Car repair, maintenance and diagnostics articles from the AutoTools blog — OBD codes, guides, tire comparisons and buying advice.
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Your fob stopped working. Maybe it was after a battery swap, maybe after you replaced the fob battery, maybe for no reas...
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Your car battery rarely dies without warning. These five hidden signs show up weeks in advance, from slow cranks to flic...
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A fault code points to a circuit or behavior—not automatically a failed sensor. This practical guide covers the 8 engine...
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Engine sensors control performance, fuel economy & emissions. Learn 40+ sensor types, failure symptoms, testing methods,...
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A check engine light comes on and your stomach drops a little. It shouldn't. With a cheap OBD2 scanner and about twenty...
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Most modern cars ship with features the previous owner never turned on, and the manual buries them three sections deep....
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You changed the battery in your key fob, and now the car won't lock. Or it locks but the trunk button does nothing. Anno...
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Your car starts fine one morning, then cranks forever the next. Or it idles rough, stalls at a light, and the dash light...
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If you have ever wondered what that silver box under the hood actually does, this guide is for you. By the time you fini...
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A car's electrical system looks like a nest of wires until you understand the four parts that run it: fuses protect it,...
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A crank-no-start or a sudden stall can feel like a dead fuel pump. Often it isn't. The pump is fine, but the circuit fee...
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A dead cigarette lighter, a radio that won't wake up, headlights that quit on one side: these are fuse problems far more...
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A fuse and a relay both live in the same little plastic box under your hood, and both are there to keep your car's wirin...
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Most engine failures don't happen out of nowhere. They send postcards first. A rattle here, a puff of smoke there, a che...
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Diesel isn't cheap, and if you run a van, a pickup or a small fleet, fuel is probably your single biggest running cost....
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Gas prices move around, but your driving habits and a few cheap maintenance checks don't have to. This article answers t...
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Diesel engines reward owners who pay attention. Treat yours well and it can run for hundreds of thousands of miles; negl...
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A relay is one of the cheapest parts in your car and one of the most common reasons a fan, fuel pump, horn or headlight...
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A blown fuse is one of the few car problems you can diagnose completely on your own, with a tool that costs less than a...
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Most of the useful stuff in your car is buried in the owner's manual, and nobody reads the owner's manual. Not the sales...
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Diesel engines are tough, and that toughness fools people. A petrol car will often complain loudly when you treat it bad...
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