Sunnyvale Auto Repair

I have written several articles on the importance of scheduled maintenance, such as making sure to stay up to date with fluid intervals and filters. Failure to perform these basic services and have them performed by a qualified shop can only cost you money and headaches in the long run. Last week we had a new customer come in with his 2007 Lexus IS 250. The customer said he had just purchased the car and after driving it only 50 miles, the check engine light came on. What he did not realize is that the previous owner did not have quality maintenance performed. After connecting the scanner, we pulled four codes: P0012: Camshaft Position “A” Timing Over-Retarded (Bank 1) P0014: Timing Over-Advanced or System Performance (Bank 1) P0021: “A” Camshaft Position – Timing Over-Advanced or System Performance (Bank 2) P0022: “A” Camshaft Position – Timing Over-Retarded (Bank 2) These codes seemed unusual to us; it’s more common to see one valve timing code – not 4. If all four were correct, we ... read more

A new customer recently brought his 1999 Subaru Outback to the shop. The man said the car was overheating and making noise whenever he drove it. Because most of the time I write about complex diagnostic scenarios, I’m sure that many of you think this is going to be a column about a really tough cooling-system problem. But that’s not the case; the cooling-system problem was the typical Subaru 2.5-liter head-gasket failure. I am bringing up this problem to discuss the anatomy of the failure. MORE ON MOTORS I first must explain the different types of motor configurations. There are four configurations of internal combustion engines: inline, V, boxster (flat) and rotary. Inline engines are those with cylinders that are literally “in line” – lined up back-to-back. The most common inline motors are 4, 5 and 6 cylinders. The “V” used to describe a V6, V8, V10, V12 and V16 does not actually stand for a word, but instead the shape of the piston ar ... read more

Last month a new customer brought in his 2012 Subaru Forester X. He said every time he fills his wiper fluid, it leaks out almost immediately. He added that it leaks even faster when he engages the washer sprayers. We lifted the car and removed the lower-left front-fender liner to gain access to the washer reservoir. That’s when we discovered that three of the hoses were damaged – but not by normal wear and tear. Rodents had chewed them. Two years ago I wrote an article on how rodents will eat just about anything on cars. Since then we have found engine valleys completely filled with acorns, ignition wires eaten, wire harnesses eaten, under-hood insulation eaten, cooling hoses eaten and even a small mouse city – with nests – inside of a dash (perhaps using the blower motor fan as a treadmill). This epidemic seems to be getting worse. HOOD RATS Besides the fact that rodents seek a warm, dark place to sleep and nest, it was unclear to me why more and more of t ... read more

There is the old adage “you can learn something every day”. I have to admit that when it comes to tough or complex problems I’m bit of a mechanical geek. On day two of the new year I was presented with one of these complex problems. One of my long time Subaru clients brought in their 2009 Subaru Forester 2.5 L non turbo (87,000 mile). The customer was complaining of a rattling sound from the engine. She stated she heard it most on startup but it usually did not go away. This car happened to be about 3000 miles over due for its oil change so the first thing we did was check the oil. We checked it and yep, it was low. Problem solved? After doing the oil change, however, we could still hear a faint rattling in the back ground. It was so faint that I thought we may not even near to check further. In most cases if oil goes too low it can cause damage to an engine. Once that damage is done it is hard to correct it. Even though there is a high probability that this will be a mechan ... read more

In the last couple of weeks I have had a few of my VW and Audi customers complain about “hard starts” from their vehicles in the morning. As the weather is finally starting to get colder, there are things that we can look for and check to try to prevent this from happening. One of the the biggest problems we see is carbon building up on throttle plates. Gone are the days of a cable connected to a butterfly valve and manual fuel pump. Almost all late model fuel injected cars use a fly by wire throttle assembly. The throttle assembly is the heart of the intake system. Most people think that fuel is where the engine gets power but actually the amount of air that flows through the engine determines the amount of power produced. Fuel is just the catalyst and engines are just big air pumps. The more air we can force through the engine, the faster we can go. That is why we always hear about turbos and superchargers in advertising. Getting back to the topic at hand, what exactly doe ... read more

I had a customer ask me the other day how she could best prepare her car for winter. I first thought this was quite a strange question, given that the Bay Area has been dealing with a drought. While we are lucky not to experience the -30 F temps – like those who live places like Chicago – many of us take road trips to Lake Tahoe and maybe Mammoth, so it is important to think about winter car preparation. The most important considerations for winter car prep follow. Traction Make sure that your tires are in good condition and have plenty of tread for wet or freezing conditions. They must be all-season tires. If they will be used in the snow, look for an MS (mud and snow) rating. Tread depth is important. There is a wear bar in the center of the tread. For the tire to perform properly in winter conditions, there should be 5 mm or more of tread from the wear bar. Check the age of your tires – even if the tire has a lot of tread, the rubber might be old and cracking. The Department o ... read more