A brake service job isn’t complete unless the reservoir cap’s diaphragm has been pushed back into place. This simple step is easy to forget, but it helps to reduce brake fluid contamination and ensure proper system function.
Assessing tire damage in order to make a repair decision, which technician is correct with the right repair?
Using your shop’s Cost of Doing Business (CODB) as a baseline for labor rates.
Tempted to skip battery isolation during a repair? Dorman Training Center instructor Pete Meier explains how this essential step can protect you from serious injury while working on a vehicle.
Shop Press is the news and idea hub for everything related to working on cars and trucks, focusing on repair, technology, and wrenching lifestyle. With interesting stories from around the world, features on creative people and solutions, and all kinds of other stuff that’ll make you use your mind and your hands.
Auto care news and advice you can use.
A vehicle with MacPherson strut suspension is in for tires and an alignment. The technician finds play in the left inner tie rod end. What should the customer be told?
Do you lubricate the threads on spark plugs before installing them? Should you? Pete Meier explains the finer points of spark plug lube application for best results and OE service procedure compliance.
Brake cleaner is loved by techs (for good reason), but make sure you’re taking safety precautions.
All four cylinders are below specification by about the same amount. After performing a wet compression test, values remained unchanged. What could cause this condition?
Many high-end scan tools come with a capable digital storage oscilloscope. Time to put that tool to work.
Are you a wrench and a writer? A counterperson and a communicator? A service writer and a scribe? Get paid to share your experience and expertise with thousands of Shop Press readers.
Auto care news and advice you can use.
Draw a hard line when it comes to basic diagnostics.
And the most misdiagnosed.
Technician A and Technician B are discussing ways to use fuel trim as a troubleshooting aid. Technician A says that fuel trims that are correcting for a lean condition at high RPM and load conditions indicates a problem in fuel delivery. Technician B says that this condition is caused by a vacuum leak.
Use it or lose it. Looking for an easy way to win over your customers that they’ll enjoy every time they drive? Look at their vehicles from a hypermiler’s perspective.
Pete Meier explains how a dial indicator is necessary for a true wear check.
Is carb cleaner actually more dangerous than brake cleaner?
By breaking down the structures used to create DTCs, you can learn how to “decode” beyond the simple descriptions presented by a scanner.
It’s like torquing a bolt, but with an extra twist.
