Does my car really need a brake service

Does My Car Really Need This Service ~ Brake Job

Does my car really need a brake service

My wife found this brake pad in the parking lot of her work, someone waited too long.

We are continuing in our car service series. This week I want to talk about the brake job. There are a lot of variables that go into making a choice on replacing brakes. It is not always a cut and dry choice. Let’s first break down the common types of brake jobs. Then I will give you some advice on deciding if you need to perform a brake job your car.

Types of Brake Jobs
Saying “I am replacing the brakes” is a very generic term. There are several ways that we can replace brakes.It all depends on the condition of the brakes. Here are the most common types of brake jobs I do

  • Brake pads only
    This is only replacing the brake pads. This is generally the cheapest way to do a brake job. We call this “pad slapping” the car. I do not prefer this type of brake job. It is not a bad thing. I just think you can do a more thorough job. 
  • Replace the brake pads and rotors
    This brake job is where we replace the brake pads and the rotors(duh?). This is a much better brake job than just replacing the pads. Replacing the rotors will give the pads a fresh surface to seat. It can also help reduce brake noise. The only issue here is, rotors can be expensive.
  • Replace the brake pads, resurface the rotors
    This is the way I prefer to do a brake job. With this type of brake job I replace the brake pads. But instead of replacing the rotors, I resurface them. That is where I put the on a machine called a brake lathe. Then we remove a very small amount of metal from the rotor. It makes for a nice clean surface. This is also called turning, or cutting the rotors. There are times where resurfacing the rotors is not an option.

Like I said, resurfacing the rotors and replacing the pads. It is a better overall brake job, and cheaper than replacing the rotors.

What happens if I don’t replace them?
Like most car repairs, the longer you wait, the more it can cost. If you wait to long, the rivets in the pad will impact the rotor. That may mean resurfacing the rotor is not an option. The rotors will have to be replaced.

In extreme cases more damage can occur. I have seen calipers, the part that pushes the pad in to the rotor, be destroyed. The thinner the pad gets, the further the caliper pushes the pad. At some point the caliper will over extend and fail. This is not only very costly, but VERY dangerous. Remember when dealing with brakes, safety is always a big concern.

How do I know if I need the service?
On many modern cars we have a warning system. There are warning lights to tell us when the pads are getting thin and need to be replaced. Some cars have “squealers”, that is a small strip of metal that will hit the rotor when the pad gets thin. It causes a really loud and obnoxious squeal.

While these warning systems are a good thing, I don’t rely on them. Most cars only have warning lights that monitor the front brakes. That leaves the rear brakes unmonitored. The squealer warning works great. That is until the customer says something like “My brakes have been making a noise for about a year now”. Trust me, that stuff happens.

Does my car really need a brake service

This car would need the wheels removed to check the brakes

The right way to check the brakes is to remove the wheels and do an inspection. Some wheels allow you to see the brakes pretty clearly. Taking the wheels off is the best way to check the system. Here are some of the things you want to check.

  1. Thickness of the pads. Be sure to check the outside and the inside pads. Many cars will wear the inside faster than the outside.
  2. Look at the rotor. Check it for grooves like a record would have. Look at the color, if it is turning blue, you may have an issue. Also look at the edges, if there is a big lip on the outer or inner part of the rotor, you may have to replace them. Turning the rotor too thin will cause a brake vibration.
  3. Make sure there is no leaks.

So, do I really need this service?
You may not actually need this service. VW says that the minimum thickness is 2mm for the brake pads. That is really thin. I would not want to let my brakes get that low. If you do your own brake inspections, you have to use your best judgement. If your mechanic is recommending that you get a brake job, here are the things you need to ask.

  • How much pad is left?
    This will give you an idea of how thin the pads really are. Plus it will give you some confidence that he actually measured them.
  • Will them make it to the next service?
    This is the big one. That question should tell you if you need to do it today, or if it can wait.

One other piece of advice. If you are on the fence, get the brakes done. Please don’t mess around with the system keeping you from crashing in to another car.

When I recommend brakes I use the “will they make it to the next service” rule. Either way, I tell the customer. If I don’t think it will make it, I will let them know.

