You may have heard about an important part of your vehicle's engine called a timing belt, and many know that if that belt breaks, it can cause some very serious engine problems.   Not all vehicles have them, and the ones that do generally have smaller engines.  The timing belt keeps the engine synchronized so that every time a spark plug fires, the crankshaft, camshaft, pistons, and valves are all working together.  Timing belts will eventually have to be replaced, and most vehicle manufacturers recommend when that should be.  Typically, it's around every 60,000-100,000 miles, or 100,000-160,000 km. It's a good idea to stick to your vehicle's schedule or be alert for signs that the timing belt may be failing prematurely. Some of those symptoms? Maybe your engine won't even turn over when you try firing it up. You might hear a ticking or banging sound under the hood.  Perhaps you spot an oil leak or notice the engine misfiring.  If any of those are happenin ... read more

If you own a newer vehicle, your vehicle’s manufacturer may require that it use synthetic oil instead of conventional oil.  Synthetic oils are more stable, don’t break down as easily, and provide better engine protection than conventional oil. All those things can prolong the life of your engine and help it run better. Imagine the damage that could happen to your engine as it operates at high speeds and very hot temperatures.  Oil reduces the friction between the metal parts.  That’s why it’s important that it maintains its lubricating properties for a long time, which synthetic oil does better than conventional oil.   Clean oil is better than dirty oil because it has fewer impurities.  Synthetic oil is purer because of how it’s formulated and manufactured.  Plus, as the outside temperatures change, the ability of oil to operate in those conditions is important.  
For example, the colder it gets, it’s important f
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For most drivers, at some point you’re going to have a flat tire. Depending on how it was damaged, it may have to be replaced.  But sometimes, a repair will do the trick, as long as the puncture isn’t on the sidewall and the hole is smaller than ¼ inch/6.35mm in diameter. Here are the three common ways your tire can be fixed. One way is to put a plug in the hole.  Since most tires are damaged by running over sharp objects such as screws and nails, the small hole from which the air is escaping is on the part of the tire that touches the road. If it’s in the sidewall, it most likely can’t be fixed.   In the plug method, a technician inserets a rubber plug.  It is covered with some sticky, gluey stuff, and is pushed into the hole from the outside. That plugs the hole and stays in place, thanks to the glue. Friction from driving heats it up and seals the deal.   Another method is to patch the hole.  For this, your tire has to fir ... read more

No matter what the weather is like outside, your internal combustion engine expects to keep its cool all the time, even when it's really cold.  That's because engines create the power that moves you to your destination by a series of tiny explosions of a fuel and air mixture. In turn, that generates a lot of heat in a small space. Your vehicle has a complete cooling system with a lot of different parts that work together to keep the temperature at a point where the metal engine parts won't heat up enough to warp.  Its lifeblood is coolant, a liquid that circulates through the engine (and, in most vehicles, the transmission, too) through a series of hoses and tubes.  In order to get rid of the coolant's heat, your vehicle has a part you probably recognize: the radiator.  It does what its name proclaims: radiates heat.  The radiator has a series of thin metal fins that coolant goes through, and when outside air passes over them, the heat is dissipated from the ra ... read more

Today's John's Automotive Care article focuses on severe service maintenance. Many San Diego drivers are not aware of them and yet there are also very vocal advocates in CA who think that severe service schedules apply to everyone. Somewhere between a complete lack of awareness and the dire blanket statements lies a reasonable approach to severe service maintenance at John's Automotive Care.To back up a little, vehicle owner's manuals have schedules for preventive maintenance: things like oil changes, transmission service and so on. They say you should change your oil after a certain distanced traveled or after so many months. San Diego drivers understand this very well. What they may not know is that there are actually two service schedules: the regular schedule and the severe service schedule. The mileage and time intervals are lower on the severe service schedule.Now when you hear 'severe service,' you may think it doesn't apply to you because ... read more

