Ming's Auto Repair News & Car Resources
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Control Your Gas Budget
With analysts predicting gas to be more than $5 per gallon, we wanted to provide a few ideas on how to improve your vehicle’s performance. While changing your driving behaviors help (e.g., not speeding or consolidating your short errand trips), there are three specific car maintenance items that can help reduce your gas bill: What’s [...]
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How to Open a Frozen Lock
With the cold weather, you may find yourself in a need to manually open your car lock. Here are some steps to unfreeze a lock: Spray WD-40 or de-icer on the lock. This doesn’t work as quickly as de-icer, but it should work eventually. Heat your car key with a cigarette lighter or match. If [...]
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How to Jump Start a Dead Battery
During the cold months, you find yourself in the position of needing to jump start a dead battery. We will provide the steps using jumper cables to do this: Make sure both cars are off Connect the red jumper cable (positive) to the positive metal terminal on the dead battery (usually under the red cap) [...]
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Buying A New Car – What to Look For
The advertisements have started and its time for everyone’s favorite President’s Day Weekend car sale. When looking at purchasing a vehicle, here are some key tips: Know Your Current Vehicle’s Value: make sure you know how much your car is worth before going to a dealer to maximize your trade-in value. This is the area [...]
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How to Get Out of a Snow Bank
Its inevitable. You thought you could clear the snow bank, but now your car is stuck. Here are some simple steps to get out of the snow: Put the transmission into four-wheel drive (if your car has it). Shift into the lowest gear available. If the car won’t go forward, put it into reverse and [...]
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Skidding – Turn With or Away?
With winter driving upon us, its important to review a key fundamental of defensive driving which is what to do in a skid. Widely adopted, the proper method is to turn into the direction of skid and correct the car once under control. Additionally, you should immediately take your foot off the gas and brake [...]
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Preparing for Winter Travel
While it has been a very mild Boston winter, make sure you plan ahead for the eventual cold, snow and winter driving with your car. Here are a few tips to make sure your vehicle is running in top shape: Oil Change: make sure you select the right viscosity, or thickness, for your vehicle at [...]
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Replacing Wiper Blades
Are you wiper blades squeak, skip, streak, wipe spotty or smear when you turn them on? It may be time for some new blades! One of the most overlooked, but an important safety feature of your vehicle is the regular replacement of your windshield wiper blades. A new wiper blade will provide a clean, streak [...]
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Lincoln Penny Tread Depth Test
Trying to figure out if your vehicle needs new tires? Have you noticed during the recent snow storms your vehicle slipping or not grabbing the road as well as it did before? It may be time for new tires and here’s a quick tip on how to check: Grab a penny Insert the penny into [...]
