Tag Archives: chrysler

Brake pad noises and wear out explained

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Brake noise is a common part of brake operation. A majority of the time you will hear nothing inside your vehicle. Worn brake pads can make noises you would hear inside your vehicle. The most common noises are a crunch or runch sound. Another noise you may hear is a high pitch shriek. Shriek noises are very common with very worn brake pads or budget “cheep quality” brake pads, even if newly installed.

I like to install OE dealer brake parts when ever possible. OE parts fit correctly and offer the best noise control for the life of the brake pads.

When grinding noises happen every time you press the brake peddle. Your brakes are 100% worn out. the metal part of the brake pad is making contact with the metal brake rotor.

The service “wear out” specs on brake pad thickness can vary from 1mm to 2mm. Brake wear sensors will normally turn on the dash brake wear light around 2mm.

Brake pads that use a noise tab built into the pad, may make a high pitch noise only when backing up, but quiet going forward.

When I inspect brakes for wear, I look at the thinest brake pad to judge the wear % remaining. Once below 30% remaining life (around 3mm of pad thickness remaining) brake replacement will be needed soon.

If you are noticing brake noises, stop in at your local repair shop and have them inspect your cars brakes. Waiting to see if the noise just goes away can cause bigger issues.  If the brake rotors or brake calipers become damaged from metal to metal contact it can increase the cost of your brake repairs.

HeyAnthonyAZ.com

 

Just stop in!

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We are your friendly Neighborhood Garage, just stop in.

Too many times I hear this phrase, “I was driving by and you guys looked so busy.” Don’t wait, just stop in. I hear this one too, “I didn’t think you had time to look at it.” Don’t wait, just stop in. We are your friendly neighborhood garage and ready to help. Maintenance ignored leads to a break down on the road. Nobody likes sitting at the side of the road waiting on a tow truck.

Do you have a funky noise? We can look at that. Is it time for service? We do service work on all makes and models. A no start problem is no problem at Tony’s Service Center. Just stop in, we fix broken cars. Car care is a part of owning a car. Car repairs will happen and you need to be ready. Just stop in and say hi.

Need an oil change today?

We use a “synthetic blend” as our standard oil. Servicing you car is the most common reason to visit a repair garage. We use a synthetic blend because it extends the oil life, offering better protection against wear and resists carbon coking. If your car needs full synthetic we stock that too.

Regular motor oil: Regular oil works great for older engines, but if you do not service it regularly and or ignore your service intervals. It can lead to heavy carbon build up “hard sludge” or coking of the internal engine parts. “Coking aka soft sludge” “Coking” is characteristic of a high temperature reactions involving hydrocarbons. On todays small high revving engines, carbon deposits may cause restricted oil flow, shortening the life span of your engine.

Full Synthetic motor oil:  Synthetic oils primary use is in high heat stress applications like Arizona. Jet engines use Synthetic oil. Synthetic oils are great for cold climates too, it will flow normally even in freezing temperatures.  European cars, motor cycles and many of todays small turbo charged engines need full synthetic oils to prevent sludge and carbon build up.

Just stop in and let us know how we can help. 

HeyAnthonyAz.com & TonysServiceCenter.com

 

 

Lemonade

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You just bought a used car.

It’s your first week of driving your “new, used car”. Yep, its new to you, but it’s still a used car. Everything seems great, but a couple of things are bothering you. A click sound from the front end, the radio does not lock on your favorite station and the A/C just does not blow cold in the middle of the day.

You think to your self, maybe I should get this car checked out. Plus it may need other things. So a visit to the repair shop should shed some light on the small things that you have noticed so far.

“You should always get a car checked out” before you sign the papers or lay down your money for your new ride. A proper inspection can save you money.

Just because you took a friend or a person that knows cars with you when you went looking for cars does not protect you from a lemon. An ASE mechanic can see the red flags. A lemon is not that easy to identify, but the red flags will still be seen better by an auto technician vs a friend. Repair tech’s will look at a car with an objective pair of eyes. I know when I look at a car for a pre-purchase inspection, I have no attachment to it. I only care about one thing. “Is it worth the price being asked.”

KBB.com is a great place to find out what a car is worth.

The color and style are not factor during an inspection. The only thing that matters to me is, “is it worth the money.”  So I look at 3 key factors during an inspection. 1: Is the car safe. 2: Does it drive the way it should if it was brand new off the showroom floor. 3: I look all over the vehicle for hidden damage, neglect, missed fluid services or maintenance and modifications that will affect the overall life of the vehicle.

