Venice Auto Repair

What is the Brakes for Breasts Program?     For the month of October, until the 31st, we are offering our Brakes for Breasts promotion. That means free Brake Pad or Shoes all October long. We donate 10% of the proceeds will benefit the Cleveland Clinic Breast Cancer Vaccine Fund. This is not only to our shop but shops across the country are participating in this to raise over $100,000 in proceeds! We want to defeat our goal from last year which was $680.00. This all happens around Breast Cancer Awareness Month which is also in October.  This is a wonderful cause we are happy to support but some may be completely clueless when it comes to anything Brakes related, other than that they make the car stop. Let's be honest, when they tell me I need new Brakes, I am sent a detailed inspection report, and shown all the pictures to see that diagnosi ... read more

Why Does My Car Smell Like Burning Oil?    Oil, a major component to your vehicle, and often times can be leaking from those compartments that holds it. A guest of ours recently came into our shop with the complaint of a "hot smell". Our technician Tony informed me that the term "hot smell" usually always refers to the smell that stems from an oil leak, where the oil is dripping onto another component in the vehicle and burning essentially. In this case, the oil leak was coming from a bad Valve Cover Gasket. Oil leaking from or around the engine can be potentially dangerous. You could significantly damage your engine if you let an oil leak go. You want to avoid fire hazards, but also, future expensive repairs.  He found this leak upon doing a thorough visual inspection, oil residue found coming out of the Valve Cover Gasket.    What Tony found was the oil that was l ... read more

Why Is My Car Shaking When Idle?    Have you ever experienced a rough idle or lots of shaking while you are stopped at a stop light or maybe you are slowing down, and it just starts to shake out of nowhere? There could be a variety of different reasons for this, it's not something you want to ignore as it may be a big underlying issue!   We recently had a BMW X2 in the shop that was experiencing this symptom. Upon doing a full diagnosis to the vehicle, our technician found that this was coming from the Motor Mounts. After asking my Service Manager about this issue, he stated that Motor Mounts can have many names, and can be different depending on make and model of vehicle. For instance, trucks usually have Engine Mounts that are metal and rubber, whereas other vehicles like this BMW X2 have mounts that have rubber with liquid inside of them, also known as hydraulic fluid. For this vehicle, Chris our ASE Certified Master Import & Eur ... read more

What is Carbon Build-up? How Does it Affect my Engine?  Carbon build-up can be found inside the engine. Over time carbon builds up inside the engine from exhaust and fuel combustion. As the engine burns fuel, the layers of carbon build up causing the valves to stick. This can impede the valves sealing correctly when disposing of exhaust or intaking air into the cylinder.  Carbon can also plug up your fuel injector nozzles resulting in poor fuel delivery.  For example, when there is a fire in the chimney you can see soot start to build up on the inside walls. This is exactly what is happening inside the engine!  Oil travels a long road before it winds up in your vehicle. Gasoline from oil refiners such as Shell, Chevron, etc. mix their gasoline with their own kind of detergents. These detergents are formulated to remove or prevent the carbon build up in the fuel injectors and intake valves. This may differ though with a direct injec ... read more

What Does Aligning your Tires Do?    Your wheels are a major part of you getting to your destination everyday. If you think about it, you can't go anywhere without them! The wheel alignment is just as important as having the proper tires on your vehicle.   So why do we get an alignments done? Below we will give you a list of the top reasons to consider:  Keeps tires from premature wear Helps with the handling of the vehicle, or smoother rideBetter fuel mileagePerfect contact with the road            "Chopping" seen on the Tires Now that we have covered the " Whys", lets talk about the "Hows" to your wheels get misaligned. There are many factors that can create misalignment on your vehicle. Below are just a few: If you are involved in an accident, or had a ... read more