Ocala Auto Repair

  How To Get Ahead Of Car Trouble While In Ocala, Florida   If you are new to living in Florida, welcome! Pals Ocala Auto Repair wants to be among the first to welcome you into our beautiful and warm state. With so many people moving here to get away from cold weather, we thought we would dedicate this month’s blog to advising you on Florida-related car maintenance.   Even many lifelong Floridians are not aware of certain climate-related issues their vehicles deal with on a daily basis. It gets hot here, and that creates its own set of vehicle service and repair items that need regular attention. These gotchas can sap the fun out of your Florida road trips, so please allow us to share some helpful car maintenance tips with you.   Getting Ahead of the Hot Weather   Most people in the month of February aren’t thinking about air conditioning service and summertime. But this is Florida, and it’s hot here most of the year. So get ahead of t ... read more

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash How To Start 2023 Off Right With Your Car  Welcome to 2023. Our yearly chance to do a bit more than we did in 2022 to improve our everyday lives comes with the new calendar. We can begin new diets, resolve to exercise more, work on our relationships, find a new job, or learn to set boundaries with our friends, neighbors, and colleagues. It’s a great restart moment and an opportunity for those who are committed to making changes in their lives.   With a new year and economic focus, we here at Pals Ocala Auto Repair team would like to offer some advice on starting 2023 right. Specifically, we'd like to talk about your interest in your car!     Here ar ... read more

Photo by Spencer Pugh on Unsplash It’s December again!  We may not have white Christmases in Ocala, but our town knows how to celebrate the holidays in style. Just peek at the Events listed at the end of this blog, and remember that it’s just a handful of what was announced by mid-November, and you’ll know there’s no end to the joyful events planned for this month.  Christmas Belongs to Everyone Christmas is so much fun for everyone. There’s the spiritual component of the birth of Jesus and celebrating that with other believers, and then there’s the more secular charms of Santa Claus, reindeer, elves at the North Pole, and magical snowmen. There’s room for all kinds of lov ... read more

It’s so nice to have nice things!  As we reach a certain age, we begin to appreciate not only the people we have cultivated over the years as family, but objects of fancy that hold precious. From trinkets to appliances to vehicles to homes, we sometimes find embedded joy in material things.   We spend our lifetime collecting mementos, collectibles, items that hold us in a different time and place when we interact with them. Sometimes these items have no value except the memory we connect with them, and sometimes, these things hold surprising value. Mini Cooper Club We recently had the privilege of being speakers at a gathering of the Ocala Mini Cooper Club. Watching the friendship and respect amongst these wonderful Cooper enthusiasts pointed out to us that the joy of owning a special car is far more than just possessing these objects for others to covet. Joy comes from having a relationship with our favorite things, especially a relationship we can share with other ... read more

  Every October, PALS Ocala takes part in a truly wonderful program called ‘Brakes For Breasts’ that brings vital awareness to two crucial issues. It’s primarily known as a fundraiser to support the effort to end Breast Cancer. Every year, breast cancer awareness goes up and charitable donations towards finding an end to breast cancer surges.        Breast cancer is survivable with early detection and treatment, but it’s a disease that grows rapidly and is hard to control once it spreads. And for those affected, it’s a terrible gutpunch that should be preventable by now. This charity brings awareness of breast cancer to the forefront. It also deals with brakes that may be wearing down from a hot summer, and reminds our shop customers to check their brakes before going into the holiday season, when getting brakes checked without an immediate red flag of concern may get pushed to the back burner, resulting in accidents and damag ... read more

Image by mikrob111 from Pixabay Let’s Talk About Diagnostics! Diagnostics are an important part of determining how to repair your vehicle. With diagnostic scanners becoming easier to come by, it’s tempting to rely on one, or on the advice of a parts place, about what your car needs.    But a diagnostics tool is only one element of the detective work that goes into a vehicle repair. The tool itself is not a precise means of knowing if a part needs to be replaced. It’s also important to know the context of what codes your vehicle is putting out and how they affect each other.  How Did We Ever Do It Before Diagnostic Tools? Some of the “old school” dia ... read more

Image by NoobInNature NIN from Pixabay    The summer sun can be brutal on everything it touches in Ocala-- your skin, your house, your lawn, and your car. August is the muggiest month, as we stroll into the 90s and stay there. It's important to prepare for the summer-- know where to park, when to go out, how to keep the sun from making the heat worse and worse before autumn comes. That's why we want to know: how is your vehicle faring in these dog days of summer?   If you're like most people, your car's air conditioning is one of the first things you think about when you drive in the summertime. Air conditioning has become a standard feature in cars ov ... read more

  Hello from Pals! We’re looking at the part of a car that we’re seeing the most repairs in this month, and we wanted to take a moment to mention your transmission!     Your transmission is a hard-working, vital part of your vehicle. An automatic transmission does the work of a clutch for you, freeing you up to pilot the car. It needs upkeep and attention. It’s an important part of your vehicle. And it’s a specialty of ours at Pals Ocala!      We can resolve most transmission issues. Our experienced crew has seen just about everything under the Florida sun! Bring your transmission woes to Pals and let Chuck and Jimmy sort your vehicle out. Whether you have a fluid leak, debris in your govenor, or a deeper problem that affects drive-ability (such as a damaged pump), bring it to Pals!   EVENTS July 1st – July 3 2nd Annual Summer Hors ... read more

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay   Here at Pals, we wanted to briefly mention Father’s Day and what it means to us. While we recognize that mothers are our first champions and protectors, Dads are so important to our becoming capable adults. They teach us to look after what we own, respect our family while we still have one, and prepare us for when we are out there on our own and missing them.   And when that day comes, and our father passes from this life, it’s a terrible blow. No matter how much time we had with our father, it’s never enough when we realize that we’ve lost him forever. As a man leaves this world, he hopefully leaves us with good and bad memories ... read more

It’s no secret that Ocala is home to a huge equestrian community, and that HITS fans and participants– the hunters and jumpers– are a big part of that community. But they tend to die off a bit in the summer and return back in autumn. Did you know that many of the seasonal guests we see are snowbirds?    No, not actual birds– that’s a term for people who summer in the Northern states and winter in warm places like sunny Ocala. Snowbirds have a lifestyle where they leave the comforts of their Northern homes to migrate south with the birds every year. Whether staying with family or living in their own situation, there’s a steady influx of visitors every year, usually older retirees looking to live longer and sweeter in our warm climate!   They come from as far away as New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Every year, we see them come in around October or November, and they stay until April or May. Some come in regular vehicle ... read more