Month: May 2021

Is It Safe To Drive A BMW If It’s Having Electrical Issues?

BMW Car

BMW is known for being a luxury vehicle with an exceptional life span. Your car’s electrical system plays an important role in its ability to operate, so you should have any electrical issues inspected and repaired immediately to ensure your vehicle lasts for as long as possible.

Your BMW is important for your day-to-day life, and when you use your vehicle regularly, you want to make sure it is keeping you and your passengers safe. If your vehicle is showing any signs of experiencing electrical issues, bring it to an experienced automotive repair shop. Driving with electrical issues puts you at risk of being stranded with a vehicle that cannot start and is in need of extremely expensive repairs.

Signs Your BMW Is Having Electrical Issues

The electrical system in your vehicle is complex and plays a vital role in many of your vehicle’s functions. If your BMW is having electrical issues, there are a large number of signs that could indicate there is an issue including:

  • Light Issues: Your vehicle has a lot of lights that are important to keep you and those driving around you safe, such as, turn signals, brake lights, and headlights. When these lights dim or do not work altogether, it could indicate that your vehicle’s electrical system is holding a low voltage.
  • Ineffective Heating and Air Conditioning System: If the heating of air conditioning in your vehicle seems to be losing strength, it could be a sign that your vehicle is not able to charge properly.
  • Ignition Issues: Your vehicle’s engine needs electricity to be able to start. If your vehicle’s ignition is making an unusual noise when starting or is having trouble turning, then you should bring your vehicle into a professional BMW repair shop Ignition issues can quickly turn into not being able to start your vehicle at all.
  • Burning Smell: Whether it smells like burning plastic, burning rubber, or burning oil, all can be signs of an electrical system issue. While they vary in what electrical issue might be causing the smell, any burning smell should be addressed by an automotive technician because it could lead to more expensive repairs if ignored.
  • Malfunctioning Electronic Component: Other electronics in your vehicle, such as the power windows and the stereo, are also powered by your vehicle’s electrical system. If they are not operating properly, it could be a sign of an electrical issue.

Common Causes of Electrical Issues in Your BMW

Similar to the wide variety of signs that indicate electrical issues in your vehicle, there are also several different reasons that your vehicle may be having electrical issues. Some of the potential causes of your BMW’s electrical issues include:

  • Dead, Damaged, or Faulty Battery: While it is possible for your vehicle’s battery to die due to a mistake, such as leaving the lights on overnight, a battery can lose its ability to hold a charge over time. If your vehicle is exposed to moisture or road debris often, the battery’s terminals and cord connectors could corrode overtime, inhibiting the battery’s ability to hold a charge. Depending on the severity of the corrosion, it could potentially be cleaned up to allow the battery to function better. If not, the battery might need to be replaced.
  • Malfunctioning Alternator: The alternator helps recharge the battery, so when it malfunctions it can prevent the battery from charging properly, and may need to be replaced.
  • Damaged Alternator Belt: A cracked alternator belt can disrupt the electrical system’s process.
  • Damaged Cables: The electrical system’s cables can become frayed or broken over time, and disrupt the connection between the power source and various electronic components.
  • Faulty or Blown Fuses: Fuses are designed to protect your vehicle’s electrical system, and when a fuse blows, it disrupts the flow of electricity in your vehicle. While sometimes they blow for no reason, any time a fuse is blown it may be a good idea to have an automotive technician inspect the issue in case there is an underlying issue with the electrical system.

Bring Your BMW to Carotech Automotive

At Carotech Automotive, BMW Battery Voltage Check our ASE-certified technicians are experienced in handling automotive repairs and maintenance, including electrical issues. We serve vehicle owners in Los Angeles, California and its surrounding areas. If your BMW appears to be experiencing electrical issues, make an appointment at our shop today and we will return your BMW to its top condition.

* BMW Car image credit goes to: aapsky.

How to Effectively Deal With Gear Selector Issues in Your Mercedes- Benz

Mercedes-Benz Gear Selector Issue

Mercedes-Benz vehicles are known for their reliability, but like any other car, they sometimes run into problems. One of the more common issues Mercedes-Benz owners deal with is the gear selector wearing down. Read on to learn about what the gear selector does, the symptoms to look out for that will tell you something’s wrong, and how to deal with the problem if it arises.

The Purpose of the Gear Selector

As you might expect from the name, a gear selector is what allows you to shift gears. In automatic cars, it detects things like your speed and what position the gearshift is in to tell the transmission what gear the car needs to be running in.

As you can see, the gear selector plays a crucial role, and if it’s not working properly, you could find yourself suddenly going backward when you want to move forward, or shifting to a lower gear when you want to speed up. You could also encounter several other problems, all of which are potentially dangerous to both the health of you and your passengers and your transmission’s health.

Luckily, however, chances are that you will notice the symptoms of a potential gear selector failure pretty quickly, so you can get it fixed as soon as possible and avoid damaging the transmission any further or, even worse, endangering the lives of the people who ride in your car.

Warning Signs of Gear Selector Problems

The tricky thing about gear selector issues is that the symptoms look very similar to other transmission problems, so you won’t be able to immediately tell that the gear selector is what’s acting up just by observing the symptoms.

However, any problem with a transmission is serious, so no matter what, if you notice one of the things I mention below, you should take your car in for repair. A professional mechanic will have the diagnostic tools necessary to determine exactly what the problem is and fix it much faster than you could.

With that being said, here are some common signs of gear selector failure:

  • Grinding or clicking noises, particularly if they happen while you are shifting gears. In any vehicle, but especially luxury ones like Mercedes-Benz, shifting between gears should be a seamless process.
  • Rough shifting. This can include sudden jerks while the car attempts to change gears, vibrations, or delays between shifting.
  • Difficulties moving between drive, reverse, and neutral. Your vehicle should change immediately between these when you tell it to. If instead, you notice that it’s hesitating, or you continue to move forward for a little bit even though you changed the gearshift into the reverse position, that’s a sign that the transmission is having trouble.
  • Gear slipping. This is a common symptom of transmission problems where the car will suddenly slip into a lower (or higher) gear even though you have not changed your speed. It can also happen when you’re accelerating, and the car unexpectedly shifts to a lower gear when it should be moving into higher ones as you speed up.

What to Do About Gear Selector Problems

Ideally, you want to avoid having any of these symptoms at all. The best way to do that is to keep up with the routine maintenance Mercedes-Benz Transmission Repairschedule suggested in your owner’s manual. Getting regular checkups and tune-ups allows mechanics to catch problems before they become problems and prevent them from turning into something much bigger (and more expensive).

If you are already experiencing one or more of the symptoms I mentioned, though, then you should schedule an appointment with your local Mercedes-Benz specialist as soon as you can before the issue gets even worse. Replacing a transmission can be a very expensive and stressful process, so it’s best to stop any potential hiccups before they get to that point.

If you live in the Los Angeles area and you’re looking for a great place to bring your Mercedes for maintenance or repair, look no further than Carotech Automotive and Tires. With expertise in a wide range of brands and highly trained technicians, you can trust that we’ll have the knowledge and tools necessary to get the job done efficiently.