Van Nuys Auto Repair & Service Center

If you drive a car, you know about dashboard warning lights. Of these, the Check Engine light is one of the most infamous, and here at AutoAid we get daily calls from perplexed drivers with this mysterious light. “Check engine light” is also ranked among the most popular internet search terms for anything car care related. Modern cars, however, have a variety of warning lights you may catch a glimpse of when you start your car. These are lights for tire pressure, cooling system warnings, engine oil warnings, and more. So, if one of these lights illuminates, what should you do? Keep driving? Panic? Call a tow truck? Should you stop driving where you are, or is it okay to to “limp home?” Could you keep driving for a few more days, or weeks? Let’s tackle some of the most common warning lights below. Check Engine – Flashing vs. Solid We have all seen the dreaded Check Engine Light. This warning light can be an indicator of many different problems, whic ... read more

What? No Spare Tire?       The TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) light came on the dash of my late model Chevy Volt, indicating loss of air pressure in the right rear tire. It turned out that a sharp blade cut a 3 inch gash in the tread causing a rapid loss of tire pressure and inadequate time to save the tire, which only had 10,000 miles on it. So naturally, I open my trunk, lift the floor covering to access the spare tire and jack, but to my surprise, I found neither. That's when it hit me. I'm driving a newer car engineered in Washington DC to be lighter, be green and emit fewer emissions. As a result, No Spare, No Jack. Just a Tire Fix-IT-Kit with a small air compressor and a container of sealant neatly packaged and secured in the trunk next to the battery. Unfortunately, given the extent of the tire damage, the Kit was useless. So If you're driving a late model vehicle, check your trunk and become familiar with the equipment prov ... read more

Uzma A.Porter Ranch, CA  6 friends  27 reviews 3/22/2017 By far the greatest auto body shop known to man! I called in from a recommendation from a friend, and was not disappointed at all. I got my side mirror fixed and an oil change in one day. I was very worried they wouldn't find the mirror parts, but thankfully they did. They even gave me a ride back to my office after I dropped off my car.  I dealt mostly with David S., who was such a great gentleman! When I first talked to him, I knew right away that he would do everything possible to help get my mirror fixed. And he did! I like that they respected me rather than judged me. Most mechanics up their prices just bec ... read more

Kids these days are hard to shop for. You want to give them something they will use but also something that they can learn from. Lucky for you and them there is a new toy out there meant to get them eager to learn to earn a spot alongside dad in the garage! Hammacher Schlemmer specializes in unique and unusual toys. Their latest endeavor is The Car Lover's Engine Repair Set. It is modeled after the front half of a car and allows for your aspiring mechanics to change the oil and tinker with the engine. The toy comes with removable components such as wing nuts, spark plugs, and removable cowling. Once a repair job is complete, kids can even get behind the wheel to turn the ignition key and hear how the engine sounds when it starts. The car has a working horn and headlights, and the set comes with a screwdriver, wrench, and other tools sized to fit little grea ... read more

Crossing the block at Mecum’s Austin 2014 auction, December 12th and 13th, will be one of the three famed original Eleanor Mustang hero cars from the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds” The unlikely star was specially built for the 2000 remake by Hollywood’s Cinema Vehicle Services. Inside, Eleanor resembles your typical top-of-the-line Mustang, with period accurate ’67 dash, gauges, steering wheel, and enhanced of course with the ‘Go-Baby-Go’ shift knob. Underneath the hood the sweet girl packs enough punch to match her high powered looks. The Mustang fits a burly 351-ci Ford Racing crate motor, complete with a Holley 700 four-barrel carb and backing up to a four speed manual gearbox. A positraction rear end and 17-inch Schmidt wheels help put that power to the ground. Although it’s designated as the seventh of 11 Eleanor Mustangs built for filming, this fine example and its two sister hero cars were the only ones used in scenes involving the star-studded cast. Considering the origin of Gone ... read more

These days, it seem that you can’t open a newspaper (if anyone still does that), or read the news without hearing about Google’s latest invention. Now the internet giant is venturing into the car business and trying to improve road safety. The new ground breaking technology being: the driverless automobile. A prototype of Google’s new self-driving car—a two-passenger electric vehicle with buttons to turn the car on and off, but without a steering wheel, accelerator pedal or brake pedal—was unveiled in May. Without a driver at the wheel, the automobile is instead guided by a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) rotating sensor on the vehicle’s roof that scans the car’s surroundings to determine its driving route, as well as to identify such everyday obstacles as pedestrians, bicyclists and other cars. Although they don’t expect any of these automated vehicles on the road until 2030, this will vastly improve the amount of collisions on the road

I'm proud to announce that Alex Bulko, number three son, has joined the AutoAid staff with brother David and me Jack. It's the highest compliment to a family owned and operated business when the children, now grown, take part in the growth, care and futrue of our company. Expect even greater service in the weeks and years to come

With Breast Cancer Awareness month in full swing, AutoAid is donating a portion of every dollar spent on Service at our Body and Repair shops during the month of October to the Susan G Koman Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. So if you have plans of servicing your vehicle{s)in the next few months, bring it in in October and help the cause. It's a darn good one

The United States could be on the cusp of a great leap forward in automotive safety. All that’s required is for the auto industry to rally behind the scientists and engineers who have spent the past decade developing a wireless technology called V2X. This catch-all term refers to two closely related systems: vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructrue (V2I) communications. V2X transmitters let cars talk to the world around them and warn drivers of trouble ahead — giving them precious time to react if, for example, an oncoming vehicle appears to be about to run a red light or another is coming around a blind corner. This isn’t the stuff of science fiction. It’s engineering reality. And we’re ready to move it from the lab to the nation’s roads. Cadillac will take the first step on behalf of General Motors. Last month at the Intelligent Transportation World Congress in Detroit, It was announced that the 2017 Cadillac CTS would be the first GM vehicle to carry V2X technology. I ... read more