Autos Repair

Auto Repair and Service means a lot to the consumer in this fast pace world we live in. Being without transportation is an inconvenience while your vehicle is being repaired. Asking a friend, neighbor or co-worker to follow you to the shop and give you a ride home can be quite a hassle. Wondering how much it’s going to cost for the repair service is always a concern.

With all this in mind consumers want an auto repair shop that is well kept and clean where the personnel are polite and ethical. The technicians are certified and experienced. Most of all we expect to get our vehicle back fixed and in a timely manner.

How do we decide who to take our car to when it requires service?

A recommendation from a friend or family member is the best choice. They have already experienced the service and built a trust with this provider. If you are new to an area you can contact the Chamber of Commerce, check them out with the BBB (Better Business Bureau), or use the different social medias for information. Check out the auto service’s web site and see what they have to offer.

Questions you want to ask yourself are:

What types of service do they offer?

Are they going to be able to do all your required service at one location or do they specialize in a certain area?

Do they offer service in all of the following areas:

Engine repair

Engine performance

Suspension

Steering

Brakes

Exhaust

HVAC

Electrical

Electronic systems

Drive train

Axles

Transmissions.

Are the technicians certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE)?

A healthy clutch is vital to the control and operation of your vehicle. Without it, your car is pretty useless, so making sure that you stay on top of clutch problems is of the utmost importance. However, you can’t always know what to expect when you take your car or truck into a shop to have the clutch replaced. From the moment you step through those doors, you probably feel like you’re being charged for something. That’s because there are a lot of disreputable shops out there, who will not shoot straight with you when it comes to the true cost of replacement. The most common liberty they take with you is the hourly labor wage. Some places charge around $50 per hour, while others have been known to go $70 and above. The final clutch replacement cost will depend on where you get the work done, and what kind of car that you have.

Know Your Car

Before you can know the true clutch replacement cost of your vehicle, you need to be aware of the options that are out there for your particular make and model. Not every dealer sells at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, and not every dealer sells at the same rate of discount. You may even be able to find new parts for your car online and do the work yourself, though this entails a considerable amount of automotive knowledge and research time. Most do not have the patience, the time, nor the ability to make this happen. However, you may be able to cut a deal with a mechanic – you find and pay for the part and they just do the labor. This will largely depend on the shop, though.

Choose Your Shop Wisely

You look down one day and notice that there is a problem with a dashboard gauge. In some cars, especially older models, it can be a simple repair that you can handle on your own, but only if you understand the concept of car repairs and are pretty handy with tools. If you are planning on doing this for yourself, you should keep in mind that you are also going to need to be pretty flexible as well.

Your first step is to find the right gauges. Where you will find them will depend on what year and model your car is. For an older or foreign made car, the search may be a little more time consuming, especially if it is a very rare car. This is where you can use some good networking skills- allowing yourself to form a bond with a person who could help you find all of the resources that you might need. A junk yard manager knows exactly what kind of cars are on his lot and may be able to tell you without a doubt whether he has your part or not. If he does not, he might be able to point you in the right direction. The foreign cars might give you even more problems as there might have been very few of that model imported. If you can adapt or modify, that might be something that you will want to consider.

For a later model car, you can usually call a dealer and ask for the gauge you need. Don’t be surprised if they try to convince you that you have to have it installed in the garage. You might want to consider all of the work that is involved with doing it yourself and then weighing that against the cost of having the work done in the garage. Remember, a trained person can pop out the dash, install the new gauge and then put it all back together in the time it would take for you to find all of the bolts that hold it in place.

While many lights in a car could mean a variety of things, the oil pressure light is, obviously, specific to that problem. This is nothing to ignore either. While many of us manage to ignore even the check engine light for longer than we should, the oil pressure in a car needs to maintain a certain basic level to avoid doing long term damage to a car engine.

What to Do

If you notice your oil pressure light has come on, it is time to pull over, immediately. Once you are safely off the road, shut the car off to avoid damage. As long as you are in a safe area away from too much traffic, then you should pop your hood and check your dipstick. The oil should be at a certain level. If it is way below that level, you have a problem.

The best thing you can do is try to go get oil or have it brought to you and refill until the minimum level has been reached. You should, of course, check for leaks after refilling. Also, make sure to monitor the levels without waiting for the oil light to alert you to a problem. If you quickly lose oil again, you more than likely have an oil leak. This is at least less costly to repair than replacing an engine, which is what could happen if you drive the car on low oil levels.

Low and High Oil Pressure

I learned the hard way about how transmission repair shops work and how to avoid the pitfalls. I own a 2001 Lexus RX300 and the transmission had not been acting right. A friend suggested taking the car to an oil change place to get the transmission flushed and serviced. This was my first mistake. The car was having issues shifting and sometimes it would almost stop pulling. I ending up paying about $1825.00 for the service and my transmission just got worse. When your car has been acting up like this for a while, spending money on a flush is just throwing good money away.

Once you feel your transmission is not shifting properly, do not put off getting it looked at. The longer you drive it, the more damage you will create and the problem may just be a minor issue. Transmissions have clutches inside, when you feel it slipping the clutches are taking extreme wear and the damage will become permanent if you do not address the issue.

I took my car to a shop that rebuilds transmissions to get an opinion on the issue and see what my options were. The sales rep took us for a test drive. Sure enough he was having problems getting the car up to speed and the engine would rev above normal while he performing our test run. Once back at the shop I was informed the transmission had burned up clutches and needed a light over haul. The estimate was $1825.00 to fix the issue so I signed the work order and left my car for repair.