repair cost, they sometimes get the message.

FYI, our labour rate is currently $79 an hour. Overhead costs include rent, workmen's compensation, unemployment
insurance, natural gas, hydro, credit card fees (which have gone up a lot just lately) and of-course, payroll.
When one factors in these costs, we are on the low end of the profit curve and should probably be charging more.

However, times are hard and we have great sympathy for someone whose car is broken and is needed to find a job.

But asking the stupid question just gets people off on the wrong foot before we even get to meet them.

April 17th 2009


Your car is eight, maybe 10 years old.
Leaving work one day, the humidity hangs in the air as you drop all the windows to let the heat escape.

At the same time, you crank up the air conditioning and wait for the temperature transference to take place.

Only it doesn’t.

Hot air blasts out at you.

If you’re like me, you will knit your brow quizzically and try another setting in case it’s just the “high”
setting that is wonky.

Maybe you’ll tip the little vents another way, in case the cold air is just blocked or something.

When none of this works, you will drive home all sweaty and do the only thing that makes any real sense.

You will get in your car the next day and try it all again. Because it just has to work.

Nobody wants to deal with broken air conditioning. There’s a good reason we don’t want to deal with it.

It’s expensive. * (see below).

It can be time consuming.

And it’s often frustrating.

But if your system is blowing hot air, it’s because you have a leak. Your Freon has escaped, and like a bike tire, there is no
point filling it up without finding and fixing the leak.
And unlike a bike tire, it’s not just air escaping, it’s a gas that is rumoured to  be wrecking our environment.

Your air conditioning system is made up of three main parts: a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator.
They are connected with a system of lines and hoses. The challenge is locating where the leak is,
but it’s not a challenge in a good way.

The only way to find a leak is to pressurize the system with nitrogen, a first step diagnosis that is the only way to find the
problem and begin to fix it. We charge about $30 for this basic test; but wherever you go for analysis, make sure you use
a licensed technician.

Forget waiting a year or three. Moisture will set in to form hydrofluoric acid and lead to severe component corrosion.
Which is why used A/C parts from a scrap yard are not usually a good idea.

In a best case scenario, your technician can tell you where the leak is — sometimes it’s as easy as using a soapy
solution and looking for bubbles. It’s fixed and your system is recharged with R134A, the governmentally regulated
Freon that’s been in use since 1993 to replace the older, less ozone-friendly R12.

If a leak isn’t easily detected (after charging, there is no discernable drop in pressure), he may recharge the system
but put a dye in the Freon. As it leaks out slowly, again, you come back and the dye will let him see where the leak is.

The compressor and condenser are fairly easy to access if a leak is detected.

The evaporator, on the other hand, requires the entire dashboard to be pulled out.
Labour costs money, and seeing the innards of your car on a shop floor can be a little distressing.

But let’s say all goes well and your system is doing a happily ever after on the first go.
It’s probably still a cost of about $500 to $700, on average.
These sealed systems are expensive to repair.

The problem? If a leak was in your compressor, there is nothing to prevent a leak a month later in say, your condenser
or your evaporator. All the parts are the same age. 

Sometimes it’s just easier to put down the window.

Get your initial diagnosis. Then consider carefully.

*Here are some typical prices for the components involved and this does not include the considerable
amount of labour that is required for their replacement.

Compressor - $600
The compressor is the heart of the AC system. It compresses and circulates the refrigerant around the system.
Low pressure refrigerant is drawn into one side of the pump, and expelled as a high pressure vapour.
During this process, the temperature of the vapour rises significantly. The compressor is usually driven by a belt
attached to either the engine directly, or the alternator.
   
Condenser - $250
Once compressed, the refrigerant vapour is at a high temperature, and therefore not too useful for cooling the car.
The condenser changes the vapour into a liquid, a reaction which causes a large drop in temperature.
The condenser is like the radiator on the engine, and is normally located at the front of the engine bay.
   
Evaporator - $400 plus 5 hours of labour.
The evaporator receives the cold refrigerant, and uses it to cool the air in the cabin of the car. It is usually located
in the heater air intake. Some vehicles have more than one evaporator to serve different areas inside the cabin.
   
Expansion Device - $75
The expansion device comes in many forms. It can be a brass internally or externally equalized valve, a block type
valve or an orifice tube (the latter being part of an accumulator type air conditioning system).
Expansion Devices have an inlet and an outlet which separates the high side of the system from the low side.
A small restriction in the valve allows only a small amount of refrigerant to pass through it into the Evaporator.
The amount of refrigerant passing through the valve depends on the Evaporator temperature.
The most common reasons for failure are contamination, moisture and lack of regular servicing.
   
Drier - $100
This is where some AC systems differ. In an expansion valve system, the drier is known as a receiver, and in a
fixed-orifice tube system, it is an accumulator. A receiver removes impurities from the system, absorbs moisture,
and ensures that only liquid refrigerant reaches the expansion valve. In contrast, an accumulator prevents liquid
refrigerant from entering the compressor.



It's tire change over time again and our appointment book is beginning to fill up.

Those of you with the foresight and the necesary spare funds to have a spare set of wheels with tires already
mounted, will be in and out in no time, at minimum cost and with a minimum amount of agro.

Those of you with tires only will have to pay for removing the winter tire, cleaning and grinding rust off the steel rims,
putting in a new valve, mounting the summer tire, moving from the mounting machine to the balancing machine,
applying balance weights as the computer dictates (lead is no longer a cheap commodity!) often on both the outside
and the inside and reinstall on the vehicle.

And then Uncle Phil (yours truly) has to take the car out for a test drive, to make sure all is well and the tires
are balanced properly.
And we do this with EVERY car, no exceptions.

If you are blessed with mag wheels or, more importantly, tire pressure sensors, extra charges will apply because more
care, caution and therefore more time, is needed to complete this operation.

Prices will vary from place to place for this type of work and on paper, we're at the top end of the scale. However, we won't go
looking for extra work, unlike many tire stores and particularly the "big red triangle" . If we DO find something that concerns us,
we will stop work until you've had a chance to see it for yourself.

Many times, low prices for tire mounting are set on the assumption that more work, either imaginary or legitimate, can be found.

In the words of the famous nursery rhyme, "Come in to the parlour said the spider to the fly".  

One thing you should note is that the law does not require oil and tire changers to have any automotive qualifications of any kind.
They do not have to have a union, or parity committee, card. So the big discount stores that offer rudimentary auto service are
usually staffed by teenagers right off the street being paid minimum wage. Slinging hamburgers at Macidee is considered to
more challenging.

When the pressure comes on, as it will in a couple of weeks, don't expect to get your rims ground and cleaned before the tires
are installed at these palces, you MAY get a new valve, your wheel nuts MAY be tightened to manufacturers spec, or maybe not.
Not when an impact wrench adjusted to full speed is used and by the same token, you'll be lucky if you don't get any broken studs,
or distorted rotors.

