Same Great Service at All Locations!

Mon - Fri: 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sat: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

La Mesa Location

(619) 403-9426

7447 University Ave, La Mesa, CA 91942

Mon - Fri: 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Sat & Sun: Closed

Schedule an Appointment

El Cajon Location

(619) 404-5645

10813 Airport Dr., El Cajon, CA 92020

Mon - Fri: 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Sat & Sun: Closed

Schedule an Appointment

Category Archives: Maintenance

Looking Down the Road - Headlamps

If you've ever been driving around San Diego and had a headlamp go out, you've probably just wanted to replace the bad bulb. If your car uses halogen headlamps, they dim over time. So if you just put in one, they won't have the same brightness, which can be distracting and will affect your field of vision.To have your headlights inspected, visit us at John's Automotive Care. We're at 6267 Riverdale St in San Diego, CA 92120. Or give us a call at 619-280-9315.Experts at John's Automotive Care recommend replacing your halogen headlamps every year. It's easy to remember if you do it when Daylight Saving Time changes in the fall. That way you'll have bright headlamps for those long CA winter nights.There are other types of headlamps in addition to halogen. There are the old standard bulbs that have been around for decades. These are OK, but you can usually upgrade to halogen. They cost a little more but you can't believe the difference. If you do a lot of ... read more

Categories:

Maintenance

Let John's Automotive Care Help You Keep Your Vehicle Another Couple of Years

San Diego area residents may remember when the U.S. government's “Cash for Clunkers” program made a splash on the news scene. People were offered incentives to trade in old vehicles for new, in the interest of better and improved air quality from reduced emissions.But a lot of San Diego drivers want to hang onto their old clunkers. They're dependable and they're paid for. Owners would love to see the odometers on those vehicles turn past 200,000 miles (320,000 km), as long as the repair bills don't get too expensive.There are a lot of vehicles on CA roads that have run past the 200,000 mile (320,000 km) odometer reading. Is there something that their owners are doing that keeps these vehicles on the road? Or did they just win the “lemon lottery,” and luck out by getting a particularly good vehicle? Not surprisingly, most of these owners have something in common. They never skip an oil change. Can keeping a vehicle on the road for 200,000 mi ... read more

Categories:

Maintenance

Maintenance for High Mileage Vehicles in San Diego, CA

The median age for cars in the San Diego, CA area was over nine years. And two-thirds had over 75,000 miles. At John's Automotive Care we hear reports that those numbers continue to rise. If you have a high-mileage vehicle in the San Diego area, bring it into John's Automotive Care for high-mileage maintenance.6267 Riverdale StSan Diego, CA 92120619-280-9315 Many people in CA are keeping their vehicles longer. The economy has influenced that, but the fact that modern vehicles are more durable and reliable means that owning a high mileage vehicle doesn't have to be a painful experience.Local car owners in San Diego with over 100,000 miles on their vehicles often ask which service intervals they should follow. Let's start with the special needs of the older vehicle...The reality is that time and mileage will take its toll. The engine and transmission will have more sludge. The fuel, steering and brake systems will have gum and varnish built up. There'll ... read more

Categories:

Maintenance

Trickle Down Technology

Recently, Nissan introduced the latest version of its Leaf, the company's electric car. It has many new features, including something called e-Pedal. It allows the driver to let up on the accelerator and, unlike a gasoline engine car, the Leaf doesn't just slowly lose speed; letting off the throttle pedal brakes the car in a very controlled way, using regenerative and sometimes friction brakes. With practice, a driver can go for a fairly long time without touching the brake pedal. Another system, similar to those found in self-driving vehicles, can steer the car to keep it in the center of the lane using a camera and radar. It literally watches the lane markers and, of course, doesn't work well in snow that obliterates those markers. But the technology is impressive and can greatly reduce fatigue on long trips. In fact, much of this technology has "trickled down" from research on autonomous vehicles, such as adaptive cruise control that slows down your vehicle (even to a stop) if the v ... read more

Categories:

Maintenance

Economics of Maintenance for San Diego Auto Owners

Buying a new car in San Diego is always a big financial decision. The allure of that new car smell is powerful, to be sure. But what if your current car is still in good shape? How do you decide?People in San Diego who've been used to driving a new car every three to five years may be having second thoughts in this economy. For many, the question is, how does the certainty of a new car payment stack up against uncertain repairs for a car that may be out of warranty?For purposes of our discussion, let's assume you live right here in San Diego and have a five year old vehicle. It's now paid off. If you keep it, you fear that there'll be some repairs over the next five years, but you really don't know what to expect. For help we turned to maintenance and repair information for cars and trucks. With this data, they project likely service and repair costs for a particular make and model. They're able to use manufacturer's mainte ... read more

