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A vehicle that occasionally sputters and shuts off at a red light can be frustrating because the problem may disappear as quickly as it appeared. That was the complaint with this 2016 BMW X1 xDrive28i. The BMW would sometimes sputter while stopped, shut off, and then restart normally after the driver shifted into Park. There…

A car that cranks but will not start can send you in a lot of different directions. Fuel pump? Starter? Ignition coils? Crank sensor? Security system? This 2011 Toyota Corolla arrived at 34th Street Garage on a tow truck because the engine would crank but would not start. The technician began with testing instead of…

Nine months is a long time for a car to sit. This 2014 Scion FR-S came to 34th Street Garage after being parked for about nine months. The brakes had failed while it was being driven, and by the time it arrived at the shop, the car would not start either. It had only about…

Grinding from the brakes usually gets a driver’s attention. On this 2014 Lexus IS250, the driver could hear and feel the problem but was not sure whether it was coming from the front or rear. The inspection answered that question. The front brake pads had no remaining thickness. The rear brake pads were still over…

Buying an older Toyota 4Runner can be exciting. But when the odometer reads 262,000 miles and the service history has some big gaps, there is another question that matters just as much as how the truck drives: What exactly did I just buy? A recently purchased 1996 Toyota 4Runner SR5 came to 34th Street Garage…

A car with only 17,531 miles shouldn’t need much, right? That’s an easy assumption to make. But a recent 2019 Volvo XC60 T5 Momentum at 34th Street Garage is a good example of why mileage is only one part of a vehicle’s maintenance story. The Volvo came in for a routine yearly service. It had…

If your Volkswagen Tiguan keeps needing coolant, finding the first visible leak may not tell the whole story. We recently inspected a 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan S at 34th Street Garage after the owner reported having to refill the coolant twice during the year. The right first step wasn’t guessing which Volkswagen cooling system part had…

Audi Q5 S tronic Service: Why Transmission Fluid History Matters You may know when your Audi Q5 last had an oil change. But do you know when the S tronic transmission fluid was last serviced? That question becomes especially important as a Q5 gets older, changes owners, or moves between repair shops. Oil-change records may…

Audi Q5 Maintenance: What 2018–2024 Q5 Owners Need to Know   If you drive a 2018–2024 Audi Q5, keeping up with maintenance involves more than waiting for the dashboard to say “Service Due.” Audi uses scheduled oil and inspection services, while other maintenance items can have their own mileage or time intervals. That can sound…