If you're also lucky, the air won't be introduced into the tire until it has settled on the rim properly and therefore isn't egg shaped.

The worst case of "express" tire mounting that I ever knew of personally, involved a lady who backed out of a well known discount
emporium, only to have all four wheels fall off. Not a wheel nut in sight, anywhere. $2000 later the store settled out of court.

One thing you can say for the huge discount stores is that, since they're not in the car repair business, they won't lie to you about
what your car needs in the way of repairs.

I have to boast that my technicians, well paid as they are, take the time to get it right the first time and no-one is going to persuade
them to cut corners, Their attitude is as different to the average tire changer as chalk is to cheese.


 

March 6th 2009.

  Touring with this 4 cylinder Camry with four people on board, tended to highlight some design faults that
might not be so obvious if it only ever carried one or two people.

It has been said that almost half the people who buy a new car don't bother to drive it before they put
down their deposit to await delivery. Other, more cautious people try to rent one for the weekend to
try it out more extensively.

Over a three week period this Camry produced some odd design faults.

Firstly, the trunk lid is suspended in the old fashioned way with a couple of one hundred and eighty
degree square bars that push down into the trunk and onto the luggage when the lid is closed.
This robs the space of about 6 inches of usable room that is invaluable when four people and
luggage have to be accommodated.

In fact, the trunk lid did not fit well on one side, probably because someone tried to slam the lid down
onto a pile of luggage and bent it out of shape. Even my 2000 Infiniti has twin hydraulic cylinders to
operate the trunk lid. They stay completely out of the way when the lid is closed.

Secondly, the security system will not remotely open the trunk with the remote. So if you approach
with arms full, you have to put down all that you are carrying to either open the drivers' door and
depress the trunk release lever or open the trunk with the key.

My Mazda3 opens all doors with the remote, including the hatch.

Thirdly and on one occasion only, the alarm system went off in the middle of the night, we still don't know why, but it is
obviously overly sensitive.

Fourthly, the doors lock when drive is engaged, but when the car car comes to a stop and park is engaged, only the drivers
door unlocks. Which leaves your passengers screaming "let me out" if, as often happens, you forget to push the door
lock/unlock button on the drivers armrest.

Fifthly, the rear passenger doors do not have courtesy lights, although the front ones do. All or nothing applies here.
The rear passengers cannot see where they're getting out in the dark, even though the front ones can.

Sixthly, rear leg room is not sufficient for long journeys.

Then there's' the brakes. Completely non linear and non progressive. Push lightly on the pedal, knowing you have
passengers in the back - and nothing happens. Push a bit harder and the car takes a nose dive, extracting vociferous
complaints from the  rear. In stop and go traffic and there's plenty of that in Puerto Rico, it takes all the skill you've got
to brake firmly and gently. In the mountains, the brakes are fine, sufficiently powerful because much more is required
from the stoppers. But in traffic? A nightmare.

All of this, of course, you may not notice if you generally drive alone, but on holiday with four passengers, this Toyota fell
down on its task. Of course it was reliable and economical and boring to drive, but under the conditions described last week,
adequate to the task in hand.

We actually ordered a Taurus and got the Camry as a substitute. I don't know if a 2009 Taurus is better thought through
for carrying four passengers, but I don't see how it could be much worse.

February 27th 2009.

I suppose I could go on ad nauseum about the plight of the automobile industry, but since everyone else is doing that just now,
I thought it might be of interest to you at some point, to know what driving is like in Puerto Rico.

First, let me say that the population is friendly and helpful, until they get into a car. Just as we found in Panama last year
(See Blog #62 below), they are dreadful drivers with absolutely no sense of road craft or discipline.  
This does not say that we didn't enjoy our holiday - far from it, but it was really necessary to use superior driving experience
to survive a road trip anywhere.  Unlike our experience in Costa Rica, the roads in PR are very good.
Obviously American in design, many of them are low cost toll roads which almost circle the island.
The problem lies I think, in the fact that this small island has four million inhabitants all of whom have a car of some sort
and live near the coast, since the centre of the island is mountainous and quite spectacular.
In consequence, traffic congestion is everywhere, there is no escaping from it.

The magnificent old city of San Juan has one major artery going into it and since it sits on a promontory, there is only one way out.
Parking is very difficult, the narrow streets are jammed with cars, somewhat reminiscent of Paris, without the sidewalk parking
that makes Frenchmen so unique.

Another problem lies in the fact that drivers hog the left lane, well below the speed limit and will not move over, even for
ambulances and police cars. The explanation one gets is that heavy trucks have destroyed the right lane and it's a much
smoother ride on the left. This may have been true at one time, but the modern toll roads are not rough in any lane and yet,
with three lanes available, the traffic still spreads itself across all three lanes.
 
Which leads to the coffee can muffler boys in their old or new, Hondas (yes, they're everywhere these days!) weaving and
dodging through traffic and you'd better watch your mirrors, because here they come!

On the other hand, passing on the right and cutting back in produces no flashing headlights or horn honking. It seems to be
accepted practice that if you're in a hurry, you pass right and cut left. There is a huge police presence, but speeding is almost
impossible and weaving through traffic is acceptable, so what they do all day is beyond my comprehension.
They also run with the gumball machine flashing for no apparent reason - go figure!

Now we get to the problem of signage. Even on the toll roads, signage is vague and usually comes up right at the intersection,
while you're following a truck. As I know from personal experience, making a misturn off the thruway and down into the barrio
can take forever to undo.

The side roads, up into the mountains, have three digit numbers. Fine, you see the road signposted off the thruway, then posted
for a couple of miles, then all signage disappears and you come to a fork in the road. If you go the wrong way you can go for
many miles in the wrong direction and find it impossible to recover. You can waste hours stopping constantly to ask for directions.
( Most PRs are fluently bilingual and very helpful). I've thought about this and it seems that a laptop and Google maps, blown up
to large scale might be the only way for tourists to be independent while travelling on back roads.

By the way, PR is half pregnant when it comes to measurement. Gasoline is sold in litres (42c while we were there!), distances
are given in kilometres, but speed limits are in miles per hour, so the speedometer in the car is also in miles per hour.
Traffic itself divides into two groups. Porsche Cayennes at one end and 20 year old Mitsubishis at the other. Of course it's the
broken down old cars that run in the left lane, well below the speed limit.

Mitsubishi has sold very well in PR and so has Toyotas' Scion cars and boxy carryalls.
Scions have to be some of the ugliest vehicles anywhere on the planet, unless you think the very similar Honda Element
deserves that title.

The 2009 4 cylinder Camry we drove was perfectly adequate for the job. The four cylinder engine climbed mountains quite well
and fuel economy was good. However,  this Toyota had some irritating and disappointing features that I will tell you about next week.

