Bent Frame

Joshua was out having fun with his Jeep when he happened upon something a bit stronger then the frame of his Jeep.

With the frame bent he had to either total the vehicle or swap frames, so he brought it to us to have the vehicle swapped over to a new one.

Here are a few pictures of the transfer!

I had to hang on the end of this to keep it level while we moved it from the old frame to the new one!

We still are not quite done yet.  Some final details to finish up but soon it will be complete and I will post the final touches as well.

Throwing a rod

This Mitsubishi Endeavor came in for a blown engine.  Seams like the connecting rod did not want to be a part of the vehicle any more and out the bottom of the engine it came.  Needless to say the engine was not salvageable and we ended up pulling it out to replace it.  After looking the vehicle over for a couple of minutes I figured that coming out the bottom is the best way and then swap the engine and put it back up in the vehicle.

We ended up removed the engine though the bottom still attached to the sub-frame and transmission.  Ended up being easier then trying to just yank the engine out of the top.  The new engine is now in and running great for our customer!

Fleet truck service

Looks like this week was fleet truck service week at Reliable! Business must be picking up because I once again had two of the same type vehicles in the shop at once. Diamond Excavating brought in a 04 Chevy 3500 dump truck with a Duramax and C and H Landscaping brought in a 06 GMC 3500 dump truck with a Duramax.

Diamond Excavating had braking issues with their Duramax dump truck. Very soft pedal. We replaced the master cylinder and all was well in the truck. Diamond has been keeping a stead flow of vehicles through my shop, I am sure we will be seeing them again soon.



C and H Landscaping did not get off so easily sadly. They had a bearing go out in the rear end and that ended up chewing up the spindle that holds the wheels on the axle. Thankfully the wheels never fell off and no injuries happened from this! The bearing did chew up the spindle and the threads holding on the bearings though. We were able to get the threads back in shape on that spindle, but that was quite a job.

This just doesnt happen that often!

I had two of the same make and model car in my shop at the same time! Different problems of course. They were even the same color. Two Subaru Impreza WRXs! The first one that came in was a 2002 WRX and the second one a 2003 WRX. Since opening this shop 8 months ago I have rarely worked on the same make in a day much less the same make and model!

The first one that came in was a timing belt but he wanted me to check the head gasket. Sadly his head gasket was no longer functioning the way it was supposed to. Long job on this one, double head gasket and a timing belt. Subaru leaves you almost no room in the engine compartment for doing this so I just pull the engine. Makes life so much easier getting the cylinder heads set. I found out once I got into it that I was the second guy to do it, the first was before he had owned it. Ended up having to order parts that I was not expecting. Part of the reason it was still here when Subaru #2 showed up.

Subaru #2 came in for much simpler issues. Broken springs in the front. I ended up replacing springs all around. He actually only had one spring left that was not broken, the right rear. The amazing part of this is the Subaru was riding on Eibach springs, which are a good quality spring. This one left with a set of H and R springs and riding much better!

Spring cleaning in the Fall

So going in to winter I decided that the shop was not clean or organized enough and did something about it. I made a HUGE mess while painting and cleaning and rearranging the shop equipment. I actually went for a few days with no room to work on anything but getting the shop cleaned up and painted! The ceilings and upper half of the shop we painted white and the lower half we painted grey. Really cleans the place up, makes it a lot brighter in there. At the same time we painted the office area with a new coat of white to clean it up in there as well. While it is not quite done yet, still have to do the floors in the shop, some touch up on the walls, and make all the overhead lights match (we are trying out some different color bulbs to see how they work and really like them, but we only have them in one corner of the shop currently) it looks so much better out there.

Sorry no pictures you are just going to have to come see yourself!

I dont know if you noticed this...

But it is cold out!

Now cold is not really a good thing for your vehicle. Not a bad thing as long as you are prepared for it, but the engine really does not like the cold. When the temp gets as low as it has over the last few days (i.e. -12 in come places) there are a few tings that become really important. Firat and foremost you need to have your car start! The main component of this is the battery. Each car battery comes with a CCA rating, this is Cold Cranking Amps. Or how much electricity it can push at 32 degrees F. If you felt your car struggle to start yesterday or today in the AM it means your battery was not quite holding the charge it needed to start the car easily and you should get a battery. Compared to a tow bill for not starting and the possibility of being stuck in the weather it is an excellent investment. You want your engine to start right up when you turn the key.

The next thing is do NOT just drive off when you turn the engine over! At below freezing temps your engine oil takes a while to get moving through the engine. I went out this morning and started the car, then came back inside and waited about 15 in before driving away. When it is this cold you should really wait till you see some temperature on your vehicles temp gauge before driving the vehicle. This will keep your engine alive much longer, and keep you from getting some bad wear and tear on the internal moving parts. It really isnt a good idea to just start and engine in any weather and drive off, you should actually give it a bit to get settled before driving. In normal weather I usually jump in, turn the key an dthen get settled before I start driving. This includes getting the wallet out of the back pocket, getting my seatbelt on, checking the mirrors and that everyone with me is buckled before moving.

One more thing you may wish to consider in this weather is it is a good idea to have some supplies in the vehicle just in case. A blanket, some food and water (probably frozen by now) and heavy clothes, especially if you are doing any sort of road trip. Personally I carry enough that if I get stranded on the side of the road I can walk comfortably to the nearest help if Ireally need to. Well, last time I went to Cody WY comfort would have a been a relative term. If I had had to walk I would have been a cold, cold man. Alive, but very cold. Thankfully I did not have any issues.

Customer Profile - 2002 Dodge Intrepid

A customer brought in a 2002 Dodge Intrepid. The car was leaking from underneath its hood.

It turned out to be water. The car needed a new water pump. The old pump had a rubber ring inside it that had filled corrosion. Once the O ring had started to leak a little the pump started to corrode around it. It never fails, leaks only do one thing, get worse.

Soon the car was running smoothly, with no leaking problems in sight. After having to burp the cooling system quite a few times to get all the air pockets out of it I was happy to tell the customer that their car was ready and drip-free!

I had another problem with leaks a little while ago with a 1989 Toyota Camry. Except the car was leaking oil instead of water - a much messier situation! The inside of the car was coated in oil. I had to do some serious scrubbing before I could fix the problem, but I'm happy to report that his car wound up drip-free as well.

If you'd like to hear more stories, try reading some of our other customer profiles, or look at our customer testimonials!