All Japanese Cars

Thieves Find Easy Pickings Under Your Car
If there is one law thieves do not break, it's the law of supply and demand. Every car is a treasure trove of precious metals with extremely high value on the black market. It takes less than 2 minutes to roll under your car and saw off your catalytic converter, leaving you with a multi-hundred dollar repair bill, while the thief gets your platinum, rhodium and palladium.
Read the rest of this entry »

We just lectured a car owner yesterday who paid $1,500 in repairs for a severely-neglected 5-year old Nissan Altima. It had less than 50,000 miles on it, so under normal conditions, this is a very young car.

But the oil was not changed for two years. The engine ran hotter. Systems failed and the coolant slowly disappeared. Eventually, the car would shut down, stranding the driver.
Read the rest of this entry »

Believe it or not, incompetent or dishonest mechanics can give you more problems than you realize. From simple misdiagnosis to concealed shoddy work, your car needs a mechanic you can trust to do good work. Word-of-mouth is a good source of information and please realize that good mechanics don't come cheap.

Proper tire pressure is important to getting the most out of your tires. Underinflation causes uneven tire wear and/or premature failure, which in turn shortens the life of your tires. You should check your tire pressure at each oil change.

Check your fluids

The most common mistake we find car owners making is not checking and changing fluids frequently enough, which causes mechanical failure.

1. engine oil
2. transmission fluid
3. brake fluid
4. power steering
5. coolant/anti-freeze

You should be checking the levels of these fluids and changing them on schedule as specified in your user manual.

Many repair facilities will do these checks for free.