If you are interested in some of the other “Does my car really need this service” posts, you can check them out here.

If there is a service you want to know more about, post it in the comments, or just contact me.

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Dubs For A Cause Charity Car Show

Recap From Dubs For A Cause

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of being a sponsor for Dubs For A Cause. A local car show that raises both money and canned goods for charities. This year they were collecting canned good for H2O tuning NC. They will be donating them to a local food back for the holidays. The cash donations were collected and giving to IFOPA (Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva – Stoneman Syndrome). You can read more about them at www.ifopa.org/.

For me it is always a good time to get out to shows. I get some great ideas for the project I am working on at that time. When you pile that on top of being for charity, I am all in. So here are some of the cars that came out for the show. Thanks again to my buddy Stephen for some really great shots.

I hope that you like the shots. Anytime you get a chance to help out some folks in need, please do it. You might not miss the few dollars, but it will mean a lot to the people that need it.

Thanks to all the other sponsors that donated. It was a nice turn out. When I find out the totals I will be sure to post them. Swing by the Humble Mechanic Facebook page today. Give the folks that donated a like, and thank them for being awesome! I will tag them in the post.

 

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Car Flooded in Hurricane Sandy

How To Avoid Buying A Car With Water Damage

As folks clean up and restore or rebuild their lives from Sandy I think this is a very relevant topic. Before I get into talking about cars with water damage, I need some help from you guys. I want to help out the folks in the northeast. How and where are you guys donating? I am several hundred miles away, and I want to be sure that what I donate goes to the victims of Sandy. And thanks to everyone that has helped out those people that truly need it.

I know that you might think donating a little bit doesn’t really help. You can’t donate $500,000 like VW did, or maybe you can’t afford to fly there and put your boots on the ground. Trust me when I say that every bit helps. How do I know? Well I dealt with something similar when I was a kid. The short story is, our house was leveled by a tornado. We had nothing. I mean nothing but the clothes we were all wearing. If it was not for donation from the Salvation Army we would have been in big trouble. Even some old clothes or can goods do more for a family in need than you can imagine.

Well, that took a weird turn. Let’s get into today’s topic. How do you avoid buying a car with water damage? I can’t guarantee that after reading this post you will be an expert in spotting water damage. I can tell you that you will be much better at it. You will be able to spot 90% of cars that have had water damage. If you want to read more just click VW Water Damage. That will give you a few posts about the effects of water in a car.

Get a vehicle report
You need to do this before you buy ANY car. A vehicle report is a great way to how the basic history of a car. Things like

  • How many owners
  • Where the car was registered
  • If the title has been branded. This means the car was totaled, or the odometer has been tampered. (more about this in a minute)
  • Some reports show maintenance records.
  • Accident damage over 25%

Reports like Carfax can show more information than what I listed above. As much information that you can get from these reports, I find they are not always 100% accurate. I have seen clean reports on cars that have a ton of damage that was repairs. They also don’t show the quality of a repair.

The information that will be accurate is the title information. The who, what, and where of a vehicles title is almost always perfect. The report will also show a title issue or “brand”. That means the car has had a significant issue and it is forever attached to the car. Things like odometer rollback, a total vehicle loss, or flood damage are the most common ones. Granted, the TMU(true mile unknown) can be a clerical error, I would still be cautious of any branded title.

Car Flooded in Hurricane Sandy

There is no repairing a car after this amount of water damage

Visual inspection
This can be a tough thing to find when dealing with water damage. If someone is trying to pull a fast one, most plain sight damage can be cleaned or hidden. Carpets can be cleaned. Door panels can be shined up to not show the water line. But here are a few tricks to find the hidden damage.

  • Look under the seats.
    Most people will not clean really well under the seat. Staining of the carpet can be seen clearly under the seats.
  • Look at the seats
    Most detail companies miss the part of the seat between the seat and the center console. Move the seat back and for to try and see the entire seat.
  • Check the seat tracks.
    Severe rust build up on the metal seat track may indicate water damage. I have seen slight oxidation on a seat track, but if you are not sure, error on the side of caution.
  • Look at the fuse panel
    Water leaking into a car seems to always find its way into the fuse panel. Look for any signs of the plastic turning white, or connections turning green. Also be sure to look here for any rust on metal parts.
  • Look for discoloration.
    Harsh chemicals may discolor carpet or seat fabric. Make sure the color matches. If you see big spots that look “bleached” it may not be water damage, but it may be a car to avoid anyway!

