What’s in Store

Visit the Indiana State fair grounds this Sunday March 29th between 8:00am and 3:00pm for the 2nd of 4 swap meets and car sales of the 2009 season offered by Mid America Promotions. Admission is $6 for adults and kids 12 and under are free. This is a great place to pick up a classic muscle car needing restoration or to search for that hard to find part for your everyday car.

Visit the Super Sunday Indy website to get a map of the pavilion and directions to the fairgrounds. If you have a vehicle or parts to sell, you can obtain a registration form and rent a space for any of the 3 remaining shows this season. Stay connected with Auto Repair Facts for more up coming events and enjoy this weekends show.

What’s in store

Visit the Indiana State fair grounds Sunday January 4th for the first of 4 swap meet and car sales of the 2009 season offered by Mid America Promotions. Admission is $6 for adults and kids 12 and under are free. This is a great place to pick up a classic muscle car needing restoration or to search for that hard to find part for your everyday car.

Visit Super Sunday Indy.com to get a map of the pavilion and directions to the fairgrounds. If you have a vehicle or parts to sell, you can obtain a registration form and rent a space for any of the 4 available shows this season. This show is also one of my projects to photo journal an article. Stay connected with Auto Repair Facts for a complete pictorial of this event and enjoy the show.

‘80’s Junk yards

There was a time when junk yards were exactly what their name was. JUNK! This will date me a little bit, but ‘back in the day’, or ‘in the late ‘80’s’. Junk yards used to be acres upon acres of dirt and grass with stacks of cars for as far as the eye can see. When you wanted a part, you just showed up and talked the toothless wonder into taking a trip around the yard in the “deuce and a quarter” to find the part you needed. This is all in a day’s work, just to get a junk part and save a little money.

Then every yard became a “printing press” with the advancement of computers into the automotive industry. Junk yards controlled the market. You no longer were able to enter the yard unless you were an employee. Employees took every part off of the cars and put them into an inventory that was checked by year, make, and model for each part available.

Oh, did I mention that junk parts were now sold at 1/3 less that a factory new part. Yeah, the $300 IROC Z-28 allow rim is going to cost you $200 from a junk yard. Corporate big business had just entered the junk yards. They did, and still do control it. But, things come full circle. Now you just sign a waiver, enter the yard, and remove the part you need. Parts are affordable once again! You also get to practice taking off a part from a junk car before you tear down your own car.

Pull-a-Part

Today there are several corporate chains that have junk yards scattered across America. The one closest to me is Pull a Part. Pull a Part has 15 different yards in 10 different states and is the most organized and inventory controlled yard that I’ve ever been in. You no longer have to worry about tromping through mud layered fields looking for a car like yours with no end in sight.

Check this out!!

Hey where’s the mud? Don’t worry about the rims under the cars, they’re welded together. Now you can remove the brake assembly that you wanted, or the transmission, or the radiator, or the… You get the idea?

Look closely at the white tags located on the rear panel of every vehicle. Yep, just like Kroger. There’s a bar code on every car and truck in the yard. The computer inventory is awesome! Just call them for parts pricing or go on to their very user friendly website and check for that car you’ve been looking for. The only thing I can recommend is to familiarize yourself with what part and or type of car you are looking for ahead of time. The Pull a Part website allows you to enter a vehicle’s year, make, and model and tells you if they have it, at which yard location, and exactly where it is in the yard. This is good for walking right to car # 402 in row 11 and get the part you need. Their website also has a complete parts price list so you know exactly what you will expect to pay before even going there.

Notice the nice wide path ways.

Room to work in both directions

Because it’s a do it yourself yard, they can keep their prices low and pass the savings onto you. They even provide wheel barrows to put your tools in for the journey into the yard.

If they don’t have the car that you are looking for just click the ‘notify me’ tab and you can request a car. Leave them the information and they will contact you via e-mail when a requested car comes into their yard.

Oh, and by the way be sure to take along some wasp and hornet spray. Trust me they like to hide in the cars during the hot summer days.

For those of you who were born after the ’80′s, a deuce and a quarter is a Buick Electra 225.

