Pleasanton Auto Repair

You would never like to drink a glass of mud, right? Well, your car feels the same way. It needs a steady supply of clean fuel in order to run well and deliver good fuel economy. The fuel filter's job is to clean dirt and rust out of the fuel before it gets to your engine. A clogged fuel filter can actually choke off the engine so that it won't start or run. Some fuel filters have a bypass valve that allows fuel to go around the clogged filter so your car will still run. But, then the contaminated fuel can plug your fuel injectors and allow damaging particles into your engine. A car with a partially clogged fuel filter might run well around town, but sputter and strain on the highway because it's starving for gas. There are two things that affect how often you need to replace the filter. They are: where you drive and the gas you buy. If you drive a lot on dirt or gravel roads in rural Cal ... 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 only saves a ... 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 Precision Auto Repair can help you know what's scheduled to be taken care of. Some of us in Pleasanton California 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 Pleasanton California roads is over nine years. When cars get older, five years or so, they've accumulat ... read more

Having trouble with your fuel system? Bring your Honda, Acura, Toyota or Lexus into Precision Auto Repair for a check up. 164 A Wyoming Street Pleasanton, California 94566 (925) 462-7440 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 y ... read more

One topic that hits the news in Pleasanton on a regular basis is the price of gas. The answer for some people in Pleasanton 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 Precision Auto Repair 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 ... read more

Getting enough fuel to your engine is very important for performance, fuel economy and safety. In order to accomplish this, your fuel system needs to be clean. Today’s production cars have fuel injectors, rather than a carburetor. The injectors need to be cleaned from time to time in order to deliver the fuel with the correct pressure, spray pattern and volume. You can buy fuel system cleaners that you just pour into your gas tank that can help maintain an already clean fuel system, but can’t do a major cleaning. For that, you need to see Precision Auto Repair. They have the tools and chemicals to do the job right. Precision Auto Repair can remove particles, gum and varnish from your fuel system and get those injectors running cleanly and efficiently. You’ll enjoy more power, better gas mileage and reduced exhaust emissions ... 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 eng ... read more

The function of the fuel filter is pretty self-explanatory. It filters your fuel. The fuel filter is in the fuel line somewhere in between the fuel tank and the engine. Both gas and diesel vehicles around Pleasanton California use fuel filters. Generally speaking there's not a lot of dirt in our Pleasanton California auto fuel supply, but there is enough that you want to screen it out. The problem actually gets worse the older your vehicle becomes. That's because dirt, rust and other contaminants will settle out of the fuel and onto the bottom of the fuel tank. After your Honda, Acura, Toyota or Lexus is five years or older, it can actually have a fair amount of sediment built up. That just means that the fuel filter has to work harder as your Honda, Acura, Toyota or Lexus ages. It'll get clogged sooner and need to be replaced more often. A symptom of a clogged fuel filter is that the engine sputters at highway speeds or under hard ... 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 pressure of port injection sy ... read more