Like I said, SEEING a water damage from a car that has been cleaned really well can be tough. Look in the crack where you normally don’t look at a car.

Get touchy feely
Touch all the lower trim and carpet of the car. Many times water will cause a change in texture of trim or fabric. I have found that long term water exposure makes trim feel sticky. Not like it is covered in candy goo, but a slight stickiness.

Leather(or leatherette) gets a a little saggy when exposed to water.Generally it gets discolored too. Fabric in the carpet or seats gets a strange feel too. Try and compare carpet or seats to another car, and see if you feel a difference.

Also give the carpet a good push with your hand. Try to compress it as much as possible. Generally when people do not completely dry carpet, water will sit in the padding. When you push it down, the water may come to the surface. If you push on carpet and your hand gets wet, you know it has had water in it.

Use your nose
This is the slam dunk way to tell if a car has been Car Flooded in Hurricane Sandyflooded, THE SMELL! I can generally open the car door and immediately tell if a car has had a water leak. The smell is unmistakeable. I think old mildew is the closest I can get to describe it. Even though I have stupid allergies, I have a pretty tuned nose for water leaks. I recommend you not rely on the overall smell of the car.

Put your nose close to several lower surfaces of the interior. Under the seat, the carpet,and under the dash. There is sound dampeners behind that dash that will hold water. I don’t think anyone would take the dash out, just to dry them There are ways that people try and hide water leaks with fog machines, or “enviortreatments” they generally mask the smell. I have yet to see any of the treatments work great. They either poorly mask the funk, or make it smell like harsh cleaners. The harsh cleaner smell does wear off pretty fast. Then the funk comes back.

I hope that no one ever has to use any of these methods when buying a car. I just can’t get the imagine the number of cars that should be recycled that will be resold. The sad part is many folks will think they are getting a great deal. You all know that old saying,

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Well I could not agree more.

If you have any other advice for people please share it below. The more information we all have, the less likely we will make a very costly mistake. Also, please consider sharing this post with people you know. At some point we will all be in the market for a different car.

If you are not signed up for email updates, please consider it. I don’t send spam or sell your email and junk like that. It is strictly used for updates for the site. It eliminates Facebook from the mix. They are making it harder for me to get the information out to everyone. I would hate for you to miss a post because of FB or Twitter. Plus when we do contests and fun stuff like that, the folks on email updates usually get first dibs.

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VW Damage from a Rat

Strange Car Damage, Animal Chewing Wires

At some point in every car’s life, it will break. Whether it is a part failure, a workmanship issue or outside influence, we can all plan to see it at some point. Then there are the strange things we hear about. Things that you don’t really expect to happen.

This a Jetta that got attacked by a rodent of some kind. Okay, I am not 100% sure this was a rodent, but it was a creature that did this damage. Maybe a Bigfoot, or a Chupacabra 😉 I am sure this is something that mechanics in rural areas see more than I will. So when we see damage from animals, it is a big, and usually expensive deal.

VW Damage from a RatI am not really sure what made this critter was doing here. There was about 10 inches of chew marks. This is the heat shield attached to the bottom of the car. My guess is, this didn’t feel to great on his teeth.

VW Damage from a RatThis was the main reason the customer brought the car in. The critter chewed the wiring harness for the rear oxygen sensor. That caused the check engine light to come on. All 4 of the wires for the O2 sensor were chewed. The little bit that you see here was all he left.

The wires were chewed from the sensor to the connector. The only right way to make this repair is to replace the sensor and harness. The wires are molded into the case of the sensor. They technically could be repaired, but it may be an unreliable repair.

VW Damage from a RatHere are some more damaged wires. This a a vacuum pump for the brake system. These wires are not chewed all the way through, but will still need attention. If left alone, the wires will corrode and break. There are a few different ways we can go about repairing these wires.

