The following tips work with every vehicle. They are not so much applicable to the fixing of a particular problem as they are applicable to just working on your car. That being said, they can make an absolutely huge difference between a successful repair and time spent throwing things and creating new cuss words!

Map It

Repair guides are full of tons of helpful information. The one thing they will rarely tell you is that you need to map the parts. Lay out a rag near where you are working. As you take things off the car, place them in a particular order across the rag. I go left to right and top to bottom like reading a book. The particularly mapping technique doesn’t really matter so long as you have some order. By doing this, you’ll know what order the parts go back on when you starting putting things back together. This sounds like a simple thing, but trust me when I say it will save you endless headaches.

Break Time!

If you start getting tired when doing a car repair, it is time for a break. Tired, cranky DIY mechanics nearly always make mistakes. Back away from the vehicle if you are getting tired or frustrated. Go grab an adult beverage and a bite to eat in the kitchen. Clear your mind and then come back and finish the job. This simple act will cut out about 90 percent of the “frustration” errors people commonly make.

Neutral!

Place the car in neutral when working on it. Use the parking break and a tire barrier to keep the car from moving. Why neutral? A couple of reasons. First, some engine components will only unlock when the car is in neutral. Second, you won’t start the car after a long repair while it is in gear! The longer the repair, the more likely you are to flip the starter and have the car jump forward. It is just the way things work!

After years of working on cars, these are three bits of wisdom I can impart to you. Follow them and even the toughest DIY auto repair can be done with a minimum of fuss.

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Do Your Research Online Before Walk Into a Shop – If you do your research online first before you make your appointment to get your car fixed, then you can avoid some of the repair shops that are already known to have bad reputations. There are a few important places you can check to make sure you are avoiding the worst repair shops.

Check With The Better Business Bureau – Checking with the BBB will help you to make sure that others haven’t complained or listed any problems with unethical behavior from the auto repair shop that you are considering. This is an important place to check with first, before you do any other research.

Look For Reviews Online of Repair Shops in Your Area – There are more and more review sources popping up online that provide reviews of businesses in your area. One of the more popular businesses that is both reviewed and that reviews are searched for are auto repair shops.

Not All Car Repair Review Sources Are Equal – Some of the review sources online make it so easy to post reviews, that the reviews are easily manipulated by either the businesses being reviewed or by angry customers who want to post more than one negative review. This can slant your view of the company unfairly one way or the other.

Try a Paid Membership Review Site – Some of the most reputable review sources online are the paid membership review sites. With a paid review site, the reviews can be tracked and monitored for accuracy and honesty. The businesses can have a chance to defend their point of view and you can be more sure that you are getting a more accurate picture of the repair shop.

See Reviews of Car Repair Shops in your area.

Save time and money by using one of my top recommended review sources before you decide which auto repair company to work with.

Waiting for a serious vehicle problem is not a good course of action. A small problem can turn into an expensive problem. Fortunately, the transmission is like the car engine – give it some regular attention and you can avoid most problems. Yet it’s not unusual for people to perform routine maintenance on the engine or air conditioner and then proceed to ignore the transmission.

Extend Transmission Life

The kinds of transmission maintenance services which can extend the life of your transmission are not complicated…if you know what you are doing and have the right tools. A trained Mobile Car Care service technician can satisfy both requirements and add the convenience of doing regular maintenance on your car wherever you would like it done.

For businesses, maintaining the transmissions in fleet vehicles is even more important. Business vehicles are driven many miles in a variety of circumstances including up and down hills and in congested traffic requiring a lot of speed changes. Fleet vehicles are also driven by a variety of people and each person has a different driving style. Proper maintenance of the transmissions in the fleet vehicles can keep your cars and vans on the road where they are making the company money.

Regular transmission services may include the following.

* Check transmission fluid levels
* Change fluid and filter per maintenance schedule
* Change fluid in torque converter
* Check transmission sensors
* Check modulator valves
* Clean transmission using specialty cleaning fluid

A transmission should be flushed every 15,000 to 20,000 miles. If you don’t put many miles on the vehicle the rule of thumb is to flush the transmission every 2 years minimum. The Mobile Car Care van comes equipped with the necessary portable equipment which is called a transmission flush machine.

On the Spot

Letting Mobile Car Care take care of your transmission needs provides some assurances you are getting the job done right. Though some try to do this kind of maintenance on their own, it’s best to leave it to the professionals.

* Clean job without messy spills
* Able to check for signs of problems during fluid change such as metal shavings
* Able to check for signs transmission is developing problems which could lead to future problem
* Insures correct fluid is used for the make of vehicle and transmission

Making sure your transmission gets regular maintenance can save you a lot of money and problems over time. Unfortunately it is often one of those simple maintenance chores that doesn’t get done as frequently as it should. Mobile Car Care offers convenience and high quality transmission maintenance services on the spot….the spot where the vehicle sits no matter where that may be.

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