JE Robison Service — the blog

Some thoughts on the trades

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:12:00 +0000

This weekend I finished another excellent book about our economy, and how we might recover from recession. One of the suggestions was that we should become better educated, as a society. To bolster that point, the author talked about college graduation rates, and the limited prospects for non-college-graduates who end up with low paying service jobs.

Where are the trades, in that writer’s mind?

I can just hear the answer now . . . Trades? What are trades?

All too often, writers divide the world of work into “educated and professional” labor performed by college graduates, and “minimum wage service work” performed by the unwashed masses; those of us who did not make it out of college or perhaps even out of high school.

That depiction does a great disservice to our young people as they contemplate their future career paths. For the trades still offer tremendous opportunity, and they are overlooked more and more today.

So what are the trades, you ask? Trades are specialized jobs that are taught by doing. People who work in the trades use both their hands and their minds to reason through problems and produce tangible results. In years past you learned a trade by being an apprentice. Today, you might learn a trade at a trade school, or academy. And some apprentice programs still exist.

Examples of trades are:

Carpenter, cabinetmaker, or framer
Auto, truck, or airplane mechanic or technician
Computer service technician
Medical equipment service technician
Plumber
Electrician
Heavy equipment operator

All of those jobs require substantial skill that is developed through both study and practice, and all have different levels. One starts out at low wages as an apprentice, while masters make as much as most people in “professional” jobs.

The next step up from being a master is to own a small business that employs other tradesmen. Examples are my auto service company, or a local electrical contractor. Owners of successful trade business can make as much or more money than even high-level professionals, like doctors or lawyers.

Yet the path to success in a trade does not generally pass through a college and it is often overlooked.

There are three hundred million people here in America. It’s tradesmen who construct the places where we live. Tradesmen bring us the electric power, and the plumbing. Tradesmen fix our cars and trucks, and they restore that old jalopy we took on our first date. They build those custom cabinets you always dreamed of in the study. They bring town water to your cabin when the well ran dry. The beauty of the trades is that they are not going anywhere. No one is outsourcing those jobs to India or China.

It’s true that the trades change. The job of fixing cars has changed tremendously over the past twenty years, as has the job of wiring a house or even installing plumbing. But everything changes. We all have to learn and adapt. Tradesmen may have a greater challenge, learning to adapt both hands and minds, but we do it and prosper.

In some cases, fewer workers are needed in a given area. Construction trades are a good example of that today. With the housing collapse, we have a surplus of tradesmen who know how to work new construction. Yet we still have jobs in other trades, like auto repair, and we even have jobs for carpenters, plumbers and electricians in repair and maintenance.

I find working on things I can pick up and handle very satisfying. I know many other tradesmen feel the same. I like to fix something, see it work, and know it’s a job well done. That sense of personal connection and satisfaction is missing in all too many jobs today.

Tradesmen of all kinds are what keep our world running. When the lights go out, you don't call an investment banker.

So why are the trades overlooked and dismissed? Maybe it’s time for a second glance . . .

Getting a collector car ready for winter storage

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:49:00 +0000

It’s late November, time for collector cars to be put in storage all over New England. These are some thoughts from my 25 years doing this job here at Robison Service . . .

We start by opening the hood and having a look at the fluids. There are differing opinions on oil, but my preference is to change dirty oil in the fall, rather than leaving it to rot the engine all winter.

I feel the same way about other fluids. If they are dirty, I suggest they be changed.

We use test strips to check antifreeze for pH balance and freeze protection. If the coolant fails or even looks marginal, we change it.

We check the battery and cables. If the car is going to sit in storage, and it predates the computer era, I suggest disconnecting the battery. If the car has computers that need to be kept alive, I suggest fitting a trickle charger and a timer to make sure it keeps the battery up without boiling it away.

Some people are concerned about rust in the combustion chambers. If you have this worry, get a couple cans of marine engine winterizer spray. Disconnect the ignition, and crank the engine over while spraying the winterizer into the intake. That will coat the inside of the motor with oil and it will last a year or more, until it’s started again.

Of course, if you do this, the car must be pushed or towed into its storage spot.

Next we inflate the tires. My big concern is that tires develop flat spots when the car sits still on its tires for months at a time. You can minimize that by inflating to the maximum pressure shown on the sidewall. You can eliminate flat spots by storing your car on blocks, so the wheels are actually slightly off the ground.

Most classic cars have steel fuel tanks that are vented to the air. When temps rise and fall moisture can condense on the inside surfaces of the tank just as it forms a mist on the exterior metal surfaces. That “fog” ends up in the gas and causes all sorts of trouble.

You can minimize that problem by keeping your car filled with fuel. You can also minimize the problem by protecting your car from dramatic temperature swings wherever it is stored.

The next area of concern is the fuel itself. Gasoline degrades as it sits in storage, and today’s pump fuels start out marginal for use in older cars. For that reason, I suggest you fill your car with premium fuel, and add fuel stabilizer to slow its deterioration.

If you are near an airport, and they will sell you fuel in gas cans, your car will run better on Avgas 100. However, it is costly and not every airport will dispense the stuff into containers. It’s illegal for road use in the USA despite its functional superiority.

I like to put cars up on the left and spray penetrating oil into all the linkages and moving parts. That reduces the chance things will freeze up or rust over the winter.

Finally, we get to the interior. I have had enough trouble with rodents that I now leave mouse baits on the floor in hopes that will reduce or eliminate infestations. I also leave an air freshener inside, and choose a dry location for storage.

Some people like to store cars under a cover; others prefer to leave them open. I like covers because they protect you from scratches if cats jump on the cars or things brush against them.

If you do this work yourself, plan on spending a few hours putting the car to rest. If you pay someone to do it for you, expect a bill for several hundred dollars of labor plus fuel, coolant, or other fluids

Whatever you choose, I wish you luck this winter season.

And remember . . . an apple a day will keep anyone away, if thrown hard enough.

How long do tires last?

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:53:00 +0000

How long do tires last?

If you have a collectible car, the tires may look new, yet be falling apart inside. The culprit is dry rot, which destroys tires from within. Dry rot causes the rubber to break down, become weak, and eventually fail. Usually without warning.

Dry rot is the visible manifestation of the natural process of rubber breaking down. It’s accelerated by a number of factors including:

Ozone exposure;
Exposure to bright sun and heat;
UV exposure;
Use of certain tire dressings and chemicals;
Underinflation.

Dry rot is a bigger problem in the south because it’s hotter and the sun is brighter. It’s a problem at high altitude because the sun is more intense and there is more UV exposure.

Some people say tires need to be replaced every five years in the tropics. Others say tires should be replaced every ten years, wherever they are. Then there are those who say you don’t need to do anything unless you can see dry rot attacking the tires. I think that last opinion is probably closest to the truth, because I see cars that are stored indoors all the time, and the tires look perfect after ten years, but other cars that are parked outside in the sun every day show dry rot damage in three years.

That leads to a question – how do you know the age of a tire?

Tires that were made after January 1, 2000 have a code stamped on the inner sidewall that begins with DOT and ends with four digits molded into the tire. The four digits indicate the week (1-52) and the year (00 for 2000) that the tire was made.

Here’s an example

This tire was made in week 43 of 2002.

Rolls Royce and Bentley seat memory batteries

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In my last story I described replacement of the backup batteries in the Rolls-Bentley alarm controller under the dash. This story sort of builds on that one . . . This time I’d like to look at changing the batteries in the memory seat units.