  1. Cut the chewed sections out, and splice in new wires. That is not a bad way to make a repair. There will be 2 connection per wire if the repair is made this way. If the repair is done properly, it should hold up just fine.
  2. Replace the terminal and wiring. This would be the proper VW wiring repair. The damage is really close to the connector. That gives us the option to replace about 6 inches of wiring including the terminal in the connector. This is the best way to make the repair. It will only have 1 splice in the wire.
  3. Just tape over it. I would not recommend making the type of repair here. That is not a long term type repair. The strands of wire are jagged, and could pierce the tape. The heat level at this location can get really high. That can weaken the tape and cause moisture to get in the harness. Also remember this is outside the car AND on the bottom. When making a repair in this location we need to consider road debris, road temperatures, and water all affecting the repair.

VW Damage from a Rat

This is another shot of the damaged wires above. The damaged section is about 3 inches. Dang that little critter.

What do you guys think? Have any of you seen stuff like this before? If so, please share your story in the comments below. I always like hearing this kind of stuff. I am sure that many of you have seen this type of thing before.

Okay, I have a few other things I need to tell you all about.

  • If any of you have damage from the hurricane, I hope you are okay. I have been obsessively watching the coverage on TV. The damage is crazy, and we have only just begun to see the full scope. Hang in there.
  • If you ever have an idea for a post, please let me know. I want to make sure that we are talking about the things you guys want to know. Some of the best topics come from you. Just contact me, or post your thoughts in the comments of a post.
  • If you are in the Raleigh NC area this weekend, PLEASE come to the DubsForACause. I will be there hanging out. I am also one of the official sponsors 🙂 It is free but please bring some canned goods to donate. I am sure that they will take cash too. Cool cars, great folks all for charity, what is not to love.
  • Somehow I missed that we passed 200 posts! not really sure how I missed it. This is actually number 205. With that I want to thank you all for being so awesome. I really appreciate the help and support you have all given me. It has been a lot of fun. I have also learned so much it is not even funny. I hope that the information here has help you out in some way.
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Painting markes on a timing belt

Does My Car Really Need This Service ~ Timing Belt

Common Rail TDI Timing Belt

This is a TDI timing belt

When I started this series, this was the service I had in mind. Of all the maintenance that a car needs, this one is vital. In fact, I think I could just have the post of one word. YES! I would not do that to you guys. You need to know why you need a timing belt. Like most of the “Does My Car Really Need This Service” this goes beyond a VW. It will apply to all cars.

What is a timing belt.
A timing belt car be a difficult thing to understand. Like I have said before, you don’t need to be a car expert to understand your car. A timing belt keeps your engine “timed”. It keeps parts in the top end, from hitting parts in the bottom end.

Think of it like gears and a chain on a bike. With out the chain the gears wont move. A combustion engine needs it’s gears connected too. Imagine if your bike’s chain broke, you would not be able to pedal. The timing belt is just as critical.

Some cars have other things that the timing belt does. Most VWs run the water pump off of the timing belt. Some of the TDI engines run a fuel pump with the timing belt. I have seen oil pumps, distributors, fuel pumps, water pumps, balance shafts by the timing belt.

How can the timing belt break?
Before we can talk about what timing belt failure means, we need to talk about how they can fail.

  1. The belt breaks apartvw Timing Belt damage
    This is where the belt separates, like undoing your belt for your pants. I don’t think that I have seen a belt do this, but it’s possible.
  2. The teeth sheer come off the belt.
    The belt is “toothed”. That is how the belt turns the gears. I have seen many many timing belts with teeth missing from the belt. This can be the result of a worn belt, or the next way a belt can fail
  3. Seized, or failed component in the belt circuit.
    There is also parts that keep tension on the belt. If a tension fails, it can cause the belt to be too loose. That can cause the belt to skip and become out of time. If a component seizes, it can rip the teeth from the belt.
  4. Outside influence
    I have seen a few timing belts break due to outside influence. Whether it is damage from a wreck, or a bolt came out of the engine. Outside influence is bad news. Check out the picture above.

What happens if it breaks?
The phrase “Possible catastrophic engine damage” is what I like to say. I have seen a few different things happen when a timing belt breaks or the belt circuit fails in some way(see above).

