Timing Belts Not Ties For Christmas

There still is time to give a gift that someone can really use...a gift certificate from RockAuto! They are easy to purchase and even easier to use. Gift certificates from RockAuto are something everyone on your list will enjoy. Whether you need something for your classic car in storage or an everyday driver, we have all the parts your car will ever need.

Gift Certificate
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Don't forget to check out all of the cool things in the "Extras" tab. You will find items that make great gifts like tools, repair manuals, t-shirts, and more!

Repair Tip

Most late model cars and even trucks have a Cabin Air Filter to keep the air inside the vehicle clean and fresh. It is a relatively easy bit of maintenance that can be done even if the weather outside is less than delightful.

Filter location depends on the vehicle: behind the glove box, under the windshield cowl panel, etc. Cabin Air Filters are found under Heat & Air Conditioning in the RockAuto catalog. The More Info button for ATP brand filters often includes detailed installation instructions.

Winter Quiz

How do you rate yourself on the car care awareness scale? Here's an opportunity to find out with our true/false winter maintenance quiz.

1. When the engine cranks but won't start when you turn the key, the problem is a corroded battery connection.
2. Keeping the gas tank above half full helps prevent accumulation of moisture in the fuel system.
3. Before starting out in severely cold weather, let the engine run for at least five minutes.
4. If your heater doesn't warm up your car as it should, your engine may need a new thermostat.
5. A four-wheel drive vehicle can stop twice as fast on ice or snow as the same vehicle with two-wheel drive.

Answers
1. (F) If the battery can turn the engine, the problem is elsewhere. The car generally requires diagnostic services. 2. (T) In cold weather, moisture in air tends to form inside the gas tank. The more gas in the tank, the less space for air, helping to prevent moisture. 3. (F) About a minute should be enough. After that, drive conservatively until the engine reaches normal operating temperature. 4. (T) The engine is your heat source. If a malfunctioning thermostat causes the engine to run too cold, you'll be cold, too. Also, a cold running engine burns more gas and increases exhaust emissions. 5. (F) Four-wheel drive helps when starting out and accelerating, but on any type of surface it's good brakes on all four wheels that helps you stop safely. Quiz provided by CarCare.org

Minnesota Christmas

My '79 Chrysler 300 has a new radiator, a clean 4-barrel carburetor, platinum spark plugs, sweet sounding dual exhaust, and an oil filter painted snowy white and decorated with Christmas trees and snowmen made of fluffy cotton balls. This filter is not a new seasonal line from Fram. It was a gift I received over a decade ago to mark acceptance into my wife’s family and close group of friends.

My wife is from Minnesota. Not balmy Minneapolis but up north, closer to places like Fargo and Manitoba. They have indoor plumbing and big screen TVs, but they also still face some of the risks, hardships, and challenges that pioneers faced in the 1800s. Whether it is your horse or your car that dies on a cold, lonesome road, you could still be in the same world of hurt.

I thought I knew what cold was until I visited my wife’s family one December. The temperature was forty degrees below zero. That was before tacking on wind chill. I had once scoffed at my wife’s engine block heater, but now at every stop I frantically ran to the nearest building clutching the heater’s extension cord. We left the engine running if there was no where to plug in. I learned that you can’t use just any power cord either. At forty below, wimpy power cords harden and shatter into pieces. How well the car was maintained suddenly became a potential life or death issue.

There are huge gaps in my wife’s family. Relatives either live to be over 90 or they die much too young. Icy roads or machinery accidents claimed parents, brothers, and cousins. There is stoicism, but also humor and optimism. You prepare as best you can, but you don’t fret if life still beats you over the head. You work with what you have. Mistakes, even stupid ones, are okay as long as you take responsibility for them.

At our wedding reception I noticed the total number of fingers on the farmers’ hands was inversely proportional to their ages. At age 75, my wife’s uncle welded and hammered a new bed for his pick-up after the old bed rusted away. Relatives laughed and played fetch with their hunting dogs outside at forty below.

Could this tough group ever really accept a citified Detroit boy? There were several years of tentative steps. I showed that I took care of my car, my dog, and my family, but it was a purchase that finally cinched the deal. Outside Fargo, I stumbled on and bought up a small inventory of oil filters. People laughed when they found out I packed a suitcase with auto parts rather than vacation souvenirs, but they also recognized that this was something a thrifty, down to earth Minnesotan might do.

That Christmas I received the oil filter decorated with trees and snowmen from a friend in Minnesota. I proudly displayed it on the mantel for years, but this fall I realized it was looking a little tattered. The friend had picked a filter to fit my old Chrysler and a Minnesotan would never throw anything useful away…

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

I bought a 1982 Ferrari 308 GTSi in the UK just over 4 years ago. It had a misfiring engine and the previous owner had the engine checked and found out there was no compression in one of the cylinders. The owner had an estimate from a Ferrari service garage for a lot of money to fix it. Because of this, I got it for a reasonable price, and I wanted to do the work myself because I find it interesting.

This car has a 3 litre V8 with the Bosch K Jetronic fuel injection which was used for a couple of years before the 4 valve per cylinder version was introduced. So it is slightly slower than the newer versions, but still very capable, as the engine red lines at 8000 rpm.

I took off both cylinder heads and found a big chunk missing from one of the exhaust valves. I did quite a lot of work regrinding valves, replacing valve stem seals, and generally checking everything on the heads. The engine fired up the first time I tried, but it was still running rough. I found it was only running on 3 cylinders. I fixed a fault on the HT and it ran much better but some of the injectors were sticking. I noted the parts numbers from the injectors and called a Bosch dealer, but the number was missing from his computer. This is a normal Ferrari issue in Europe and it forces you to go to the Ferrari dealers who are very expensive.

However a quick search on the Internet and I found RockAuto. I have purchased several injectors on two occasions from RockAuto and the service was excellent.

Thanks again for the service,
Ken in the UK

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