When an alternator decoupler pulley fails, the alternator may still be producing the correct volts and amps. The decoupler pulley is a “one way clutch”. When an engine is at a cruising RPM of “3400 RPM” and the engine suddenly drops to an idle around 800 RPM the inside moving parts of the alternator do not have to slow down at the same time as the engine. Mass in motion stays in motion. The one way clutch or “decoupler” allows the rotating mass “heavy parts of the alternator” to rotate freely, independently of the engines drive belt. This decoupling pulley reduces the flywheel effect placed on the engine and the engines drive belt. When the decoupler goes bad. Fuel economy will be reduced.
I have clients that think they need a tune up because they are not getting the same fuel mileage as they use to and it turns out the one way clutch on the alternator could be the cause. Many things on todays car can be broken or very worn and you will never know they are bad. Some broken parts will never turn on a check engine light. During a major service interval, I may have the drive belt off during the service and that is the best time to inspect the alternator decoupler.
I have had some clients, that watch fuel mileage for work related jobs. Tell me that they noticed up to a 1.5 MPG change after replacing the faulty decoupler. That may not seen like that big of a deal, but over a years worth of driving it adds up.
After many hours of work, the client said no to the repair.
This happens from time to time. It’s part of the car repair business, some clients say no. You check out a clients concern. You put together an estimate for the repairs needed. It’s common to have car owners under the age of 30 to take a couple of hours to decide to move forward with a repair. The 2008 Sentra I was working on needed a new engine computer. Something went wrong and the old one died. The repair was almost 900.00 and to me that was not much for a basic repair.
The client said no and the car was sold for scrap.
Part 2 of this story: The salvage buyer asked us to finish the repairs, but they wanted us to send the computer out for repairs. I have had zero luck using rebuild services for any
Old computer that was sent out for repairs. I don’t see any repairs done…
computer repair. So 3 weeks later the computer was back. The service said they made a repair and the computer works fine now.
I installed the computer and it did not work. The buyer said I diagnosed the problem wrong and the computer was fine. I said he was wrong and the computer repair was not a repair for the problem the computer had. After 2 more weeks of back and forth communications. The buyer finally said yes to a new computer from the dealer.
A new computer fixed the problem.
It’s common for computers to be replaced and they are not bad. It is a guess repair by the technician working on the car. I use a test simulation method to rule out input and output results to the computer. It takes longer, but it prevents a misdiagnosis. Time spent will prevent having to backtrack later or worse ruin a new computer because the part that killed the first computer just killed the new unit.
The #8 fuse supports many devices. The starter, fuel pump, body control, engine control, ignition switch and 10 more devices. Knowing the product, I first look at the fuel pump, starter motor and starter solenoid. A bad starter solenoid or a faulty starter motor will cause a large amp load on the #8 fuse via the starter relay. The #8 fuse is only a 20 amp fuse. The starter and fuel pump relays are the highest loads placed on the #8 fuse.
The starter relay will normally draw 11 amps under normal conditions. When the starter relay first engages the amp spike can reach 22 amps, after the initial spike. It will take about 11 amps to hold the starter solenoid on. The amp spike is normal and the 20 amp fuse can handle a quick amp spike, just not a sustained load of 22 amps or more. If the starter solenoid is faulty, it causes more amps to flow through the relay. It’s a domino effect, One fault, will cause a failure in a secondary component.
Looking at how power flows through the circuits will shorten the time it takes to find out what device caused the fuse to fail. I start with devices that draw high amps.
The fuel pump relay will normally draw 2.5 to 3.8 amps under normal operation. When the pump first spins up. The amp spike is around 8 amps, then it drops under 4 amps to keep it running. The normal amp current for a fuel pump in good condition is 2.8 to 3.5 amps.
All load devices will have an amp spike when they first start up. That is normal for all devices that use electricity. Your home, car or any type of equipment that uses electricity to make devices, like lights, relays or motors work, will draw amps of current when switched on.
When a working load doubles or triples due to an electrical fault, the fuse will do it’s job and fail.
The fuse is a protection device: A fuse fails for a reason.
A fuse keeps the wiring from being over loaded, getting hot and causing a fire. I have seen some nasty wire fires from car owners doing a repair or lazy repair tech’s that try to MacGyver a failure to get them by.
The tin foil trick, to jump around a bad fuse has caused many car fires. In many cases, a short cut repair will fail quickly or cause more damage. It’s a risk you take when you do a MacGyver repair.
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.