Aftermarket and remanufactured parts are a double-edged sword. Some are great and work just like the original equipment part. My focus is on the “crappy parts” that cause early failures. Cheep aftermarket parts can cause vibration, leaks and fit issues that could lead to an on the road brake-down. I will not use an aftermarket part that can not last at least “3 years or 36,000 miles.” I would not use a part on my own vehicle that could not at least make it that long. I do not like doing repairs twice.

3 years or 36,000 miles

At Tony’s we use lot’s of dealer parts and high quality select aftermarket parts. The aftermarket parts must last as long as the original equipment part should for us to use them. Dealer parts last a long time. In most cases the OE parts will last just as long as the originally installed part did. Some aftermarket and remanufactured parts don’t last as long as the OE parts, but they should last at least 3 years or 36,000 miles.

Time to go shopping.

Shopping for a car is not a big deal because your going to bring the vehicle to Tony’s Service Center to get it checked out before you buy it. Well that’s what I recommend. The things you need to look for when you are deciding on a used vehicle are the following items.

1- Go and look at vehicles during the day when the sun is up. Sun light will help you see paint flaws easier. The heat of the day will let you check the A/C for correct cooling. Check the heat, cooling and all modes of the controls. Everybody needs A/C in Arizona!

2- Does the car smell bad when it sits closed up in the heat. It may look clean, but is it? It could have been in a flood and it was cleaned up really good. Smells like mold, pet dander and smoking can linger even after a pro level detail. Close the car up and let it sit in the sun for an hour. Then go check for odd smells.

3- Drive it for 3 miles city and follow it up with a 5 mile freeway drive. You may have to spiff the sales man 20 bucks to make this happen, but it is worth it. Pay close attention and listen for road and wind noises with the windows up. Next listen for clicks and rattles, drive next to a brick wall with windows open for this part of the drive. Go drive it hard on the freeway, full throttle accelerations and hard stops. If it has an issue getting up to speed or stopping, you need to know before you bring it to me for an inspection. Check the cruse control and other options installed. Lastly anyone that rides with you, have them shut up and be quiet. Jabbering on can pull your attention away from what the test drive is for, finding flaws. Better yet, go drive the vehicle by your self.

4- Let the engine idle for 20 min with the A/C on max air. This helps check for A/C issues or poor cooling at the ducts. Take a thermometer with you so you can see what the duct temp is, your hand is not an accurate guide. Any temp higher than 58 degrees on max air settings is no good.

5- After the 20 minuet idling, give the throttle a good brisk snap, rev the engine up over 4k RPM’s and check to see if any blue smoke kicks out the tail pipe. Blue smoke indicates engine wear. The engine has not been serviced correctly or its worn out.

6- If all of the above things check out good. Its time to bring the vehicle to a repair shop for a full inspection of all hidden factors and a ASE tech to shake it down. At tony’s Service Center we charge for the inspection, but its worth the money and time you will spend.

HeyAnthonyAZ.com

2010 Dodge Challenger R/T 5.7L HEMI with 28,000 miles on it. All service intervals have been over looked. It has been lowered and has non factory wheels. It rides hard, like a typical lowered car. It has aftermarket muffler’s and they drone very hard at 2000 RPM’s. The trans fluid is black and it has a clicking noise at the rear. Overall it’s in need. It is clean-looking on the outside. The inside is showing wear. This car is not in excellent condition, but this is what a typical used car will look like.

 

Tune-up

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What is a Tune-up for a modern engine?

Carbon tracking on a 112,000 mile spark plug

From the mid 2000’s and up, the term Tune-up has been replaced with preventative maintenance. Newer engines don’t have anything to adjust. Everything is pre-set from the factory and you only replace parts if they fail or if you like to follow your maintenance schedule listed in the owner’s manual.

Converter meltdown due to a miss fire condition.

A modern engine can be adjusted through software changes, electronic tuning. Software tuning is not a normal undertaking and it voids the manufactures warranty. Programmers and software changes can build big power. All that power comes at a cost, more wear to the engine. When an engine replacement costs around 6,000.00 when it fails. What did you gain? You may also not pass emissions when it’s time for tags.

PCV hose failure.

