2) An adjustable wrench is necessary for loosening or tightening nuts and bolts. With that, a pair of pliers will come in handy. Tire change anyone?

3) Duct tape is handy in a pinch. If something is loose that shouldn’t be, you may be able to temporarily secure it with duct tape until you can get to an auto repair center.

4) A hammer may not have any obvious use, in auto repair, but sometimes you need a little extra force when something is stuck.

5) A first aid kit should be thought of as a must-have item for your auto. Hopefully, you never have to use it, but if you do, you’ll be so grateful you had the forethought to keep a first aid kit in your vehicle.

6) A multi-use car charger is very useful in an auto, especially when travelling a long way. Being able to power a device like your cell phone or laptop, or even USB-run devices from your car, can be indispensable when you’re on the road.

7) Water is the most basic human need, after oxygen. Don’t be caught on the side of a deserted road without a gallon or two of water in your trunk.

A flashlight is something we do not even generally think about until we need it. Make sure there is at least one working flashlight in your vehicle at all times, for nighttime emergencies.

9) Work gloves will protect your hands when you need to get under the hood, or wrangle something rough or hard.

10) Sunglasses are the last, but not least important item to keep in your vehicle. Snowy days, sunsets, and intense summer sunshine can all be cause for UV protection for the eyes. Take care of your eyes like you take care of your car.

The springs in a suspension system, or adjacent to a strut, dampen the impact of a bump or pothole. The strut prevents the springs from bouncing back and forth after a bump. Thus, the two work together to create a smoother ride. Shocks and struts also make for better control of the vehicle.

Some signs that your suspension system is in need of repair include 1) difficulty managing turns with bouncing or swaying, 2) hitting hard on bumps, 3) an appearance that the rear end is lowered, 4) the rear end drops with pressing the gas and 5) the front end drops with pressing the brake.

Keeping your shocks and struts in good repair not only makes for a smoother ride, but can also help protect damage from occurring to the steering linkage, the CV joints, the ball joints, and even the tires, due to suspension problems.

Anytime you go into your Utah auto repair center for repair or simple maintenance, it doesn’t take much for a quick check of the shocks and struts. So, next time you get an oil change, ask the mechanic to have a look. Maintaining your suspension system is always preferable to later more expensive repairs.

Reading your auto manual’s recommendations for fluid flushing can save you time and expense by making sure you do not do unnecessary flushing. Some fluid flushing can be very expensive as auto repair centers have to buy machines to perform flushes and they have to make their investment worthwhile.

A fluid change simply means that the fluid is drained and then replaced. But a flush actually uses suction to ensure that all the sludge, if any, gets sucked out with the drained fluid, leaving a cleaner fluid tank. But while some of these flushes are not that expensive, like $30 for a radiator coolant flush, others are quite costly, like $150 for the transmission fluid flush.

To save money and unnecessary hassle, write down the recommended intervals for flushing fluids, as detailed in your owner’s manual. Then, keep track of specifically when you get these things done. It would be helpful to keep this list with your manual in your car, so if an auto repair center suggests a flush, you can quickly check for the last flush date and the frequency recommended.

If you would like to do a flush on your own at home, you will not get near the efficiency of a machine flush, but you can remove quite a bit of the old fluid with this method. For any of the fluids with an accessible reservoir with a wide enough opening, you can use a turkey baster to siphon out dirty fluid. Take out as much as you can and then replace the dirty fluid with clean fluid.

Do this again in a few weeks, when the fluid shows dirty, and again every few weeks for a couple months or so. Once the fluid remains clean for a few weeks, it means you have flushed out most of the old fluid for only the cost of the turkey baster and the replacement fluid.

The emissions are the amount of pollutants that leave the exhaust. This is the waste created by the burning of the fuel in the engine. In a brand new car, the exhaust is usually minimal. But as a car ages, it becomes less efficient and increasingly dirty in its emissions.

If an engine is burning up oil due to damage, it can greatly add to the emissions coming from the exhaust. Countries have regulations for these because with millions upon millions of cars in one country, that makes for a tremendous amount of pollution.

