Category: Automotive

First, you will need to gather supplies for this project. Most of these items you may already have in your home.

Safety glasses or goggles

Box of baking soda

Adjustable pliers with insulated handles

Screwdrivers with insulated handles

A small, stiff-bristled brush (an old toothbrush will work just fine!)

Assorted small open-end and box wrenches

Small metal or plastic scraper

Special battery tools, including a cable puller and cable

terminal cleaning brushes

A turkey baster or small funnel

All-purpose household cleaner in a spray bottle

Sponges or clean cloths

A source of ample clean water such as a garden hose or a large

bucket and sponge

Rubber gloves for protecting your hands

There are a few safety tips to keep in mind when getting ready to clean the battery. First of all, you safety glasses and gloves must be worn to protect your eyes and skin from sulfuric acid that can linger in the corrosion deposits. Also, this material can eat away at your car’s paint, so keep it away from that as well.

Because the amount of dirt and corrosion on batteries may differ from one another, battery cleaning will vary, so some of the steps below may or may not need to be performed. Sometimes, to thoroughly remove severe corrosion and dirt, you may even need to remove the battery from the vehicle.

First, scrape off any white or greenish corrosion deposits with the stiff-bristled brush or small metal or plastic scraper. Next, use the solution of baking soda mixed with water, approximately one heaping tablespoon to each pint of water. Carefully apply it to the outside of the battery and its cable connections with the turkey baster or small funnel. Then, you can use your brush to work the baking soda solution into the heavily corroded areas. If you find that the cable clamps or terminals are badly corroded at the battery, you can disconnect them for easier cleaning. For this, you may need to use pliers, assorted wrenches and a small battery cable puller to disconnect them. You should disconnect the negative first, followed by the positive.

Then, use your battery cable scrapers or brush to remove the corrosion from the terminals, battery posts and hold down clamps and brackets. Flush these parts with your baking soda solution to rid them of any trace of corrosion. After this, wash the outside of the battery, the cable ends and the hold down parts with a liquid cleaner in a spray bottle. After that, use a sponge or rag to get off any remaining dirt or grease. After everything is clean, dry off the battery and all its parts with a dry rag or cloth.

The final step is just reinstalling any part that was removed and tightening everything so it is secure. Reconnect the battery, positive cable first. You’re done! You’re battery is now safe and clean.

Chip Repair

A chip, or more commonly called ding, is a small break caused by object impact from stones and projectiles. The break can be structurally classified as bullseye, star break, and combination. Most other structural breaks are derivations of these three basic types.

In order to properly fix chips, several steps must be followed to ensure the best repair. Beginning with preparation, the technician cleans the surface of the damaged area of loose glass shards. Then the center of the impact point is opened up through drilling to facilitate resin injection. Depending on the type of break, the chip may be further “tapped” to create a reservoir in the glass through which resin can flow easier into harder-to-reach spots.

Now that the chip surface has been prepared, the technician aligns the injector head to the chip entry point, first vacuuming the air out of the break and then following through with resin injection. When the chip has filled, under a curing light, the resin in the chip begins to solidify, bonding the cracked windshield together. The remaining steps involve curing additional layers of resin onto the chip impact point to ensure a smooth surface and polishing to protect the resin from chemicals in the air and wiper washers.

Prelude to Crack Repair

Crack repair deserves a little more attention. Before you consider a crack repair, please ask yourself the following questions:

What type of crack is it?
How long has it been there?
Where is the crack?
What are you trying to achieve with a crack repair?

If the crack is a single long crack (one impact point, one crack) and under 24 inches, a crack repair is feasible over a windshield replacement. If there are multiple single long cracks in different locations, then you also need ask yourself what you want from the repair. If the crack has many legs (one impact point, multiple cracks) then you should eliminate repair from your considerations and go directly to replacement. There has been too much structural distortion to properly repair that. Lastly, if the crack is a stress crack, meaning that it developed without an external break, then either your windshield is defective or your car frame has somehow warped that an abnormal stress pattern is exerted on the windshield.

Next, after a rigorous process of elimination and you determined that your crack belongs to those fixable single long cracks, you should also know how long the crack has been there. Cracks one month old are repairable. Over that you should consult a repair technician. Factors such as the number of car washes, types of car washes, driving environment and overnight parking locations will affect the cleanliness of your crack.

The answer to the next question is basically a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to repair.

