Automotive Industry News & Information - Nick's Automotive

Unless you are confident in your abilities as an automotive mechanic, there is really only one rule when purchasing a flood-damaged vehicle: don’t do it. Unfortunately, sometimes sellers aren’t particularly straight-forward with their used cars. Many will try to hide the fact that it’s been damaged by floodwaters at all or try to convince potential buyers that the car is in fact fine. “It has gone months with no issues” or “technically it is flood-damaged but” are two red flags, and while it isn’t impossible for a flood car to be fine, it’s altogether a good idea to stay away.

When something goes wrong with 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 we choose only quality automotive parts for our Reno, NV driver at Nick's Automotive because we want to ensure their parts match our commitment to providing them high quality repairs.

While your transmission can certainly fail silently, there are certain sounds which indicate you have an issue. The sooner you catch a transmission problem the better, so Nick's Automotive in Reno, NV wants you to know what to listen for.

At Nick's Automotive in Reno, we understand all too well the importance of changing your oil regularly. Three to five thousand miles sounds like a lot, but it doesn’t really take that long to rack them up. The busier you are, the more you probably drive, and the more likely you are to forget it’s time to change your oil. Here are some reasons to pay attention to your oil changes, and help you better understand why oil changes are so important.

Fluid levels, tire condition, dashboard lights, and a variety of other items typically are briefly explored whenever you bring your vehicle in for maintenance here at Nick's Automotive in Reno, NV, where we are good at noticing things that need repair, but the fact of the matter is that only you know your car. You know when your car feels off when it's been serviced last (or that it hasn't been serviced at all,) and have at least some vague idea of what’s going on with your vehicle day to day. Here are some questions you can ask us next time you come by the shop;

Obviously, the dirtier your fuel system is, the bigger the improvement you will see in performance and fuel economy after a fuel system cleaning. But it is important not to wait until your system is running poorly. If you do, by the time you get a cleaning, you’ve wasted hundreds of dollars in gas or even possibly damaged your fuel injectors and catalytic converter.

When you are having trouble with your car or truck starting and you open the hood up to take a peek to see this....you'll see what an overly corroded battery looks like. This happens naturally over time on vehicle battery terminals. If you are like 99% of normal Reno drivers, you don't check your oil or your battery so you don't keep an eye on the amount of corrosion that's building up on your car or truck battery. Here at Nick's Automotive, we do and there are solvents that we can use here in the shop during a battery maintenance service that will help slow the corrosion process but nothing that can prevent it 100%. Way before it gets to this point, we will be suggesting you consider replacing the battery.

Your drive belts run everything - your AC, power steering, alternator, and water pump are all dependent on the belts that turn them. At Nick's Automotive in Reno, NV, our goal is to keep your truck maintained, so you’re never stuck out on the road. Drive belts are a critical part of that goal.