Tucson Auto Repair

Its Arizona Car-B-Que Season As Arizona residents, we all know the horrors of jumping into a hot car during summer months, while wearing shorts and putting on those red hot sunglasses. First, after you have sought medical attention for the seven layers of skin you have lost from the back of your legs and possible permanent branding to your face from those sun glasses, we can look into summer vehicle maintenance for your sun baked car.  During the summers in Arizona when temperatures regularly reach around 100-120 degrees, the temperatures inside of your vehicle can easily reach around 150 degrees. Some people have even claimed the temperature in their vehicle MUST be around 1 million degrees, but most likely those are exaggerations. But we use these examples to make it easier to understand the affects of our severe weather on vehicles.  Summer heat and sun cause some serious damage, the worst to plastic and rubber components, ie... tires, belts, hoses ... read more

                     The term "serpentine belt" may bring up images of a scarey snake like object crawling around you engine, and that's actually pretty accurate, (except for the scary part).  The serpentine belt is a long, belt that winds it way (like a serpent) around many of your vehicle's components. These can include the power the steering pump, alternator, and air conditioning compressor, and more, to the vehicle's crankshaft pulley. In some engines, the serpentine belt can also run the water pump, radiator fan, and supercharger. Years ago, most engines had several V-type belts, but today, most modern engines have one ribbed serpentine belt responsible for running all of the accessory components. This belt can be tensioned automatically or manually. Automatically tensioned serpentine belts are the most common and are kept taught with a spring loaded tensioning mechanism. Manually tensio ... read more