  • Nothing, but the belt breaks
    This is rare. I have seen timing belts fail, I put a new belt on and the car ran perfect. One of the guys in the shop had a PD TDI that had no teeth on the belt. Somehow there was no engine damage. In cases like this, you need to replace all the parts on the belt circuit.
  • Catastrophic engine damage
    When a belt fails, this is the worst case scenario. This is when parts in the top of the engine, the valves, crash into parts in the bottom of the engine, the pistons. If this happens it can cost a few thousand dollars to get repaired. It’s a lot of labor, parts are expensive, and you still have to put a new timing belt on the car.

How to check a timing belt
This can be a difficult thing. Timing belts are generally covered up to keep debris out. This can also make it hard to check your own belt. If you can get to the belt, you can do a little checking.

  • Look for cracks
    Check the belt for surface cracks.

    Timing Belt with out teeth

    This is a timing belt missing all the teeth

  • Belt deflection
    Basically see if the belt is loose. This can be tricky. Find the section of belt that has the furthest distance between gears, or tensioners. Some belts have a spec, generally it is twisting the belt ~90 degrees.
  • Listen for noises
    When tensioners and rollers go bad, they can make noise. They don’t always make noise. If they do, it is time for replacement.
  • Check for leaks
    Leak, from a belt? Well not exactly. However leaks from a water pump, or an oil leak can damage the timing belt. If you have a belt that is saturated in oil or coolant, it’s time for replacement.

How is a timing belt get replaced
This really depends on what car and engine. On 1999-2005 Passats, the front end comes off. Golf, Beetle, and Jettas are done by removing the engine mount. Some cars like the Touareg and Phaeton is just a matter of taking the fans out to gain access to the belt.

Some engines have special tools to hold the engine in place. Others have various markings that get lined up. I prefer to line the marks up on the engine and paint my own marks on the belt. It just makes for a little insurance when doing a big job like a timing belt.

Painting markes on a timing belt

This is how I paint marks on a timing belt

So, do I really this service.
This is a service that you can’t afford to pass on. If you wait, you are really run the risk of an expensive repair. Yes a timing belt replacement is expensive, but you can do 3 or 4 timing belts before having to pay for a cylinder head repair.

I replaced my belt on my Passat about 20,000 miles before it was technically due. Please check your owners book regarding your timing belt. Then do it 10%-20% before that. Better 20,000 miles early than 1 mile too late. Timing belts are no joke.

Enjoy this post? Go ahead and consider sharing it. All you have to do is click one of the little buttons below. Remember that this applies to almost every car, not just Volkswagens. I really do appreciate it when you share the posts. 😛

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Car Repair DIY, Gone Wrong

I am a pretty big fan of people doing their own maintenance. I think it is important to understand at least the basics of the car they drive. All of that stuff goes out the window when DIY goes wrong.

We have talked before about DIY. There are several things that you need to consider when it comes to DIY verses paying someone to make a repair.

  • Price
  • Time
  • The proper tools
  • Know how

Those are just a few things you need to consider. You can read more about it at “Should you make a repair, or pay a mechanic?”

This is when a customer SHOULD NOT have done their own work. A mk4(1999.5-2005) Jetta was towed into the shop. I was not the one working on this car. I happened to catch one of the other techs pushing  a car in the shop. That is not really such a strange thing, but he was pushing it weird.

When I walked over to see what the heck he was doing, he told me the car had no brakes. I laughed and said “yeah right”. We got the car on the life, and sure enough, the car had no brake pads in the rear. With the wheel off, this is what we found

Failing VW rear brakes Yep, that confirmed it, no brake pads. The story that I got was, the customer tried to do a rear brake job. They took the brakes apart and even resurfaced the rotor. When it came time to reset the piston on the caliper, they realized they didn’t have the right tool.

On many modern cars, the rear caliper needs to be twisted back to reset. VWs are are the same way. There are ways to improvise the special tool. Before I knew anything about cars, I tackled the brakes on my Acura. I used a pair of pliers to twist the caliper back. It was a real pain in the butt, but it did the trick.

This is the back side of the caliper. The round part, piston, is what pushes the brake pad into the rotor. The piston is protected by a rubber boot. It keeps debris from getting into the caliper. As you can see this boot is ripped.

