k 92 camery v6, car overheated cranks does not start. buddy said timming belt slipped replaced belt still does same thing. cylinder 1,4,6 has no psi # 2 has 60 psi can not reach 3,or 5. invested $500 in parts already. other freind said pore mavel oil in sparkplug thill it looses up and keep starting. SOS or SOL

 George:

I’m  afraid it is SOL.  From what you described you have a blown head gasket.  To be sure it would help if you could get psi readings on the other two cylinders.

 My rear transmission seal is leaking. How can I fix this myself?

All you need to do to change the rear trans seal in a rear wheel drive car is to remove the drive shaft and get something to pry the seal out.  A large screw driver will do.  On front wheel drive vechiles it is some what more complicated.  It would help to know what kind of vehicle you are driving.

I had a writer ask about the problem with oil slugg building up in Toyota’s V-6s.  My son is a Toyota Master Mechanic and he said that the problem is from lack of service and not a problem with the engine.  He said that if you service a Toyota V-6 as recommended you will not have any problems.

I got a neat e-mail from a blogger who had a clogged radiator.  He said that he blocked off the hose connections to the radiator and put a bottle of “The Works” bathroom toilet bowel cleaner in it and let it stand overnight.  Said it contains hydrocloric acid.  Said it cured his overheating problems.

Now, I have a question: I just bought a 1989 Mercury Tracer Sta. Wgn. It is overheating. On the open highway, it does not so much. But in town it slowly reaches boiling point.

A new water pump was put it just two years ago, so I doubt that this is the problem. The fans are all functioning properly. I just put a brand new thermostat in it–still kept overheating. It has a brand new, correct radiator cap. Coolant is at the right mixture. A shop just installed a new timing belt last year, so I don’t think it is jump timing.) I just got through retiming it, placing the timing at the manufacturers recommended mark, degree. (Seems the engine idles faster at this correct mark though.) I read the work order for the timing belt and the mechanic who replaced the timing belt suggested that the radiator may need rodded out. But it was left undone, I suppose because the previous owner did not want to sink more money into it. I did flush it out well, but still over heats. (The way I self tested to see if perhaps the radiator fins were clogged was this: 1. I drained the radiator 2. then I left the bottom drain valve wide open 3. I placed our garden hose in the radiator cap snout and turned it on full blast. A good pressurised stream of water issued from the wide open drain cock below, so I assume that the radiator fins are open and clear. But, perhaps not all of them are? If there are some open, then the pressurized hose water could possibly be diverted into the open rather than the shut ones? Does it sound like the radiator may be clogged? I would sure appreciate mutual help as diagnosing a car is the hardest part, the repairs being the easiest part.

 When the car has warmed up touch the radiator at different spots. If it is not uniformally warm and some areas are cooler than others then you could have a cloged radiator.

Comment:
i have a 1979 Jeep Cherokee .i just recently changed my alternator due to falty bearings, i checked the voltage before i changed the alternator and it was reading 14.35,i replaced the belts before i went out to buy one. and it still was squealling so i replaced the alternator  with a rebuilt one. and it only charged at 12.25 and it squealls very loudly. the battery was charged over night on a trickel charge and tested good, i adjusted the belts, but the tightest was the 12.25 reading. i took the ground wire off the battery and the squealling stoped but the reading from the alternator was 16.45. this is the second time i replaced it in two days with the same problem. my old alternator charged good but squealled, my two new alternators squeall and charged bad. could it just be two bad alternators? or a grounded wire?
    If this happens to you, check to see if you have an external voltage regulator. The new alternator could have over loaded the old one and caused it to malfunction. I have run into a situation where I replaced a rebuilt electrical part twice and both were bad but that would be rare. Also check to see if the wires were connected correctly and that you don’t have any bare wires touching.

Name: Ahmed | E-mail: ahmedas617@yahoo.com | IP: 193.133.99.236

I have a 2002 V6 30V Passat. It developed gear transmission problem.
Initially, the gear shifting was not smooth. Changing to second gear was abrupt and same when shifting to other gears. When vehicle is stopped and restarted, the shifting will be smooth, but as soon as car speed reaces about 40mph the same thing will come back.
However,it has worsen that when car is started it comes with a squeeky noise and when shifted into drive gear does not engage into drive gears, but will engage into reverse gear.

Ahmed: I would first check the transmission fluid level. If it gets low your trans will slip or not work at all. Start with that and if it is full it sounds like you have some problems inside your trans. The newer cars are using electrical cylinoids to shift the transmissions now and it sounds like you have one malfunctioning. I would suggest taking it to a trans shop (make sure you go to one where the mechanics are ASE certified) and have them scan your car for any transmission codes that have been set. Your car has a computer that keeps up with any problems that are going on including the trans. Any good shop will have a scan tool to check it for you. There is usually a small diagnostic fee but it would be better to check it first before letting someone sell you a new trans. 

Question:
I let my 96 blazer run out of gas and now i cant get it started back any ideas

Answer:
Michael: Make sure that you have 4 or 5 gallons of gas in the tank. Raise the hood and find the fuel check valve on the fuel rail. It looks like an oversized tire valve. Have someone try and start the vehicle while you press in on the valve. Keep your face out of the line of fire in case gas sprays out. If no gas comes out then try banging on the fuel tank with a heavy object. If you use a hammer, hit the tank with the flat side of it to keep from denting the tank. You might have to hit it several times. What you are trying to do is wake up the fuel pump. Try it and see what happens. Get back to me if that doesn’t work. Good luck.

Question
I have a VW Jetta 2003 1.8T and every time I turn on the heat/fan it makes a weard squeeking noise but only when it on. The when i turn it of it stops. It also makes it when i have the heat or fan on and i take a turn then it makes a little louder sqeeking noise.
PLEASE HELP

Answer
David: Sounds like you might have one or two problems. A worn heater fan can make a squeeking noise if the bearings in the fan motor are going out. It also could be a fan belt squeeking due to the extra electrical load you are putting on the motor. Determine where the noise is coming from. If it is the fan it will be coming from under the dash on the passenger side. If the noise is from the fan belt, raise the hood and lestin for belt noise. Personal experience on bad heater fans. My dad’s heater fan locked up and didn’t blow the fuse. The electrical wiring over heated and caught his truck on fire and it burnt to the ground. Good luck.

Question:
I have a 1996 Toyota Camry V6 with 210,000 miles. I recently changed the timing belt, drive belts, water pump, transmission filter and fluids, and tuneup with new plugs and air filter.

I had no problem before the maintenance. A week later a check engine light came on and stayed on. I took it back to the mechanic who did the tuneup. He put it on the scanner.

From 0-1200 rpm no problems and above 1800 rpm there are no problems. Between 1200 and 1800 rpm it shows a problem with 1-3-5 cylinders.

My mechanic put another new set of plugs and now a new set of spark plug wires.

The engine doesn’t seem to be running rough, but the check engine light won’t go off. Any thoughts?

Answer:
Wayne: All I did was tell my son timing belt changed and check engine light on for 1-3-5 cylinders and he said the timing belt is off one tooth on the right bank. Take it back to your mechanic and get him to reset the timing belt. The check engine light won’t go off until you do and you are loosing some performance in the mean time. Good luck.