Japanese automotive specialists since 1980
Is there a yellow or orange light on your dash that looks like a car? Maybe there’s a traffic cone behind the car? Perhaps a little star or cartoon looking impact “POW!” icon above the cone? What does it mean and why is does it say “OFF”? If you want to know what this warning …
The most common cause of a P0102 on a 2010-2015 Toyota Prius is user error. How does it happen? Maybe an oil change place wanted to check the air filter, or maybe an owner wanted to service the throttle body. Regardless of how it happened, the most likely cause of a P0102 is an unplugged …
From time to time we find bullets in cars. Usually, they’re fired into the car. (I know. Welcome to the Bay Area.) This time the bullet had clearly fallen from the sky, since it was mostly undamaged. If you’re one of the people who shoot in their backyard on the 4th (or any other time), …
In case you didn’t know, there are 3 types of motor oil: conventional, semi-synthetic, and full synthetic. Up until now, we have serviced some cars with conventional and some cars with full synthetic. Most older engines were fine with conventional oil, and there was no advantage to using synthetic, provided the car was operated under …
Every person has a tipping point, when an auto repair expense is just a little to high to justify. And let’s face it: a newer car is usually going to be more reliable, be safer, have lower emissions, and have more features. While fixing your old car is almost always the cheapest option, your time, …
What should you do if you accidentally fill your gas car with diesel? This is a problem we address every few months. Usually a new driver borrows a car and does the responsible thing – fills it up before returning it to the owner. Which nozzle to use? Well, the green one looks good. Oh, …
Converter Theft is out of control Having your catalytic converter stolen is bad luck. Having it stolen 4 times in a row? Well, that’s living in Berkeley with Gen2 Prius. That’s exactly what happened to one of our customers. In case you’re thinking of blaming the victim and saying, “Well everyone knows Prius converters are …
We’ve been talking people out of anti-theft devices for the Gen3 Prius (2010-2015) for one simple reason: we’d never seen one stolen. Why go to the expense of installing an anti-theft system if theft isn’t an issue? Also, having an anti-theft device on your Prius will add to the costs of some types of future …
Why do Subaru Lug Studs Keep Breaking? The Problem With Subaru Lug Nuts Occasionally a lug nut gets stuck and the lug stud snaps off when you try to remove it. This is a normal part of auto repair. Sometimes it’s because the car came from somewhere with snow and salt. Or it might be …
The real cost of ignoring an ABS light When money’s tight, ABS lights tend to be ignored. Unlike the check engine light, California doesn’t require these systems work in order to re-register your car. As long as you’re not polluting the environment, you’re welcome to endanger yourself and others. But are you? Endangering others that …
My Prius doesn’t turn off when I press the power button The 2004-2009 Prius has a common issue that can make it impossible to turn the car off in the normal way. Here’s how you can turn your Prius off if this happens to you. Insert the Smart key into the key slot in the …
Wiper blades What’s important? Not all wiper blades are created equal. There are several things to consider when selecting a new windshield wiper. The design of the blade body The quality of the latch mechanism The quality of the rubber wiper insert The windshield wiper body Metal wiper blades are still the best. You might …
Are we regressing? I’m kind of shocked that this is a point of debate in our industry. For years nearly every shop has automatically replaced the rubber valve stems when replacing a tire. The reason is simple: a bad valve stem can cause the tire to go flat, and a customer isn’t going to differentiate …
How to decide what to do when your car overheats Overheating is really bad news and can quickly cause serious and costly damage to your motor. When is it safe to let the car cool down and drive to the shop and when should you call a tow truck? What you decide can mean the …
Some of the least common services and repairs cost the most to equip for Tooling up to be able to offer all of the same services as a dealership is expensive. Most auto repair shops are content to provide around 90% of the services and refer the car back to the dealership when it needs …
How to reset the maintenance required light This procedure for the Prius maintenance reset will apply to 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 To skip ahead to the procedure, click here Like I’ve mentioned before, the maintenance required message indicates that the car is due for an oil change, but it doesn’t mean that’s all …
This falls under the “really old news category”, but I’m writing it for a reason. I just had a customer call in to schedule a 5K service because her maint req light was on. When I checked her file, we had just done a service about 2,000 miles ago. Oops! I know, it’s lame. Anyway, …
I told you so! Anyone who has asked me which low-cost used cars are good will recognize this list. While I don’t agree with everything Consumer Reports about everything, in fact I think they’ve made a couple small errors in this selection, I do think they got it right overall. There may be a bit …
.Now that we’re finally nearing the end of the shelter-in-place, and more people are starting to go back to work, many are finding their car won’t start. We’re getting a lot of calls every morning with this complaint, so I’m going to offer a little guidance in this short post. What kind of no-start? First, …
You may be familiar with the “wayback machine”. If not, you should be! It’s an archive of the internet. Yep, the whole thing. For how long? You guessed it – way back. Anyway, as I was updating our website and and proudly showing off my work, one of my co-workers said, “I dunno. Looks OK …