In summary: A fine holiday, with good beaches, many things to see and do, friendly people, one of the finest ancient old cities
outside of Europe and stable, predictable weather. Of the Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico has to bo one of the best, just so
long as your driving attitude is long on patience and slow to anger.

January 23rd 2009

As you are no doubt aware, new car sales are way down and going lower, whilst used car sales
are on the upswing, which happens every time there's a downswing in the economies of the
Western world.

Our business blossoms in the car repairs category and also in the area of used car inspections.

Because I cannot emphasize enough, and as many of my clients now know from sad experiences,
how important it is to look before you leap when buying a car (or a house, for that matter).

When we carry out a used car inspection, one of the questions that is most often asked is,
"Can you tell if the odometer has been turned back?"

In the good old days, when speedometers were driven by a cable and the numerals rolled over
mechanically, it wasn't all that difficult to see if those numerals lined up properly and if there were
minute scratches on the numeral faces, where a tool had been used to manipulate each circle of digits.

Then electronic odometers arrived, driven by a pulse from the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) and a
second mileage recorder was secretly hidden in the black box that controlled the transmission.

OK, we thought, game over, these new systems are tamper-proof. I should be so naive.
You can't keep a good thief down and now, it seems, times have changed once again.

It is one of the oldest dodges in the book. Buy a high mileage car, wind the odometer back and sell
the car for a useful profit.

In the past such shenanigans were carried out in a back street garage and involved removing the entire
dashboard from the car. But new technology has meant that today's crooks don't even need to scrape
their knuckles.

No wrenches are needed and neither is a shop. Instead, roaming rogue technicians armed with a
laptop can visit you at home and rapidly increase your car's value while you wait.

Apparently, the whole operation can be achieved in less than ten seconds and business is good.
In the UK, a recent study by a vehicle information company showed that more than one and a half
million used automobiles - almost one in 10 - shows a "distance discrepancy", suggesting that their
odometers had been turned back.

This practice seems to be spreading through the luxury car sector. The more expensive the car,
the more winding back the mileage increases the value, and high build quality means there are fewer
give-aways that the vehicle has been driven hard. The key factor behind this operation is the move from
analogue to digital odometers. As I have said, the old methods of manual manipulation involved quite a
lot of work in removing the instrument from the dashboard. Manufacturers tried to combat these tricks by
installing on-board computers that recorded the car's details, including the mileage, which could not
easily be altered.

But now, someone who wants to alter the mileage can just plug a laptop into the car's diagnostic computer,
and can change its memory. Thereby removing thousands of miles or kilometres from the odometer in an instant.

Apparently, from what I hear, although I'm not a legal expert, the actual operation is not criminal.
It's only when a car that has had its odometer altered is knowingly offered as a low mileage example and
sold, that it becomes a criminal offence.

Obviously, few people would alter an odometer if they did not intend to sell it. There is only one reason for
odometer interference and that is money. It is estimated that on luxury cars, owners or auctions can make
an extra $100 to $200 for every 1,000 Km that is taken off a car's mileage.

Digital odometers may have rendered many traditional ways of recognizing a suspicious vehicle as useless,
but we do have other ways of detecting possibly erroneous mileages.

Wear and tear is the first one. Unscrupulous sellers replace worn pedal rubbers, so new ones should
make you wonder what happened. A driver's seat that is soiled or worn is more expensive to replace however,
and worn carpets around the accelerator pedal are a big give-away. Shiny steering wheels or gearshifts can
also indicate a high-mileage car. Switches that are losing their painted-on numerals or symbols are pause for
reflection. A vehicle that is no longer wearing its original OEM tires is also a subject of suspicion if there is less
than 40,000 Km on the clock.

Then there is the subject of excessive stone chips, a common problem these days. Maybe the car has
been driven on gravel roads a great deal, but high-mileage cars usually have badly chipped hoods and noses.
Badly scratched door sills can also be an indication of heavy usage. And despite what the professional
"turnbackers" claim about their work being undetectable, if you suspect foul play it could be worth plugging
into the black box to interrogate the cars electronic control unit to see if tampering has taken place.

Whether or not the garage can find evidence, the threat of a check is likely to scare off the seller of a tampered car.

There are also internet services that can check a vehicles history for you, for a fee of course (www.autofacts.ca).

And the eagle eyes of a grey haired auto technician are also very useful.
These fellows are hard to fool.
Although I doubt that any of us can detect the difference between 60,000 and 80,000 kilometres, we almost always can
see that a vehicle has travelled as much as double the apparent mileage.

The worst case we ever came across was a VW Jetta diesel that had 240,000 Km showing on the clock, but the general
condition of the car was very suspicious. In particular, the shifter linkage was extremely loose, a condition that we had never
seen on a VW before, not at this mileage anyway. We told the owner, who had already bought the car without an inspection
(a big and surprisingly common blunder), to do some investigation. He went to talk to the police, who opened a file and
discovered that the car had been used as a taxi and had actually been driven more than 750,000 Km.

A gross example for sure and I know that most large and reputable dealers just don't do that sort of thing, but when a car is
traded in and a legal affidavit is signed by the owner, testifying that the car mileage is genuine, the dealer has little choice
but to accept it.

Buyer beware. I don't care where you have your prospective purchase inspected, but get it done.
The CAA has a well developed system and you also have the legal right to know who the previous owner was, although this
may turn out to be a leasing company, in which case you cannot pursue that avenue of inquiry any further - and with excess
mileage costing ten cents per klik, there's even more incentive for odometer interference.

Most low mileage cars at dealerships are exactly as represented, particularly if there is some manufacturer's warranty left.
A friendly dealer can also punch the VIN number into his computer and see when the last service was carried out and at what
mileage, this information is usually available at all dealerships representing the same manufacturer.

This is particularly useful if there is warranty left on the car and you want to register as the new owner and get the balance
of warranty transferred.

The problem arises mostly at what used to be known in my early days as "bomb site" dealers, private sales, or auctions.

January 16th 2009



As any Production Engineer will tell you and as I can also tell you from personal experience, if you shut down a production line
that usually runs 24/7,  when you come to start it up again, all hell breaks loose.

Many electric motors fail to start, or fail within a short time. Many processes that were running normally when you threw the
big switch and went home, now fail to run properly.

All this to say that Chryslers shutdown, now apparently extended to five weeks, will produce even more inferior vehicles,
if that's possible. Quality will suffer until the lines start to run smoothly and so the first few weeks of production are bound to
be inferior.

The old saying "never buy the first years' production of any new vehicle design" has the same philosophy as its basis.
New production, or restarting old production always increases the risk of unintended consequences.

It's not only Chrysler, of-course. Any manufacturer that shuts down a fully automated production line can expect a fall off in
quality at first. So it's probably not a bad idea to keep track of who shut down, for how long they closed and what products
were involved.