Each front seat has its own memory unit. They are located under the seats. Depending on the age of your car they may take one of several forms. These pictures show the controllers found in the mid-1990s.

To get at them, you remove the lower cushion, unscrew the memory unit, and withdraw it to the front. It comes out dragging a large tangle of wire as you can see. The controller is the box on the floor, just to the right of the Fluke test meter. I've removed the cover in that photo.

Looking at the cover you see these memory units are something of a homemade affair. The label is something I could have made up on my own printer! Looking inside you can see the single battery. In this car, the battery is not corroded badly but in older cars it will leak and the acid eats away the circuit board, leading to failures.

In the photo above I point out the battery that we are about to change. The new one will look different, but as long as we match the voltage and technology (don't mix ni-cad and lithium ion) we will be all set. This particular battery is 3.6 volts. The original one has a 100MA rating; we will fit a slightly bigger one because that's what they sell today.

These seat memory units cost $2,500 when they were available, and there are none left. Consequently, we have a lot of incentive to preserve the ones we have. Changing the batteries before they leak is the best way for you to do that.

We unsolder the battery from the board and remove it.

Then we fit a new battery. This one is a 3.6 volt battery for a pet collar. I found it at Radio Shack. It’s a perfect functional replacement for $20. It’s a snap to solder in place but you should note that the original battery had two positive wires and I had to add a jumper to replace that missing second positive lead.

The photo below shows the jumper I had to add

If you are like me you test it before assembly. This one worked. If it does not work you should look carefully for corrosion damage or installation errors. Beyond that, you will have to hunt up and electronic technician and further repair is a hit or miss proposition. That’s why I urge you to change these batteries now – before they fail. Then it’s back together and off to the other side.

What to do when you tangle your loader in the electric lines

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:32:00 +0000

This past weekend we had unprecedented damage from an early snowstorm. Trees were down across all the roads in town, and many took powerlines down with them. I had to clear a dozen or more large trees just to reach the highway, less than half a mile from my house.

I used the front end loader on my tractor to break up the tree jams, and pick up the brush and move it aside so cars could pass. Anyone who’s ever run a loader knows that’s heavy and dangerous work as the trees bend and snap. You’re glad to be in a roll cage enclosed cab with some of those limbs come back to whack you in the face!

To clearing the road I’d scoop under a load of tree debris, lift it high, and dump it in the woods. That process went along uneventfully until I picked up a load of brush that was tangled with bare electric power lines. There are lots of stories online telling you to stay away from power lines. There are very few stories that talk about what you should do if you get up close and engaged with them. Today, I’d like to share my thoughts with you.

The conventional wisdom says that it’s fatal to contact live electrical power lines. That is certainly the case much of the time, but not always. The key is not making your body a path from electricity to ground. The voltage at a wall outlet (120v) will knock you down and can kill you. The voltage on the poles at the street is at minimum 10-20 times higher, and it WILL kill you if that happens.

That said, if you hit live power lines with a loader, backhoe, or crane, and you are inside an enclosed cab on the machine, you can probably emerge unscathed, provided you keep your wits about you and follow these steps.

When your machine touches the line, it immediately becomes energized to the voltage in the wires. If you are sitting in the cab, you get energized too. You don’t actually feel anything but a tingle, as no current is flowing through you, but you are suddenly in a very dicey position.

As long as you remain in the cab, the wires can’t touch you, and the current flows through the metal of the machine. If you get out of the cab, or a wire gets in, all that changes. If you touch anything outside the cab, the power line current will flow from the cab frame, into you, and out of you into whatever you touch. That's almost always lethal.

Touching a tree or anything outside your machine while in the cab will kill you. Touching the ground in an attempt to escape the cab will kill you too. So stay inside, windows shut.

That’s how most people who have accidents on construction equipment get killed. They hit a line, and then jump off the machine. That’s usually a fatal error. The ground under the machine is energized as the current flows through the wire, into the machine, and into the surrounding earth. The dirt within five to ten feet of the machine is going to be energized to a dangerous level. So you can be safe in the cab, but dead if you jump on the ground.

The wires present another danger. If the wire is outside, touching your loader frame, you are safe. If the wire gets inside, or touches you, you are toast. So don’t open the windows or doors.

If anyone sees you in this fix, wave them away, but do not open the doors. If they approach you, they are likely to be electrocuted by the field you are currently immersed in. Hopefully, no one else is around you.

The final danger is that the energy in the wire will disable the machine, leaving you unable to escape. When the energy flows into the machine’s steel frame, it has to go somewhere. That somewhere is ground, through the steel tracks or rubber tires that the machine sits on. That point of contact with the ground becomes a hot spot, both figuratively and literally. A tracked machine, sitting on steel tracks, could have the grease in the tracks burst into flame. A wheeled loader will have smoke coming from the tires as they begin to melt. Both situations call for fast action.

Disengage the machine from the wires, look around for other hazards, and back away. If the machine’s arms are tangled, remember the rig has enough power to break the wires, but you have to make sure you back clear, wherever they land. That is absolutely vital. Wires may be dark, and hard to see against downed trees or a dark roadway. It’s essential that you back at least twenty feet away from them before exiting the cab. If the ground is wet, back farther.

If for some reason you cannot back away, remain in the cab and use a cell phone or radio to call for help. When seeking help, the only thing someone can do is cut the power remotely. Any attempts to approach your energized machine will be lethal to potential rescuers. It’s far better and safer to get your machine out of danger under its own power.

Hopefully, you will never encounter powerlines in a construction machine. If you do, just remember. Stay inside. Keep your head. Disengage and back clear.

Once clear, flag the area as dangerous from a safe distance. When walking near downed wires it’s possible to step from an area with no charge to a lethally charged area with no visible indication of what is about to happen. In that sense, downed lines are more dangerous than the deadliest snake, because they do not even have to touch you to kill you.

Replacing the alarm batteries in a 1990s Rolls or Bentley

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:59:00 +0000

I get quite a few calls asking about battery replacement in the security and memory seat modules of Rolls Royce and Bentley cars. In this article I'd like to show how we address that issue here at Robison Service.

The car shown in a 1996 Bentley Turbo but the job essentially the same in any Crewe Rolls Royce or Bentley car from 1990 to 1998

We start by unlocking the doors, rolling down the windows, and disconnecting the battery. We open doors and windows to protect us from being locked out if the controller does anything funny. Disconnecting the battery is important because the vehicle should be powered off for removal and refit. Switching off the battery switch does not switch off the alarm in many later cars.

Now it's time for removing the dash top. That exposes the metal understructure, the wiring, and the modules. To remove the top, you first remove the wood fascia. The lower dash panels also come off. With those out of the way, you can access the screws holding the top cover in place.

The wiring is all neatly bundled together, and there's a lot of it! There are many different modules under the dash in these cars. Luckily, the folks at Crewe labeled each one with real human-readable tags and not just part numbers.

The alarm or security controller (labels vary) is usually located in the middle of the dash, above the radio.

The next view shows the area where it may be found > > >

Here is a security controller removed:

Unplug the controller from the car and take it out. When the brackets are removed you can take the case apart and remove the circuit boards. They unfold to reveal something like this. The batteries are in the center and lower right in this image. One is white; the other is blue.

In this closeup you can see the corrosion, but in the earlier photo you can also see that the corrosion is not so bad that the whole circuit board is eaten up. That's why it's so important to change these now, before they fail. If you get a failure there is a good chance your circuits are too eaten up to be fixed by a simple battery change.