So you almost got through the winter until, one day, your muffler started sounding like a dragster, loud and obnoxious.  It's not surprising.  All that road salt and brine can cause rust to punch holes in a muffler, and that should raise a big, red warning flag about the safety of your vehicle. One big concern is carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas that can drift into your cabin if your muffler is leaking. You've probably heard about people whose home furnaces have leaked carbon monoxide and overcome families inside.  Carbon monoxide can first cause you to feel dizzy and nauseous.  It can even render you  unconscious—even kill you.  So if your vehicle's muffler is leaking that gas, well, it's nothing to mess around with. Oh, and how about that noise? You may get a ticket since many municipalities have laws against noisy exhausts.  Your muffler may be making a clunking or rattling sound when the engine's running or it may be spewing thick exhaust sm ... read more

You probably have heard that expression, "A stitch in time saves nine." In other words, if you fix an issue at its early stages, it will prevent a much more difficult problem later. That's certainly the case with your vehicle, and here's a true story to demonstrate it. A driver noticed his vehicle was due for an oil change, so he took it in to his service facility early in the morning so he could wait while the work was performed. The technician routinely checks the battery on vehicles just before extreme weather is approaching (cold or hot), so with winter coming up, he hooked up the load tester (it measures voltage while a load is put on the battery). It showed the battery wasn't holding a charge well. The technician checked the manufacturing date on the battery, too (most batteries have a date stamped in code somewhere on them). The date showed it was five years old. While batteries can last more than five years, many technicians say you should expect to get anywhere from three to s ... read more

When you turn on the air conditioning in your vehicle, you expect cool air to come out of the vents.  You depend on it, especially in hot weather, but it can also be important in humid weather when you need it to help defrost your windows and windshield. The air conditioning system has a lot of parts to it.  It has fans and blowers to move the air through the vents into the cabin.  It has parts that take hot air and cool it off. An electrical problem can be as simple as a broken switch or a broken blower motor. The air may not be getting cool because a hose in the system is broken or the refrigerant has leaked out.  Two major components are the compressor and the condenser.  The compressor pressurizes the refrigerant, one step in the air conditioning process.  The condenser takes that hot refrigerant and cools it down. It also reduces the pressure. Because the climate control system in your vehicle is so complex, it’s best to leave the diagnosis to a ... read more

It's safe to say that most drivers take their brakes for granted.  You press on the brake pedal and the vehicle slows down or stops.  It's easy to see why it is so important for your vehicle's brakes to be working correctly.  Brakes are an important safety feature of any vehicle. When it comes to your brakes working correctly, maintaining them regularly will ensure that you will always be able to slow or stop your vehicle in any situation, whether on a sunny day on dry pavement or a bad weather day on slippery surfaces.  And that is why regular brake service is such a sound investment for all drivers. The combo of brakes" and "surprises" doesn't usually end well. You might already know about some of the parts of your braking system.  Terms familiar to you might be pads, rotors, and calipers. In short, the calipers press the pads, which in turn contact the rotors.  The resulting friction slows your vehicle.  Another type of brake uses a drum and brake ... read more

Your vehicle's brakes wear out.  It's inevitable. You'll notice it when you step on the brake pedal and feel it harder to stop, or there's vibration when you are braking.  Most modern vehicles have disc brakes that each use a brake pad that press on a disc (disc brakes!) called a rotor.  The friction between them enables you to stop, and each time you do a little bit of the pad and the rotor wears down. The original brakes on vehicles used a rotor that was thick enough to last through at least two replacements of the pads.  But vehicle manufacturers who want to save costs and weight now make them thinner, and sometimes the rotors have to be replaced after the first pad replacement.  But not always. Vehicle manufacturers specify a minimum thickness to provide safe braking.  Sometimes rather than having to have your rotors replaced, they can be put on a lathe and resurfaced.  In other words, the surfaces of the disc can be slightly shaved off so the sur ... read more