Then I would avoid those products for at least three months until you could be sure that all the bugs had been worked out
and all production is back to meeting standards and specifications.

As an example of this phenomenon, you will perhaps recall that the first 1500 Saturns ever  produced were crushed and
scrapped. Something we might never have known about, except that some bright spark in the PR department at Spring Hill,
decided that boasting of this achievement was a sign of GMs newly found dedication to quality. Rubbing shoulders with the
engineers at Toyota in the Californian NUMMI plant probably brought on this quaffing of Kool Aid.

Not that Toyota is going to be completely immune to start up problems, even if they start up well, don't forget that all the
parts suppliers will also have gone through their own trauma in getting going again and defective parts may easily slip
through the net. Toyota installed a whole bunch of bad camshafts on the new Tundra truck at start up and had to (quietly)
recall several days worth of production.

This market is likely to become quite treacherous for the consumer and car buyer. Those that don't do some research
and make themselves aware of what is going on and who is having problems producing good cars may find themselves
buying up inferior production.

If we're lucky, Chrysler will be sold and those dormant factories will never start up again.
At least, until they're under the watchful eyes of new management that didn't get to be in charge just because they
had had some sort of experience at Home Depot.

December 26th 2008


On Christmas Eve, my wife and I went downtown to a restaurant and left our car in the hands of a parking attendant
on an outside lot.

Driving home later on, the car was almost impossible to drive over 80 Km/h because of steering wheel vibrations that
were rattling (what's left of) the muscles in my upper arms. Sure enough, when we got home, I checked the wheels with
a flashlight and found packed snow on the inside of the the rims.

The parking guy had obviously crammed the lot and used the snow banks where necessary.
And all this was included for the exorbitant sum of $15.

Fortunately, the ambient temperature rose to a rainy +5C the following day and the whole problem disappeared.

Then I remembered this blog, which I wrote at this time last year and is now worth repeating:

"With the early and voluminous snow fall we received - somewhat reminiscent of last year, some special winter problems
have come to light.

The first has to do with deep snow banks and parking therein.

It usually seems to take about three days for the city to clear away the ploughed snow banks and until they do, charging in
and out of them with your steed to park seems to be the only thing to do. With four wheel drive, or front wheel drive, vehicles
mostly fitted out with high tech snow tires, getting stuck is almost a thing of the past, but the snow that is packed up inside
the wheels by these manoeuvres can cause its' own set of problems.

So this year, more than ever, we're getting calls from our clients that go something like this:
"You mounted my snow tires for me about a month ago now I have major steering vibration at highway speed".

We use a Snap On wheel balancer and we road test every vehicle after we've done any repair work. In fifteen years of road
testing I have never once had to bring a car back into the shop to rebalance wheels - the machine is always dead accurate
and so are our technicians for that matter. So this vibration problem is almost always packed snow up inside the rims,
usually in the back where it cannot be seen.

When we balance tires and wheels, a two and a half ounce weight is the maximum we ever use, usually on less expensive tires.
Packed snow can weigh as much as eight ounces and can create really bad vibrations.

The solution? Spend some extra money and park in a warm underground garage somewhere. Alternatively, we can put the car
on a lift and blow the snow out with compressed air, but parking is much cheaper and an occasional defrosting is really good
for the whole car.

Another call we get is rubbing noises on turning and this is usually snow build up in the wheel wells.

Another reason for defrosting.

On the Canadian Winter Rally once, all competitors including us, got into trouble, because there had been a thaw during the day
and there were pools of water everywhere. But at night, the cars' surfaces were well below freezing and every time the cars went
through a puddle of ice water, the water would freeze in the wheel wells. Half way through the night, everyone was holed up in a
service station bay somewhere trying to thaw solid ice out from under the fenders, because the steering wheel simply wouldn't
turn any more. One unfortunate competitor, in real hurry, started chopping through the ice with an axe. In the process, he chopped
right trough his brake lines. Needless to say he was DNF right there and then.

At the time of the famous Montreal ice storm, we repaired a lot of windshield wiper linkages. Since then, there have been some
repairs done on client car wipers, but nothing unusually frequent.

This year as with last year,  we are seeing a lot of wiper problems.
The wiper motor can be heard turning but either one or both wiper arms fail to move.

The internal linkage has failed and it is quite a job to get in and replace it, not to mention that a linkage, which comes
complete can cost $200 or more. This usually happens because the engine has been turned off with wipers running and the
blades have frozen to the windshield. You forget to check that they are free when you return to your car and you turn on the ignition,
the wiper motor automatically starts up and either tears the rubber off the blades, or the mechanism breaks internally.

Some cars have massive tubular linkages and some have a piece of bent tin. The bent tin ones buckle and the massive tubular
ones last much longer but inevitably have miniature tie rods, or ball connections, at each end and it is these that fail and drop
down inside the cavity in front of the windshield.

This year is going to be another one where a few extra precautions have to be taken to ensure that our
driving is continuous and as trouble free as possible.. "
 

December 5th 2008



Years ago, I used to ski every weekend at a fairly remote ski hill in Vermont, known as Jay Peak.

To get in a full weekend of skiing entailed driving down on Friday night after dark and back on Sunday night
after a full day of skiing. The return journey could be a bit challenging since a long drive in a warm car after a full
day out in the cold could bring on the possibility of falling asleep.

Many of the country roads we had to travel along had deep ditches and every one in our ski house knew that a
survival kit was essential, if by chance you should fall asleep or hit a black ice patch and get stuck for several hours.
The news media often show scenes of people stuck off on the sides of autoroutes in a snow storm and their
chance of being rescued very quickly are next to none.

So, it's a good idea to keep a winter survival kit in your vehicle. Having essential supplies can provide some
comfort and safety for you and your passengers should you become stranded. Recommended items include:

Ice scraper and snowbrush.
Be sure to clear your car of all snow on all windows before venturing forth.

Shovel.
Stow a collapsible shovel inside the car. If you go into a ditch backwards you may not be able to retrieve it or even
open the trunk lid. NEVER stow anything heavy on the back shelf, it may become a decapitating flying missile in the
case of a heavy impact. 

Sand or other traction aid.
Unfortunately, this has to be stowed in the trunk, but the same caution applies as with the shovel.

Tow rope or chain.
If some good Samaritan comes along to help you, having a towing cable available can make all the difference to
extracting your car quickly.

Booster cables
Be careful how you use these cables, make sure you follow the instructions. Not properly used they can blow up
the computers in both cars.

Road flares or warning lights
You’re just over the brow of an icy hill, stuck halfway out into the road and anyone approaching too fast could
easily run into you. Warning flares are essential

Flashlight and batteries
Always useful, both for use inside and outside the car.

First aid kit
Shoveling and other urgent activities can sometimes lead to skinned knuckles or worse.

