Your timing belt is part of an elaborate pulley system that cranks up your engine and keeps it going. When it breaks, it’ll leave you with a car idling and no power to move it. And that can be damned inconvenient. It is a better situation to catch a worn out timing belt and change it before it strands you in traffic or on the freeway. So, look for these signs of pending doom.
Timing Belt Signs of Trouble
The following can be signs that your timing belt has worn out and needs to be replaced right away. Sometimes, the sign could mean another problem, but you should heed the warning and see your mechanic right away for a final judgement.
Ticking Sounds
If you hear ticking sounds coming out of your engine, it probably isn’t a bomb, just a worn out timing belt. See your mechanic right away.
Engine Can’t Turn Over
If you are having a lot of difficulty getting your engine to turn over, the timing belt is probably broken or slipping badly. Have your mechanic tow it into the shop.
Misfiring
Misfiring along with oil leaking from the timing belt cover on the engine is a sure sign of timing belt trouble. All that leaking could cause overheating and that’ll eventually damage the belt to the point of breaking. See your auto mechanic as soon as possible to take an in depth look at the problem.
Signs of Wear
If you see cracks, frays or other sign that your belt is worn out, have it replaced. At least get the job scheduled. It isn’t going to heal up, it is going to get worse and put you in an unsafe position on the road.
Repairs
Give us a call at A1 Performance Auto Repair for an appointment to look at your timing belt. We’ll let you know if it is time.
There are a lot of different signs of bad rotors and really, the only way to know for sure is to have your wheels pulled off the car and your brakes inspected by an auto mechanic. But, that being said, who wants to take all that time to sit around an auto shop unnecessarily? So, here are a few hints that your car’s brakes need some repair. If one or more of these things are happening, it is time to get them checked out.
Signs of Bad Rotors
There are two things you’ll need to replace in your car’s braking system: pads and rotors. Actually, rotors don’t always need replacing. Most of the time they get a little maintenance work done and put back on the car. Only when rotors are left to grind away will you have to replace them. And that is expensive. So, see your mechanic at the first sign of trouble.
Squeaking When Your Brake
A lot of brakes squeak. Most of the time the source of the high pitched annoying squeak is a set of cheap brake pads. Sometimes this is of concern if your brakes haven’t been checked in years and suddenly they are squeaking when you brake to stop.
Pedal to the Metal
Your brake pedal should not be touching the floorboard or even close. If you notice that last year or the year before your brake pedal used to be a lot higher, it is time to see the mechanic about your brakes. A sudden pedal to the metal situation is a sign of a failing master cylinder and that could easily cause a crash.
A1 Performance Auto Repair
The next time you stop in to get an oil change or other car maintenance, let us take a look at your brakes to make sure those are not signs of bad rotors on your car. It is always less expensive to catch a problem early.
Keeping car maintenance costs down would be great, but we don’t have control over that. Or do we? A study was done to see which manufacturers have the most expensive maintenance. The data are for all models combined that the manufacturer makes.
Car Maintenance
Car maintenance is the routine services that a car needs to keep running properly. These results were judged for a run of 10 years of maintenance to see which of the manufacturers cost the most to maintain. Of course, this is an average of all of their car models, so there are some models that cost far more than others within the data.
The top ten costliest cars to maintain are the ones made by BMW, with an average cost of $17,800 over the 10 year period. Here is how the runners up fared:
Mercedes-Benz $12,900
Cadillac $12,500
Volvo $12,500
Audi $12,400
Saturn $12,400
Mercury $12,000
Pontiac $11,800
Chrysler $10,600
Dodge $10,600
The winner in this contest is Toyota, which costs only $5,500 to maintain over the course of 10 years. If you’re looking for a very economical car to drive, that would be the best you will be able to do. Here are the runners up:
Scion $6,400
Lexus $7,000
Honda $7,200
Mitsubishi $7,400
Mazda $7,500
As you can see, the foreign cars appear to be the most economical to own, on average. American made cars appear closer to the top of the expensive list and are most of the brands in the middle of the results of 30 car manufacturers.
The Best Car to Buy
The maintenance expenses you will expect is only one factor of many you should consider when purchasing a new car. You will need to take into account numerous factors. When you stop by for your next oil change at A1 Performance Auto Repair, feel free to ask our mechanic’s opinion on the best all around car to buy.
Audi parts are available as Original Equipment Manufacturer parts and Aftermarket parts. Of course, the aftermarket parts are going to be less expensive, by a lot. But are you losing anything by buying aftermarket?
