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"  A Basic Problem Q: I have a sprinkler system in my front yard that splashes water onto my car on breezy days. I think the water droplets that evaporate from the side-window glass leave mineral deposits behind. Oddly enough, the paint doesn&amp;#039;t seem to collect any deposits, nor do the windscreen or the back glass. I&amp;#039;ve tried every window cleaner I can imagine, but nothing gets rid of these annoying stains. My son-in-law suggested I try using hydrochloric acid to dissolve them, but that really doesn&amp;#039;t sound like a good idea to me. How can I remove these spots?  A: Bad news: They probably aren&amp;#039;t mineral deposits. The glass has been etched by corrosion. Here&amp;#039;s the phenomenon: Your municipal water--or whatever water supply feeds the sprinkler system--may have a high pH (it&amp;#039;s alkaline, or a base), or you may have had some highly alkaline surface dust on your glass, which dissolved into the water. This high-pH water then slowly dried in the sun.  As the volume of water decreased, the concentration of minerals, and consequently the corrosive quality of the solution, increased. This could have etched the surface of the glass, leaving not a deposit, but a ring that is below the surface of the surrounding glass. Worse news: You can&amp;#039;t remove these rings with glass cleaners or acid. You have three options: 1. Get an auto glass shop to polish the surface of the glass. 2. Polish it yourself. This requires a felt wheel, a variable-speed electric drill and a kit of various grades of cerium oxide abrasive. Think of grinding and polishing a telescope mirror. 3. Replace the glass. Why didn&amp;#039;t the water also etch the windshield and backlite? They use a more durable, laminated glass. Most important, how do you prevent this from happening again? Keep the windows clean and waxed so the water doesn&amp;#039;t pool on the surface in big spots. And, as an aside, the only acid I would suggest you try is straight household white vinegar. Put some on a rag and don&amp;#039;t let it dribble. Don&amp;#039;t rinse until it has dried, to avoid getting any acid into the door. Chasing Ghosts Q:  My 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee has only 63,000 miles. The problem is that it keeps blowing the fuse for the interior lights and rear wiper. The fuse does not blow right away after I&amp;#039;ve put it in, and I cannot find any particular thing to do to make it blow at any given time. But it does eventually blow-within a couple of days or so. I do as much of my own mechanical work as I can, but finally out of desperation, I took the Jeep to two auto electric shops and neither one was able to find the problem. A: I dare say if these electrical shops had long enough, they could find the short. Here&amp;#039;s how I would approach it. Those two circuits share a fuse, so there are plenty of wires to trace. Years ago I made a blown-out fuse into an adapter for my test light by trimming away some plastic and soldering a length of wire to each of the two blades. Now I can put my 12-volt test light into the circuit instead of the fuse. Put the light up high so you can see it from anywhere in the car--hanging it over the rearview mirror works well. If the interior lights and the wiper are off, the test light will stay out. Turning on any of the lamps or the wiper motor will make the light come on, albeit dimly. Now you can start tracing the wiring harness one wire at a time. Be methodical. Wiggle the harness that goes back to the tailgate, starting at one end and moving along to the other end. When you&amp;#039;re near the short, the test light will come on brightly, and you&amp;#039;ve just found your problem. Now all you need to do is repair the insulation on the suspect wiring, which I would guess has been scuffed by some sharp metal edge.  How Fast Was I ... Q: I drive a 1997 Ford Escort that has an automatic transmission. Only trouble is, it will no longer shift out of First gear. This problem started at the same time the speedometer stopped working. I think it&amp;#039;s some sort of electronic problem. What do you think? A:I think that your Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) has failed (or the wiring to it is bad), so your speedometer reads 0 all the time. The transmission needs to know the vehicle&amp;#039;s over-the-road speed to know when to shift gears properly. When the speedo is missing this piece of data (or any number of other things it needs), your drivetrain goes into limp-home mode. This leaves the transmission stuck in Second gear (not First) so you can, well, limp home or to a repair shop. So there&amp;#039;s probably nothing wrong with the trans. Fix whatever is wrong with the VSS and the transmission should work properly again.   