Van Nuys Auto Repair & Service Center

Couples Oil Change*For the month of February, we're offering a special two-for-one oil change deal just for couples!  Bring in your car for a lube, and we'll take care of your significant other's ride as well....and if that's not romantic enough, Facebook Fan Contest: Win Dinner for TwoFor the month of February, every new fan on Facebook gets intered to win a romantic dinner for two on us.  Already a fan, you can enter too if you refer a friend.  Visit Autoaid on Facebook for registration and details.*most cars, max. 5 qts oil, synthetic extra

The weather report's in – and it calls for party crazy skies with an unpredictable front moving in from the Pacific! Weather in Southern California, especially recently, seems to be able to swing from one extreme to another with little warning. In other parts of the country it's a little easier to know how to be prepared, in terms of your vehicle – if you're in the north, take cold weather precautions in the winter, and in the south, get ready for hot and steamy summers. Here? If you want to get through our winter months disaster-free, you'll need to be prepared for anything. With that in mind, we've put together a list of tips for “extreme weather” driving – follow these rules of thumb and you'll be prepared to face nearly anything mother natrue throws at you. Hot Weather: Take care of your battery!Steamy hot days can take a lot out of us, but they can take a lot out of your car battery, too. When the temperatrues ris ... read more

Welcome to the AutoAid & Rescue blog. Today, let’s talk about the effect of tire tread depth on braking. When talking about stopping power, most of us Tarzana drivers tend to focus on our brakes. But our tires are where the rubber meets the road. So having good brakes isn’t enough. Safe Tarzana drivers need to have tires with enough traction to translate braking power into stopping power.Let’s focus on stopping in wet Tarzana conditions. In order for a tire to have good contact with the road, it has to move the water out of the way. If it can’t move the water, the tire will actually ride on top of a thin film of water. That’s called hydroplaning. If it’s really bad, Tarzana drivers can actually spin out of control. At best, you won’t stop as fast. So how does a tire move water? It h ... read more

The PCV Valve is a little, inexpensive part that does a big job for Van Nuys drivers. PCV stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation. The crankcase is the bottom area of the engine that holds the oil. When the sedan engine’s running, fuel is burned to generate power. Most of the exhaust from combustion goes out through the exhaust system. But some exhaust blows by the pistons and goes into the lower engine, or crankcase. These hot gases are about seventy percent unburned fuel.This can dilute and contaminate the oil, leading to damaging engine oil sludge. It can also cause sedan engine corrosion, something we see occasionally at AutoAid & Rescue. At high speeds on Van Nuys freeways, the pressure can build up to the point that gaskets and seals start to leak. Back in the old days, engine makers simply installed a hose that vented these g ... read more

Suspension systems will continue to operate effectively for many years and tens of thousands of miles. Eventually sedan components do wear out, but how long that takes depends a lot on how you drive in Encino. As you can imagine, if most of your driving is on smooth CA highways, your shock absorbers will last a lot longer than if you do most of your driving on bumpy roads or hauling heavy loads. In addition to just wearing out, sedan suspension components can be damaged in an accident or by a hard impact – like a pothole, hitting a curb or a rock in the road. Because the life span of shocks can vary so widely, your sedan manufactruer recommends periodic inspections. During an inspection at AutoAid & Rescue, your family Encino service technician will check for worn, broken or missing parts. Let me give a rundown of the major suspension components. First there are the ... read more

Every Van Nuys car owner who has taken their car in for an oil change has been told that their engine air filter’s dirty. Here’s what goes into the determination of when to change the filter: First, your sedan owner’s manual will have a recommendation of when to change the filter. Second, a visual inspection by your Los Angeles technician may determine that your filter it is visibly dirty and needs to be changed. Now, most air filters purchased in Sherman Oaks, Encino, or Tarzana don’t cost a lot to replace. It’s just that CA people hate getting caught with an unexpected expense. On the plus side, though, changing a dirty air filter at AutoAid & Rescue can often save enough on gas to pay for itself before your next oil change in Los Angeles. Think about a dirty furnace filter in your Encino home. When i ... read more

Today's AutoAid & Rescue auto maintenance article focuses on your serpentine belt. Your serpentine belt is a long belt that’s driven by your engine. It winds around several accessories that power important automotive systems. Let’s go over them. First, the serpentine belt drives your sedan air conditioning system. It spins the compressor that makes the cool air that takes the edge off the summer heat in Los Angeles. Next, the belt powers the alternator. The alternator creates electricity that’s used by your sedan’s electrical systems and also charges your car battery. All Los Angeles drivers know that without the alternator, the battery will go dead in a few miles. The serpentine belt may also run the pumps for both the power steering and power brakes ... read more

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