Well kids its been "shadetree"mechanic week around here,we have had a plethora of customers coming in with cars that have been diagnosed by relatives,neighbors and shadetree mechanics and they are driving me to drink!

Case#1; had a young lady call me and ask me for prices on some engine sensors. I quoted her and she said she would bring it in the following day for the repairs. When she arrived I asked her why she wanted to replace those parts and she said she had a friend look at it and he determined what she needed. Danger! Danger! Will Robinson! I thought of I thought of the robot on Lost in Space flapping his arms around going; "holy shadetree strikes again". I explained that when we do a job based on someones elses diagnosis,if it does not cure the problem,dont get mad at us. She explained that this was someone who knew about cars(here we go,fasten your seatbelts,its going to be a bumpy ride)! so I lit some incense and candles to guide the way on this one. After we were done the car was still running rough and the check engine light came back on,imagine that! So I had to call the customer and give her the bad news(thats why I make the big bucks). Out of courtesy I scanned her car at no charge to see what the trouble code was and lo and behold another sensor was bad. Now if we had done the original diagnosis with our scanner,we would have picked up on the problem,maybe she needed what we did maybe not, but the parts were in and still not right. So here is a case like I discussed on a previous column,in order to save the diagnostic charges which were $60 dollars she spent $300.00 to do the repairs recommended by her friend and the car still was not right.

Case #2 has a fellow come in to do an Alignment,so I asked and why would you like one? he looked at me like I had horns growing out of my head and said,"because I have a vibration and my buddy said to get it aligned after he put some parts in for me". Ding..ding..ding...we have a winner! So says I he installed parts for you and you stilll have a vibration and he said an alignment will cure this? Yes indeed was his reply. I took a deep breath and proceeded to walk out to the car and inspect his tires. Well some of you avid readers can see what is coming dont you? His tires were so severly "chopped" from mis-alignment that had we aligned it the CAUSE of the tire wear would have been solved but due to the "chop" on the tires his vibration would have continued. So the moral of this story is have your cars problem diagnose by a professional for a complete estimate.In this case it would have been front end parts(had he really needed them) tires and alingment,in that order.Of course I had to assume the parts replaced by his friend were needed in the first place. So I understand in this economy the need for saving a buck here and there,but at least have the car properly diagnosed first even though it might cost you a couple of bucks,but at least when you do have the job done (yes, even by the neighborhood mechanic) the corrrect problem will be taken care of instaed of the hit and miss approach.as always take care and check that air!

Well, kids the Check Engine light seems to be confounding the public as I am getting some calls and e/mails on it, so we will do a refresher on it and a couple of "cases" pertaining to it. Once again the C/E light is your on board computer, which is like a little mechanic riding around in your car, picking up a "fail" or improper reading from dozens of sensors located in your engine, transmission, antilock braking system or air conditioning system. By improper reading it means these sensors have a low and high side range to be working in and when they go under or over these readings it "triggers" a C/E light to forewarn you that something is not working as it was designed to do.

Now take a moment to think about it..wouldnt it be cool if your home air conditioner had the same diagnostic capability on it? A light to come on BEFORE it breaks down in the middle of the summer on the hottest day? That is the beauty of the on board computer it is telling you: Hey I am starting to fail, get me fixed before I totally break down. The word on the street is that most people get told by someone who "knows" cars that its OK don't worry about it, if its driving fine leave it alone. Well the first thought that comes to mind is "kaching" the cash register noise because when the part finally fails it will leave you stranded (towing bills) and possibly take out one or more components with it (a higher repair bill). I had 2 cases this month of elderly clients who were told not to worry about the C/E light that had been on for weeks. After explaining the above to them, we scanned their cars and found one had a speed sensor going bad (affects the speedometer and transmission) one had a knock sensor going bad (affects gas mileage and timing) now had both of these items not been replaced, they would have been stranded and possibly have harmed other components had they not been replaced in time. In the process of writing this column we had a regular customer of ours with the same problem on a 2000 Chevy Blazer with only 30,000 miles on it. In his case one of his sensors was acting up due to too much carbon in it, we took out the sensor and cleaned it and the C/E light went away. This is a perfect example on how your on board computer works to warn you in advance of a potential problem. I did recommend he use a better grade of gasoline and every third tank to use super instead of the cheaper grade.

As always take care and check that air!

