Auto Repair Tempe

Cracked dashboards are nothing new here in the hot Valley sun. We've all seen (or experienced) either a single crack or something that looks like an aerial map of the Grand Canyon. What can be done? There are basically four options. 1) Have it repaired in place. There's usually some kind of colored filler applied and shaped to cover the cracks. The price varies on this, and so does the quality of the results. I've seen pretty good, and pretty bad. If you can locate someone who's good and priced right, you might give it try. 2) Replace the whole dash with a new one. The results are stunning, and so is the price. This is probably the most labor intensive and expensive solution. 3) Install a cloth dash cover/mat. This can be effective, and even attractive when done well. The price is often acceptable and with a couple of hours to install it, this is also worth considering. 4) Install a new dash skin. This can give you similar results to replacing the dash with a new one, with only a ... read more

  Thank you, crazy car people! exclaimed Jerry Seinfeld as he walked on stage at todays Gooding & Company auction. Next to Sundays Amelia Island Concours, the Seinfeld show was the weekends most eagerly anticipated event. The Show was a lot of 18 cars mostly Porsches that the comedian was selling from his collection. By 1 p.m. on Friday, the large Gooding tent held a standing-room-only crowd. The portable air conditioners were incapable of overcoming the human heat load, so people stood there, fanning themselves and waiting for the celebrity. Seinfeld did not disappoint. His opening line drew applause as did the follow up explanation. I wanted to be with here with you, he said, with the people who enjoy these cars. I want to see joy on the faces of the winning bidders. If it could have, the crowd would have hugged him and then kissed him when he said, Im not a collector to make money. Auctioneer Charlie Ross, a sharp-witted Brit who knows how to work a crowd, pounced on Sein ... read more

Ever wondered how many explosions occur inside the engine of your car per minute? Well, A 4-cylinder engine car produces 4,000 controlled explosions per minute inside its engine; as it cruises along the highway at 50 mph the spark plugs ignite a fuel-air mixture in each of the cylinders in order to propel the car down the road. Huge amounts of heat will obviously be produced in the process, which if not controlled, can destroy the engine in minutes. The purpose of the cooling system is to regulate these temperatures. Modern cooling systems have not changed much compared to the traditional systems. Although they've definitely become more efficient and reliable, the cooling system basically consists of a liquid coolant circulating through the engine. This coolant is then taken to a radiator, which cools it using air streams entering from the front grill of the car. The cooling systems of today are designed to maintain a constant temperature ... read more

The new Acura NSX is all about immediacy. It uses electric torque, class-leading chassis rigidity and next-level all-wheel drive electronics to ensure it responds to inputs with urgency. But for a car that goes so stinkin' fast, it sure took it's sweet time to get here. Then again, perhaps the one thing you can't rush is greatness, and that's what we're about to find out. Let's take a look now! VEHICLE TYPE: mid-engine, front- and mid-motor, 4-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door coupe ESTIMATED BASE PRICE: $155,000 ENGINE TYPE: twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve V-6, aluminum block and heads, port and direct fuel injection DISPLACEMENT: 213 cu in, 3493 cc Power: 500 hp @ 7500 rpm Torque: 406 lb-ft @ 2000 rpm Mid Motor: permanent-magnet synchronous AC, 50 hp, 109 lb-ft Front Motors: two permanent-magnet synchronous AC, 36 hp, 54 lb-ft (each) Total System Power: 573 hp TRANSMISSIONS: F: 1-speed direct drive; M: 9-speed dual-clutch automatic with ma ... read more

Vehicles today are quite complex and diagnosing them requires highly-trained, skilled, and well-equipped personnel. Unfortunately, many vehicle repair shops have failed to keep up. Often the repairs needed on vehicles are over their heads. Some fraudulent shops love to push clients to buy replacement shock absorbers and MacPherson struts. However, these fraudulent shops are a tiny portion of the auto repair industry. Original Replacement Parts Vehicle manufacturers use high-quality MacPherson struts and shock absorbers. Original parts are designed to last over 100,000 miles. The products fraudulent shops push to customers are often purely for profit-generating purposes as opposed to the their real needs. In many instances, the high-quality original part is replaced with an inferior-quality part. What Is The Difference Between MacPherson Struts and Shock Absorbers? The differences between the two are subtle. The role of sho ... read more

A lot of us are "do it yourselfers" when it comes to some of our automotive maintenance chores. If this applies to you, it's good to know you have to be careful with some of these chores so as not to do more harm than good. This especially applies to anything involving your electrical system. One wrong move could potentially damage some of your computer-based systems, and that's a recipe for a lot of very expensive parts and labor auto repair bills! Watch Scotty Kilmer, a mechanic for the last 46 years, as he shows how you can work on your car's electrical system WITHOUT shorting things out and causing further damage. A few simple precautions is all that's needed, and this video shows them to you. NOTE: Working on your own vehicle's electrical system is NOT something we recommend. However, if you're determined to do so, please take these precautions seriously

We just passed the 30th anniversary of the original Back To The Future movie. (30 years?! Seriously?!) Obviously, for car buffs this immediately brings to mind the ultimate time machine...the DeLorean! (With the flux capacitor option, of course.) Today we look at the history of that iconic car, made in Belfast, with its sleek stainless steel exterior and gull wing doors. Every once in awhile you can even find one of these for sale on the used market! Your next car maybe? :)

You probably take them for granted. You're constantly checking it to see how fast or slow you're going. You check it to see how much gasoline you have left, or how far you've traveled. It's your instrument cluster! They range from the clean and simple to astoundingly complex. Ever wonder what all those indicator lights in the instrument cluster mean? What other functions does it perform? The instrument cluster typically displays vehicle speed, engine speed, coolant temperature, fuel level, oil pressure, gear range, elapsed distance and battery voltage. Some vehicles may not display all of these parameters. Indicator lamps alert drivers to conditions such as low fluid levels, overheating, and other potential issues. Also, the instrument cluster may be part of the vehicle communication network where it coordinates information from various vehicle computers. Key components of the instrument cluster include: - Gauges - Warning Indicators - Switches - S ... read more