Dublin Auto Repair

Today a customer called and asked for a quote for a fuel pump replacement. They had just come home from a trip to Mexico yesterday and when they tried to start their Suburban this morning it wouldn’t go. After trying several times, it finally started. They took the truck to the Chevy dealer to be quoted a high price. At that point they decided to call around to see if they could fine a lower price. I was able to save them $300 so they decided to bring their Suburban to us. After they dropped it off, we checked the fuel pressure. Sure enough, it was low. It should be between 55-62 psi and it was several psi below that, plus it was bleeding back, which means it wasn’t holding pressure like it should. Replacing the fuel pump on a Chevy Suburban involves removing the gas tank…not fun. Luckily, the customer didn’t have that much fuel in the tank, otherwise it could have been messy…and dangerous. The pump resides inside the tank, so the only way to get to it is to ha ... read more

This morning a customer called me and said her Chevy Impala was acting up. She told me the charge light came on and the dash lights started flashing. I first I thought maybe it was the alternator that was causing the problem…until she said her power steering went out. When i questioned her about that, she said that it became very hard to steer. Aahh…a light went off in my head! Now I knew…the serpentine belt had come off. She immediately agreed to have it towed over. When the car got here I popped open the hood, and sure enough, the belt had come off. Now I needed to ascertain why… I figured one of the pulleys seized up. It turned out the water pump had seized and stopped turning and that caused the belt to flip. Of course, when that happened, the alternator stopped turning, causing the charge light and the dash lights to go all wonky. The power steering pump stopped turning as well, causing the steering wheel to become very hard to turn. Suddenly, the car became nearly ... read more

Today, a good customer of ours called up to say his clutch was slipping on his 1990 Mazda Miata. After discussing with him the symptoms the car was displaying, I told him to drop it off with us. When he got here, I jumped in the car to verify his complaint. I did a quick slip test, where I hold the brake on, rev it up and drop the clutch to see if the clutch will hold and stall the engine (it didn’t), I pronounced it worn out. He gave us the “OK” to go ahead with the repair and asked when it will be done. “Today” I said, as long as we have no problems. We pulled the transmission out and sure enough, the clutch disc was worn down to the rivets. The clutch pressure plate and the flywheel, both had heat spots on them, and the release bearing was worn out. The rear main seal on the engine, which is behind the flywheel, was leaking as well. We went ahead and installed a new seal to stop the leak which could have ruined the new clutch parts by getting oil on them. We ... read more