Remove Light Scratches from Windshield

The easiest is to fill the scratches with an acrylic scratch remover, which is applied as a liquid and dries hard and transparent, hiding the damage by filling the scratches chemically. For deeper scratches, the most popular fix is buffing the glass with cerium oxide, a popular glass, ceramic and metal polish with very low abrasiveness—it's widely used in jewelry and ceramics. Add water to the fine powder and make a slurry the consistency of Elmer's Glue, then cover the damaged areas with the paste. Using a drill with a hard rubber polishing wheel attached, apply firm pressure to slowly grind the surface smooth. To make things a bit easier, mark the location of the scratch on the other side of the glass so you can keep track of where you should be working. It may take a while, but keep the paste moist and add more cerium oxide as needed, and the result will be a smooth, scratch-free surface.

Convert Your Car to Natural Gas

Between the tank and the engine is the fuel regulator, which reduces the fuel-tank pressure of 3600 psi to a usable 125 psi delivered to the engine. The fuel regulator is heated to prevent freezing from the expansion of the gas. The lower-pressure gas travels to the engine, Chrysler's flex-fuel-capable Pentastar V-6. A flex-fuel engine is important, since it has hardened valves and valve seats, which are necessary for CNG operation. The natural gas is routed through a parallel fuel rail, and a second set of injectors is plugged into a clever adapter designed to accommodate both the gasoline and CNG injectors on the same injection port. Natural gas runs at an ideal air--fuel ratio of about 16.8:1, whereas gasoline runs happily at 14.6:1 for the Pentastar engine. As a result, the programming for the new injectors has to be slightly different. NatGasCar's wiring harness intercepts the signals from the engine-control module and, depending upon which fuel is selected, turns on either the gasoline or the CNG injectors. The signals bound for the gasoline injectors are modified to deliver the appropriate amount of fuel to the natural gas injectors. This way, very little fine tuning is necessary, and the car's engine-control unit does most of the work.

As it turns out, there are very few technological barriers to overcome. In fact, converting existing vehicles to burn natural gas isn't particularly challenging. Unfortunately, if you tried to do it yourself, you'd more than likely run afoul of the Clean Air Act's rules against modifying fuel systems--a violation that could cost you up to $5000 in fines for every day you drive the converted vehicle. So if you want to green your wheels today, the only way to do it is by hiring a certified compressed-natural-gas (CNG) installer to do the job. To get the skinny on aftermarket CNG systems, I visited NatGasCar in Cleveland. It's a startup shop that augments gasoline cars by installing a parallel natural gas fuel system. They showed me their latest creation, a dual-fuel Dodge Caravan intended for airport taxi service. It starts on gasoline and switches over to natural gas once the engine warms up.

NatGasCar's biggest component is also its most crucial and expensive--the compressed-natural-gas fuel tank situated behind the rear seats in the cargo area. The company uses a Type 4 tank, the most advanced kind. It reduces weight with a plastic composite core wrapped in carbon fiber and is rated for severe impact and puncture resistance.

Natural gas has been used in our homes for generations. Americans use it to run water heaters, home furnaces, stoves, clothes dryers, and other appliances. As a fuel it accounts for 24 percent of our total energy consumption nationwide, all but 1 percent in residential applications. And as we reported last fall ("Drilling Down," September 2011), new fracking techniques are tapping domestic reserves that previously were not economically viable. Vast global supplies are projected to last well into the next century even if natural gas replaces gasoline completely. So it should be no surprise that natural gas will remain incredibly cheap. It runs at one-half to one-third the current cost of gasoline on an energy-equivalent measure. In a properly tuned engine, natural gas combustion delivers 20 percent lower carbon emissions and about a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gases compared with the cleanest gasoline engines, all without damaging existing catalytic converter systems. So right about now you're probably wondering: Why aren't we putting this stuff in our cars?