Howdy kids, I want to thank one of our avid readers (not family related) for this column. She wrote; "why don't you explain in layman's terms how alignments work., everytime I get an explanation I am more confused as to what it is." Well, here we go and this will require some work on your part so put down that cup of coffee and stand up. Okay everyone up? Good, now put your legs a little apart, feet even with your shoulders. Next point your toes outward like a duck would walk, that is called "toe-out" and that will wear the inside shoulders of your tires. Next point them inward like pigeon toed, that is called "toe-in" and that will wear the outside shoulders of your tires (for those of you who figured that out, pat yourselves on the back). Next you will lift the outside of your feet off the ground your knees should be coming together like Jerry Lewis used to do, this is called "camber" where the top of the tires are leaning in towards the engine compartment. This will cause the inside shoulder of your tires to wear and can cause the vehicle to pull either way.

Conversely if you lift the inside of your feet and get bowlegged the top of the tires are leaning away from the engine and will cause the outside shoulders to wear and also a pulling condition. Okay back to flat footed, now put one foot slightly forward of the other one, this is called "caster" and obviously both tires need to be even so your vehicle does not drift to either side. These are the only adjustments on wheel alignments, on most newer cars all four wheels are adjusted and the way the cars are built (struts suspension versus shocks) some adjustments are not possible unless camkits are installed or a "frame pull" is done by a body shop frame machine, more on this on a later on a guest column by one of the body shop guru's next door at Gonz Collision.

There are some additional problems that can crop up when there is collision work involved which will be covered in a future column, now back to your coffee, thanks for joining in and as always take car and check that air.

Good day readers, I hope you have been checking your air pressure monthly, pats on the back for those of you that have, and I hope you enjoy the fuel savings you will accomplish by doing that simple little task.

I have had a lot of questions regarding new cars that are under warranty by the manufacturer and the corresponding dealer "scaring" the customer with the old line of "If you don't bring the car back to us for maintenance you warranty is void." This is a BIG misconception about your new car warranty that I would like to counsel you on. As long as you do the scheduled maintenance as stated in your owners manual and you save your receipt (very important) you dealer has to cover any warranted item.

You do not have to have the maintenance done at the dealer, please reread this. An average oil change with filter and lube runs about $20.00, except for some foreign or exotic cars. Keep in mind that most dealers do not sell tires so they rarely check them or even rotate them when they are supposed to. A trick I tell my customers to do when they take their car to the dealer for a scheduled service is to take a lipstick or white out and put a small dot or mark on the front tires before they give the car to the service dept. This way when you get your car back, the tires on the rear should have your marks on them and you know the rotation has been done.

Also if you do have to take it in to the dealer we at Car Clinic have the same database in our computer that shows your car's scheduled maintenance as recommended by the manufacturer, we would be happy to print one out for you at no charge. That way you have some knowledge as to what is recommended by the car manufacturer as opposed to what the dealer wants or needs to sell you. I wont make any mention of quotas or high overhead at this point, I promise. Keep in mind that your owners manual that's gathering dust in your glove box under the gum wrappers, breath mints and ketchup packets has a world of information for you and it does include the scheduled maintenance formatted in a not too easy to read manner, but nevertheless there.

Last but not least, remember that the scheduled maintenance is something that you will be charged for so do your homework and get quotes on it, some can be very expensive and as stated in previous columns, get more than one estimate. And if you don't use dealer parts your car is still covered under warranty, so don't let them scare you with that story.

Now dear readers here is the column I have lost a lot of sleep over so bear with me here. When cars come in for a running rough or stalling or idling problem I immediately wished I hadn't stopped sniffing glue last week (just kidding).

Now you know who we are talking about here, the car has been "kinda" funny for a while, you've been hoping it gets better by putting "mechanic in a can" in it (ha)! and now its stalling at every light or not barely starting. What happens at this point is the original breakdown of parts have now caused other related components to malfunction so we have to "hunt" for what parts are bad and whatever else it has taken with it. This is done with a scanner but sometimes you have to replace the bad parts and then do another check to make sure something in that system is still not damaged.

What happens here is that I have to call the customer and say we need to put these parts in for X amount of dollars and after that check to make sure there are no additional parts needed. This is unlike say a waterpump that goes bad, we see it leaking, we replace it and we are done.

On electrical, fuel or ignition systems since they are "tied" together we might replace a faulty component but the next component in line might not give a proper readout until the sensor in front of it is replaced. And sometimes a malfunctioning sensor will "mask" a problem with the next sensor in line. About this time is when we light the candles and incense to the wrench deities or really look in our computer database as to what diagnostic step to take.

