Education

An EGR valve sounds like it belongs in your heart. It doesn’t involve ventricles or aortas, it involves exhaust gas, the intake manifold, air and fuel, and emissions. EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Recirculation, it is a valve that car makers turned to in the fight against emissions and for fuel economy. It sounds really […]

Okay, so truth be told, the term tune-up is a little redundant these days.  It only really applies if you’re talking about a pre-2000s car, although I still hear it bandied about today, so it seems like it’s loosely interchangeable with service or routine maintenance. The way modern cars are built has changed and so […]

When you hear sway bar, you assume it has something to do with swaying. You’d be on the money. Also known as an ‘anti-roll bar’, it helps to distribute weight transfer and reduce body roll during cornering. It is a fairly simple idea but the engineering boffins make it an excellent one. A sway bar […]

Here at My Auto Shop, we like to face the facts when it comes to all things automotive.  Whether it’s making it easy to see a mechanic, or handy hints to de-stress while you’re on the road, we’ve got you covered. Today we thought it’d be useful to cover off what it means when your […]

If you’ve got a million things on the go and zero time to make it happen, then the convenience of a mobile mechanic can’t be understated.  In fact, they’re a lifesaver.  If you’re in need of some basic servicing, a mobile mechanic works a treat.  They’re able to work to the exact same standard as […]

One of the exciting things about heading out on a road trip is the idea of being in uncharted territory, responding to the conditions and circumstances as they arise.  Part of being a smart driver is having your bases covered if anything goes awry.   You wouldn’t be the first person to be caught out in […]

Thankfully, I’ve never been in a situation where airbags have been needed, although it’s reassuring to know I’m always equipped if there is an accident.   I had a guy bump his SUV up against the back of our little hatchback last week, and it got me thinking, do airbags have any expiry date?   So I […]

To keep your engine running you need air to combine with your fuel, at the set air fuel ratio. This mixture is what gives your engine the potential energy to combust. What amount of air and what amount of fuel though? Well you have a fuel injection map to scale up and down depending on […]

Your internal combustion engine does many interesting things. Most noticeably, it powers your car. To do this it needs fuel and air. When it has combusted the mixture, it needs to get rid of the byproduct – exhaust gas. These exhaust gasses are passed through the exhaust valves when they open, through exhaust pipes to […]

Your car’s wheels spin around, the pistons go up and down. So the question is how you take the lateral movement of your pistons and turn it horizontal to make it rotational energy? The answer is your crankshaft. It takes all the energy from the pistons and sends it to the transmission. This is super […]

Your car idles at about 750-900 revolutions per minute, rpm, this requires the valves to open and close 750-900 times a minute. Without the camshaft you wouldn’t have a working engine. It is what allows air into, and exhaust out of, the engine via the intake and exhaust valves. What is a camshaft? What a […]

Your car needs a certain kind of fuel to run smoothly. If your car requires premium fuel, that usually means above 95 octane. If it needs diesel then it needs, well, diesel. What it doesn’t need is petrol when it runs on diesel. That is not an ideal situation to be in. DO NOT PUT […]

Your car’s engine gets really hot. Mainly due to the thousands of explosions per minute. To cool the engine your car uses coolant, to cool the coolant, you have a radiator. Modern cars use newer and more high performance radiators for coolant to pass through the cooling system. So whether you’ve got an aluminium radiator, […]

I’ll confess, when electric vehicles (EVs) hit the market in 2010, I wasn’t aware of what their arrival truly meant for the future of motoring around the world.   The car in question was, of course, the Mitsubishi MiEV, which appeared in 2010.  A nifty, 4-door hatchback that promised to power you through 120 electrified kilometres.  […]

Asides from staring at an actual deer in headlights, potholes are probably the next (and far more common) enemy of drivers in New Zealand.  They’re no fun, plain and simple, although they do bring the benefit of giving you an idea just how much shock absorption is build into your car. It’s pretty hard to […]

Buying a project car can be an incredible opportunity, offering a rewarding way to spend your time while building up your mechanical muscle.  However, it’s best to keep a clear eye on the road ahead.   Project cars are notoriously time consuming and can lend to things going financially awry if you’re not aware of the […]

We don’t always think about it, but our windscreens actually bear a fair brunt as we get ourselves around.  There’s nothing more annoying than a distracting windscreen crack or chip sitting in your critical vision area while you’re hurtling down the motorway. Windscreens are actually a key safety component in a car (it could literally […]

With summer on the horizon, I’ve been starting to think about investing in a vehicle and hitting the open roads.  Scanning the online car listings, you soon get an idea of what’s important, and I reckon having a reliable, working air conditioning unit is key to a comfortable ride, no matter what season you’re in. […]

That dismal feeling that sets in when you’ve realised your car battery has gone kaput isn’t one that is recalled fondly! If you haven’t had the misfortune of this happening to you (yet!), now’s your chance to turn the tide on one of those fails that seems to catch every driver out at least once […]

Your car has brakes. The size of the brakes determine stopping power, the ventilation deters brake fade, and your brake components range far and wide. There’s a lot going on with stopping your car basically. Your brake pads are what make contact with your brake rotors. This contact creates friction, which creates heat. The friction […]

Your car has a lot of safety features that keep you safe that you’ll (hopefully) never use. Things like airbags, seatbelts, crumple zones and even fire extinguishers, all of these are great for when you’re having a crash. What about to avoid a crash though. These things can save your life, let alone your car. […]

Ugh, the irking thought of car repairs.  They’re always looming in the background of any driver’s consciousness.  And generally accompanying those thoughts is a sense of dread around the scope of the car repairs, and what the cost is to fix parts. Here at My Auto Shop, we think knowledge is power.  And we’re here […]

So, you’re thinking about buying an electric vehicle (EV), or you already own one.  Nice.  We thought it’d be useful to give you a bit of a guide about where to charge it. Sure, most EV drivers will find charging at home or in a carpark at work can be convenient, but there comes that […]

For many of us, our big annual break comes around at the end of one year, and the beginning of another.  Even if you’re working through the period, you’re no doubt scrambling to get out the door and out to a holiday destination. Sure enough, the roads are busier, bottlenecks more frequent and we daresay […]