What’s That Smell? Is It Your Car? Oh TROUBLE!

January 20th, 2010 -

Well if you are lucky enough to have a new car or truck you may not smell anything odd just yet but if you have an older car or truck it may smell all the time or every once in a while. You may wonder how it passes inspection year after year. You may wonder if everyone can smell you driving down the highway. It could be a number of things but let’s see if we can deduce the problem.

Does it smell like Gasoline is in your car? – Well that could be a defective evaporation control canister; leaking or disconnected vapor or fuel line. You should have that checked out. It could make you dizzy while you’re driving!

Do you have an exhaust odor in the car? – Stinky! It could be a puncture in the exhaust pipe under the passenger compartment.

What about burning rubber? – You have a hot tire more than likely from a locked brake shoe. Or it’s the rubber hose coming in contact with your hot engine.

How’s that burning plastic smell treating you? – That’s more than likely a short circuit in your electrical system.

What about the rotting food smell? - You just probably need to find that week old hamburger lodged under your seat and throw it out!!

Hope these help! Safe driving out there.

Thanks to Brandi Hodge for contributing.

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Longer Lasting Tires On Your Car Or Truck Just Takes Some Rotating!

January 13th, 2010 -

I’m sure you are all aware that tire rotation is important. Maybe you just don’t understand why or how often this should be done. Well here’s a few reason why you should rotate your tires.

Tire rotation can be benefit your tires in many different ways. When done at the recommended times, it can preserve balanced handling and traction and even out tire wear. Most mechanics say that you should have your tires rotated every 7,500 miles or every other oil change. However, if you are one of those that doesn’t get your oil changed but every 10,000 miles then you may want to get your tires rotated at every oil change. Tire rotation even provides performance advantages. So you can see why this is important.

The rotation pattern is typically moving the back wheels to the front, and the front to the back, but crossing them when moving to the back. If the tires are unidirectional, the rotation can only be rotated front to back on the same side of the vehicle to preserve the rotational direction of the tires. Most unidirectional tires can be moved from side to side if they are remounted; tires with asymmetric rims are a rare exception. More complex rotation patterns are required if the vehicle has a full-size spare tire that is part of the rotation. – Wikipedia

If decide it’s time for a tire rotation, or maybe you’re not sure if it’s time or not, take it to your mechanic and he’ll let you know.

Thanks to Brandi Hodge for contributing.

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Is Your Car Or Truck Driving Crookedly?

January 2nd, 2010 -

Ever been driving straight down a road and notice that your car is pulling to the right or left? It’s more than likely your alignment. Don’t worry it happens to everyone. It can happen by hitting pot holes, curbs, or even by driving it everyday. It’s very common. Did you know that if you don’t get this fixed it could cause some major problems to you and your car? Before you take your car or truck in for service check your tires. Over inflation or under inflation in your tires could result in a slight pull.

Here are just a few problems to keep your eyes open for.

(1) Rapid Tire Wear: Tires are expensive to replace and hitting pot holes and curbs can not only mess up your alignment but cause damage to your tires as well. After you’ve encountered a pothole or curb you should check your tires thoroughly for any damage. If you want your tires to have a long life span you should make get your alignment fixed and your tires rotated and balanced regularly.

(2) Steering Issues: Well obviously if your alignment is out you are going to have some steering issues. However, look at it this way if you’re traveling down the highway at 60 mph and someone cuts you off and you let go of the wheel even for a second you could go barreling into the wall or another vehicle. Better to have that fixed as soon as you can so that it’s not a danger to you or your passengers. It can also be very exhausting to constantly apply pressure to the steering wheel to keep the car traveling in a straight line.

Having your alignment fixed could be a hassle for you but it’s easy and relatively inexpensive to fix.

Thanks to Brandi Hodge for contributing.

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What’s Wrong With Your Car or Truck? Learn To Speak Like A Technician!

December 11th, 2009 -

When your car or truck is acting up it can be the most annoying, scary thing going on. You may have no idea what’s wrong. How many times have you taken your car in to the shop and you were just stunned into silence. You may not even know how to explain the problem or the noise? It’s important that when you take your car into the shop you not only understand what the technician is telling you but you are able to explain to him the problem that is going on. Working almost together to figure out the issue. Here are a few tips to remember before taking your car into the shop or dealership.

Symptoms:  Think for a few moments about your cars driving performance. Is it rattling, or is it making weird noises? Are there funny smells coming from the engine? Is anything leaking? Is it idling funny? Does it have trouble starting or staying started? Make sure you write down all of the symptoms your car or truck is having before you take it to the shop. That information is vital for the technician to diagnose your cars illness.

Previous Medical History: Has your car or truck had issues in the past? Make sure you pull out any past receipts and paperwork of work done on your vehicle. Any and everything you have is good to take with you. Even the last oil change. It’s a possibility that the previous shop missed something or mis-diagnosed the problem. You never know but taking all the past work with you will help the technician solve the problem.

Descriptions: When you get to the shop with your car or trucks symptoms and medical history make sure that you are clear and concise on your explanation to the technician. Make sure you use words like “passenger side” and “driver’s side” instead of “right” and “left” when describing what the symptoms are. Those are important when describing the issue. You don’t want to confuse the technician do you?

Confusion: When the technician comes back to you with an explanation of your vehicles issues and you don’t understand what he is saying, don’t be afraid to ask him to explain it more thoroughly. I know sometimes it can be confusing to understand but it’s important for you to be well informed of your vehicles issues at all times.

Surgery: Make sure when the repair order is handed to you that you understand 100% what is about to happen to your vehicle. If you don’t know how much money, time, and effort goes into changing a water pump you better ask for a thorough explanation. Just make sure that all the i’s are dotted and all the t’s are crossed so that later on down the road there will be no confusion, and your vehicle is home, safe and happy on it’s way to a full recovery.

Thanks to Brandi Hodge for contributing.

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Bad Wiper Blades On Your Car Or Truck?

December 7th, 2009 -

Ever been driving behind someone on the highway and they clean there windshield and the fluid flies back and gets all over your windshield? Then as you turn your wipers on you realize you’re out of fluid? I hate that. What’s even worse is when it’s one of those crazy Texas rainy months and your wipers start going bad, they squeak, they chatter, they don’t do their job! Well you keep putting it off until finally your windshield looks like the picture on the left after you just turned your wipers on. Obviously it’s time for new windshield wipers.

Here’s a few things that might mess up your wipers and how to fix it.

  • Solvents that are not designed for you to use on your windshield can really create a problem. They can do as much as disintegrate the rubber on the blades. You should always use solvent made for windshields. I wouldn’t use water either. If you live in a cold climate the water can freeze and create a nasty issue. I have heard of people using RainX as their windshield cleaner and some of them say it has been problematic. Just stick to the regular stuff. It works the best.
  • That HOT Texas weather can warp the rubber. Unfortunately there’s not much you can do about the weather here. Just keep an eye out for any tears or cracks in the rubber. That’s a signal for you to get new wipers.
  • If you haven’t used your wipers in a while there is a chance you’ve got a build up of dirt or oil. Just remember to every now and then let your wipers go. The windshield wiper fluid will clean off the dirt and oil not only on the windshield but on the wipers too.
  • Snow or like we say in Texas, Ice: will build up on the windshield and when it cools and freezes so does your wipers. You should never use your wipers to try and remove ice from your windshield. Have a ice scraper handy and only use the wiper once the ice has been removed and your defrost is on high.
  • Wipers should be replaced every year as sometimes they just wear out quickly.

You can change your wiper blades on your own but if you find you are having trouble let us know. We’ll be happy to help.

Thanks to Brandi Hodge for contributing.

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