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.
A/C Maintenance
Air conditioning is mostly standard equipment on automobiles these days. I guess the average person really wouldn’t want to do without air conditioning. But believe it or not, there are some issues. Number one, your air conditioning system may have a very foul odor when you turn it on. Well, that’s due to mold and mildew and dirt and so on that builds up in the… Read More
Waxing
Believe it or not, this innocent looking droplet of water could be very damaging to the finish on this car. How so? Well, it might contain all of the elements necessary for acid rain damage. You know, acid rain doesn’t necessarily have to fall from the sky. See the car collects dust on the surface of it, then maybe dew or a light rain comes along. That collects… Read More
Auto Body Repairs
This damage looks very substantial, but believe it or not, this car may not be totaled. Because of the value of automobiles today, it takes a lot of damage to total them. That means that cars that are hit like this many times are back on the road in a few weeks. That also means that you have to be very careful where you take the car to get it repaired. Now,… Read More
Buying Tires & Wheels
Not only are tires and wheels the focal point of an automobile, they’re also one of the prime components in the car’s safety systems. And to explain some of this to us we have Matt Edmonds from The Tire Rack. Pat Goss: Hi, Matt. Matt Edmonds, Director of Marketing, The Tire Rack: A pleasure to be here. Goss: Now you kind of reinvented how tires and wheels are… Read More
Techie Tools
This time we’re going to talk about some items that will make the life of the professional technician and the weekend racer easier. We’re going to start with a new line of tools from Ingersoll-Rand. Now these are air tools, and their claim to fame is that they’re composite. Now composite materials make the tool lighter, they absorb vibration, and they make it very… Read More
You Light Up My Life
The peak of frustration is when you’re trying to do something under the hood or under the dash of your car, and you can’t get the right kind of light. You just can’t see what you’re doing. Well, the old standby for a drop light is this metal cage affair here. It works well and it’s quite durable, but it has a significant downside. It uses an incandescent bulb.… Read More
Auto Odds & Ends
This time we have some neat accessories for and around your car. First we’re going to start over here with what’s called the SideWinder. You never have to worry about a dead cell phone battery again, because with a SideWinder you can crank it and actually charge the dead battery on your cell phone. It does a great job. Next, we have what’s called the HotShot. Now… Read More
Battery Care
Just about everyone has some sort of seasonal vehicle that sits for long periods of time. You know, boats sit all winter, snowmobiles sit all summer. Well anyway, all of these vehicles have batteries in them and before you put them in storage, have the battery tested using a commercial battery tester. ItÕs got to be good before you can do anything to save it.… Read More
Acid Reflux
There isn’t much you can do with an automobile when it doesn’t have a battery, but batteries have some inherent problems. They have sulphuric acid in them, and sulphuric acid and the gases that come out of a battery can be very, very corrosive. So you want to make sure that you maintain your battery properly. That means keep the terminals clean. Use the battery… Read More
Pat’s Cool Tools
This time I have a couple of tricks for both professional technicians and do-it-yourselfers. One of the big problems that we face in the automobile industry these days is when an engine misfires we have an absolute rhythmic misfire to the engine. Well, how do you go about testing that without some very expensive test equipment? Well, to begin with, we’ll use this… Read More