FREE FREDDY B

2009-11-24T19:22:00.000-08:00

I WANT TO START AN ONLINE CAMPAIGN TO GET MY COUSIN FREDDY B
BACK TO THE CITY OF CHICAGO WHERE HE HAS FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAT
WOULD LIKE TO HANG OUT AND CHILL MAYBE DRINK A BEER. TALK CRAP AND
REMEMBER THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF NO KIDS NO BILLS AND NO PROPERTIES. THE
GOOD LIFE AS WE REMEMBER IT. SO IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE TO MY "FREE
FREDDY B" FUND FEEL FREE TO HIT ME UP ON MY FACEBOOK ACCOUNT, AND
MYSPACE ACCOUNT. FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DONT REMEMBER WHAT HE LOOKS
LIKE THIS IS THE LAST PHOTO I HAVE OF HIM.

F.Y.I. THERE'S NO DEADLINE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS SO I'LL WAIT AS LONG AS IT
TAKES. FREDDY DOESNT HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF GOING ON IN P.R. IF THAT'S
WHERE HE'S AT? I DON'T KNOW?

Celebrating 40

2009-11-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

Halloween Costume

2009-11-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Fantasy Football

2009-09-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

I have made an executive decision, and have decided to not make a blog only about cars and fixing them but I want to make a blog about everything that is important and special in my life. From my dog to my friends, family and my own special interest, and everything that makes me.

My motivation came to when I got back home from an afternoon with my family. Being that football season is back in full effect ( GO BEARS ) Sunday's are spent at my uncle Woody's. Where we play dominoes, drink beer, and eat amazing home made meals. That my aunt Brunette makes with my grandmother and grandfather. Today seemed just a bit more special. The conversations were fun, the Bears won, and I finally won at Madden 2010.

Anyways, Today's blog is about my fantasy football success so far. In my first year, and after a short class from my buddy George I have a record of 2-1 and scored the most points this week in my ESPN fantasy football league. With Peyton Manning posting up 29 points, along with Willie Parker putting down 18, Knowshon Moreno from Denver Broncos posted 15, R. wayne 18, D, Clark 12, Green Bay Defense 10, Longwell with 11, J. Knox 6, I sat out Devin Hester for Galloway. learned my lesson after Galloway only put up 1 point. Well you live and you learn. 2-1 on the season and have Favre as my back up quarterback. I'm in good shape for a strong season.

Blowing Smoke

2009-09-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

   Today I'm talking about smoke and not the kind that causes cancer, or a yellow teeth. But it will get you pulled over by the cops. I'm working on a 2008 Mazda CX-7 AWD with 15,000 miles. Last month I was given a repair order with one complaint " heavy smoke from exhaust, was pulled over by cops while on test drive." So I took the vehicle out for a ride and to verify the complaint. So while on the test drive the truck was smoking like a steam train but with a thick heavy white smoke.

   After getting the car back and checking for anything that would be obvious like maybe a coolant hose leaking or something cracked. Didn't find or see anything out of the ordinary. So I went to my Macbook and looked on Mazda's site and found a TSB (technical service bulletin) about heavy smoke from exhaust. Click on the information, I find out that Mazda has found the coolant seal inside the turbo has a malfunction and is faulty which causes the coolant leak down into the exhaust creating a lot of smoke.

   So I call Mazda's hotline and talk to a tech and he tells me to replace the original oil with 15W-40 full synthetic. I take care of that and have one of the technicians that works about 40 miles from our shop so I figured it was plenty of miles to burn off an excess coolant that might be still inside the exhaust and has to be burnt off. The next day I get the CX-7 back and my co worker tells me the truck didn't blow any smoke so I call Mazda and they clear the vehicle.

  A couple of days later I get the car back with the same complaint. Vehicle still smoking after oil was replaced. Now I know I have to replace the turbo charger as an assembly. After all that exhausting work and clean, quality repair. I took the CX-7 out for a test drive put 20 miles on it and happy to say I don't see or have any smoke coming from the exhaust. Just to be sure and wanting to be able to sleep good at night I ask the boss if I could take the truck over night to verify that there is no chance of coolant leaking down into the exhaust after sitting over night. Woke up the next day and NO smoke.

  Glad that is over with. Hope this was helpful in any way.

Stop!!!

