Rocklin and Sacramento Auto Repair

When your vehicle breaks down in the Sacramento, CA, area, or just needs some routine service, it can make you a little nervous. Because your vehicle's so important to your life, you need to be back on the road as soon as possible — with the problem fixed right the first time.We've been checking into some of the training our Sacramento, CA, technicians receive, and we're very impressed. It's amazing how much knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern vehicle. So it's not like when your uncle worked on his hot rod over the weekend.Today there are four-cylinder engines around Sacramento that make more power than the V-8's in luxury cars did 20 years ago. A new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket's Ferrari in a race to 60 mph/97 kph.Our engines are more and more powerful. And they're so reliable. This is all due to engineering. But the benefits come to Sacramento drivers at the price of simplicity. Modern cars are so much more complex ... read more

  Today at Jack Dane Auto Service we want to talk with you about a very important safety issue. This automotive safety warning is coming from a very unusual source: fire fighting experts. You've probably heard of E-85 gasoline being offered in the Sacramento area. Some newer vehicle models are specifically built to run on E-85 – the rest are not. Does your vehicle use E-85 gasoline? Bring it down to Jack Dane Auto Service at 1200 I St in Sacramento, CA 95814, to find out, or give us a call to make an appointment by calling 9164423287. E-85 gasoline has been developed to fight air pollution and reduce oil consumption. E-85 fuel is a mix of 85% ethanol, a grain-base alcohol, and 15% gasoline. So-called Flex-Fuel vehicles are designed to use either normal gasoline or E-85 gas. The result is lower exhaust emissions to our local Sacramento community.All gas engines can run with up to ... read more

Bad air quality while you're driving around Sacramento is nothing to sneeze at. But seriously, more and more vehicles these days come equipped with a cabin air filter. Since they're fairly new on the scene, a lot of folks don't know about them yet.These filters clean the air in the passenger compartment, or cabin, of your car or truck. They do the same job as the furnace filter you have at home. They can filter out particles as small as three microns. By contrast, a grain of sand is about 200 microns.So your cabin air filter can clean out dust, pollution, pollen and spores to keep the air in your car nice and clean. And just like your furnace filter, they need to be replaced when they get dirty. Check your owner's manual or ask your service advisor at Jack Dane Auto Service, but they typically need to be replaced at around 12,000 to 15,000 miles (19,000-24,000 kilometers).The filter is usually either under the hood or under the dashboard. Some are a little tricky to get to ... read more

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

Your wheel bearings may be something to which you've never given a thought while driving around Sacramento, CA. 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, CA, service technician at Jack Dane Auto Service 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 Jack Dane Auto Service. When the bearings go bad, we simply replace the entire wheel bearing assembly.For those vehicles with wheel bearings that can ... read more

Have you ever had an experience like this in Sacramento, CA? 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. Now the en ... 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 CA, 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 CA, 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 CA service advisor at ... 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 CA 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 CA 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.CA drivers would be wise ... read more