An example of an international difference between emissions standards is the old version of the Volkswagen Beetle. The older version, even when new, creates too much pollution from its exhaust for the United States standards. So, the U.S. ended production of that older version some time ago. However, Mexico did not share the same standards. So, VW manufactured them out there instead.

Vehicle safety inspection helps protect individuals from dangerous situations like a cracked windshield or brakes that are wearing too thin. Sometimes safety inspections are only required every other year.

In many states, registration cannot be completed until the emissions and safety inspections have both been passed. The owner of the vehicle gets a form from the auto center reporting the vehicle has passed. Then the owner must bring this to the Department of Motor Vehicles to register.

Each state has different laws and regulations for this process, and some do not even have to do inspections. But in Utah, emissions and inspections are something every vehicle owner must comply with, in order to maintain the right to drive a vehicle.

An owner’s manual is an intimidating, Bible-sized book that seems overwhelming just to look at. But it offers a wealth of information specific to the make and model of your auto and can tell you what steps you need to take to maintain your vehicle: what needs to be done and when it needs doing.

For starters, no matter what you drive, you should get the oil changed every 3,000 miles. This can prevent the very destruction of the engine itself, with engine rebuilding or even total replacement often necessary when oil changes are neglected.

Your auto manual will tell you how often your vehicle’s spark plugs should be changed, the radiator coolant flushed, the transmission flushed, belts replaced, and more. Coolant replacement may be different from vehicle to vehicle, but should generally be performed every year.

You can easily change your own radiator coolant by unhooking the hose and letting the fluid leak into a pan. Reconnect the hose carefully and securely and fill the radiator to the fill line. You can also change your oil, while you’re at it, if you can get your car hoisted up enough to get under it safely.

You can check the spark plugs yourself, every few months. Using a socket wrench, take off the sockets that hold the cover on your engine. Unscrew the first spark plug and look at the connection. Is it burned or white? If so, it needs a replacement.

If there is ample oil on the spark plug, there may be a problem a mechanic will have to examine. Make sure when you replace the spark plugs to place them in straight, protecting the tip from colliding with anything. These simple maintenance tasks can save you tremendous headaches later if done when your manufacturer recommends them. And for those maintenance tasks you cannot do yourself, make sure you make that appointment with your favorite Utah auto repair center and get your maintenance done on time.

Starting with the brake fluid, it is wise to regularly check the fluid levels, in case of a leak. When you check your oil and other fluid levels, check the brake fluid at the same time, as a habit. Aside from just looking at the level of fluid, examine the color as well. If fluid is a milky color, condensation or water has contaminated the fluid.

If the fluid is contaminated, it can damage or destroy the master cylinder of the brake system. It also damages the wheel cylinders.  For that reason, it is vital to change contaminated fluid as soon as it is discovered.

In order to change the fluid, recruit a helper. One person needs to be inside the vehicle pumping the brake pedal. This puts pressure through the brake lines. Have the person count pushing down once, twice, three times, then four and hold down on the fourth time.

With the other individual positioned at the bleeder valve, that person needs to open the bleeder valve. This will allow any air to escape. Add the fluid. Once it starts flowing through, close the bleeder valve. You should repeat these steps for each of the remaining wheels.

Finally, you can check your own brake pads, to know when it is time to have them replaced. You will simply need to take the tires off to inspect the pads. If they are wearing thin, it is time to get them replaced. Check with your favorite Utah auto repair center to have this done.

Well, if you have a friend, or have flagged someone down to help you, you can jump that car battery and drive it to a Utah auto repair center or parts store. Following a few simple steps, you can get the car running safely.

It is very important to first understand that the cables must be attached correctly. If you mix up the cables you can do some serious damage to both vehicles. Beyond that, it isn’t too complicated or intimidating.

With both cars turned off, look at the battery to find the positive “+” and negative “-“ sides. Some new cars have a red cover over the positive side. Attach the red cable to the positive side of the battery in your friend’s car. Now take the other end of the red cable and attach it to the positive side of your dead battery. Positive to positive is the rule. Now move on to the black cable.

