Automotive News & Information - Ponci's Diesel Center

At Ponci's Diesel Center in Fortuna, CA, we know the key to making your vehicle last; good maintenance. An overwhelming percentage of the problems we see, especially the really catastrophic ones, are a result of poor maintenance. While properly maintaining a vehicle can seem like a bit of a hassle, it is absolutely worth the payoff. Good maintenance is the only difference between a car that lasts 80,000 miles and a car that lasts 400,000 miles. Preventative maintenance and repair when a problem occurs are your two concerns, and both will keep your car on the road far longer if observed properly.

Your vehicle configuration determines how it should be properly towed to avoid transmission damage. Specifically, it matters if your vehicle is front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive and whether it’s an automatic or a manual. From the professionals at Ponci's Diesel Center in Fortuna, CA, here’s how to tow your vehicle:

While transmissions are extremely complicated and it takes a professional hand to work on one, taking care of the one you have isn’t difficult. At Ponci's Diesel Center in Fortuna, CA, we understand the importance of caring for your transmission properly, so that it stays in good condition for as long as possible.

At some point or another, it’ll happen to you. You leave your headlights on, your battery finally fails, or for some other reason, you don’t have enough juice to start your car. Don’t call a tow truck just yet, though...Ponci's Diesel Center in Fortuna has the info you need to properly jump start your car.

Unless you are confident in your abilities as an automotive mechanic, there is really only one rule when purchasing a flood-damaged vehicle: don’t do it. Unfortunately, sometimes sellers aren’t particularly straight-forward with their used cars. Many will try to hide the fact that it’s been damaged by floodwaters at all or try to convince potential buyers that the car is in fact fine. “It has gone months with no issues” or “technically it is flood-damaged but” are two red flags, and while it isn’t impossible for a flood car to be fine, it’s altogether a good idea to stay away.

Spark plugs have been around since the beginning, and play as important a role now as they did a hundred years ago. It’s a good idea to replace them as a set at regular intervals, but sometimes one will go bad sooner than the rest for one reason or another. How do you know if you have a bad spark plug? Here are some indicators, from Ponci's Diesel Center in Fortuna, CA.

At Ponci's Diesel Center in Fortuna, CA, we service all types of transmissions, on any car, truck, or SUV. This includes both All-Wheel Drive and Four-Wheel Drive vehicles, but you may be wondering...what’s the difference? Both types of vehicle supply power to all four wheels, so why use two different terms? Due to the increasing demand for AWD and 4WD vehicles over the last decade, equipped on everything from sports cars to pickup trucks, more and more people are asking these same questions.

At Ponci's Diesel Center in Fortuna, we know that in order to keep your car in good shape, it helps to know how it works. Here’s a quick rundown of a system that’s very important, but you take for granted until there’s a problem; your brakes.