Friday, February 23, 2007

Sherri's Helpful Hints














THE BEST .... FOR YOUR CAR

ENGINE OILS Valvoline, Pennzoil, Kendall and Castrol

BEST OIL PERIOD Castrol Syntec 5w50 synthetic motor oil.


BEST OIL ADDITIVES Valvoline synpower fule injection cleaner or fuel system treatments

BATTERIES Sears Diehard Gold, Interstate, AC Delco


HARD PARTS - WATER PUMPS, STARTERS ETC. Napa or Federated


FRONT END PARTS TRW or Moog


BRAKE PARTS Raybestos, Wagner or Bendix


EXHAUST PARTS Walker


FILTERS AND FUEL FILTERS Purolater, Fram or AC Delco, Mopar, Motorcraft, Napa gold, Federated (top brands)


TRANSMISSION FLUIDS Valvoline, Pennzoil, Kendall, Castrol


WIPER BLADES AND REFILLS Anco


BELTS AND HOSES Goodyear preferably, otherwise Dayco, Napa, or Federated

THERMOSTATS Napa or Federated


TIRES Goodyear


SPARK PLUGS AC Delco rapid fires for GM OBD II cars. Bosch/Autolite for German cars. NGK or Nippendenso for Asian cars. Autolites in Chryslers. Rapidfires in Fords or motorcrafts. Stay away from Split Fires, Period, Plug wires. Federated Packard wire sets and Napa Beldon wire sets are the best.


SENSORS AND ACTUATORS Napa or Federated auto parts. Use Standard ignition parts or use exact dealer parts whenever possible.


ENGINE OVERHAUL PARTS Clevite or Felpro overhaul kits.


ENGINE GASKETS Felpro


OIL FILTERS Hastings, Fram, AC Delco, Napa Gold, Purolator.


COOLANTS Prestone or Prestone Extended Life


COOLANT ADDITIVES AND SEALERS Bars Leak


BEARINGS Timken.


Common Car Questions and Answers:


How long should an average battery last in a car?

Never expect to get as many months as is listed on the battery when you buy it. If a battery says it is a 72 month battery odds are you will not get 72 months out of it. A good rule of thumb is a good battery should last 5 years maximum. No matter what the battery says it is best these are replaced every five years as after this time they are weak and could fail at any time.It is best to stick with a named brand of battery such as Interstate, Diehard, AC Delco, Motorcraft, Exide etc. Unknown makes could be inferior in design and construction any may not last even 12 months.

What sort of Spark Plugs should I buy when replacing them myself?

If your car is a GM, Ford or Chrysler and is a 90 or newer model you should consider buying platinum plugs only. These work better, last longer and give you better mileage.If you have a 95 or newer vehicle and it has obd II system on board, then you need to buy special double padded plus for your car.German vehicles work better with regular Bosch plugs.Asian cars work better with NGK or Nippendenso plugs and Saturn use NGK.

What is the proper type of oil to use in my car?

A lot of mechanics that have tested different oils say that synthetic oil is the best all around oil for cars.Castrol Syntec 5w50 oil for most cars. This oil gives you the cold oil pressure you need and when the car warms up, it gives the protection of the 50 weight oil. No carbon based oil can do this. Synthetic oil saves gas, gives quicker starts, helps save weaker engines for a while.The main thing to remember is to change oil every 3 months or 3,000 miles, no matter what. Use the correct oil weight for your car. This is usually in the owners manual and on the fill cover. If your car calls for 5w30, then use 5w30 in the cold winter time or you will have problems with your car. The old timers that tell you to us 10w40 all year long are outdated and have been proven wrong many times. If your car calls for 5w30 and you have tight valve clearances on your engine and you use 10w40 your car will not start in the winter time when it is cold because the valves will be held open too far from lifters being pushed too far by heavier, slower moving oil.

"How often should you rotate tires and how do you know when they are at the right pressure if you don't have a tire gauge?"

Every time you change tires, rotate them. This guarantees even wear throughout.A visual inspection of wear would be the first thing to do. Car accessory dealers sell groove gauges to measure groove depth, another good indication when rotation becomes necessary. Otherwise, an interval of once a year is best.Driving habits have a significant effect on tire wear and thus on rotation frequency also, so be cautious.Many modern tires have a specific direction of rotation marked on the sidewall with an arrow. Never set your tires to roll backwards as this may be a safety hazard. In practice this means that you can only rotate such tires by changing them from rear to front and vice versa on one side of the car.

No comments: