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Just a note to say that I think you guys are great and that
I've been
telling my friends about the great prices and service.
I don't do a
lot of auto repairs on my own but now at least I know where I can get
parts without selling off my firstborn or mortgaging the house.
Al in Missouri | |
Upcoming
Events
If you would like your event
featured here, e-mail us
with details. |
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2nd Annual Spring Fling Car
Show!
Sneade's Ace Hardware Store
Lusby, MD
5/3/2008
website
Super Coupe Club of Iowa Show
Cedar Rapids, IA
5/17/2008
e-mail
5th Annual Gibbsboro Car Show
Gibbsboro,
NJ
5/17/2008
e-mail
4th Annual Rocky Mountain Oldsmobile &
Pontiac Show & Shine
Highlands Ranch, CO
5/17/2008
website
Vancouver All British Field Meet
South
Richmond, BC
5/17/2008
e-mail
Trussville Car & Bike Show
Trussville,
AL
5/17/2008
e-mail
Fieros at Carlisle '08
Carlisle, PA
5/17/2008
website
31st Annual Shelby Spring Fling
Nashville,
IN
5/17/2008
website
Cool Cars for a Cure
Beech Grove, IN
5/18/2008
e-mail
Memorial Weekend Car Show
Lansing, MI
5/24/2008
e-mail
Brookings Car Event
Brookings,OR
5/24/2008
e-mail
Carolina Motorama
Fletcher, NC
5/23-5/25/2008
website |
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New RockAuto Catalog Feature :: Buyer's Guide |
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Do you have a part number that
you want to confirm will fit your car? Did you find a part in
your garage...and just can't remember what it's for? You can
now click on a part number in the
RockAuto catalog to see what vehicles a particular part will
fit.
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Gas Cap Promotion |
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Buy $200 in parts and the ACDelco,
Gates, Motorcraft, or Stant Fuel Tank Cap (up to $15 off) in
your shopping cart is FREE!
Choose a locking gas cap to protect the expensive gasoline or
diesel in your tank from thieves and vandals. Locking fuel caps
are available to fit the fuel tank filler neck designs found
on a wide variety of vehicles.
Try an InStant Fill™ fuel cap to
make refueling faster, less messy, and easier on the environment.
With Stant's InStant
Fill the gas pump nozzle is inserted through a trap door mechanism
like a NASCAR race car. There is no cap to twist off and the
gas and fumes stay in the tank. InStant Fill caps meet onboard
diagnostic (OBDII) emission specifications. Ford plans to offer
similar fuel tank caps on their next generation of new car models.
Or pick an original style gas cap to back-up or replace one
worn-out or lost.
Find all the fuel tank caps for your vehicle
under "Fuel/Air" in
the RockAuto.com
catalog. When the parts in your shopping cart
total $200 (core charge & shipping excluded) or more add
a fuel tank cap to your shopping cart too. One cap’s cost
up to $15 will automatically be deducted from your order. $15
will be deducted from the cost of a more expensive gas cap and
the price of the cap greater than $15 will count toward the $200
minimum order amount. For example, if your car needs a $45 fuel
tank cap then $30 of the cap’s cost will be applied toward
the $200 minimum needed to qualify for the promotion. The promotion
deduction will appear automatically in your shopping cart so
you will definitely know when it kicks in. Offer ends May 8,
2008.
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Forum Of The Month |
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First
Generation Honda Civics is a website devoted
to the community of first generation Honda car enthusiasts.
The Civics and Accords featured range
from the first 1973 Honda Civic to 1974 through 1979 Honda Civic
1200's and CVCC models. Pride is taken in showing off our labors
of
love and some members participate in gatherings
in order to meet other owners.
Owners of other classic Hondas such as first generation
Accords, Preludes, second generation Honda Civics' and S500,
S600's, and Hondas of the 60's are welcome also.
Get helpful information on tuning and technical data and specifications,
custom bodywork, welding, engine swaps, and more.
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 jessa@rockauto.com.
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Repair Mistakes & Blunders |
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Many years ago I worked
as a mechanic in a Mercedes Benz dealership in Columbia SC.
I
was bending over the engine bay of a 1972 280SEL with the 4.5L
V8 with a complaint of a rough idle. So I was doing my due diligence
looking for
vacuum leaks, bad plug wires, and the normal things you do to
cure a rough idle. Wanting to duplicate the complaint, I had
set the handbrake and put the car in gear. So here I am leaning
over the fender well, one foot on either side of the right front
wheel when for some unexplained reason I reached over and blipped
the throttle once. These V8's had torque!! Immediately the engine
responded, and the car leaped forward stopping on top of my
right foot. Guess what I did first? Yeah, you guessed it, looked
around
to see who was watching!
I stood there for a minute or two
and thought about my dilemma. Naturally I did not call anyone
to help, too embarrassed. I eventually worked my foot out of
the shoe, then walked around and backed the car up to recover
my shoe. Never did that again!
John in Texas
Tell us about your most infamous auto repair
blunder. Use your woe to help others avoid similar mistakes.
Please email your story to flamur@rockauto.com.
Include your mailing address and shirt size (large or extra
large) and we will mail you a RockAuto "Do it yourself?" t-shirt
if we publish your story. 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! |
"It Can Be A Knuckle Breaker..." |
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My old car had oil raining off
the bottom of the engine. A steady and environmentally toxic
drip had turned into a geyser and potential fire hazard in just
a few days. A professional mechanic with a busy schedule might
have looked at the puddle on the floor, the 200000 miles on the
odometer, and guessed the main bearing gaskets were shot. Either
buy a new engine or a different car. But a crazed DIYer like
myself crawled under that car, wrestled the oil pan loose, and
replaced the oil pan gasket. The oil pan gasket fixed the massive
oil leak and with new valve cover gaskets, even the pesky drip
was gone.
Changing the oil pan gasket on a full
size pick-up can be as easy as a really bad oil change. On
some cars it is a major
project. The car I just mentioned above had a U shaped oil
pan that could not be completely removed without pulling the
engine. I yanked the old gasket and fed the new gasket into
place with less than two inches of clearance. Changing the
oil pan gasket on my wife’s little front wheel drive
car required removing much of the exhaust. It is no fun taking
bolts out of a 20-year-old exhaust manifold.
It can be a knuckle breaker, but what
seems like an old, hopelessly leaky engine can be miraculously
transformed by just an oil
pan gasket change. If the valve cover gaskets needed changing
then the oil pan gasket probably needs changing too. The “main
seals” are usually at each end of the oil pan so differentiating
whether it is the main bearing gaskets or the oil pan gasket
leaking can be next to impossible. A $20 oil pan gasket is
the thing to try first.
I have had great luck with Fel-Pro PermaDry® oil pan gaskets.
I don’t just say that because for most cars they are
the most expensive gaskets RockAuto.com sells. I just know
I have beat up PermaDry gaskets while wrestling them into place
and I still never had one leak. Buying the cheap gasket that
happens to be on a store’s shelf is never worth it if
it means crawling back under the car and redoing the job.
Here are two more common oil leak sources. The mushroom shaped
oil pressure switch for the oil gauge or light in the dash
might start leaking even when the car is nearly new. Screwing
in a new switch is not difficult on most engines.
The distributor mounting gasket is an
o-ring intended to prevent oil from leaking out around the
distributor shaft. When the
distributor is mounted horizontally (many 4-cylinder engines)
oil can really pour out when the o-ring goes bad. This oil
leak is easy to misdiagnose as a bad valve cover gasket. Replacing
the o-ring requires carefully removing and reinstalling the
distributor. It is an easy job as long as “carefully” is
practiced!
Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com |
"Your Bimmer Has WHAT Under The
hood?" |
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My current project is installing
a 2005 Chevy truck motor and T56 transmission into a 1994 BMW
525iT wagon. RockAuto has helped with many of the parts for
this conversion. RockAuto carries a surprising
amount of factory type parts for German cars, such as coolant
tanks and sensors. I had to use a radiator from another BMW,
and RockAuto had the parts that allowed me to make this conversion.
In addition to the Chevy engine and transmission, this car will
have a Cobra Hydroboost master cylinder, a Jeep
differential flange, a Lincoln cooling fan, and Mustang turbo
headers among other parts from various vehicles.
I enjoy shopping at RockAuto since with my
cars I cannot go into a parts store and simply answer "What
year and model car do you have?". With the way the website
is constructed I can easily look up the model of the car I need
parts for and
find what I need. RockAuto also has far better prices on items
as compared to the local parts stores. And the support before
and after the sale is wonderful.
Thanks,
Paul |
Share Your Hard Work
Do you purchase parts from RockAuto? If
so, RockAuto would like to feature you and your vehicle in our
monthly newsletter. Please e-mail flamur@rockauto.com with
details.
© 1999-2008 RockAuto, LLC - Madison, Wisconsin
USA. RockAuto name and logo are registered trademarks of RockAuto,
LLC. Manufacturer names and logos in the RockAuto catalog are
trademarks of their respective companies and are used only to
identify their products. All rights reserved.
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