DENNIS O'SULLIVAN
ANSWERS TO YOUR CAR QUESTIONS
Have a problem with your car? Let Dennis O’sullivan solve your questions about auto repairs and mechanics.
QUESTION
I have a question about automatic car starters. The other day, my son, who is five years old, accessed my keys and used the remote to start the car. Is there any way that one can disconnect the remote starter to make sure that this does not happen again. Also, you should warn your readers about remote starters because if the car had been in the garage during the nighttime, we could all have been asphyxiated.
ANSWER
Yes, you can disconnect the remote starter but the simplest solution would be to put your keys in a secured area so that a five-year-old boy cannot access them. Most remote starters are designed to shut the engine down between fifteen to twenty minutes so it could not have run all night as you feared. However, a faulty remote starter or an improper installation of the after-market remote starter could cause a dangerous situation such as you suggested. It might be a good idea to test the operation of your car’s remote starter to make sure that it does shut down as it is designed to do.
QUESTION
I had the windshield replaced on my 2002 Cavalier and after one week, the windshield started to leak. I went back to the glass installer and they told me that there would not be any warranty on the glass installation because it was a body leak and not the fault of the windshield installation. I called another glass company and they told me that if it was an installation problem, it should be covered under warranty. Would you be able to get the glass company to replace my windshield again and this time, properly seal it? They have offered to reinstall the windshield at their cost again if I do further body repairs but they should have told me that before they replaced my windshield. I do not think that I should pay anything for their faulty work. I would like your opinion. Don from Paris
ANSWER
The glass shop is not refusing to reseal your car’s windshield, based on your assertions of their faulty workmanship, but is refusing to reseal the windshield again, based on the inadequate body repairs that were made to the frame of the windshield.
When they removed your car’s windshield, they told you that it was rusted around the windshield frame and that it needed to be repaired. You claimed that a body shop did the repairs but you refused to tell the glass shop which body shop had done the repairs. The glass shop then told you that the repairs were haphazard and that the windshield might leak. You then told the glass shop to do the best that they could but the windshield did eventually start to leak around the body repairs.
Removing the windshield again and resealing it for you at their cost, after you get the body repairs done properly around the windshield frame, is a good deal for you and I recommend that you take their offer.
QUESTION
The cruise control on my 1988 Oldsmobile fluctuates when in use. I have had the car to my mechanic but he does not seem to know where to start looking for the problem since the car is well beyond his age.
It seems to work better when I have it set to fifty kilometers but when I set it for highway speeds, it starts to fluctuate and then actually cuts out.
Have you had any experience with this and if not, would you recommend someone who would know something about the cruise control on an older car?
Thanks, Bob from Burlington
ANSWER
Vacuum assist operates the cruise control on that car and I would first start by looking to make sure that the cruise control vacuum reservoir is getting vacuum.
If you find that the vacuum line to the cruise control vacuum reservoir is not pinched or leaking then I suspect that you have a leak somewhere in the cruise control vacuum reservoir. A pinched or leaking vacuum line or a leaking cruise control vacuum reservoir will cause the car’s speed to fluctuate when it loses and regains its vacuum.
If you are a member of an Auto Club, ask them for one of their approved garages that can assist you.
Dennis O’Sullivan can be reached by email at: dennis.osullivan@cogeco.ca or by regular mail at Box 10019 Winona, ON, L8E 5R1. Be sure to mention where you reside when writing to Dennis.