Van Nuys Auto Repair & Service Center

When your sedan breaks down, or just needs some routine service, you might get a little nervous. Your car’s so important to your life in Encino, you need to back on the road as soon as possible – with the problem fixed right the first time. If you’ve ever checked into some of the technician training AutoAid & Rescue professionals receive, you may be surprised at how much knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern car. Let me give you some perspective. Today there are four cylinder engines that make more power than the V-8’s in luxury cars twenty years ago. I mean a new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket’s Ferrari in a race to sixty. Some cars have several networked computers controlling most of the engine functions and many other vehicle functions as well. Encino motorists take all of this sophistication for granted ... read more

Some Van Nuys motorists are confused by AutoAid & Rescue charges for diagnostic services for a vehicle repair. Many services at AutoAid & Rescue and other Van Nuys automotive repair shops include diagnostic fees. When you take your laptop into a Los Angeles computer repair shop for a problem you’ll likely have to leave a deposit for diagnostics. When we visit our Sherman Oaks doctor for a medical problem, we’re paying him to diagnose our ailment and of course for the tests that go along with it. So receiving a diagnostic charge at AutoAid & Rescue for a tricky automotive problem shouldn’t be a surprise. In the Los Angeles area, automotive diagnostics can cover quite a range. If you hear a noise in your sedan brakes when you slow down in rush-hour traffic on a busy CA expressway, you pull off the next off-ramp and take a quick visual check. That is usually ... read more

Most Los Angeles drivers wait for their air conditioning to fail before they service it at AutoAid & Rescue. That’s because many Van Nuys and Encino motorists don't really understand that automotive air conditioners need periodic service. Let me share some of the reasons why they fail. First, like every machine, the sedan air conditioner parts need lubrication. The lubricant is actually mixed in with the refrigerant (that’s the stuff that makes the air cool). So sometimes, even though the air conditioner is still making cool air, the oil that lubricates the parts has just been used up: and unlubricated parts can fail in all CA cars. The air conditioner actually removes some of the moistrue in the air. So if you have trouble with fogging on your windshield during CA winters or during a ra ... read more

Today we're going to talk about power steering service in Van Nuys. If you took an informal poll around Van Nuys you'd probably find that most have never heard of power steering service. That's not surprising. Even though power steering is standard on every vehicle, most people in Van Nuys aren't aware that it needs periodic service. If you're younger than a certain age, you've probably never driven a car or truck without power steering. To get an idea of the difference; if you've ever cut a board with a hand saw, you know it's a lot of work. Using a power saw is easy-peasy by comparison. Without power steering, your arms have to do all the work to steer the wheels, and that's hard, especially around downtown Van Nuys. That's why old cars had such big steering wheels; to get enough leverage to steer. Most vehicles in Van Nuys have a ... read more