A look at the battery give us the information we need to find a replacement. I don't know where to find identical replacements; indeed I doubt they exist today. But that's okay; we can get functional equivalents. Reading the label, we see that this battery is 6 volts, 280 milliamp hours, and it's a nickel cadmium (ni-cd) type.

In the USA we head for Radio Shack, where they sell a wide variety of replacement batteries for cordless phones and other devices. We find a battery that has the same voltage, similar amp-hour rating, and the same technology. Note that you need an exact match for technology and volts, but amp-hour rating is flexible.

If you fit a lithium ion battery in place of a nickel cadmium unit, the charge rate will be wrong, and it will soon burn up. If you install a battery of the wrong voltage, the system won't work, and may be damaged. We remove the old batteries and solder the new ones in place. We tape them or glue them down, because they have a different shape from the originals.

The result should look something like this:

Now we're ready for the final step. We put the electronics back in the case, and plug the whole thing into the car. We hook up the battery, and give it a try. This one worked.

If you have a working module in your car now, and you change the batteries as a preventative step, you are virtually assured of success (provided you do it right.)

Battery replacement and circuit board cleanup as a repair procedure is a lot more chancy. I don't know the success rate but I do know it's chancy enough that we don't do these repairs unless we have the car here, so we can test our work and perhaps even go in for further repairs if we do not get success the first time.

Luckily, this controller worked right off, and we put the car back together.

This Bentley should be all set for another ten years or so.

I'm sorry to say this

Audi Timing Belts

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000

If you have a later model Audi, and you’re closing in on 100,000 miles you might be wondering why that timing belt change you’re looking at is so expensive, and what it involves.

The maintenance schedule simply says “replace timing belt at 105,000 miles” for most models. They don’t really list any other parts, or talk about what’s involved. There are two ways you can approach that work.

The first method is to slide the front bumper forward for access, take the covers off the front of the motor, and slip a new timing belt into place. You might change a roller or two, and swap the serpentine belts, but the rest of the car remains untouched.

That’s the easiest job to do. A skilled tech can bang the work out in a day. But is that the best job for you as an owner?

If you plan to trade the car next month, it may seem like the way to go. But if you plan on keeping your Audi another 100,000 miles, or you plan to pass it on to a kid or friend or anyone you care about, a different approach is probably called for.

At Robison Service, we do a lot of work for enthusiasts – people who ask a lot of their cars and really care about and for them. Over time we’ve learned that the best repairs are the ones that last. Often that means doing more work, not less, when tackling a big job. Anytime we do a big job, we ask ourselves, “What else is going to give trouble soon,” and we address those items while the car is apart and it’s easy. After all, it’s always smarter to spend two hundred dollars today, if it saves six hundred dollars next year.

If you simply slap a timing belt onto a 100,000-mile Audi you can be assured that the job will not last another 100,000 miles. More than likely, you will be doing the work over again, with additional repairs, within three years. Why? Because the timing belt is just one piece of a complex system, and the other pieces of the system can and will fail too, even though they are not on the maintenance schedule.

For example, the water pump is driven by the timing belt. Most Audi water pumps make it to 100k miles. I’ve never seen one last 200k. The water pump is behind the timing belt, so its replacement calls for doing the timing belt all over again. Installing a water pump during the timing belt job will cost a few hundred dollars, in most cases. Replacing it two years later (and doing the timing belt and other work over again) may well cost fifteen hundred more dollars, when everything is tallied up.

The timing belt is guided and tensioned by a number of rollers and springs, all of which wear out. Those parts won’t last till 200k either, and if they fail, the timing belt can come off, leading to thousands of dollars in preventable engine damage.

All cars leak oil and coolant when they get old. Audis are no exception. The thing is, you can fix many of those leaks easily when the engine is apart. A few extra hours may get rid of those annoying drips.

And drips can be more than an annoyance. When oil or coolant leaks onto the exhaust, it’s a fire hazard. When oil gets hot in summer, it makes an acrid stink that can be drawn inside the car when the AC is running. Those are a few of the good reasons to fix your leaks while the motor is open.

What about everything else under the hood? I believe a good technician should look the whole engine bay over carefully when doing any big job. Who knows what’s about to fail? There may be cracked hoses, leaking AC lines, or even a corroded and failing battery. The time we open the hood for work may well be the only time anyone looks at those things until they fail.

As much as people hate to spend money, it’s easier and cheaper to change a battery when your car is already in the shop than it will be when it dies, in an empty parking lot, some cold winter night. That idea exemplifies the difference in our philosophy. We believe in identifying what may go wrong tomorrow, and fixing it while we do today's repair. Other people believe is doing just what the schedule says, and no more. There's a place for both ways of thinking; I believe our philosophy is more suited to long term ownership.

We apply this same preventative care approach to every car we service. Sometimes it can surprise people. They go to the Shop A and hear about two problems. They come to us and we show them ten more things. That doesn't make the first guy wrong - it just means we have a different approach and I like to think we are more through.

Robison Service is a four-star Bosch Car Service center. We service Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes, Land Rover, Porsche, and Rolls Royce-Bentley automobiles. We’re located right off exit 4 of I-291 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Visit us online, or stop by the shop. We're here from 8-5 Monday through Friday. Phone us at 413-785-1665

We won't be feeding data to CARFAX. Here's why . . .

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:50:00 +0000

Yesterday I got a call from a CARFAX representative who wanted me to upload my repair database to their servers so it could be included in what CARFAX reports on cars we may have serviced.

I sought opinions about that on my blog and Facebook page, and thought about the matter at some length. I’ve decided it’s not a good idea for my company, and indeed for most independents, for these reasons:

Customers have an expectation of privacy, especially in small business dealings. They don’t expect us to sell their names to marketers. While CARFAX is not collecting names in this example, anyone buying a car and following its trail to our shop necessarily makes a connection to our clients, who may or may not want to share that information.

While some of our clients might well embrace the CARFAX concept, I am sure others would be very troubled at this release of information that might be traced back to them.

That alone is reason for independent shops to steer clear of this program, but there’s more.

CARFAX claims they are extracting or summarizing what shops write on their work orders using some kind of automated process. The result, as shown in the sample area of their website, will look something like this:

12/10/10 ABC Garage Electrical Repair

2/1/11 BBB Garage Oil service

I have a number of serious concerns about this process. One concern is that CARFAX will incorrectly “summarize” what is written in our repair orders, leading to a misleading or totally wrong CARFAX report. For example, consider the fellow who brings his off-road Jeep in five times in five months to add driving lights, fit a bigger stereo, install a winch, upgrade the alternator, and fit more driving lights.

Will that show up as five “electrical repairs?” If it does, who does the owner blame for that wrong report? CARFAX? Us? It’s a situation where we will be blamed and we have no control or recourse; indeed we can’t even know what’s happening because we have no access to the reports.

The problem is, if we hand someone our information, we have a responsibility to our clients, to be sure they use it correctly. CARFAX is not offering us that ability, but even if they did, why would we want to do it for them?

You have a situation where our sharing of innocent repair data might create a false impression that a car is a lemon, or at least needs constant repairs. That could turn off some buyers, and it’s easy to see how the vehicle owner would blame us if he lost a sale. One such negative would outweigh a hundred customers who think “it’s ok,” in my experience. That negative could cause us a lot of bad press. “It’s okay,” is indifferent at best and counts for nothing in terms of our reputation in the community.