Fueling Woes

So a new fuel tank and a little bit of tinkering with the fuel injectors and I'm ready to go, right? Unfortunately not. Natural gas is delivered across the country to millions of homes. But what would seem to be the ideal distribution network is actually the biggest headache of natural gas vehicles. Home natural gas is delivered at about 0.5 psi, but natural gas in vehicles needs to be pressurized to 3600 psi. So if you want to use CNG in your car, you'll need a compressor. A National Fire Protection Association safety standard bans compressed gas storage in homes, so a stand-alone multistage compressor pump in the garage must be hooked up to the vehicle's fuel tank, filling it directly. This leads to fueling times of up to 22 hours (even longer than equivalent home charging times for electric vehicles). Honda's Civic Natural Gas is paired with a home compressor system called Phill ($4500), the only commercially available product of its kind. NatGasCar is developing a compressor system capable of 8-hour fill-ups; the current target price is $3500. Some states have incentivized the installation of high-speed filling systems at gas stations, where fill times are as brief as 4 to 5 minutes, much like gasoline's. But these systems cost $750,000 per station to install, and low demand means there are only 941 high-pressure CNG filling stations scattered across the country, mostly in New York, California, Utah, and Texas.

Economics

Okay, okay, it's a pain to fuel CNG vehicles, but is it worth it? Nationwide, natural gas ranges from 79 cents to $1.50 for a gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) of fuel. That's considerable savings over petroleum-based products, especially considering that CNG vehicles get the same or better relative fuel economy per Btu because of the higher octane rating of natural gas. Our test drives indicated no hit to performance, and a perfectly acceptable range of about 250 miles. But there are some pretty extraordinary initial setup costs. A properly installed conversion will run anywhere from $6500 for a basic system to $12,000 for a top-of-the-line installation with a high-capacity, composite fuel tank. If you want a home fueling compressor, tack on another $3500 minimum. Even at the low end, you're looking at spending enough on the conversion to buy more than 1800 gallons of gasoline at today's prices.

Those prices will ultimately determine the fate of CNG vehicles. High gasoline prices historically have caused furious investment in cheaper, cleaner fuels, followed by a collapse in demand when gas prices fall. For now, CNG has a high price of entry that makes it viable only for taxi services and other fleet operators, but over time, economies of scale may bring down the costs for the ordinary car buyer. And if gasoline stays above $3 a gallon, that change may come sooner rather than later.

Foggy Headlights-How to Prevent it?

When the clear plastic lens is even a little bit cooler than the air inside the housing, droplets of moisture will condense on the inside of the lens. That’s normal. When the outside temperatures come back up in the morning, the moisture will evaporate.

Why there is water inside the lamp assemblies in the first place. As the outside temperature goes down and your nice warm headlamps cool off (either from being in the sun or just from being turned on), cooler, moister outside air trickles into the housings. The housings are vented top and bottom to allow for pressure differences, or they would quickly crack and fail.

Some vehicles don’t vent as well as others. Some drivers keep their cars parked in shady, damp areas or in cool, damp underground parking structures. And the moisture collects not as tiny droplets of mist but as what looks more like raindrops, and can even run down the glass and pool inside the housing.

Check to see if there’s a Technical Service Bulletin for your make and ­model of vehicle. If so, there may be a retrofit housing or an upgrade to the venting system. If not, you’re on your own. The first thing to try, if all you have is droplets, is to leave your headlights on while driving for a couple of hours, forcing the moisture off. If you have a spoonful or more splashing around, you may need to remove the housing and dry it out. Pour off the excess water, then add a few ounces of rubbing alcohol to the housing, sloshing it around and pouring it out. Repeat. Let the housing dry for a couple of hours in the sun or inside a nice warm house, preferably in some air that’s moving. Check that any vents aren’t plugged with spider eggs or mud. Install the housing and try to park facing south.

(Illustration by Dogo)

Car Dealership Service Manager Secret for Auto Repair

Q
What's the worst day of the week to get your car serviced?

A
Friday afternoon after lunch, because the service department is trying to push out as many vehicles as possible. Maybe a car has been there since Monday waiting on parts. Maybe there are a few cars like that. Then people pour in around lunchtime wanting oil changes. And there are the cars there already with appointments, and everyone's in a rush to get it all done. Make an appointment for a Monday morning as early as possible. It's a lot more orderly, and they'll do a better job.

Q
So it's not necessarily more expensive, and they know more about your car. Any other reason?

A
Often times at Jiffy Lube or wherever they're paid by the hour, and they're not necessarily trained to know your vehicle. And that can cost you your engine. If I could get half of what I've charged customers to replace engines that were screwed up by Jiffy Lube and Walmart, for such things as not enough oil, too much oil, the wrong weight of oil, wrong filter, loose filter or any combination of the above, I could have retired a long time ago. There's no point to spending $30,000 to $40,000 on a new vehicle and then trying to go cheap on the maintenance.