Let’s recap this DIY repair. If the customer would have brought their car to the dealer to have the pads replaced, and the rotors resurfaced, they would have paid about $270(that is just an estimate). Instead the customer paid

  • A bill to have the car towed to the shop
  • The time for us to pull the brakes apart and inspect the damage
  • Parts and labor to rebuild or replace the calipers.
  • Several days with out a car

This is a classic example of DIY not being worth it.

I hope that we can all learn something from this. I learned that trying to stop a car, even when pushing it, is really scary to try and stop.

I posted last week about upgrading the email service I use. That is currently on hold. There were a few things that I didn’t really like about the service I was going to use. I still plan on upgrading, it is just a matter of time. All that being said, make sure you are on the email list. I don’t spam or sell the information. That would be lame!

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Humble Mechanic Logo

One Future Of Automotive Repair

The last few years of car technology have been pretty impressive. We don’t have the flying cars that The Jetsons promised us, but we have some cool stuff. Consider that my 2005 Passat has a tape player in it. Now we are in the world of Bluetooth streaming audio and hands free, voice activated calling from inside our cars.

With any advancement in technology, there are growing pains. Things that we don’t thing about when seeing a really cool new feature. The one that I am seeing the biggest concern with is Bluetooth.

I think Bluetooth is fantastic! I love to be able to have a phone connect automatically to my car, and continue playing the song it was playing. We also know that laws regarding hands free calling will only increase as we move forward with our cell phones. As wonderful as all of this cool technology is, there are some issues we have now, that we never had before.

Compatibility
Does anyone know how many Bluetooth cell phones and other devices there are? I don’t. Well over 100 I would guess. With that number of devices(Iphones, Ipods, Zune, Droid and so on) issues with compatibility are going to occur. How can a company that designs a radio ensure that it can work with every device now, and few the next few years? I don’t think they can. \

Updates
How often does an IPhone get updated? Once a year, 5 times a year? Between the big updates, and the small patches the information changes all the time. Well, when Apple updates a phone, do you think they tell everyone exactly what they change? Nope! Do they test every radio with the new update? I highly highly doubt it. I pick on Apple because they seem to have the most issues that I see. I will say that most of our customers have Iphones, so that makes sense.

Your radio on the other hand may never get updated. VW will put out a radio update from time to time, but it is usually geared at fixing a single issue. Not a broad spectrum update for all things. Whenever a cell company updates a phone, we get a influx of people coming in saying that their BT is not working right. The bad part i, we can’t really do anything about it.

Your new radio is not new
When you buy a brand new car, you think everything in it is new. And that is true, in that the part itself is new. The design is generally not a new thing. It is usually an upgrade from a previous version. One of the first touch screen radios that VW put out was nothing more than an old design radio with a new face on it. The computing power of the radio was very low. That is why it would not stream BT audio. Even though it had the option on the screen. It would never work.

The same goes for all car makers. There are only a few companies that manufacturer radios. They make similar radios with different interfaces. Even if the radio looks very different, the guts are the same or a small upgrade from the last model.

How to handle this new issue
This is the most frustrating part for everyone.

  • Customer
    Customer is with out a feature that they thing should work a certain way.
  • Mechanic
    I find myself chancing my tail with theses issues. Usually it turns out, there is no fix for the concern. Basically everything is working properly, or as properly as possible.
  • Cell companies.
    They often bare the worst of the frustration.

It is really a viscous circle. Customer blames the car, mechanic blames the phone, phone company blames the car. In the end no one is happy.

So what can we do? Well I am generally not an early adopter of new updates. I like to give it time and see how the update is received. Heck, it took me about 9 months to update to the new twitter. I also think that this will be an issue going forward. Phones will be updated all the time, and cars will be left to catch up.

I do think this is a great opportunity for someone to start an awesome business. Developing patch software for radios and phones to work seamlessly together. Like all computers, radios can be hacked. I see huge potential for someone to write a small code to make things work right. If anyone know if this is being done, please please please let me know.

What do you guys think? Is will we be dealing with this from now on? Is there an alternative to “just dealing with it’? Maybe we will see some type of standard set for all radio makers and or cell phones.

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