San Carlos Auto Repair

Unlike a check engine light, a maintenance required light is based strictly on a car’s mileage and when the light was previously reset. A qualified service technician can diagnose the car’s maintenance needs and provide the necessary services, such as changing the engine oil and oil filter or providing a general vehicle inspection. Since the maintenance required light has no way to determine the condition or level of the engine oil, it’s important to bring your car into a trusted auto shop to make the needed service changes. What Does a Flashing Maintenance Required Light Mean?  Every time you start the car, the maintenance required light will turn on for about six seconds to test the bulb, and then go out. A flashing maintenance required light comes on after 4,500 miles. This is an alert for you to make an appointment for car service because yo ... read more

Things You Need To Know If Your Car Overheats A long summer road trip, climbing up a grade, 100 degrees outside, car loaded up with luggage… this is a recipe for an overheating car! There are a few things you can do to stop your car from overheating. We are going to share four of them with you. 1. Be Aware Of Your Car’s Temperature Gauge - When the temperature gauge is resting half way between hot and cold, this is perfect (which is between 190-215*F or xx-xx*C). Any time the gauge exceeds that temperature, your car is starting to overheat.  You’ll want to glance at the gauge periodically and definitely more often when you are climbing, going faster than 70 mph, towing, or have a fully loaded car. If the gauge is creeping up or if you have any warning that the car is overheating, read below on what to do.  2. Turn Off The Air Conditioning - The car’s air conditioning compressor typica ... read more

3 Wet Weather Driving Tips You Need To Know As wet weather settles in, driving on the road becomes increasingly dangerous. Each year there are over 1.2 million accidents related to weather and of those, 73% due to wet pavement. In this article, we share 3 tips that you need to know before you get behind the wheel on a wet day. 1. Slow your vehicle speed: There was an old saying, "speed kills". Not to be over dramatic but lowering your speed is the number one thing that you can do to keep safe. When water on the roads is kicked up on your windshield, your visibility is drastically decreased. This lack of visibility impairs your reaction time to maneuver your vehicle quickly and avoid hazards. 2. Leave more distance:  When the roads are wet, the pavement friction is reduced by almost 1/2. The coefficient of dry payment is 0.7 while wet pavement is 0.4 for an "all weather" tire.  This tip is simply a matter of leavi ... read more

Toyota Sienna Safety Recall for Sliding Doors On Nov. 22, 2016, Toyota issued a safety recall for about 744,000 model year 2011 - 2016 Toyota Sienna Mini-Vans.  In certain vehicles, under certain conditions, it's possible that the sliding door locking mechanism could allow the door to slide open while vehicle is in motion.  The way these safety recalls work is that a limited about of vehicles are typically effected, not all vehicles. It's always best to check the manufacture website with your VIN# to see if your vehicle is one that is under the recall notice. Typically, the manufacture (Toyota in this case) will know which vehicles have the effected part and can just recall that specific vehicle with the faulty part. You can read further information and check to see if your vehicle is effected by this Toyota Sienna Safety Recall For Sliding Doors&nb ... read more

How To Install Snow Chains In this blog post, we have made a video guide on how to install snow chains. Please be sure to follow the chain and vehicle manufacture instructions, only use this information as a guide. There are a few things to remember when installing snow chains. Get your vehicle to a safe, flat, spot away from traffic. Don't drive the vehicle over the recommended miles per hour on the chains or by the vehicle manufacture. We recommend to install the chains on the wheels that drive the vehicle (i.e. front wheel drive would call for the chains to be installed on the front wheels of the vehicle.) Don't allow any sharp components to be facing the rubber tire. Never install chains that are missing components or have any visual damage. When it comes to the installation of the chains, if you are unsure about any of the procedure, make sure to get professional help.  Click to watch the ... read more

Learn How To Properly Jump Start A Dead Battery A dead battery will probably leave you stranded at least once in your life so it is important to learn how to properly jump-start a dead battery.   There are two common methods to jumpstart a dead battery. You can use the traditional battery jumper cables or a newer battery jumper pack. Each method requires a similar process but with the battery jumper cables, you will need a vehicle or another 12-volt battery.   The 8 Steps To Jump-Start A Dead Car Battery 1. Turn the ignition key off before making any connections. (if you are using battery jumper cables, leave one car running and remove the key from the dead car. Then make sure none of the jumper battery cable ends touch each other or any painted area of the car.)   2. Clamp the positive (red +) clamp onto the vehicle (red +) battery post. If you can't find the battery there will probably be a connection point under the hood ... read more

What does the battery light mean on my dash ? If the battery light comes on your dash which you are driving, that means there is a problem with the car's charging system. About 90% of the time, the alternator is under or over charging the battery. You probably have less than 15 minutes before the car will stop running. Can you drive with the battery light on? You can drive the car with the battery light on but you will only have on average 15 minutes. After roughly 15 minutes, your car will run out of electrical power and the car will stall.  What can you do when the battery light comes on while driving? Since the vehicle is only running on the power that is remaining in your car's battery, you will want to turn off all electrical components that allow you to still safely operate the car. Depending on the battery condition and the electrical loads on your system, you probably have about 10-20 minutes of driving until your vehicle ... read more

Learn if your small SUV headlights properly illuminate the road A recent study by the by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has concluded that many SUV do a poor job of illuminating the road. Among the 21 small SUVs that were tested, there were over 41 different available lighting options. They included halogen, HID, LED, Adaptive Headlights and a few other options manufacture options. The Insurance Institute used a headlight rating system which included acceptable, marginal, and poor. The Institutes rating system is different from the government agency which regulates headlight standards. In the government agency, they rate headlights in the lab for output and angle. In this study, they headlights are studied for illumination in real world situations. “Acceptable” ratings were given to the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, and the Mazda CX-3. Each of these vehicles had been tested with the highest lighting package available.  A few ... read more

How long should my car battery last? Car batteries last anywhere from 3-6 years based on the size, quality, location, and the type of battery.  Flooded Lead Acid Car Battery Most car batteries are still using lead acid flooded batteries. The battery consists of lead plates, an acid solution in which the plates are flooded, positive/negative terminals, and a plastic housing which holds it all together. Lead is known as a toxic agent and it will effect ones health but the battery companies still use lead. It’s a great material for maintaining a batteries’ charge, accepting a new charge, and the more lead a battery uses, usually the more energy it’s capable to hold. Size Of The Battery, Bigger is Usually Better The size of a car battery is rated to the amount of the Cold Cranking Amps that a car requires to start. A larger battery will typically last longer than a smaller battery but it certainly depends ... read more

Paul knows Toyota & Lexus Paul is our head Toyota and Lexus technician.     For over 11 years, Paul has been a Master technician with A+ Japanese Auto Repair in San Carlos focusing on Toyota and Lexus products. Many of the cars he works with daily includes Toyota Sienna Mini Vans, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Highlanders as well as the other vehicles on the Toyota line. Most of the Toyota vehicles that he repairs require not much more than service items. Those items might be brakes, timing belts, major and minor services, electrical diagnostic, air conditioning, and check engine light work. With amount of experience & training that he has on these vehicles, he is one of the top technicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. And of course Lexus. Lexus is actually owned by the Toyota corporation. Lexus is the higher end line for Toyota but they really share quite a few parts and posses the ... read more