Archive for July 2023A Real "Pane" (Window Maintenance and Repair)Posted July 23, 2023 11:54 AMIt's pretty frustrating when your driver's window won't work. You can't get your food at the drive-thru without opening the door, have a tough time using the ATM from your vehicle, can't have that fresh breeze blowing through your hair as you listen to your favorite road tunes. Plus, there's a safety factor. Your windows provide an escape route in case you need to get out and the doors won't work. Let's take a look at what's going on when your window won't operate. Most vehicles these days have power windows. They have an electric motor in each power window and sometimes those fail. They often give you a warning that they're on their last legs by making a noise or hesitating, so if you get a sign like that, have a technician check it out. Loss of power can also be due to a blown fuse, a bad switch or faulty wiring. All windows have something called a regulator that moves the glass up and down. They have a lot of moving parts in them which can break, become bent, rust or get out of alignment. The glass moves along a window track guide. Sometimes if the glass gets out of the track, it won't move up and down the way it's designed to do. When you take your vehicle over to a repair facility, a technician can pinpoint the cause of your malfunctioning window. Often it involves having to remove the door panel to gain access to the components inside. But when everything's working right, you'll be able to throw that annoying inconvenience right out the window. Lakeside Certified Auto Your Vehicle's Hissy Fit (AC System)Posted July 16, 2023 8:47 AMWhen you hear hissing sounds coming from your vehicle, you might start thinking the worst. One type of hissing coming from around your air conditioner may be a normal sound, or it could be a sign of serious trouble. First - the normal sound. When you turn off your vehicle, the refrigerant goes from its high-pressure side to the low-pressure side. Some of those noises are normal. But when it hisses all the time, that's another story. One cause could be that the refrigerant is leaking. Air conditioners are fairly complex systems that involve various pumps, hoses, valves and motors. When your air conditioner is cooling, the refrigerant changes from a gas to a liquid and back. That refrigerant is under pressure, and there are many places it can leak from. A hissing sound can also be a failed valve in your air conditioner's compressor. It is what controls the refrigerant's pressurization. It's important to have this fixed fairly quickly after it develops a problem because when it isn't, that can lead to more extensive—and expensive—repairs. If you hear screeching coming from your air conditioner at the same time you hear hissing, your compressor may be on its last legs. It could also be a defective clutch. Any time you hear a noise you haven't routinely heard before, bring your vehicle to us so a technician can check the various components and properly repair the problems. Air conditioning systems are complex and are best handled by a professional with the right tools and equipment. When your AC has a hissy fit, let us cool it off and you at the same time. Lakeside Certified Auto Heat and your Tires (Tire Pressure Monitoring System)Posted July 2, 2023 11:36 AMWith hotter weather and brutal heat waves becoming more common, the pressure in your vehicle's tires goes up. After all, heat causes air to expand, and the air in your tires follows the laws of physics. Overinflated tires can reduce your vehicle's traction, cause a hard, punishing ride and make your tires wear out faster; all are important safety issues. Four out of every ten drivers rarely check tire pressure. Some rely on their vehicle's tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) to keep an eye on proper tire inflation. But it's not designed to do that. TPMS is a safety feature that has been required on vehicles made in 2008 or later, using sensors in the wheels that alert you to tire pressure problems. That warning can be a light on your dash, a digital message or a readout of the pressure in each individual wheel. But a study showed that more than 40 percent of drivers don't even know what the tire pressure monitoring light symbol looks like! One looks like a horseshoe with an exclamation point in the middle. The other looks like an overhead view of your vehicle with the tires at all four corners. They may even show the inflation number (usually in pounds per square inch, or PSI). The TPMS is designed to alert you that your tires aren't inflated within certain parameters, but the system shouldn't be a substitute for frequently having your tires checked with a tire gauge. A TPMS light is only required to come on when a tire is 25 percent under the recommended tire pressure; by that time, you're driving on an unsafe tire and causing excessive wear. Have your vehicle checked regularly by our professionals, and that includes tire pressure checks. If you do see the tire pressure warning come on, have our service center look at it soon. You may have a tire with a problem or the TPMS system may not be working right. Either way, since your tires are the only contact your vehicle has with the road, your safety depends a great deal on your tires being in top shape and correctly inflated. Keep your tires properly inflated and your TPMS working to alert you of any problems. And that's not just a lot of hot air. Lakeside Certified Auto | ||
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