CONTENTS:
Different Brand Of Fuel Cures Customer's Strange
Exhaust Odor.
Our E-mail Address: samgauto@samscars.com Our Phone Number Is 508-999-3213 |
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Recently a customer contacted us about a "rotten egg" odor he was experiencing
from the exhaust system of his 1994 Cadillac DeVille. Since his car
was covered under factory warranty, he took his vehicle to a Cadillac dealer.
The dealership inspected his vehicle's on-board computer system for fault
codes and none were found. The dealership next analyzed the emissions from
the exhaust system and found them to be within normal limits. The dealership
advised him that this may be normal as they had seen this condition occasionally
at times on other cars in the past. This customer came to us to see if
we had ever heard of this condition before. We advised the customer that
we had seen a pattern of GM vehicles with "lazy" Oxygen sensors causing
the car's on board computer to lose control of fuel mixture. When this
happens, a "rotten egg" smell is often a symptom. However, before connecting
any equipment to the vehicle, we told the customer that we would check
for any service bulletins on his car in our Alldata Database. When we looked
up his vehicle and browsed the bulletin titles, one in particular caught
our eye. "Exhaust Odor and Other Fuel Related Concerns." The bulletin was
issued by Cadillac back in November of 1993. The bulletin read as follows:
"Some 1990-1994 Cadillac's that require premium fuel may experience one or more of the following intermittent driveability conditions: Exhaust rotten egg odor or sulfur odor, poor cold engine operation, hot restart problems and detonation. Cause: These conditions may occur due to the fuel in the vehicle. Poor quality fuel has been recognized to cause any of the above conditions. High sulfur content fuel has been recognized to cause exhaust rotten egg odor or sulfur odor conditions. Oxygenated fuels which are used in many areas of the country may have a distinctive odor. The objective of oxygenated fuels is to reduce tail pipe emissions of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide in the atmosphere, especially during winter months when it is at its highest levels, can affect the health of people with heart disease and respiratory problems. The oxygenated fuels contain oxygen compounds that make combustion more efficient while lowering carbon monoxide levels in the atmosphere. The Federal Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990 requires the use of oxygenated fuel in nearly all carbon monoxide non-attainment areas in the United States. (Massachusetts is a non-attainment state). The program began last winter in certain non-attainment areas. These regulations will continue in the future years with wintertime fuel starting, in some cases, as early as the beginning of September and ending as late as April depending upon the area of the country. Correction: Verify from the customer when they first started noticing condition (i.e., after changing fuel brands). Check for any Powertrain Control Module diagnostic trouble codes. Diagnose and repair all trouble codes then re-evaluate the vehicle. Perform basic emissions checks as outlined in section 6E-B of the 1994 Cadillac Service Manual. If the above steps are ineffective, do not proceed with any further diagnosis or parts replacement until the fuel tank has been drained and refilled with a known good quality gasoline. This should correct the condition. In the unlikely event these steps do not correct the condition and tail pipe emissions meet compliance standards then the vehicle is considered to be normal." Well, we are happy to report that the customer came by about a week later to tell us that he did change brands of fuel and the odor is gone. Whew! This past fall, our customer, Donald Howard (Dean Howard) of Umass Dartmouth,
received The University Service Award. Dean Howard was honored by many
friends and dignitaries including former Massachusetts Governor Michael
Dukakis. Chancellor Peter H. Cressy spoke of how appreciated Dean
Howard's advice was upon his arrival at the university. He called
the Dean's depth of knowledge of the university and students "incomparable."
State Sen. Mark Montigny, class of '84, gave an emotional tribute since
Dean Howard not only molded his political career but has meant a great
deal to him on a personal level as well. Mark's classmate Bob Gonet, '84,
mentioned how Dean Howard had "pushed, prodded and prompted a dumb jock"
into first a master's then a doctorate program. The praise and thanks continued.