CAARFAX argues that the addition of service data enhances the value of a car, by proving it’s well cared for. While that may be true, who does the data benefit? They imply it benefits our clients but I don’t think that’s really so. If our clients are selling a car, they already tell potential buyers that we care for it, and we are its reference. CARFAX adds nothing to that situation.

If our client has not cared for his car faithfully, the existence of a spotty record is a minus. Maybe that means he didn’t take good care of his car, but it may also mean he has a winter home in Florida and the shop that does the rest of the work down there does not report to CARFAX. Once again, our contribution of data creates a false negative impression that could come back to bite us.

If anyone wants to know how our clients cars were cared for, all they have to do is ask . . . In the latter example, we’d say, “Bob has some of his work done in Florida, so ask them too.” The difference is obvious.

The true beneficiaries of the CARFAX data are dealers, who buy used cars at auction, and the CARFAX company itself. Our clients are out of the picture once the car is traded in.

CARFAX says we benefit too, because a prospective buyer can look at the record and see we serviced the car. That sounds true, but a large percentage of cars that get traded in are auctioned and resold out of the local market. That negates any advertising advantage we might get by appearing in the listing.

Auto service is a local proposition. Local people will refer us directly. Distant people don’t matter in most cases. It’s a tenuous proposition at best.

I’d be interested in other views on this topic.

CARFAX - to be on board or not?

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:15:00 +0000

By now I'm sure you have heard of Carfax. Over the past decade the company has built its name selling history reports on motor vehicles. At first they only had state motor vehicle records. Then they added loss reports form insurance companies. Now they want to add service records.

They say they have signed up some of the big discount chains; Midas, Meineke, Pep Boys. So if you get a muffler or oil service at one of those places, the date and mileage where you did the work, and the address of the shop, will become part of your car's Carfax record.

We know service records (or lack thereof) are a big issue to used car buyers. Carfax claims that listing the repair shops will encourage new owners to take their cars back to the original service facilities, with may well be true. So the service may well benefit both used car buyers and shop owners.

But what of the current owners, our present customers?

Carfax says their service benefits our current clientele by enhancing the value of their vehicles in the used car market. At some point, most of our customers will replace the cars we service today, and when they do, that online record is there for all to see.

I suppose that's true.

Yet I can't help but feel it's one more little invasion of our privacy. Most Mercedes, BMW or Rolls Royce service managers I know are hesitant to release service records for a car without the permission of the owner, who is in many cases still their client. Carfax proposes to put the essence of that information online, without asking anyone, and sell access to it with their reports.

Carfax is not paying shops for the information. They claim they are giving the shops "free advertising" and they claim they are enhancing the value of our customer's used cars in the market. As I said, both things may well be true.

So what do you folks say?

Opt in to this program, or pass?

The British Invasion returns

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 03:30:00 +0000

Once again it's time to head for Vermont, for the British Invasion

Here's a preview of a few of the cars we are bringing:

Please join me on the show field, and meet the crew from Robison Service. We will have cars in Land Rover, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Bentley and Triumph classes.

When engines run too fast, or too lean . . . valves break

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:25:00 +0000

Last week, we received a 1990s Range Rover Classic that ran rough and made some noise. A local garage had changed the plugs and wires, to no avail. They did a compression test, and found one dead cylinder, with 25 PSI compression. A normal reading on a truck like this is 175. That's when the owner decided to ship the rig to us.

We did a leak down test, where we put air into the cylinder through the spark plug hole, to see where it comes out. Air came out the exhaust as fast as we put it in. There was only one thing to do - we pulled the head.

We found just what I expected - a burnt exhaust valve. You can see the two valves in the cylinder head photo above. The intake is on the left; exhaust on the right. See the ragged edge on the right side of the exhaust valve? That's the failure. Here's the valve, removed from the head:

In this photo the failure is unmistakable. That was where the story got complicated. The owner said, "The engine only started skipping after I got the truck back from having a new transmission installed." I asked why he had the transmission changed. "It stopped shifting gears," was his reply. "It stuck in low."

I decided to look at little closer. Look real close at this photo of the piston. Note the little line just below center right:

It looks to me like the valve touched the top of the piston, ever so slightly. BTW, the liquid in the cylinder is residue from disassembly. It has nothing to do with the repair.

I thought about what the owner had said, and I concluded one of two things must have happened.
A - He ran the engine too fast because the transmission was stuck. As a consequence, the valve "floated" and hit the piston, causing it to fail
B - The engine was racing way too fast with a light load because the transmission was stuck. As a result, it ran too lean, and the lean running caused that cylinder to overheat because its injector was a little marginal.

I don't know which explanation is correct, and of course one of you readers may suggest something totally different. For now, I am going to use my best judgement and recommend we change that injector, and fix the valve. Changing the injector covers both the bases for us. The trans repair took care of the over-revving, and the injector will take care of possible leanness in that cylinder.

As you can see, there is no sign of damage on the cleaned up piston:

The valve looks just as fried as ever. We'll fit a new one, and new springs just to be safe. We will also touch up the valve job on all the other cylinders and clean up the seats.

If you go back to the top photo, you'll see there was black carbon all over the valve. What does that tell us? It says someone tried to drive this truck a ways with the failed cylinder. That suggests it may have failed earlier than the owner thought. However, it does not change the diagnosis.

Is there a moral to this story? I think so. When your car starts to fail, or act at all unusual, park it. Don't drive it home and then say, "it sounds funny." By the time you get there, it may be too late. This fellow started with a transmission repair, but when he kept driving, it became an engine repair too.

In his defense, I must say that we see this all the time. Modern cars have loud stereos and lots of sound deadening around the motor. Most of the lights and gauges we had 20 years ago are gone. It's easy to drive today's vehicles until they go up in smoke, and then ask ourselves, "How did that happen?"

As owners (I am an owner too, not just a repair guy) we have to be extra observant because the sounds and smells that used to warn of danger are no longer there for us to see, unless we look real close. Check your fluids every now and then, and if you ever feel something may be amiss, slow down, open a window, and listen and smell. It it ticking? Does it smell hot? Is that gauge pinned in the red?

In the end, if our cars fail, we pay the price. So it pays to be vigilant.

Sludge

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 06:12:00 +0000

Three months ago, a 2006 Audi came in for an oil change. We’d never worked on it before. We did an oil service and some other routine work. The car left, and we didn’t hear from its owner until today.

After lunch, I got a call from a garage in Colorado who had the car in for service. The mechanic told me the car had 54,000 miles on its odometer – 4,000 more than when we had it here. He said the car came in with a cam adjuster fault code, and the engine oil was very dirty. In response to that, he drained the oil, ran BG engine flush through the motor, and changed the oil again.

The mechanic said that the oil was very black, which caused him to think we must not have changed it. He alleged this supposedly overlooked oil change caused the customer’s present problem, which he believed to be sludge buildup causing the cam adjuster to act up.

In response to his allegation I reviewed the internal shop ticket for the car. The ticket showed the technician worked on the car a total of 5.1 hours on March 22, and the materials charged on the final bill were pulled from stock. An oil change was indeed on the list of tasks. There was absolutely no reason to doubt the oil was changed from the records I saw.

However, it raises a good question. When someone comes in for a service like an oil change, and then says “you charged me for it and never did it,” what do you say? When you put a new tires or wiper blades on a car, they are plain to see. However, new oil looks pretty much the same as old oil, much of the time.

You can recognize new oil right after it's installed, but in some engines it will be black the very next day. Unfortunately, those tend to be the engines whose owners generate complaints. To answer, I first say we are presumed to have done what we say we did, in the absence of evidence to the contrary. When a bill says "change oil" most people accept that the service was provided as described.