Lets look at a case from the Car Clinic files. We had young lady bring in a stalling 1995 Buick station wagon. We checked the fuel pressure and determined that it was too low for that vehicle. I asked her when her last fuel filter was changed and she gave me a funny look like I had asked her if she'd ever been kidnapped by aliens. We changed the filter and after letting the vehicle run for a bit it stalled again, this time we knew since the filter was just changed (and it was the original, 7 years old, yikes!)it was a fuel pump problem, now the old dirty filter could have caused the pump to fail, but even with a new pump, the filter would be recommended to be changed due to its age. The challenge in all of this and the cause of some of my hair pulling is that BOTH a dirty or clogged fuel filter and a defective or weak fuel pump will give us the same low fuel pressure reading making the diagnosis difficult at best.

So you can see that when we get a car that has its regularly scheduled maintenance done on time it makes it easier to diagnose problems. As always take care and check that air!

Howdy readers, I will attempt to explain some of the warning lights on your dash in today's column to give you an idea as to when to get immediate service or wait until the appropiate time to bring it in for repairs.

By the way, some of the newer cars do not have lights that say; check oil or check coolant or low battery, so it is important that you read your manual and get used to what the "symbols" are on your warning light dash display so you know when your car is talking to you.

The two most important ones are oil and coolant/overheating lights, by continuing to drive with one or both of these on you will cause a lot of damage to your engine. If it is safe to do so please pull over immediatly and get some assistance to the nearest repair shop. An engine without oil will seize up and a overheating engine will also seize up or blow a head gasket,both of these can be very harmful to your wallet.

A battery light does not mean your battery is bad but that your alternator is not charging enough while you are driving. What this will do is drain your battery and within 30-60 minutes your car will come to a slow stop as the battery reserves are used up. All a battery does is start your car, after that the alternator takes over and runs the show while you drive.

A brake light is an indication that there is a loss of brake fluid.In this case I recommend you tow your vehicle in to the repair facility in case there is a total hydraulic brake system failure and so you wont have to stick your foot out to stop the car like Fred Flintstone!

Now a ABS light is your anti-lock braking system.As I have explained in previous columns this is on newer vehicles with an onboard computer that regulates your brakes should you need a"panic" stop( how many times has that happened in south florida?) what the ABS system does is take over the braking pressure of your car so it wont fishtail or swerve. That obviously is not a safety problem that will leave you stranded, so all you will lose is the ability to keep the car from swerving should you have to slam your brakes on at high speeds, so no tailgating! Your brakes will continue to work as they have been so you may get this serviced as time allows. By the way any ABS diagnostics requier a computer scan to determine the problem.

Some of the fancier cars have ride control sensors for vehicle height, some have low air pressure warning indicators(bless those engineers) so read that darn manual thats under all that junk in your glove box, there is a lot of valuable info in there. a knowledgeable customer makes ant mechanics job easier. As always take care and check that air!

Well dear readers here are some more cases from the Car Clinic files which will teach about the perils of certain repairs and the moral of the story (kind of sounds like Paul Harvey doesn't it)?

I had a gentleman come in to the shop recently and he said to me that he had his car diagnosed "somewhere" and he just needed an estimate on the recommended repairs. Ding..ding...ding, fasten your seatbelts kids its going to be a bumpy ride! Now you know my ears perked up on this from reading my previous columns.

The car in question is a 1993 Buick Riviera and he said to give him an estimate on the cruise control servo. This part was $300.00 dollars + $60.00 labor to install. Now being the bright guy that I am, I said : what happens if I install this and it does not work? I could tell by his expression that he had not thought of this. He thought about it and said well that's an expensive repair if it doesn't work.

I suggested we scan his car for the problem and find out first what exactly was wrong. He agreed to the diagnostic charges $60.00 and we  discovered that there was no power (electricity) getting to his servo(hmmmm how could the servo be bad if it is not getting power? the game is afoot Watson!) so we traced the power source to his brake switch, now you say how can the brake switch affect the cruise control? Well, remember when you have your cruise on and you "tap" your brakes the cruise cancels so the switch was causing no power to get to the servo. Once we got power to the servo, the servo worked, imagine that! We unfortunately discovered that the PCM(powertrain control module) was sending a bad signal to the cruise control module. So our customer would have spent $360.00 + tax for what he requested and still not have the proper repair done, the peril here being be careful when going to the "somewhere garage",the moral being, have the proper diagnosis done, the extra expense to do that might actually save you money, time, aggravation and keep me from getting more gray hairs.

