Auto Repair in Camarillo

Today's Camarillo Car Care Center post focuses on using coolant. If you pour in the wrong kind, it won't protect the cooling system and may even void the warranty. Check your vehicle owner's manual. Of course, your Camarillo Car Care Center service advisor will know the proper coolant for your vehicle.

Brake fluid is confusing for some Camarillo drivers. Back when we opened Camarillo Car Care Center, most vehicles used Dot 3 brake fluid. Now we have Dot 4 and Dot 5. Some Camarillo residents mistakenly think the higher numbers are an upgrade. You know, if 3 is good then 4 must be better. That's not how it works. They are different formulations to meet the demands of differences in brake systems. Only one of them is designed for your vehicle.

Ditto for transmission fluid. For decades there were two basic types of tranny fluid used at Camarillo Car Care Center: friction modified or not. With the tremendous engineering advances in vehicle automatic transmissions, there have been several new types of fluids developed to protect and lubricate them.

Nowhere are the advances in automotive fluids more evident to Camarillo Car Care Center professionals than in motor oil. Many new weights and formulations have been created to meet the demands of today's high-tech vehicle engine design. Modern engines have more parts and much tighter tolerances.

That's where the new grades of engine oil come in. They have to be formulated to lubricate, protect and clean all of those vehicle engine parts, big and little. The oil has to be thin enough to get into little passages, yet resistant to vaporization.

At Camarillo Car Care Center in Camarillo, we believe that in some ways modern automotive fluids are just as impressive as the new engines. Because weights of oil and types of coolant and transmission fluid are so carefully matched to the vehicle, make sure you always use the proper fluid if you are topping off at home.

Camarillo Car Care Center
2739 Daily Drive
Camarillo, CA 93010
805-482-2853
www.camarillocarcare.com

Your vehicle requires plenty of clean fuel to run. If your fuel contains contaminants, your fuel injectors will eventually become clogged up. When this happens, your vehicle engine may not get the proper amount of fuel at the correct pressure to run at peak performance. This hurts performance as you drive around the Camarillo area. It can also lead to the buildup of harmful deposits on valves and in the combustion chamber.

That's why all vehicles, including vehicles, come equipped with a fuel filter. The job of the filter is to clean out little pieces of dirt and contamination. The filter captures the contaminants and keeps them out of the fuel stream. Of course, like all filters, it will eventually get clogged up and need to be replaced at Camarillo Car Care Center in Camarillo.

If your fuel filter is clogged, the vehicle engine can't get all the fuel it needs, and it may sputter at high speeds or quick acceleration. Many fuel filters have a bypass valve that will allow unfiltered fuel through when they are clogged. This keeps your vehicle engine running but doesn't protect it from  contaminated fuel.

Camarillo drivers may find that they need to change their fuel filter at Camarillo Car Care Center more frequently as their vehicle ages. Over the years, additional sediment and rust accumulates in the fuel tank and can be drawn into the fuel system. Your fuel filter stands guard at the gates to your engine to protect parts and to maintain performance.

Camarillo Car Care Center
2739 Daily Drive
Camarillo, CA 93010
805-482-2853
www.camarillocarcare.com

When it comes to their vehicles, some Camarillo residents don't have a maintenance mindset. They know they need to take care of their cars, but it's really hard to get them to remember to do it. Camarillo drivers generally accept that many things in life require regular maintenance, but just may not have applied it to their vehicles.

Here's something that will help: The key to good vehicle maintenance starts with the oil change. Think about it – when you go in for a full-service oil change, your friendly and knowledgeable Camarillo Car Care Center service advisor will check all your fluids. If one of them is low, he can look for the reason. If your serpentine belt is cracked, he'll see it and let you know. Corroded battery cable – they've got you covered. And at Camarillo Car Care Center, we check whether your vehicle manufacturer has recommended any services at your current mileage.

The oil change becomes kind of a focal point, a way to check in to see what needs to be done. The fact is that vehicle inspection surveys consistently reveal that over 80% of vehicles have one or more unperformed repair or maintenance services. Vehicles are generally very reliable and can take a lot of abuse and neglect. But you have to remember that vehicles are complicated machines. There are parts and fluids that are critical to their operation. Without them, the vehicle won't run at all.