The “black looking oil” cited by the Colorado mechanic is not evidence that we hadn't changed it. It was just black oil. No more, no less. Since visiting our shop, the car was driven cross-country, from Massachusetts to Colorado. If the car had sludge in the engine before we saw it, the detergents in the Mobil 1 would flush it and as a consequence the oil would be black, after 4,000 miles of cross-country driving.

All the oil companies stress that point - you cannot judge the suitability or age of modern engine oil by looking at the dipstick. Analysis is needed.

I’ve seen Mobil 1 oil turn black quite rapidly in other sludged motors, during my twenty-five years in this business. For all I know, this engine is no different. Black oil after driving to Colorado is not evidence of anything but a dirty motor.

The only way to know what happened inside that particular engine would have been to sample the oil and send it to Mobil or another lab for analysis. That’s not possible in this case because the shop owner drained it and flushed the engine. For other people who have the same question in their own cars, oil analysis provides valuable insight. If you were charged for a certain oil and you doubt you received it, analysis of a sample is the only way to resolve the question. “Looking dirty” is not the basis of an informed decision.

More important, analysis will tell how often the oil should be changed based on wear in your motor, and how it's holding up.

Sludge buildup is a big problem in some of today’s cars; one that is widely known as the result of extended neglect, or repeated use of oil with the wrong rating for the car. It’s not a problem that crops up all of a sudden, if the car was driven a few thousand miles past the target oil change interval. Sludge buildup happens as a result of short duty cycle driving patterns combined with too-infrequent service intervals over a long period of time.

Mercedes, BMW, and Audi all specifiy oil change interval of 10,000 miles or more, which many mechanics feel is too long. The only way those intervals can be met without sludge buildup is by the use of special long-life synthetic oils. Use of inexpensive conventional oil is a recipe for disaster when change intervals get long. Even with good oil, many prefer to change more frequently, using intervals of 7,500 miles instead.

Many people encounter sludge when they buy a used car, only to discover it had poor care or no care earlier in its life, and they are now the recipient of whatever problems will ensue. If you suspect your engine has sludge buildup, I encourage you to use an oil with strong cleaning properties, like Mobil 1 0-40, and change it every 4-5,000 miles until an analysis shows the engine to be cleaner. In some cases, engine disassembly is needed to resolve the problem.

If the sludge stays in place in a motor it many not do any harm. The risk is that a sludge clump will break loose, clog a vital oil passage, and precipitate the failure of the engine. It's the automotive equivalent of a stroke.

The whole issue of sludge damage can be prevented with more frequent service. Take better care of your car, and this won't happen to you.

Rover V8 head gaskets

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:43:00 +0000

With all the talk of Land Rover liner failures in the pushrod V8's you might think head gaskets are no longer a problem. Not so! Here is what happens when head gaskets fail slowly . . .

This photo shows a failed gasket. There is a split in the material right next to my finger

The area at the top is the part that surrounds the water jacket, visible on the left side of the frame below. These V8 motors have coolant flowing into the head at the front and rear of the block, through the tall narrow passages. There is no from from block to head for the middle cylinders; hence you can only have a head gasket coolant failure on an end cylinder.

The picture below shows how the coolant turned to steam and scoured the interior of the cylinder. That steam cleaning is visible using a borescope; it's a positive means of identifying internal failure through the spark plug holes. If you see that telltale on an end cylinder it may be a head gasket or a block failure. In a middle cylinder, it's block failure for sure.

One other thing this image shows is how the block became slightly eroded in the area of the leak. If this engine were fixed by simply slapping on a gasket it would probably fail again. The cure would be to deck the block, or fit a top hat liner. Both those options involve total overhaul, though, so some would go for a used motor instead.

This photo shows a middle cylinder for comparison. The effect of coolant scouring is obvious now.

Range Rover Sport front differential failures

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:32:00 +0000

When differentials fail in Range Rovers, they tend to fail in front. Over the years we have changed 3-4 times as many front as rear differentials. I'm not sure why that is, as the same part is used front and rear. Some say it's because of the traction control. Others suggest the front does more work because those are the steered wheels.

We recently had a 2006 Sport differential fail, at 75,000 miles. The truck had Mobil 1 gear lub all its life, changed at 15 and 45k miles, yet the bearings came apart as you can see.

I wish I knew what we might do to avoid repeat failures, but I don't. For now, we fit the factory replacements and hope for a preventative answer

Putting a new interior in a vintage Lincoln

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:20:00 +0000

This is a 1963 Continental Convertible project that we just delivered. The task was to replace the old off-white vinyl interior with leather and wool a la Rolls Royce/Bentley. This is the starting point:

Here's the finished interior:

This is the whole car, headed home:

You could buy a car like this for ten grand a few years ago, but now good examples routinely sell for over $100K. With that kind of value, owners are expecting a substantially different level of quality when it comes to workmanship.

This is a very nice example

We used Wilton wools under the floor, with heavy padding. The feel is a lot softer than original. The carpet edges are bound in matched green leather. The same carpet is used for floormats, but the mats are edged in the same tan leather we used for the seats.

We covered the door panels in leather, and did contrast beading like the seats

The interior is totally transformed. We dyed most of the original plastic.

Even when they have "leather interiors," many cars just have leather on the seat faces. On this car, everything on the seats is leather. In addition, it's Rolls Royce grade Connolly, not the vinyl covered stuff on most cars. You can smell and feel the difference. The piping makes for an interesting contrast.

Some areas that were originally plastic looked better in leather

This is the process of dyeing the dash:

We were able to get a near-perfect match between the leather and the dyed plastic.

Here are the newly remade seats. As you can see, we made new springs and pads in addition to new covers. That means the car "sits" like a new vehicle. All too often restorers will only restore the parts you can see, leaving the innards tired and worn.

We made a rough template for the carpet, laid it in the car, marked, cut and stitched/bound it as you can see:

Quite a change from where we began:

A new Land Rover engine failure

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Have you had an oil pump fail on a 2000-2004 Land Rover V8? At Robison Service, we are seeing pump failure more and more.

Last week we encountered a 2003 Discovery with a failure I have not seen before. The car came to us with an oil light on most of the time, and lifter noise when the light was on. The noise vanished as soon as the light went out, confirming that the car has a problem with oil pressure, and not a problem with the oil light sender.

This engine is reasonably clean, and free of sludge. This wasn't a neglect issue.

We removed the front cover, and found the oil pump fractured. I have seen several similar failures in the past year, but most of the time, when we get them, the engine has already blown. This one had not. The outer gear of the pump had fractured into four pieces. I don't know how much longer it would have worked before failing entirely but it was clearly close to the end.

I thought we should pull the oil pan to check the bearings, and to my surprise we saw this laying in the pan. As you can see, the pan is otherwise pretty clean. The spots in the image are just bits of crud you see in any oil pan. There is no metal or evidence of damage visible. The oil is normal looking.

The crescent piece you see is the thrust face from the center main bearing cap. With no washer in place the crank moves back and forth a few mm. I think this is the original failure . . . I think the center bearing broke for some reason, the crank moved back and forth over a period of time, and that led to the eventual cracking of the oil pump gear.

Had we not caught this, the engine would have failed in the fairly near future. We will repair the bearing and time will tell how that holds up. I have some concerns because the crankshaft face may be galled. and that would ruin a new thrust face in short order. If we find that we face the choice of filing it in place, or removing the engine and essentially getting into an overhaul situation.