Hook one end of the black cable to the negative side of the good battery. Take the opposite end and attach it to some unpainted metal on the dead car. This is for grounding purposes. It never hurts to double check your work: Positive to positive and negative to ground.

Now, turn on the car with the good battery. Let it run a minute, before you attempt to start the other car. This will allow a little extra charge to build up in the dead battery. Once you have the car running again, it is recommended that you drive straight to somewhere you can have that battery checked. A final note: When disconnecting the cables, be sure to prevent the ends of the cables from touching each other when one end is still attached to a battery. Good luck!

At an auto parts center, purchase the new spark plugs you will use to replace the old ones. Take your car or truck home and let it cool down completely. The spark plugs can get extremely hot. Referring back to the owner’s manual, locate your spark plugs.

Using a spark plug wire puller, or your hands if you do not have one, pull the wire from the small cap (boot) where it hooks up to the engine. Don’t pull the wire itself, or you may damage it.

Using a socket wrench, and a swivel joint or extension if needed, get a good grip on the spark plug socket. Turn the socket wrench counterclockwise until the spark plug comes free. Before you put the new one in, make sure the hole is clean, using compressed alcohol or rubbing alcohol if needed.

Using just your hand, to start with, place the new spark plug and tighten it as well as you can. When you can’t tighten it anymore by hand, use the socket wrench to finish the job. Wait! You’re not done yet. You need to reconnect the spark plug wire by attaching it to the new spark plug. After you replace the other spark plugs, you are finished!

With noises that occur in just one or more, but not all, driving modes, it may be the ring and pinion gears.  But if the noise is common to all drive modes, it could be the wheel bearings or just the tires causing the sound.
One way you can be almost sure it is just the tires is if the speed or type of road surface changes the noise. With tires, the tone of the noise will typically lower along with the speeds.

Going back to the axle itself, it the noise you hear is louder on turns, you might be looking at a problem with the axle wheel bearings. If you hear a distinctive clunk, when changing speeds, it could be one of three things: worn differential shaft, worn thrust washers, or worn U-joints.

Vibration, rather than noise, could be several different things. It could just be the tires, but it could also be a damaged drive shaft, a problem with the shaft bearings, loose parts like the pinion gear nut or wheel lug nuts, a bent axle shaft (did you hit a curb recently?), worn U-joints, or a problem with the pinion.

With axle noise, axle gear noise, and other issues you have linked directly to the axle, there are many other potential problems from lubricant issues to something more serious. If you have ruled out some of the more basic issues like loose lug nuts or damaged tires, you may need to look to an auto shop to help you with the diagnosis of the problem.

But those who take their cars for granted may face an ugly surprise in the winter months, a time when hidden issues have a tendency of suddenly making themselves known. A little pre-winter checkup can help prevent a cold stay on the side of the road.

Start with some new quality windshield wipers. If a good enough snow storm starts up, and your wiper blades are faulty, you may literally be unable to see to drive. So replacing them at the beginning of winter is a great plan.

Check your tires. Winter tires for winter months are highly recommended. Standard tires just do not have the grip and water channeling capability that snow tires have in those winter weather conditions. Additionally, if your tires are on the older side, or are low on tread, the cold weather could finish them off. Changing a tire in December just isn’t the same experience as it is in June.

Antifreeze is affordable and very important for keeping the car running in the cold. Many Utah auto repair centers will check your antifreeze levels without charging you for it, if you don’t know how to do it yourself.

Check battery function. A battery that is on its way out can generally hold on longer, in the warmer months. All of a sudden, one cold day, you may go out to the work parking lot and find that your car will not start.

Going back to the windshield, as visibility is somewhat important, make sure that the washer fluid is kept at appropriate levels as well. Utah auto shops have washer fluid that helps de-ice the windshield in frosty conditions. And it probably wouldn’t hurt to have them run a basic tune-up on the car, while you’re there, to make sure your auto is ready for winter.