Enginetech Kits

RockAuto now offers Enginetech Master Rebuild Kits and Re-Ring Kits. With just one part number, kits make it easier to get all the parts you need for your engine rebuilding projects. Professional engine rebuilders have been successfully using Enginetech parts since 1982. All components in the kits offer the best designs and materials for specific engines and all meet or exceed O.E. specifications!

The Enginetech kits are available with a choice of over or undersized pistons, rings and bearings to ensure you can get exactly what you need for individual engines. Follow the "Info" link next to the part number to see a full list of the components included with each specific kit.

Typical Enginetech Master Rebuild and Re-Ring Kits

RockAuto has Enginetech kits for the diesel and gas engines powering popular fleet cars and trucks. There are Enginetech kits for innumerable other engines as well. From a premium Master Rebuild Kit for a 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass to a Re-Ring Kit for a 2006 Isuzu Ascender, RockAuto has you covered. Find these Enginetech Kits and more in the "Engine" category of the RockAuto catalog.

New RockAuto TV Commercial

RockAuto.com has a new, freshly released TV commercial!

We do less expensive, animated ads to help keep auto parts prices reliably low for customers. This TV commercial is still a simple cartoon, but it has a new musical style that we hope conveys our message in an enjoyable way.

Power Stop Brake Kit Rebate

Power Stop has extended the brake kit rebate exclusively for RockAuto customers. If you have not had a chance to take advantage of this rebate yet, there is still time! Get up to $70 back with the purchase of qualifying Power Stop 1-Click Brake Kits!

Forum of the Month

RangeRovers.net is an all volunteer effort dedicated to providing Range Rover enthusiasts, owners and prospective purchasers throughout the world with practical buying, ownership, maintenance and repair information on all models of Range Rovers in a condensed and organized format. We provide information to hands-on owners who enjoy repairing their own Range Rovers, and those who would prefer to have a qualified repair facility care for their vehicle.

RangeRovers.net provides a meeting ground for hopefuls, aficionados and devotees of all stripes from every corner of the globe to come together to share information with fellow Range Rover enthusiasts. If you are interested in joining a site dedicated to Range Rover enthusiasts join RangeRovers.net now! And, make sure you introduce yourself in the “New Member Introductions” area.



If you are the administrator or member of a forum and you would like to see your website featured in an upcoming newsletter and receive a discount code to share with your members, contact marketing@rockauto.com.

Repair Mistakes & Blunders

My sister had a friend who would occasionally call on me to help her with her car problems. One very cold winter afternoon, she drove to our house and said the heat in her car wasn't working. A friend of mine had stopped by at the time and offered to help. We tried running the engine and checked for heat, but there was nothing but frigid air blowing into the passenger compartment. We decided the trouble must be the thermostat and sent my sister's friend to get a replacement. When she returned, we installed the new thermostat, but it didn't help.

My friend suggested the heater core might be somehow blocked, and he said people where he came from (Northern Canada) would use a bicycle pump to force air through the heater core's water circuit. So, after warming our aching fingers in the house for awhile, we went back out to disconnect one of the heater core hoses and try that approach with my bicycle pump. No luck! And it was getting dark and colder. Just then, my father returned home from work and listened to our description of the problem. He went to the car, opened the radiator cap, peered in and exclaimed, "Why,... it's frozen!" It turns out there was only water and no antifreeze in the cooling system. My friend and I exchanged embarrassed glances, and my sister's friend glared at us. We drove the car inside the garage, let it thaw and then replaced the radiator fluid with antifreeze. Soon, glorious heat was pouring out of the vents.

Tell us about your most infamous auto repair blunder or unconventional fix. Use your woe to help others avoid similar mistakes or share off-the-wall solutions that worked (at least for a while!). Please e-mail your story to flamur@rockauto.com. Include your mailing address and if you would like a RockAuto T-Shirt (please let us know your shirt size) or Hat if we publish your story. See the T-Shirts and Hats under Tools & Universal Parts in the catalog. The story will be credited using only your first name and your vague geographic location (state, province, country, continent, etc.) so you can remain semi-anonymous!

Automotive Trivia

What engine was installed in the 1966 and 1967 Shelby 427 Cobra?

A. Ford 427 cid V-8
B. Ford 428 cid V-8
C. Ford 429 cid V-8


Answer below

Turn Signal Tune Up

The previous owner of my ‘71 Ford LTD had taken the car to a garage after the turn signals stopped working. The shop replaced the turn signal and hazard flashers under the dash and the turn signal switch under the steering wheel, but the turn signals still did not work. More expensive diagnosis was offered, but instead, the previous owner sold the car to me.

The receipt from the repair shop showed a new “$5.20” flasher had been installed, but since it takes only a few seconds to plug in a flasher, I went ahead and swapped out the turn signal flasher with a used one that was rattling around in my toolbox. The turn signals immediately started working. Hurray!

The thermal turn signal flasher in my Ford was used on countless models and brands well into the 1990s. A strip of metal wrapped in resistive wire closes and opens the switch as it flexes during heating and cooling cycles. The audible turn signal “click” is the sound of that strip of metal expanding and contracting. Thermal flashers are simple, inexpensive and usually surprisingly durable, often lasting for the life of the car. There was no brand name on the “$5.20” flasher (cut open in photo), but RockAuto has similar flashers for less than $2.

$5.20 flasher cut open

I swapped the “$5.20” flasher into my son’s ‘90 Lincoln and it did not work there either. Maybe it was a dud from a mystery manufacturer or maybe the antique Ford’s electrical system had burned out the hair-thin thermal wire. The turn signals blinked somewhat slowly after I installed the used flasher from my toolbox. Maybe that was an indication of how much current the LTD’s turn signal bulbs were drawing, but it was more likely a sign that the old flasher from my toolbox had been used for decades in some other car and was just lucky to be alive.

That is the trouble with thermal flashers. While they are usually surprisingly reliable, when you are heating up a strip of metal, there will inevitably be some variation in switch time and the sound of the “click.” Towing a trailer means another set of turn signal bulbs drawing current and impacting how fast the flasher heats and/or cools. Car manufacturers switched to electronic turn signal flashers to better provide a more consistent flash and sound.

I decided to modernize my car with an Electro-Mechanical Tridon EL12 turn signal flasher! This flasher (see photo below) has a capacitor, spring and other quality pieces to ensure a uniform flash no matter if the car is an antique Ford or a ’95 Jeep hauling a trailer. Plugging in the new electronic flasher still only took seconds and it cost less than $6 from RockAuto. It would have been smart for the garage that originally tried to fix the Ford’s turn signals to have had some of the foolproof electronic flashers on hand. They could have been heroes instead of being in the awkward position of returning a still-broken car to an elderly customer.

Electro-Mechanical Tridon EL12 turn signal flasher

Now I am thinking maybe I should have chosen the Tridon LF12K “Loud Flasher.” Its click is five times as loud! That might come in handy since my ’71 Ford is a convertible, and it is harder to see the dash light indicators and hear the turn signal click when the top is down. (At least that is what I am hoping for next summer!) Find all the turn signal Flasher choices for your specific vehicles under “Electrical” in the RockAuto catalog.

Tridon LF12K “Loud Flasher"

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