Goss’ Garage
Pat Goss, MotorWeek's resident master technician, helps consumers understand car problems and how to speak the same language as their technician. As cars becoming increasingly complex, fewer repairs can be accomplished at home. Effective communication with a repair shop is vital to keeping consumer and operating costs under control. From rattles and squeaks to leaks and drips, Pat covers a myriad of issues designed to keep cars on the road and out of the repair shop.
Self Diagnosis
You wouldn’t self-diagnose a medical condition on yourself; you might wind up like this. So why do you self-diagnose so many things with your cars, that cause so many problems and waste so much money? One of the more typical things we see is that somebody comes into the repair shop, and maybe they had a tire wear problem, or maybe they have a shake or a shimmy.… Read More
Overheated Engine
“Cool your jets.” It’s what you’d tell your buddy when they get a little too heated. Well Pat Goss has some wise words for when your engine does the same. PAT GOSS: One of the things you do not want to do these days is to ignore the gauges on the dash of your car. You see, those gauges are pretty darn reliable. If they tell you that something’s wrong, you had… Read More
Coolant Check
Surprisingly, in my repair shop, we find one of the most neglected parts of the average car is the cooling system. Seems that a lot of people look at it as, “out of sight; out of mind.” They don’t pay any attention to it. But in reality, you should be checking the coolant in the cooling system at least once every year. Now, regardless of what the owner’s manual… Read More
Remember This
No matter how complicated a car might be, taking it apart is usually pretty easy. But getting it back together so that it works right? Well that can be a whole different story. And I’ve got a couple of tips to how we do it in the repair shop. See, one of the most valuable tools that we have is right here. This is a paint pen. We buy them in little packages like… Read More
Nuts and Bolts
Pat Goss: We need nuts and bolts to hold our vehicles together. But, it takes more than just nuts and bolts to hold things together properly. And here with some tips, we have Lyndon Abel from Patriot Harley-Davidson in Fairfax, Virginia. Welcome back to the show, Lyndon. LYNDON: Thanks for having me, Pat. PAT: Alright. You’ve got some familiar looking stuff laid… Read More
Oversized Tires
There’s a current trend toward plus sizing tires and wheels on cars and trucks, and SUVs, and now even motorcycles. Well they look great, but there may be some down sides to this plus sizing. And here to give us some pointers about motorcycles in particular, is Lyndon Abel from Patriot Harley Davidson in Fairfax, Virginia. Lyndon, welcome back to Goss’… Read More
Touch Up
Maintaining a flawless paintjob like we see on this classic Jaguar… that’s next to impossible on a daily driver because sooner or later somebody or something will scratch or ding the paint on your car. And that means it’s time for touch up paint. Touch up comes in a lot of different forms. You can buy it from the dealer where you bought your car. Auto Touch Up has… Read More
Belt Check
For any engine to run, he have to have a way to open the intake and exhaust valves. And that’s done with a cam shaft, or multiple cam shafts. Now we have to have a way to make those cam shafts turn. Well that’s done by connecting the crank shaft of the engine to the cam shafts by a chain or a belt. Used to be chains, then it went to belts for 30 or 40 years, and… Read More
Dead Battery Diagnosis
Sooner or later, most of us will be faced with a dead battery. Now if that dead battery happens to be the result of a car that sits for long periods of time, well there’s an easy solution. It’s a battery maintainer, such as we have here. Now maintainers charge the battery, and then shut off when it’s fully charged. This is not like a trickle charger, which you… Read More
Quick Lube Shops
Every vehicle ever made has required preventive maintenance. Now the most basic of that maintenance is changing the oil, and the oil filter, and checking the various fluid levels under the hood of the car. And that’s basically what you get in quick service. But there’s a lot more to a car than fluids and lubricants. You see, there are wear parts underneath the… Read More
