Rein TechSelect Turbo Kits are now available at RockAuto.com and include everything needed for a complete turbocharger service or replacement. Designed for ease of use, these kits eliminate the hassle of sourcing individual parts by including turbo oil and coolant hoses, gaskets, mounting hardware, and clamps. All components of the kits are direct replacements for the OE parts, meaning hose assemblies include brackets along with heat shielding and other important details. The provided hardware meets OE specifications, and the proper sealing components are included to prevent leaks. The components are designed and manufactured to withstand the rigorous operating environment of turbocharger systems and provide trouble-free installation.

Typical Turbo Kit Contents

Find Rein TechSelect Turbo Kits under "Turbocharger Mounting Hardware" in the "Engine" category of the RockAuto.com catalog for your vehicle.

A few months ago, I started to question the temperature readings from the gauge on my 2000 Nissan Frontier 2.4L. I perform most of my repairs and try to keep my vehicles in good operating condition with no leaking fluids. I view leaks as an indication of a problem about to happen. With the questionable temperature readings, I purchased a new temperature sending unit as a start. I removed the old sensor and installed a new one wrapping the threads with plumbers Teflon tape to ensure there would be no leaks around the sensor.

I started up the vehicle to warm the engine, and the gauge needle on the dash did not move off "C." I thought it must be a bad sensor, so I returned it and picked up another new one. I put that one on with the same results. That is when I realized this was a single pole sensor with the ground provided through the threads to the engine block. I pulled the sensor back out and removed the Teflon plumbers tape. After reinstalling the sensor without the electrically insulating tape, there was a normal signal to the temperature gauge on the dash.

Recommendation: only use plumbers tape where it belongs, with your plumbing, not your vehicles.

Les in Virginia

My youngest daughter recently told her friend to stop slamming her 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe's front passenger door "because you'll break it." Soon after, my daughter and I spent a morning replacing the front passenger door lock actuator/latch assembly. The other doors, including the used-most-often drivers door, still have their original latches. My daughter can now give potential door slammers a precise quote on the labor hours and parts cost for replacing a door lock actuator/latch assembly, or she can just forward them this article.

The door lock actuator/latch on most modern cars is a black box with separate mechanical cables running out of it to the inside door handle, outside door handle and door lock lever. Inside the box is an electric motor that moves complex linkages and gears to unlock the door latch which is visible on one side of the box. Electrical contacts/switches tell the body computer where the linkages and gears are, and it uses that information to know if the door is locked or unlocked.

The Santa Fe's disassembled OE door lock actuator/latch (see photo below) shows how relatively complex and fragile these assemblies typically are. A little pressure from a pencil is all it takes to activate the latch. All gears and linkages will eventually wear out, misalign and/or jam, but rough treatment can definitely speed up the process. Slamming a modern car door should seem as risky and unnecessary as slamming closed a laptop computer or DVD player.

Hyundai Door Lock Actuator

Replacing a failing door lock actuator on a newer car is a fairly urgent repair. The body computer is really in charge of the door locks. It locks/unlocks the doors when the transmission is put in gear, the car gets up to a certain speed and/or a variety of other scenarios. The computer typically does not have the capacity to ignore a failing door lock actuator. Endless clunks, clicks and whirs may emit from the actuator when the computer keeps fruitlessly cycling an electric motor that is connected to stripped gears or jammed linkages. With a door lock actuator that is failing intermittently, you may never know if the door is locked or unlocked. Unplugging the broken door lock actuator's electrical connector often means all the other door locks will stop working as well.

The bad news is that the car door typically must be completely disassembled to remove and replace the door lock actuator/latch. The door panel, inside and outside door handles, power window motor and window regulator must all go. The Santa Fe's door was just a shell except for the outside mirror and taped-in-place window glass.

Newer cars often have most of the window, latch, lock, handle, etc. parts mounted on one panel. This means the panel can come from an outside supplier and be relatively quickly bolted in place on the assembly line. The good news is that the panel is usually also designed to be reasonably easy to remove, with high quality fasteners and precisely fitting parts. It may take hours to disassemble and reassemble everything but there will likely be minimal frustration and swearing.

My daughter and I benefited from watching a Youtube video that showed the repair being done on a similar Hyundai. Using the advice of my plastics engineer dad, we put an old nylon part in boiling water to freshen it up so that a new cable would more easily snap into it. We replaced a missing rubber door bumper which may help prevent the striker from hitting the new latch too hard. Otherwise, it was just methodical work that most DIYers would enjoy. My daughter proudly smiled ear-to-ear when the window, lock, handles, latch, etc. were all back on the car and working perfectly. See your specific vehicle's door lock actuator under "Body & Lamp Assembly" in the RockAuto.com catalog.

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

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