Q
What's an example of a common tactic by dealers to pad the bill?

A
So-called shop supplies. That is, and always has been, the biggest crock of crap I've ever seen, and it's been going on for years! It is essentially similar to going to a nice restaurant, getting your check and finding you've been billed for napkins and silverware, which are necessary costs of the food service business. Shop supplies include, but are not limited to, shop rags, lubricants—this isn't the motor oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid and steering fluid they might put in your car—and the cost of disposing of used oil. These are just some of the necessary costs of doing the auto repair business. Some dealers do not charge for them, but most do, and what is considered shop supplies is at the discretion of each individual dealer. I've seen a customer get billed for $30 in shop supplies—on top of their estimate—for the use of three shop rags! For that price, I can buy 20 rolls of shop towels at Auto Zone.

Q
If you got a bill that had shop supplies on it, what would you do?

A
Ask to see exactly what that means. Ask to see the precise items they actually used. Challenge them on it. You might not get them to knock it off your bill, but you should try.



Q
You also said that dealer service departments too often recommend fluid flushes and replacements that aren't called for by the owner's manual. The dealers cite the "severe use" schedule that doesn't apply to the vast majority of us. Should drivers simply veto a service or fluid replacement that isn't recommended—in the owner's manual—under the normal or light-duty service requirements?

A
Yes, you should go by what the owner's manual recommends for normal use. And, yes, this is a common practice, and I hate to admit that. When I was a customer relations manager, I had a service manager who would [bate people into buying the fluid changes] by showing new fluid versus used fluid. She made more than I did just in flush commissions, but had the worst customer satisfaction surveys. I have always stuck to the manufacturer recommendations, and my Escape has over 310,000 miles on it. Less than five percent of drivers operate their cars under conditions that would be deemed "severe." The ones who do are usually taxi or pizza-delivery drivers, or those who frequently take their SUV or truck off-road.

Q
What's the single best piece of advice you'd offer to a friend about servicing his car at the dealer?

A
A dealer won't come right out and say it, but if you have your regular service work done at the dealer... (because warranty work pays the dealer a lot less than service work), your value to the dealership increases. Here's an example: Suppose your vehicle goes out of warranty and a week later you have a catastrophic failure. If you have shown loyalty to the dealership by using them for regular service work, they will be more inclined to help you—as opposed to the person who buys a car there and takes it somewhere else for regular service, and only brings it in for warranty work.

Q
So it's about building a relationship with the dealer?

A
Yes. You need to know that dealers make very little on car sales. And warranty service doesn't pay as much as regular maintenance. But if they see that record that you've been loyal to them, they'll likely be loyal to you.



Q
What's a sign that a dealership doesn't value that relationship?

A
Constant turnover at the service desk. You should get the name of the person at the desk. You should ask for him or her. If that person's different every time, it's not a good sign. Good auto service work starts with a relationship between the advisor and the customer, and that cannot be obtained when the customer sees a new advisor every time he comes in. I always knew the person's car, I pulled up its history, and that's something people appreciate. But if that person is new or is always changing, they don't know you or your car — stuff gets missed, and that's typically not good for you or your car.

Q
How come a dealer might charge you 30 percent more for a part than you can find it for at AutoZone?

A
It's one of the hang-ups I've always had about domestic automakers. You can often buy their parts cheaper at the auto parts store than you can at the dealership parts counter. And the dealer knows this, but he can't do anything about it. The problem is that even though that's true, the dealer doesn't want to install a part that he didn't source, because if it fails, how does he warranty it?

Q
So what do you do as the customer?

A
There's not a lot you can do. They can install the part if you went out and bought it, but most won't.



Q
Speaking of AutoZone, you can take your car there to have them read what a Check Engine light means. How accurate will that reading be?

A
Check Engine lights are big moneymakers for dealers and also the bane of a service manager's existence. Anyone can use a code reader. But what does the code mean? For every code there need to be additional diagnostics. I've had customers come in and tell me to swap some part, because they're sure it's the problem. But all that is is a really expensive guess. They might be right 10 to 20 percent of the time, close 20 percent of the time, and dead wrong 60 percent of the time. I had a customer go through six oxygen sensors when all it was was a shorted wire.

Q
What's the smartest thing you can buy from the dealer?

