Auto Repair in Camarillo

The PCV Valve is a little, inexpensive part that does a big job for Camarillo drivers. PCV stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation. The crankcase is the bottom area of the engine that holds the oil. When the SUV engine’s running, fuel is burned to generate power. Most of the exhaust from combustion goes out through the exhaust system. But some exhaust blows by the pistons and goes into the lower engine, or crankcase. These hot gases are about seventy percent unburned fuel.This can dilute and contaminate the oil, leading to damaging engine oil sludge. It can also cause SUV engine corrosion, something we see occasionally at Camarillo Car Care Center. At high speeds on Camarillo freeways, the pressure can build up to the point that gaskets and seals start to leak. Back in the old days, engine makers simply installed a hose that vented these gases out into the atmosphere ... read more

Life's full of surprises in Camarillo CA, some of which cost money. A leaky roof, a broken tooth, or an unexpected car repair. Camarillo Car Care Center of Camarillo CA and AutoNetTV have done some research on how we can budget for proper vehicle care. Everyone in Camarillo CA does our best to budget for scheduled vehicle maintenance. What's hard is unexpected repairs. The truth is that our vehicles can stay on the road longer than ever before with proper maintenance. That's because of improved vehicle design and manufacturing quality. But some of those same improvements also lead to higher repairs costs. Let's take the fuel pump. Previous generations were often stranded by the side of the road by vapor lock. This occurred when the gas vaporized between the gas tank and the fuel pump. Fuel just stopped flowing. You had to sit and wait until the car w ... read more

Welcome to the Camarillo Car Care Center blog. Today, let’s talk about the effect of tire tread depth on braking. When talking about stopping power, most of us Ventura County drivers tend to focus on our brakes. But our tires are where the rubber meets the road. So having good brakes isn’t enough. Safe Ventura County drivers need to have tires with enough traction to translate braking power into stopping power.Let’s focus on stopping in wet Ventura County conditions. In order for a tire to have good contact with the road, it has to move the water out of the way. If it can’t move the water, the tire will actually ride on top of a thin film of water. That’s called hydroplaning. If it’s really bad, Ventura County drivers can actually spin out of control. At best, you won’t stop as fast. So how does a tire move water? It has channels for water to flo ... read more

Flats, blow outs, skids and longer stopping distances can all be the result of Thousand Oaks folks driving around on under-inflated tires. Now, it’s hard to tell when a radial tire is under-inflated. If your manufacturer recommends 35 pounds of pressure, your SUV tire’s considered significantly under inflated at 26 pounds. The tire may not look low until it gets below 20 pounds. New laws required manufacturers to include a Tire Pressure Monitoring System - or TPMS system - in all cars and light trucks by the 2008 model year. The system has a dashboard mounted warning light that goes off if one or more of the tires falls 25% below manufacturer’s pressure recommendations. This technology has been used by Thousand Oaks race car drivers for years. They are able to head off problems from under inflation by closely monitoring tire pressure on the track. It’s up to your car’s manufacturer to determine which of m ... read more