Q: “Where is the crack?” (Should I repair the windshield?)
A: “Over the driver’s primary viewing area.” (No.)
A: “Somewhere else.” (Yes.)

Lastly if you want to have a perfectly transparent windshield, you should opt for replacement. Repair will improve it cosmetically but sometimes and at some angles you will be able to see a thin line and a little bit of visual distortion, but not enough to affect your driving ability. I recommend you to get a replacement if you have multiple single long cracks, unless you care less about seeing visual blemishes than paying top dollars for a good replacement.

Crack Repair

Now that we have got through the administrative material, let’s get to the point.

Crack repair begins with creating a tip for the crack. The tip serves as an end point for the crack; in other words, you can imagine the tip as a heavy weight anchor that the crack is tied to. Filling the tip in separately, the technician then proceeds to inject resin into the crack starting from its impact point. Then slowly and methodically the technician moves the injector along the crack path and filling those spaces gradually until reaching the vicinity of the tip. After resin has finished filling, the technician cures the resin.

Resin

One very important element of repair is the resin. Resin viscosity rating correlates to its strength. For chip repairs, the resin viscosity is lower than the resin viscosity used in crack repairs. The reason being that resin used for chip repairs need to be versatile to go into nooks-and-crannies and less for strength, since the structural damage is very small. For cracks, there are no small spaces to wedge into and it is very important to have stronger resin to fully bond the crack together.

Meanwhile, a young woman is being enslaved to do her step sisters chores. She is noble, too, and shouldn’t be working this way. She wants to go to the yearly function that takes place in the castle upon the hill. The Toyo guardians drift around the corner and give the noble girl beautiful white shoes that will surely not break. Their magic also gives her a lovely purple ball gown that will make her the most beautiful lady at the dance.

They drift around the wealthier part of town and scare all the nobles because they treat the less advantaged badly. In this part of town, they have benefits such as sunlight and sanitation.

Turning into a darker part of town they see a girl that is freezing from the cold and darkness. Her only request to people is to light her candle so that her family can be warm. Toyo speeds past her fast enough to light her candle. She smiles, thankful that someone has provided her with fire.

The young woman is on her way to the castle in a beautiful carriage pulled along by a white horse. The white horse is a noble steed that is taking her to a happy future. She walks up the marble staircase with her dress flowing gracefully behind her. She meets the prince at the top of the staircase. The prince dances with her and spins her around; showing the young woman that she is the only one for him.

An auto battery is built up of six cells, each containing stacked positive and negative lead plates. These are divided and separated by insulators and immersed in an electrolyte, a liquid blend of sulfuric acid and water. However, some batteries, use a gel instead of the electrolyte. This is considered to be safer and because you do not have to refill it with electrolyte, it has been labelled “maintenance-free”. Each cell generates or more correctly put, stores 2.1 volts for a total of 12.6 volts.

Between the electrolyte and the lead plates, a chemical reaction is created. This produces dangerous, explosive gases that vent through the battery cover vents. Because of this, caution should be taken when you charge or jump start a low battery. The same caution should also be taken every time you are working under the hood of your vehicle. It is important to provide as good ventilation as possible in the battery, so always keep it clean. All batteries, even those using gel instead of electrolyte lose charging capacity as the time passes. The reason for this is that the chemical breakdown of the connections inevitably takes place leading to the deterioration of the plates and loss of the electrolyte.
When your vehicle has start up or charging problems, the vehicle troubleshooting procedure should start with a test of the battery. You do that with a visual check followed by a voltage test. If the battery is ok, other components of the electrical system is probably the reason, but battery problems are by far the most likely reason.

A good thing with battery checking and trouble shooting is that you need very little technical equipment. All you need is a good, old Digital Volt Ohm Meter and a charger for the battery.
Each auto battery manufacturer uses a certain color in the battery ‘eye’ which tells whether a charge is needed. This is a fast and easy way to alert you for re-charging. Check out your battery manufacturer’s specification of the ‘eye’ and everything associated with it.

If you need to replace your auto battery, always test it before you replace it. Also test the entire electrical system of your car. The reason for your battery problem might be a weak alternator or a drain on the system and if this is the case it won’t take many weeks before your have to replace the new one as well. What seems to be a battery problem is not always caused by the battery itself. You can acquire more information about how to repair your car’s electrical system on the web.