NAPA Auto Parts
(napaonline.com)

The NAPA website is it’s very user friendly. You have access to a complete price list and NAPA is a nation wide parts chain. Enter your zip code, car type, year, make, model and a part description. (example; motor mount, water pump, oil filter, etc.)

O’Reilly Auto Parts
(oreillyauto.com)

O’reilly is known for great monthly specials. They can get parts the same day or overnight if their not instock. Their best quality is price matching, if its cheaper elsewhere they will adjust the price. They offer great parts warranties as well.

Autozone Auto Parts
(autozone.com)

This is a great place to get parts, fluids, cleaners and accessories for your everyday needs. They can also special order parts when not in stock. Autozone perk; make 5 purchases over $20 in 6 mths. you’ll receive a $20 giftcard.

Advance Auto Parts
(advanceautoparts.com)

Great store with good pricing and store hours. They offer a well trained staff for parts help and have access to more factory or OEM parts for the domestic car lines. Advance also can special order parts on Sundays and holidays.

Pull a Part-Used Auto Parts
(pullapart.com)

Here is a very user friendly website for checking on parts availability and pricing for the do it yourself type person.

Junkyard parts

In reference to Junk yard parts-an alternative to parts stores check out this post for an inside look into a do it yourself auto parts store.

Searching for the best deals

When pricing parts for your car, price around to find the best deal? Parts usually rotate around on sale every couple of months from one place to another, use the promotions section for monthly specials. Pricing can be done on line ahead of time. Once you found a good deal, call to check on the availability and find out if it might be a special order part. Sometimes special order parts take a day or two to get. Another good question to ask is, what kind of warranty does it have? Some parts have a 90 day warranty, but for a little more cost you could get a part with a full year warranty.

Keep in mind that aftermarket parts stores are designed for the do it yourself type person. Most automotive repair shops do not install parts purchased from an outside parts source. There are two reasons why repair shops don’t install customer supplied parts. The first reason is that repair shops have a deal with certain parts stores, that if they use their parts and that part should fail then the parts store will cover the cost of the part for the duration of the warranty. If you supply a part and the shop was to install it, and it failed, then they would have to jump through hoops in order to assist you in receiving a warranty. That is why most shops will not install parts brought in by customers. The second reason is, the repair shop gets a special break on parts purchases by using certain shops and can mark up the parts to gain access to more money that can help cover overhead cost of running a business.

This is why it’s good to learn about how automobiles work and how to perform repairs yourself. Learning is good, but saving money is better.

Understand how to monitor temperature

Before checking the coolant make sure you understand how the system operates normally. Some vehicles have a temperature gauge and some have a warning light.

If there is a gauge, the best guideline to use is that 1/2 way between cold and hot on the gauge should be normal operating temperature.

Warning lights usually don’t come on until it’s hot, unfortunately you can’t monitor the engine temperature until it’s too late.

Where to check the level

Locate the area to check the coolant. Some vehicles have the fill at the radiator and some have a separate reservoir.

Caution!!

When checking coolant level, always make sure the engine temperature has cooled down or sat over night to prevent severe burns from opening a hot system.

Note:

Engines run at 220°F and have 18 psi of pressure when hot! These temperatures can scald you and create sever burns if opened while hot.

Find the level indicator somewhere on the tank or reservoir.

And determine where to fill it when cold making sure not to over fill. Leave a small amount of air in the top of the reservoir for the coolant to expand when it gets hot, this will keep the fluid from pushing out of the overflow.

Sample the coolant

Remove the cap to access the coolant and check it for proper protection from freezing or boiling. Put the tube of the hydrometer into the coolant, squeeze the ball to let the suction pull a sample into the clear measuring area.

You can obtain a hydrometer from your local parts store to check the protection level for as little as $5.00. A 50/50 mixture of antifreeze and water will protect your engine to -30°F

If you need to top up the level make sure you purchase the correct type for your vehicle. Check the owners manual or ask your parts specialist at the parts store.

You can buy premixed or full strength antifreeze. You get more for your money to buy it full strength.

Recommendations:

Anti-freeze needs to be mixed before it protects against freezing or boiling. Mix 50% water to 50% anti-freeze then top up.