Fire extinguisher
This isn’t necessarily a winter related item, but it’s always useful to have available.

In the event that you actually get trapped inside your car, with nowhere to go, the most natural thing to do is to keep
the engine running to keep warm, but if your exhaust system is not perfect condition, any small leak of exhaust gas
can accumulate as carbon monoxide, a deadly gas that can put you to sleep forever.

So that some other long term survival items should include:

A small tool kit, including duct tape.

Extra clothing and footwear.

A thermal blanket. One for each occupant.

Non-perishable energy foods – e.g., chocolate or granola bars, juice, soup, bottled water and a couple of apples.

A candle, a small tin can and some matches in a damp proof container..
A large diameter candle, can actually keep the car and the windshield a lot warmer than you might think.
It also saves the battery since it will give plenty of light.

The radio should be used sparingly and as required.
   
In blizzard conditions, especially overnight, make sure one person stays awake, because help could take some
time to arrive. Maintain circulation by moving your feet, hands, and arms.

Road-Ready and Weather-Wise

    * Listen to the radio for road and weather updates and check conditions before leaving.
      The Weather Network is continuously updated with information.
    * Plan extra time to get to your destination and consider delaying your trip in bad weather.
    * Notify a friend or family member of your destination and anticipated arrival time.
    * Always exercise caution and drive according to conditions.
    * Watch for the flashing lights of snow and ice control vehicles. 
      When approaching them from behind, slow down, stay back and be patient.
      DO NOT PASS around or between them.

Since my skiing days, one item that is probably the most useful of all when rescue is required, is the cell phone.
Make sure it’s fully charged, or that a charger is stowed in the glove compartment.
This modern device was not available in my rallying and skiing days but is now a basic essential for those
who have become victims of winters’ icy grip.

November 28th 2008


The gargoyle.

The night driving season is upon us  and again it becomes obvious that the most under maintained system
on almost all cars is the lights.

First there's the gargoyles. One light or possibly two, coming straight at you. Width of vehicle - unknown.

Then there's the car that has both lights on, but one is shining straight up and the other one is inspecting
the front bumper.

Then there's the non-drivers who don't know that many cars with daylight running lights don't have any lights in the
rear. They are completely invisible from behind. Even though a lot of cars have no instrument lights either, until you
turn on the real thing. Goes to show you what I've long suspected, there's a whole bunch of non-drivers out there who
don't even look down at their instrument panel - as long as the cell phone is lit, who cares?

Then there's the car that has half its' parking lights out, or its' licence plate lights aren't lit, which is a a legal offence
and carries a two point penalty.

Of course blue xenon lights are the latest thing, they tell you that the guy has an expensive car, or has changed to
blue lights for effect. The real blue lights cost about $200 each, so the would be Walter Mittys are buying the cheap
stuff and pretending.

Nevertheless, unaimed blue lights are a menace. Even if they're properly aimed, I have news for Merc and Beemer owners:
they are absolutely useless in a snow storm. Turn them on and it feels as though you're charging headlong into a shower curtain.

Turn 'em off and use the fog lights.

Which brings up the non-drivers who insist on driving about on a clear star lit night with all bulbs blazing.
Fog lights are for fog, dammit, not to "impress" every other road user of your magnificence and affluence.

It's clear that many people run around on high beams, because one of their low beams has burned out and to some
extent I understand this.

Because changing light bulbs in a modern car is not easy.

Sometimes, the battery has to be removed and in one case I know of, the front bumper has to come off!.

So changing a light bulb today is nowhere near as easy as it used to be and people in the car repair business
have no choice but to charge the time it takes.

So please, one dark night, on a quiet side road, turn on all your lights, first low beam and then high beam, then take a walk
down the road 100 feet or so, and see whether your lights are aimed properly or are driving other motorists crazy.
Or, sometimes, it's possible to check your head lights in the store window at a shopping mall.

Many cars today have a really useful device under the hood that looks something like a spirit level and with a screwdriver
it's possible to set your high and low beams very accurately.

Then take a walk round and see if all the other lights are lit. Have someone push your brake pedal to see if both brake
lights are working. Have them operate the flashers to make sure other motorists know you're actually about to turn
across their path.  

Visibility at night or in poor conditions is vital. The fact that you can see other cars doesn't mean they can see you.
Take a half hour as soon as you possibly can and check out all your lights - please!

 

November 14th 2008

Every now and again, we run into a couple of problems on the shop floor that have us flummoxed for a while
and our experiences can sometimes be of value to our faithful readership.

Problem number one involved a Dodge caravan that could not be easily filled with gas. It took ten minutes to get 10
litres into it because the back pressure on the pump nozzle just kept cutting off the gas pump at the station.
The van came to us and in reaction to the problems we have seen frequently before with filler pipes,
we ordered a new filler pipe ahead of time.

But the old filler pipe was not rusted through and although it was not much bigger in size than a gas pump nozzle, it was
not blocked with rusted metal or any other obstruction such as a child's' toy, which we have seen before.

At the bottom of the pipe, however and incorporated into the tank, is a non return valve that swings shut under gas pressure.
So we wired this valve open, replaced the filler pipe and off I went t to the gas station try filling the tank.  

The result was exactly the same: very very slow filling.

Now the problem is that  as with a lot of modern vehicles, the tank is plastic and all the attachments are glued into place
and cannot be removed and as is typical of this type of tank, a replacement is worth $700 or so. Collectively, we figured
out that somehow, gas couldn't get into this tank, because air couldn't get out. So the next move was disconnect a small
hose on the top of the tank that goes to the  vapour canister in the engine compartment. This canister is a California thing.
It collects vapour from the tank, liquefies it and puts it back into the engine.

Which is why we advise to never, never force fill a fuel tank and flood this canister. The canister is worth another $400!

However, removing the canister hose at the tank did allow me to put gas in the tank at a fairly normal rate. Ergo, the tank
was somehow hermetically sealing itself when the owner tried to fill it.  Looking for less expensive solutions, we then
disconnected the hose at the canister end, but as we sort of expected, that put the check engine light on, not good enough.

So then we began to dig a little deeper and we found out that when you fill your gas tank, there is a function in the computer
that automatically seals the tank hermetically to check for air leaks and to ensure that the tank is vapour sealed.

On this particular truck, this quite elaborate computer controlled relief valve would not open and therefore, air could not
escape from the tank. Replacement of this valve solved the problem, but it still cost more than $500 to overcome what is
undoubtedly a California overkill situation that borders on the ridiculous.

Problem number two involves the engine oil filter on a MINI. For some reason a lot of manufacturers have reverted to
using cartridge filters on their cars. Why the old spin off design isn't good enough, I don't know, but this cartridge filter
requires us to remove a filter housing, change cartridges and rebolt into place.

