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Another Happy Customer!

Just a note to say that I think you guys are great and that I've been telling my friends about the great prices and service.

I don't do a lot of auto repairs on my own but now at least I know where I can get parts without selling off my firstborn or mortgaging the house.

Al in Missouri

 

Upcoming Events
If you would like your event featured here, e-mail us with details.

2nd Annual Spring Fling Car Show!
Sneade's Ace Hardware Store
Lusby, MD
5/3/2008
website

Super Coupe Club of Iowa Show
Cedar Rapids, IA
5/17/2008
e-mail

5th Annual Gibbsboro Car Show
Gibbsboro, NJ
5/17/2008
e-mail

4th Annual Rocky Mountain Oldsmobile & Pontiac Show & Shine
Highlands Ranch, CO
5/17/2008
website

Vancouver All British Field Meet
South Richmond, BC
5/17/2008
e-mail

Trussville Car & Bike Show
Trussville, AL
5/17/2008
e-mail

Fieros at Carlisle '08
Carlisle, PA
5/17/2008
website

31st Annual Shelby Spring Fling
Nashville, IN
5/17/2008
website

Cool Cars for a Cure
Beech Grove, IN
5/18/2008
e-mail

Memorial Weekend Car Show
Lansing, MI
5/24/2008
e-mail

Brookings Car Event
Brookings,OR
5/24/2008
e-mail

Carolina Motorama
Fletcher, NC
5/23-5/25/2008
website

 

New RockAuto Catalog Feature :: Buyer's Guide

Start the RockAuto Catalog

Do you have a part number that you want to confirm will fit your car? Did you find a part in your garage...and just can't remember what it's for? You can now click on a part number in the RockAuto catalog to see what vehicles a particular part will fit.

Buyer's Guide

 

 

Gas Cap Promotion

ACDelco

Gates

Motorcraft

Stant

Buy $200 in parts and the ACDelco, Gates, Motorcraft, or Stant Fuel Tank Cap (up to $15 off) in your shopping cart is FREE!

Choose a locking gas cap to protect the expensive gasoline or diesel in your tank from thieves and vandals. Locking fuel caps are available to fit the fuel tank filler neck designs found on a wide variety of vehicles.

Try an InStant Fill™ fuel cap to make refueling faster, less messy, and easier on the environment. With Stant's InStant Fill the gas pump nozzle is inserted through a trap door mechanism like a NASCAR race car. There is no cap to twist off and the gas and fumes stay in the tank. InStant Fill caps meet onboard diagnostic (OBDII) emission specifications. Ford plans to offer similar fuel tank caps on their next generation of new car models.

Or pick an original style gas cap to back-up or replace one worn-out or lost.

Find all the fuel tank caps for your vehicle under "Fuel/Air" in the RockAuto.com catalog. When the parts in your shopping cart total $200 (core charge & shipping excluded) or more add a fuel tank cap to your shopping cart too. One cap’s cost up to $15 will automatically be deducted from your order. $15 will be deducted from the cost of a more expensive gas cap and the price of the cap greater than $15 will count toward the $200 minimum order amount. For example, if your car needs a $45 fuel tank cap then $30 of the cap’s cost will be applied toward the $200 minimum needed to qualify for the promotion. The promotion deduction will appear automatically in your shopping cart so you will definitely know when it kicks in. Offer ends May 8, 2008.

 

 

Forum Of The Month

First Generation Honda CivicsFirst Generation Honda Civic

First Generation Honda Civics is a website devoted to the community of first generation Honda car enthusiasts. The Civics and Accords featured range from the first 1973 Honda Civic to 1974 through 1979 Honda Civic 1200's and CVCC models. Pride is taken in showing off our labors of love and some members participate in gatherings in order to meet other owners. Owners of other classic Hondas such as first generation Accords, Preludes, second generation Honda Civics' and S500, S600's, and Hondas of the 60's are welcome also. Get helpful information on tuning and technical data and specifications, custom bodywork, welding, engine swaps, and more.

If you are the administrator or member of a forum and you would like to see your website featured in an upcoming newsletter and receive a discount code to share with your members, contact jessa@rockauto.com.

 

 

Repair Mistakes & Blunders

Ouch!

