Timing is Everything!

The timing belt is a nylon-reinforced rubber serpentine belt with square teeth on the inside surface.  Its function is to transfer the rotation of the engine crankshaft to the camshaft-the component that moves the piston valves up and down.

In your engine, the valves admit air and fuel and expel exhaust gases; without functioning valves, your engine is dead in the water!  The timing belt, true to its name, governs the precise timing of the opening and closing of the cylinder's valves.  By controlling the ignition of the fuel/air mixture, it secondarily controls the motion of the pistons. 

The timing belt bears a lot of responsibility and if it were to fail because it went unchanged can cause your engine to fail. Your vehicle depends on camshafts moving pistons in the cylinders of your engine. The part which moves the camshafts, causing the valves to open and close which in turn moves the pistons, is the timing belt. If your timing belt is not working properly it has a domino effect and causes all the other steps required for proper engine function to be unable to occur or work improperly. This failure of the timing belt causes damage to your engine and makes for a much more expensive repair. By bringing your vehicle into Casey Automotive for automotive maintenance that includes your timing belt, expensive damage to your car and worst, a breakdown, can be avoided.

How Long Do Brake Pads Last?

Normally, it depends on how you drive.  If the driver is heavy on the brakes, then the brake pads will last less time than someone with a light foot on the brake pedal.  Brake pads can last for tens of thousands of miles, but replaced at the first signs of wear, which is the squealing sound of the wear indicators.  Don't wait when you first hear the squeal, or else you might start damaging the rotors or the steel wheel that helps you stop.  These audible indicators really save you money!

Hard driving conditions and other factors will reduce the lifespan and cause the brakes to wear down faster.   These include; high speed braking, geography (hills and terrain, such as San Francisco), and of course the size and weight of the vehicle.

At Casey Automotive all of our ASE-Certified Technicians have years of experience and utilize cutting edge diagnostic technology and equipment to provide the highest quality repairs.

Automotive Preventative Maintenance can SAVE you a Bundle!

People often underestimate the power of preventative maintenance when it comes to cars.  One excuse is they cannot afford to spend money on preventive maintenance and that they only want to spend money to fix an existing problems.  It may be surprising to some to discover just how much money they can save by scheduling preventative maintenance. 

The average car is driven 12,000 miles a year and when a car is well taken care of can run for as many as 400,000 miles!  Wow!  That means that your car has the capability of being driven normally and last over 30 years!   There is no reason that the car you buy at age 25 can then at age 41 be passed on to your 16 year old, and still reliably run until you are 58 and your child is a 33 year old adult. Those numbers are impressive and completely achievable when you bring your vehicle into Casey Automotive for automotive maintenance.

Here’s some more info you might like:  The average car lease is 3 to 4 years. The average cost of a new car is $28,400.00 and without tacking on the percentage of leasing, breaks down to $7,100.00 a year in payments.  If we were to overestimate and say that you spent $1000.00, four times a year on automotive maintenance every 3,000 miles, you would spend $4000.00 a year. That’s $3,100 less than you would spend in car payments and over a five year period you would save $15,500.00. Saving this money over the lifetime of a vehicle will accumulate to over $90,000.00, or three brand new vehicles. Even if you were to be excessively conservative and cut this number in half you would still be saving over $45,000.00!  Got it?

It is very easy to disregard preventative maintenance for your car when you think in the short term. People often get scared off by the idea of spending money that isn’t immediately fixing a serious problem, but when you see the figures for what you can save in the future, the point becomes clear. An oil change and tune-up along with other automotive maintenance at CaseyAutomotive will keep your car running long into the future.  Now that makes sense!