Van Nuys Auto Repair & Service Center

Today we're talking about shocks and struts. They're so easy to forget about because they last so long and wear out so slowly. But your shocks are really responsible for keeping your tires on the road – so they're very important. Without shocks, your wheels would be bouncing over bumps and lifting in corners. The shocks push the tire down to the road to maximize traction. Good shocks equal good ride quality and safe handling. There's a difference between shocks and springs. Springs support the weight of the vehicle, keeping it suspended up off the axels. The shocks moderate the rebound motion as wheels hit bumps. Now a strut combines a shock and a coil spring in one compact unit. When your shocks are worn out you may notice degraded handling as you drive around our Van Nuys streets. Your vehicle feels squirmy around corners and floaty over bumps. You may notice the rea ... read more

Everyone in Van Nuys CA eventually replaces their tires, whether it's because they're worn out or they're just looking for something different. There are so many great tire choices in Van Nuys CA, it can be difficult to sort them out. Let's group the broad spectrum into several categories that will help in the selection process. One category is often referred to as "summer tires". Summer tires are designed to be driven on the road when temperatrues are generally above 45 degrees. Their tread design is optimized for traction on dry roads in Van Nuys CA and they're also able to effectively displace water on rainy roads. Now the rubber compound gets a little hard and stiff as temperatrues drop below 45 degrees as it occasionally does here in Van Nuys CA. And the tread which handles dry roads so well, can get packed with snow or mud – which provides very little traction in ... read more

Under-inflated tires waste gas for lots of folks in the Sherman Oaks area. Think how hard it is to walk in sand – you just have to work harder because of the resistance. When your tires don't have enough air in them, their rolling resistance is dramatically increased and it simply takes more gas to get from Van Nuys to Sherman Oaks. Always check your tire pressure when you gas up at one of our local Sherman Oaks service stations. If they're low – even just a little bit – bring them up to proper pressure. There's a sticker on the inside of your driver's door that gives the manufactruer's recommended tire pressure. And don't rely on your tire pressure monitoring system to alert you to when you need more air. The TPMS system is set to warn you when pressure drops twenty percent below recommendations. That's severely under inflated and you neede ... read more

The function of the fuel filter is pretty self-explanatory. It filters your fuel. The fuel filter is in the fuel line somewhere in between the fuel tank and the engine. Both gas and diesel vehicles around Van Nuys CA use fuel filters. Generally speaking there's not a lot of dirt in our Van Nuys CA auto fuel supply, but there is enough that you want to screen it out. The problem actually gets worse the older your vehicle becomes. That's because dirt, rust and other contaminants will settle out of the fuel and onto the bottom of the fuel tank. After your sedan is five years or older, it can actually have a fair amount of sediment built up. That just means that the fuel filter has to work harder as your sedan ages. It'll get clogged sooner and need to be replaced more often. A symptom of a clogged fuel filter is that the engine sputters at highway speeds or under hard acceleration. That's because enough fuel is gett ... read more

No matter how well they're made, cars in Van Nuys CA will have design or manufacturing problems. And when the government thinks a problem is really serious for people in Van Nuys CA, they require the manufactruer to issue a recall notice and fix the car free of charge. The manufactruer then tries to contact everyone in Van Nuys CA who owns that type of car to get the recall work done. These recalls always affect safety, so take them seriously. It's easy to see if a vehicle's being recalled. The government has links on its websites, or just visit AutoNetTV for links. There are many websites with free recall information and searches. There's CarFax, AutoByTel and the DMV. Recalls are serious, but ... read more

If you've ever been driving around Van Nuys and had a headlamp go out, you've probably just wanted to replace the bad bulb. If your car uses halogen headlamps, they dim over time. So if you just put in one, they won't have the same brightness which can be distracting and will affect your field of vision. To have your headlights inspected, visit us at AutoAid & Rescue. We're at 14526 Erwin Street in Van Nuys, CA 91411. Or give us a call at 818-901-1113 Experts in Van Nuys recommend replacing your halogen headlamps every year. It's easy to remember if you do it when daylight savings time changes in the fall. That way you'll have bright headlamps for those long Van Nuys winter nights. There are other types of headlamps in addition to halogen. There are the old standard bulbs that have been around for decades. These are OK, but you can usually upgrade to halogen. They cost a little more but you can't ... read more

The cooling system keeps our engine from overheating while you are driving around Van Nuys CA. Its job is to move heat away from the engine. Let's talk about the various components of the system and how they work to accomplish this. The radiator is the part most everyone associates with the cooling system. Coolant flows through the radiator which has fine cooling fins that draw the heat out of the coolant and dissipate it into the air. To make sure there's enough airflow over the radiator, a fan pulls air over the cooling fins even when the car is idling. In some vehicles, the fan is powered by the serpentine belt. On others, an electric motor runs the fan. Electric fans turn on and off as needed. You may have heard the fan kick on shortly after you turn your car off. The sensor has determined that the engine needs a little help cooling down to a safe temperatrue ... read more

There's not much we can do about the price of gas in Van Nuys CA, but we do quite a bit about how much we use as we're driving on our Van Nuys streets. Our driving habits can dramatically affect our fuel economy. The first thing we can do is watch the 'go-pedal'. Hard acceleration just sucks the gas. Gently leave stop lights and plan lane changes so you don't need to floor it. That can save you hundreds of dollars a year. Go a little slower on the freeway to Los Angeles. Once you're going more than sixty-five miles an hour your fuel economy starts to drop dramatically. Leave early so you don't need to rush to be on time. And cruise control is your friend – steady speed uses less gas. Plan errands ahead. Make fewer trips by combining errands. Hey at current gas prices, a lead-foot might as well be a gold foot

Have you ever gone to Los Angeles to listen to an orchestra? The musicians take the stage early and tune their instruments. Each individual instrument must be in tune, but the critical thing is for the entire orchestra to be in tune with each other. That's why they tune up together. Now this is no surprise; I'm going to relate the orchestra to your car. Your engine has many component systems that each need to be working properly. And the components need to be working in sync, all timed up together in order for the engine to work efficiently. We call this, (ta-da) a tune-up. When an orchestra's out of tune you get a bad concert. When your vehicle's out of tune you get bad performance and bad fuel economy. So check your owner's manual for recommended tune-up intervals. Or ask your Van Nuys service advisor at ... read more

Ask Uncle Jack Questions on anything car related. There's a wealth of information in Video format on our website www.autoaidrescue.com in the VIDEO BLOG TAB. Search the right column on any mechanical aspect of your car or query. If you still need answers, Ask Uncle Jack 818-901-1113 or [email protected]