2009-08-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

   How many people slam of their brakes everyday? How many people have a squeak get noise from brakes every time you go to stop? How lets there brakes get all the way down to the bare metal and complain of a grinding noise when stopping. Along with another complaint of " My brake pedal is longer than usual?" Well that grinding noise is metal from your pads you have worn down with your heavy foot or your thrill of stopping right on top of the person in front of you thats not in a rush. Long pedal however could be a lot of things. From a bad master cylinder, to a blown and leaking brake line, seized caliper, low pads, and or bad driving.

   Well here is how we can figure out which is which. The very common and everyday complaint is why do my brakes squeak in the morning or after I'm driving for a while? 2 very common cause that create noise are moisture build up on your rotors. As well as cheap materials from after market companies. At lease once a week I get a customer complain that their brakes make noise only in the mornings. I also hear the complain of " after I took my brakes to my uncle's garage where he replaced them with the parts store special buy one get one free deal. They make noise all the time". Well just like everything else you get what you pay for. You save the money on cheap parts you get cheap quality. Most aftermarket pads are made of a very low end ceramic material that breaks down and creates excessive brake dust. You have to keep in mind for the after market companies to compete with the big automotive industry quantity is chosen over quality. So yea the parts are 50% cheaper than the dealer but you will be replacing them much sooner than OEM equipment. Don't be surprised if you end up replacing them twice as fast as the original set the vehicle came with. Another substandard issue with the after market brake parts are the rotors you get from these companies are often warped and make your brake pedal pulsate when braking at highway speeds and not so much when doing traffic stops at 20 MPH. Warped rotors can also create noise while driving due to the fact that the rotor starts to rub the wear indicator tap attached to most brake pads. Save yourself the headaches and spend the extra money and get the OEM parts just have your uncle throw the parts on.

   If your local mechanics tells you that your brakes are low and should be replaced ASAP. It;s because you really do need them. So don't act surprised when you tell him you'll do them another time and you go to slam on your brakes one morning and all of a sudden you start to hear and metal to metal meeting between your what used to have ceramic pad material is know just the metal that held the pads in place. Now those rotors your local tech was telling you he could resurface and replace your pads for $200.00 dollars is now going to run you $800.00 because the rotors are damaged your calipers are shot because you rode them to the breaking point and now have to be replaced. Due to the piston popping from the caliper. You might think Im making this up but I see it all the time.

   Why is my pedal so long? Why does my RED brake light come on every morning? Well start by looking under your car for any obvious leaks of brake fluid or oil build up on any brake calipers or wheels. Another is to check the Brake master cylinder, and brake booster. These are the most vital parts of all brake systems. The Master cylinder and brake booster and rubber seals inside them which help your brake pedal push brake fluid to all calipers to stop the car. When you have a leak your brake light will light up to inform you that you are low on fluid and being the brake system is a closed system it is not supposed to leak at all. If your losing fluid and have to refill all the time take your car in ASAP. If you cant find any leaks but intermittently you have trouble with your brake pedal going all the way down to the floor. You most likely have a Master cylinder that is going bad. Tip of the day: If you want to check if you have a bad master or leaking master pull the vacuum hose that is connected to the brake booster which is attached to the master cylinder from behind it and put something flexible that will get to the bottom of the booster and check to see if you have any fluid at the bottom of the booster. Now you know you need to replace the MAster cylinder and brake booster. Always replace both at the same time. If one fails the other is failing right behind it. Don't pay double for something you can save on.

   Hope this is helpful...

Car

2009-08-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Wrong tapes...

Yesterday I received the DVD-r disc I had ordered via the Internet for my video camera. I was geeked about getting my Cd's so I can start recording videos to post but they were the wrong darn discs. So sorry for the hold off but my videos have been put on hold for possibly another week. Sorry about that. Anyone have any ideas for something that might need done. I'm up for suggestions.

Car repair

2009-08-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

Busy week at work. A lot of oil changes, tire rotations, check engine lights, but this week was a little different. A had around 5 to 8 cars this week with almost all the same kind of complaint. Rattle and vibration around 2000 RPM. This is a common issue on most Mazda's and it seems like I am seeing these more and more of these complaints. All leading to the same outcome of a blown passenger side mount. Mazda has been using an 2 piece aluminum infused mount that is held together with rubber and hydraulic oil. I don't know if Mazda realized how bad and brutal the streets of Chicago can be on cars especially in the winter months but they manged to use the worse possible part imaginable to support the engine. Why? Because 2-3 times a week someone is paying around $300.00 to $400.00 for a new mount that is no longer covered by your factory warranty. Which you are over in mileage but not in age.

