San Diego Auto Repair

Love is in the air this week and we thought you might like to celebrate it with some of our favorite things: gondola rides, cheese and the sea. Check it out ! Take your love to Venice tonight for Valentine’s Day... or at least make them feel like they’re in Venice without ever leaving San Diego! The Gondola Company: Sunset Valentino Cruise is the ultimate romantic date night. Cruise in a private gondola with your sweetie through the beautiful canals of the Coronado Cays during the twilight hours. All you have to bring is your Valentine and a bottle of your favorite wine or champagne. Chocolate dipped strawberries, souvenir wine glasses, blankets, an ice bucket, and wine openers are all provided. The cruise lasts approximately one hour and you can also choose to upgrade and have a professional violin or mandolin player accompany you. Get in touch with them ... read more

All new passenger vehicles on our San Diego roads now have tire pressure monitoring systems – TPMS for short. They are designed to alert you if your tires are under inflated. Since they are fairly new, a lot of people have questions about TPMS. 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 twenty percent below the factory recommendation. So if the recommended pressure is thirty five pounds per square inch, the TPMS warning won't come on until the pressure is at twenty eight pounds. That's significantly under-inflated. Enough to raise safety concerns. The worst is tire failure. A severely under inflated tire can overheat and fail. Also, handling degrades to the point that you may not be able to steer out of trouble. Also under-inflated tires wear out faster and they waste fuel. So it's costly to not stay on top of proper inflation ... read more

Vehicle alignment is key in maximizing fuel efficiency, lowering maintenance costs, and providing a smoother overall ride for everyone in the car. Often, drivers will go for hundreds of miles without knowing their wheels are out of alignment, leading to repair costs that could have been easily avoided. Here are a few simple tips on how to spot a vehicle alignment issue before it becomes a problem: Try driving straight. If the car pulls to either side without the driver turning the wheel, chances are the wheels are out of alignment. The same is true if the wheel needs to be kept at an angle in order to drive straight. Check the tires. If one tire is showing significantly more wear than another, it may be time to have the alignment checked. Watch out for shaky turns. If a vehicle's steering wheel doesn't come easily back to its starting positi ... read more

Today’s report from Convoy Auto Repair 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 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 San Diego. 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 own within 24 hours in hot weather. It takes se ... read more

February is a great month for events in San Diego, from movie festivals and museum exhibits to whale watching tours getting underway – read on to find out more. A by-women, for-women film festival, LUNAFEST is coming to Carlsbad for one night only on Feb 1, 2011 at the La Costa Resort & Spa. The festival was established in 2000 by the creators of LUNA bars to simultaneously promote women filmmakers, raise awareness for women’s issues, and support worthy non-profit organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada. For additional details and email reminders about the event, check out the calendar. In case you hadn't noticed, San Diego is chock full of incredible museums. Starting February 1st, you can exp ... read more

In 1982, the California state government implemented their emissions program in order to come into compliance with Federal law, a program often referred to as the “smog check.” Vehicles are required to undergo a mandatory smog check at certified smog check stations in order to determine if their emissions currently meet the standard. If they do not, a technician can diagnose and solve any problems that a car may have. Many drivers wonder why they must undergo a check each year. It is, in large part, required to ensure that their vehicle's emissions have not changed over the course of the last 12 months. Roadway debris and weather can significantly affect a car, and so the state government mandates testing. Smog check stations must be certified in order to operate. Once certified, these stations can grant a California Emissions Certificate, which permits a car to be on the road. Stations are equipped with the technology to analyze exhaust f ... read more

New car dealerships are happy to leave you with the impression that you should have all of your scheduled car maintenance performed at the dealership during the warranty period. Some go so far as to imply that your warranty protection depends on it. In fact, nothing is further from the truth. Federal laws in both the United States and Canada specify that you do not have to have your vehicle serviced at a dealership to maintain warranty protection. The laws further state that a vehicle manufacturer cannot mandate that you use their particular brand of replacement parts or fluids. This certainly means you have many more service options, but what about quality? First off, it is important to know that vehicle manufacturers do not make all of their own parts. They look to thousands of independent suppliers to manufacture the parts that go into your car or truck. Many of these same manufacturers that make the parts that are original equipment for a new vehicle ... read more

The government mandates a lot of equipment on cars in San Diego: emission devices and control computers, safety equipment like airbags and crash worthiness requirements. All of this is great for the San Diego CA motoring public, but it does add quite a bit to the price of a new car. Because new cars are more expensive, people in the San Diego area are driving their old cars longer. The average car is now over nine years old. Two thirds of vehicles on the road in San Diego have more than 75,000 miles. As cars age, their performance drops, they have difficulty idling for long periods and are more sensitive to weather extremes. Fortunately today's cars are up to the challenge – but they need a little help to keep on goin'. Give Convoy Auto Repair a call to schedule your next car maintenance. 3909 Convoy St. San Diego, CA 92111 Some owner's manuals don't specify service requirements at higher mileage. That doesn't mean it doesn't have to be d ... read more

As January gets underway, there are several events that the city of San Diego and culture-craving locals can eagerly anticipate. First, curb your culinary cravings at San Diego Restaurant Week. From January 16-21st, you can get a steal-of-a-deal on 3 course menus from San Diego’s best restaurants. Chose from over 160 local spots and enjoy $20, $30, or $40 meals. It’s a great opportunity to check out some new cuisine options in America’s Finest City. If you feel like going out for a run, the Carlsbad Marathon may be an event to consider. On January 23rd, participants will hit the coastal course and be rewarded with a medal, t-shirt, and goodie bag while running one of the best-looking routes in the nation. Feel like 26.2 miles is a bit much? Perhaps the ... read more

Your engine is like a finely choreographed dance. All the parts have to work together. If the timing is off at the ballet, dancers crash into each other and fall down. If the timing is off in your engine, it may not run at all. One of the most intricate dances in your engine, has to do with the combustion cycle. Your sedan engine has cylinders in which a piston travels up and down. At the top of the cylinders are valves open to bring in the air and fuel. And there are valves that open to let out the exhaust after the fuel has been burned. It's critical that the values be timed to open and close at precisely the right time in the combustion cycle, or the engine will run poorly or not at all. The timing belt is responsible for rotating the shafts that control the valves. It's vital and precision work. Timing belts are made of very tough flexible material. They can last a long time, but they eventually wear out and can break. The consequences can be disastrous. In some engines, the valv ... read more