Compared with a spin on filter, this is a time consuming operation and if you've lately been wondering why oil changes
are getting to be more expensive, this cartridge idea is one of the reasons. On the MINI, apparently, the filter housing is
almost impossible to remove. We tried with a three foot torque wrench and couldn't budge the thing. The internet is rife
with comments from MINI owners complaining about his problem and in our case, the owner decided to return to the
dealer to see what they were going to do.

Fortunately, the car had fresh top quality synthetic oil installed by us and the owners' manual indicated that the filter really
wasn't in need of change anyway. next time around, the owner will go to the dealer for his oil change and will let us know
how they get it off.

Obviously, if THEY break the filter housing, which they may do, than they'll have another one in stock and will have to
replace it at their expense.

Good luck, guys! Stupid car design is alive and well.


November 1st 2008

Unfortunately, the automotive battery is one of many highly abused, seldom maintained, but very important parts
on the modern automobile. Usually no attention is paid to the battery unless it is suspected of causing a problem.
The most common problem encountered with batteries is low voltage or low charge.

Here's a few do's and don'ts to help your battery maintain its peak performance and to avoid
having a low charge battery:

  Do's
  --  Whenever working around batteries, make sure to wear proper eye, hand,
      and clothing protection.
  --  Check the terminals where the battery cables connect to be sure they
      are tight and free of corrosion.  If corrosion is present, get a
      qualified technician to clean the terminals.
  --  Make sure the battery is firmly secured to its mounting bracket.  An
      unsecured battery that shifts around can become damaged, and possibly
      cause short circuits.
  --  In batteries other than those that are "maintenance free,"
      periodically check the fluid level.  If the fluid is low, add only
      distilled water to top it off.  If no fluid is detectable, you may
      want to replace the battery rather than fill it, as batteries in this
      condition will usually fail very soon.
  --  Always remember to keep your battery case clean.  Dirt conducts
      electricity, which can discharge the battery.  Battery cases can be
      cleaned with a solution of baking soda dissolved in warm water.  Wet
      the case and agitate with a nylon bristle brush.  Rinse well with
      plain water.
  --  Batteries come in many different sizes.  When replacing a car battery,
      make sure you choose the right size for your vehicle.  When it comes
      to car batteries, bigger is not always better.

  Don'ts
  X   If you suspect that a battery is frozen, do not charge it, as it may
      explode!  One visual sign that a battery has frozen is that the sides
      are bowed out.  This condition is not repairable, and the battery will
      need to be replaced by a professional as soon as possible.
  X   If you need to charge your battery yourself, switch the charger to a
      low-charge setting.  Most chargers have this feature but if not, have
      a professional charge the battery.
  X   Don't charge a dead battery with a car's alternator.  An alternator is
      not designed to function as a charger, and it may be damaged or have a
      shortened life as a result.

New cars perform vastly better than vehicles built only a couple decades ago. A major factor in this has been the
advancement of electronics and their incorporation into almost every automobile system.

One drawback to this advancement though, has been the extra load placed on the automobile battery.

Recently, a client was out of town for a while, consequently, his car hadn't moved for several days, but when he went to start it,
the battery was dead. It needed a boost.

The car doors had been closed, the stereo off, and the lights were off so they were not the culprit.
My client asked me if a 12-volt, 1 amp, trickle charger would be helpful to prevent the electronics from draining the battery
again when the vehicle is in storage or stopped for days at a time. He was correct in thinking a trickle charger would prevent
the battery from going dead, but this should only be necessary for those vehicles that sit for months at a time.

Modern electronics can cause the battery to go dead faster than on newish vehicles. Each electronic device on the vehicle
uses some power even though everything may be turned off. On-board computers are the biggest users of the electricity.
Fuel injection computers, climate control computers, keyless entry modules, lighting computers, digital radios, clocks,
memory seats, and trip computers all have memories in them, with many of them programmed by the driver.
The drain on the battery to keep these computers operational can kill the battery over time.

Some computers "go to sleep", an operational mode where they are using almost no electrical power. They monitor input signals
and data, and if there is a signal that requires them to wake up, they do. Otherwise, the computers just stay in low power mode.
A computer that stays "awake" all the time however, can drain a battery.

Other electronic devices also put a drain on the battery. Alternators, voltage regulators, and ignition systems use electricity
even when not operating. Diodes, one-way electrical gates located inside these devices, are supposed to prevent the flow
of electricity through these parts when the systems are turned off but diodes can fail and cause a larger flow of electricity.
Fortunately, this is rare.

Testing current flow from the battery has changed along with the automotive electronics. It used to be sufficient to place
a test light between the battery post and the disconnected battery cable. If the test light came on, there was a battery drain
on that vehicle. That test no longer is valid for smaller computer drains. The only correct method of testing for a battery drain
is to use an ammeter connected between the battery post and the disconnected cable.

The ammeter measures the actual current flowing from the battery into the electronics systems. A typical engine computer will
use between five and eight milliamps (thousandths of an amp) to keep the memories working.

Most vehicles should show a maximum reading of 25 to 28 milliamps or less when the test is performed, however a few luxury
cars loaded with all the toys may be a little higher. In comparison, a trunk light uses about 900 milliamps or .9 amps and would
drain the battery overnight.

If the measured current flow is too high, then fuses are disconnected one at a time until the faulty circuit or module is identified.
Some vehicles will require a waiting period of up to 1/2 hour before an accurate measurement can be taken.
During this time the computers are "awake" and use more power. After sitting for several minutes without any switches being
operated the computers go back into "sleep mode".

Finally, other factors can cause a battery to go dead faster than normal. Warm temperatures cause the battery chemical reactions
to occur faster. This causes the battery to go dead at a faster rate. Dirt or dust on top of the battery and high humidity levels
also cause a problem. The electricity leaks through the damp dirt directly from one battery post to the other causing the battery
to discharge. Keeping a battery clean, cool and dry will ensure it retains its charge longer. 

Energy is dangerous in all forms when it is compressed.

Sony has found this out as its lap top batteries, minute in size and capable of operating times of up to four hours,
they sometimes set themselves on fire.

Hybrid cars have been known to burn themselves down to the ground and when an accident occurs, rescue crews and firemen
approach the tremendous energy stored in hybrid batteries with great caution, knowing how much potential damage they can
represent.

A stick of dynamite, a gallon of gasoline, a tank of liquefied natural gas and/or hydrogen, all these compressed forms of energy
can bite back very hard if they are suddenly released.

Years ago, as the plant engineer for a large corporation, I had responsibility for both fire protection and shipping and receiving.

The local fire department invited me to a demonstration. It seemed that they were being called to more and more truck fires and the
cause had been hard to find.

However, it seems that most trucks at that time, had their high powered batteries stored under the drivers seat, with a cover on top.
Over time, the cover got misplaced and the springs in the seat sagged until they shorted out the battery.

