Category: Dave’s Garage

Dear Dave, I have a ’28 Hupmobile that is not coming out of it’s winter cocoon too well! It has gas, I have spark, & I believe we’ve got air, but maybe you can help me figure out what I can do to make it run. I have charged the battery. When I depress the…

Recently I hosted the New England M.G. “T” Register spring meet in Saratoga Springs New York. We had M.G. cars driving from all over the north east to the event. Three M.G.s broke down at the event, and our technical inspection found many serious safety problems needing immediate attention. One M.G. T.C. had a pinion…

Recently my wife was driving the kids to school in the Subaru when the truck in front of her stopped. She didn’t. The impact smashed the left headlight assembly, and bent the hood, fender and radiator support. The headlight also contains the directional and running lamp. The hood was bent enough to separate the skin…

Most cars sold today have a cabin air filter, usually located behind the glovebox in the dashboard. This will filter dust, pollen and dirt entering the Heating, Air Conditioning and Ventilation System. I recently noticed the airflow on my Subaru’s heater was weak on one of the many below zero mornings. I remembered this car…

Have you ever tried to fix something, had that Eureka! Moment and found a problem that would explain why it did not work, then fixed the problem only to find out that was not the problem after all? You put it back together, confident you finally fixed it, only to see the same problem return.…

A little over a year my Chrysler minivan burned an exhaust valve. While diagnosing the problem, I did a compression check. All the cylinders had roughly 175 psi of compression, except cylinder six which had zero. After replacing the burned valve, I checked the compression again, and found this cylinder only had about 70 psi.…

This month, I am talking about my tool box, or rather, my tool boxes. I have three tool boxes, lined up to each other side by side. On the farthest right side I have my first tool box. It is an inexpensive Craftsman tool box that I have had since I was a young teenager.…

Progress is great. When a product appears on the market that increases the safety, service life, ease of maintenance, and the performance of our cars, it is a good thing. Perhaps you may have noticed there is a new type of brake line on the market. A little history- Before WWII, many manufacturers used copper…

Trailer tires have a tough life. Drivers are unlikely to feel any notable differences in road noise or road feel with trailer tires. Trailer tires are often subjected to harsh curb hits and road bumps. Tandem axle tires also experience harsh scrubbing due to making tight turns in parking lots and on corners. Trailer tires…

Five or six years ago the Jaguar XKE started to run rough, cough, belch black smoke, and backfire. This problem got worse quickly and the car ran so poorly it could barely move. Life got in the way, and the Jag was parked. This summer I decided it was time to figure out what was…