Audi Parts
There are a lot of aftermarket parts (made by non-Audi manufacturers) to choose from. You can get any part you need at the local auto parts store, through your mechanic or even online and none of them were made by Audi. This makes the parts so much cheaper. But is that a good thing?
OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) parts are the ones that the dealer will always install on your car. This is one of the reasons that going to your Audi dealer always costs so much more than using your local auto mechanic, like A1 Performance Auto Repair. These parts will come with a warranty and you just take it into your dealer for replacement when using the warranty.
Aftermarket Audi parts are made by various manufacturers and they have varied warranties, if any at all. But like any company, their reputations are not all alike. Some brands are known to be problematic, others are considered good and some are considered better than original Audi parts. When it comes time to use the warranty, it could be a problem. In order to sift through which brand’s parts are great and which aren’t, you’ll need to rely on your mechanic’s experience. There are brands he will avoid. There are some parts that Audi will void your car’s warranty on if you use an aftermarket part, so ask your mechanic about that when deciding to go the cheaper route.
A1 Performance Auto Repair
At A1 Performance Auto Repair, we’ll give you the choice of Aftermarket or OEM Audi parts for your repair and explain the differences. Stop by today to meet us and get your oil changed.
How up to date is your auto shop? Well, there is one in Poland that takes their equipment very, very seriously. They installed a Commodore 64 25 years ago and are still using it today.
Auto Shop
The Commodore 64 was put on the market in August of 1982. It was the bestselling computer in the history of computers, which at the time was a fairly short history. The personal computer had arrived and anyone who had the (today’s equivalent) of almost $1500 in their pocket was in line at Radio Shack to get one of those. It was probably the same scenario in Poland, back in the day.
So, the auto shop bought one and started using it for their day to day computing. Oddly enough, their day to day computer must not have changed much over the past 25 years, because they are still plugging away on it.
The computer they are using hasn’t been all that well cared for, but it keeps clicking away without complaint. They say it has been sitting near a window that has bathed it in rainwater now and then. Birds found it necessary to disrespect it with some poop on occasion. Clearly the Commodore 64 was a well build machine that was ready to take on whatever you have to throw at it. And it continues to take the abuse until this day.
It does make one wonder, though. How many thousands of dollars have you spent on upgrades, software and new computers since 1982? Maybe? Is it possible? Is it possible that none of that was necessary and everyone could have kept tapping along with those huge floppy discs? Have we been duped?
A1 Performance Auto Repair
At A1 Performance Auto Repair we pride ourselves in being an auto shop that stays up with current technology. The Commodore 64s of the world are probably happier in Poland.
When you need a car repair, you’ll likely be faced with the question: Do you want new parts, remanufactured or rebuilt? Rebuilt parts, you’ll be told, are just as good as new and far cheaper. But are they really as good as new?
Car Repair
Cars are the big money pit once they get about 50,000 miles on them. You’ll be replacing brakes, the alternator, starter and if you’re super unlucky – the transmission or engine. There is no doubt about it, any car repair is expensive and it is a bill you didn’t have scheduled to pay. Your mechanic will offer you a choice between new parts and saving some money by installing a rebuilt part. Here is what you need to know.
Rebuilt Car Parts
When you choose a rebuilt part then you’ll have your car part repaired. If your part is too far gone then a rebuilt part will be purchased. In that case, the part was completely inspected and the mechanic that rebuilt it replaced all the pieces in it that were broken. In theory it works as good as new now, unless something was missed or miscalculated. Sometimes it’ll work fine for a few months and fail again. Sometimes it is a great deal, but there are times that for only a couple of extra bucks you can have a brand new part. You need to do the math.
Remanufactured Parts
Remanufacturing parts takes extra care in remachining parts and making them as close to brand spanking new as possible. These parts really are like new and have a good warranty. They have far fewer incidents of failure.
New Parts
The best parts to get for your car repair are going to be new. But when it comes to replacing an engine or transmission, remanufactured parts are a lot more affordable. The next time you need work done on your car, give us a call at A1 Performance Auto Repair.
Cliff and his team are some of the best mechanics around. Minh always provides an awesome customer service. I brought my car for major service about two... read more
The people here are amazing, genuine and beyond kind. Every mechanic goes above and beyond--consistently surprising me with the level of customer service.... read more
Minh, Cliff, and everyone at A-1 are the best.
I've brought my cars here for the past 2 years.
Minh usually takes care of me and is super knowledgable.... read more
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Join our mailing list to receive coupons and news from our team.
