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Warning Lights - what you need to know. Red Means Stop! Yellow/AMBER are telling you something needs attention and Blue/Green are not a reason to be concerned about immediate service. On most new cars, the dashboard lights up like a Broadway theater marquee with a series of warning lights when the ignition is engaged. And while they typically go out after a second or two, if one or more of those signals remains illuminated, it’s usually a sign of trouble. “Warning lights on the dashboard are ...

Transmission troubles can start with overheating. Even under normal driving conditions, transmission fluids wear out and require replacement. Heavy vehicle loads, towing trailers, stop and go traffic and hot weather accelerate fluid breakdown caused by higher transmission temperatures can also cause expensive parts to wear prematurely. Checking fluid conditions can prevent failure. Your owner’s manual will tell you how often to change fluids, but checking fluid condition and the fluid level in...

You probably don’t think about it much unless you’ve had a challenge with your car starting, but this little motor is vital to getting you where you need to go. It is small electric motor with a framework that ends in a gear. Your engine's flywheel has a ring gear that the starter gear, called the drive gear, engages. When the starter motor runs, it spins the drive gear, which turns the ring gear and the flywheel. That cranks the engine and starts the combustion cycle.  In the early days of a...

Your car starter works like any electric motor. There are fixed magnets with opposite poles on either side of the framework. The framework acts as an electromagnet. It has two plates one on each side called commutators.   The commutators accept a charge from the battery through steel brushes or fixed copper that touch them. This action turns the framework into a two-pole magnet. Each pole of the framework is repelled by its identical-pole fixed magnet and attracted by the opposite pole magnet....

In today’s economy, we talk to a lot of drivers who are not only trying to keep their vehicles longer, but also need to save money wherever they can. Motor and transmission are the two largest expenses that require regular maintenance. Check your owner’s manual for these critical items. These items are much less expensive things you can do to diminish the wear and tear on you motor and transmission—even extending the life of your car. Oil Change - Driving in Arizona qualifies for “extreme”...

Most people never use the re circulation button in their car because they don’t know exactly when they should use it. It’s that button with the arrow that looks like a return button. It determines where the air you’re using to heat or cool the cabin of your car with come from. With the button off, fresh air comes from outside the car. When you have the button on, you’re using the air within the car. In the summer heat, the re circulation button will generally cool you off faster and help yo...

Reciculation Air Button - Locker Room Smells One of our customers came in with his teenage son because the airflow from his air conditioner made it nearly impossible to breathe while running the air. “It smells like a high school football team’s locker room,” he said. “Worse than that,” his son chimed in. They had just moved to Tucson from Amarillo, Texas. Upon investigation the technician began to ask some questions. “Do you always leave the recirculation air button on,” the tech as...

Prevent Loss by Locking Your Car Based on improving technology, vehicle thefts are dropping overall. Since we started recording this figure, thefts have dropped over 20% and are now around 770,000 cars according to FBI statistics. Surprisingly, the reason for most of the thefts are preventable. Most commonly these vehicles have keys or key fobs left inside the unlocked vehicles. Despite great gains in technology and security, we are our own worst enemy and common sense seems to be the driving ...

Making Sure Your Car’s Air Conditioning is Running Properly Once a luxury feature, air conditioning is now considered essential in today’s cars and trucks. Try and imagine living through one of Arizona’s sizzling summers without it. Though most motorists pay little heed to their car or truck’s climate control, a modicum of care and maintenance is necessary to ensure the system doesn’t falter when it’s needed the most. For starters, even if the weather is temperate, be sure to run the air ...

Link to air conditioner maintenance special included