A
A brand-name extended service contract. So if you're buying a Ford, get a Ford contract. If it's a Toyota, buy the Toyota contract. The opposite is also true. Never buy the extended service contract that's generically offered through the dealer but isn't backed by the brand of car they sell.

Q
How come?

A
Because the people who fulfill the generic contracts are paid by how little service they have to do. So they fight the dealer on every penny. They'll want to see the entire labor record on the car. They won't want to pay for parts. They'll fight on the cost of the labor. In the end, the customer is going to have to eat some of that cost, even though the contract supposedly covers the car.

Q
What's a good reason to take your car to the dealer for routine maintenance, rather than to the guy with two bays and a private shop?

A
Let's use Ford as an example. If you own a Ford vehicle, the Ford dealership will have Ford-trained technicians who work on Ford vehicles 95 to 100 percent of the time. During that time they will use Ford resources and Ford training to repair your vehicle correctly, and (ideally) they take Ford classes and attend Ford schools to keep up on their knowledge. With the other guy, it's a tossup—he may work on two Fords one week and not see another for a month. Also, on regular maintenance it can sometimes be cheaper, not more expensive. To get an oil change and tire rotation where I live, the Ford dealer is $38.95 plus tax, and Sears wants $75.

Why Your Auto Spying on you?

What can you do about it? If you're a new-car buyer, not much. But pay close attention to the language of the user agreement for any telematics service—if you don't like what you read, opt out of the service. With EDRs, it's enough simply to know your rights. The law is still playing catch-up to the technology, but at this point you do not have to surrender the EDR data to the police without probable cause, a warrant, or a subpoena.

Most navigation systems are separate from a car's computers and cannot track your location. Nav systems rely on the Global Positioning System, which is a one-way data stream to the car. Your car may know where it is, but nobody can track it via the GPS link, and no location data is stored in the EDR.

But everything changes when you add a cellular connection. Cars equipped with telematics systems such as OnStar or Hyundai Blue Link have two-way links to service providers that relay GPS data. The operators of these services do, indeed, have the ability to see where you are, how fast you're going, and what state your car is in mechanically. They can also track and remotely disable a stolen vehicle. The Nissan Leaf uses a similar two-way connection to regularly send data on usage and location to Nissan, which the company uses for future electric vehicle development. But these services aren't supposed to work without driver permission. The car can initiate a call in an emergency situation, such as when an airbag is deployed, but otherwise the driver must authorize an external connection to the vehicle.

Companies have been caught snooping, though. OnStar found itself in the midst of a public uproar last September when it quietly changed contract terminology and started tracking customers with the intent of selling information about their driving habits. OnStar reversed the policy under pressure from consumers and Congress. Recently, insurance companies Progressive and State Farm have begun testing tracking systems, which policyholders plug into their OBD-II port. The systems record data on driving habits, and in exchange customers can potentially get lower insurance premiums, but any data collected belongs to the insurer (including any crash data).

A modern car knows where you are, is constantly tracking your driving habits, and may even be able to call for help if you crash. It's revolutionary, potentially lifesaving—and just a bit creepy. Most of a vehicle's computers are scattered around the car and carry out mundane tasks—operating the engine and transmission, windows, seats, and the radio—and these computers don't have data-storage capability (see How it Works: The Computer Inside Your Car, for a detailed tour). However, the airbag-deployment controller is a bit different. It contains a component called the event data recorder (EDR), which monitors the vehicle's network of sensors for signs of a crash and stores a few seconds of the data stream, dumping and refreshing the information constantly. The type of information collected in the EDR varies among manufacturers, but it generally includes throttle and brake-pedal position, steering angle, yaw rate (the vehicle's rotational velocity), speed, and impact-sensor data. This information is saved permanently following an airbag deployment and can be accessed through the OBD-II port by a technician using specialized equipment.

EDRs have been used since the 1990s and have recently been standardized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)—EDRs will be required equipment on all cars beginning in 2013, with the aim of making their data easier to obtain for crash investigations. Lawyers have used this data in court cases to demonstrate driver behavior during an accident. In a Pennsylvania lawsuit related to the Toyota Prius unintended-acceleration controversy of 2009 and 2010, a team of Toyota engineers and NHTSA officials accessed the EDR of the car in question, showing that the driver was depressing the gas pedal instead of the brake, as he'd claimed.