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.
Aerodynamics
One of the more important aspects of designing an automobile these days is the aerodynamics - you see aerodynamics, or the way the air moves over the vehicle, controls all sorts of things: first it gives the engineers and the designers the ability to make the car look good, but further than that it affects handling of the automobile, it affects engine cooling,… Read More
Hidden Accident Damage
If you have a very minor bumper-tapping accident, don’t fool yourself into thinking that there is no damage because you can’t see any. Take a look here. We’ve taken the cover off of this bumper and here we have one type of energy absorbing material. It’s an egg crate material made out of plastic and we can see right here that it’s all deformed. Well, there was no… Read More
Jacks and Lifts
Back when this car was young, in an emergency, you lifted it with a bumper jack such as we see here. Well, it wasn’t much in its time, and, you know, things haven’t improved all that much over the years. Here’s what we have in today’s cars. These are scissors jacks, and they’re okay, I suppose, in an emergency but never when you’re working on your car. Working on… Read More
Slurpie in Your Seats
You say you like to live dangerously? Well here’s a great way to do it. Buy yourself some syrupy drink like we have here, put it in one of these flimsy cup holders, and then find a back road with lots of bumps, or a railroad track, or a couple of speed bumps, or maybe a couple of kids in the car holding on to the drinks, and you are courting disaster. How so?… Read More
Running Hot and Cold
If something’s wrong with your health, you go to the doctor, and the doctor runs a series of tests to find out what’s wrong. One of the first things they do is take your temperature, because that’s a good indicator of what’s going on. Then they listen-they listen to your heart and your lungs and so on-to see if there’s any problems there. That also applies to your… Read More
Code Reader Myths
Check engine lights can be a real problem. You see the thing with the check engine like number one; you have to understand what it’s telling you. The yellow check engine light means you have an emissions control problem on your vehicle. Do you have to stop right now? Now you don’t have to stop right now, but you have to prepare that you need to get your car… Read More
Gimme My AC…Please!
Air conditioning problems can be difficult to diagnose and often very expensive to repair, and one of the real big problems is when you have a slow leak of the refrigerant out of the system. It may take weeks or months for it to go away. Well, the cure for that is dye, such as we have here. This comes from TracerLine, and this dye gets injected into the air… Read More
On A Rim And A Spare
We have a problem and a problem solver. Let’s start with the problem solver first that comes in the form of the Super Bumper. This is a pretty clever device that prevents damage to the back of the vehicle, damage like we see so frequently where the bumper is all caved in. Now, how does it do it? It does it by means of energy absorbers that are mounted onto the… Read More
Vision Savers
Being a safe driver requires good visibility, both to the front and to the rear. Now we’ve got some problem solving products today. First, when was the last time that you looked at your headlights? Maybe you’re not seeing quite as well as you used to after dark. That could be because the lens on the headlights has discolored. This happens from the ultra-violet… Read More
Beware Of Inflation
Unfortunately many drivers don’t pay a whole lot of attention to their tires, and that means that they could be riding around in a dangerous situation. You see, tires are our only connection between the car and the road, and if they aren’t properly maintained - and that includes tire pressure, which is one of the most important things that you can do - you could… Read More