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.
Often Overlooked Issues Episode 3831, Episode 3846
This time I want to talk about problems that technicians often overlook. Now, right here we have a hub or axle bearing that is a sealed unit and this is what’s become commonplace on virtually all modern vehicles. Well, not all of them though. See this one no service… if it wears you you replace it that’s it, but there’s still lots and lots of vehicles on the road… Read More
Spark Plug Diagnosis Episode 3830, Episode 3845
You know back in the day, cars had a lot of ignition parts that today don’t even exist. Like spark plug wires. But no matter how exotic or mundane, all cars still use spark plugs. And spark plugs wear out, now if you no how to read the spark plugs that you take out of your engine, you can determine the general condition of your engine. Now look at this spark… Read More
Dead Battery Lockout Episode 3829
Here’s something that’s rapidly going away, the old fashion key and two button key fob. These things are being replaced by modern keys that well they don’t fit into anything. These things they go in your pocket and they send out a signal so that you can touch the door handle and unlock the car or lock it for that matter. Stays in your pocket, you get into the car,… Read More
Wipeout Episode 3825, Episode 3843
No matter what car you drive, some of the most basic items can have the biggest impact on your driving safety, like your wiper blades for instance. If you can’t see well, then you certainly can’t drive safely. First, keep the blades of the windshield free of leaves and dirt. Even a small leaf caught under the blade of your wipers, well that could prevent the blade… Read More
Air Filters Episode 3824, Episode 3842
There’s a myth about air filters that dirty air filters will affect gas mileage. Well back in the day when cars had carburetors, like this old one here, well yes that was true but carburetors have been gone a long time now and modern cars they have fuel injection and a dirty air filter will not affect fuel economy. The reason being is that when the air was… Read More
Keeping Your Engine Clean Episode 3823, Episode 3841
I’ve heard it said that a clean engine like this is a happy engine. Maybe that means a dirty one is a sad engine. I don’t know about that but what I can tell you is that the engines that we see coming into the repair shops, well the ones that are kept clean over the life of the vehicle, they usually have fewer problems. Well that’s because of several different… Read More
Dum-Dum DIY Jobs Episode 3822
Now I know none of you would do these things but we see some pretty crazy stuff coming into the repair shops. One of the more typical ones is where the exhaust system has a leak and the driver goes out and buys duck tape or some other type of tape and wraps it around the leaking part and expects it to stop the leak. Well it may momentarily, but remember exhaust… Read More
Replace your Rockers Episode 3814, Episode 3839, Episode 3931
Although vehicle manufacturers have made huge improvements in preventing body rust on vehicles, we still have some out there that are like this. And that is rust. What causes rust is where dirt and moisture combine inside or between two pieces of metal, dirt holds the moisture, it eats itself from the inside out. Now in this case you may have to replace this due… Read More
Batter Up Batteries Episode 3813
Few things on modern cars are as important as its battery and that’s because everything works with electricity on todays cars. That means we have to have a really clean battery all the time. All this grease and dirt and everything laying on top of it. We clean it away using some type of grease cutting detergent and clear water to rinse it. But the really important… Read More
Give me a Brake Episode 3811, Episode 3828
Brakes. Oh so important but they seem so simple. But there’s so much to know about them. Number one, they wear. And that means you need to check them periodically. And if there’s ever a change in the way the brakes feel, or that they make noise or anything like that you get them checked immediately. Here’s and example of when you don’t do that. Everything is… Read More