Category Archives: Cooling System

Cooling system maintenance

All new cars get old

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Fact: Your new car will need repairs as it ages.

I have many clients that went out 5 years ago and bought new cars. Now that new car is aging and needs repairs. The Mustang below is only 6 years old and it’s already wearing out. Just because you buy a new car, you are not off the hook for maintenance.

2012 Mustang, out of warranty and in need of repairs. It has 157,000 miles on it and it’s worn out. The engine has been overheated, it burns and leaks oil, plus the front suspension is noisy over bumps.

Repairs will be needed to keep your car working correctly. Wear and tear from heavy use will bring you back to the repair shop. Worse yet, what if you breakdown and have to be towed in for repairs.

Warranty or no warranty, regular servicing and breakdown repairs are going to happen.

The first thing I tell clients is to have an emergency repair fund stashed away. I have cash stashed in my saving just for this type of thing. I have been stuck out-of-town before and cash is king.

The second thing I tell clients is to have a AAA gold card. The gold card is great if you travel out-of-town and need a tow. The gold card gives you all the road side assistance that you get from a normal card, but your free towing is now 100 miles vs 5 miles.

The VW on the left is being towed away today because it needs an engine replaced at $6,200. The VW on the right was just purchased by a client that did not want to overhaul an A/C system on a 10-year-old Honda CRV. Both VW’s are 2015 models and they both have around 40,000 miles on them.

Even if your car is brand new, you should get it serviced before any big trip out-of-town.

The idea is to prevent a breakdown. I have seen brand new cars with major flaws that need repairs.

ASE tech’s will notice wear and age issues that could cause a breakdown way before they become a failure on the road.

Get your car inspected before you hit the road.

One week before you travel, take your car in for service. Even if you’re not due for service, get your car looked at before you hit the road. If your car has any repairs that are needed, the repair shop has time to get them completed before you need to leave town.

2014 Nissan Rogue, with 52,000 miles on the clock. This one came in on the hook. An overheated cooling systems caused an engine failure. Leaks like this can be repaired way before they become a failure on the road.

If you have an older car and it’s too worn out to leave town. Rent a car for your trip. It’s less expensive to rent a car for the weekend than it is to be broken down on the road waiting for a tow truck.

This belt is from a 4-year-old car with 57,000 miles on it. I was installing a new alternator and I advised replacing the belt while it was off. The belts cost was $34.00. The client said no to replacing it. Oddly they let a friend use the car for a week and the belt came apart, allowing the engine to over heat. The driver drove the car till it stopped. The engine was destroyed.

Technology in cars today.

Todays car owners are spoiled by technology. 25 years ago most of the cars on the road visited the repair shop 45% more often than todays cars. Advancements in how cars are built is one reason why they seem to last longer. Service intervals are longer and many parts last a lot longer. 25 years ago most cars needed a tune up every 24,000 miles. Today most cars don’t need a tune up till 100,000 miles.

Do cars last longer?

Todays cars do last longer and they do cost more to repair. Belts and hoses look the same as they did 25 years ago, but now they cost 40% more to replace. Brakes are bigger, tires have changed and A/C systems costs are double what they use to be. When the parts fail, they fail big. The change in overall costs is due to the extra technology to run all the cool gadgets.

A hybrid car looks very cool in the show room, but jump forward 10 years when you have to replace a battery pack at $3,200. Turbo charged engines cost big with any failure. Cylinder canceling engines like some of the GM V8’s and now it’s new turbo 2.7L 4 cylinder engine they will be putting in full size trucks in 2019 cost a small fortune to fix when they fail.

Many failures will happen from age and normal use. Other failures will happen from bad advice and a failure to follow service intervals. Below is an image of what happens when the wrong parts are used to save money. Using the wrong parts can cost you more later.

This is what happens when budget copper spark plugs are used in place of double platinum plugs. Copper plugs cost $2.59 each. double platinum plugs cost $9.67 each. Times 4 on a 4 cyl engine. The plug savings caused 2 coils to fail plus a tow. This was done by a shop just 1 mile away from my shop. The correct repairs cost 3 time what the original tune up did, plus an 18 mile tow.

