Automotive News & Information - Mark's Super Service Center

U-joints are a small, simple component - in fact, they have changed much since the very first automobiles. However, on any vehicle with a driveshaft, its ability to move depends entirely on the u-joint being there. You’ll often hear “maybe it’s the u-joints” as a solution offered for problems with a vehicle - but what are they, what do they do, and how do you know if yours is bad? Mark's Super Service Center in North Charleston, SC has the answers.

There is a reason we check your brake fluid when you come in for a service check. Maintenance pays big dividends and we want to avoid high repair costs for our North Charleston drivers. Did you know that brake service isn't just all about the brake pads, drums & rotors? That we have found low brake fluid to be the cause of a large percentage of brake issues here at Mark's Super Service Center? Seriously, brake fluid is an important part of your braking system and with your service intervals being less frequent on the newer vehicles 5,000-10,000 more miles this has become an issue! Why?...

It doesn't matter if you are driving a car or truck, jeep or SUV, a diesel 4x4 or a classic when those dash warning lights go off the first thing you do is think "how bad is it?" and "how much will it cost me?" followed quickly by "when was my last service visit?"!! Driving your vehicle longer safely is all about getting it serviced based on what your vehicle manual recommends and these warning lights are alerting you to a situation that requires your attention.

While not all warning lights are a sign that disaster is imminent, no warning indicator light should ever be ignored!

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 North Charleston 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 Mark's Super Service Center, 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.

If you drive a lightweight car, truck, or SUV, the torque converter you have installed is probably just fine. For those of you with more heavy duty applications, like high horsepower setups or towing rigs, the stock converter may not be enough. At Mark's Super Service Center in North Charleston, SC, we can help with that.

Our fleet truck customers do not need to spend valuable time in the shop with transmission issues due that could have been avoided by servicing their fleet vehicles based on their owner's manual recommendations! Especially if it is simply changing a clogged filter, changing fluids or clutch issues! Our transmission technicians here at Mark's Super Service Center in North Charleston believe that service = saving high repair bills! Therefore, we believe in a proactive approach!

Here at Mark's Super Service Center in North Charleston we often do diagnostics and sometimes the problem is obvious after hooking the car up to the computer and reading the codes. However, sometimes it isn't obvious during a test drive or after hooking it up to all those computer programs! You know there is a problem and a Check Engine Light is on with the fleet customer telling you the car has been having issues starting and the light has been going off and on depending on several factors. No pattern, no simple answer but the problem becomes obvious when you start following the "threads of the issue" thanks to all that ASE Technician training.

We see this with our fleet customers, our regular North Charleston car pool drivers and our diesel truck drivers so it isn't just one type of driver that ends up with a nightmare on their hands costing thousands of dollars to repair, asking about the costs of a JASPER replacement engine! The fact is your driving habits and maintenance habits can easily avoid this issue! 6 EASY STEPS - Service, Tires, Don't Ignore Service Engine Lights, Keep it Clean & Stop Driving Crazy!