As always take care and check that air (pressure that is).

Howdy loyal readers as a public service and a service to myself to keep me from pulling my hair out this is a reminder from a previous column about purchasing cars and some of the trials and tribulations involved.

It pains me to have some regular customers show up AFTER they have bought a used car to have it checked out by me. At that time it is way too late to do anything about it because when a used car is bought there is a sticker on it that says: "As is", what that means is that if you sign the "As is" form and trust me "they" will make sure you sign it, you can drive the car off their lot and the engine can blow up one block away and you are not covered.

If you bring it to a qualified mechanic, it can be checked for "band-aid" repairs, accidents, rust, and depending on the depth of the inspection the condition of the engine. What we do at our shop is two types of inspections. One is a visual inspection, which to the trained and experienced eye  can tell volumes about a cars condition. The second is a visual plus a computer scan which inspects the engine and ignition condition.

If you are a regular customer at a garage most should do a visual for free (at least I hope they do, we do) the computer diagnosis does cost about $60.00 on the average.

Some of the band-aided repairs and patch jobs I have seen on some used cars have made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, yikes, I thought only my ex's could do that to me.

At the end of this column I will give you some consumer info to help you out should you have any difficulties with a new or used car.

 Now on new cars the state of Florida has a "Lemon Law" in effect which you should read up on as it is very helpful when dealing with new car problems. In a condensed version, if you bring your new car back to the dealer for the SAME repair three times and they cannot get it right, you are entitled to a replacement of your vehicle at no charge to you, so call the numbers listed below and get the particulars. As always take care and check that air (pressure that is)

Lemon Law Program (defective cars) 1-800-321-5366
PB County Consumer Affairs 561-712-6600 south county 561-930-5124
Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services 800-435-7352
Better Business Bureau 800-834-1267
Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles (dealer complaints) 561-640-6820

Ladies and Gentlemen as promised I am writing a follow up on a previous Car Clinic case covered in a column in this fine newspaper a few months ago.
 

This was the gentleman who had contacted me about his intermittent Check Engine light and we had discussed his oxygen sensors which his vehicle had 4 of and they retailed for about $800 for all four plus labor. He was going to make arrangements to have his son who was in the car business up north try to get them for him.

Well, the gentleman in question called and made an appointment for a computer scan so we could find out exactly what it needed so as not to have to buy unnecessary parts (good idea, must be a regular reader of this most informative column). If you remember he had tried some additives in his fuel and was still using a lot of fuel and the CE light was coming on and off intermittently, and of course the car was running great.

My drivability technician  did a scan and came up with a code relating to the emissions and evaporative system trouble tree. Now what those two systems mean in layman's terms is the breathing in of air(evaporative) and the breathing out(emmissions) of your engine. If you have a dirty or plugged up air filter or p.c.v. valve, its hard for your engine to breathe. If you have a dirty or defective oxygensensor,map sensor, air charge temp sensor or clogged exhaust your engine has a hard time expelling its breath(exhaust). In addition if your fuel injectors are dirty or clogged it will cause some running problems too.

So upon inspecting the car I came up with the following conclusions: The customer did not drive much (low miles on car)
                       The customer did 95% of city driving
                       There would be a carbon buildup as a result of this

I suggested we do a pressurized fuel injector service to clean the injectors, throttlebody,intake and oxygen sensors. I took the car for a road test and came back in and told the customer that I knew he used regular unleaded gas. He said how could you possibly know that? Aha! Watson, the game is afoot! I explained that when I tested his car and "stepped on it" the engine started pinging, and that's how I knew that. I suggested that every 3 or 4 tanks of gas he put in a tank of super as this would help with that and keep in injectors and other sensors cleaner.

I told him to drive the car as he normally would (although it would not be a bad idea to take it on I-95 as suicidal as that sounds and that would help "blow" out the exhaust and carbon being collected as a result of city only driving. Well dear readers will keep you posted on this and as always check that air (pressure that is)

Howdy folks lets review a case covered here relating to oxygen sensors. For you loyal readers it was the gentleman who had a few discussions with me prior to bringing his car in that he had taken to a "tune-up" place with a CE(check engine) light and they had done spark plugs, cleared the codes and sent him on his way, only to have the light come back on even though his engine was running great.

If memory serves me correct, we did a computer scan and discovered an emissions code which we corrected by doing an injector service and suggested he use "super" unleaded the next few tankfuls.

