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A DIY Car Repair, or a Job for an Expert? Five Questions to Ask Before Doing It Yourself

Written by Charleen
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A DIY Car Repair, or a Job for an Expert? Five Questions to Ask Before Doing It Yourself

John Baker|

 

 

Guest post by retired ASE master technician Mark Gittelman.

It happens to the best of us: We take on a car repair only to find out the hard way that it’s more involved, more time-consuming and more expensive than we thought. Do-it-yourself repairs can be rewarding (and often cost-effective), but there are some jobs that are better left to the pros.

Here are five questions to ask yourself before taking on a weekend repair job.

#1 Is it Worth the Time and Clean-up?

Raise your hand if you can change your car’s oil with your eyes closed? While it’s true that changing oil is relatively routine and easy on most vehicles, that may not be the case with transmission fluid changes, coolant flushes or other tasks that can be messy and tedious. These jobs are among the most affordable tasks to pay a mechanic for, and the time it saves you in clean-up may be well worth it. Weigh the cost of the job against the value of your time.

#2 Could the Diagnosis be Dubious?

Sometimes a defective automotive part is obvious. Let’s use an example of an upper-radiator hose with a pinhole antifreeze leak: The brightly colored stream of engine coolant will point to the problem area, making diagnosis and repair straightforward and the parts and time involved to complete the operation minimal.

However, in many other scenarios, diagnosis can be much harder to make at home. Many automotive systems have become so complex it’s difficult for the average DIY driveway warrior to successfully fix the problem. The expense of parts and the amount of labor involved in replacing those components can make the repair financially risky as well.

Here’s a classic example of a situation where you might want to seek an expert opinion: If your modern fuel injected vehicle won’t start, you might be tempted to replace the fuel pump (although it should be pointed out that removing a fuel tank isn’t fun in the driveway – it can be dangerous, and the replacement parts are pricey). However, the issue could have nothing to do with the fuel tank at all and could instead lie in a clogged fuel filter, a bad fuel-pressure regulator or an electrical issue with the fuel injection system. A mechanic will have the tools necessary to pinpoint a diagnosis more quickly.

#3 Do I Know the Scope of the Fix?

In the example above, removing the fuel tank when the real issue lies in the electrical system can open the door for you to introduce unnecessary errors while you’re taking things apart. Similarly, taking on a repair that takes on a life of its own can mean you end up at the mechanic, spending more than you would have from the start. A mistaken home diagnosis, or a repair job that ends up being out of your scope, can ultimately lead to added expense and frustration.

#4 Do I Have the Special Tools Needed for the Job?

When you look through a factory-issued service manual and dig into the individual repair procedures, they often quote the use of special tools. Every dealership service department has a tool room filled with these required tools. In fact, in the case of an American car manufacturer, this specialized equipment is sent to each franchise operation automatically.

It’s true that in some cases you can find a way around using a tool designed specifically for a given procedure. However, this usually increases the repair time. It can also lead to the possibility of damaging surrounding components.

Take the example of the water pump on a North Star series V-8 engine. The water pump physically locks into a cooling jacket using a specialized socket. When reinstalling the water pump and aluminum water pump cover, you need two different torque wrenches. Now you’ve purchased three tools for one job. Buying two different torque wrenches and a special socket you’ll only use once in a lifetime makes this operation cost-prohibitive.

#5 Do I Need an Automotive Lift?

One of the best arguments for taking your vehicle into a professional auto repair center is when the job requires raising the automobile up on a hoist. Although it might be possible to set the car up on jack stands, you could find the height insufficient to perform the repair.

In some cases, the degree of difficulty increases exponentially when you can’t walk around underneath. Although you might be able to remove a transmission in your driveway, you will find the task difficult.

Research the project thoroughly from start to finish before buying any parts and breaking out your wrenches. While DIY car repairs can be cost-saving (and even fun), consider the implications of the task and whether a pro is more suited for the job.

Mark Gittelman is a retired ASE master technician with more than 30 years of experience. He shares tips on DIY repairs and how to maintain car value as a writer for CARFAX, an online resource for used car buying.

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Synthetic Oil Filters vs Regular Oil Filters

Written by Charleen
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Synthetic Oil Filters vs Regular Oil Filters

Ed Newman|

Early automobile engines didn’t use oil filters, or air filters for that matter. For this reason frequent oil changes were a must. Motor oil quality wasn’t really that important in those days, anyway. It was the discarded by-product of processes designed to create other products from crude oil, like fuel, benzene and other petrochemicals.

The first oil filters were simple, generally consisting of a screen placed at the oil pump intake in order to keep mice, cockroaches and other debris from getting churned inside the pistons. (OK, just checking to see if you’re paying attention.) It was, however, a fairly crude setup.