I have over 4 dozen clients that “ignore” the service intervals on their cars. When they have to be towed in and whine about the tow. I just tell them that better service intervals could have prevented the failure.

98% of the time I am 100% right. 3 Service intervals a year will go a long way to prevent breakdowns on the road.

Just because it’s new does not insure you will not have a breakdown. Let us help you keep that new car new or make your old car feel new again.

Heyanthonyaz.com

 

 

Cheaper to keep her…

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Repair the car you own, it’s cheaper.

At Tony’s we see vehicles in all states of disrepair. A new car will only need basic services and 2 to 5-year-old cars will need bigger repairs as parts wears out. The cars I am talking about are the cars over 10 to 25 years of age and still look nice inside and out.

Just because a repair may be larger than the value of the car is no reason to give up and sell your car. I hear this phrase at least once a day. My car is not worth that. If you have a car that “blue books” at $4,000 and the car needs an AC over haul that may cost $1,800. The repair is worth doing, if your car is in great condition.

Repair it!

If the same $4,000 car needs an engine at $5,100. The car is still worth repairing, but only if the car has been correctly maintained. The car must be in “great condition”. “No accident damage”, good paint, interior is clean plus everything works correctly and you love your car.

In many cases if you go out car shopping you will buy a car that is over $12,000 and you will get a loan to buy the car and your license tags will cost more. Plus your insurance will go up.

It’s less expensive to repair the car you already own. Buying a new car is the same as fixing the car you already own. Now you are making payments vs a repair bill. You must be honest with your self, if you are a person that just does not care for your car. Your car will wear out and fall apart.

A “neglected” car is not worth repairing, junk it and move on

The owner of the car is the reason a car is in good or bad condition, not the repair garage. Let’s face it, some people don’t care about anything unless it’s broken. Preventative repairs and basic maintenance is not important, but a cat video on YouTube will have front row attention. If properly cared for 80% of cars sold would last 15 years or more. It’s up to the owner to care about keeping it in good condition.

2005 Dodge Neon, yes it has road rash, but it’s fixable. This car needs a $390 dollar repair. Any repair that is less than a monthly payment is worth doing.

 

Everyone needs a $1,000 Emergency car fund.

The average “break down repair” at Tony’s is around $650.00. With an emergency repair fund of $1,000 dollars, a $650.00 dollar repair is no big deal. My repair fund is $2,000. I have 2 cars and a service van. If all 3 need minor repairs in the same month, I should be ok.

If you have more than one car you should “add $500.00 dollars for each additional car”. If you have an SUV or European brand, double the amount in the fund.

It’s a fact, it is less expensive to fix a good used car than go and buy a new one.

Heyanthonyaz.com

 

Yep, it’s broken; Plastics…

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Plastics, they don’t last forever.

Unhappy owners with broken cars arrive at my shop every month, and the owners just do not understand why the car has broken down. Well, if you drive it, it will wear out…..

Todays autos use lot’s of plastics. Auto makers have always used plastic parts, but in todays cars and trucks plastic parts are used for so many things, it can be frustrating when parts don’t last because they are made of plastic.wp-image-33241149jpg.jpg

Today I have a Nissan Frontier in the shop with a coolant leak at a plastic fitting on the heater core. This is a common thing on a vehicle that is 10 years old or older.

The hard part is informing the client that the engine is bad, because it over heated, due to a plastic part that failed. Using plastics to make a car lighter, and get better emissions is great, but at what cost to the client. I would rather have all cooling system parts made from metal. The auto maker makes the parts out of plastic because it’s cheaper to manufacture.

So what do they care if the part fails and the engine goes bad. That’s why they make new cars anyway.

Fix it right, fix it once. HeyAnthonyAz.com

Plastic failure is getting more common…

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Plastic cooling system parts can look normal on the outside, but what you can’t see is the plastic is getting heat stressed on the inside and can fail without warning.

