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.
Know your Cool Episode 3801, Episode 3812, Episode 3837
Every year when the weather turns warm, my shops are inundated with air conditioning problems, and many of those problems are solved by do it yourselfers. So if you’re a do it yourselfer the very first you need to know is what type of refrigerant your car has. Now years ago it was a standard r12, well that was phased out in the 90s for r134a and now if you look… Read More
Paint it Yellow Episode 3738, Episode 3752
We’ve been working on this project 1977 Jeep Wagoneer, and now that the metalwork is done, we’re back at Treasured Motorcar Customs to watch the refinishing of the vehicle, the owner has chosen the shade of yellow from Sherwin Willams that’s paler than the original color. Of course there will be a noticeable color change as we see here, but the owner is willing to… Read More
Meals on Wheels Episode 3737, Episode 3751
There’s a problem with cars that has become almost epidemic lately. It’s something that most people would never think about. That’s rodents that eat the wire harnesses in our cars. It disables the car, does all kinds of damage. We’ve seen some where it’s actually totaled the car it was that bad. One of the reasons behind this is for several years now – various… Read More
Oil Viscosity Episode 3736, Episode 3750
One of the most common questions that I get is that, well, I took my care in for an oil change and the technician told me that instead of that thin, watery, 0-20, 5-20 or 5-30 that the manufacturer recommends, you need something this is seriously going to protect your engine. You need 20-50, 10-40, some of these really thick oils. Don’t believe it. Modern engines… Read More
Headlight Upgrade Episode 3735, Episode 3749
For decades, headlights on cars and trucks have been like these: incandescent lights. Well as time has gone on, they have moved from incandescent to HID and now we are seeing most cars with LEDs. Alright, now, what is the difference here? Well the difference primarily is gonna be that the color of these new lights is brighter and that the durability may be better.… Read More
Trans Flush Episode 3734
By now you all know that there is no such thing as any fluid on an automobile that lasts forever. Also you should know that there is no such thing as a sealed automatic transmission. Now what am I getting at here? Automatic transmission fluid doesn’t last forever. Transmissions need to be flushed and that should be done every 2-3 years or 24-36,000 miles. But here… Read More
Measure Up Episode 3733, Episode 3747
No matter whether you have one big car or two Minis, if you’re going to do on it yourself, chances are you’re going to have to have something to measure parts and so on with. Well the old tried and true is a micrometer such as we see here just make sure you use your standard to keep it perfectly calibrated. But in today’s world, well it’s digital let’s face it.… Read More
Modern Tune-Up Episode 3732, Episode 3746
Old habits die or hard, or so they say. And one thing I would really love to see go away is the term tune-up. See back 40 year ago when this vehicle was new, well tune-ups were a viable repair on a car. They consisted of what we called points, plugs, condensers. Points controlled the ignition system. The condenser was part of that. That was all to produce the high… Read More
Caliper Maintenance Episode 3731, Episode 3745
Cars keep evolving, and as they evolve there are new procedures and problems that go along with that evolution. Not the least of which are modern brakes, now here we have a four-piston caliper, they’ve been around for years, but they typically were not used on garden-variety cars and sometimes they are today. Now the big thing with a four piston caliper is that… Read More
Grease/Lube/Oil Episode 3729
If you have ever wondered why there is so many different types of greases and lubricants for automobiles, well you might be surprised to see they’re not universal. Now if we look at greases in particular, grease is primarily a vehicle to hold oil and it releases that oil to lubricate the part that it’s on based on temperature or pressure or a combination of both.… Read More