These 4 signs of a bad water pump will help you narrow down what the problem is with your car or truck. While you’re trying to figure out the real culprit, your water pump is getting worse. It is best to get it replaced immediately, so that you don’t have to suffer through replacing more parts after the water pump goes out. These specific signs will help you know whether it is the water pump or something else.
Signs of a Bad Water Pump
For a little part, it has quite an important job to do. This is the part that gets that coolant moving around to keep the radiator in good shape and the engine cooled. If your water pump is going out, you need to replace it immediately. These signs below should give you a good idea if you should replace it now or start looking at a different part as the cause.
The Puddle
The #1 indicator of a water pump failing is the puddle of coolant under the front of the car. The color will be either orange or green – matching the color of the coolant you use.
Engine Keeps Overheating
When the water pump fails, the engine will overheat. Some cars will give you a dummy light to let you know coolant is low. Don’t drive the car if it is overheating.
Gunky Build-up
Sometimes the failure takes time. During that time period of the pump slowly dying, it’ll leak out a little bit of coolant. This dries on the water pump making it look rather gunky and messy from the dried coolant.
Steam from Under the Hood
If you see what appears to be steam coming out from under the hood, pull over. Do not open the hood. Call your roadside service. This means the engine has overheated. It might or might not be from the water pump.
A1 Performance Auto Repair
If you’re within 3 miles of our shop in Sunnyvale, we can tow your car in for free. (Farther will have a charge.) We’ll be happy to accurately diagnose the problem and fix it for you promptly. Give us a call.
Known far and wide, Bosch are the best windshield wipers for any car or truck. When the drought is on, you won’t need your wipers much. But when it does start raining, you had better be prepared with some mighty fine wiper blades. Bosch appears to be the most popular choice, as about 100 people a month are searching the Internet for them in Sunnyvale, CA, alone! But, why are these the best wipers on the planet?
What Makes Bosch Windshield Wipers the Best
Bosch puts a lot of technology into their wiper blades, from graphite coating on a patented rubber blend to precision tension springs and a spoiler for increased aerodynamics on the Insight Wiper Blades.
Bosch has a lot of choices in blades to meet every picky customer’s need. They are real big on all weather performance, so when you get a surprise bunch of ice on your windshield overnight in the Silicon Valley, this is going to be a reliable choice of blade.
How Often to Change Out Wipers?
Wipers are usually recommended to be replaced every 6 months, however, the Bay Area doesn’t have a lot of weather, at least not like other areas of the country. Once per year here should keep you in good condition unless there is a lot of extreme temperatures or exposure to fires this summer.
When you’re hearing signs of wear, then replace them. They’ll start an annoying squeaky, chattering noise and leaving a lot of streaks. Of course, if you see a piece of rubber flopping around on your windshield when the wipers are in use, definitely replace them right away.
Replace all of your windshield wipers at the same time. You want great vision when it rains or snows. It is not time to save money by replacing only the driver’s side. Do them all. If you want the best windshield wipers, the votes are for the Bosch. Ask if we have them in stock when you get your next oil change.
Tires are something many vehicle owners don’t think about until one blows out. But tires are an expensive repair, especially when the ideal situation is to replace them all at once. So, here is a quick series of checks to help you stay ahead of any problem that indicates upcoming tire problems.
Tires
Whenever you’ve run out of TV shows to watch, go take a look at your tires for unusual things going on out there. By catching something early, you can save yourself a major hassle or even the tire.
Over Inflation
Measure your inflation with a tire pressure gauge. If you don’t have one, buy one. Overinflated tires will bulge, causing missing tread down the middle of the tire.
Under Inflation
When there isn’t enough pressure in the tire the outsides of the tread have excessive wear and look bald. Always inflate to the number for tire pressure that listed on the sticker in the driver’s door jamb.
One Edge Tread Wear
If the wheels are out of alignment, only one side of the tire will have excessive tread wear.
Cupping
Cupping is an erratic tire tread wear problem and it could mean the tire is out of balance or there are issues with shocks or suspension.
Raised Tread
When the tire’s tread is raised in spots or the sidewall is raised, there is a problem with the belts in the tire. It is going to need to be replaced right away.
General Tire Maintenance
To extend the life of your tires, have them rotated every other oil change, or every 7,000 miles or so. Always keep your tires in good balance, promptly getting them balanced when there is any sign of trouble. Anytime you notice your car pulling to one side, get the wheel alignment checked and repaired if necessary.
Anytime you need help with your tires, let us know. A1 Performance Auto Repair can check them and do the necessary alignment and balancing maintenance.
