Remember the days when it was assumed that every 3000 miles, you had to change your car’s motor oil? It was the mantra from everybody. It was automatic.  Well not anymore.
Sure, many car manufacturers still designate 3000 miles as the mandatory oil change mileage, but many more vehicles are mandating longer time frames. Some folks [...]

Repeat  problems can be a big hassle for many auto shop owners. All shops see them. But how do you deal with them? How you deal with them is the most important factor in retaining your loyal customers. After all, you risk your customers seeing you as unwilling to repair a problem, or worse yet,  incompetant. If you [...]

It was only a few years ago that you would expect to change your plugs every 30,000 miles or so. Recent advancements in spark plug technology now allows drivers to get up to 100,000 miles out of their plugs. The introduction of platinum and other precious materials to spark plugs has boosted the life expectancy [...]

We’ve all encountered it. You are trying to remove a frozen nut from a wheel or some other component, and it just won’t budge. There’s just too much corrosion due to years of build up and oxidation. Or maybe the nut is stripped. These situations call for more than just brute force. You risk damaging [...]

Summer is  coming sooner than you realize, and one of the most common services technicians perform during the warmer months is AC system service. It can be a profitable service for the repair shop owner, and a vital service for the customer. But it is more important than ever to assure that the service is [...]

There is a battle brewing across the nation in the automotive repair industry. On the one hand, you have the automotive manufacturers and  dealers, and on the other, the independent repair shops and aftermarket parts manufacturers.
The local independent shops are lobbying to gain access to the valuable proprietary information that the manufacturers have for repairing [...]

It can be tempting for auto shop owners and consumers alike to take the cheap route and purchase inexpensive aftermarket replacement parts. There is no shortage. There is a glut of these parts that have come from questionable sources and are readily available for purchase in any number of venues. Many of these aftermarket generic parts are [...]

Your car just broke down on the side of the road on a hot summer day. You called for a tow truck and you must decide where to have them take it. Do you have them bring it to the car dealership service center, or to a local independent repair shop?
There are strong arguments to [...]

Are you always looking for the latest technology? Do you need the latest an greatest features for your auto shop? Are your Tire Changers wheel balancer or battery charger the most current models with all the bells and whistles? If so, this story might interest you.  Technicians have  a handy new app for their iPhone or iPad touch [...]

Modern  car engines are so technologically advanced these days that the regular DIY guys are sometimes found scratching their heads wondering what half the parts are under the hood. Water pumps are one of the few parts of the modern automotive engine that is still pretty straightforward. They haven’t changed much over the years. In the [...]