Now that I know this I realize we can check for the problem on an assembled motor by moving the crank pulley back and forth to check for excess play. I wonder how many more of these are out there, waiting to fail?

Soft tops for Land Rovers

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:34:00 +0000

The iconic Land Rover Defender 90 was sold in the United States from 1994-1997. If you own one of those trucks, or a grey market rig, or an older Series vehicle, you may be in the market for a new top. Perhaps your top is just old and ratty, or maybe a jealous husband shot it full of holes as you fled down the street one night. Whatever the reason, most original soft tops are due for replacement by now.

In addition to folks with ratty soft tops, there are people with hard top trucks, who dream of fresh air and canvas. Finally there are a few of you who long for that musty smell of canvas, first experienced in Macedonia with the Foreign Legion.

Many good suppliers offer Defender and Series soft tops. The best known are those from Rovers North and Atlantic British. The best quality top, by a substantial margin, is made by a geek on the cape they call The Badger. The Badger, or Chris Laws as it says on his mug shot, has been making Land Rover tops in a small shop out there since the beginning. I have installed many of them over the years and cannot praise them highly enough. Here's a link to his website.

His tops have resisted sun fading, tears from trees, intrusive children, marauding rodents, and much more while still looking great. The top in the photo at the top is six years old!

Hard top trucks can be converted to soft top with the removal of the original top and fitment of a soft top frame and canvas.

Here are some details of the top showing how it's finished

The workmanship on these tops is really good, and the material is of significantly better quality that what's found on lesser products. The Badger tops seem costly, but they are well worth the money if you're after the best, or in it for the long term. I have found the original Land Rover canvas tatters in 6-7 years while the Badger material is still looking new.

See you on the trail!

Some thoughts on Right to Repair

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:44:00 +0000

You may have read that Massachusetts is voting this June 28 on a piece of legislation called Right to Repair (R2R) which is touted as a law that will force carmakers to give independent repair shops (the so-called little guys) the same access to car repair data as franchised dealers.

The claim is that this law will save consumers tons of money while giving them a newfound freedom of choice. Unfortunately, it won’t.

Here’s why that law is a waste of time and money.

Right to Repair is a proposed law to give small shops access to repair information. Giving access implies that access is denied today. It isn’t.

Small repair shops already have equal access to service information. I know that because I own a shop and I access that info every day. The National Auto Service Task Force was established almost ten years ago in response to widespread consumer complaints about access to service data and test tools. Thanks to NASTF efforts and Federal legislation, any shop can log onto Ford or BMW or any other carmaker’s database and buy daily, weekly, or monthly subscriptions to service data; the very same data their dealers have.

The only data that is restricted on those websites relates to vehicle security and the coding of keys. That same data is restricted to dealer technicians to prevent vehicle theft. It’s sometimes a hassle, but the carmakers are required to do that for motorist’s own security. Would you want any schmuck to be able to order keys for your car off the web? I thought not.

There was a time when carmakers did hold back information and it was very frustrating. They also restricted access to their proprietary service tools. All that changed thanks to the Federal government stepping in about ten years ago. In my opinion, the information access problem is essentially solved. The problems that remain are being worked out cooperatively by the NASTF, with no need for new state laws.

The proposed R2R law purports to ensure customers can choose where to get their cars fixed. Customers have always had that right. The smarter question to ask is, Who is qualified to fix your car? If you have a high-end car like we work on, your choices are indeed limited. However, you are not limited by “right to repair” issues. You are limited because there are not many people who are both qualified and possessed of the specialized tools to properly service a late-model Mercedes, BMW, or Land Rover.

That brings us to the biggest issue in the aftermarket auto service industry: technician and shop competence. I can’t tell you how many times I hear xxx ripped me off, or xxx screwed me, or xxx fixed my car and it’s worse than before. 99% of those complaints stem from incompetence, in my experience. Only a tiny fraction results from dishonesty or malice.

At Robison Service everyone in the shop attends brand and system specific training every year to stay current. We would be lost without that training and the backup of tech support from Bosch and our test system manufacturers. But training is costly, and few independent shops do it. Dealers have to do it to keep their franchise. We have to do it because we’re committed to being the best.

The second (related) issue is tooling. The days of fixing 99% of the cars with a box of hand tools are long gone. It’s an electronic world, and you’ll need ten to twenty grand for the diagnostic tools for any high-end car, if you want to have dealer-level capability. Otherwise, you’ll be telling customers you can’t do this, or that. You will never hear we can’t do that, you have to go to the dealer at Robison Service. But that certainty comes at high cost; hundreds of thousands invested in tooling and more every year.

Luckily, the tools are cheaper for ordinary cars, and training is more available. Even still few independents avail themselves of it.

Training and tooling are the two principal reasons independents can’t fix cars properly. Both those things are available, at the same cost a dealer would pay. The playing field is already level, thanks to Federal legislation passed in the 1996-2002 time frame.

Another claim is that drivers will be protected because they will get notice of recalls and service bulletins. Once again, that is a problem that’s long been solved. Every manufacturer service website provides that service when you input a VIN. In addition, Alldata and Mitchell (the two principal aftermarket service data suppliers) offer the same thing. All you have to do is buy the subscription. Like us, and every other properly equipped shop or dealership.

Finally, they claim this bill will protect jobs. How? We are not losing our jobs now. This bill will not cause more cars to be fixed in Massachusetts. The problem with jobs in auto service is that we have sky-high unemployment where I live and work. Many of our customers are struggling to stay above water, and car repair is a low priority. That reality drives service workflow for most shops.

I don’t think passage of this bill would hurt me, or my shop. However, it certainly won’t help. What it represents is a waste of time, and political posturing, when we have real and pressing problems to solve elsewhere. Let’s drop this and spend time solving our employment and housing crises. Bills like this are nothing but red herrings to draw people from the real issues.

A few images of Robison Service

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Wed, 11 May 2011 13:32:00 +0000

And now . . . find us on the new Thumbtack website

Import Car service in Springfield, MA.

Technician tenacity

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Today’s technicians today have to be patient, tenacious and smart in order to diagnose many problems on today’s cars ….

This one is a good example. A client brought us her 2006 Audi A6 Quattro. She said the check engine light was on and car seemed to run a little sluggish.

Master technician Bob Toti began by attaching our VAG tester (the special Audi test tool) to the vehicle’s diagnostic port to read any stored faults. The tester showed two current faults: a cam sensor bank on 2 fault and a small evaporative leak. He also found an intermittent or old low pressure fuel sensor fault.

Whenever you find “current” faults you can verify them by clearing them and seeing how they reset themselves. That’s what we did in this case. Bob found the cam sensor fault came back immediately so he focused on that problem first. After verifying that the voltages at the sensor were okay and wiring from engine module was okay too, he swapped with the identical sensor from bank 1. The result? The same fault occurred. At this point the tech verified that the engine module was reading information from that sensor, but was this information correct?

Master technician Danny Ferrari now took over solving the Audi cam sensor fault mystery while Bob concentrated on other work in the shop.

Using actual values in the VAG, the tech found the intake cam in bank 2 was out of position by almost 10 degrees, when the spec was less than half a degree.

Careful and thoughtful technicians found that this little
bit of screen stuck in the valve was giving the customer
big headaches.

