| If I only knew . . . what was under the hood of a car I would know what was going ON ! |
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| I know of a few ladies who have had the same opportunity as I have. That was to grow up in a mechanic's shop amid the grease and oil. Don't worry, I washed up; and real good too! I also got to play in the sawdust, but that is another trade. The main thing to remember: if you go by the rule of thumb of changing your oil every 3000 miles or follow the manufacturers' suggestion, just remember if it looks dirty : change it ! If you don't drive it often enough to put three thousand miles on your car, change at least twice a year to get the fumes and impurities that have collected in the engine. Some of you may notice that the oil may smell like gasoline. There are two reasons that are to be checked out first. A car will do this if it is only used for short trips such as to the grocery store. An engine has to be run at least thirty minutes to get it's "blood" circulated and the fumes evaporated. The second reason is for the old cars with mechanical fuel pumps. There is a diaphram inside that will crack due to wear or age and sometimes the fuel will go into the oil because the rod driving the fuel pump (GM cars- that's the one that falls down when you remove the pump) or the long arm of the pump itself (Ford) is operated by an ecentric off of the timing chain. DO NOT plug up the weep holes the gasoline leaks out of, one of Dad's customers had done this and his oil was so full of gas it was thinned out and he lost oil pressure; Dad told him he was driving a "rolling bomb" ( I will often quote my dad because he taught me the trade). A new fuel pump and a oil change and his car ran great. Surprisingly it didn't burn oil due to the fact some of the lubricating properties were not there with gasoline. I am not a know it all, and there can be different answers other than what I, or my Dad, point out but I hope to get you to seeking answers because there are those out there who make it hard for the honest mechanics by trying to rip-off the public. . Always remember, there is no such thing as a dumb question and you deserve an answer even if it is "I don't know" , as long as he can either explain it to you (on your level) or can send you to someone to check it out. Dad and I never lost money answering questions on "how to" because they usually came back later for us to do something beyond their ability or something else they didn't have the time to do. Some days our shop resembled the old general store or a barber shop. |
| Page by Ladymantis62 and helped by OleBigMech33 |
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