Maybe that's where the idea of heated seats started out, but the ensuing blaze was not funny in the least.

The demonstration I observed consisted of throwing an old drivers' seat onto the top of a battery and retiring.

Within seconds, the wire in the seat glowed bright red and within a minute or so, the seat was turned into ashes.

So this winter, a good many of you will probably get involved in the jump starting of another vehicle.

I have an article on my website  that chronicles the woes of one poor owner and re-emphasises the dangers of treating
your battery with the contempt it doesn't deserve. And if you want to know more about the  dangers of lithium/ion batteries,
as installed in most hybrid cars,  click here.

October 24th 2008


Even the best can get it wrong...........

With wintry weather a real possibility for those travelling long distances this winter, I thought I'd share some safe
winter driving tips.

Those of us in the Great White North are probably better prepared for snow conditions, but the chance of snow and
slush in the South, or on the way down to Florida, can only mean a lot more chances of accidents and mishaps.

Time:
Give yourself plenty of extra time for getting to your destination. Speed limits are for perfect, dry conditions.
On winter's icy roadways, even half the speed limit may be excessive.
Prod the brakes a few times, when no one is following you, to test for tire traction - you may be surprised.

Vision:
Take the time to clear all windows of snow, ice or moisture before starting out.
Also clear any snow off the hood and the roof - it comes loose when driving.

Lights:
Even though you can see, drive with low-beam headlights in snow, fog or just winter murk.
Those bloody awful blue lights are horrible in blowing snow conditions.
Keep all lenses free of dirt by wiping them periodically. Dirty headlights can cut visibility by 50 percent or more.
Don't forget the directional lights, tail lights and parking lights.

Tires:
Be sure your tires have adequate tread for traction in snow and to reduce the risk of hydroplaning in rain or
puddles on the road. You may hear that putting extra weight in the trunk or truck bed gives better traction.
Traction might be helped a little but this is at  the expense of steering control and longer stopping distances.
Likewise, you may hear that reducing tire pressure is another way of increasing traction. Reducing air pressure
will not give you more traction and your tires will be seriously under inflated, affecting steering.
Keep in mind that every time the outside temperature drops 10 degrees, the tire air pressure goes down
about one pound per square inch.
Remember too that under inflated tires are the major cause of tire failure.

Ice/Freezing Rain:
At 30F (0C) degrees ice is twice as slippery as it is at 0 (-15C) degrees. It also forms first and lasts longer
on bridges and in the shade. If you hit an unexpected patch, don't try to brake, accelerate or downshift.
Ease up on your accelerator, declutch a manual transmission and let your vehicle "roll" through the slippery area.
When freezing rain is occurring resulting in icing conditions, pull over to the side of the road until the
road has been treated with sand and salt or slow down to what may seem like a crawl -  until you have to brake.

Skidding:
If you go into a skid, act quickly by holding your speed steady. Keep your foot off the brake and steer in the
direction the rear of the vehicle is skidding.
In other words, if the rear of your vehicle slides right, turn right. If goes left, turn left.
Hold the steering wheel loosely and don't make large turns. Use a light touch to correct the skid.

Braking:
Your owners' manual will usually recommend the braking technique most suitable for your car.
For front and rear wheel drive vehicles with disc or drum brakes the National Safety council recommends the
following procedure:
Squeeze your brakes with a slow, steady pressure until just before they lock. When you feel them start to lock, ease
off until your wheels are rolling; then squeeze again.
If you have anti-lock brakes, push hard on the pedal and hold it that way.

Following Distance:
Maintain at least three times the normal following distance on snow or ice.
If you are being followed too closely, maintain an extra distance behind the vehicle ahead so that you can slow down
or brake gradually. Be prepared to adjust speed and/or stop to avoid colliding with the vehicle in front of you.
Plan ahead when approaching intersections so that braking can be done smoothly.

Stay on the Beaten Path:
Stay in line when travelling to or from a snow zone. Don't blaze your own trail, especially going downhill
- you'll only manage to create a worse situation. You could block off the only open space in which emergency
snow vehicles can travel.

Walking on Ice or Snow:
After being in a warm vehicle, the soles of shoes or boots are warm enough to melt snow or ice, creating a
film of water between the sole and the snow or ice surface. Be especially cautious for the first five minutes
after leaving the vehicle. When walking on snow or ice, use short steps and keep your hands out of your pockets.
These factors will help you maintain your balance.
If you do fall, tuck your arms close to your body and roll with the fall.

Stay Clear of Ploughs and Sanders:
Watch out for these vehicles as you round corners, curbs, etc. They do not travel at a high speed; therefore,
you'll tend to come up on them quickly. Slow down. Ploughs and sanders will pull over periodically to let traffic pass.
It's risky to pass on the left of a snow plough because of flying snow.
Never pass on the right. Flying rocks can damage your car if you pass a sander.
If it's also spreading rock salt, it can ruin your paint job.
The best advice is to stay three car lengths behind ploughs and sanders and be patient.

October 17th 2008.

 
Paradise for car storage - but expensive.

Conveniently, The Chlorine molecule in salt and the Hydrogen molecule in water just love one another.

Unfortunately, those two molecules combine to form HCl, otherwise known as dilute hydrochloric acid.
Dilute acids are very often more corrosive and damaging than concentrated acids.

Which is why those of us in the Great White North who want to preserve our cars, have no choice but to
store them for the winter.

Or maybe we could all move to New Zealand, for example, where the temperature remains moderate all year round
and 25 year old cars in good condition are quite common and still in use.

It's cheaper, by far, to buy a winter beater and keep the good ride locked away. Even aluminum is not immune to HCl
corrosion and in consequence, those expensive wheels should be stored lying flat in favour of mounting steel wheels
and snow tires, if you decide not to store the whole car. For a car such as mine, the storage procedure is quite simple:

1. An oil change, unless the high priced synthetic is comparatively new.

2. A good waxing and cleaning inside and out.

3. Half a tank of gas with fuel stabiliser added. Run the engine until the stabilizer has reached the injectors, which may take
about one minute or so. Five minutes is more than enough. Since older classic cars run very well on regular gas, the half tank
of gas allows me to run down the road in the springtime and top up with high test until that whole tank of fuel is gone, then I can go
back to using regular fuel. If your car uses high test anyway, it's not a good idea to have too much fuel in the tank.

4. Inflate the tires to a safe but higher than normal pressure. In my case, I usually go up to 38 psi. Do not put the car on blocks,
which exposes the shock absorber pistons to moisture and is just not worth the trouble.

5. Disconnect the negative battery terminal and write a note to yourself in next years' calendar to charge the battery for about
four hours on the first of each month.

And that's it. Do NOT be tempted to start the engine frequently for a few minutes. This is a really bad practice.