BORDER=&amp;quot;0&amp;quot; CELLSPACING=&amp;quot;2&amp;quot; CELLPADDING=&amp;quot;0&amp;quot; BGCOLOR=&amp;quot;#CCCC99&amp;quot;&amp;amp;gt; SERVICE TIPSHighlights From Tech Service Bulletins Does the oil-pressure indicator of your 2006 Dodge or Chrysler minivan go on periodically? DCX Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 08-052-05 REV-A says you may also have a trouble code stored for low pressure. The problem seems to be a poor ground at the oil-pressure indicator caused by a coating on the bolt that holds the indicator in place. There&amp;#039;s a new bolt to use, and any paint needs to be scraped away to ensure a good ground. Lexus has developed a headlamp protector kit to deter theft of HID headlamps from 2001-03 RX 300s by making the lamp assembly more difficult to remove. TSB BO003-06 specifies using a DataDot kit to mark the headlamps as registered to the VIN. YOU NEED THIS  Turtle Wax Ice Polish  We like to wax our car every couple of months year-round. It&amp;#039;s a pleasant hour or two, at least until we get to the part where we have to scrub all the white, powdery wax residue off the rubber moldings and black trim. Ice Polish ($16.99), from Turtle Wax, won&amp;#039;t leave a residue. We&amp;#039;ve always said that wax has to be applied in the shade, but Ice can be applied in bright sun without streaking. It has an ultraviolet protectant to keep sunlight from fading your paint. You can even use it on bumpers, and plastic cladding and trimpieces. It&amp;#039;s available in auto parts departments.  turtlewax.com A Breath of Fresh Air Q:  I have a 2004 Ford Taurus and when the heater is on, outside air comes directly into the passenger area from the outside, unfiltered, unlike when the air conditioner is on. Most of our driving is in town in heavy traffic, and we are not able to use the heater because of the pollution that comes in. This makes for some long, cold trips. When we contacted the dealership, we were brushed off with a &amp;quot;that&amp;#039;s the way it is and we can&amp;#039;t fix it.&amp;quot; My last call to the dealership about two weeks ago was answered with, &amp;quot;We will have someone call you back.&amp;quot; I got no return telephone call. I have tried calling Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, but the people I was connected to in customer service seemingly knew less about the car than I do. I am about to run out of warranty and I am getting desperate. A: Unfortunately, according to the service manual, it&amp;#039;s supposed to be that way (i.e., fresh air only when in heater mode). However, it is possible to beat the system: The way around the problem is to turn on the air conditioner to maximum-which automatically uses only recirculated, rather than fresh, air-and then crank up the heat setting until the interior temperature is comfortable. I agree that this is really a stupid setup. Most other cars let you choose between fresh and recirculated air in almost every HVAC mode.  Mounting Troubles Q: I own a 2000 Hyundai Accent GS. It has 26,000 miles on it. After an average of 2 to 3 minutes of running, if I put it in Drive it starts to vibrate. It vibrates less in Neutral. If I turn on my air conditioner, the vibration gets worse. It happens only if I am stopped-if I accelerate, it goes away. My mechanic tried to adjust it by raising the idle to 900 rpm, but it didn&amp;#039;t help. He said I need a new fuel filter; another said I need a timing belt. A: Start by taking a very close look at all of the rubber motor mounts for deterioration or damage. If they&amp;#039;re all intact, loosen all the mount bolts one full turn. Then start the car, let it idle, put it in Drive and then Reverse a couple of times, then shut it off. Now tighten all the motor mounts. This should align all of the mounts so they let the engine shake a little, but won&amp;#039;t transfer the shake to the rest of the car. I seriously doubt that the trouble is with the fuel filter or the timing belt. Photograph by JP Greenwood "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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