How Radars & Radar Detectors Work?

What is a Radar?

Radar is an acronym for radio detection and ranging. 
The Average Radar contains a K-Band microwave RF (radio frequency) transmitter whose signal gets reflected by the target object. The reflected signal will have a Doppler shift proportional to the target speed.

This Doppler frequency shift is detected in the receiver, amplified, filtered, and then digitized in an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and passed onto the digital signal processing (DSP) chip. Using complex algorithms, the DSP chip filters out false and low-level return signals to identify the speed of the desired target. The speed, along with various statistics and averages, is then displayed on the LCD.

A/C Acts Like A Heater!

This is definitely air conditioner weather.

I had a customer in here last year with his a/c not 
putting out cold air.

I raised the hood, that always helps, and looked at the 
compression. The clutch wasn't turning.

I disconnected the switch at the low pressure cut- off 
valve and took a bent paperclip, in the shape of a 
horse shoe, or a "U" for those of you that never bought 
your horse any shoes.

I inserted both ends into the slots in the plug, and, 
wooden, the compressor clutch started turning.

I hooked the gauges to the a/c lines and opened the 
valves to read the pressure.

Are You Really Going To Buy THAT Car?

 Think about it. How long has it been sitting there?

When vehicles sit idle for a year, or longer, guess what 
happens to the components that have some type fluid in 
them?

o The Master Cylinder: The brake fluid deteriorates, dries up, and creates some type of fungus inside.

The seals dry out and become brittle, or crack, causing 
more particles inside that causes the master cylinder to 
not function properly.

o Little bits of rubber, and fungi, get into the brake lines.

These particles make their way to the calipers, or wheel 
cylinders, causing them to mal-function.

o The seals inside the front calipers, and rear wheel cylinders or calipers go through the same drying process.

Plus, the inside of the calipers and wheel cylinders tend 
to corrode up, causing the pistons to siege, become locked 
at the position they have been in for so long.

Keep That Showroom Shine

- While most of us are far from experts on our car's inner workings, we do appreciate the technology behind it. From fuel injection to anti-lock breaks, innovations have come quite a way since the days of the Model T.

Even paint jobs have improved through the years, employing features that make new cars gleam on the showroom floor. But once the real-life driving begins, that sparkle can fade or even be buried beneath a layer of grime. Keeping your car looking new used to mean hours of weekend labor, repeated every few weeks. But today, drivers can keep that showroom shine for years.

Whether your car's odometer is at 100 or 100,000 miles, a few simple steps can help protect your investment for years.

Do You Have Any Black Pepper For My Radiator?

Awhile back I had a woman traveling through to stop at 
the shop.

Her radiator, the one in her car, had a leak.

It was a small leak but she had lost a lot of water, in 
the car radiator.

Now, as I'm not a radiator repair shop, and the nearest 
one was 20 miles, in the opposite direction, I did what 
I do to my old 8N Ford tractor radiator.

The Three Basic Methods of Car Pinstriping

Before we talk about the different auto pinstriping methods we need to cover a couple of basic points : 

1) Pinstripes are usually done in two colors: one that compliments the body color, and another, thin line, which contrasts to make the stripe stand out. There are no rules: color choice is a matter of personal preference .... and imagination !!! 

2) Make sure the surface to pinstripe is absolutely clean. Get rid of all residue with a good pre-surface preparation product OK, now to the different auto pinstriping techniques : Mechanical Pinstriping A mechanical auto pinstriping is the best for striping long areas like trucks, vans, or station wagons. The main advantage is that it puts down stripes of consistent width, letting you concentrate more on keeping the contour of the stripe aligned along your work surface. 

Why Won't My Car Start?

Have you ever had your car just "die" on you, you try to start it and it just   will not start.  You end up calling a tow truck and paying those big tow bills, then to make matters worse the technician at the shop tells you that it will cost hundreds of dollars to make it run again,is that true? Maybe maybe not. 
I own and work as a diagnostics Tech here at Ace Automotive in Lakewood Wa and I can tell you from experience if some people knew just a little more about their cars workings they could save a whole lotta money.  Say for instance you are driving at night wipers and heater ,lights and radio on you notice that the headlights keep getting dimmer and dimmer soon the vehicle "dies" and now won't start the most likely cause is the alternator has failed, not the battery because if the battery failed the alternator would still keep power to the vehicle until you turned it off then it would not restart.