Tag: car service

Guest Post: If your life is anything like mine, the hours spent between 7am-5pm are spent running around like a headless chicken, checking in on whatever needs doing work-wise, errands to keep things going at home, the list is endless! So you can imagine my dismay when I noticed that my brakes started to show […]

Nearly all modern cars have different service intervals, this is to do with different engine constructions and different engineering requirements. If your car needs a service, or any other work, click here. For example a higher performance European car like a Mercedes, BMW, or Audi, will require more oil changes, filter changes and maintenance to […]

Your engine is called an ‘internal combustion engine’. This means that while running there’s a lot of, well, internal combustion occurring. Thousands of explosions a minute, these create a lot of heat. How do you stop all this heat from ruining your engine? Coolant is pumped through the cooling channels, carrying heat away from the […]

Your timing belt doesn’t run the clock in your car. It runs a way more important part – your engine. Like many other engine components, it wears out. When your car is running, it’s spinning at extremely high speeds, in a very hot place. I don’t really like running in a very mild place, imagine […]

The manual is a sacred thing among car people. More of an annoyance to everyone else. Fair enough, anyone who’s been stuck in rush hour for an hour in a manual will also be question the reason for its existence. Connecting car and driver, in such a raw and engaged way however, is the main […]

In your car you’ll either have a manual transmission, or an automatic transmission. Each of these takes the revolution per minute of the engine, and transfers it to the wheels via the drivetrain. As your engine needs different gears to move the car at different speeds, your transmission determines at what speed the engine moves […]

Rightio, so you’ve organised a car service through MyAutoShop, organised to get your car serviced (within the recommended timeframe as well, well done!) and, at the time of dropping your car off at the mechanic’s, they ask if you’re after any additional service items. You may be wondering what they’re referring to, given you’ve ostensibly […]

Your car should drive in a straight line when you want it to. To do this, you need the wheels all pointing in the same direction. Often you’ll find your car pulling to one side, this is a sign that your tyre alignment needs a check. Your wheel alignment means that your car will go […]

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 […]

Seinfeld’s famous “Serenity now!” skit was always a favourite in my family, and goes some way to setting the general tone of our family car trips growing up.  We all seem to be searching for ways to access our inner peace these days, and I’m just going to go ahead and say this, but it […]

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 […]

If you’re keeping the automotive dream alive and driving a manual, you’ll be familiar with your clutch pedal. Most people know the signs that their clutch is going bad. The burning smell under load is hard to miss. Clutches engage and disengage the gearbox to the engine, as such they wear out. They ensure that […]

When you depress the brake pedal, brake fluid is pumped from the master cylinder. This hydraulic fluid gets to the brakes through the brake lines. Over time, as your brake fluid boils and returns to the brake fluid reservoir, it can collect moisture, break down and your pedal feel will suffer. As a result your […]

Can you really have too much of a good thing? Yes, of course you can. Your car likes oil, in fact, it needs it to operate. But the amount of oil that is required to lubricate your engine’s moving parts is a set quantity. Why is overfilling the engine oil bad? Well, that’s for a […]

We’ve covered improving fuel economy, saving fuel and saving money, plenty of times. What we’re focussing on here is improved efficiency. More specifically, decreasing fuel consumption and increasing gas mileage. If you want to increase your fuel economy you need to have your car in tip top shape. We can help you maintain your car […]

If your cars’ cooling system is overworked and underpaid, there’s a chance your car overheats on a hot day stuck in traffic. There’s only so much your engine coolant and water pump can do. If your temperature gauge tells you that a sabbatical on the side of the road is required, you’d best listen. Overheating […]

A radiator is pretty neat. It looks like a big sheet of steel with radiator hoses coming out of it. That is partially true to be fair. We can give you a more detailed description on how a radiator works. Your radiator is one of the key components in cooling the engine. Your cooling system […]

When driving your car around, it’s your alternator that takes care of all the electrics and charging the car battery. It basically runs the electrical system. If there’s something wrong with it, you need to be able to know if your alternator is faulty.  As your alternator is spinning, a complex set of magnets is […]

You wake up in the morning and you drink a glass of water to quench your thirst, then you have a morning coffee and you’re up and running for the day. Your car is much the same, it has some essential fluids that it requires to run optimally.  They are all extremely important and they […]

The quote has come back from the mechanic and they say you need a timing belt change. It sounds expensive, clock-based and confusing. Well you’re right about two of those and close on the third.  It can be expensive, it can be confusing, and it does kind of involve timing. A timing belt replacement is […]

While the answer to this question varies wildly, the real question is how much should a car service cost. At My Auto Shop, we think this should be an easy question to answer. Why? Because manufacturers set out the maintenance schedule for your car and all the vehicles just like it, detailing what needs doing […]

Do you plan on taking a big road trip in the near future? If so, you should know what car service you can do DIY. Here’s your guide

Winter is here, unfortunately bringing with it darker days, slippery roads and icy windscreens. Kiwi roads are often challenging at the best of times, but these factors just make it even tougher. It doesn’t matter if you’re driving a new Audi or an old Honda, anyone can be caught out. Here are 6 tips to […]