I am not a vegetarian, but would be if I had to kill what I ate. I even brake for skunks. But after having two of my car’s electrical systems chewed up my mice, I am more than happy to kill the little rodents. The second time was in September when the dreaded Check Engine Light came on my 2010 Honda Pilot. No big deal, I thought, since it was still under warranty. Took the car to Hoffman Honda in Avon, where I discovered it was not a minor matter. Mechanic Steve Moreau checked his diagnostic tool and found that one of the sensors – a crucial one impacting the catalytic converter – was shot. He popped the hood and to my surprise found a nice mice nest on top of the manifold and the remains of a chewed wire dangling off the sensor. It would have been a minor problem, were it not for the fact that the wire went under the manifold, requiring several hours of work as the top of the engine had to be removed. My car is just one of hundreds of thousands of vehicles that are damaged by rodents every year.

The cost of repair can run anywhere from $50 to thousands of dollars. Rocky Subramani, my service advisor at Hoffman Honda, told me that more than 100 cars were brought to his dealership in the past year because of rodent damage to electrical systems. “We had three cars just this week,” he told me Wednesday. The most expensive job was $1,000, but he has had electrical damage that exceeded $3,000 in one vehicle where the rodents chewed up the body harness. So what makes our vehicles attractive to mice and other rodents? Subramani warns customers to clean all food – including sealed bags – out of cars, especially nuts and dog food. Also, anything that smells sweet like vanilla air fresheners. There are all kinds of tools available on the Internet to try to keep the little varmints out of your car – anything from $20 magnetic mothball holders to thousand dollar metal barriers around your parked vehicle. He said mothballs in the engine compartment helps keep rodents out.

Some have used dryer sheets, liquid peppermint or coyote urine on cotton balls. Subramani said the first thing people should do is regularly pop the hood and look for signs of a nest or droppings. Considering that this is the second time in three years I have had this problem – the first involved my Mini Cooper – I have scheduled that monthly check now on my outlook for both vehicles. And both vehicles are loaded with mothballs under the hood. is a consumer auto guide which CtWatchdog Editor & Publisher George Gombossy helped  create,  provides editorial guidance and advertising in return for a marketing fee. central air conditioning units description are not only edited by George, they are sometimes, suggested by him. prices for air conditioning units for central air

In full disclosure, George’s son Ethan Gombossy is the Porsche service representative for Hoffman. George also purchased his company vehicle at Hoffman prior to entering into the marketing agreement. Obviously George has a huge conflict of interest and therefor cannot publish any positive or negative comments from readers about Hoffman Auto Group. As he has in the past, he forwards any complaints he recieves to co-owner Brad Hoffman.Can I fix my broken car a/c myself?window ac units that heat and cool September 4, 2008   Subscribe The a/c in my car died about 2 years ago. I'm moving to the desert [SE corner of CA], so now this is a problem. I have no car knowledge, and no money. How can I fix my a/c?We’ve all felt it before – that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realise something is not quite right with your car and you’re going to have to pay someone else to repair it.

This is especially for all the owners of older cars out there. It’s a unique club characterised by the nagging feeling in the backs of our heads that something someday is going to go catastrophically wrong. No car is immune from an expensive fix – from the most reliable makes to the most exotic, old and new. Whether it was caused by bad luck, bad manufacturing, or our own bad driving or maintenance habits, we all want to know how much it’s going to cost us to fix. It’s good to know a ballpark figure before you head down to the mechanics. Our survey of motorists who had recently taken their vehicle for a service found that 58% had to pay for repairs they weren’t expecting, while 78% said they were wary of being ripped off – which is natural when you don’t know much about car parts and maintenance. To help with that, let’s go over some of the most expensive car parts and what they will cost you. A broken cylinder is a hallmark of continued neglect and ignoring previous warning signs like multiple misfires.

If you get regular services you should never end up with cylinder failure. Scheduled maintenance ensures you won’t end up with an $8,000 (or greater) mechanic’s bill for repairing a cylinder. That’s right, the expenses for hybrid cars don’t stop once you fork out the cash to buy them. Parts aren’t readily available, so they’re expensive, and you’ll have to wait for the part to be shipped in. One problem that is hard to detect is inverter failure, since the only warning sign is the “check engine” light. It doesn’t often happen, but when it does, a replacement costs between $4,000 and $7,000 depending on the model. Lithium ion batteries experienced a boom in 2015 and 2016 as Tesla and other electric car manufacturers ramped up their production. As technology develops, these batteries will get cheaper and cheaper, but for now they are very expensive. A lot of batteries cost around $150 per kWh and can easily skyrocket from there. Considering a Tesla Model S is equipped with an 85kWh battery, a replacement can be eye-wateringly expensive.