An inboard motor is a car engine. It is a fixed propulsion system; an individual is driving a drive system that works via a gearbox with external features. An outboard engine is one that is directly connected to the drive system.

Mercruiser is the major player in the gas engine business. Mercruiser inboards are popular because of their ease of use and ease to maintain. These inboards offer a range of power and are used both in cars and boats. A mercruiser engine works the same way a car engine does. The inboard engine is a water-cooled, separate lubrication system, and cylinder formation.

Mercruiser engines for the most part are very reliable, but when it comes to car engines, or other parts for that matter, something can and will usually go wrong. Things eventually break down and stop working. Even though you might be a genuine car lover and aficionado that does not necessarily mean that you are a car mechanic. Engines and that parts that compose it, can be very complicated. Replacing many of these parts can be an issue and a headache; so many times it is important to take the car to a profession to deal with it.

The first thing you should do, before searching on your own for a mechanic is to take a close look at your owner’s manual. The manual many times will be able to offer you tips and advice on maintenance, and give you enough information to make an informed decision. Many times the manual will have numbers of recommended places that will be able to service your car, and it since it is in the manual they should be reliable places.

There are a couple of things that you may want to try first, before taking the car into the shop for repair. If your engine does not turn over it could be due to a dead battery. Check the battery and make sure that it is fully charged. If you turn the ignition key and it does not activate, it probably means that you are getting no voltage to the dash and or to the key switch. This implies that you might have a blown ignition fuse, a dislodged circuit breaker, a loose or damaged harness plug. You may want to unplug it and then put it back in. This might do the trick. Your engine also has a red circuit breaker button, push the button, you have to really push it hard, the breaker can sometimes pop out of the harness if it is overloaded, and doing this can resolve the problem with this part. If this does not work, then unfortunately, you are probably looking at a bigger issue and will need to take the car into the shop for repair.

General purpose

The most common type of cloth is created with a standard terry cloth weave that is a combination of 80% polyester and 20% polyamide. This is a great all-purpose option and useful for wiping leather, plastic, vinyl, glass and paint. Also, it helps to have a relatively good thickness for this cloth.

Glass and polishing

The preferred cloth for a lot of glass cleaning and polishing work is certain to be 100% lint free. It will have short naps compared to the general cloth, but must still offer sufficient scrubbing power. This cloth must be able to remove streaks or other marks left by water. Also, a microfiber cloth with no edge is a great choice because it will minimize the risk of scratching a delicate surface.

Drying

The preferred options for drying include the microfiber cloths with a waffle or terry cloth weave. Cloths with a very short terry loop are practical for drying. It is best to avoid cloths with a plush, heavy nap because it will be difficult to wring out in the event of getting wet. The waffle and terry cloth are both great at absorbing water, but the waffle pattern is just a little more effective at holding water longer to limit the number of times it becomes necessary to wring the cloth out.

Cleaning

The microfiber options for cleaning have a very course and tight nap with strands that aren’t split. This type of cloth isn’t intended to give the most reliable option when it comes to soaking up water. It should be used for basic janitorial work and not the fine car detailing steps. A few of the good options include the polishing and waffle weave cloths for this work.

– Wait 2-5 days before rolling down your windows (depending on weather).
– If you see small water bubbles form, don’t touch them. They’ll go away soon.
– Wait 1 week before you wash the inside of the windows.
– Use glass cleaners that don’t use ammonia. Look for glass cleaners that say “Tint Safe” on the label.
– Use a clean microfiber towel to clean the glass for the best results.
– Your film should achieve full clarity within 30 days.
– Be careful with your seat belt. If you fling your seat belt off, it could hit the window and damage the film.
– Be careful with jewelry as well. Sometimes jewelry with sharp edges like rings and watches can scratch the film if you rest your arm near the window.

Window films are applied with a solution that keeps the film from sticking to the glass until needed. Even though we use a squeegee to get as much water out as possible, some water is left behind. You can see this as streaking that is most easily seen from the outside. Because that water has to dry out for the film to completely stick to the window, you should wait anywhere from 2-5 days before you roll down your windows, depending on the weather (the sunnier, the better). Within those few days you may also notice some water bubbles forming. Those are normal. This means that the film is starting to grab the glass and is beginning to push out the water. Don’t touch these bubbles. They’ll go away on their own. The first few days are the most important time to take care of window tint to make it last as long as possible.

