Van Nuys Auto Repair & Service Center

Do You Trust Your Auto Mechanic? Industry veteran, Jack Bulko, offers up a crash course on how to get the best possible experience out of your auto shop -- while avoiding being scammed. by Gregg Rosenzweig, Published April 04, 2013 In his 34 years in business, auto-shop owner Jack Bulko has seen (and heard) it all. His shop, One reason his shop gets stellar ratings and reviews on all the local search sites that matter (including ours). I recently sat down with Bulko at his shop in Van Nuys, Calif., where he bestowed his knowledge and expertise to help you, the customer, get the most out of your auto-shop experience. Lucky you. Auto Mechanic With Wrench Q & A With Jack Bulko, Owner of AutoAid Auto Repair & Service: If you were looking for an auto shop, what would be the first criteria you'd use as a customer? Jack: My first criteria would be longevity in the business. Another being AAA (Automobile Club of America) approved. Reviews. Today we're a review-driven society an ... read more

Men at work at AutoAid

When a Check Engine light illuminates on your dash, unless there's an immediate and noticeable change in the way the car performs, Don't Panic. The emissions system is detecting a fault in the system which stores a code in the vehicle computer for the technician to read and decipher. This light may come on and turn off, come on and stay on or flash. If it flashes, it's a more urgent message to have it checked. If not, get it in to AutoAid as soon as practical. Some check engine lights may cause the vehicle to stall, mis-shift lose power while others may have no noticeable effect. Best practices: Have it checked for your peace of mind

When you think about your car's air filter, you probably think of something that's under your hood. Something that gets changed along with your regular scheduled service visits, and otherwise doesn't require much thought. Well, today we want to talk a little about the other air filter found in many of today’s newer cars, the cabin air filter. Ask the average driver on the road and they may not know that such a thing exists. Not only does it exist, it's also an essential part of a car's ventilation system! Your cabin air filter helps stop allergens and pollutants from reaching the inside of your car - and more importantly, from reaching the sensitive noses of drivers and passengers like you and your family. Why cabin air filters? If you're one of the millions of drivers who suffer from allergies, you probably drive with the windows up and the A/C on (weather permitting, of course), thinking you're safe from pollutants floating about in the air outside... well, you're wrong! You may be ... read more

Every sedan on CA highways has a differential, and it is essential to the proper operation of the vehicle, but most Van Nuys drivers don’t have a clue what it is. The differential compensates for differing wheel speeds. For example, when you turn, the inside tire on the turn travels a much shorter distance than the outside wheel. So the inside wheel of the sedan must move at a slower speed than the outside wheel. Without a differential, the wheels would hop and scrape while turning. Have you ever seen the large bugle-shaped object in the middle of the rear axle of a truck? That’s the differential. In a rear-wheel drive vehicle, the differential is located on the back axle. Four-wheel drive vehicles and SUV’s have differentials on both the front and the rear axle. You might expect that the differential is located on the front axle of a front-wheel drive vehicle. You’d be rig ... read more

When all of a vehicle’s wheels are lined up exactly with each other, your wheels are in alignment. Hitting a road hazard or even just the normal bumps and bounces of everyday driving in Sherman Oaks can cause your sedan's wheels to be out of alignment. Driving for an extended time in Sherman Oaks when you’re out of alignment causes your sedan's tires to wear unevenly and excessively – perhaps causing you to have to replace tires years too early or even lead to a blowout: Dangerous … and expensive. It can also cause prematrue wear to your suspension system, which can be really expensive. Here are some alignment basics: The ideal alignment for your sedan was designed by its engineers. Alignment service at AutoAid & Rescue starts with an inspection of the steering and suspension – to see if anything’s bent or broken. Then the Sherman Oaks technician will look at tire conditio ... read more

Hello, welcome to AutoAid & Rescue. Today's topic is batteries. It seems like everything in Encino runs on batteries. Of course, the batteries we’re most concerned with here at AutoAid & Rescue are those in our vehicles. Car batteries wear out just like any other battery and need to be replaced. There are a couple of things Encino drivers should know when looking for a new battery. There are two measurements that come into play: one is cold cranking amps and the other is reserve capacity. Let’s start with cold cranking amps. This can be thought of as the power output used to start a cold engine. The number of cold cranking amps you need depends on your vehicle and where you live, specifically how cold it is where you live. The two factors are that the colder your sedan's engine is, the more power it takes to turn the engine over ... read more

Hello Tarzana, let's talk about brakes. Braking, as all Tarzana drivers know,is slowing or stopping a vehicle. As you can imagine, brakes are engineered to work well on a particular vehicle application. For example, you would expect more powerful brakes on a heavy-duty pickup that routinely hauls big loads and pulls trailers, than you would on a compact car. And a Corvette that can go over 180 miles per hour would have much different braking needs than the family mini-van you drive around Tarzana. But the mechanical aspects of the brakes themselves are just one issue. There’s also the power brake pump and brake fluid. And then there are the tires, which are critical to the effectiveness of the brakes. Let’s step back. A new sedan or truck rolls off a local Tarzana dealer showroom floor. It has brand new brakes wi ... read more

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