San Diego Auto Repair

San Diego is a pretty great place to live. We have the beaches, the beautiful weather, and we have even been named one of the best cities in the U.S. for craft beer! But did you also know that we have a ton of awesome auto events throughout the year? Here is our list of the top 5 annual automotive events in San Diego. Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam - What’s better than watching huge trucks smash things? Watch as famous monster trucks like Grave Digger and Bad to the Bone face off in two different forms of competition - stadium racing and freestyle. As always, Monster Jam will be held at Qualcomm Stadium, and this year, it will on on Saturday, January 21st. Ticket prices range from $90 for a Total Access pass to $12 for the Super Value Seats. Big 3 Parts Exchange - This event has been going on for over 45 years now, celebrating ... read more

Most drivers wait for their air conditioning to fail before they service it at Convoy Auto Repair. That’s because many motorists don't really understand that automotive air conditioners need periodic service. Let me share some of the reasons why they fail. First, like every machine, the sedan air conditioner parts need lubrication. The lubricant is actually mixed in with the refrigerant (that’s the stuff that makes the air cool). So sometimes, even though the air conditioner is still making cool air, the oil that lubricates the parts has just been used up: and unlubricated parts can fail in all cars. The air conditioner actually removes some of the moisture in the air. So if you have trouble with fogging on your windshield during winters or during a rain storm, running the A/C on the defrost setting should help. Now on some cars you can’t run the A/C at the same time as the defroster. Don’t ask me wh ... read more

Under-inflated tires waste gas for lots of folks in the Tierrasanta area. Think how hard it is to walk in sand – you just have to work harder because of the resistance. When your tires don't have enough air in them, their rolling resistance is dramatically increased and it simply takes more gas to get from San Diego to Tierrasanta. Always check your tire pressure when you gas up at one of our local Tierrasanta service stations. If they're low – even just a little bit – bring them up to proper pressure. There's a sticker on the inside of your driver's door that gives the manufacturer's recommended tire pressure. And don't rely on your tire pressure monitoring system to alert you to when you need more air. The TPMS system is set to warn you when pressure drops twenty percent below recommendations. That's severely under inflated and you needed more air a long time ago. And if you have a slow leak – get it fixed right away at Convoy A ... read more

Today's Convoy Auto Repair auto maintenance article focuses on your serpentine belt. Your serpentine belt is a long belt that’s driven by your engine. It winds around several accessories that power important automotive systems. Let’s go over them. First, the serpentine belt drives your sedan air conditioning system. It spins the compressor that makes the cool air that takes the edge off the summer heat in San Diego. Next, the belt powers the alternator. The alternator creates electricity that’s used by your sedan’s electrical systems and also charges your car battery. All drivers know that without the alternator, the battery will go dead in a few miles. The serpentine belt may also run the pumps for both the power steering and power brakes. And, on many sedans, the serpentine belt powers the water pump. The water pump circulates coolant through the engine to keep it wi ... read more

No matter how well they're made, cars in San Diego will have design or manufacturing problems. And when the government thinks a problem is really serious for people in San Diego, they require the manufacturer to issue a recall notice and fix the car free of charge. The manufacturer then tries to contact everyone in San Diego who owns that type of car to get the recall work done. These recalls always affect safety, so take them seriously. It's easy to see if a vehicle's being recalled. The government has links on its websites, or just visit AutoNetTV for links. There are many websites with free recall information and searches. There's CarFax, AutoByTel and the DMV. Recalls are serious, but not all that common. But sometimes there are less significant issues, and for these, manufacturers issue a Technical ... read more

We hope you are enjoying this holiday season in San Diego and, as always, have a few suggestions on what to do in-between opening presents and stuffing your face full of gradma's pies. Have a safe and happy new year and ring in 2012 with these awesome events in San Diego. If you are interested in getting some pre-Christmas exercise in before you feast all weekend long, the Mission Trails Regional Park Trail Guides will be leading pre-dawn hikes at Cowles Mountain. Join them as they hike to the area of solstice observatory on Cowles Mountain, Friday, December 23rd at 6am. The solstice site is approximately one mile up the trail and the entire hike will last about two hours. Weather-permitting, you will enjoy the sunrise split by a peak on the eastern horizon. As you begin the hike, it will still be very dark out, so good shoes and flashlights are highly recommended. Hikers will meet at the Cowles Mountain Staging Area, which is loc ... read more

Today we're going to talk about power steering service in San Diego. If you took an informal poll, you'd probably find that most have never heard of power steering service. That's not surprising. Even though power steering is standard on every vehicle, most people aren't aware that it needs periodic service. If you're younger than a certain age, you've probably never driven a car or truck without power steering. To get an idea of the difference; if you've ever cut a board with a hand saw, you know it's a lot of work. Using a power saw is easy-peasy by comparison. Without power steering, your arms have to do all the work to steer the wheels, and that's hard, especially around downtown San Diego. That's why old cars had such big steering wheels; to get enough leverage to steer. Most vehicles have a hydraulic power steering system. The serpentine belt from the engine powers a pump. The pump pressurizes the power steering fluid. This actuates a hydraulic cylinder that pro ... read more

The holidays are officially upon us and so is the wintery cold weather! We hope you are staying dry and warm in San Diego and have a few fun suggestions on how to spend your week. Whether you prefer to stroll outside in the brisk, cold air or sit in a warm and cozy theater, we have come fun holiday ideas for you and your family to enjoy together. Witness the San Diego Botanic Garden in Balboa Park transform into a shiny winter wonderland! From December 8th through the 23rd and the 26th through the 30th, from 5 to 9pm, the Botanic Garden becomes the Garden of Lights. The gardens are decorated with over 100,000 sparkling lights on the plants and trees. The Garden of Lights also features holiday crafts, horse-drawn wagon rides, marshmallow roasting, live entertainment, and visits with Santa, of course! If the ... read more

One topic that hits the news in San Diego on a regular basis is the price of gas. The answer for some people in San Diego 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 Convoy 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. You can imagine what dirty fuel injectors can do to your sedan as you drive around San ... read more

Life's full of surprises in San Diego, some of which cost money. A leaky roof, a broken tooth, or an unexpected car repair. Here's - how we can budget for proper vehicle care. Everyone does our best to budget for scheduled vehicle maintenance. What's hard is unexpected repairs. The truth is that our vehicles can stay on the road longer than ever before with proper maintenance. That's because of improved vehicle design and manufacturing quality. But some of those same improvements also lead to higher repairs costs. Let's take the fuel pump. Previous generations were often stranded by the side of the road by vapor lock. This occurred when the gas vaporized between the gas tank and the fuel pump. Fuel just stopped flowing. You had to sit and wait until the car would start again. To alleviate the problem, fuel pumps are now located inside the gas tank. This is a great solution, but when the fuel pump fails, it's a much more expensive proposition to replace ... read more