Many people these days will buy auto parts on the Internet, so they can save a little cash. There’s nothing wrong with that, except that the parts they are getting such a great deal on are likely counterfeit. Counterfeit auto parts, like counterfeit money, isn’t a good thing. So, here are some tips that will help in identifying fake parts from real ones.
Counterfeit Auto Parts
Auto parts that are fake are not something you want to put on your car. It isn’t like a generic brand that makes a good part that doesn’t have the big manufacturer’s brand. Counterfeit parts are parts that are cranked out quickly in China without any care for quality, functionality or safety.
Sure, the price is unbelievably low on counterfeit parts, but that doesn’t make them a great deal. They can cost you your engine or even your life. They will definitely cost you your money, because you will have to buy legitimate parts soon in order to replace the fake one, in addition to anything else those parts ruined.
Here are things to look for to spot the fakes, but keep in mind, the photo they’ll have on a website is likely fake, too.
Cheap Packaging
If it is real, it’ll be protected in nice packaging.
Missing Part Number
Real packaging will have the part number printed on the box, not a sticker.
Misspellings
Just like all counterfeits, they don’t pay proofreaders to make corrections.
Instructions That Are Wrong
If the directions on installing, or other packaging materials, are poor translations and don’t make sense, it’s fake.
It Just Looks Off
Compare the same part that you purchased at your mechanic or a local auto parts store to check against a potential fake. The differences become quite obvious in the details.
Use Reputable Dealers
A1 Performance Auto Repair uses genuine parts that are safe, work properly and you can trust. Don’t waste money buying fakes on the Internet or at swap meets. If the price sounds too good to be true, it is.
Sometimes the signs of bad rotors are also the same signs of cheap brake pads. So, it’s tricky to get a good idea of what is going on without taking everything apart. Here are some tips that might give you a good idea if it is an inexpensive or expensive repair.
Signs of Bad Rotors
Signs of bad rotors are varied, and they can be any one or more of the following symptoms:
Shimmying
Humming
Rattling
Shaking
Clicking
Grinding
Stopping distance increased
Squealing
Wobbling
Burning Smell
As you can see, there can be a lot of different ways your brakes are telling you they need attention. Most commonly, people ignore the signs they start hearing because they feel they don’t see anything amiss. Over time, the brake pedal goes lower and lower, almost to the floor, a place that is the last stop for being able to stop the car.
So, it is important to take all those weird noises seriously and ask the mechanic to take a look at your brakes during your next oil change.
With all that being said, there is a possibility that some of those signs are lesser problem, especially if you just had your brakes done.
Cheap Brake Pads
There are a lot of different kinds of brake pads at all different prices. Of course, the car owner thinks they’ll save some money and go cheap, because a brake pad is a brake pad, right? No.
This is one place you want to spend a little money. The least expensive brake pad will last a long time, but they make some noise usually. Car owners get pretty upset when they hear a little screeching after just getting the brakes replaced. So, your mechanic did do the job, but likely put cheap pads on.
A1 Performance
If you’re hearing weird noises or your brake pedal seems to have changed, have us inspect your brakes. It is always far less expensive to catch these things early.
If you own a Toyota with Blizzard Pearl Paint, you’ve might have noticed your paint flying off the car in sheets as you drive down the road, literally. When a car painted with this particular color gets about 7 – 10 years old, this is a “feature” you might not exactly appreciate. So, what to do?
Toyota’s Blizzard Pearl Paint
This problem with Toyota’s Blizzard Pearl Paint is called delamination. Meaning it gets sort of laminated and then it de-laminates and sort of flies away in the wind. Why? Well, one person at a dealership told a customer that Toyota cars manufactured between 2009 and 2013 were not properly primed. That is the cause of the delamination.
Toyota has refused to do anything about the problem, leaving people who have paid $30,000 or more for their vehicles having to have their entire car repainted on their own dime. Toyota gives only 3 years of warranty for paint issues. That’s rather convenient. The problem happens several years after that judging by what is being written in forums. However, one person had a 2018 Highlander with Blizzard Pearl Paint and it took 3 days to happen. There might be a contributing environmental factor.
What To Do
You can search the internet for forums that are collecting complaints in an effort to force Toyota to stand behind their workmanship and repaint the cars with a method that doesn’t blow off in sheets. Whether or not the embarrassment will hurt the company, who knows? So far they don’t seem to care they are losing some of their most loyal customers over the problem.
If you recently purchased the vehicle at a dealership, you’d likely have a warranty that you can use to return the car to them. But if the car is 3 years old or more you’re out of luck, even earlier if you have a lot of miles on it.
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