In 1923, a pair of American inventors, George Greenhalgh and Ernest Sweetland, filed a patent for a new kind of oil filter that they called the Purolator, which became a handle for “pure oil later.” The Purolator oil filter was the first oil filter invented specifically for cars, generating a whole new industry – the oil filtration aftermarket.

To many people, oil filters are a generic product. Price is the only factor considered when they choose a filter. But just as today’s engines have become increasingly sophisticated, so have many of today’s oil filters. They may look much the same on the outside, but what’s inside can make a big difference.

Oil filters are not created equal

A couple weeks ago I shared a lexicon of filter terms.

It’s true that some things are overpriced, like movie theater popcorn, but more often than not the other side of the coin is true: you get what you pay for. That is, quality costs more than going on the cheap. All kinds of sayings come to mind, like “Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.” Cars cost a pretty penny these days, even used ones if you want something reliable, so I suggest thinking twice before going cheap on maintenance.

An oil filter’s job is to capture contaminants and hold them prisoner.

Let’s start with the filter media

As the oil circulates through the engine, it picks up contaminants. The filter’s assignment is to capture these contaminants and hold them prisoner, so to speak. Some of these contaminants come from the atmosphere, some from wear and some are byproducts of combustion.

The challenge for filter manufacturers is to use filter media that is porous enough to allow good oil flow, but not so impermeable that it blocks flow and causes oil starvation. It’s a big challenge, especially in racing applications, which is why so many manufacturers of auto aftermarket products are involved in racing. Racing pushes product performance to its limits, and manufacturers learn the stress points of engine components, lubricant capabilities and filters, among other things.

The four oil filter families

Filters come in four basic families.

  • Standard oil filters sold at most oil-change facilities
  • High-performance filters
  • Racing filters
  • Synthetic-media filters

AMSOIL Ea® Oil Filters feature advanced full-synthetic media that traps and holds a greater quantity of small, wear-producing contaminants compared to conventional filters. Because AMSOIL Signature Series Synthetic Motor Oil is designed for a longer drain interval – 25,000 miles/one year/700 hours (whichever comes first) – we recognized the need to offer filters capable of protecting for an extended service life while reducing wear.

Other areas where there can be a quality difference include the gaskets, the canister itself, the back-plate and the all-important anti-drainback valve. But the media itself is the heart of the filter’s effectiveness, or ineffectiveness. If you do a search and read forums on this topic, you’ll find stories about bunched-up material clogging oil passages and see photos of other horrors leading to a filter’s early demise. At one forum, I saw a photo where the filter looked like it had been twisted in a blender (the canister had been removed to reveal this inner destruction.) More startling, though, was that in the background was a fairly new Cadillac. Why would people go top drawer on a car and low-ball it with the filter?

All that to say that there are some pretty good reasons to choose a quality filter. There are already enough problems in the world. Why worry about your filters doing what they are supposed to do.

Find an AMSOIL Ea Oil Filter for My Vehicle

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Remember This When Trying to Find Which Transmission Fluid You Need

Written by Charleen
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Remember This When Trying to Find Which Transmission Fluid You Need

John Baker|

Take a look at just a few of the dozens of automatic transmission fluid (ATF) specifications on the market:

  • ATF+4
  • Mercon V
  • Mercon LV
  • Dexron VI
  • ATF DW-1
  • ATF T-IV
  • SP-IV
  • Toyota ATF-WS
  • Honda DW (ZF
  • Diamond SP-IV

You’ve likely heard the term analysis paralysis.

That’s what many people feel when they scan the shelves at Advance Auto in search of transmission fluid. They just want a quart or two of ATF to top-off their vehicle, but instead they must decipher a series of hieroglyphics or face the specter of ruining their tranny by choosing the wrong fluid.

There’s a sure-fire way to avoid this hassle.

But first, check out this survey by the Petroleum Quality Institute of America (PQIA), which confirmed what many already know about buying ATF – the specifications listed on ATF labels can be confusing and misleading.

One reason is the sheer number of ATF specifications on the market. Interpreting the made-up words (“Mercon” and “Dexron” sound like diabetes medication or the latest U.S. Defense Department initiative, after all) leaves you shaking your head and vowing to service your transmission next spring.

It wasn’t always like this. At one time, Ford Mercon- and GM Dexron-type ATFs dominated the market and reduced your choices to a manageable few. Today, demand for those fluids has slipped below 50 percent and is declining as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) continue to introduce their own, proprietary specs.

What is an ATF spec?

Simply put, it’s a set of performance standards. It’s not an actual fluid, meaning you don’t go to NAPA in search of Mercon or Dexron transmission fluid. You go in search of a fluid that meets the Mercon or Dexron specification. In an attempt to make it easy for you, many ATF manufacturers print those specs in giant letters on the label. Judging by the survey, though, it’s not working. This means the fluid was subjected to – and passed – a series of performance tests stipulated by the authors of the Mercon or Dexron specifications.