Categories:

Maintenance

Change Your Wiper Blades Twice Yearly at John's Automotive Care

Because 90% of our driving decisions are based on visual information, unobscured vision is paramount. Which brings us to the topic of today's John's Automotive Care article: wiper blades. While this isn't the most exciting automotive subject, it's important. You wouldn't drive at night in San Diego with your headlights off, but a dirty or streaked vehicle windshield can catch the glare of the sun or on-coming headlights and make it just as difficult to see.Most of us in San Diego replace our wiper blades when they no longer do the job. They are so worn, hard or brittle that they can't clean the windshield. They may even be falling apart. In other words, we deal with our wiper blades from a failure perspective. We address them when they no longer function. The theory, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," doesn't apply here. Instead, we should think about wipers blades as an important safety system that we should maintain rather than ... read more

Categories:

Maintenance

Severe Service Requirements

A lot of San Diego drivers have asked whether or not they should use their severe service maintenance schedule, which is listed in their vehicle's  owner's  manual. It can be somewhat confusing, so we decided to consult an expert. Cricket Killingsworth is from QMI/Heartland, a manufacturer of automotive products and fluids. She's been in the automotive business for over 30 years and is a speaker, a trainer and a writer. Cricket says there's so much confusion on this topic because, "Most owner's manuals actually have two maintenance schedules. Sometimes these are called 'regular service' and 'severe service.' Sometimes they're simply called Schedule 1 and Schedule 2. A severe service schedule recommends that things like an oil change, air filter replacement and transmission service be done more often: either in fewer miles or in less time." Foreign and domestic vehicle manufacturers create a specific schedule for each vehicle they manufacture ... read more

Categories:

Maintenance

Clean Air for Your Engine: Engine Air Filters In San Diego

Every San Diego car owner who has taken their car in for an oil change has been told that their engine air filter's dirty. Here's what goes into the determination of when to change the filter: First, your vehicle owner's manual will have a recommendation of when the filter should be replaced. Now, most air filters purchased in San Diego don't cost a lot to replace. It's just that CA people hate getting caught with an unexpected expense. On the plus side, though, changing a dirty air filter at John's Automotive Care can often save enough on gas to pay for itself before your next oil change in San Diego. Think about a dirty furnace filter in your San Diego home. When it's all clogged up, enough clean air can't get through. In your vehicle, that means that your engine can't get as much air as it needs to burn the fuel efficiently. So it makes do with less air and has to use more gas to move your vehicle around San Diego roads. Your vehicle actually needs about 12,000 ti ... read more

Categories:

Maintenance

Training Received by Technicians in San Diego, CA

When your vehicle breaks down in the San Diego, CA, area, or just needs some routine service, it can make you a little nervous. Because your vehicle's so important to your life, you need to be back on the road as soon as possible — with the problem fixed right the first time.We've been checking into some of the training our San Diego, CA, technicians receive, and we're very impressed. It's amazing how much knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern vehicle. So it's not like when your uncle worked on his hot rod over the weekend.Today there are four-cylinder engines around San Diego that make more power than the V-8's in luxury cars did 20 years ago. A new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket's Ferrari in a race to 60 mph/97 kph.Our engines are more and more powerful. And they're so reliable. This is all due to engineering. But the benefits come to San Diego drivers at the price of simplicity. Modern cars are so much more complex from ... read more

Categories:

Maintenance

John's Automotive Care On Your Serpentine Belt

  Today we're going to be talking about serpentine belts for our San Diego, CA, customers. Let's start by talking about the accessories that are driven by the serpentine belt. First is the alternator. That's the device that makes electricity to power the vehicle and recharge the battery. Then there's the air conditioning compressor that makes cool air for you while you're driving around CA in the summer.The power steering and power brake pumps are driven by the serpentine belt in most San Diego residents' vehicles. Those pumps provide pressure that assists your steering and braking.In many vehicles, the water pump is driven by the serpentine belt. The water pump is what circulates the coolant that protects your engine. In some cars around San Diego, CA, the water pump is driven by the timing belt.The radiator cooling fans on some vehicles are also driven by the serpentine belt. Some have separate electric motors. That's really a lot of work for one belt ... read more

Categories:

Maintenance
John's Automotive Care is committed to ensuring effective communication and digital accessibility to all users. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone, and apply the relevant accessibility standards to achieve these goals. We welcome your feedback. Please call John's Automotive Care (619) 280-9315 if you have any issues in accessing any area of our website.