Chico Auto Repair

Changing Your Oil vs. Buying a New Engine! Host: Robert, what should customers know about oil changes and oil filters, just generally speaking? Robert: Customers should mainly know to be regular on their oil changes. That’s the easiest thing that they can do. When you come into Doctor Motors and get an oil change, what we do is we schedule your next oil change and we pencil it in. You know, nobody knows what they’re doing in three months or five months. But the girls in the office, what they do is they will call you a week before your appointment is due, that way if it works for you, great, if it doesn’t, you can reschedule. But staying on track with those oil changes, I mean if you imagine, these engines, they cost you anywhere from $4,000 to $9,000 for an engine. Get your oil change done. It’s as simple as I can say. Host: Sounds wise. Robert: Get your oil change done. And the…watching you gauges, your lights, there’s usually a percentage. On some of these cars, the Nissan Altima, T ... read more

Living Mild Climate or Maintain a Battery Host: Robert, what issues come up with car batteries? We’re approaching winter. Right now, as we’re recording this, it’s mid-November, moving into the winter season. Is that a particularly tough time for batteries, or should people come in and start thinking about batteries? What do we find, based on your experience, people should do at this time of year? Robert: What people should do is, when they get their oil change, ask and make sure that they’re checking the battery. The reason why is because every, let’s say, fall, spring, those are the times where the temperature is moderate, let’s say, it’s not too hot, not too cold, batteries are gonna last a good long time. It’s the extreme temperatures in either direction that cause batteries to fail. Host: Heat of the summer, cold in the winter, both of those could trigger batteries to go bad? Robert: They prematurely wear them. So, if you had a temperature of 75 degrees and you left your battery c ... read more

Happy Customers Tell You a Good Plaece! Host: Robert, in your experience, when consumers are looking for a shop, they’re looking for an auto repair shop, car repair, what should they be looking for in the shop itself? If you were to go, you know, if you’re driving somewhere, you find yourself in another town and you had a car repair need, what would you do? How would you find a shop? How would you investigate it? Robert: First off, I would look them up online, see, how well are they treating their customers. And the review sites are a perfect way to see that. Next, once you’ve narrowed that down, give them a call. How do they talk to you? Do they treat you with respect and kindness, and are they helpful? Host: So you’re saying, call before you even go there to check them out? Robert: I would. Call them. Schedule an appointment. See how that feels. How’s the vibe? After that, you’re then gonna go in, and you’re gonna see, you know, how’s the cleanliness of the shop? Are they busy? If a ... read more

Host: Okay…Robert, at some point if people find that their vehicle is running rough, they start it up in the morning just going down the road, it’s not running normally, what does that mean? Is there any general indications of what could be causing a rough-running vehicle? Robert: There’s quite a few things that can cause that. One of them is tune-up. If your spark plug or electronic ignition components are starting to fail in some way. There’s coil, plug, wires… if any of these components aren’t allowing spark to get to the cylinder where it’s supposed to, to burn the fuel, then that’s a problem. It’s not gonna propel you forward like it’s supposed to, and that engine is gonna run rough. Host: So a rough-running engine, that is frequently associated with some sort of electrical or electronic problem sparking the engine, is that right? Robert: Yes, either an emission issue or a tune-up issue, something like that can definitely cause that, but then you have other fuel issues too, so I ... read more

Preventative maintenance is the best way to avoid big repairs, and to keep your favorite ride running for a long time. Robert, let’s talk about some basic preventative maintenance topics. Why is car maintenance important? You’ve touched on it before, but in a nutshell, why is it important for vehicle owners to regularly maintain their vehicles? What are the benefits? Robert: Well, the whole purpose of maintaining your vehicle is so that you get those small little maintenance items done so that the bigger repairs are kept farther at bay. Let’s say if you’re talking about a fluid, let’s say coolant, engine coolant, one of the reasons why you wanna keep that coolant as clean as possible is because any kind of dirt, or debris, or gunk that goes through the cooling system get’s clogged in the radiator. Radiators are expensive. You know, there’s no need to rep ... read more