Dan H.

Allentown, PA

Dan,

If you are referring to one of those real small shoe box looking cars then the fuel mileage can be as high as 90 MPG. I personally have not driven one of those small cars and honestly would NOT feel comfortable driving one of them here in Texas with all the big trucks on the road with me.

I WOULD how ever drive a Toyota Prius any day of the week and with a fuel economy in the 40 MPG range its a nice alternative to the shoe box smart car. Now, if you live in a very dense city and do not plan on getting on a fast moving freeway….then one of those smart cars might be a good idea just to get around the city. I bet they are popular in Europe where they do not have tons of Ford F250 4X4 trucks on the road.

Blessings,

Austin Davis

My wife could be able to park in a parking lot a little easier and faster it would save us lots of money on gasoline purchases and give us warm fuzzies about helping our environment by consuming less natural resources.

So what could be wrong with that scenario? Well let’s just remember that the vehicles here in the U.S. are MUCH larger than most other countries. These larger and heavier vehicles could really ruin your day if you happen to get a little nudge by one of them.

I live in Texas, and drive a big ole truck…..you gotta if you live in Texas. I don’t think I will be trading in my keys for a “small or smart” car anytime soon.

I checked with snopes.com and they say the person inside the car LIVED, wow! Although many people thought it was one of those very small European “Smart Cars” it was actually a Ford Escape, a smaller SUV.

Can you see what is left of that Ford Escape car? Look in front of the red hood of the dump truck behind the ambulance, and behind the black dump truck bed. Being built “Ford Tough” is no match for two dump trucks. I won’t be following behind any large trucks anymore.

Blessings,

Austin Davis

I DID buy my wife a diamond wedding ring, but I hope she does not read this blog post….or she will want one (:.

His car costs about $4.1 million US dollars to build and he will charge you $1,000 just to touch it!

OK, get back in your 1989 Honda hatch back and head to work!

Blessings,

Austin Davis

Hi,

I was checking your website and its great how you are helping out people like myself with common automotive problems.

I need your expert opinion about an overheating problem I am having with my car.

Car: Honda Civic 1996
Motor Miles: 130,000

Problem: The car does not overheat in normal driving conditions. But with the air conditioner turned on, when I am pushing the motor to more than 5000rpms, the needle starts creeping upwards from the half way mark and then comes down again when I settle down to between 3-3500rpms. Also while driving uphill, the car starts overheating and I have to turn the air conditioner off so that the temperature settles down. While driving on highways or in stop and go traffic there is no overheating problem.

There are no coolant leaks, no signs of head gasket failure, water pump and thermostat were replaced last year when I was replacing the timing belt. Radiator fins look fine from the outside and are not clogged. Radiator fan’s airflow is normal as well and it turns off and on at the right interval.

The lower radiator hose has a slight bulge at the part where it connects to the thermostat. I think it needs replacement, but I don’t think that is causing any overheating issues. I got my valves and timing adjusted from the Honda dealership, thinking that it might be a timing related issue. But that didn’t solve the problem.

Now the only thing that I can think of is a clogged radiator core. I would appreciate it if you could give your expert opinion on the above problem.

Sorry for the long email, I wanted to be accurate with the problem description so as to give you a better picture of the problem. I appreciate your feedback on the same.

Regards
Naeem

Hello Naeem,

I would be highly suspect of a restricted radiator that needs to be replaced……….not flushed, flushing will not remove the rust and mineral deposits at the bottom of the radiator. You can buy a fairly inexpensively from your local auto supply rather than the Honda dealer.

Blessings,
Austin Davis

I got my oil changed last night.. and as I was driving away the oil light came on and then my whole engine died… the owner came to check on it and the mechanic had forgot to put oil in my car! They have said they will fix the problem but I was just wondering is the whole engine shot? What would you do in this situation?
Thank you
Connie

Hello Connie,

I have seen this happen twice, and both times the engine was toast. How do you know if the engine is damaged? If you hear anything knocking or clicking inside the engine area with the hood up and engine running, smoke out the tailpipe, lack of power or sluggishness etc. etc. I would be HIGHLY suspect of internal engine damage.

