When you are having trouble with your car or truck starting and you open the hood up to take a peek to see this....you'll see what an overly corroded battery looks like. This happens naturally over time on vehicle battery terminals. If you are like 99% of normal Ithaca drivers, you don't check your oil or your battery so you don't keep an eye on the amount of corrosion that's building up on your car or truck battery. Here at Autoworks, we do and there are solvents that we can use here in the shop during a battery maintenance service that will help slow the corrosion process but nothing that can prevent it 100%. Way before it gets to this point, we will be suggesting you consider replacing the battery.
If you drive a Jaguar, BMW, Land Rover, Porsche, Subaru, or other luxury or performance vehicle, the last thing you want to do is start your engine to be met with the sound of a screeching drive belt. Fortunately, we at Autoworks in Ithaca, NY have you covered.
It doesn't matter if you are driving a car or truck, jeep or SUV, a diesel 4x4 or a classic when those dash warning lights go off the first thing you do is think "how bad is it?" and "how much will it cost me?" followed quickly by "when was my last service visit?"!! Driving your vehicle longer safely is all about getting it serviced based on what your vehicle manual recommends and these warning lights are alerting you to a situation that requires your attention.
While not all warning lights are a sign that disaster is imminent, no warning indicator light should ever be ignored!
Here at Autoworks in Ithaca we often do diagnostics and sometimes the problem is obvious after hooking the car up to the computer and reading the codes. However, sometimes it isn't obvious during a test drive or after hooking it up to all those computer programs! You know there is a problem and a Check Engine Light is on with the fleet customer telling you the car has been having issues starting and the light has been going off and on depending on several factors. No pattern, no simple answer but the problem becomes obvious when you start following the "threads of the issue" thanks to all that ASE Technician training.
Don’t you hate it when potholes sneak up on you? There is a lot of money being spent on vehicle damage due to potholes. Do you know what parts of your car could receive the most damage.
There is a reason we check your brake fluid when you come in for a service check. Maintenance pays big dividends and we want to avoid high repair costs for our Ithaca drivers. Did you know that brake service isn't just all about the brake pads, drums & rotors? That we have found low brake fluid to be the cause of a large percentage of brake issues here at Autoworks? Seriously, brake fluid is an important part of your braking system and with your service intervals being less frequent on the newer vehicles 5,000-10,000 more miles this has become an issue! Why?...
Repairs are costly and we all want to avoid them including our team here at Autoworks! It's our job and we take it seriously. Here, it is all about keeping your car or truck serviced and looking for problems "before" they happen to avoid those high repair costs and ensuring you avoid any breakdowns when it's hot outside or cold outside as either is a problem for our Ithaca drivers! Nobody can forsee a flat tire or blowout due to running over a nail, but we can avoid some of the regular issues we see all the time such as....
Sometimes it is EASY to see if your car or truck needs to come into our shop for professional repairs!
1. You see steam rising from the engine!
2. The Check Engine Light is on!
3. The engine starts, but there is an odor that is not right.
4. You hear grinding or thumping noises.
