Posts Tagged ‘car mechanics’

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Starting a car in the winter is a problem. Check out

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

You get up in the morning and your car won’t start. Its common. Check out what things you need to take care to avoid having this situation.

Check Your Battery

In Winter car battery gets discharged easily and it is common problem. Battery produces fewer electrons during cold weather, hence less energy to work with when it tries to start the engine, and this causes the engine to crank slowly.

Get your car better checked from your car mechanic if this is producing energy properly. Old batteries are to be replaced.

Use synthetic motor oils

In winter, oil gets a lot thicker. So, when you try to start a cold engine, the engine has to push around the cold oil and that makes it harder for the engine to spin. In really cold places people must use synthetic motor oils because these oils stay liquid in cold temperatures.

Check ignition switch
Faulty ignition system leads to starting problem. Try jiggling ignition key whilst turning it.

For free check up, you can search for nearest car service center

Search for car battery shops and buy cheaper one.
http://mericar.com/batteries.php

Source: http://auto.howstuffworks.com
- Car won’t start

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Puncture on the Road. Check Out Your Tools

Monday, January 16th, 2012

Yesterday when i left for the office, my car was punctured on the road. This time, I decided to change stepney tyre myself. I never did it myself earlier and called mechanic many times in similar situations. Here are some interesting things to learn from my mistakes. Just a basic stuff.

car breakdown

Flashing Lights
I put my car’s light in flashing state. It is important to make everybody know that my car has a problem on the road to avoid any traffic jam. I take car at the side of road.

Check Stepney Tyre
Firstly i checked if my stepney tyre is ok and have proper air pressure. There was less air but that was ok to make car reach to petrol pump.

Check out jack and tools
I found jack and one tool to screw jack. I put jack under the left tyre car body and started making car tyre free from surface. After 5 minutes, car was little up and tyre was free.

To my surprise, i could not find tool to un-screw nuts bolt and did mistake to make car tyre free without unscrew nuts and bolts of car tyre. My car was park near to Mandir and one driver was looking at me. I asked him about that unscrew tool. His car tool could not fit into my car’s nuts and bolt. Somebody told me that there is a car mechanic nearby. I walked to him and he given me that unscrew tool. It was a great help.

Next time i would keep all tools checked on a regular basis and will prepare myself for the same condition.

To find next car workshop nearby, you just need to logon http://www.mericar.com

To buy car breakdown services (if you do not want Do-It-Yourself), please buy car breakdown membership at http://www.mericar.com/hot_deals.php

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Why Do Car Mechanics Suggest for Extra Parts. Check out

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

It is very common that you go for car servicing at dealer workshop with minor running repairs but you get a bill with some parts changed without your knowledge. Most of the car owner has similar complaints.

Car Mechanic

Dealer workshops have many targets to meet. Targets of spare parts orders in a month. So, service managers get incentives to meet that target. It is obvious they would try to sell same parts to every car owner even if that is not required. Incentives to service manager leads to mal practices at workshops.
To avoid these problem, here are few things you can keep in mind.

1. Car Check up
Always go for car check up first and get assessment with estimated cost. It is in the report that which parts runs how much time. For example, service manager would say your break pad needs to be changed. There are chances that present condition of break pads may not worse but they recommend it do it now. Ask them few questions. You are the better judge!

2. Estimated Cost
All good car workshops offer estimated cost during car check up. Ask for labour charges, that makes difference as it varies from workshop to workshop. For your knowledge, dealer and independent workshop labour cost has 25 % to 50% labour cost difference.

3. Test Drive
Every good car workshop offer test drive after servicing. You must ask for test drive. If you find any problem during test drive, you can point out.

4. Extra Parts
Always go for genuine spare parts. Maruti offers genuine spare parts are Maruti Authorized Service Station and have strict guidelines to their service station of not using any spurious spares. Other brand Authorized service stations also have genuine spare parts, but ask to car workshop to show you spare parts they are using.

Next time your car mechanic suggests you replacement of new parts, you must have assessment ready if that is required or not. There is no formula to know but when you get assessment from 2 car workshops, then you may have fair idea.

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Go the Extra Mile with your Car

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Car manufacturers guide you with car servicing only for a period of 30,000 miles to 100,000 miles depending on the brand and the extent of the warranty period. Most often, the manufacturers might give you a periodical free service a few times. Most problems in cars occur only after this time, since by then various parts of your vehicle might have undergone wear and tear. Therefore, as a car owner, you need to exercise a good amount of care to ensure a long life for the car and its vital parts.

As a car owner, the best thing you need to do is to find a mechanic or service center who will periodically guide you with your car service needs. It will be very convenient if the service center occurs in midway between the regular route you often travel so that you need not make a separate visit to the mechanic at times of need. This will also ensure that you remember to service your car from time to time.

It goes without saying that besides regular maintenance of the vital parts, you should not neglect minor problems which might worsen if not attended ending up with a big bill.

Most cars are designed these days to run up to 500,000 miles. However, most people do not keep their cars for this long. However, if a proper car care is ensured, you can easily reach this mileage without having to change your car for a new one. In car maintenance, you can always remember the quote, “Trifles make perfection, but perfection is not a trifle.”

Little care on a regular basis can help your cars run the extra miles that others have not been able to cover. With a proper care, you have every reason to feel proud about your car and make others feel jealous about the condition of your car. While old cars can shine and run well with proper maintenance, even new cars can turn you down, if not properly attended to.

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About the author:

Vivek is a mechanical engineer and has more than 7 years of experience as a writer. He blogs about various topics; entrepreneurship being one. His interests range from poetry, music to photography and travel. He can be reached at sdkrdk@gmail.com

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Car workshop charges for unnecessary work (Survey)

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Notice your car repair bill next time, there are chances you may be charged for repair work your car may not require. In the recent survey in Canada, only 6 garages out of 19 those were able to detect the simple fault and rest charged for the work which was not required.

The Automobile Protection association, CTV’s W5 and our Consumer Specialist Lea Williams-Doherty put auto repair shops to the test. They did an undercover investigation to see if 19 garages could properly diagnose and repair a simple problem.

The problem should have been easy to detect and cheap to fix. The APA loosened one battery cable on two cars in otherwise perfect condition and took them to randomly selected repair shops.
A secret shopper told the garages that sometimes the cars just wouldn’t start. Of the 19 garages, only six passed the test by finding and tightening that loose cable.

It depends upon mechanics expertise and processes followed at car service centre. In Canada and other countries, you can find associations which monitor and is trying to standardize car repair shops, but there is no such automobile protection association in India. India lacks on trained manpower and scarcity of spares.

Providing reviews of car workshops are the solution to know the best car service centers. MeriCAR Reviews section is developed for the same purpose. It allows customers to review workshops based on certain criteria.

Source Survey:
http://calgary.ctv.ca

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