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" Hot Problem  Q:   I have a 2007 Hyundai Azera. The dealer replaced the battery last spring, and it&amp;#039;s already dead. Also, the dealer says that batteries don&amp;#039;t really last in Florida. Even if that&amp;#039;s true, a year or less seems like an awfully short life span for a battery.   A:   I&amp;#039;m going to assume the dealer has checked out your charging system and given it a clean bill of health. As far as his assertion that batteries don&amp;#039;t last in Florida, he&amp;#039;s sort of right. The thing that kills batteries is heat, because it boils off the water in the electrolyte and hastens the sulfation process. That&amp;#039;s when some of the lead on the plates of a partially discharged battery oxidizes into lead sulfate. The lead sulfate interferes with the normal charge-discharge chemistry of the battery, reducing capacity until finally you can&amp;#039;t start your car.  Although most of the damage is done in the summer, the batteries customarily fail in colder weather. That&amp;#039;s because cold oil is thicker than warm oil, and therefore demands more from the starter motor. Similarly, your car&amp;#039;s electrical demands are higher in winter because you&amp;#039;re running lights and window defrosters and windshield wipers more frequently. But: One year is still abnormally short. I&amp;#039;d be expecting at least a partial warranty. Here are my suggestions to make your next battery last longer: Use a conventional battery, not a maintenance-free one. Periodically check the level of electrolyte and add distilled water as necessary. Maintenance-free batteries have no filler caps. They generally do have more standing electrolyte above the plates to compensate, but when they&amp;#039;re in service a lot of water boils away, so they can&amp;#039;t last as long as conventional batteries that can be topped off every few months.  Be sure the dealer has reinstalled any battery heat shields that the manufacturer installed at the factory, to keep the battery temperature down. Avoid parking in the sun. Be sure the car is driven regularly for enough distance to keep the battery charged. Vehicles with short driving cycles may very well not ever charge the battery completely, hastening its demise. If this is your problem, you may need to use a small battery maintainer plugged into the wall, or at least try to get out of the house more often. Pairing Up  Q:   Do both wheel cylinders on the rear brakes of a car have to be replaced at the same time or can they be done one at a time? The car only has 54,000 miles.   A:   Technically, there is no compelling reason to replace both wheel cylinders or both calipers at the same time. But economically, it probably does make sense. Both sides have seen the same service, and the other one is likely near failure. You&amp;#039;ve already got the car up in the air, and are replacing the shoes or pads on both sides anyway. (Yes, you are. Never replace the pads or shoes except as a complete set.) And if you&amp;#039;ve got one side of the hydraulic system open, you have to bleed the whole thing anyway. The incremental cost to replace a wheel cylinder is not large. The only reason I&amp;#039;d skimp is if it meant waiting around for parts while I was on vacation or something. Blowing Hot and Cold  Q:   I have a 1995 Buick Park Avenue and I am having problems with the heating system inside the car. I get heat only from the driver&amp;#039;s side--the passenger side blows only cold air. The problem occurs with the floor, mid and windshield vents, and I do not understand why the driver&amp;#039;s side is working and the passenger&amp;#039;s is not.   A:   Split HVAC controls were available on your car, allowing the driver and passenger to control the temperature in their seats individually. I&amp;#039;m assuming your vehicle has this system, rather than the standard automatic temperature controls. There are a couple of extra air doors, actuators and linkages for this climate-control system. Your problem is fairly common in GM vehicles of this vintage, and it&amp;#039;s usually a vacuum leak internally in the programmer that routes vacuum to all those air-blend doors. It&amp;#039;s not a cheap part. My suggestion is to have your mechanic lock open the air-blend doors that control the passenger side, disconnect their vacuum lines, and give up the dual-control option.  Bad Vibes  Q:   I recently read an article from an old PM with instructions detailing how to clean the throttle body in a car. I just purchased a 1999 Saturn SC1, and the little car runs great--except when it&amp;#039;s not moving. It really vibrates while sitting in park or at a stop sign. In fact, it vibrates so hard it is virtually impossible to see clearly in the rearview or side mirrors. I think it just needs some TLC and the aforementioned cleaning of the throttle body. However, a few of my friends say this is a normal condition for a Saturn, that they all do it, even when they are new. Are they pulling my leg? Or should I just go ahead and clean the throttle body whether it needs the work or not?  A:   Well, first-generation Saturns have never been known for good NVH (noise vibration and harshness) quotients, but the ones I&amp;#039;ve driven over the years haven&amp;#039;t been that bad. Have the shop check the engine idle speed, which should be pretty near 700 rpm. If the idle is low, you&amp;#039;ll notice more idle shake. Tampering with the factory-adjusted idle screw isn&amp;#039;t permitted by the service manual, for reasons GM doesn&amp;#039;t specify but that probably have to do with emissions requirements. You&amp;#039;ll need to check for a metered-air leak, a sticky throttle blade, a sticky idle air controller, a leaky EGR valve and a half-dozen other things. Cleaning the throttle body might help, but you should at least try to figure out what the problem is first.   But wait, there&amp;#039;s more! There&amp;#039;s a service bulletin out on your car for the upper front engine mount. Check the mount: If the rubber is solid, it&amp;#039;s the old style and needs to be replaced with the newer style. The newer style has a 2-millimeter horizontal slot to make it more compliant. If the slot is narrower than 2 mm, the mount has collapsed and needs to be replaced. Another tactic I&amp;#039;ve used on cars with lots of idle shake is to loosen up all the bolts on the engine mounts. Then start the engine, and--with your foot on the brake--put the transmission alternatively in drive and reverse a few times. Back to neutral, shut off the engine and tighten everything up. This should realign the engine mounts, and maybe lessen the shake. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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