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.
Timing Belts and Chains
In any engine you have to have a way to operate the valves in the top of the engine and that’s done by means of connecting the crank shaft in the bottom of the engine to the cam shaft or cam shafts in the top of the engine. Now back in the day, for many, many, many years this was the method they did that with. It was a very simple timing chain with sprockets such… Read More
Odometer Rollback Fraud
Since the advent of digital odometers on cars most people seem to think that they can’t be tampered with, but that is a pure myth, and to explain we have Chris Vasso from Carfax. Chris, welcome back to Goss’ Garage. CHRIS VASSO: Always great to be here Pat. PAT GOSS: Alright, tell us about today’s odometer fraud. CHRIS VASSO: Well odometer fraud is alive and well… Read More
Buying Classic Cars
So you think it’s time to buy that collectible car that you’ve been dreaming about all these years. Well, that’s a good thing, but unless you do it right you might not wind up with what you think you’re getting. And here to give us some pointers we have Tony Fleming from Fleming’s Ultimate Garage. Tony welcome back to Goss’ garage. TONY FLEMMING: Thanks so much… Read More
New Welder
If you’re into do-it-yourself at all and you have any idea about doing restoration work, well at some point you will need a welder. Now welding like everything else around automobiles has changed over the years. Here we have a basic wire feed welder. And when we say wire feed what we mean is that there’s a spool of special welding wire inside of that that is… Read More
Hub Issues
Daily driving can sure take a toll on our vehicles. But not to worry, Pat Goss is here with the info we need on a sensitive topic PAT GOSS: Most drivers wouldn’t know a hub bearing from a wind shield wiper, but hub bearings are an integral part of all vehicles and they’re a lot more complicated than they used to be. And we have Tom Taylor our internet parts guru… Read More
Electric Terminology
So you have an electrical or electronics problem with your modern car and you’re talking to a repair shop. How do you know if it’s the right repair shop for that type of repair? They may be good for all sorts of things, but they may not know about electricity. Well, a couple of the key words you can look out for is a technician or service writer talking to you… Read More
Tires Are Like Shoes
Most drivers think of tires as being nothing more than round black rubber blobs, but there’s a lot more to them than that, and to give us a primer on it we have our tire expert Matt Edmonds. Matt, welcome back to Goss’ garage. MATT EDMONDS: Pleasure to be here Pat. PAT GOSS: All right, tell us a little bit about the different sizes or different types of tires you… Read More
Dash Lights
Well most of you call them “idiot lights”. Now, why, I don’t know because they’re a valuable part of instrument cluster and other parts of your car. What I can tell you is that the only idiot involved here is person who ignores their so-called idiot lights. Because they’re trying to tell you something. And no, they don’t lie all the time. These lights are very,… Read More
Octane Rating
PAT GOSS: I get a lot of questions concerning gasoline. And have with us today Brian West from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Brian welcome to Goss’ garage. BRIAN WEST: Thank you for having me Pat. PAT GOSS: Your team oversees the government’s fuel economy web page. BRIAN WEST: That’s right. There’s fuel economy data there for every vehicle sold in the U.S. since… Read More
Code Readers
A check engine light can be a royal pain. And for those of you who think you can go out and buy a scan tool, whether it’s a basic one or a professional one, and that you’re going to read coded, and replace a part and solve a problem…well you may be in for a big surprise. You see, codes don’t actually tell you what to replace. That notion comes from dealership… Read More