Dean Howard was referred to as an "institution within the institution,"
"the soul and conscience of the university," and more. Congratulations
to Dean Howard
A lack of progress in implementing a new emission inspection program my result in the delay of new electric power plants and cost our state millions of dollars in withheld federal highway funds. The U.S. EPA continues to warn the state that special state sanctions may be imposed if a new emission program is not operating by the spring of 1999. Under the Clean Air Act, Massachusetts is one of twenty states with excessive levels of ozone that should have implemented a new program back in 1995. As many as fifteen proposed power plants that are to burn natural gas to produce electricity could be delayed by two-to-one-offset-sanctions which would require the elimination of twice as much pollution that the new plants would produce. "I'm very hesitant to initiate sanctions against the commonwealth," John DeVillars, the EPA's New England Administrator, said. "Of all the ways of solving this problem, it is the least satisfactory. But we will very soon be left with no other choice," he said. The state reports that they are still negotiating an estimated $215 million contract with Keating Technologies Inc. of Tuscon, Arizona. Keating would be responsible for installing and maintaining the special equipment needed for a "high technology" emission inspection program. To pass the test all vehicles would be required to run on a device called a dynamometer. (A special "tread mill" type device that the car is driven on to simulate up hill climbs). The car's emissions would be sampled throughout the test while running on the dynamometer. In our current program, vehicle emissions are sampled when the car is idling. State officials are stating that the cost of the system will not require increasing the present $15.00 inspection fee by more than $5.00. Auto inspection station owners around the state report that the state knows the shops could never afford to cover the costs of the specialized equipment and training with only an increase of 5.00 per sticker. Mark Giammalvo was quoted as saying, "I guess they're planning to sell this program to station owners that can't do math. No one wants to tell the public there's going to be a significant increase in the price of the stickers, especially the governor, but I don't see how it can be avoided. The average sticker cost to consumers in other states with this type of enhanced program is $32.00 to $45.00 per sticker. Given the anticipated costs of this new program, and the fact that the contractor, (Keating), will get a fee of $8.00 from each sticker, even with the expected increase in the amount of inspections we would be performing, a price of $20.00 per sticker wouldn't even make the lease payment let alone pay an employee to perform the tests. I wonder who they're going to get to do all those stickers at a loss....Funny how several years ago the state was planning to run the program themselves...now they want us to run it again, maybe they did the math." The new plan would also cut the number of inspection stations from approximately 2,000 to around 1,200. In addition, special emission recording devices with license plate capturing cameras would be installed along the highways to measure vehicle exhaust pollution with infrared technology. This road mounted equipment is known in the automotive industry as "remote sensing." If a vehicle drives by the device and passes the emission test, a camera takes a snapshot of the license plate. Armed with that information the registry can notify the owner that their vehicle can skip the emissions test that year.
We have diligently been expanding and enhancing our web site. Recently,
quite a few customers were asking for pictures of our inventory of cars.
We have added quite a few photos and currently have pictures of about ½
of our entire inventory. In addition, we have added animated graphics and
sound. We have even added a music page where you can select a song from
our list and listen to it as you continue to browse the Internet. The files
are in a user friendly format and most download within 10 seconds.
Many of you commented on our special Holiday pages that were up between
Nov. 1 and Dec. 31. We thought that our web page should not just encompass
automotive issues and evidently you agree! We are working on more fun feature
pages for the near future. Keep checking in at www.samscars.com
(Obituaries Courtesy The Standard Times) We were saddened to learn of loss of the following customers:
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You
may have noticed a new face at our dealership recently. Due to the ever
increasing size of our service department, we have found it necessary to
hire an additional employee (or as we like to call) "family member."
Joe Veiga, pictured here, fulfills many duties including, facility maintenance,
transportation of customers and their vehicles, transportation of parts
for the service department, etc. Joe is recently retired from the Federal
Aviation Administration, where he served in a dual capacity as regional
administrative computer systems manager, and budget officer. Prior to working
for the FAA, Joe worked for 14 years as an Auditor for the U.S. General
Accounting Office where he had many duties including auditing special programs
for federal, state, and local government agencies. Joe even appeared in
a past episode of 60 Minutes demonstrating his position as an auditor for
the General Accounting Office. Joe and his wife Carol have been married
for 35 years and reside in Dartmouth. He enjoys golfing, fishing, lobstering,
traveling and working in his yard.
