Rocklin and Sacramento Auto Repair

We live in a disposable society. Everything from elaborate packaging to our clothing. Even cell phones are disposable. When replacement is cheaper than repair, the term "built to last" goes by the wayside. An exception is our vehicles. They're still a very big investment and Sacramento drivers want to make them last as long as possible.  We also want to make keeping them running as cheap as possible. When talking vehicles, it's all about preventive maintenance. There is an old saying that says, "A stitch in time saves nine," and that is really true when it comes to taking care of your vehicle. A great example is coolant service in Sacramento.Your coolant not only protects your engine from overheating and freezing, it must also protect cooling system components from corrosion. Over time, coolant becomes corrosive and actually starts to damage your radiator and other parts. That's why you need to have your cooling system serviced on a regular schedule.The same is true for your ... read more

A while back, the Cash for Clunkers program was all over the news. Sacramento people could trade in their old vehicle for a new one that got better fuel economy and receive a government rebate. A lot of Sacramento motorists had so-called clunkers that they wanted to keep. They’re good commuters, grocery getters or toy haulers. They enjoy that fact that they’re paid off, or soon will be. They would gladly like to keep their sedans for 200,000 miles or more – as long as it’s economical to do so. There are plenty of Sacramento drivers whose vehicles are running after 150,000 or 200,000 miles. We can learn from what they’re doing to keep our own sedans on the road in California. Sacramento drivers of high-mileage cars often report a common denominator of never skipping an oil change. ... read more

We've all seen people do crazy things while driving to or from Sacramento. A guy shaving in the rear-view mirror, a woman applying makeup, people talking on their phones, texting or drinking from an enormous coffee mug. All of these are an accident waiting to happen. The truth is everyone in Sacramento California is distracted when we drive. Traffic, road construction and other things outside the car are beyond our control. But the distractions inside our car are things we can often control. Here's some things that'll give you more control in your car, and help keep your attention on the roads around Sacramento California. Drivers who are 16 to 20 years old tend to be more distracted by the radio, CD or MP3 player. Drivers who are 20 to 29 are more distracted by passengers in the car, including small children. And those over age 65 tend to be more distracted by objects or events that are outside of the vehicle. Other factors like fatigue, stress and lack of sleep make it harder to p ... read more

  All Sacramento drivers have blind spots – and no, I'm not talking about the fact that you really don't sing like Adele. I mean the areas of the road that you can't see when you're driving around Sacramento.First let's talk about our own blinds spots, and then we can talk about others...To begin, we can greatly reduce blind spots by properly adjusting our mirrors to give the widest coverage possible. Make the adjustments in your vehicle before you start to drive.First, Sacramento drivers should adjust their rear view mirrors to give the best possible view directly to the rear of their vehicle. Sacramento folks don't need it to get a better view of either side of the car, the kids in the back seat or their dazzling smile. It's pretty obvious, the rear view mirror should reflect the rear.Next, lean your head until it almost touches the driver's side window. Adjust your side mirror so that you can just barely see the side of your car. Now, lean your head to the middl ... read more

Your wheel bearings may be something to which you've never given a thought while driving around Sacramento, California. Wheel bearings are what enable your wheels to spin freely. Since they bear the entire weight of the vehicle, they have to be tough. Wheel bearings can last well over 60,000 miles or 100,000 kilometers. They do wear out though and must eventually be replaced.You might hear a groaning sound from your wheels. The sound might disappear at some speeds and reappear at others. Your Sacramento, California, service technician at Made In America Made In Japan can quickly tell if your bearings are bad by raising the vehicle and wiggling the wheel. When you grasp the top and bottom of the tire, it shouldn't move along the vertical axis.Many vehicles these days have wheel bearing assemblies that cannot be serviced at Made In America Made In Japan. When the bearings go bad, we simply replace the entire wheel bearing assembly.For those vehicles ... read more

Some Sacramento vehicle owners wonder why Made In America Made In Japan and other Sacramento auto repair shops charge a fee for vehicle diagnostics. Receiving a diagnostic charge at Made In America Made In Japan for a tricky automotive problem shouldn't be a surprise. In the Sacramento area, automotive diagnostics can cover quite a range. If you hear a noise in your vehicle brakes when you slow down in rush-hour traffic on a busy California road, you pull off at the next off-ramp and take a quick visual check. That is usually enough to know what needs to be done. If you're having an intermittent problem with your vehicle engine, however, a Made In America Made In Japan diagnosis may be much more involved.Much of the Sacramento driver's confusion comes when the problem involves the Check Engine light. The Check Engine light comes on when the engine management computer has sensed a problem. There's a common misconception among California drivers that the trouble code tells the Made ... read more

All new passenger vehicles on our Sacramento, California, roads now have tire pressure monitoring systems – TPMS for short. They are designed to alert you if your tires are underinflated. Since they are fairly new, a lot of people have questions about them.First off, the most important thing is that you still need to check your tire pressure every week – or at least every time you gas up. The TPMS system alert comes in when your tire is 20 percent below the factory recommendation. So if the recommended pressure is 34 pounds per square inch, the TPMS warning won't come on until the pressure is at 28 pounds. That's significantly underinflated, enough to raise safety concerns.The worst is tire failure. A severely underinflated tire can overheat and fail. Also, handling degrades to the point that you may not be able to steer out of trouble. Also underinflated tires wear out faster and they waste ... read more

Have you ever had an experience like this in Sacramento, California? You drive through the one of those automatic car washes. When you get to the end, where the dryer is blowing, your Check Engine light starts flashing!You fear the worst, but within a block or two, the light stops flashing, but stays on. By the next day, the light is off.You wonder; "What was going on?" Well, it's actually a good lesson in how the Check Engine light works.Your air intake system has a sensor that measures how much air is coming through it. When you went under the high-speed dryer, all that air was blasting past the sensor. Your engine computer was saying, there shouldn't be that much air when the engine is just idling. Something's wrong. Whatever's wrong could cause some serious engine damage.Warning, warning! It flashes the Check Engine light to alert you to take immediate action.It stopped flashing because once you were out from under the dryer, the airflow returned to normal. No ... read more

You can make your vehicle tires last longer with regular tire rotation and wheel balancing.Let's start with tire rotation. In normal driving around Sacramento California, your front tires wear more on the shoulders because they handle much of the cornering forces in turns. Front-wheel drive vehicles have even more force on the front tires.We rotate the tires so that all of the tires do some duty on the front end as well as getting a little break on the back end. That way, all four tires wear more evenly over their life and last longer.For most vehicles in Sacramento California, tires are rotated front to back. Some manufacturers recommend a cross rotational pattern that includes the spare tire, and some high-performance vehicles have different size tires on the front and rear and may even have uni-directional tires that can only be on the left or the right side of the vehicle. Your Sacramento Californi ... read more

  Most Sacramento drivers don't even think about their air conditioner. Now here's a tip for Sacramento vehicle owners: Run your air conditioner every so often during California winters. This circulates the lubricant to help keep the seals from drying out. The air conditioner actually removes some of the moisture in the air. So if you have trouble with fogging on your vehicle windshield during California winters or during a rain storm, running the A/C on the defrost setting should help. Now on some Sacramento cars you can't run the A/C at the same time as the defroster. Don't ask me why, but I suspect lawyers were involved.Also, air and water can get into the A/C system. That can reduce the efficiency of the system and also lead to corrosion that causes damage. Sacramento drivers should periodically purge the system and replace the refrigerant to remove the air and water.Californ ... read more