Bryan Auto Repair

Why is my Tire light on? Well that is a great question. Today’s cars have tire monitoring systems (known as TPMS Tire Pressure Monitoring System) that help you know when a tire is getting low on air. This stems from safety issues in the past that caused a great deal of damage and even death. The light comes on to let you know that one or more tires are below/above a safe pressure level; this allows you to make adjustments as needed to keep you and your car in safe working order. In addition to safety, the TPMS also has another benefit: it saves on fuel and helps tires last longer. How Does it Work? Well there are 2 systems that monitor tire pressure. Indirect TPMS and Direct TPMS. Both do a remarkable job, but work completely different ways. Indirect systems rely on the ABS wheel speed sensors to monitor tire rotation. A low tire or an over-inflated tire will have a different circumference than the properly inflated tires. This causes a slight difference in tire RPM and turns on ... read more

“Why isn’t my car ac blowing cold”? This is a common question. You could need your A/C System repaired. The air conditioner on your car or truck has basically 2 systems: the mechanical side and the refrigerant side. On the mechanical side we have drive belts, duct work and vent doors, electrical controls, switches, and fans that tell the system when to come on and how cold or hot you desire. Any of these things can and do cause your A/C and heating system to not work like they should. Next we have the refrigerant side. This is where the magic happens…Well, it really is science, but still pretty cool stuff (pun intended). When you take a refrigerant and pump it through a mechanical orifice, it creates a pressure differential. Pressure generally equates to temperature as well. It changes from a liquid to a gas state creating a massive temperature drop. If that then flows into an evaporator, air flow will then exchange the ... read more

What does an Alternator do? Quick answer is it powers the electrical system of your car or truck any time the engine is running. It is NOT a battery charger! The battery is the anchor of the electrical system and is primarily used to start the engine. Secondly it acts as a buffer, if you will against voltage spikes and other electrical interference. The alternator will charge a battery but is only intended to replace the energy lost during start up. Using it to charge a dead battery will strain the system and shorten the life of the alternator. Along with bringing the battery back to full charge after start up, the alternator powers all the other loads on the car. It will vary the voltage and amperage as loads change to maintain the battery and power things such as Air Conditioning, Power Seats and Fuel Systems on modern cars. The Alternator must be able to keep up with all the loads on the car without drawing anything from the battery. It is not hard to see that there is more need fo ... read more

Why does my truck shake? Why does my truck pull to the left or right? These are great questions with no short answer. As tires have gotten bigger, it is harder to get them to balance. This makes it easy to unbalance as well. The added weight of the bigger tire also adds a ton of stress on Tie Rods, Ball Joints, and Shocks / Struts. This is even more of a problem with today’s Ford, Dodge, and Chevrolet trucks with Diesel engines. These engines, in many cases, are double the weight of the gasoline engines. That added weight is a killer of wheel hubs and all suspension parts. What to do? There are ways to combat this, because, let’s face it, we love our trucks, so this is a problem that is not going away. Regular Tire Rotation / Balance is a must. About every other oil change is a good rule of thumb. Make sure to have the front suspension check at the same time, as this can catch things early before they become a major headache. Check your tire pressure once a month. Spend ... read more

Is an engine flush a good idea? In the past I would have had to say no…DON’T do it. But things change and todays cars use oil for more than just lubrication. Variable valve timing and other engine controls are now using engine oil pressure to operate. For that to work they must remain clean. They are protected by very fine screens that can and do stop up with sludge. This has made me have to rethink the engine flush. The products we tried in the past broke up sludge in chunks stopping up oil pump pick up screens. This was my hesitation to relook into the flush systems. Enter our BG products salesman who assured me that his is different. The BG system dissolves sludge into very fine particles that get trapped in the oil filter where they belong. It will typically continue working on into the next oil change, so you really should shorten the next interval up to about 1000 miles. You start out with a new oil filter and drain the engine oil. The flush is then added in the amo ... read more