So when you come into Camarillo Car Care Center for an oil change, you get advice from your friendly, knowledgeable service advisor and reminders about recommended services so you can avoid a total failure. And remember that your friendly and knowledgeable Camarillo Car Care Center service advisor can help you work out a maintenance and repair plan, prioritizing and scheduling the work to make sure you and your family are safe and to help you avoid expensive breakdowns.

Camarillo Car Care Center
2739 Daily Drive
Camarillo, CA 93010
805-482-2853
www.camarillocarcare.com

Today in the Camarillo Car Care Center auto care blog, we're going to talk to Camarillo drivers about oil change intervals. It seems that as engine technology advances, oil change intervals become longer for Camarillo Car Care Center customers. For example, recently four of the world's largest vehicle manufacturer's shortened the published intervals for several of their engine models. They originally published intervals that extended out to a much as 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers).

In real world Camarillo driving, the oil started to sludge up before the recommended change interval. Oil sludge is a thick jelly-like substance: quite literally petroleum jelly – like Vaseline. This goop was clogging vehicle small engine passages so the oil wouldn't flow to some parts of the engine. This resulted in engine damage. We see it too often at Camarillo Car Care Center in Camarillo.

The vehicle manufacturers began to offer an extended warranty to cover sludge damage. But there was a catch: the vehicle owner had to follow a new, lower service interval and provide proof of oil changes in order to make a warranty claim.

So here's the bottom line for Camarillo vehicle owners: with longer oil change intervals, it's essential to follow them closely. Back in the day of 3 months or 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers), if you went an extra month or an extra thousand miles or couple of thousand kilometers, your oil was still fresh enough that it didn't have time to build up much sludge.

But if your recommended interval is 6,500 miles (10,000 kilometers) and you go over another thousand miles or couple of thousands of kilometers, you're getting into heavy sludge territory. You absolutely need to follow mileage intervals very closely. And don't forget your severe service schedule. If you do a lot of stop and go driving in CA, short trips, drive in dusty or polluted Camarillo conditions, hot or cold weather  or haul heavy loads, you're driving in severe service conditions. Your Camarillo Car Care Center service advisor can help you determine which schedule to follow.

So check your vehicle owner's manual or talk with your Camarillo Car Care Center service advisor about where and how you drive in Camarillo. Should you change your oil closer to the regular schedule, or the severe service schedule? You need to make the call.

Let me give you an example of this. Some newer vehicles have an oil change indicator. It has a sophisticated computer algorithm that tracks number of cold starts, engine temperature, RPMs, mileage and many more variables to come up with a recommendation for when to change the oil.

Depending on driving conditions, the indicator in one test vehicle came on at anywhere from 2,500 miles (4,000 km) to almost 7,000 miles (11,000 km). It's typically just over 4,000 miles (6,500 km). Sometimes our driving is easy on the vehicle – like a long road trip. Sometimes, our driving is hard on it – like towing a heavy trailer or a lot of around town driving. But, usually, it's a combination of both.

Once again, it's up to you to make the call as to when to change your oil at Camarillo Car Care Center to protect your vehicle engine. Another place where CA drivers can go wrong is with the type of oil they use. More and more new cars are coming to Camarillo owners filled with synthetic oil. Without going into a lot of detail right now, let's just say that synthetic oil lasts longer and is very resistant to oil sludge.

But it also costs quite a bit more, so some people are tempted to use conventional oil for their oil changes. Now, it's always best to use the oil recommended by your vehicle manufacturer. Check your owner's manual see if a conventional oil alternative is allowed.

But getting back to the problem, if your vehicle came from the factory with synthetic oil, the recommended oil change interval is for synthetic oil. If you use conventional oil, you can't use the synthetic interval. You need to shorten it.

Camarillo Car Care Center
2739 Daily Drive
Camarillo, CA 93010
805-482-2853
www.camarillocarcare.com