Gilbert Auto Repair

Question: What's the harm in putting off replacing my engine air filter a little longer? Spectrum Car Care Answer: That's a fair question from Gilbert drivers because the harm takes a while to manifest. Let's take a small step back and talk about what an engine air filter does. The air all around us contains dust, dirt, pollen, spores, etc. Some areas and times of the year have more contaminants in the air. The job of the air filter is to keep that stuff out of your engine. The benefit to Gilbert drivers is obvious. Now your engine uses a lot of air – like 12,000 times the volume of air as fuel – so the engine air filter has job to do. When the filter gets full and can't hold any more dirt, all that air ... read more

The Check Engine light strikes fear into the hearts of some people in Gilbert and is totally ignored by just as many. Just what it means is a mystery to most of us. First, if your Check Engine light is flashing, that means that something is wrong that could cause severe damage to the catalytic converter or other components. Get that taken care of right away. If your Check Engine light is flashing, you shouldn't drive at highway speeds, tow or haul heavy loads. Take it easy all the way to your Gilbert service center. If the light is glowing steadily, you should keep an eye on it for a day or two. If the light doesn't go off, schedule an appointment with your friendly and knowledgeable service advisor at Spectrum Car Care to get it checked out. Most of your vehicle engine functions are controlled by a computer, not surprisingly, called an engine control computer. The computer is able to adjust many engine parameters for environmental conditions, engine condition and even the w ... read more

The US government has a website dedicated to helping us use less fuel here in the Gilbert and Chandler areas. It presents the cost savings in a way Gilbert drivers can relate to, no matter what kind of vehicle we drive. Here's an example: Having your engine properly tuned can save up to 4%. If you're paying $3.50 for a gallon of gas in Gilbert, you could save 14 cents a gallon. Dollars Per Gallon              $3.00  $3.50  $4.00 Tune Up 4%                          0.12    0.14    0.16 Replacing a faulty oxygen sensor can improve economy by up to 40 percent for AZ auto owners. That's a whooping $1.40 in savings per gallon ... read more

Here's a quick roundup of 5 articles that caught our attention last month (click on the links to read more):   1) As New Car Prices Rise, Maintaining Current Vehicle Makes Financial Sense The average price of a new passenger vehicle is nearly $34,000, according to Kelley Blue Book, while IHS Markit reports that average vehicle age has risen to 11.5 years.   2)  ... read more

We received an email from a customer asking us about auto service intervals for their car. The simplest explanation is that you should look through the owner’s manual (you can find those online also) to find recommended service intervals. Even better just call us and we'll tell you. We have specialized software for all makers and brands. There was once a time when there were general rules for every vehicle. Look at oil changes for example. The recommended interval between oil changes can range from between 3,000-15,000 miles. This is a huge range and the exact distance depends on the design of the engine and the oil type. That’s why you should follow the recommendations for your vehicle. Here are some recommendations: Usual services include: Wheel balancing, tire rotation, coolant service, oil change, brake system, transmission service, fuel system, power steering system, transfer case service, and differential service. Usual ... read more

As a car owner it can be all too easy to overlook the small responsibilities that come with looking after your car. That’s why we put together this list of new year’s resolutions for car owners to get you through the new year and beyond. It should be fun to own a car, after all. Two Checkups this Year The first resolution is to make sure that he car gets at least two checkups with a mechanic this year, and that you know the maintenance history of your car. No matter how well you think you know the vehicle, a good and well-trained mechanic is able to spot a problem that you might have missed. It might sound a little obsessive to have the car checked by a good mechanic twice a year, but having preventative maintenance performed by a qualified professional is essentially cheap car insurance. Ensure you keep all documentation as well, as having all of the service records for your car makes it much easier to sell it. All of this can be done through ... read more

Chances are you’ve never really thought about your wheel bearings much while you’ve been driving around. The wheel bearings are what allows your wheels to keep spinning. They need to be as tough as possible to bear the entire weight of the vehicle. Your wheel bearings could last up to and over 100,000 kilometers or 60,000 miles. However they will eventually wear out and should be replaced. The first sign of trouble is when your wheels groan. It could go away when you reach a certain speed then come back. Your Spectrum Car Center service technical will be able to analyse your bearings by wiggling the wheel. When the bearings are good the tire won’t move across the vertical axis when you hold the top and bottom of it. Many modern vehicles have a kind of wheel bearing that can’t be serviced here at Spectrum Car Care. If we run into bad bearings then we’ll just take out and replace everything in the wheel bearing assembly. If we can access your wheel bearin ... read more

The latest survey from AAA suggests that two-thirds of US drivers don’t trust their auto repair shop. They feel that they recommend unnecessary services, overcharge for them, and deliver a bad experience and shoddy work. All of which leads to a lack of confidence. The survey also showed that 64% of drivers were singling out a particular auto repair shop that they didn’t trust, which would suggest that they value finding a trustworthy mechanic in an industry that comes with a lack of trust. It can be stressful to have your vehicle repaired and maintained and the best way to reduce this stress is to find a repair shop that you can really trust. Unfortunately around a third of American drivers don’t have a repair facility that they can trust and are left in the cold if something goes wrong. Given how much data on vehicle health the modern car collects it’s never been so important to have a trusted repair facility. These “connected cars” that come wi ... read more

There are two main reasons that you should be concerned about your wheel alignment. They are safety and money. If your wheels aren’t aligned then it could cause them to pull to one side, often harshly. It could take just a second for you to find yourself in oncoming traffic or pulled off the road. Bad alignments also seriously damage your tires when speeding along the highway. Someone once came into Spectrum Car Center and told us that he knew his wheels weren’t properly aligned before taking a family vacation, but he felt the problem wasn’t serious enough to be addressed before leaving. A few days and a thousand miles later and there was nothing left of his front tires. He lost half a day of his vacation finding a town with a service station that could replace his tires.   The wheels of your car need to be in perfect alignment all pointing in the same direction. Every so often your wheels will go out of alignment and pull against the other wheels. It can destro ... read more

There’s nothing more annoying than when something goes wrong and you know it could have been prevented. Here are car problems that can be prevented. Regularly Check your Tires We’ll start with the tires. A problem with your tires is often expensive and inconvenient. You’ll never be lucky enough for your tire to go flat outside the service center. Correcting a flat tire is an expensive hassle and no one wants to fail their safety inspection over a worn tire. That’s why you need to get your tires checked at least once a month. Check that they have the right amount of air pressure and keep an eye out for the signs of wear and tire. Having your tires rotated and aligned will make them live longer too. And it goes without saying that you should have tires replaced before they can become unsafe. Check Your Battery Every  Year After the tires comes the battery. Just knowing the age of your battery helps avoid the inconvenience of a dead battery. Car batteries ... read more