Category: Automotive

A/C systems are a bit mysterious, but super easy to understand and repair once you know how the whole system functions.  At the center of it is the compressor. It compresses the refrigerant and sends it to a spray nozzle, and then collects the drainage back into the compressor. The compressor squeezes the refrigerant gas…

The starter motor in the 2001 Kia Rio is in a very awkward position. It is on the bell housing below the intake manifold pipes, and held by three bolts. The two upper bolts can be accessed from the engine compartment from the driver side. The air filter box and the air intake pipes have…

The 2001 Kia Rio uses two tapered roller bearings. They are different than the majority of bearings. Most shops don’t seem to know how to replace them correctly, or even care to refer to the Kia service manual.  I went through six bearings in 24 months, and four of them were done by the Castrucci…

The vehicle (2001 Kia Rio) was having rough idling and stumbling, and every time this happened the code was P1166 (non-specific fuel related problem). Rough idling could be due to a sticking idle air control (IAC) valve. The IAC is easy to remove and cheap to replace, but a sticking valve can also be easily…

Cylinder heads are very susceptible to heat. A single overheat incident due to a coolant leak or blower fan failure can cause the cylinder head to warp. That is exactly what happened in this case, so a rebuild was necessary. This is not a small job. It took 2 months to do this, but admittedly most…