You could have gotten lucky since the computer system shut the engine down once it realized there was no oil pressure. Fill the engine with oil and take it for a test drive and see what happens. At any rate, the mechanic is liable, and hopefully will either call his insurance company and file a claim or pay for the repairs out of his own pocket.

Blessings,
Austin Davis

Austin,

I made a mistake. I had the transmission fluid changed in my 2000 Ford Explorer XLT w/4.0L V6 and automatic transmission and now the transmission is slipping badly. Since I have been to your site today (which I found through Google and I see that you are in Houston as well), I have read your advise on high mileage transmissions that have not been serviced not to change the fluid at all.

Your reasoning for not changing the fluid makes perfect sense to me as a mechanical engineer. I should have left well enough alone. My vehicle was operating fine before but with the high miles that it has I wanted to perform preventive maintenance and changing the fluid was not something that seemed counterintuitive until I read your advise just now.

My question, and this is taking a long shot, is there any way the grittiness can be returned to the transmission to remediate the loss of friction with the new fluid? In other words, could shaving-sized metal pieces (The idea sounds crazy I know) be put back into the new fluid to restore friction?

Asking this question makes me think of the Bar’s Leaks radiator repair fluid which has metal shavings. And actually, since I’ve started writing this email, I’ve visited the Bar’s Leaks website and it appears they make a transmission repair fluid. They don’t say specifically how it works but knowing how the radiator fluid works I think I can make the assumption. Would this fluid help and would you recommend it?

Thank you,

Stephen

Yo Steven,

Wish I had better news for you man…..but its time to buy a transmission or another vehicle. If you like this vehicle and want to keep it another few years, I would HIGHLY suggest you buy a rebuilt transmission from your local Ford dealer and have your local mechanic install it. It will cost a bit more than getting yours overhauled, but you will get a nationwide warranty and it will be installed in a day.

If you just want to get it running and sell it, you might want to start calling junk yards and find a used one and get your local mechanic to install it for you. You can sometimes buy an extended warranty from the junk yard…if you care to.

I have not seen or used any type of fluid additive that will return the transmission back to its pre-flush state…..sorry!

I sold my shop years ago and now am just working on line, other wise I would like the job.

Call Tommie Vaughn Ford parts department and ask for Sal or Craig Cook, and tell them Austin from Master Auto Service said to give you the best price possible for a rebuilt AER Ford transmission.

You can also sell this vehicle “as is” on craigslist and use that money you would have spent on a nice down payment on a used vehicle.

Blessings,
Austin Davis

My 1998 for Taurus idles a bit then shut off. it has also cut off at stop lights and stop sighs. the check engine light has been on for a while but I did nothing because my husband left the gas cap off before and it came on and the ford technician said that was the cause and said I could unhook the battery cables and it would go back off.

I did this and it went off but came back on. Also this started happening when I let my daughter drive the car and she put fuel in the car and said she experienced the problem I described and then went to advanced auto and they told her to put some fuel injection treatment/cleaner which she did. . what could be the problem.

Hi there,

I would first have your local mechanic or a fast lube place clean your throttle body and idle control motor and see what happens. Here is more about it on my blog

Car dies at stops

Blessings,

Austin Davis

Hello,

I have an 2002 Kia Optima and my driver said window has a crunchy noise when I move it down and it won’t go down very far??? They are power windows.

Genesis

Hello Genesis,

you most likely either have one of the following:

1. The window glass itself is not properly in the track (glass might be loose or sag inward more than the passenger side does)
2. The window “Regulator” is cracked or broken and will need to be replaced. The regulator basically holds the glass in place as it moved up and down. Its flemsy, plastic and with 7 years of age I would not be surprised if it has broken.

either way, the interior door panel has to come off for inspection, so make sure your mechanic is capable of doing that kind of work….most small shops sub out window glass regulator installations, so ask who they use. Look under “auto window glass” in your phone book or websearch, you might find a mobile company that comes to your work to do the repairs.

