Automotive News & Information - CME Smog & Auto Repair

When you are having trouble with your car or truck starting and you open the hood up to take a peek to see this....you'll see what an overly corroded battery looks like. This happens naturally over time on vehicle battery terminals. If you are like 99% of normal Vacaville drivers, you don't check your oil or your battery so you don't keep an eye on the amount of corrosion that's building up on your car or truck battery. Here at CME Smog & Auto Repair, we do and there are solvents that we can use here in the shop during a battery maintenance service that will help slow the corrosion process but nothing that can prevent it 100%. Way before it gets to this point, we will be suggesting you consider replacing the battery.

Failed engine mounts are an irritating issue to live with causing your car or truck to vibrate and you don't know why. At CME Smog & Auto Repair in Vacaville, CA, we can help, no matter what type of car, truck, or SUV you drive and it is an easy issue to detect on a test drive.

There are a few indicators your engine mounts need to be replaced. For one, you can do a visual inspection, if they’re accessible enough - if they looked cracked, smashed, or dry-rotted, it’s probably time for new ones. If the engine visibly shakes while it’s running, engine mounts are also likely the culprit. However, if you are like most drivers you simply get in and drive on down the road until something is different or a light comes on! Then you call our shop for help!

Repairs are costly and we all want to avoid them including our team here at CME Smog & Auto Repair! It's our job and we take it seriously. Here, it is all about keeping your car or truck serviced and looking for problems "before" they happen to avoid those high repair costs and ensuring you avoid any breakdowns when it's hot outside or cold outside as either is a problem for our Vacaville drivers! Nobody can forsee a flat tire or blowout due to running over a nail, but we can avoid some of the regular issues we see all the time such as....

When your light comes on, it is ALWAYS important to look at the issue to see if it is a problem. Especially if it is a light we all understand. Tire pressure is one we all can relate to and an easy one to look at. However, most drivers just assume the air is low in them and ignore it which is not a good idea especially when you are driving a 4x4 diesel truck off-roading and could have picked up anything and/or everything like this truck tire did.

He looked, and immediately headed over to see our technicians here at CME Smog & Auto Repair.

Sometimes it is EASY to see if your car or truck needs to come into our shop for professional repairs!
1. You see steam rising from the engine!
2. The Check Engine Light is on!
3. The engine starts, but there is an odor that is not right.
4. You hear grinding or thumping noises.

There is a reason we check your brake fluid when you come in for a service check. Maintenance pays big dividends and we want to avoid high repair costs for our Vacaville drivers. Did you know that brake service isn't just all about the brake pads, drums & rotors? That we have found low brake fluid to be the cause of a large percentage of brake issues here at CME Smog & Auto Repair? Seriously, brake fluid is an important part of your braking system and with your service intervals being less frequent on the newer vehicles 5,000-10,000 more miles this has become an issue! Why?...

It doesn't matter if you are driving a car or truck, jeep or SUV, a diesel 4x4 or a classic when those dash warning lights go off the first thing you do is think "how bad is it?" and "how much will it cost me?" followed quickly by "when was my last service visit?"!! Driving your vehicle longer safely is all about getting it serviced based on what your vehicle manual recommends and these warning lights are alerting you to a situation that requires your attention.

While not all warning lights are a sign that disaster is imminent, no warning indicator light should ever be ignored!

Exhaust issues are extremely common, no matter what type of car, truck, or SUV you drive. At CME Smog & Auto Repair in Vacaville, CA, we can get your exhaust back in shape in no time.

Exhaust issues tend to be neglected, and we get that; there are just other parts of your vehicle that you'd rather focus on. Besides a clogged catalytic converter, there isn’t much risk of damage from a bad exhaust system - it negatively affects your gas mileage, and the sound is annoying, but other than that, it’s an issue many people learn to live with.