Many years ago I worked as a mechanic in a Mercedes Benz dealership in Columbia SC. I was bending over the engine bay of a 1972 280SEL with the 4.5L V8 with a complaint of a rough idle. So I was doing my due diligence looking for vacuum leaks, bad plug wires, and the normal things you do to cure a rough idle. Wanting to duplicate the complaint, I had set the handbrake and put the car in gear. So here I am leaning over the fender well, one foot on either side of the right front wheel when for some unexplained reason I reached over and blipped the throttle once. These V8's had torque!! Immediately the engine responded, and the car leaped forward stopping on top of my right foot. Guess what I did first? Yeah, you guessed it, looked around to see who was watching!

I stood there for a minute or two and thought about my dilemma. Naturally I did not call anyone to help, too embarrassed. I eventually worked my foot out of the shoe, then walked around and backed the car up to recover my shoe. Never did that again!

John in Texas

Tell us about your most infamous auto repair blunder. Use your woe to help others avoid similar mistakes. Please email your story to flamur@rockauto.com. Include your mailing address and shirt size (large or extra large) and we will mail you a RockAuto "Do it yourself?" t-shirt if we publish your story. The story will be credited using only your first name and your vague geographic location (state, province, country, continent, etc.) so you can remain semi-anonymous!

 

 

"It Can Be A Knuckle Breaker..."

RockAuto

My old car had oil raining off the bottom of the engine. A steady and environmentally toxic drip had turned into a geyser and potential fire hazard in just a few days. A professional mechanic with a busy schedule might have looked at the puddle on the floor, the 200000 miles on the odometer, and guessed the main bearing gaskets were shot. Either buy a new engine or a different car. But a crazed DIYer like myself crawled under that car, wrestled the oil pan loose, and replaced the oil pan gasket. The oil pan gasket fixed the massive oil leak and with new valve cover gaskets, even the pesky drip was gone.

Changing the oil pan gasket on a full size pick-up can be as easy as a really bad oil change. On some cars it is a major project. The car I just mentioned above had a U shaped oil pan that could not be completely removed without pulling the engine. I yanked the old gasket and fed the new gasket into place with less than two inches of clearance. Changing the oil pan gasket on my wife’s little front wheel drive car required removing much of the exhaust. It is no fun taking bolts out of a 20-year-old exhaust manifold.

It can be a knuckle breaker, but what seems like an old, hopelessly leaky engine can be miraculously transformed by just an oil pan gasket change. If the valve cover gaskets needed changing then the oil pan gasket probably needs changing too. The “main seals” are usually at each end of the oil pan so differentiating whether it is the main bearing gaskets or the oil pan gasket leaking can be next to impossible. A $20 oil pan gasket is the thing to try first.

I have had great luck with Fel-Pro PermaDry® oil pan gaskets. I don’t just say that because for most cars they are the most expensive gaskets RockAuto.com sells. I just know I have beat up PermaDry gaskets while wrestling them into place and I still never had one leak. Buying the cheap gasket that happens to be on a store’s shelf is never worth it if it means crawling back under the car and redoing the job.

Here are two more common oil leak sources. The mushroom shaped oil pressure switch for the oil gauge or light in the dash might start leaking even when the car is nearly new. Screwing in a new switch is not difficult on most engines.

The distributor mounting gasket is an o-ring intended to prevent oil from leaking out around the distributor shaft. When the distributor is mounted horizontally (many 4-cylinder engines) oil can really pour out when the o-ring goes bad. This oil leak is easy to misdiagnose as a bad valve cover gasket. Replacing the o-ring requires carefully removing and reinstalling the distributor. It is an easy job as long as “carefully” is practiced!

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

 

 

"Your Bimmer Has WHAT Under The hood?"

My current project is installing a 2005 Chevy truck motor and T56 transmission into a 1994 BMW 525iT wagon. RockAuto has helped with many of the parts for this conversion. RockAuto carries a surprising amount of factory type parts for German cars, such as coolant tanks and sensors. I had to use a radiator from another BMW, and RockAuto had the parts that allowed me to make this conversion. In addition to the Chevy engine and transmission, this car will have a Cobra Hydroboost master cylinder, a Jeep differential flange, a Lincoln cooling fan, and Mustang turbo headers among other parts from various vehicles.

I enjoy shopping at RockAuto since with my cars I cannot go into a parts store and simply answer "What year and model car do you have?". With the way the website is constructed I can easily look up the model of the car I need parts for and find what I need. RockAuto also has far better prices on items as compared to the local parts stores. And the support before and after the sale is wonderful.

Thanks,
Paul

 

Share Your Hard Work
Do you purchase parts from RockAuto? If so, RockAuto would like to feature you and your vehicle in our monthly newsletter. Please e-mail flamur@rockauto.com with details.

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