Regulator is only available at the dealership, so you will have to go there anyway if that is what is wrong, you might want to ask the service department how much they charge to do the installation so you can compare.

We would charge $150 in labor plus the part

hope that helps

Blessings,
Austin Davis
http://www.trustmymechanic.com
http://www.myhonestmechanic.com

My name is Debbie, I am fifteen years old and there is a van that was offered to me for “free”. The transmission is broken, but everything else is fine. I need to pay for the transmission to be fixed. It is a 2003 Ford Windstar. I would like to know if it would be possible to fix it and how much it would cost to get it repaired.

Thank You,
Debbie

Hi there Debbie,

The BEST way to approach this would be to see if your local Ford dealer parts department offers a rebuilt “AER Rebuilt Transmission” for this vehicle, if they do that would be my highest recommendation. You will pay a little more for it rather than having your current transmission overhauled BUT you will get a Ford warranty guaranteed at any Ford dealer in the US and I have had the best luck with their rebuilt transmissions rather than the local transmission shop.

You buy the part from the parts department and have your local mechanic, or any repair shop install it for you. I would charge you about $575 to install it and take 1-2 days…..a transmission shop will keep your car for 4-5 days to overhaul your transmission and the warranty you get is only good at their shop, so if you are out of town….you are on your own.

This repair is going to cost a lot of money….like $2200-2500, BUT if you are sure the rest of the vehicle is ok, you will probably get your money back when you go to sell it one day. If you are not sure about the rest of teh vehicle, you might want to spend that money on a down payment on a new or 2 year old used vehicle that still has a warranty.

Last alternative, buy a used transmission from a junk yard and have your mechanic install it, this is risky because you don’t know the condition of the transmission BUT sometimes the junk yard will sell you a warranty.

Best of luck!

–
Blessings,
Austin Davis
http://www.trustmymechanic.com
http://www.myhonestmechanic.com

Hi Austin,

I’m a student in the market for a reliable, cheap car to get me from home to work and back. I have been offered a 1991 Eclipse (manual) with a rebuilt engine (90,000 miles) by a local mechanic for $2500. On a test drive, when I accelerated heavily and pushed the car, the engine suddenly jerked and the car lurched and the “check engine” light came on.

This happened about three times, everytime after I pushed the car (once in third, twice in fifth). I returned the car and the mechanic thinks its an electrical problem that cuts out the engine, but something he can fix. I dont know if I should trust this guy, or if I should trust a car with a replaced engine. Im a first time buyer with no idea what Im doing. What are your thoughts?

Thanks a lot,

Dhruv

Hi there Dhruv,

I would steer clear of this car, its too old, has a known problem, and if the mechanic really knew what the problem was he would have already repaired it….unless it costs BIG bucks! If you can afford $185 a month for a car note, I would HIGHLY suggest you visit your local KIA dealership and see if they have an 08 Rio or an 09 Kia Rio you can test drive. You also might check to see if there is an 07 Rio on their used car lot.

These cars are great for first time car buyers, they are roomy, plenty of power, very fuel effiecient, and economical with a super warranty. As a student you can not afford costly breakdowns, and I would rather pay $180 a month for a NEW car with no chance of breakdowns than an older car you know you are going to have to put big money into.

Kia usually offers first time car buyer and college student discounts, and with your $2,000 downpayment it should get the monthly payment at the $180 or lower level and you will have a brand new car. NEVER pay sticker price, which you can usually deduct $3000-5000 from the sticker price, so dont worry what the sticker says on the car, its a total lie.

You can probably get a new 09 Rio for $11,500 with electric windows and locks and auto trans and a/c. Play hardball!!!! Buying a new car is not easy, its a total con game. I usually make a super low ball offer and then tell them I am leaving and they can call my cell if they change their minds and accept the price.

Blessings,

Austin Davis