RAYS Auto Garage

04/13/2026

When one of your guys says he got everybody some “Mexican Coke” it’s probably a good idea to look in the fridge and realize you probably didn’t need the quotations.

04/12/2026

Finally making some progress on my own car. Building the wiring harness for the Haltech Elite 750.

03/28/2026

Question time:

If you take your car to a shop because your AC is blowing hot and tell the shop you just want your system charged what are your expectations when the shop tells you that after completing the service that the system wasn’t low on refrigerant and that your compressor has failed?

03/21/2026

Alignment bay is under construction. Still about 30 days out until we can use it. Bracey Contracting is doing a great job with the construction. We will be one of only a few shops in Jacksonville equipped to diagnose and calibrate modern ADAS systems such as radar cruise control, night vision imaging, lane departure, automated park assist systems, and even some autonomous driving systems

03/10/2026

Luda live at TPC!!!

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