Dave Redinger's The Neighbourhood Mechanic 7/24/06
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Dave Redinger who transitioned to his Heavenly home on February 7, 2022 was a licensed auto mechanic with over 40 years in the trade. He operated Dr. H. Honda Specialists in Etobcoke (Toronto). Dave was heard here on The Auto Channel, RIP Dave your knowledge and helpfulness will be welcome by concerned motorists forever.
DAVE
REDINGER
“the Neighbourhood Mechanic” is
available on the radio “1050 CHUM” &
“1050chum.com” Saturdays@ 9 am EST, join us on air, 866 444
8326 toll free
Six
years and 6.5 million tires after the fact, the Firestone tire company is
back in the news. It seems that after Ford and Firestone voluntarily
replaced all those defective tires, on all those Explorers, they forgot to
swap out the spares. That means there are still 10’s of thousands of
biodegradable tires out there. The fallout of this event triggered several
changes in the tire business. Manufacture’s shortened the service
life of tires to 5 years and the government mandated that vehicles be
equipped with low tire pressure warning devices. Good stuff. However; if
the tire is under inflated, your on your own. Check your tire’s
pressure at least once a month or prior to any long trips. For information:
Contact (800) 465-1904 to or go to http://www.firestone.com"
target="_blank">www.firestone.com
I read where you said the four wheel drive doesn't cost much more for maintenance. I think you are right. My 92 Ford Explorer seems to get the front end out of line more than usual. I don't notice it until the tires start to wear. Could it be that they don't stay in line like a 4x2 or am I not rotating the tires enough.
John
Fords have always been tough
on front ends... The Explorer is a truck, based on the Ranger series and
shouldn't be compared to the Hondas, Mazdas etc. These mini-utes are car
based. The truck based vehicles are more rugged and heavy. They require
regular tire pressure testing and rotation. So if fact, you are correct in
your diagnoses. Lack of tire pressure was the main reason for all those
Firestone failures in the late 90's .....lack of pressure will overheat the
tire and reduce it's life.
I read your article in 24hrs every week. I have a question about my Suzuki Vitara (2000, 2L). The "service engine soon" light came on a few months ago and I got it checked and was told that there is a EGR system flow malfunction (P0400). I had the control cleaned and the system reset but now the light is on again. The control valve cost $400, I was told that I don't need to change it unless I am going for an emission test. Would there be any damage to the vehicle if I continue to drive it or should I change the control immediately?
bad advice....
Any time the "service engine light"
is lit the car's computer switches to "back up" mode. In this mode the car will not react to it's environment. It will use more fuel, hard start and finally start to damage other emissions components.
First off; change
mechanics and secondly fix the thing
Email : davidredinger@rogers.com ( we respond to every email)
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