I see some crazy short cut repairs (hack jobs). “Hack jobs” by owners, shade tree mechanics and approved auto repair shops. Then I wonder why, why try, why risk a comeback. Why take the short cut in the first place. Why risk loosing a client when the hack job fails, leaving the vehicle owner stranded on the side of the road.
A hack job will fail, it’s a sub-standard repair.
Today I had an odd repair issue pop into the shop. Ronda had a fuel pump replaced on her 1995 Chevy Suburban about 30 days ago in Sedona Arizona. The truck has a 5.7 TBI fuel injected engine. (Throttle Body Injection System) Ronda only had one issue with the repair, the fuel economy was reduced by 30 to 40% and this was noticed right after the pump was installed. The shop that installed the pump had double checked the fuel system, and said nothing was wrong.
Ronda had moved to Sedona last year.
The client (Ronda) use to live right around the corner from our shop, but had moved to Sedona in 2013. Ronda happened to be in the valley for some doctors visits, so Ronda stopped in to see if we had time to look at this issue.
Testing showed the fuel system was running too rich. The scan tool (a computer that talks to the car’s computer) showed that the PCM (the car’s computer) was subtracting a lot of fuel. The engine computer uses a pair of fuel trim ratio numbers to display fuel system compensation (larger number = more fuel added to the engine Or a smaller number = less fuel, fuel reduced to the engine). A repair technician can view the fuel trim numbers “live” as they update (in real-time) and watch how the system is operating, rich, lean or normal.
Next I attached a gauge used to test fuel pressure to the engine’s fuel system. The fuel pressure gauge showed that the fuel system pressure was around 19 PSI of pressure. (Why?) The TBI system specification is 9 to 12 PSI. So why was the PSI so high?
I suspected it had the wrong fuel pump installed. So, I removed the fuel pump and found a big mess. What I found was a major issue, the person that did the repairs, must have had a huge loss of reasoning. The part was clearly the wrong part for the truck. When I entered the pump part number into a parts jobber, part interchange system. I discovered the part was the wrong pump for the truck.
The shop decided to adjust the wrong part till it would fit in the tank. But wait, that’s not all. The pump was for a 1996 5.7 MPI engine. (Multi Port Injection System) not a 1995 5.7 TBI system. The 1996 MPI system runs at 60 to 66 PSI. This is clearly too much pressure for the system to handle. To bleed off the high PSI. The shop that made the repairs, had removed the hose clamp to the PSI fuel coupling hose that connects the fuel pumps outlet pipe to the metal pipe going out to the engine’s fuel injector’s. Plus the old fuel pump harness was installed on the new pump, and the electrical connector had a broken retaining clip.
The adjustments and compromises should have never happened, but they did.
Just buy the correct part, and if the part arrives wrong, get the correct part. The correct part was available in Flagstaff, less than a 2 hour round trip from Sedona. The client had already waited 5 days, what was one more day to get the right part.
We fixed the truck and it is running correctly, with the correct part. The client is happy and the mileage is back to normal. Plus Ronda will be bringing her truck to us when ever she is in town every 3 to 4 months.
Keeping up on the needs of an older vehicle may seem costly, but if you do the math. The right older vehicle can be cost-effective in the long run. Every vehicle needs repairs someday, new or old.
It’s all good under the hood, heyanthonyaz.com 2014
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
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
If you have seen any type of auto racing, than you may have seen the K & N air filter stickers on some of the race cars.
K & N air filters work great for high performance motor sports, water craft and off-road vehicles, but they are not good to use on a regular engine. Many engines today use a “MAF” sensor (Mass Air Flow Sensor) to measure incoming air going into the engine. The engine computer uses the data from the MAF sensor to adjust engine timing, fuel injection, and transmission shift points.
K & N air filters may improve engine output only by a small percentage. The way K & N does this, is by using a less restrictive woven mesh. The woven mesh is coated with a light spray of oil. The oil is used to help trap dirt in the mesh. When an engine is running, it is drawing air past the oil coated mesh. Then the oily air flows past the MAF sensor, coating the sensor in a fine oil. The fine oil attracts dirt and contaminates the MAF sensor element, just like the sensor in the video above.
Only OE quality filters should be used with a MAF systems. A quality filter will prevent the sensor from getting all clogged up with dirt. The video shows me cleaning a GM MAF sensor gently with a Q-tip dipped in alcohol. The client thought they needed a tune up. The car was running poorly and pinging, but the computer had no code and no check engine light on.