Today, it’s normal for most OEMs to author their own performance specifications rather than recommend using a fluid that meets a different OEM’s specifications, for example Mercon or Dexron. You can blame it on technological advancements that have made vehicles tougher on transmission fluid than cars of yesteryear. An automaker that introduces its latest 500-hp land rocket wants to be sure you’re using a transmission fluid capable of standing up to the intense heat and stress churning through all those gears.

It may also have something to do with money. Brand XYZ would rather you buy Brand XYZ transmission fluid than another company’s fluid, which helps explain why some OEM-branded fluids are so expensive.

That brings us back to analysis paralysis.

How can we cut through the confusion and make transmission fluid selection easy? And how do we do it while meeting the performance demands of most modern automatic transmissions?

One transmission fluid to rule them all

That’s a bit of hyperbole in honor of my favorite trilogy about hobbits and orcs, but it’s not far off.

We formulated AMSOIL Signature Series Synthetic Automatic Transmission Fluid and OE Synthetic Automatic Transmission Fluid to take the guesswork out of ATF selection. Both fluids are recommended for most of the common ATF specs on the market.

Mercon V? Check.

Dexron III? Check.

ATF+4? We cover that, too.

We take convenience a step further with our online Product Guide, which tells you which fluid your vehicle needs.

LOOK UP TRANSMISSION FLUID FO MY VEHICLE

If you tow, haul or engage in other types of severe service, use Signature Series Synthetic ATF. If you stick to the highway and mostly run to work and home, OE Synthetic ATF is your best bet.

So, when it comes to finding the right transmission fluid, forget about the hieroglyphics and just remember these six letters: AMSOIL.

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How to Test Engine Compression

Written by Charleen
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How to Test Engine Compression

John Baker|

Testing engine compression in the AMSOIL mechanical lab.

Engine compression = engine power.

A simple equation even we non-engineers can understand. Compression refers to the pressure your engine generates inside the cylinders while it’s running. How much pressure the engine produces and how well it converts that pressure into usable work influence your engine’s efficiency and power.

How it all works and how wear and deposits can erode compression (i.e. horsepower) over time are interesting topics you can read more about here. But today, we’re talking about how to test engine compression.

For this example, I used my 1998 Toyota Corolla. Don’t laugh. I paid cash for it and it runs as smooth as a sewing machine. I also sought the help of Pat Burgraff, one of the techs in our Mechanical Lab. Pat knows his way around an engine.

#1 Ensure the vehicle won’t start when you crank it over

Testing compression requires you to crank the engine several revolutions, and you don’t want it to fire in the process. Remove the fuel-pump and fuel-injection fuses so you’re not dumping gas into the cylinders each time you crank the engine. Then, disconnect the coil packs. Bear in mind the process for your vehicle may be different from the images here.

Disconnect power from the coil packs.

#2 Pull the spark plugs

Label the plug wires so you return them to the correct positions. Otherwise, your vehicle won’t start when you’re done. Thread the compression gauge into a spark plug opening. Take care not to cross-thread it. You can get a compression tester for less than $50 at most auto parts stores.

#3 Crank the engine

Have a helper crank the engine 5-10 times, or until the needle on the compression gauge stops ratcheting up. Note the psi and move to the next cylinder.

Thread the compression gauge into a spark-plug hole.

Crank the engine until the gauge stops ratcheting up.

What’s considered normal compression?

Here’s where things grow murky. “Good” compression depends on the engine. Unfortunately, engines don’t come with their proper compression stamped on the outside. But a good rule of thumb says that each cylinder in a mechanically sound engine should have compression of 130 psi or higher. While I’ve seen some people claim 100 psi is sufficient, the gearheads and other sources I’ve consulted consider that too low.

In addition, you want consistency from one reading to the next. Again, a good rule of thumb is no more than 10 percent variation between any of the cylinders. That’s not to say 15 or 20 percent variation in one cylinder means your engine is junk. But a good, healthy engine should demonstrate minimal variation.

My trusty Corolla nailed the test, making between 165-175 psi in each cylinder.

If one cylinder has low compression, try pouring about a teaspoon of oil into the spark-plug hole and retesting. If compression increases, it’s likely the rings are stuck or worn. The oil acts as a seal and helps close the gap between the rings and the cylinder wall through which the cylinder is losing pressure.

If that doesn’t work, it’s possible the valves or valve seals are worn.

If you suspect stuck rings, try an engine flush designed to clean deposits, such as AMSOIL Engine and Transmission Flush. You can also try a fuel additive that cleans pistons, like AMSOIL P.i.

Word to the wise: you may illuminate your check engine light performing this test, as I did. It went off by itself after driving a few miles, though.

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