20160721_154840_hdr.jpgThis pair of heater fittings is from a 2009 Lexus LX470. The truck was in for normal service and I found a damp area near the hose that connected to the broken fitting in the image. I pushed on the hose to see if it was fitting loose, and the fitting broke apart with no effort. It was ready to fail, but from the outside it looked fine. Plastics older than 8 years of age can fail just like this part did. An engine for a Lexus is big bucks. A failure like this on the road, would lead to engine damage due to sudden coolant loss. HeyAnthonyAz.com

Can I bring my own parts?

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When you go to a restaurant, do you bring your own food?

Every month, I have at least 5 people ask if we will install a part they bring in.

Our answer is no.

   It’s not that we do not want to put on your parts. It’s because of the warranty. If we sell you the part, it will come with a 2 year 24,000 mile warranty, and labor is covered 100%

If you bring in your own part, you get no warranty with us, and if the part fails, you pay the labor again to replace the part a second time.

Do we bent the rule? Some times. We have installed clients parts, depending on what the part is, and if it’s for a specialty reason like a classic car or super hard to find part, but they must sign a waiver, stating they understand the repair comes with no warranty, parts or labor.

Think about it, do you save that much?

Fix it right, Fix it once. HeyAnthonyAz.com

FREE Oil Change Monthly Drawing at Tony’s

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREE OIL CHANGE @ TONY’S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s time to change the oil!

Enter to win! Win a free oil change, enter your information @ Tony’s contact page.

Enter your contact information on Tony’s contact page & in the message box type “Free oil change monthly drawing” and include the make, model and year of your car.

You will be automatically entered into the drawing for the next months free oil change drawing. Enter as often as you like. The winner of the free oil change will be contacted by Tony’s at the end of each drawing month. The free oil change offer will be running till December 2015

The oil change includes, up to 5 qt’s of 10w30 synthetic blend oil, an oil filter, and under hood fluid top off’s, plus a vehicle safety inspection. This is a $30.00 value at our regular price & a great saving if you win it for free. So enter today, it’s easy and free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2014 ~ It’s all good under the hood…

Rent a car for your small trip.

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Ryan has a 9-year-old Pontiac G6 GT with 218,000 miles. The car is not road ready. It is not ready to take an 800 mile trip at high speeds. Taking a long road trip in a car that needs many repairs and could leave you stranded at the side of the road.

Waiting for a tow truck is no fun.

Ryan is heading out-of-town for a 4 day weekend in Las Vegas. Renting a car is a great idea for a small weekend trip. Ryan’s car needs 1,800.00 of basic mechanical repairs. Plus his vehicle also needs tires. New tires will set Ryan back another 1000.00 bucks.

Ryan has been a client for many years and I did not want to see Ryan have issues out on the road.

Without a doubt, Ryan’s car needs many repairs, but what else could fail on a long road trip? It’s hard to know what could go wrong out on the road.

We offered Ryan a rental with an upgrade to a Lincoln for his long trip. Ryan is going to travel in style and his G6 GT is going to be getting the repairs it has needed for many months. When Ryan gets back to town his car will be ready to go.

The idea is to let the rental car take the beating. Driving out-of-town at high speeds, up hills with the AC cranked on high is a lot of stress for any car, so let the rental take the beating and save your ride for the easy in-town driving.

It’s all good under the hood, heyanthonyaz.com 2014

 

www.carfax.com How accurate is the service?

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Buying a used car can drain your savings, if you buy the wrong one.

In the last 10 months I have preformed 35 pre-purchase inspections, 27 cars and 8 trucks. Every vehicle had a clean carfax report. 5 of the cars and 1 of the trucks had un-reported major accident damage. They all looked fine on the outside, looking good, like nothing was wrong.

Carfax is only as good as the people who report the accident damage.

If the vehicle owner has accident repairs fixed for cash, under the table, by a discount shop. The accident damage will never be reported to carfax.

This type of repair may be hidden from view and the only thing you can do, is to make sure you do not buy any vehicle without an inspection. If the vehicle owner does not want you to take it and have it inspected, do not buy it!

You work hard for your money and it would be horrible to find big dollar repairs after you just paid a big chunk of money for what you thought was a nice used car.

Even if the vehicle has a clean carfax report and a good story about why the owner is selling the car. Get all the facts, get it into a shop for a full inspection!

The money you spend for the inspection will give you peace of mind. No one wants to buy a lemon.

