Pepe's story about the dents in the side of his beloved Lincoln Town Car.
Meghan Troxel Austin, Texas - 2005 Scion xA
An alignment/tires/steering question. "Drives with pep"--habit of runs into curbs a lot. Just replaced front driver wheel and tire, and repaired one rear wheel. Now at high speeds, the steering wheel vibrates and shimmies like a bad dancer. Guys who did tire job may not have balanced them or put on a bad wheel. Go back, or find a different mechanic.
Yusuf Mohammad Flowery Branch, Georgia - 1999 Ford F150
An engine/spark plugs question. He just swapped out plugs with fancy platinum pre-gapped plugs, himself. The instructions say never adjust the gap, but it wasn?'t according to the book, so he adjusted them anyway. Did he do it wrong, or is it okay? It's okay to regap them. Probably got the wrong plugs. Needs to check against a cross-reference chart. Might also have a dirty injector, causing the rough engine running. Put in some fuel injector cleaner.
Mike Marcotte Vienna, Virginia - 2006 Subaru Impreza
Transmission clutch question. It was replaced under warranty, soon after, developed little chirping noise coming from clutch. Goes away when he depresses the clutch. One of the fingers on the plate is impinging on the release bearing, because it was not properly installed, or one of the parts may be faulty. go back to dealer--they have to take the clutch apart and do it all over again.
Nigel Cox Los Angeles, California - 2004 Ford F150
fuel/mileage/towing question. She and her boyfriend are moving from California to North Carolina. Driving truck. Partner wants to tow a '78 Camaro. How will it affect the mileage? Hard to do? Yes, it will affect the mileage, but less than driving two vehicles. Easy to tow. Rent a tow-bar from U-Haul and practice before the trip. She actually wants him to dump Camaro, but that ain't gonna happen.
Giorgio Magnoli Blue Point, New York - Fiat
A fuel pump question. is it possible for him to install an electric fuel pump? He's replaced two or three of them. Yes, it's possible, He should add an small electric pump into the fuel line.
Ryan Walsh Madison, Wisconsin - Mercedes-Benz
A suspension question. The shocks are shot. A friend says that you can put tennis balls in between the coils of the shock springs, and will do the work of the shocks. Could this possibly be true? No, tennis balls could actually make it worse. Potentially quite dangerous--need to get shocks fixed ASAP.
Kristin Boulder, Colorado - 1999 Nissan Frontier
A question about her brakes/ABS/electrical system. Her ABS randomly kicks in while she's driving at highway speeds. This started weeks after getting her leaf spring replaced, and months after getting new brakes. She probably has a bad sensor at one of the wheels, which is telling the ABS that a wheel is locked up-unrelated to other work, needs to get it fixed.
Patrick Brown Malden, Massachusetts - 2002 Saturn SL
A transmission/driving/relationship question. He's always had a manual transmission car. Now that he's driving his fiance's automatic, he sometimes shuts the car off before shifting into Park. She thinks this is really bad for the car, he disagrees. Who's right? He is. He's not doing any damage. Tom and Ray call Rachel, leave a message on her voice mail, telling her she's right, and not to let Pat near her car.