Yes, the engine needed service, but the heart of the poor operation was a very dirty MAF sensor due to an oil soaked K & N oil filter.
It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician
copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2014
A New car = higher costs; tags, tax, licence, payments, and insurance.
All of the above costs will be part of a buying new car. When a client says they will just go and buy a new car, I ask why?
90% of the time it is more economical to fix the car you own.
A repair of $600.00 is nothing compared to making $500.00 payments every month, just to have a new car smell. Fixing your old car may seem like it costs a lot, but if the car still looks good inside and out, fix it!
Just last week I did a $4,300 repair on an “all original 1990 300zx” with 73,000 miles on it. The 300zx was very well-kept, and the client was attached to the car. The repair costs may seem high, but the client really likes the car, so to him it was worth it to fix it right.
Most cars from 3 years to 8 years of age will need an average of $800.00 a year in overall preventative maintenance repairs. Tires, Brakes, Oil changes, Radiators, Belts and Hoses are the basic needs of any car or truck.
A/C, Suspension, Engine and Transmission repairs are less common types of repairs, but will happen some day. Over time the repair costs will average out. One year you may only spend $300.00 on basic services and the next year you may need to repair the brakes and replace the tires at $1400.00.
Consumer Reports is a great place to find out about repair costs for the new car you may want to buy. Keep in mind that this is for new cars.
For used cars, over 75,000 miles I use a vehicle service formula. You may know about how many miles you drive in a year. Use the formula to see if you are above or below the national average for service and repair costs.
Heavy trucks 1 to 1.5 ton; Mileage x .18 cents per mile driven = basic repair costs
Full size cars and 3/4 ton trucks and vans; Mileage x .12 cents per mile driven = basic repair costs
Compact cars, light trucks and mini vans; Mileage x .10 cents per mile driven = basic repair costs
This is just a basic service and repairs list, a guide to calculate average service and repair costs. Costs will adjust up for heavy use or towing, but if you baby your car, the costs would adjust down. For basic service work, use my spare change in a jug method. Again the list above is only a guide.
Buying a used car is an option, but always take it to a shop to be inspected!
Yes, buying a used car is an option, but always take it to a shop to be inspected before you buy it.
Even if you think you know it all. I will assure you, you don’t.
Unless you work on cars and trucks all the time you will miss something that can cost you big money to fix later. If you are out looking at cars, you can go to any AAA approved repair shop to get a used car inspected.
A clean CarFax report does not indicate that the car is good to go. CarFax is only a good guide if the damage and repairs got reported to CarFax.
So just because it has a clean CarFax does not indicate it’s an accident free vehicle.
If your car is still in good, overall condition, fix it! In the long run, it will save you money.
It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician
copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013
Ms. Kate asked; why can’t you guarantee the repair will fix my car?
Ms. Kate has an almost broken car. Some failures and repairs will fall into a gray area, and Ms. Kate’s Ford was just that, a gray area repair.
The car would stall out when coming to a stop, but restart. Plus it would sometimes not start when hot. It would start after it cooled down for about 1 hour. The condition is intermittent, and it has never acted up for us in the shop. Plus the car’s computer had no codes.
The client never had time to leave the car for a full day.
Ms. Kate does not trust the car and fears driving it because it could stall at the wrong time.
After testing the car a couple of times, my best guess was it could be one of three things. #1 it could be a faulty crank shaft sensor. #2 it could be a faulty fuel pump. #3 it could be a wire fault related to a poor connection at a wire connector or wire junction. More testing was needed.
The big issue for the client is she is on a tight budget and can only spend what is needed to do the needed repair. I understand this all to well. I have a budget and have to stick to it.
To help the client, I advised her to let me have the car for a couple of days so I could leave my test gear hooked up and drive the car at random times. Ms. Kate did not like being without her car, but it needed to be done.
What I found; it did have a faulty crank shaft sensor and a bad fuel pump. The crank sensor was related to the stalling condition and the fuel pump was related to the random hot no start.
I always like to test the car and confirm the fault area. Guessing about what repairs are needed can lead to wasted money and time.
Some times a best guess is all we have, but it must be a good solid guess, 80% chance or more. Give me some time with your car and we can find the fault part 100% confirmed!
I want all my clients to feel good about the money they spend. I want 100% of your business, and I want you to be happy that you used Tony’s Service Center for your repair needs. Ms. Kate is happy because we fixed the cars issues. It did take three days to get it to act up, but only 4 hours to make the repairs once we knew what was broken.
It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician
copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013