The good news is that lithium ion batteries are reliable, and costs are likely to fall dramatically by the time you will need a replacement. It’s unfortunate that transmission is one of the most important parts of your car, because it is expensive to repair or replace. According to Auto Service Online, automatic transmission failures are caused by fluid problems nine times out of 10. Transmission fluid doesn’t need to get changed as frequently as oil, so lots of car owners forget about it if they’re not getting regular services. You can wear out the transmission in a manual by riding the clutch or unnecessarily changing gears too often. Transmission repairs can cost around $1,000 to $2,000 and a replacement for the whole assembly costs up to $4,000. A blown engine is about the worst news that your average car owner could receive. Normal engine issues are the most common car problem reported to mechanics. But a ‘blown motor’ means the engine has suffered so much internal damage that it needs extensive repair or a full replacement.

An engine replacement can cost between $1,000 and $4,000 depending on the type of engine. The camshaft controls how your engine takes in air. It generally won’t break unless you neglect your servicing and oil changes and let grime and dirt build up on the valves. A replacement camshaft is highly labour-intensive, so it can cost between $1,500 and $3,000. The head gasket is vital because it seals the engine cylinders and stops coolant and oil from leaking. When the head gasket blows, it takes a lot of stuff out with it. You’re looking at an overheated engine, leaking coolant and oil, and white smoke from the exhaust. The gasket itself is cheap enough, but the labour is hard work. Repairs can cost around $1,000 to $2,000. The mass air flow sensor measures the amount of air sent to the engine and decides how much fuel to send to the engine in response. Failure of the sensor typically means that you didn’t replace your air filters regularly. Replacement air filters cost around $25.

Replacement mass air flow sensors cost around $400. Remember the days when a copy of your car key would cost you $10 from the Mister Minit or the locksmith? Those glory days are over. A replacement electric car key has to be ordered, cut and coded, and it can cost anything from $250 to $750. And if you’ve lost all the keys to your car, then you need to create and code an entirely new set of keys and have the entire car computer reset to match. This can cost around $2,000 to $5,000 and can usually only be done at a dealership, instead of a third party. Perhaps the highest cost is that you’ll have to spend time off the road while you wait for it all to get done. The air compressor is what separates high and low pressure air for cooling down your car and engine. A compressor replacement costs around $200 to $600 depending on your car model. If you also need Freon charging, that costs another $100. An honourable mention goes to the seemingly innocent timing belt. Many car manufacturers require this unit to be replaced every 100,000km, and can cost anywhere from a couple hundred up to a couple thousand for luxury cars.

Though failures in their expected lifetime are rare, the importance of proper maintenance is critical here. A useful thing to identify is if your car has an interference or non-interference timing belt. Interference belts mean that if it snaps, you can wave goodbye to many other components in your car. In this case, it’s going to cost a lot more than to just replace the timing belt. Often an entire engine overhaul is necessary. Scheduled replacement of the timing belt can save you a lot of heartache in the long run. Most car problems can be easily and cheaply fixed if they are detected as soon as possible. This means getting your car serviced regularly, and doing whatever other maintenance and routine checks you can do yourself. Unfortunately, more than half (55%) of motorists we surveyed about car servicing said they take as long as they can between services to save money.  However, with a lot of things in the automotive world, prevention is the best cure, and regular maintenance is the best way to prevent financial catastrophe.

A mechanic can only do so much though. Proper car maintenance starts at home in your garage. There are a few things you can do at home to make sure your car is running well: Industry research by Drive shows that a big problem you face with replacements is the huge mark-up on spare parts. Even replacing a tail light can cost upwards of $600 if you own a 4WD or a luxury car. It’s cheaper to buy a replacement part from an auto store or your mechanic if you can, rather than the manufacturer. Many of these third-party parts will be acceptable under your warranty and insurance policy, but it’s best to check the conditions for any exceptions. If your car is out of warranty, then this opens up some freedom for servicing and parts. There are several things you can do with your car out-of-warranty than when it’s in warranty: For any more serious concerns, it’s best to consult your trusted local mechanic for peace of mind. Car parts can be expensive, but you can easily get more life out of them with regular maintenance.