San Carlos & Valley Springs Auto Repair

Many Mazda owners in the area are discovering that Towne Mazda in Redwood City has closed permanently. While we are sad to see a local business close, we are also mindful of their clients who must now find a trusted Mazda repair shop. Fortunately, there is a silver lining - Toole’s Garage in San Carlos is only 5 min away from the Redwood City location of the Towne Mazda, and we can provide comprehensive Mazda maintenance and repair services.     Toole’s Garage, a family owned and operated auto repair facility, offers full range of automotive services and repairs. Our mechanics are certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), and they are equipped with the latest digital diagnostic tools. If you choose to bring your Mazda to Toole’s Garage, you will discover a friendly auto repair shop, with superior customer service and technical excellence. We care, and we will treat your Mazda as if it were our own. W ... read more

This news has come as an unpleasant surprise to many Acura owners in Daly City, Burlingame, San Bruno and South San Francisco – Acura of Serramonte has closed its doors forever. Toole’s Garage to the rescue – we are the premier Peninsula Acura service and repair shop, and can provide your Acura with maintenance services and repairs as well as customer service that exceeds that of the dealers. We were originally an Acura/Honda only repair shop, and today we continue to employ Gold level Acura technicians. We are happy to provide Acura services to residents of Daly City, Burlingame, San Bruno, South San Francisco and Belmont as well.   Selecting a new, trusted auto repair shop for your Acura can be an easy task if you allow Toole’s Garage customer service team to assist you. Feel free to give us a call – we will be happy to answer your questions, describe Acura services and repairs we offer, our clean and pleasant office, friendly staff, as well as our ... read more

Winter is coming, and with it rain, sleet, snow at higher elevations, possible black ice. Your vehicle should be at its best when driving under winter conditions. One of the often forgotten services is wheel alignment. At Toole’s Garage in San Carlos we offer wheel alignment services for passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks, for residents of San Carlos and Belmont, CA. Proper wheel alignment improves vehicle control, ride quality, extends tire life, and can even improve mileage – to make it short and sweet – it makes for safer, more comfortable ride, and saves you money. Why would your vehicle need wheel alignment? Bay Area roads are full of potholes, and hitting a pothole can disturb wheel alignment. Hitting a curb, or even the parking stall wall can put wheels out of alignment. Modern computerized wheel alignment machines can detect misalignment so small as not to be visible to the naked eye. At our San Carlos auto repair shop we can offer convenient wheel alignm ... read more

As the weather gets colder and wetter, there are a few things to consider to make sure your car or truck is safe and comfortable for winter driving. Tires The grooves, channels and slits in your tire’s tread are carefully engineered to keep a small section of rubber in close contact with the road and channel water away from that “contact patch.” In most passenger vehicles, the tread pattern is designed to give you predictable grip during cornering, braking and accelerating, reduce noise, and provide biting edges when traveling on icy or snowy roads.  These “all-season” tires make some compromises at the limit, but offer a comfortable, safe and long-wearing tire. Some performance cars, though, come equipped with summer tires, designed for maximum grip on dry roads and in temperate climates, but they aren’t as good in bad weather, and certainly not intended for a winter trip to Tahoe.  Take a look at the sidewall and you&rs ... read more

As the weather gets colder and wetter, there are a few things to consider to make sure your car or truck is safe and comfortable for winter driving. Brakes Wet and slick roads increase stopping distances significantly, so you need to brake sooner, react more quickly, maintain longer following distances, and avoid abrupt steering and braking that might induce a skid. Make sure your brake pads and shoes are in good shape, with even wear and adequate thickness, and that your rotors are smooth and sound. Brake fluid absorbs moisture from the air, which accumulates and reduces braking performance at the limit (when it really matters), and increases corrosion of brake lines and other parts of your braking system. Be sure to change your brake fluid every two years, regardless of mileage, and keep the system in good working order. Air Conditioning Now that you’re using the heater again, you may not be thinking much about your A/C ... read more