He came in earlier this week and said that it was running great(allright!) the CE light was not on (outstanding)! but he was still using a little too much gas (humph)! I asked if he was using "super" and he said yes, now it has been about a month so I hope that a few more weeks of the better fuel will help his fuel economy, I thanked him and asked him to get back to me soon after that.

He also mentioned that a friend had a fairly new car with a coolant leak and that she had taken it elsewhere and the estimate was pretty high for an intake manifold gasket. I explained that on that particular car the manifold is made out of plastic (as covered in previous columns in this fine newspaper) as opposed to cast iron like in the older cars and it can get expensive to fix, so not to worry the other shop was not ripping off his friend. As always, remember to get a second estimate on your car repairs, you might be mildly surprised.

Another follow up was a young man who was recommended to us by a longtime customer of ours for us to checkout a used car he was considering purchasing. I explained that I or one of my technicians would put his car on a hoist and do a visual inspection and then a road test. We informed him after doing this that it had been painted on the rear bumper, but no structural damage was found. He was perplexed because the salesman had told him it was a one owner car and it had never been in any kind of a fender bender (insert jaws shark music here). I explained that it was minor and I proceeded to print him out a list of that particular car's recalls and TSB's(technical service bulletins) as put out by the manufacturer. He was a little surprised at the volume of recalls and I told him this would help him to make up his mind and to call the dealer, give them the VIN number of that car and to ask if those recalls had been addressed yet.

As always ask lots of questions, its your money, take care and check that air!

We had a customer that brought in a car with about 55,000 miles on it that he had purchased when it had about 40,000 miles on it. What I recommend you do when buying a used car is to do the following, after having a qualified technician check it out first.

              * Change the oil, filter, and lubricate it
               * Flush and fill the radiator
                * Do a transmission service or flush
                * Do a fuel injector or intake induction service

By doing this you are starting from scratch and you can start keeping your PREVENTATIVE maintenance records from then on to assure a smooth running, efficient low cost car.
 

Now on the subject of using regular all the time, remember if you are planning on keeping the car for a few years, you do not want a buildup of carbon in your intake manifold(the lungs of the engine) so as not to "clog" or damage the emmission sensors and valves that can cost plenty to replace. As previously written here a carbonized intake manifold could cause as much as $1000.00 worth of repairs to have to be done. So spending approx. $150.00 to do a fuel injector & induction service seems a less expensive alternative.

 Also once you do that it would pay you in the long run to put in a tank of super every three or four tankfuls, with a can of fuel cleaner at that time. Remember, it is better to spend a little bit extra now that hundreds later on. Now this customers car had he done this when he bought it, would not have to replace 3 EGR sensors and valve, plus have to do an intake induction service on top of all that. So be smart, do your PM's regularly or when purchasing a new car. Take care and check that air.

Case number one was a call from a lady who had her car a dealership and they had told her her front brakes had ten percent of life left and the rear brakes were the same and she needed rear wheel cylinders and her lower intake manifold was leaking oil.

The dealer had quoted her $1300.00 dollars for this work. She called us and asked us to price out the repairs over the phone. Doing the same job would have come to $1000.00 at our location using dealer parts. The next morning she brought it in and upon doing a visual inspection we discovered that her front and rear brakes had at least  6 months or more life left on them while needing the cylinders and the intake gasket. This came to $700.00 so it was very worthwhile for her to bring her car in to us.

Case number two was a regular reader of this column who had car trouble and had been stuck out west with a stalled car. She could not drive it to us so she told me what was wrong and the estimated repairs from the shop she had nursed her car into. I looked up the parts and labor for her particular problem and found that the shop her car was at had given her a fair price to do said repairs. She was relieved that she was not being taken advantage of and thanked me for the information.

 Case number three was a gentleman who came in and wanted an estimate on a repair that I knew was covered under a dealer recall. I explained to him that if he took his car to his dealer they would do it free under a recall warranty. He was puzzled because he said he had been at his dealer the previous day and they had quoted him $300.00 for that particular repair. I printed a copy of the recall from our database and told him to take that with him to his dealer because his service advisor probably was not aware of the recall as it was fairly new.

So remember to ask questions, get a second opinion, you have a right as a consumer to do so. Take care and check that air.

Speedy Repairs/ part 1  

Here is a case from the Car Clinic files for you to ponder the dangers of waiting for repairs.

