Answers to your car questions

QI am writing to you on behalf of my husband. Our son has an old four-cylinder Cavalier that is in really good condition except for the motor. The previous owner drove the car when it overheated and had blown the engine. Our son does a lot of his own work and he wants to put a V8 engine into this car instead of the four cylinder 2.8 like it had. We are worried that he is going to have a lot of trouble doing this since the car is not designed to be fitted with a V8 engine. We would like your opinion so that we can advise our son before he gets started with this project.

ARLENE FROM DUNNVILLE

AThat car is not structurally designed to have the weight or the power of a V8 engine and he would have to practically overhaul the front end to accommodate the weight and size of a V8 engine. Even the frame would have to be modified to accommodate the engine. This is not a good idea. He might also have problems getting the car insured, so have him check into that first.

QI lent my son my car to go up north on a family holiday. When he arrived there, which was about a four hundred kilometer trip, the engine oil light came on. He then went and bought a litre of regular oil but I have been using synthetic oil in the car since it was new. He told me about this after he came home. My mechanic tells me that I should change the oil right away because the regular oil will not properly mix with the synthetic oil and that now has me wondering if putting the regular oil in the engine has done some damage. Do you believe that I should change the oil right away or can I wait for the next oil change, which is about eight hundred kilometers away? I would appreciate your thoughts JOHN FROM BURLINGTON

AMixing a litre of regular oil in your engine that has synthetic oil will not harm the engine. Synthetic oil and regular oils contain similar components that are compatible. The only downfall in doing this is that you are slightly weakening the performance of the synthetic oil. Waiting until your next oil change will not greatly affect the engine lubrication with one litre of regular oil being added.

QI would like to know what you think. I purchased a 2014 Dodge truck as is but with a mechanical safety. On a trip up north, the front end started to vibrate at around eighty kilometres per hour. It vibrated worse on a rough road. I took it into a garage on the way and they found that one of the tie rod ends was needed which, as the mechanic stated, should have been replaced on the mechanical safety. I confronted the garage that had done the safety when I got back home and they told me that they had totally checked out the front end and it was fine. I brought the tie rod home and showed them and they told me that it was not worn out but the garage up north told me that it needed to be replaced. Can I bring the tie rod end to you to make the decision whether or not it should have been replaced?

MARTY FROM HAMILTON

ANormally, in a situation like this, one would have taken the car to the Ministry of Transportation to have them look at the part, while it was still connected to the vehicle. Since you have already replaced the part, the Ministry will not do anything for you simply because they cannot determine for certain if the part is actually off the vehicle in question. I can only comment on what I found out when talking to the garage up north. The mechanic up north did say that the tie rod end should have been replaced along with the bent arm that connects to the tie rod end. He told me that he replaced the tie rod end as a precaution because of the bent steering arm. Do you recall the conversation with the mechanic up north asking you if you have been driving off road because of all the grass and dirt under the truck? Also, where is the bent steering arm that was also replaced by the technician up north? He claims that he gave you both as one part. The mechanic up north also told me that he did not believe that the truck passed the safety with the bent steering arm because the alignment was way off when you brought the truck into them for the repair. It was his last comment about the alignment that puzzled me and I tend to believe that the steering arm, unbeknownst to you, somehow got bent on the trip up north and the tie rod end was just collateral damage that was replaced to be on the safe side.

To my readers:

Please indicate the town, city or village that you live in. Be advised that unfortunately not all emails can be answered. Send your questions (including address) by email to: dennis.osullivan@cogeco.ca