Auto Repair in Camarillo

Hello, welcome to Camarillo Car Care Center. Today's topic is batteries. It seems like everything in Somis runs on batteries. Of course, the batteries we’re most concerned with here at Camarillo Car Care Center are those in our vehicles. Car batteries wear out just like any other battery and need to be replaced. There are a couple of things Somis drivers should know when looking for a new battery. There are two measurements that come into play: one is cold cranking amps and the other is reserve capacity. Let’s start with cold cranking amps. This can be thought of as the power output used to start a cold engine. The number of cold cranking amps you need depends on your vehicle and where you live, specifically how cold it is where you live. The two factors are that the colder your SUV's engine is, the more power it takes to turn the engine over to get it started. It has al ... read more

When all of a vehicle’s wheels are lined up exactly with each other, your wheels are in alignment. Hitting a road hazard or even just the normal bumps and bounces of everyday driving in Camarillo can cause your SUV's wheels to be out of alignment. Driving for an extended time in Camarillo when you’re out of alignment causes your SUV's tires to wear unevenly and excessively - perhaps causing you to have to replace tires years too early or even lead to a blowout: Dangerous … and expensive. It can also cause premature wear to your suspension system, which can be really expensive. Here are some alignment basics: The ideal alignment for your SUV was designed by its engineers. Alignment service at Camarillo Car Care Center starts with an inspection of the steering and suspension - to see if anything’s bent or broken. Then the Camarillo technician will look at tire condition. Fr ... read more

Hello Ventura County, let's talk about brakes. Braking, as all Ventura County drivers know,is slowing or stopping a vehicle. As you can imagine, brakes are engineered to work well on a particular vehicle application. For example, you would expect more powerful brakes on a heavy-duty pickup that routinely hauls big loads and pulls trailers, than you would on a compact car. And a Corvette that can go over 180 miles per hour would have much different braking needs than the family mini-van you drive around Ventura County. But the mechanical aspects of the brakes themselves are just one issue. There’s also the power brake pump and brake fluid. And then there are the tires, which are critical to the effectiveness of the brakes. Let’s step back. A new SUV or truck rolls off a local Ventura County dealer showroom floor. It has brand new brakes with brand new brak ... read more

We are fanatics about quality. We hire the finest talent to service your cars. We use high quality parts and fluids that last longer and are right for your particular vehicle. We utilize the best equipment to service your cars too. All of this shows how serious our commitment is to quality work done right the first time. Nothing says it better than our 3 year, 36,000 mileage warranty. We don't just say our work is great, we back it up with a warranty that is almost unheard of in the auto repair industry. Most shops just give a warranty of only a few months. Our warranty covers both parts and labor for your repairs. Now that's confidence! Click here to read more about our 3year/36,000 mile warranty.

Today in our Camarillo Car Care Center blog, we’re going to talk about following recommended service intervals. Your SUV isn’t the only aspect of your life in Camarillo with recommended intervals: Let’s start with twice yearly dental cleaning. And physical exams. How about laundry, mowing the lawn and paying the bills? Now, what would happen if you didn’t follow these intervals? Well, you’d get more cavities. You’d probably not become aware of health issues that benefit from early detection and treatment. And you’d have to wear dirty clothes, be embarrassed by your overgrown lawn and have your utilities shut off. We all realize there are some things in life that we have to take care of regularly. If we don’t, there are negative consequences. Our quality of life takes a hit and it inevitably costs more money. So why is it so hard to remember to follow regular preventive maintenance on our SUVs? Probably a ... read more

Your SUV engine really needs clean air to operate efficiently. Let’s go egghead for a minute. For every gallon of gas we burn driving around Camarillo , twenty pounds of carbon dioxide comes out the tailpipe. Question: how can a gallon of gas that weighs a little over six pounds produce twenty pounds of carbon dioxide? The answer is that the carbon comes from the gasoline, but the oxygen comes from the air. You see, it takes about twelve thousand gallons of air to burn a gallon of gas in your engine. Clearly, your SUV needs a lot of air to keep going in Camarillo . A lot of clean air is better. You’ve seen the pictures of the crowds in Asia wearing face masks. They want some kind of filter to keep unwanted pollution and germs out of their lungs. Well, your SUV also works better when its internals are clean. When your SUV air filter’s dirty, it simply can’t trap any more dirt, so the dirt ... read more

Let’s talk about air quality in Camarillo. It’s a global issue, but affects us wherever we are. Many decades ago, we began to become aware of how air pollution negatively affects health. But what about the air inside your vehicle? Cabin air filters are now coming on most new SUVs in Camarillo. These filters clean the air in the passenger compartment. They can filter particles down to three microns, so that’s good enough to clean out dust, pollen and most pollutants. If you suffer from allergies in Camarillo, this is very good news. Your car can be a haven during your Camarillo commute.Now, it’s only been in the last few years that cabin air filters have become common. You can look in your owner’s manual to see if you have one. If you do, there’ll be a recommendation for replacing it when it gets dirty. If you live in an area of Camarillo where there’s a lot of dust, pollen or pollution ... read more

There’s a segment of the Camarillo population that’s not committed to proper vehicle maintenance. Mistaken perceptions have crept into the CA area over time. Many Camarillo motorists think the root lies in the fact that modern cars are so reliable. Reliability has improved dramatically in recent years. Quality surveys report fewer problems with new cars than ever before. Back when cars spent more time in the repair shop, Camarillo drivers were more mindful of routine service. Now, it’s much easier to put it off. Take tune-ups for example. In the days of mechanical ignition systems, an engine needed to be tuned-up every couple of years. The ignition points had to be replaced, spark plugs and coils replaced and the timing adjusted. If your engine was out of tune, you knew it. It ran poorly and got bad fuel economy. Now, the ignition system in your SUV is electronic and co ... read more

The push for fuel economy has two benefits: using less gas, and fewer emissions. Ventura County cars and trucks run cleaner than ever. Ventura County people may not realize that the first federally mandated pollution control device came out almost fifty years ago. Ventura County folks that were around in the early 60′s may remember that the PCV valve came out on 1964 model cars. PCV stand for Positive Crankcase Ventilation. The crankcase is the lower part of the engine where the crankshaft is housed and where the engine oil lives. The crankshaft is connected to the pistons that power the engine. When fuel is burned in the SUV engine, it pushes the pistons down and the crankshaft rotates and sends power to the transmission. Some of the explosive gases from combustion squeeze past the pistons and down into the crankcase. Now this gas is about 70% unburned fu ... read more

Camarillo drivers rely on their car's coolant system to keep their engine cool. Coolant (also called antifreeze) mixed with water flows through your SUV engine and absorbs heat. The mixture then flows out to the radiator where it’s cooled by air flowing over the radiator. From there the coolant/water mix circulates back through the engine to absorb more heat. There’s a reason we mix coolant and water. Water alone actually does a good job transferring heat from the engine. The problem is that water boils at a temperature that’s easily reached inside your SUV's engine, so it can turn to steam which does not conduct heat as well and is harder to contain. Also, if it’s freezing outside in Camarillo, the water in your engine could freeze while your vehicle is sitting out in the cold. So, if you remember your Camarillo high school chemistry, you’ll know that a mixture has both a higher boiling point and a lower freezing point ... read more