From August 1 through August 15, 2023, Power Stop is offering customers up to $75 in instant savings on some of their most popular Brake Kits, including Z23 Evolution Sport, Z26 Street Warrior and Z36 Truck & Tow Brake Upgrade kits. Whether you drive a sports car, sedan or truck, Power Stop has a kit tailored to fit your braking needs. Each Power Stop brake kit is a direct, bolt-on replacement that includes everything you need to get the job done.  Simply add qualifying Power Stop Brake Kits (look for the "Promotion/Rebate" | |
) to your cart and instantly save! You can find Power Stop brake kits in the "Brake & Wheel Hub" category of the Great designers will reveal their latest styles in New York next month. But why wait? New RockAuto t-shirt designs are in stock now in the RockAuto catalog!
Like our parts, prices are lower than shirts of comparable quality in local stores, so you can afford to outfit the whole family! | |
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 Back in the early 1980s, my daily driver was a 1971 VW Type III Squareback. It was a great little car and a textbook example of basic transportation. It got me where I needed to go 99% of the time. And being a VW, I could usually easily fix it with the most rudimentary tools...that is until I replaced the clutch. Getting the motor out, installing the clutch and the reassembly all went fine. But as soon as I put it into first gear it stalled. After some trial and error, I determined that the car would only run when it was in reverse. Very puzzling. I eventually gave up troubleshooting because I had to go to work. But that day, I noticed a new hole-in-the-wall auto repair shop had just hung out their sign, which said, among other things, "VW Specialists." Having nothing to lose, I stopped and chatted with the owner for a few minutes. As soon as I began to describe my issue, he started laughing, and asked "It's a Squareback, isn't it?" When I confirmed that it was, he took me into the yard, popped the rear hatch of a customer's car, and lifted the engine cover. He then pointed to two wire connections near each other and told me to swap the male connections between the two and drive it over the next day so he could look it over. Well, swapping those two connections did the trick! That little 4 cylinder engine was fuel injected, and the power connector for the injection system used the same connector as the backup lights. So, the fuel injection system only got power when the gearshift lever was in the reverse position. Learned something new that day and made a lifelong friend in the process. John in New Jersey Share Your Story |
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 Last week, Ford recalled hundreds of thousands of 2021-2023 F-150 pickups (source: https://www.reuters.com...) because "contact with the rear axle housing may damage the wiring harness, causing the electric parking brake to activate unexpectedly." I do not know the details of the F-150 issue, but after many years reading repair case studies in trade magazines and working on my family's fleet of old cars, I suspect less than a dollar's worth of conduit might have prevented the wiring problem. Frequently, even professional mechanics are baffled when confronted with seemingly unrelated diagnostic trouble codes and/or diverse intermittent problems. Methodical diagnosis using sophisticated instruments like oscilloscopes identifies an electrical circuit with unusual or absent voltages. Careful examination of the wiring harness and electrical connectors eventually discovers wiring that has been damaged by abrasion, heat and/or debris. The resulting disabled and/or short-circuited circuits led to all the mysterious trouble codes and intermittent symptoms. Splicing damaged wires back together, electrically insulating the repair with something like shrink tubing and protecting the wiring harness with conduit is often the low-tech solution for what originally seemed like a high-tech problem. When working on the family fleet, I routinely slip pieces of flexible, split conduit over any wires that look vulnerable or that might be exposed to heat/abrasion/debris. In addition to preventing problems, inexpensive conduit also helps me identify my past repairs. I recently had to find the wiring for the overdrive solenoid on the transmission of my '92 Dodge B250 van. Identifying the correct wiring harness was made easier because the only other wires in the area were protected by new conduit I had put in place while replacing the speed sensor "a few years ago." (I just logged into my RockAuto account (available to all customers from the home page) and discovered I actually installed that "new" speed sensor and "new" conduit in 2015, eight years ago!)  Original equipment conduit is usually black. Getting a roll of blue, red and/or clear conduit would make it even easier to identify past repairs while protecting delicate wiring and preventing problems. Find both black and colorful conduit, shrink tubing and other electrical supplies in the "Tools & Universal Parts" tab under "Electrical" and then "Wire Management." Tom Taylor, To read more of Tom's articles, click this link and choose from story titles on the Newsletter Archives page. |
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This is my 2001 Toyota MR2 Spyder that I purchased in 2016. I have been a longtime customer of RockAuto for all sorts of vehicles (I am the family “Shade Tree” mechanic). I often get looks and comments of disbelief that it is my year round daily driver. I am almost 6 ft tall but this little Toyota fits me well, and it puts a smile on my face every time I get in it! I have not had to do much to the car besides regular maintenance over the years. RockAuto has been a great source for electrical parts, emission system sensors, drivetrain assemblies, fuel injection parts, suspension components, wheel bearings, wiper blades, and I'm sure plenty more that I have forgotten about. Luke in Idaho |
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