Manual test drove the Toyota Matrix that was in for a routine service and was afraid to take it on the highway, it was so slow! The customer had not complained of low power, but Manual knew these vehicles usually have good acceleration. A call to the customer confirmed that it was used primarily around town and for short drives and yes; maybe it didn’t seem as powerful lately and the mileage had gone down dramatically. From his experience he knew that the intakes manifolds in these vehicles carbon up and restricts the air flow over time. He pulled the intake pipe and checked the manifold with his Boroscope and found less than ½ of the original diameter remaining to flow air. After cleaning up the EGR valve and running some carbon cleaning chemicals through the system the vehicle was back to running like new. The customer was amazed at the new found power!

Manny did not think much about the two child seats in the rear when he began his testing for a no interior heat output on the Ford. First stop was inspecting the electric pump that pushes coolant through the system and, like many of these vehicles, he found it was not operating. Despite several attempt to get it repaired including removing a large glob of sludge, there was still a little something missing for full operation. Speaking with the customer determined that the heater had not operated properly for some time but had stopped completely only recently. Inserting a Boroscope into the air box he saw brightly colored object blocking the air door movement. It turns out the children had 'left' some of their toys at the base of the windshield which had jammed the air doors shut. Removal and disassembly of the heater box, a major task requiring complete removal of the dash, allowed the toys to be removed and the car to once again be heated. Who would have thought a little heat would be such a tough job?

The Subaru owner brought the car in after getting a jump start in the morning. He wanted a battery installed to solve the problem. As soon as Manny heard 'Dead Battery' he asked if the car had been to a car wash in the last few days. “Yes”, said the owner, “just yesterday. How did you know?”. Manny walked out to the car and opened the door. Sure enough the parking light switch on the top of the steering column had been rocked to the 'ON' position while the car wash crew wiped down the inside of the car. Sitting overnight with the parking lights on had drained the battery to a point it could no longer crank the engine over. After charging and testing the battery it was found to be okay and the owner learned about a switch he did not know existed!

Jamie took the call from a Chrysler owner with a check engine light for a code P1340. Another shop has replaced the cam sensor but code won’t go away. Right away Jamie knows what is going on because we see many problems with these engines where either the oil has not been changed regularly or the wrong kind of oil has been used, resulting in sludge build up in the engine including the cam tensioner. This causes the camshafts to go out of time with the crankshaft and cause the code to appear. In many cases replacing the tensioner, chains and gears brings the engine back to life, in some cases the sludging is so severe it will require an engine replacement. The moral of the story is to keep these high performance engines full of clean and correct oil.

When Manual read the description of the problem, he wasn't sure whether Jamie (our service advisor) wanted to pull his leg or whether it was a real problem.
The customer stated that the Airbag light would start flashing from time to time. And that she is concerned about her safety. But all she could remember was that only if her dog would drive with her in her 2001 Toyota Corolla the light would start flashing.
Manual knew that the dog was the key, and after some research a software update of the Airbag module solved it. How? The Airbag monitoring system for the passenger seat is activated only if a human being is in the passenger seat. A moving dog in this seat is neither an empty seat nor a human being. Hence the flashing.