 The first case was a car that was towed in (never a good sign) because the customer said that while driving there was a big "poof" and a cloud of smoke and before they could pull over to the safety lane on I-95 (is there such a thing)? the overheat light came on.
I asked being the inquisitive fellow that I am if there was any indication of a coolant leak beforehand and the customer explained that he had been adding "just a little bit" of coolant every other day for the past 2 weeks...ding ..ding...ding, we have a winner!

Now it is normal for a car to need a "little bit" of coolant every once in a while to top off the reservoir, every other day for two weeks indicates a problem. He said in his own defense that he had not seen any leaks on the driveway, so he "assumed" there was no leak. In today's cars there are so many nooks and crannies that sometimes you may have a leak that is not detectable unless the vehicle is put up on a hoist or pressure tested with leak detection equipment. This customer had heater hose in the back of the engine that had a pinhole and the coolant was leaking out the back and dripping on the hot exhaust so that is why there was no visible puddle.

 Had this been brought in sooner, the repair to the hose would have been about $40.00 dollars and not the $484.00 dollars to replace the blown head gasket and thermostat that were damaged as a result of the overheating. And this customer was fortunate not to have damaged his engine head, that would have added another $800.00 to his bill.

 If your vehicle starts to use any fluid on a regular basis, there IS a problem, have it checked out by a qualified and trustworthy shop, before it causes further damage or even a safety issue.

As always take care and check that air!

Speedy Repairs/ part 2  

Good day readers in today's column I will give you some examples of some repairs done at the shop that could have gone a little bit different if the customers had brought their car in a little quicker.

A young man brought his Lexus in and said that there was on terrible noise on the left front wheel and that he could no longer drive it as the said wheel was wobbling. I asked him when this noise started and he said; "Oh a couple of weeks ago, but I did not have the money to repair it at that time."  Now I understand in today's economy that we all try to stretch our dollars but waiting to fix your car until you have the money will cost you more everytime.

Had this customer brought his car in when the noise started, he would have had to replace the left front wheel bearing at a cost of about $200.00 dollars parts and labor. But since he waited till he had some money and kept driving the car, his bearing shattered and caused damage to the brake caliper, hub/spindle assembly, brake hose, and ABS sensor. This caused his repair bill to jump to $1000.00 dollars as a result of his waiting. So it is easy to see that waiting is going to cost your more in the long run.

Now we will look at an opposite approach and a customer who noticed a small puddle of coolant on their driveway and brought it in to be checked out. Upon driving the car into the bay for an inspection, a freeze plug on the engine block blew out and all the engine coolant came rushing out. Now this customer was very fortunate, had they waited another day to bring it in, obviously the freeze plug would have blown on I-95 and not only caused a problem where the car would not had been able to drive but by overheating it would have caused additional damage like a blown head gasket or a damaged engine head which would have cost well over $1000.00 to repair as opposed to about $75.00 to do the block freeze plug.

Please do not wait to have any noises or inconsistent driving conditions to be checked out, at least a reputable shop should be able to tell you whether it is something that can wait till you have the cash to fix it, we do tell our customers if something can wait or it is critical to do right away.

  As always take care and check that air!

Clean Cars  
Howdy readers lets get our bucket out of the garage and clean your cars today with a little bit of help from yours truly. Now besides the obvious esthetic value of keeping the dirt and grime of your car, here is what you are avoiding by doing this.

Making the paint last longer for starters, keeping rust from starting, keeping your engine filters cleaner, and keeping your belts lasting longer.

Now under the hood you have to be a little careful because of the electronics involved. First take a can of carbonated soda and pour it on your battery terminals without getting it on the top of the case near the vent caps, if you have corrosion on the terminals, and believe me living in Florida you will, you will see some bubbling start to happen. Then after a couple of minutes flush the terminals with some water making sure you don't splash residue anywhere.

Then on the engine you can go to any auto parts place and buy a can of engine degreaser that you spray on your engine then wash off with a garden hose, careful to not get it on any electronics or connectors, usually anything with wires going to it.

 By keeping the engine compartment free of grime and grease your belts, hoses, gaskets, filters and moving components will last much longer. Also if you drive on dirt roads on near the beach, your air filter in  most cars can be taken out by someone with very little mechanical skills, you know who you are, and take the filter and smack it against a wall or floor to "shake" the dust out of it like you would do a rug.

If you are not sure where your air filter is, please feel free to come by our shop and we will show you where it is and how to take it out. In very few cars there has to be some extensive removing of covers and housings to get to it, so in that case a professional must be consulted.

Take care and check that air.