Winter
Cold-soak, explained once
Why a battery that was fine Tuesday is dead Wednesday at 7,000 feet.
A car parked outside overnight ends up the same temperature as the air, all the way through. At 10°F a lead-acid battery delivers roughly half the cranking amps it would at 70°F, while the oil in the engine thickens and asks the starter for more. A battery in its fourth winter does not have the margin. The fix is not a jump every morning; it is a load test in October and a battery tender if the car sits. If you only remember one thing from this site, remember the tender.
Brakes
The downhill into Show Low
Pads that were fine in Phoenix glaze on the grade. Here is what the smell means.
The grade on 260 from Pinetop-Lakeside into Show Low is long enough to heat a set of pads past where the friction material works. You will smell it at the Deuce: sharp, a little sweet. Once is a warning. Every time means glazed pads or a caliper that is not releasing. Downshift on the descent so the engine holds you, keep your foot off the pedal except to scrub speed in short presses, and have the pads measured before the rotors warp and the job doubles.
Tires
Forest-road pins
The flat you get on a graded road, and the one you get on a two-track.
The graded forest roads off 260 and Porter Mountain are chip and gravel; the usual flat is a nail or a sharp rock through the tread, which plugs in ten minutes. The two-tracks are different: rocks catch the sidewall, and a sidewall cut is a spare and a trip to the tire shop, no plug will hold. Air down a little on the two-tracks, keep your spare inflated, and know whether your lug key is in the glovebox before you are out there finding out.
Calls
What to text, in order
Cross street, vehicle, symptom. The three lines that get the truck moving fastest.
Cross street first, because it decides whether the truck can come at all and how long it takes. If you are on the highway, the mile marker; if you are on a forest road, share a pin. Then the vehicle, year make model, because a Silverado and a Civic are different jobs. Then what it is doing, in your own words: clicks once, cranks slow, lights on but nothing, a sound, a smell. Skip the diagnosis; we do that part.