Why such a high failure rate? Why do nearly 85% of the Mazda I service need or have had there passenger side motor mount replaced? It's because the rubber that was designed to with stand perfectly paved roads, with no speed bumps, or pot holes as deep as your Miata, and don't forget sinkholes as if bombs had fallen from small R/C airplanes. leaving 3ft holes in our earth. So what happen when this innovative piece of aluminum combines with a pothole at 25 miles and hour. BANG BUST. Then 2 days after your pothole incident you find a black oil on your garage floor. Don't be fooled that distinctively black oil you find coming form your right side of the car is NOT oil. That's oil from the motor mount you blew the other day. To be for sure that you have a blown mount, take a flash light of some sort and through the top of the engine to the right side you should look for a black fluid of some kind to look like dirty water running down the frame and engine bay of your car.

If you don't have a warranty and don't have a warranty and cant afford the high priced dealer. Here's how you can do it yourself. Get a floor jack, a 2x4 piece of wood, a good size flat head screw driver, 17mm deep socket, 12inch extension, ratchet ( highly recommend if you have air an impact will make it go much faster).

1st thing to do is get that jack under the oil pan with the wood in between the motor and the jack. Lift the motor up just slightly so you know for sure that you are in the right spot.

2ND thing is to move the coolant reservoir bottle out of your way. You will need the flat head for this part, find where the coolant bottle is held in place and get the flat head in the middle of holder and pull up on the bottle. You do not have to remove any hoses and fluid from the reservoir just put over the side.

3rd step is to get the 2 nuts off that connect the block to the mount off. If the motor starts to sag when you start to remove the nuts jack the engine up some. Use the jack to keep the engine supported. Makes it easier to remove and replace the part.

4Th is to remove the to bolts holding the mount to the frame. Slide the mount passed the ground cable and install in reverse order.

Note: When you are installing new mount and you are having trouble getting the mount where it needs to be you can move the motor back and forth to get it to line up right. Get all nuts and bolts started before tightening all the way down.

Hope this was helpful...

3rd Time back

2009-08-19T19:24:00.001-07:00

Good day Today.

Today was another interesting day at Mazda. I was giving a repair order for a 07' Mazdaspeed3, and was asked to take a ride with the customer to verify his concern being that it is the third time it was back and he was starting to lose confidence in our dealer. So the noise only happens when he's turning hard to the right almost like doing a U-turn. The noise was coming from the right front and its sounded like a binding rack and pinion or a splash guard rubbing against the tires. Something in that sound range.

So I get the car back to the shop start to look it over and look into the history. Car has 33,000 miles good tires, good brakes, no apparent leaks, and in really good condition. So as I'm looking the vehicle over I find the right front shock blown, and leaking excessively. I didn't think the noise was coming from the blown strut because the sound I verified wasn't a common noise coming from a blown strut. So I called our hotline and was told to put friction indicter into the transmission because they have seen cases where the LSD makes noise when making slow turns. So I grabbed a bottle of that.

So after removing the strut from the car and compressing the spring to remove it. While removing the strut to install the new one a piece of plastic falls out with the old strut. I pull the bearing top off the spring and find the plastic bushing that supports the blows from potholes and speed bumps we hit everyday was broken and pretty much destroyed. I end up replacing the bushing and strut but did not put the friction indicter into the Trans yet. I did this to verify that the noise was coming from the busted bushing and maybe not even the blown strut.

Now on the initial first drive after the repair the car sounds much better and quieter. I'm 99% sure the noise is gone. But being that the customer has been here 3 times for the same concern. I wanted to make sure it was gone so I put the fluid in the Trans and took it on another test drive. Sounded Severn better. So maybe the sound was coming from both places? Don't know but I know for sure that I fixed it. All my buddies at work were proud of me and my confidence is now on a million.

That's what this apprenticeship is all about right?

Clean up your car. Here's how.

2009-08-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

Why do some people have SO much stuff inside their cars? Used dirty clothes, cigarette buds, baby bottles (half empty), fast food bags with a 3week old burgers, quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies in every place imaginable. Trunks look like a laundry mat lost and found. Engine bays have rats nest, and after you drive your car for 30 minutes you wonder why it smells like burnt rats? This isn't that uncommon!

Maybe I'm scorned because I work on so many cars and see many different kinds of disasters. I do see a fair share of extremely clean cars. But what amazes me is when a customer complains of a smell or odd odor after driving for a while. So I get to look at it because I'm the apprentice and no one else wants to work on it. What do I find under the belly pan? Around 100 to 150 pellets of rat discharge (crap). Turns out the customer parks in an alley and doesn't drive the car that often. So the rats essentially used his engine bay as a house. He's not the first either.