This car’s cam advance system is able to advance or retard all the 4 cams by letting oil in and out of four solenoid valves. For some reason one of these cams was working at the wrong advance angle, or at least that’s what the sensor was telling us. The next step was checking the actual cam advance valve by opening up the engine and comparing the observed position of the cam with the position reported by the sensor. That check showed the sensor to be telling the truth – the cam was really out of position. But the question of why that might be remained unanswered. So we removed the adjusting solenoid. When we took it apart we found debris tucked into the valve, between the sleeve and the moving part of the valve. The debris looked like really small bits of metal screen. The debris was causing the position problem by not letting the valve close all the way.

Replacing the valve fixed the problem. A long road test after repair did not reveal any other faults. The other codes – the ones we’d read on first examination – never returned. We changed the oil and sent the car down the road with a very happy owner.

Why would this valve go bad on a 28,000 mile car? I wish I knew. There was no evidence of neglect or abuse inside the motor, though some of the stresses that might have led to this failure would not leave a visible trace. It’s also possible the car was filled with the wrong oil earlier in its life. Perhaps the valve was defective from new. It’s a one-of-a-kind problem in this shop. And more and more, that’s what we see. One-off problems other people can’t fix are becoming our stock in trade.

Rattles in late model Land Rovers

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:36:00 +0000

Does your Sport or LR3 sound like the spare tire is loose under the vehicle? Have you looked and looked but found nothing loose? If so, there's a good chance your problem is a worn sway bar.

What is a sway bar, you ask? I'll tell you . . .

A sway is a torsion bar connecting the left and right sides of your suspension together. The bar simply swings up and down when both wheels move together. When one wheel goes up, as when it hits a curb or pothole, the bar resists that movement, adding to the spring rate. When one wheel goes up and the other goes down, which is what happens when the vehicle leans into a corner, the sway bar resists doubly as its ends are twisted in opposite directions.

Sway bars are what keep your car flat when it makes a hard corner. Without them, the body would lean on the springs to the point where you felt you were about to turn over. Anyone who drove an old 1980s Rover without sway bars will remember this feeling well.

The Sport is a pretty high performance rig, so it has particularly beefy bars. And of course these are heavy vehicles. To handle all that the bars on my 2006 truck are almost an inch in diameter. When they twist against the mounts during cornering, they twist hard.

For many years we have seen sway bar links wear out; not just on Land Rover but on BMW, Mercedes, and most other high performance cars. The links are the rods with ball-and-socket joints that connect the sway bars to the suspension, out by the wheels. We're accustomed to finding those worn out and rattly, but when these newer style Rovers began coming in with heavy clunks those links were surprisingly tight. What gives?

It turns out that the bars themselves get loose in the mounts. When they get loose, they rattle. At first we thought there was an easy fix - install new bushings. However, the bars themselves are wearing down from friction with the bushings, so new rubber just fixes the problem for a month or so, and you have a comeback.

We have actually cured some trucks (including my own) by making sheet plastic sleeves that we fit between bar and bushing. You're probably imagining something pretty high tech, but actually, we cut a strip out of an old windshield washer solvent bottle and wrap that around the bar. Cheap and effective. If you don't like that, or it does not work, your next step is to replace the bars themselves but that is a several-hour task involving lifting the truck body from the subframe to get the bars in and out.

Once you've heard a few of these noisy bars you learn to recognize the sound, and repair is pretty quick.. But we struggled many hours to find this one the first time . . .

Exceptional or Ordinary? You decide . . .

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:22:00 +0000

How do you solve math problems in your head? Perhaps a better question is, do you solve math problems in your head? With the availability of electronic devices to do it for us, I would not be surprised to learn that many people never try.

I was reading Darold Treffert’s book on savants, and I was intrigued by a few examples of savant thinking. I tried solving some of the problems in his book to get a feel for how “comprehensible” they might be to me, with no recent practice calculating. Here is a simple example:

You have a carriage with a wheel that’s six yards in circumference.How many revolutions will the wheel make while traveling two hundred twenty miles?

This is how I answer that question in my head. I’d be interested in how you might do it:

Six yards is eighteen feet. I see that as a short line.

So one hundred revolutions of a six yard wheel would take me 1,800 feet. That’s a much longer line in my head, one that curves.

Three hundred revolutions would take me 5,400 feet – more than a mile. Now the line has curved back unto itself, making a circle.

How many rotations are there to a mile? Less than three hundred. A mile is a smaller circle. I can see those circles, on inside the other.They do not quite match.

I adjust the length of the longer line that forms the big circle. Try 290 . . . that’s 5,400 less 180, or 5,220. A mile is 5,280. Now I see the line laid flat, like a straight stretch of highway. Two hundred ninety revolutions leaves us sixty feet short of a mile marker. So what’s the fraction?

Three eighteens go into that sixty-foot remainder with the same six remainder. Adding that to the 290, I see the answer is 293 and a third. The six-yard wheel does not fit a one mile line, but it fits perfectly into a three-mile ring. If you put a mark on the wagon wheel, and mark any point where it touches the big circle, those points will touch every time the wheel rolls past. I like that.

If you roll the same wheel around a one-mile ring the points will only touch every third trip around, which is unsettling to me. I like smooth fits, so I will solve the next step using three-mile units.

I can now see the answer: 880 revolutions. A perfect fit. Six yards, three miles, and eight hundred eighty turns.

How many three-mile eight-hundred-eighty revolution units are there in 220 miles? My mind visualizes stacks or piles for this next step.Seventy units reach two hundred ten miles. I quickly see how seventy-three and a third are needed to reach the two-twenty goal.

Stacking seventy-three piles of 880 in my mind takes a little time.Eventually, the stacks add up and I see the result is 64,240. Now I just have to add the third (of 880) and I’m done. To do that, I add three hundred to the pile, making 64,540, and then take back six and two-thirds.

64,533 and 1/3 is the answer to the question.

As a further experiment, I scaled up the distance, to 2450 miles and then 20,315 miles to see if I could keep scaling up the numbers. There must be some limit to that, and it certainly took me longer, but I solved those bigger problems in a few more minutes. Solving the longer distance problems involved one and then two more levels of “stacking” in my mind.

It does not seem that hard to me. I often did similar calculations as a kid, for fun. I’m sure I could do it again, pretty quickly, with some practice.

I test my answer with a calculator. The process to do that is considerably simpler.

I multiply 220 (miles) by 5,280 (feet per mile) to get 1,161,600 – the total distance in feet.

I divide that by 18 (the wheel circumference) to get 64,533.333 – the revolutions turned.

It’s a lot faster to get this answer with a calculator, for sure. But is the ability to figure this out in one’s head really exceptional? In today’s world, I would not be surprised if kids never develop these skills. When I grew up, though, pocket calculators did not yet exist and I had to know how solve problems like this. I suspect many people of my generation could solve a problem like this in their heads, but perhaps I am wrong. What do you say?

Some thoughts on spark plugs

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:05:00 +0000

Advances in technology have lengthened the maintenance intervals for many pieces on our cars. One of those pieces – the one I am writing about today – is the spark plug. All gas engine cars have them.

When I started in the car business, it was common for plugs to need cleaning every year, and replacement by 15,000 miles. As technology improved and engines got cleaner, the plugs started lasting longer. First it was 30,000 miles, then 50,000, 60,000 miles.

Today, many of the new cars we service have 100,000-mile spark plugs installed at the factory. That 100,000-mile rating was derived by installing the plugs in test vehicles, and then driving them hard and fast to pile on the miles. At various intervals the plugs were removed and inspected for wear. After a number of engineering tweaks, Bosch, Beru, NGK, and other spark plug manufacturers came up with a plug that would last the 100,000 miles and still perform acceptably. Based on that, the carmakers established the current change interval for spark plugs.