You can make changes by putting aftermarket performance parts on the engine. Many parts you can bolt on will not void a warranty in most cases. Some bolt on parts can shorten engine life and cause emissions issues.

Replacing the exhaust system can have a big effect in power output. Exhaust changes effect how loud the tail pipe sounds. A loud exhaust is not needed to build power. The exhaust only needs to flow efficiently. Too much flow “big pipe exhaust systems” can hurt low rpm torque making your engine sluggish at lower speeds “city driving” and with the a/c on.

GM HEI Distributor showing a vacuüm advance and mechanical timing advancement weights.

The days of the real tune-ups, when engines had a real distributer, plug wires and a carburetor. It was a common to have 2 or 3 tune-ups a day back in the 80’s and 90’s. The carburetor needed adjustments at lease every time the season would change or around emissions time. The distributer had mechanical parts in it that would wear out. Hoses failed, air pumps died, catalytic converters would melt down. Yep, the good old days, nothing lasted for ever.

Modern cars have owners spoiled. driving a car a 100,000 miles or 10 years and never-changing the spark plugs, coils or installing a new fuel filter is amazing. Modern engines are built better and run cleaner. The improvements do have a price.

Ignition wire failure because it made contact with the hot exhaust manifold.

When parts fail, the price to fix the failure can be very large. When sticker shock sets in, many clients ask why is it so expensive.

I can only tell them that in the good old days it cost the same, it was just done in smaller installments over a 10 year period.

Fix it right, fix it once. 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

 

Head Lights – plastics care & refinishing

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Frosted, yellow, faded, ugly head lights.

98% of the vehicles today use plastic head light housings with plastic lenses, no glass lenses anymore. As the clear plastic lens age, the protective UV coating on the plastic goes bad and starts to fade or frost over. Some plastic head light housing do not have a protective film, and they show age within 3 to 5 years from new. 20161111_081537_hdr.jpgWe re-finish plastic head light lenses all the time.

20161111_071929_hdr.jpgNot all lenses can be saved. Rock pits, scratches, and plastic cracking can not be fixed with sanding if it’s too deep into the plastic surface. 20% of the head lamp housings I run across in my shop have major damage and need to be replaced.

Replacing factory head light housings with quality aftermarket units is not super expensive, but the labor to change out the light housing could make replacement out of the question for some budgets. 20161111_081656_hdr.jpgThe process of refinishing the plastic lens is fairly simple, and many parts stores sell DIY kits to sand, polish and protect the plastics.

Doing it your self or paying a repair shop to do this procedure will make your car look newer, and maybe influence you to keep your car vs buying a new one. Looks are everything, and the clients comment right away that it looks like they have a new car again. The second big plus to cleaning and polishing the lenses is your head lights will project farther down the road, You can see better at night.

20161111_084322_hdr.jpgSo here it is in a nut shell, we clean the plastics, wet sand the imperfections out of the surface. Then use a 2 step polishing compound to restore the clear as glass look. Last step is a double coating of wax. Regular car war works fine for this.

Keeping things looking clear depends on the owner washing and re-waxing the lenses, but we can also do that for the client when they are in for an oil change.20161111_084404_hdr.jpg

It’s all good under the hood. 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

Cheap Parts & Service = Poor Satisfaction!

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The bitterness of “poor quality” lingers long after the sweetness of “low price” is forgotten: Ben Franklin

Fixing your vehicle does not have to break the bank. When a vehicle repair has good value, the cost of the repair is not a huge issue any longer. We use quality parts plus offer a solid warranty. Our goal is to offer vehicle repairs that have value and prevent breakdowns.

Knowing you get what you pay for. Haggling about the labor and using the cheapest parts possible to save money is asking for trouble. Sitting at the side of the road waiting for a tow truck is no fun.

We offer quality repairs with value. All repairs we do must stand up to our 2 year / 24,000 mile warranty. As an independent repair shop we use many dealer parts. The dealer parts fit correctly, and exceed our 2 year / 24,000 mile warranty. The aftermarket parts we use must “fit and function” just like the original equipment dealer parts we install.

Some clients will ask if we can find less expensive parts, and we say yes we can, but the part warranty may not be 2 years / 24,000 miles.

The warranty will be what the parts manufacturer offers, and you get no labor coverage. Our job is to show you the value of doing the repair correctly the first time.

“Fix my car as cheap as you can, Blah, Blah, I am selling it next week.”