In the next week you’ll also want to wait to wash your windows. This isn’t completely necessary, but we recommend waiting to keep the film in place. Some people tend to scrub the windows hard, and if the right amount of pressure is applied in the right areas you could cause the film to peel and bunch up. After that week, when you do wash the windows, be sure to use a cleaner that is “Tint Safe.” These cleaners don’t use ammonia, which can be very harmful to your film. After 30 days your window tint should have achieved full clarity and will now last a long time!

It’s very easy to take care of window tint. The most important times are within the first week of getting your windows tinted. Those first few days are crucial to making sure your film outlasts your vehicle. Once you get past those days, it’s smooth cruising in style and safety.

The new consumer is getting all kinds of fancy coffee drinks with all kinds of ingredients and they are much tougher to clean. 60% of all stains in the cars are coffee stains of some type. If a carpet has a coffee stain, pure black coffee. Then here is what to do. Also works for Soda (most). Moisten the area with Folex or some spot remover wipe with warm moist rag and you are completed. If not perfect try this step a few times and then dry out the mat or area where stain was. Use a carpet brush to re-align the carpet fabric the proper direction. Now through in some foam, or milk, half and half or any possible combination and your job is a little more complex. And those Mocha frappachinos with whip cream and caramel sprinkled on top. Well now you have the stain from Hell. If there were a hell, for a detailer it would be a lifetime of cleaning up those spills from mini-vans.

For these types of spills here is what you do. Scrape any total excess build up with a plastic razor blade. Yuk, Then use Folex or your favorite spot remover product. We like Folex available at any janitorial store, great stuff and 20 years of good service to our team. Then if you are still frustrated and challenged try a foam type cleaner like spray n’ wash and wipe. Then you will be left with a horrible and stubborn white ring for the Latte Scenario. Use a carpet brush on the carpet and a netted wax pad on fabric seats. Saddle Soap then Orange Bottled Lexol or try Leatherique Product on Leather seats;

When the turbo is not at maximum pressure or load, it will release pressure to reduce the amount of damage it could cause. When the accelerator is applied, the turbo needs to rebuild the pressure with gases from the exhaust to produce full boost.

Engine responsiveness is an important factor when driving. Some lag only lasts for a millisecond whilst others could be for a couple of seconds. The lag is noticed by how slowly the car is going without gaining acceleration as quickly as it is supposed to.

Sometimes the car has a turbocharger installed that is too large. A smaller device will require less pressure and will, therefore, produce more boost.

Friction could also influence the performance of the turbo. When less friction is present, less effort will be required to spool the turbo which means that lag may be reduced.

Installing the turbochargers closer to the exhaust outlets will also ensure that lag will be reduced. By placing the device closer to the exhaust outlets, the distance in which the exhaust gases need to travel has been shortened. This means that pressure has not been lost in the process of traveling from point A to point B.

Another factor that causes turbo-lag is the weight of the moving parts within the charger. The weight of these parts will need a greater force which could influence efficiency of the device. If efficiency is what you are looking for then it is necessary to have a turbo rotor made of lightweight alloys. Compact models with smaller rotor diameters of the turbocharger will also require a smaller centrifugal force that will allow the car to accelerate faster without producing any lag.

Playing with the heat settings does no good and a check of the coolant, hoses, and connections reveals that everything is okay. So, what is the problem? More than likely your Ford heater core has died. You jump in your car and head directly over to your Ford dealer to get a price on a new heater core. Within moments you are gasping for air as the man behind the counter looks over his computerized inventory and quotes an outrageously high price. For a moment you don’t know whether to whack the guy over the head or start driving around with a portable heater you plug into your car’s cigarette lighter. Quickly you dismiss either option and decide to take matters into your own hands.

Fortunately a heater core isn’t all that difficult to change yourself. For most cars, a heater core can be reached by pulling out the dash or checking under the hood adjacent to the firewall, locating the unit, yanking it out, and replacing it with a new one. Naturally, you will pay gobs of money through your dealer’s parts department, but you have other options besides visiting the dealer or making a futile trip to your local junkyard: shop the internet.

That’s right, online auto parts wholesalers carry Jeep heater cores and heater cores for just about any make/model of car out there. Best yet, when shopping with a wholesaler like the Heater Core Experts, you can save big bucks. By purchasing direct from the manufacturer, a first class wholesaler will turn around and sell a heater core to you for less. A lot less than what Mr. Parts Dealer would charge and without you having to pay for labor costs either.