Auto Repair in Camarillo

Having trouble with your fuel system? Bring your SUV into Camarillo Car Care Center for a check up. 2739 Daily Drive Camarillo, CA 93010 805-482-2853 Today we're talking about fuel system cleaning. The first thing to know is how important it is to have a clean fuel system. You need fuel to go, and the cleaner your fuel system, the more efficiently the fuel will burn. That means more power and better fuel economy. A clean fuel system saves money at the pump. We guess you could say, it all starts and ends at the pump. One of the most important things you can do to keep your fuel system clean is to buy good quality gas. Major brands have detergents that keep gum and varnish from rapidly building up in the fuel system. So buying cheaper gas can actually cost you in the long run. Now, most cars on the road are more than five or six years old. That means they've had time for some dirt and ... read more

People in Camarillo CA often ask the question: “Will using premium gas make my car run better?” The answer is simple. But first, let's talk about what exactly premium gasoline is. Different grades of gasoline have different octane ratings. Regular gasoline has the lowest octane rating and premium the highest. Most gas stations around Camarillo CA also carry a mid-grade that falls in between the two. The octane range for the different grades of gas varies by region due to altitude differences. Engines require different octane ratings because of design differences. For example, turbocharged engines usually require premium gas. There's a sticker on your gas tank filler lid that tells you the minimum octane rating your manufacturer recommends. Read your owner's manual carefully to see if it's acceptable to use lower grades. With some cars in Camarillo CA it is; the engine control computer can adapt. You'll lose some ... read more

All modern vehicles come with fuel injection systems, so it's a topic we all need to know something about. All new cars and trucks sold in Camarillo, CA over the last 30 years or so have come with fuel injection systems. The fuel injector is a valve that delivers the gas or diesel fuel to the right place, in the right amount, at the right time; to be mixed with air and burned in the engine. So how many fuel injectors does your car have? There's one for each cylinder. So four, six or eight for most folks in Camarillo, CA. Some vehicles have 10 or 12 cylinders. The engine control computer makes adjustments to the fuel injector as it monitors the engine and other sensors. Fuel injectors are a pretty sophisticated part. Camarillo Car Care Center can help you with a fuel injector cleaning service. What's the benefit? In order to work right, the fuel injectors have to deliver the fuel at a precise pressure at a very precise time. The fuel needs to be spra ... read more

One topic that hits the news in Camarillo on a regular basis is the price of gas. The answer for some people in Camarillo is to buy a more fuel efficient vehicle. For the rest of use, we need to improve our fuel economy anyway we can. Following recommended service intervals by coming into Camarillo Car Care Center is one of the best ways to keep your car running efficiently. That means better fuel economy. When you give it some thought, it only makes sense. Dirty oil or transmission fluid can't lubricate or clean. That means more drag which reduces fuel economy. Keeping up with scheduled oil changes and transmission services will save gas. Dirty engine air filters are another efficiency pirate. They rob your engine of enough air to effectively burn the fuel, so you need more gas to get the job done. Replacing a dirty air filter can pay for itself in fuel savings before the next oil change. You can imagine what dirty fuel injectors can do ... read more

There are a surprising number of small, inexpensive parts that can lead to expensive engine damage when they fail. It doesn't seem right. Fortunately a lot of those things can be taken care of in routine maintenance. They may not be easy to remember, because it is a long list, but your service center at Camarillo Car Care Center can help you know what's scheduled to be taken care of. Some of us in Camarillo CA really don't look forward to going in for an oil change and then getting a list of the other things the manufacturer recommends. But automotive maintenance is all about prevention, and addressing small problems before they get big. Let's take the fuel filter for example. You may not know this but the median age for private vehicles on our Camarillo CA roads is over nine years. When cars get older, five years or so, they've accumulated a lot of dirt and rust in their gas tanks. If ... read more

At Camarillo Car Care Center we hear from a lot of people who are excited about the new diesel engines that will soon be available in passenger cars and SUV's. But our CA friends are often curious about the preventive maintenance requirements. People may not know that diesel engines have long been used extensively in Europe and Asia. In fact, in some markets, there're nearly as many diesel powered passenger cars as there are gasoline. Here's who's announced or is expected to announce new diesels for North America: BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and Subaru. Of course, the US auto makers will be expanding their diesel offerings as well. Diesels will become a very big deal here in CA. You may ask, why has it taken so long getting to CA and North America? There are a bunch of reasons like fuel tax policies and such, but the biggest hurtle was that CA diesel fuel had a high s ... read more

The last new car sold with a carburetor in North America rolled out of the dealership in 1990. Since then, all new vehicles have had fuel injectors. In very simple terms, a fuel injector is a valve that squirts fuel into your engine. Your engine control computer tells the fuel injector how much gas to deliver as well as the precise time it should be delivered. Of course this happens thousands of times a minute. Fuel injection is a much more precise way of delivering fuel than carburetors. That translates into better fuel economy and power. Virtually all fuel injectors for gas engines are known as port fuel injectors because they deliver the fuel to a port just outside the cylinder. Port fuel injectors operate at about 40 to 80 pounds per square inch of pressure. A few auto makers have introduced gas direct injection systems on some engines recently. These systems inject the gas directly into the cylinders under very high pressure – hundreds of times the pressur ... read more

Something you're going to be hearing a lot about around Camarillo, CA is diesel engines. We're not talking about semi-trucks and buses – We're talking about diesel engine cars, pick-ups and SUVs. Most people in Camarillo, CA are surprised to learn that around half the cars on the road in Europe have diesel engines. Nearly all import auto manufacturers offer a range of diesel engines abroad – even the ultra-luxury brands like Mercedes and BMW. For the most part, these diesel engines haven't been available in Camarillo, CA. But that's about to change. In the past, North American diesel fuel has had a much higher sulfur content than European fuel. Recent environmental laws have required changes in diesel formulation and emissions standards here in Camarillo, CA so we are now ready to start seeing more diesel options offered over the next few years. Why are so many interested in diesel engines? Well first off, diesel fuel is more energy den ... read more

The price of gas has got everyone talking. It seems that people who need a bigger vehicle to carry family and gear, or provide four wheel drive, are especially hit hard. That is why we thought it would be good to review some things that anyone can do to improve fuel economy. First let's start with how we drive. People may not realize that they can really save on gas by just changing a few driving habits. One of the biggest is jackrabbit starts – you know, flooring the gas as soon as the light turns green. That really wastes a lot of fuel. Building up your speed at a slower pace uses less fuel and is easier on your engine and drive train. And don't drive with one foot on the brake. That's also a drag on fuel economy, and it wears out your brakes faster too. Another thing is to drive slower – but only when it's safe. Sometimes on the highway we drive an extra five … ten . . . twenty … over the speed limit. We do it to save time, but it ... read more

You may have found yourself in the following situation: You go to get your oil changed and the service adviser recommends you get a new engine air filter. You say yes, but because you didn't know what an air filter is or what it does, you were too embarrassed to ask. First of all, you did the right thing by getting a new one. And, you should never be too embarrassed to ask for more information. It's your money and you have a right to understand what you're paying for. Let's review what an air filter does. Air is the focus of this discussion. What is the air like outside right now? Can you see the smog? Is it full of pollen? How about dust? Anyone with hay fever can tell you that there's plenty in the air that you can't see. Well, it's the engine air filter's job to clean that air before it goes into your engine, to mix with the fuel and be burned. Without a filter, the inside of your engine would be extremely dirty from all the gunk that was burned in the c ... read more