At A-Ford-Able Auto Repair & Tire Service in St Augustine, FL, we know buying a used car, truck, or SUV can be a gamble. While there are no guarantees, there are key points of inspection that tell us a lot about the condition of a vehicle and how it has been maintained. There are some important points of the inspection we verify when checking out a used vehicle.

At A-Ford-Able Auto Repair & Tire Service in St Augustine, we know that few problems are simultaneously as simple and confusing as a bad ground connection on your car, truck, or SUV. Here’s a look at some symptoms of a bad ground, and what you can do to correct it.

The best way to deal with a blown tire is to prevent it from happening in the first place. However, eventually, a flat tire is going to occur, and it’ll most likely be when you least need it. From A-Ford-Able Auto Repair & Tire Service in St Augustine, FL, here’s what you need to do.

Unless you use your vehicle to tow every day for work, odds are you haven’t paid much attention to your truck, SUV, or crossover’s towing capacity. Maybe you’re looking to buy a boat for some summer fun or just need to rent a trailer to get your belongings from one dwelling to the next. Whatever the reason for pulling something behind your vehicle, it’s important to get a firm grasp on what exactly your towing capacity means. Understanding how each of the components in your vehicle contributes to your overall tow rating can keep you from putting undue stress on your rig and keep you and your family safe.

Tune-ups are an important and frequently neglected aspect of automotive care. Most drivers don’t really consider the mechanical condition of their car, so long as nothing is wrong with it. However, if a vehicle is tuned-up and maintained correctly, many mechanical failures (and expenses) will be avoided altogether. So whne is the right time to get a tune-up?

Chances are you don’t pay much attention to your vehicle’s battery until it dies, when you get to perform the dreary dual task of waiting for a jump while simultaneously calling for an appointment to get a new battery fitted. Of course, that’s if you’re sure it’s the battery that’s dead in the first place. The only way to be certain is to take it in to be tested. However, it generally helps to know the health of your vehicle battery prior to finding yourself stranded.

It’s likely you’ve been exposed to conflicting opinions about having your transmission fluid replaced. You may have heard that cars over a certain mileage should not have the transmission fluid flushed and replaced, because it could damage the transmission, or you may have had someone tell you the first thing you should do at any sign of trouble is have your transmission flushed. At A-Ford-Able Auto Repair & Tire Service in St Augustine, our expert mechanics have the answers you’re looking for.

These days, many four-wheel-drive systems are electronically controlled - a button is pushed to engage four-wheel-drive, which activates a solenoid in the transfer case, shifting it into gear. What happens when yours stops working? A-Ford-Able Auto Repair & Tire Service in St Augustine, FL has the answers.

If you drive a Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Subaru, Land Rover, or other luxury or performance vehicle, you’re no stranger to the bells and whistles of the modern automobile. For the past couple of decades, these cars have nearly all been equipped with ABS, or Anti-lock Braking Systems. You may never think about ABS - until the light comes on the dashboard.

An article about routine maintenance probably doesn’t sound like the most riveting read, but at A-Ford-Able Auto Repair & Tire Service in St Augustine, FL, proper maintenance is something we believe in wholeheartedly. Routine maintenance is the key to making a vehicle last for decades; if done correctly, your vehicle will stay reliable and enjoyable to drive, and you will save time and money in the process.

When something goes wrong on your vehicle, it can be tempting to take the cheapest route. With eBay, Amazon, and the countless other sources for car and truck parts on the market today, many people decide to go that route to save some money. Here are some points to consider when buying quality automotive parts, from A-Ford-Able Auto Repair & Tire Service in St Augustine, FL.

Alignment is the position of your wheels in relation to your vehicle and how they interact with the road. When your vehicle is properly aligned, your wheels will point in the same direction as the vehicle. To maintain proper control of your car, you must keep your wheels in proper alignment. Otherwise, steering will become difficult, your tires will wear unevenly and your fuel economy will decrease. 

If you drive a standard shift car, truck, or SUV, there’s a good chance you’ve heard this line from a know-it-all buddy in the passenger’s seat: “You know, it’s bad for the transmission when you leave your hand on the shifter.” But, does what your friend says have any merit? A-Ford-Able Auto Repair & Tire Service in St Augustine has the answers.

Ah, windshield wipers. Like so many indispensable things in life, we tend not to appreciate them until they’re gone. But what if all drivers had a basic understanding of the wonderful world of wipers, enabling them to identify problems early and choose replacements wisely? We like that idea. Accordingly, we’ve put together a crash course that should bring your knowledge up to speed. Your automotive windows to the world require dependable wipers, so let’s learn more about these unsung heroes.

If there’s an issue with your diesel fuel system, the most important thing to remember is to fix it sooner rather than later. With gas engines, you can often power through a fuel issue for quite some time - they’re irritating, but not often permanently damaging.

Your Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN, is essentially your car’s fingerprint. In its entirety, it is specific only to your car. Each car has its own unique VIN number and can be decoded to provide manufacturing and identification information on any vehicle on the road. Date of manufacture, manufacturer, vehicle type, where it was made, and options such as engine and transmission type, whether a car is a two or four-door, and a multitude of other specifications can be gleaned from a VIN number. Essentially, a VIN number will tell you exactly what a car is and where it came from, without even having to see the car.