It’s all good under the hood. www.HeyAnthonyAz.com 2014

Tony’s Service Center 5362 North 16th St. Phoenix, AZ 85016

Stop!

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*** If your engine is over heating, STOP! ***

Today I had a vehicle Towed in from the other side of town. The client lives near my shop, but works 30 miles away. The car had over heated on his way to work. He was only 7 minuets away from work, so the client continued to drive the car to work.

If you are driving along and the “red over heating light turns on” or you see the gauge in the RED! ***Stop the car safely and turn off the engine.***

Do not continue to drive the vehicle!

The engine has just over heated! shut down the engine to prevent over heating damage!!!

When an engine is over heating, it can cause major damage to the aluminum parts inside the engine.

Many of todays engines have lots aluminum parts. Aluminum parts are strong as long as they do not get too hot.

When aluminum parts gets super hot, the aluminum will expand a lot. Aluminum parts can crack as they cool back down from being over heated.

The other thing that happens when the aluminum parts expand, is the gaskets sealing the engine can be crushed or compressed during the over heating. When the engine cools down it can start leaking from the damaged gaskets.

Engine over heating can also cause big issues with plastic parts bolted to the engine, and plastic radiators.

Running an engine just a couple of extra minuets, can destroy an engine quickly. Many of todays newer vehicles have engines that can cost up to 6,000.00 just for an engine.

That is big money!

If the gauge is in the red or the red engine light is on, shut the engine off ASAP. Stop and call a Tow truck.

A Tow into the shop for repairs is nothing compared to an engine replacement.

My client was not happy, the engine was damaged from the over heating. Next week we will be installing a new engine.

It’s all good under the hood. HeyAnthonyAz.com 2014

You broke it!

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Automotive repairs can cause high tensions with a vehicle owner.

In a perfect world, everything is free and nothing ever goes wrong… Every day I work with clients that understand that the vehicle they own will need service and repairs. The owner knows that a quality repair will cost something.

Finding good prices and honest service is the clients #1 objective.

I never force a client to do a repair with me. I give the client an estimate for the repairs needed and the client can say yes or no. Once the repairs are finished. I drive the vehicle and make sure the repairs are done correctly.

The goal is to fix it right the first time. When I return the vehicle back to the client, I know everything related to the repairs is working correctly.

It never did that before you worked on it! You broke it!

When a client says, it never did that before you worked on it.

I ask the client to stop in and show me what is going on. I will look at the clients issue, and find out how it may be related to the repairs preformed on the last visit.

99% of the time, the clients issue is not related to the last repair, it’s a new repair.

Sabotage or coincidence?

Some times things happen we can’t control. So I work hard to make sure all new issues are addressed one at a time and quickly. When I work on your vehicle, your car is in the shop because it’s broken or needs service. If something goes wrong while your car is in my care, I will openly tell you. I have no reason to hide an oops. Some times things just happen and we move on.

Case in point, Sam’s car was in for an oil service and 4 new tires. During the service work I found a left, low beam head lamp was not working and the upper radiator hose was leaking coolant.

The bulb was old and had burnt out and the hose was 10 years old and ready to be replaced. I asked Sam if he would like to replace both of the head lamps together and take care of the leaky hose. Sam said NO to both repairs. A week later Sam was back saying, I must have done something to the other head lamp, because now it does not work. Sam was angry and wanted me to give him both bulbs for free and put them in for free.

I said to Sam. Do you remember our talk about how light bulbs age and the other bulb could need replacement very soon? Plus, I asked you if you would like to replace both bulbs during your last visit, and you said NO!

Sam had zero recall about what we talked about, even though it was on Sam’s last repair order. Sam was very upset because I would not give him the bulbs for free.

I offered to install the bulbs at no labor charge, but Sam would have to pay for the bulbs.

It was not my fault that the bulbs had burnt out, but because I was the last person to work on the car it was my fault the other bulb stopped working.

Sam stormed off angry.

5 weeks later Sam’s car was back at the shop for the coolant leak repair and 2 head lamp bulbs. Sam said he over reacted to the bulb issue, and trusted our work.

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2014