Thunderbolt Auto Care

Heya, hope everyone is doing well out there.

My name is Jose and I run and own Thunderbolt Auto Care. I like to write articles from time-to-time on interesting car care questions and repairs.

Rewinding for a second and hoping it's not too late for a Halloween post. Have I got a doozy of a scary story. And as these things go, something fun and something serious.

Hopping right in. Let's start with the scary, haha!

~ The Subject ~

So, I'm on my way back to work after walking Winnie (my adorable but dense rescue) and my van stalls on me.

Now, I'll give the crowd a bit of advice and my confession of the day. Never, ever, ever, ever buy a vehicle from a mechanic. We have a horrible habit of fixing everyone else's stuff but our own. It's pretty embarrassing sometimes.

I mean I'm better than most. But I'll ignore issues that I know I should address. In this case, my van had been running a little funny for a couple of days and I just hadn't had the chance to tackle it. I should know better. Ah well.

So, on my way back to work she protested loud enough to shut me down in the middle of Cedar Rd. Well, that's embarassing. Called roadside assistance and got her back to the shop.

~ The Diagnostic ~

Engine diagnostic can be seriously fun sometimes. You start with a theory and then start proving your theory. Sometimes you get it right the first time, sometimes not so much.

For those who are interested, there are three things that all engines need. The correct amount of air, the correct amount of fuel, and a good spark source that fires at the right time. Almost all engine issues can be tied to one of those three issues.

Of course, this doesn't include situations where you have major internal engine damage or failure, like timing chains and such. But the great majority of engine stall issues really can boil down to "It needs air / fuel / spark."

In my particular case I immediately suspected I might have a bad fuel pump. Started with gathering fuel pressure and went from there.

Fuel pump was pushing 50 PSI. Well, that's below what it should be but still not too bad. Let me check spark.
...spark is present. Okay, that's weird but not unheard of. Well, let me check airflow...
..airflow appears to be good. Checked fuel trims (this is the engine's way of saying how the air / fuel ratio is, kinda gives us a good idea how the engine is running), fuel trims are good.
..oh no....

~ The Fix ~

Now I had a decision to make. This is a conversion van, which means that some things have to come apart to get to the good stuff. I committed to figuring it out and decided I'd start with pulling one of the easier to see spark plugs.

The neat thing about plugs is if you know what you are looking for, they can be a great indicator of the health of the engine. The first plug I pulled was unusually wet and didn't smell like fuel. Super odd. Now I'm worried.

I decided to pull the engine oil dipstick out to see what the condition of the engine oil was. I just changed the oil. What I found is te oil looked very, very milky. The attched video is what happens when coolant and oil mix. In my case, a bad head gasket.

~ A couple of other relevant notes ~

A head gasket job on a van as old as mine would be a reason for most people to replace the darned thing. Head gaskets are expensive and on a van like mine even more so. It's a ton of work and when the engine is apart, the heads have to be sent out to be machined. For most clients, this would be a $3,000 - $4,500 job.

I now have a decision to make as to if I should fix it. I love this van, oof. Problem for another day though, I'm lucky that I have a second vehicle and I don't have to make that decision at the moment *sigh*

~ Final Thoughts ~

So, now that the scary is done, I wanted to talk about the fun. Attached you'll find a video of my Halloween costume.

For those who know me on a personal level, you'll know that I'm kinda big into video games. This year I wanted to give Mario Kart my best shot and well, you'll see :)

Please be aware that I encourage questions and comments but may not be able to easily respond. If you do have a follow-up question to the post, give me time to answer as I'll be at work and cannot be at my desk at all times, unfortunately.

If you have a question regarding your own vehicle, reach out at the e-mail below. My partner will gladly answer your question way faster than I will. E-mail is the easiest way to reach out to us.

Be safe and enjoy your week 🙂

Warm Regards:

Jose'
Thunderbolt Auto Care
2857 Noble Rd
Cleveland Heights, OH 44121

[email protected]

9 - 6 Monday through Friday

(Due to the way Facebook does business accounts, the other video will be in the comments, sorry!)