Kids absolutely destroy cars, vans, suv's doesn't matter the size or the make of the vehicle. I often see cars go from brand new off the show room floor to a haz mat area by the 2ND oil change. I find fries, and small toys in seat belt buckles. ketchup packs, and mustard packs open and dry like they have been there for a couple months. Used diapers folded up in between the center console and the passenger seat. It's Crazy to me, maybe because I don't have kids and clean my car as often as possible.

If you don't have kids but smoke PLEASE clean out the astray, and the coin tray's, and anywhere else you put your shorts, or finished cigarette's. I know those people that smoke cant tell but when I get into a person's car that smoke's a lot I can see the yellow tint that you have created by chain smoking and every time I get out my boss ask me I took up smoking because I get to carry your stench. A pack of Newport's is $8.00 where I live, please invest in a small air freshener they sell them at the same place you buy your smokes.

Food makes cent's. I could probably buy lunch 3 days a week from all the change I find. Thankfully I don't have much of an appetite after pulling out all that old food. I'm talking chicken wings, french fries, snicker bars, sunflower seeds some already eaten, some new, just a lot . You must get immune to the god awful smell you have created of old food, spoiled milk, and your 2 week old work out clothes. Com'on people lets all help out and keep our cars clean. Some of us spend more time in them than our own homes. Plus people get impressions from what the inside of your car looks like not by the car you drive. I know plenty of people who drive cars they cant afford.

I hope I don't come off as a dirt bag. But put a bag in your car to keep the car some what clean. Tip of the day: when you go to get gas, throw some of it out. Please

Introducing myself to you.

2009-08-17T11:47:00.001-07:00

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Maintenance

2009-08-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

http://estovideorepairs.blogspot.com

Maintenance is the word for today. I don't think people understand how important it is to do oil changes, tire rotations, air filters, brake flushes, transmission flushes, so forth and so on. Some of those don't have to be done that often. Maybe around every 30 thousand miles or two years.

Oil Changes...

Everyone already knows the number 1 rule of thumb is to change your oil every 3000 miles and some newer cars can go 5000 miles without having to change the oil. Please read your owners manual there is a lot of useful information in them about what specific grade oil your vehicle takes, and quantity. Oil has tons of minerals and lube molecules in it that protect your engine from damage or even blowing. If you go too far over on the same oil it will break down and start to decrease in lubing the engine walls and properly lubing the moving elements inside the engine. Don't be surprised if when you go to change your oil at that 3 month interval or 3000 miles whichever comes first you are a half quart short of oil. Most motors tend to burn 1/2 a quart of oil per 3000 miles. Make sure you understand your oil filler gauge too much oil can damage gaskets, and lead to leaks. If you start blowing heavy white smoke after an oil change. You probably put too much oil and now your plugs are burning excess oil. Drain it down some and recheck.

Tire Rotation...

In the last few years with the advancement of suspension and the quest for a quieter ride. Today's cars suspension are very brutal to tires and it doesn't help that the Manufacture uses the best and most expensive tires from the factory. Not doing tire rotations on a regular basis can lead to quite a few different problems from, road noise, steering wheel shaking at highway speeds, alignment issues. I recommend doing your tire rotation every other oil change. By doing tire rotations on a regular it adds life to the tires, helps them all wear the same as far as thread depth, and reduces noise when your tires are getting low on thread. Major issues i have seen from lack of tire rotations are that the rear tires tend to get a feather like pattern on the inside of the thread which after a short time you will being to hear a sort of humming coming from the rear of the vehicle at around 20 mph into the 30's. Once your tires have feathered the only repair is to replace them at that point. With not doing this service I have also had a lot of customer complaints of "steering wheel shakes at highway speeds". When I lift the car into the air I rub my hand across the edge of the tires and feel for lumps or bumps that make the tire go out of round. Sometimes the lumps aren't big so you have to have someone put the car in drive while looking at the tires from a short distance. Only do this method on a lift with supervision. Only fix for this is replacing both front tires. If you want to save money and DIY all a tire rotation is moving the front tires to the back and the back to the front. Keep tires on the same side you took them off. Don't forget to make sure your tires are properly inflated. (Check drivers door for the correct amount of PSI.

Air Filter...

