CAR MAINTENANCE - TIPS AND TRICKS

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Oil Consumption

On oil consumption and smoking out the tail pipe, you may be told you need an engine or an engine rebuild or other "MAJOR" repair. This may sometimes be true but if you are about to get ripped off there are a couple of common things that may be the problem.

Lets start with smoking out the tail pipe. If you have smoke out the tail pipe after sitting over night or sitting for a while after first start you may have some valve stem seals that are not sealing the oil from running down the valve stem and into engine causing blue smoke for up to a minute and then clearing up. This is also true if sitting still after a stop and then taking off and a puff of blue comes out tail pipe, you can also have a puff of blue smoke while diving and letting off accelerator and getting back on accelerator.

This repair most of the time can be made without removing the heads, by removing spark plugs and putting air into cylinder (to hold valve up) removing valve spring, removing and installing a new seal.

On some vehicles the guides may become loose and drop down past valve stem seal and cause a constant flow of blue smoke. This repair may also be done without removing the cylinder head on some vehicles by using a special tool to pull guide back in place and installing a retainer to hold it from dropping again. This is a common problem with some Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth 3.0 V/6 engines.

In any case just make sure you go to a legitimate shop and are comfortable with the mechanic before any major repair is attempted.

Oil Leaks

In my years as an automotive adjuster and inspections not only do some shops rip-off their customers they also try to rip-off the Warranty company by adding unneeded repair our over charging on the repair. The reason for Warranty companies using automotive inspectors is to protect them from this kind of repair shop and abuse of the Warranty.

There are many rip-off schemes in the automotive business that will range from high end transmission and engine scams to the most popular quick under car repairs done in exhaust and muffler shops.

These questionable shops like the pre 1990 vehicles the best as the were not equipped with as much computer technology and were easier to scam (and the mechanics probably don't know how to work on the newer systems as well).

Some popular major repair is on engine oil consumption and transmission leak and shift problems.

To mention a few engine scams for oil consumption and or a smoking engine. The mechanic will get your in on the lift and if you have an oil leak at the valve cover (on top of engine) it could leak down over and around engine a drip off the head gasket area or rear main seal and oil pan area. He would then state that the leak was severe and if you didn't get it fixed you could wind up buying an engine.

The best way to confront this would be to have them clean all old oil off (where the suspect leak was stated to be) and then add oil dye to engine and let run or drive vehicle a few miles and then check with black light (most good shops will have these) and where ever there was a leak you could see the dye coming out (to see dye you use a special pair of glasses that comes with the black light) the oil-dye mixture will be a bright yellow.

If the shop doesn't want to clean your engine or wants to charge a hefty fee to do it, go to your local discount auto parts store and purchase a bottle of engine oil dye then take your vehicle to your local car wash and use the high pressure spray to clean top and bottom areas of your engine. Make sure you don't spray a lot of water on wiring or if vehicle has a distributor don't get wet.

Then return to the shop or another shop and have them check for the oil leak with their black light.

At that time you will be able to see the exact problem and make an informed decision on what repair is needed.

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