Some aftermarket parts may only have a 90 day warranty. Granted most parts should last at least 90 days, but if the part goes bad you get to pay labor again, even if the part has a warranty.

For Example: A car owner goes to a quick lube shop for a 14.95 oil change, and the shop strips the threads out of the oil pan. Anyway you look at this, your cheap oil change just turned into a big mess. Our standard oil change out the door is about $41.00 but it has good value. We do not shortcut the job, just to get it out the door. We spend up to 45 minutes on your vehicle, looking for things that may cause you a break down. If we find issues that need repair, we show you what we found, and we give you prices. We help you plan for your maintenance needs.

For Example: Brake pads have one of the biggest issues with quality vs price. If you go to the dealer, they will only offer one part for your model car, and the price will be high, but the parts fit and work correctly. Now go to an aftermarket parts house, and they may have 5 to 10 different brands of brake pad, all at different prices. Some may work good but make noise, others may wear fast or worse not stop the car correctly. With aftermarket parts you must be selective.

Some aftermarket parts work very good, and if you know what works well, then it’s easy to offer the savings to the client. Our job is to know what works and offer the client the best repair.

For Example: Belts, Hoses and Water pumps have a wide range of price and quality. If I am looking for a belt in the aftermarket, and I can get Bando or Dayco I am happy. I know they are brands that last a long time. For Hoses, I look for the best fit, and rubber quality. The parts quality, affects its service life. A long service life keeps you from having to visit the shop over and over. For Water Pumps, I turn to the dealer 60% of the time, because they just last so much longer.

Fixing your vehicle correctly will reduce how many times you need to visit the repair shop each year. If you own 3 or more cars, you can see how important it is to fix it right the first time. Anyway, It’s not that we don’t want to see you again. We want our clients to be happy they used our services.

We are here to help, we fix sick cars!

With today’s vehicle’s, you visit the repair shop less often, but it feels like the repairs cost more, and more when you visit your mechanic.

Going to the “car doctor” is not on anyone’s top ten list, but when your vehicle breaks down, you know you’re going to spend money.

Preventing breakdowns is what we do. Keeping you informed of your vehicle’s condition let’s you save when faced with bigger repairs. Helping you keep your vehicle in good condition, and preventing breakdowns is our goal.

cropped-heyanthonyaz.com-oil-change-display-nissan1.jpg

We like our clients to visit the shop for service at least every 5,000 miles of driving or once every 4 months. Many things can happen in 4 months of driving. Our clients are always welcome to stop by in between vehicle servicings, for fluid top offs and airing up the tires.

Fix it right, Fix it once.  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

The Repair you need today.

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heyanthonyaz.com bent tubes on fuel pump

Short cuts, compromises, and fix it cheep. Too many clients are asking for what they don’t want.

70% of the clients I work for, know first hand what it means to do the job right.

Lately, I have had an increase in walk in clients that want a cheep repair, but they also want a full warranty? This is not a client, it’s A person with A broken car.

Using top quality parts that come with a 2 year or 24,000 mile warranty is very important to us. Keep in mind that A bad repair will be talked about 100 times more often than a repair done the correct way.

At Tony’s we look at a car one of three ways. Does the client want to have a like new OE repair using all dealer parts. Does the clients want a high quality aftermarket parts. Or will the client just want to fix the part that is broken and nothing else.

A Tony’s we focus on the now. What do you need now, to get your car on the road.

All other repairs needed are estimated and we tell you what needs to be done. We break it down in months and by miles. We will not force you to repair your car with us. We want you to feel happy you used our shop for your repair needs. If you own a car or truck it will need repairs and service. We want you as our client, but the only way that will happen is if we do the repair the right way, not the cheep way.

The image at the top, is a fuel pump unit that was installed in flagstaff one week prior to the truck being towed into our shop with a no start condition. The pump failed because of handling and the changes done to the metal pipes. The client was very mad and had nothing good to say about the shop in Flagstaff.

We called the shop. I found out that the correct repair was offered but the client wanted to use a budget part that needed to be adjusted to make it fit. The Flagstaff shop should have said no, but they did the repair anyway. Now they have one more angry person saying ugly things about them, even though the client guided the repair. The outcome was bad, due to a shop compromise and a fix it cheep attitude.

Fix it right, fix it once. HeyAnthonyAz.com 2015