As the weather gets colder and wetter, there are a few things to consider to make sure your car or truck is safe and comfortable for winter driving. Windshield Chips and Cracks If you have a rock chip or small crack in your windshield, you may be able to repair the damage before it grows into a long crack.  Many auto insurance companies waive your deductible and pay for most or all of the repair if you fix rather than replace the windshield, so act quickly when the damage occurs.  When the weather dips near freezing, then warms later in the day, chips and cracks are more likely to worsen. And if you toss a bucket of hot water on your ice-cold windshield to clear the ice or snow, you might see a crack form immediately, just as you are heading off to work or the slopes. Like many things in auto repair, fix things before they fail or at the first sign of failure and you’ll often save money over the life of your car. ... read more

School’s out and the days are warm and sunny - we’re in the summer driving season. This is the time for road trips, camping, visiting friends and relatives, and getting out of the suburbs. In this time of heightened vigilance, some of us are driving less, while others remain “road warriors” making deliveries, working in the skilled trades, giving rides-for-hire, and traveling to perform at- home services. Your car may throw you curveballs you weren’t anticipating these days, and we’re seeing some interesting cases in our shop. Batteries Modern cars have a few things going on even while they sit unused in the driveway. Your alarm system uses a bit of power to monitor door and hood/hatch sensors, listen for glass breakage and detect movement, and other voltage changes that might indicate criminal activity. The entertainment system retains your radio presets, time and other bits of information so it wakes up ready to go. If you have keyless entry, prox ... read more

    Air conditioning   Your air conditioning system relies on a closed system that circulates refrigerant through a compressor, an evaporator, a drier and one or more heat exchangers to pull heat out of your car and dump it outside, leaving you 20 degrees or so cooler inside than out. O-rings and gaskets seal the joints in this system and keep the refrigerant inside.  Your compressor moves refrigerant through the system, where it expands to a gas then returns to liquid to “condition” the air without being used up.  Refrigerant gases are environmental hazards if released into the air, so we use special machines to evacuate them from your A/C system and return them after repairs.  When your car sits unused, the tiny seals inside your climate-control system can shrink slightly and let refrigerant escape. Over time, you may lose just enough refrigerant that your vents blow coolish but not cold because you’re low on refrigerant. We’ve ... read more

  Hybrid powertrains Hybrid powertrains rely on liquid coolant to remove heat from the electric motors, batteries and inverters, which are often hidden behind the rear seats, under the floor or in the trunk area, and rely on carefully managed airflow combined with special coolant and radiators.  I remember a Honda Insight that lost this coolant due to a rock striking the grille area, setting a check engine light on the dash.  The owner ignored the warning and kept driving the car, until forced to stop on the side of the road.  That tiny pebble caused the hybrid power system to overheat and take out some other components - several thousand dollars in repairs.  Hybrid batteries use the car’s engine to turn an alternator or an electric motor to charge them, maintaining a complex balance of power to provide brisk acceleration or electric-only driving, then burning fuel to recharge the battery bank and extend driving range.  These cars and trucks are des ... read more

  Rodent damage While you’ve been sheltering in place, rodents may have sheltered under your hood.  In the last couple of months, we’ve seen five or six cars with wiring damage along with remnants of nesting, eating and “visiting the powder room.” Some cars have very complex wiring harnesses that must be replaced as entire assemblies - expensive parts and extensive labor.  Sometimes, the first evidence is a rough idle, a check-engine light, bits of plant material under the hood, or a telltale smell.  These cars usually require a thorough cleaning of the engine compartment, some diagnostic work, replacement or repair of wiring, and some preventive measures. We recommend wrapping wiring harnesses with capsaicin-impregnated tape (it’s spicy hot) to deter rodents from chewing.  Rodent repellents, containing odors rats don’t like such as mint, and fox-urine pheromones, can help a bit, and you can install under-hood strobe lights ... read more