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.
Tire Pressure Monitoring Problems
One of the most important parts of having a safe car is having proper tire pressure. That means you need a good high quality tire-pressure gauge, and you need to check the pressure in your tires at least once a month. Now here’s where you may make a mistake: you know lots of folks look at the side wall of the tire - well that doesn’t get it. Here’s where you… Read More
More Must Have Tools
There are lots of things under the hood of an automobile these days that require heat to be worked on properly, but looking under the hood of a car, is there any place that you would feel safe in applying an open flame? Ah, I don’t think so! Well that’s been the only option a technician has had over the years, but now from OTC Tools comes a professional unit… Read More
Problem Solvers
If you live in a part of the country where you have an emissions test to go through you already know that you can’t go through emissions with a check engine light. What you may not know is that inside the computer is something else called a readiness monitor, and unless that is set and ready, you still can’t go through emissions. To help you test some of these… Read More
Information, Please!
This time: automotive maintenance and automotive information. The two run hand in hand. Wasn’t too many years ago that if you went into a repair shop you’d see stacks of books. But today there’s so much information about automobiles that those books would probably now fill a room. Consequently, information sources have changed dramatically, a lot of it being on… Read More
Safely Give Your Car a Lift
I have some tips about safely raising a car. There are all kinds of things that you might have to do that would require raising a car off the ground. If you’re doing it at home, you could use any number of different things. You could use the jack that comes with the car; that’s certainly one way to do it, but make sure you read and follow the instructions that… Read More
Boosting Car Performance
In the quest for better performance, many enthusiasts start with the exhaust system first. And if they’re really serious about it they come all the way up to the engine with that performance exhaust system. Well just think about it. Look at this stock exhaust manifold (left) compared to this nice swooping header (right). Amazing difference, but exhaust systems… Read More
Intelligent Welding
Cars are involved in accidents, but how those cars are repaired determines whether or not they will be safe and reliable, and here to explain that to us is Tom McGee, President and C.E.O. of I-CAR. Tom, welcome to Goss’ Garage. TOM MCGEE, PRESIDENT & CEO, I-CAR: Hi Pat. GOSS: We also have Steve from I-CAR to demonstrate some welding for us because welding is… Read More
Slick Tools
This time we have some interesting tools for the do-it-yourselfer. The first three are from Innovative Products of America, like this Gator Jaws. Now you look at this, it’s a very aggressive looking tool, but what would you do with it? Well you would find out in a hurry if you had an oil filter that was stuck, and they frequently are, they’re very difficult to… Read More
Detailing Tips
This time we have a couple tips about cleaning interiors and joining us is Cliff Dewey, owner of Cliff Dewey Auto Detail in Silver Spring, Maryland. Cliff, welcome to Goss’ Garage. CLIFF DEWEY, OWNER, CLIFF DEWEY AUTO DETAIL: Thank you Pat. GOSS: All right, cleaning the interior of the car, where do we start? DEWEY: Pretty simple Pat, you just want to start… Read More
Two Tech Tools
Here I have two tools from Innovative Products of America. The first one deals with brakes. Many times you wind up where your car pulls one way or the other when you apply the brakes, and that can be tough to diagnose unless you have the right tools. Well, here we have the right tools; this is a pair of brake pressure gauges. These are very inexpensive and… Read More