In the springtime, I pull the fuse for the fuel pump and crank the engine over until some slight amount of oil pressure starts to show
on the gauge. Since I use 5w40 synthetic AGIP, this does not take long. I then put the fuse back and hey, presto the engine fires well.

I haven't had any problems with this method of storage in the ten years I've been doing it.

But there is a new wrinkle around that makes some of the advice I just gave you a very bad idea.

In the case of late model cars such as BMWs with I-drive or Mercedes with the Comand system, or any car with a lot of electronic
controls such as stability systems, never, ever disconnect the battery, or allow it to run flat. If you do, the car will need a full day of
reprogramming at the dealership and it will have to be towed there!!

Equally, if you have a radio that  is theft protected and goes into "fault" mode if the power is disconnected, make SURE that you
have the restart code for your particular unit.

To avoid all these dramas with computer programming, I recommend the use of a 1 amp trickle charger, connected permanently
to the battery. If your storage area has no mains power, then you have no choice but to start the car every  two weeks or so and
let it run for about twenty minutes.

Remember, snow is not harmful to your car, but salt is, so stay in your driveway or somewhere else where salt slush is not in
evidence.

October 10th 2008



Some intelligent preparation can make winter driving much more comfortable.

For instance, you really want to be sure that  your existing wiper blades clean the windshield well, and allow you to
see clearly in wet weather.
Even when there's no active precipitation, salt spray and water from melting snow and slush or trucks and buses
is often thrown up onto your windshield.

The new one piece wipers that have no “bridge” structure work very well in all seasons.

If your wipers are stuck to the windshield in a morning, turn off the engine and free them manually before
you burn out your wiper motor.

Keep your tank reasonably full in the winter, because if you do get stuck or stranded, the engine will be your only
source of heat.

And you don't want to have to worry about conserving gasoline, you just want to stay warm. You can run the engine
almost indefinitely at idle to stay warm. However, if you have an older car, crack open the window a bit.
Old cars are more likely to suffer from exhaust leaks.

Do not fill your tank on your way home. Gasoline in winter is quite cold and if you then park in a warm garage, the fuel will
expand and leak out onto the garage floor.

Not only is this dangerous for fire hazard, but the smell is harder to get rid of than a skunk attack.

  On a bad day, you can easily go through half a gallon or more of windshield washer fluid trying to keep your windshield clear.
For that reason, it's also a good idea to keep some extra fluid in the trunk in case you run out.
And make sure you get the good stuff. 
Even though it may say "Good to Minus 30," some of these cheaper fluids start to freeze around minus ten degree mark!

Even if you buy the good stuff, if you live in a very cold area, you also may need to supplement your windshield washer fluid
with some extra alcohol. A small bottle of gas line anti freeze – which is nothing more than ethanol, will do the trick.

If you have a rear-wheel-drive vehicle, such as a two wheel drive pick up truck, that needs help in the snow, you can put a
few bags of sand over the rear axle. It can always be used for traction, by shovelling it out and spreading it around the drive
wheels if necessary. A front wheel drive car, with the whole weight of the engine and transmission over the drive wheels
needs no other aids in getting power to the ground.

Never put any bags of sand inside your car's passenger compartment. In an accident, they can become projectiles.

If you live anywhere between Fargo, Chicago and Montreal, consider adding a block heater to your engine.
That's a small electric engine heater, rather an electric kettle element that plugs in at night. It's really a good idea for diesel
engines in frigid climates. But it can be used on regular gasoline engines, too. And for less than a hundred dollars, you can
be virtually guaranteed that your car will start. A side benefit is that you'll have almost instant heat in the morning.
If the cost of house power is a problem for you, then a special, heavy duty cable with a built in timer can be purchased.
Four hours of continuous charging is usually as good as plugging it in for the whole night.

A rear defroster that works is almost essential these days. Sometimes certain lines of the defrost system embedded in
the rear glass have failed. This problem can be over come, using a special conductive paint to repair the broken elements.
If the connectors have come away from the glass at each end, the repair can be much more difficult, sometimes impossible.
In which case, reverting to the old practice of connecting up a small fan on the rear shelf, to blow air on the rear window,
is the only other way out.

Not good, but better than nothing.



By popular demand and for the next few weeks, we're going to be concentrating on winter preparation for you and your car.
Because if your ride fails during the summer it’s really not too traumatic.

Apart from the inconvenience and possible expense, that is.

If you happen to be reasonably close to home, then calling a taxi and a tow truck is no big deal.

But breaking down when it's minus fourty degrees outside, now that's a different story, especially since the chance of either a
taxi or a tow truck being available quickly is very much more problematic.

Since faulty hoses, belts, water pumps, spark plug wires, and distributor caps can leave you stranded in the winter,
it's better to have them all checked right now.

It's better than spending far more money after you've been freezing to death in your stalled car for three hours.

Your garage should check the battery, charging system, and belts. Your battery can leave you stranded simply because it's
old and tired. Or it could leave you stranded because your charging system isn't working well, and the battery isn't getting
charged properly.

If you find that you need a new battery, get the biggest, highest powered battery that will fit in your car.
Remember the battery that started your car easily in the summer may not have enough strength to do it in winter.
In winter, the engine is harder to start, because engine oil, even synthetic engine oil, doesn’t flow so easily.
And secondly, batteries lose power as the temperature drops.
So not only do you need more power to start the engine in winter, you actually get less power from the same battery.

Make certain the antifreeze will protect your car at the winter temperatures you'll experience.
You'll need a 50-50 mix of coolant to water. Don’t be tempted to use 100% anti freeze.
The 50-50 mix has a lower freezing point and a higher boiling point than the full strength stuff.

You can check the freeze rating of your cars’ coolant yourself with a little device that you can buy in any auto parts store for
a few dollars. Having good coolant in your engine is very important because if the coolant freezes it will expand and crack
the engine block. And that means goodbye to next years’ vacation.

The other main function of antifreeze is to keep your cooling system from rusting. The rust inhibitors in antifreeze break down
over time and need to be renewed. So change your engine's coolant every 3 years or 40,000 miles. Make sure the flushing is
done with a recycling machine so that every nook and cranny of your engine and the heater core have been cleaned out.

If you're driving a General Motors car that uses their Dexcool coolant, pay extra attention to flushing your cooling system on a
regular basis. Some formulations of Dexcool will form sludge after mixing with chlorine, clogging passages and generally
wreaking havoc on engines. Plus, if you have a low coolant level you’ll have no heat!

While many people think of overheating as a summer problem, cars can overheat in winter, too, if they run out of coolant.

And overheating can cause expensive engine damage whenever it happens. If you should be unfortunate enough to see
large clouds of "steam" blowing out from under your hood, stop right there. Pull off as soon as possible and don't be tempted
to drive to the next exit. The cost of trying to drive after an engine overheats in winter can easily exceed $4000.