Every 12 to 15k miles. You might not think the air filter is all that important and doesn't have to be changed but every 30k miles but it is extremely important to your vehicles running condition, idle, and gas mileage. inside your air intake system there are temperature sensor and a measuring sensor. These sensor relay the amount of air and the temp. of the incoming air to adequately match the fuel to create a smooth, gas saving, Eco friendly car. There's not too much to get into about the air filter but here's a tip on when it is time to replace it. Take the filter out of the air box put the filter in the light and if you cant see through it than air cant get through it either. which in turn makes the car work harder to match the low air quantity. Air filters are fairly cheap and run from $15 to $30 depending on where you go.

Hope it was helpful

http://estovideorepairs.blogspot.com

No Start

2009-08-14T17:08:00.000-07:00

No start condition even after I replaced my battery. Well today I was giving a repair order with one concern. Customer states "after replacing battery car still doesn't start at times and sometimes takes longer than usual." Well this was an easy repair the 1st thing I did was check the terminal's for looseness or damage like cracks, corrosion, and if the ground cable that connects to the body was not being interrupted by an outside source. As soon as I grabbed the the positive terminal and then checked the negative I found that both terminals were left loose by whoever replaced the battery. After I tightened the cables I ran a battery and charging system test which everything passed.

Something so small like that is overlooked all the time. So take your time and pay close attention to what you are doing and you won't have these issues.

Here are a couple things I would like to help people doing research on vehicle repairs. So for those with no idea on where to start or what symptom's to look for when your vehicle is not starting often and you have to start your car by jumping it every couple of days or everyday.

First thing for you to know is there are only 3 things that will keep your vehicle from starting. The 1st is Fuel. You need gas to start every car. The 2nd is air to mix with the fuel which creates combustion. The 3rd is spark you need power to spark the "spark plugs" which burn the Fuel/Air mixture.

The fastest and easiest way to verify if you are having a lack of, or too much fuel issue which is causing your car to take a longer period of time to start or floods out the spark plugs to the point of a No Start. Look for the fuel rail which is usually found near the intake manifold. Most vehicles have a nozzle like tip (looks like a valve stem) If you have someone with you have them crank the vehicle while you push that nozzle in you should get fuel to come out very pressurized. Which eliminates your fuel issue as far as fuel pump.

The 2nd important ingredient in this soup of combustion is Air. Make sure your air filter is clean of debris and your throttle body is open which lets all air into the engine. The air is measured by the Maf sensor (Mass Air Flow) which measures the volume and temperatures' of the air the vehicle is taking in from outside. Fuel/Air mixture is read by the Maf sensor and fuel pressure regulator. If you have a Maf sensor that is going bad on you your car might not start. Some vehicles SOME vehicle are designed to run in SAFE mode and wont run well but will start at times. At that point you have an idea that your Maf is bad. Replace it and eliminate the air issue.

The 3rd and most important is ELECTRICITY. No power means No start. If you go to your car and you don't get a click or a very slow crank but turns on. 99% chance your battery is going bad. If you get a jump and the vehicle stays running then you can eliminate the charging system because the ALTERNATOR is generating power to the battery. Batteries usually last 3 years or so 60,000 miles. At times the internal cells in the battery go bad. I will go into details about batteries and the internals on another day. If your battery is good and you think your starter is bad. The easiest way to check if your starter is getting power is by the headlights dimming while cranking. If the starter is sticking you will hear a jammed noise like a click click noise.

Hope this was helpful. Leave me questions on your concerns.

estovideorepairs.blogspot.com/

Mazda Auto Repair

2009-08-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

2006 Mazda 3 Hatchback

18067 miles...

Well today I got my first repair order with a complaint on the first line. " Noise from rear when going over bumps". I took the vehicle for a test drive to verify the complaint. Once on the test drive I heard the noise immediately it sounded like a metal knocking noise very obvious that it was coming from the rear. After I raised the vehicle I went to check for rear shocks to be blown or after market brake pads which always make noise. No blown shocks, OEM pads, and rotors, no leaks and nothing looked damage. So I grabbed my dead blow hammer and start to hit the bottom of the tires and listen for the noise when I hear a clack noise coming from the bottom of the spring area where it gets held into place. I look into the rear lower control arm where I found a piece of the spring that seems to have rusted off and broke inside the lower control arm. Replaced spring and problem solved. Here's a helpful tip to diagnosing noise's get the car in the air and try to recreate the noise while trying to not WASTE time. Hope the tips help you keep up with my blog. BE safe and get it fixed.

estovideorepairs.blogspot.com/