Auto Repair in Camarillo

Most Thousand Oaks drivers wait for their air conditioning to fail before they service it at Camarillo Car Care Center. That’s because many Camarillo and Somis motorists don't really understand that automotive air conditioners need periodic service. Let me share some of the reasons why they fail. First, like every machine, the SUV air conditioner parts need lubrication. The lubricant is actually mixed in with the refrigerant (that’s the stuff that makes the air cool). So sometimes, even though the air conditioner is still making cool air, the oil that lubricates the parts has just been used up: and unlubricated parts can fail in all CA cars. The air conditioner actually removes some of the moisture in the air. So if you have trouble with fogging on your windshield during CA winters or during a rain storm, running the A/C on the ... read more

When your SUV breaks down, or just needs some routine service, you might get a little nervous. Your car’s so important to your life in Somis, you need to back on the road as soon as possible - with the problem fixed right the first time. If you’ve ever checked into some of the technician training Camarillo Car Care Center professionals receive, you may be surprised at how much knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern car. Let me give you some perspective. Today there are four cylinder engines that make more power than the V-8’s in luxury cars twenty years ago. I mean a new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket’s Ferrari in a race to sixty. Some cars have several networked computers controlling most of the engine functions and many other vehicle functions as well. Somis motorists take all of this sophistication for granted - but somebody has to fix it when it breaks ... read more

Today's Camarillo Car Care Center auto maintenance article focuses on your serpentine belt. Your serpentine belt is a long belt that’s driven by your engine. It winds around several accessories that power important automotive systems. Let’s go over them. First, the serpentine belt drives your SUV air conditioning system. It spins the compressor that makes the cool air that takes the edge off the summer heat in Thousand Oaks. Next, the belt powers the alternator. The alternator creates electricity that’s used by your SUV’s electrical systems and also charges your car battery. All Thousand Oaks drivers know that without the alternator, the battery will go dead in a few miles. The serpentine belt may also run the pumps for both the power steering and power brakes. And, on many SUVs, the serpentine belt powe ... read more

Suspension systems will continue to operate effectively for many years and tens of thousands of miles. Eventually SUV components do wear out, but how long that takes depends a lot on how you drive in Somis. As you can imagine, if most of your driving is on smooth CA highways, your shock absorbers will last a lot longer than if you do most of your driving on bumpy roads or hauling heavy loads. In addition to just wearing out, SUV suspension components can be damaged in an accident or by a hard impact - like a pothole, hitting a curb or a rock in the road. Because the life span of shocks can vary so widely, your SUV manufacturer recommends periodic inspections. During an inspection at Camarillo Car Care Center, your friendly Somis service technician will check for worn, broken or missing parts. Let me give a rundown of the major suspension components. First there are the springs. Th ... read more

Today’s report from Camarillo Car Care Center is on car batteries, why they die and what we can do to lengthen their life. Most of us have had a dead battery at one time or another. In fact, it would be very unusual if you hadn’t. You may be surprised to learn that only 30 percent of Camarillo vehicle batteries last for 48 months. Now that’s an average. How long a battery lasts depends on many factors. You may not know that one of the biggest factors is the temperature where you live and drive around Camarillo. You might suppose that cold weather was harder on batteries because it takes more power to crank a cold engine, but the opposite is actually true. Batteries in very cold climates have a life expectancy of 51 months as opposed to 30 months in very warm climates. The reason is simple: batteries are chemically more active when they’re hot than when they’re cold. A car battery will actually start to discharge on its ow ... read more

Myths passed around our Camarillo CA community start with a grain of evidence and are then built up with a lot of imagination and very elastic logic. And the internet is a breeding ground for automotive myths. Some bloggers recall the SUVs of yesteryear and declare their modern decedents to be virtually maintenance free and that anyone who says otherwise is out to rip you off. Let's examine a couple of the more popular rants and look at the truth behind them. The first one is that the chassis no longer needs lubrication for suspension, steering and the driveline. They declare that anyone who has charged you for lubrication is a charlatan. The truth on which this myth is based is that many new cars come from the factory with sealed joints and cannot be greased. However, there are still some grease points on many cars around Camarillo. A grease fitting may have been installed in conjunction with a repair. And most trucks a ... read more