Van Nuys Auto Repair & Service Center

AutoAid Just received it's 4th consecutive annual AAA 100% Customer Satisfaction Award. This unprecedented string of consistent exceptional service is a reflection of the hard work and dedication put forth by David, Per, Ito, Frankie and Jessie. Thank you to all our customers for giving us the opportunity to earn this high honor

Let’s talk about air quality in Van Nuys. It’s a global issue, but affects us wherever we are. Many decades ago, we began to become aware of how air pollution negatively affects health. But what about the air inside your vehicle? Cabin air filters are now coming on most new sedans in Van Nuys. These filters clean the air in the passenger compartment. They can filter particles down to three microns, so that’s good enough to clean out dust, pollen and most pollutants. If you suffer from allergies in Van Nuys, this is very good news. Your car can be a haven during your Van Nuys commute.Now, it’s only been in the last few years that cabin air filters have become common. You can look in your owner’s manual to see if you have one. If you do, there’ll be a recommendation for replacing it when it gets dirty. If you live in an are ... read more

Your sedan engine really needs clean air to operate efficiently. Let’s go egghead for a minute. For every gallon of gas we burn driving around Sherman Oaks, twenty pounds of carbon dioxide comes out the tailpipe. Question: how can a gallon of gas that weighs a little over six pounds produce twenty pounds of carbon dioxide? The answer is that the carbon comes from the gasoline, but the oxygen comes from the air. You see, it takes about twelve thousand gallons of air to burn a gallon of gas in your engine. Clearly, your sedan needs a lot of air to keep going in Sherman Oaks. A lot of clean air is better. You’ve seen the pictrues of the crowds in Asia wearing face masks. They want some kind of filter to keep unwanted pollution and germs out of their lungs. Well, your sedan also works better when its internals are clean. When your sedan air filter’s d ... read more

There’s a segment of the Sherman Oaks population that’s not committed to proper vehicle maintenance. Mistaken perceptions have crept into the CA area over time. Many Sherman Oaks motorists think the root lies in the fact that modern cars are so reliable. Reliability has improved dramatically in recent years. Quality surveys report fewer problems with new cars than ever before. Back when cars spent more time in the repair shop, Sherman Oaks drivers were more mindful of routine service. Now, it’s much easier to put it off. Take tune-ups for example. In the days of mechanical ignition systems, an engine needed to be tuned-up every couple of years. The ignition points had to be replaced, spark plugs and coils replaced and the timing adjusted. If your engine was out of tune, you knew it. It ran poorly and got bad fuel economy ... read more

The push for fuel economy has two benefits: using less gas, and fewer emissions. Tarzana cars and trucks run cleaner than ever. Tarzana people may not realize that the first federally mandated pollution control device came out almost fifty years ago. Tarzana folks that were around in the early 60's may remember that the PCV valve came out on 1964 model cars. PCV stand for Positive Crankcase Ventilation. The crankcase is the lower part of the engine where the crankshaft is housed and where the engine oil lives. The crankshaft is connected to the pistons that power the engine. When fuel is burned in the sedan engine, it pushes the pistons down and the crankshaft rotates and sends power to the transmission. Some of the explosive gases from combustion squeeze past the pistons and down into the crankcase. Now this gas is a ... read more

Van Nuys drivers rely on their car's coolant system to keep their engine cool. Coolant (also called antifreeze) mixed with water flows through your sedan engine and absorbs heat. The mixtrue then flows out to the radiator where it’s cooled by air flowing over the radiator. From there the coolant/water mix circulates back through the engine to absorb more heat. There’s a reason we mix coolant and water. Water alone actually does a good job transferring heat from the engine. The problem is that water boils at a temperatrue that’s easily reached inside your sedan's engine, so it can turn to steam which does not conduct heat as well and is harder to contain. Also, if it’s freezing outside in Van Nuys, the water in your engine could freeze while your vehicle is sitting out in the cold. So, if you remember your Van Nuys high school chemistry, you’ll know that a mixtrue has both a higher boiling point and a lower freezing point t ... read more

Most of our Encino clients want to save on gas and seek our advice on improving fuel economy. At AutoAid & Rescue, we are frequently asked, however, just how much money Encino motorists can actually save. Well the US government has a website dedicated to helping us use less fuel. It presents the cost savings in a way Encino car owners can relate to and is relevant for all vehicles. Let me give you an example: Having your sedan engine properly tuned, can save up to 4%. If you’re paying three-fifty for a gallon of gas, you could save fourteen cents a gallon. In today's AutoAid & Rescue post, we’re going to talk about several things you can do to improve your sedanfuel economy driving around Encino. We’ll tell you the potential savings per gallon of gas at three dolla ... read more

Today in the AutoAid & Rescue auto care blog, we’re going to talk about oil change intervals. It seems that as engine technology advances, recommended oil change intervals have gotten longer for AutoAid & Rescue customers. High quality oil in a well-engineered sedan engine has lead to extended intervals. But it’s also lead to some confusion among Van Nuys drivers. The old mantra “change your oil every three months or three thousand miles, whichever comes first” once applied to every vehicle in your garage. Time and miles take their toll on motor oil. But now, you could have a different oil change recommendation for every car or truck you own. Van Nuys people are like everybody else, they have a tendency to put off all the oil changes to the schedule of the vehicle with the longest interval. Of course, that can lead to problems. For ex ... read more

Many Van Nuys drivers have been hearing about new advances in power steering technology, specifically, electric power steering. Some very high-end cars have been featuring electric power steering for a few years. An electric motor directly provides the power assist to make steering easier. Undoubtedly we’ll see much more of this in Van Nuys as full electric cars and electric hybrids become more common. The vast majority of cars and trucks serviced at AutoAid & Rescue in Van Nuys use a hydraulic power boost system. With hydraulics, fluid is pressurized by a pump which actuates a hydraulic cylinder to reduce steering effort. Some of these pumps are powered by an electric motor. Most pumps are powered by the serpentine belt driven by the engine. Power steering fluid has the necessary hydraulic properties and the ability t ... read more

Your sedan requires plenty of clean fuel to run. When your fuel isn’t clean, your fuel injectors can start to become clogged up. When this happens, your sedan engine may not get the proper amount of fuel at the correct pressure to run efficiently. This hurts fuel economy and performance as you drive around Los Angeles. It can also lead to the buildup of harmful deposits on valves and in the combustion chamber. That’s why all vehicles, including sedans, come equipped with a fuel filter somewhere between the engine and the fuel tank. The job of the filter is to clean out little pieces of dirt and contamination. The filter captrues the contaminants and holds them out of the fuel stream. Of course, the filter will eventually get clogged up and need to be replaced at AutoAid & Rescue. If your fuel filter is clogged, the sedan engine can&rsquo ... read more