So the question today is: How often should you change your plugs, if you have a car with the 100,000-mile change interval? Should you follow the manufacturer’s recommendation, or do something else? Why?

The first thing I point out to new clients when we discuss maintenance is that there is a time component to service as well. Spark plugs may hold up fine for 100,000 miles if driven on the highway every day, but short trips and occasional use will wear them out a lot faster. A person who drives 10-12,000 miles per year may not hit 100,000 miles for almost ten years. That’s way to long to leave a set of plugs in the car.

Carmakers recognize that. If you look in most owners manuals you will see a time specification for plugs. They’ll say something like five years or 100,000 miles. I strongly suggest you pay attention to this time limit when considering long-life wear items like spark plugs.

I have read of spark plugs breaking off in the cylinder head when removed after many years. I’ve never experienced that on a five year old car, but there may well be parts of the world where corrosion is worse (near the ocean, as an example) and it you live in such a place, you’d be wise to consider that fact and adjust your service intervals accordingly.

When changing plugs, the next decision a motorist faces is what plug to buy. If you are at the dealer, the decision is simple: you’ll get original equipment plugs. If you’re at a Bosch Car Care Center, you should get the correct Bosch plugs, and if you’re at an independent or chain store, you best find out what they propose to install to be sure you are comfortable.

Thirty years ago, selection of spark plugs was simple. A dozen part numbers would service a majority of the cars on the road. Today many cars have special plugs and it’s important to install the right one. Every parts store has cross-reference catalogs, all of which lead you to believe any “crossover” plug will work. In my experience, that’s often true for older cars but often wrong on newer vehicles. We’ve seen Land Rover, Mercedes, and BMW cars with ignition misfires that were ultimately traced to “supposedly correct” but off-brand spark plugs.

If you have a late model car, be sure you fit the right plugs.

The last point I’d like to address with spark plugs is what happens if you don’t change them in time. As plugs age, the voltage to fire them increases. A plug that needs 20,000 volts to fire when new may need 80,000 by the time it’s used up. If you go beyond that, the voltage may rise to 100,000 volts or higher. This increased voltage puts much greater stress on ignition coils and wires. Premature ignition failure is the usual result of running plugs too long.

Six spark plugs might cost $80 for your BMW or Mercedes. Six spark plugs and six coils (because you waited too long) could cost $700, maybe more. As you can see, changing plugs before the ignition fails makes very good economic sense!

Electronic Module failures

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:24:00 +0000

We are seeing a disturbing trend with many high end cars built in the 1980s and 1990s. Their auxiliary control modules are failing, and replacement parts are not available. You can still buy engine control modules for Jaguar, Land Rover, and Rolls Royce cars, but many of the other electronics have been discontinued.

We can fix some issues on these controllers, but one thing we can't fix is extensive corrosion damage from failure of the "permanent" backup batteries many of these modules carry inside.

If you have a collectible European car, and it's 12-15 years old, it's time to pull the modules apart and address this issue BEFORE you have irreparable damage. As much as it may cost to fix something that's not broke, it will cost way more once it is broke . . .

Supercharged Sports that suddenly stop charging

noreply@blogger.com (John Elder Robison) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 22:14:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I had a strange and curious experience with a Range Rover. It started with a simple warning light, and the usual request. “Can you reset my check engine light so I can get a sticker?”

Why do so many people think these lights come on just so they can be reset?

What possible purpose would that serve?

I explained that we’d have see what fault codes were stored, at which time we could decide what to do about them. In most cases, when you see a check engine light, you need a repair, not a reset. Codes mean many different things. Sometimes, they point to specific repairs. For example, a “replace Thelman wire” code is self-explanatory. You replace the Thelman wire. Other times, codes are more vague. “Fuel mixture out of range” can mean most anything, from air leaks to snoot problems.

This particular car had a code for inoperative cam adjusters, which was strange, because Supercharged Sports don’t have cam adjusters at all. We cleared it, and it came back right away. We looked closer at the engine, to make sure it had not grown cam adjusters on its own. It hadn’t.

Every now and then, mechanics run into situations like these . . . codes that don’t make any sense at all, yet will not go away. When that happens here, we look to see if a software update will fix the car. We use our test system to get the software version and we compare that to the latest version Land Rover lists for that particular vehicle. If there’s newer software, we install it. When we tried that, we found something even stranger.

The vehicle had software for a non-supercharged Sport installed, and the computer was telling us it had never been re-programmed. Either the car had been running around for four years with wrong software, or the computer was lying. Which was it?

After some interrogation of the motorist associated with this particular vehicle, we concluded that the software was probably original. How they made it through four years of operation, only complaining about a check engine lamp now, remained a mystery.

We downloaded new and correct software, and the problem vanished. The cam adjuster faults disappeared, and all tests were normal. We felt great pride in a job well done, and handed the vehicle back to its owner. Unfortunately, this particular Sport did not stay fixed.

“My car was in the passing lane, doing 70, when it lost all power and the check engine light came on. I coasted to a stop, shut it off, and started it again, and it was normal. That’s happened every time I drive to New Haven, and I’m getting scared to take my truck on the highway. What’s up?”

Did the car have an aversion to New Haven? I’ve seen such things before. “Bring it in,” I said, and we’ll see what the codes tell us. A check revealed a P2601 code, which points to a failure of the pump that moves water through the supercharger when you get on the throttle. His seemed to be failing. But why now?

A check of Land Rover service bulletins held the answer:

Land Rover Technical Service Bulletin #LTB00041, Rev 2

Reduced Power Under Load

Possible DTC P0096 and/or P2601 Stored

AFFECTED VEHICLE RANGE:

Range Rover (LM) Supercharged 6A198058 to 7A261419

Range Rover Sport (LS) Supercharged 6A901924 to 7A109767

CONDITION SUMMARY:

REDUCED POWER OR MISFIRE AT HIGH ENGINE LOADS

Situation: The customer may complain of reduced power and or a misfire at high engine loads and road speeds, with the possibility of Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC) P0096 and/or P2601 stored. The electrical harness power supply and ground for the auxiliary coolant pump may be cross connected in connector C3006. The pump will run backwards causing the Engine Control Module (ECM) to reduce power to prevent damage because the pump flow is low. The auxiliary coolant pump will be degraded under these conditions.

Action: Should a customer express concern, modify the wiring at connector C3006 to the correct positions and install a new supercharger coolant pump as part of the repair if either the fault codes or the incorrect wiring is discovered following the Repair Procedure outlined below.

We checked, and this fellow’s car did indeed have the reversed wiring. A swap of the wires and a new pump, and he was on his way.

How does this situation come to pass? I spoke to Tony Gill, who heads Land Rover tech support at Autologic in the UK. He suggested a few possible answers.

This car seemed to have the wrong software put in at the factory, As a result, it may have never tried to use the auxiliary pump because the engine controller didn’t know it was there. Non-supercharged Rovers don’t have this pump. Of course, that does not explain how this truck went four years looking for cam adjusters that were never there . . .

It’s also possible that the pump was strong enough to push coolant through the supercharger backwards, against the flow of the regular water pump. It may have done that for all this time, and finally decided to fail.

We may never know the full answer, but it does appear to be fixed.

The moral of this story . . . check your software. Even in new vehicles, mistakes happen. And some of them take a long time to find. It’s shocking to me that there are four-year-old vehicles out there with wiring that was backwards from Day One, but it’s indisputably true.

That is the wonder and magic of British Motorcars.