RAYS Auto Garage

02/19/2026

02/18/2026

We must be getting some kind of reputation 😂

1990
1985
1981
1969

02/14/2026

“They sure don’t make them like they used to!”

This was the stuff I hated from 90’s era cars. This bracket holds the ac compressor and needs to come off when servicing the timing belt. It needs to come off because it not only holds the ac compressor it wraps around the front of the engine and serves as the idler pulley and tensioner for the fan belt. This could have easily been two parts and not require compressor removal for timing belt service.

02/13/2026

As I sit here writing this I’m currently on hold with gm/ac delco trying to sort out a programming issue on a 2019 GMC Sierra.

I started working on the programming at 1:00 yesterday. Failed immediately. Tried a 3rd party service and they failed. Placed first call to Delco tech support at 3:30. Worked through 3 separate case numbers and probably 6 different tech advisers.

At some point somebody needs to make the decision that the module I was sold is defective and authorize its replacement. Time is a valuable commodity for me and I have no way to charge for this. It is now 11am. This marks hour 9 for something that should have taken an hour start to finish.

I told them on the last call if they want this one back to play detective with and dissect it I’m more than happy to return it to them in exchange for another one. What I don’t have time for is for them to turn my service bay into a laboratory to try and uncorrupt a bad ecm. The retail on this module is the same as 3 of my labor hours. I’ve tripled that already…

At least the service reps are great people to talk to and they genuinely want to get to a solution.

02/10/2026

Not many shops around anymore willing and able to work on:

‘69 Chevy Nova - Blueprint 350 SBC motor swap
‘85 Mazda RX7 - Fuel Injection swap and Turbo install
‘88 Toyota Land Cruiser - Crank, no-start

I love the variety of what we get to work on now that I have control over my own operation. We definitely won’t service everything but we can definitely point you in the right direction!

02/10/2026

PSA:

Aftermarket Extended Warranties aren’t always a bad purchase. We do a lot of work with many of them. If you are purchasing a used car from a reputable dealer and they offer an extended warranty I fully endorse that purchase.

That having been said, if you buy coverage for your car that is over 15 years old please understand that they aren’t interested in paying to fix your car. They know from experience that cars that old looking for coverage are already having problems. They don’t have to prove that a problem was “preexisting.” They just have to think it was and they can deny the claim, and they will.

Additionally, we will not lie to them on your behalf to get something fixed. We will often spend hours on the phone advocating for you and your car - hours that we don’t get reimbursed or paid for.

There is only one company we have black listed and will not accept their coverage on because of their tactics and that company’s name is synonym of Truck Armor.

01/18/2026

People sometimes ask me what ASE stands for…

Always
Something
Else

01/15/2026

Today was one of those days for a new company that let me flex some customer service muscles.

Every diag doesn’t always get you the right answer every time.

Every repair doesn’t result in the desired outcome every time.

Problems come up that you simply didn’t anticipate and can cause serious setbacks when they do.

an example from this week:

2019 GMC Sierra - presented with what appeared to be a faulty accelerator pedal. Had codes indicating a fault in one of the two pedal position sensors built into it. I watched live data, checked the circuit with my multimeter and confirmed a bad pedal assembly. Got the new part, installed it, and verified readings were correct. Customer picked up and didn’t even make it home before the problem happened again. Customer brought it back a couple days later and I spent all day duplicating the issue and concluded I needed more sophisticated equipment to continue checking. Thankfully I had already ordered this gear weeks ago and it was scheduled to be delivered within the next day or two. Customer agreed to bring the truck back once my oscilloscope kit arrived. It came in and I got it set up so he dropped the truck off again. Hooked up the scope kit and verified the signal drop on the circuit. I spent the next 4 hours tracing circuits and watching voltages dance all over the screen. I tested both his old pedal and the replacement. Each turned out to have a similar failure on the same circuit! I ordered an aftermarket assembly to test against the other two and it’s been rock solid. This is perhaps one of the most frustrating parts of the job. When you get electrical parts, or any part for that matter, that fails to fix a problem because it has the exact same failure as the first one it humbles you REALLY quick and makes you question yourself to an unhealthy level. So much time wasted because of a faulty part!

12/23/2025

A little Angie’s Subs action for the crew at RAYS Auto Garage!

12/23/2025

Cool box, boring stuff. It’s kinda like getting underwear in a PlayStation box 😂

12/22/2025

Should I do an “unboxing” video?

Like, share, and comment below!!

12/22/2025

Equipment being delivered for the alignment machine!

Pretty soon we will be one of a select few shops, including dealerships in the greater Jacksonville, FL area that will be able to properly align modern vehicles equipped with ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist Systems).

Your regular ol’ tire shops should not be aligning these cars if they are equipped with these systems.

If your car has any of the following features don’t trust that the tire shops will even know that they will likely throw them out of calibration by adusting the steering and suspension for a normal alignment service.

Lane Departure Warning System
Lane Keeping Assist
Radar Cruise Control
Park Assist Cameras
Autonomous Driving
Pedestrian Warning System
Automatic Emergency Braking
Blind Spot Detection
Forward Collision Warning

Calibrating these systems does take highly calibrated specialty equipment and technical skills that traditional tire shops aren’t likely to invest in.

We should be up and running hopefully by the end of January as it will take some time for the rack to be installed.