The People News, a free newspaper serving Cleveland Tennessee (TN) and Bradley County Tennessee (Tn).





Of Bradley County Tn.


JANUARY  2005

                            The People News, a free newspaper serving Cleveland and Bradley County Tn.

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Dear JB,
My car is a 1992 Toyota Camry with the 4 cylinder engine. It  recently quit running and I had it towed to my mechanic for repairs. He says the timing belt is in good shape and there is plenty of fuel pressure, but there is  no spark. He says all the different parts for making it spark are

real expensive  and he is afraid to guess too much. Any idea how we can figure it out without  spending a fortune?
signed,
Candid Camry

Dear Candid,
Actually the ignition system on your car has three  major components which work together to produce the spark, and, yes, they are expensive, and, no, they did not all fail, so you have a one in three chance of getting it right. Not bad odds until you factor in the law of random numbers and  the law of Murphy, then the chances of just guessing the right part the first two attempts are almost nil. First the three parts are: the  distributor, the igniter and the coil. At this point I

J. B. Griffin III.

have to tell you that to  properly diagnose which component is really faulty you will need a multi-meter  (volts/ohm/amp), a 12 volt test light and a copy of the wiring diagram of this  vehicle. But first let's try a little shortcut with the test light. Remove the  distributor cap, rotor and all the wires from the coil (which on your car is located inside the distributor). Hook the test light across the wires you just  removed from the coil and have someone crank the engine over. If the test light flashes you have just verified that the distributor and igniter are both in good shape. You have a shorted coil. If the light doesn't flash then it is either the

distributor or the igniter. Knowing that the distributors on these cars almost  never fail you can put your money on the igniter.

Dear JB,
On my 1998 Oldsmobile Alero the dealer said the  anti-freeze would last 150,000 miles or 5 years. That was six years ago, but  only 98,000 miles. Now my cooling system is really rusty, the intake manifold is  leaking coolant and the radiator is completely stopped up. What happened???? 
signed,
Dex Cool


Dear Dex,
Welcome to the real world. No anti-freeze lasts that long, especially one specially formulated to be bio-degradable. What happened to you is what has happened to countless thousands of other GM cars: first, the  level in the radiator got a little low which allowed air to be drawn into the cooling system. Oxygen and engine heat drastically speed up the decaying process of the coolant much more so with this orange stuff. The coolant simply broke down into a simpler (all be it ineffective as a cooling system protectant)  molecular structure. It should have been replaced three years ago. On all GM  cars, I recommend flushing out all the orange coolant and replacing it with the  older, better green.


JB Griffin is an ASE Certified Master Technician.  He owns and  operates JB's Japanese and American Auto Repair in Evensville, Tennessee.  You may e-mail your car questions to jeepster1515@yahoo.com
(mailto:Jeepster1515@yahoo.com). Be sure  to watch him on WDEF News Channel 12 each Thursday morning at 7:30 AM.  You  can have your questions answered live!  Listen to The Saturday Morning  Garage on Saturday mornings from 7-9 on WGOW 102.3 FM where you will have the  opportunity to have more of your questions answered by JB, Steve Ray and Don  Britton.

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