Pacific Highway Auto Repair

  How do San Diego drivers know if an odometer is telling the truth?Well, back in '86, Congress passed the Truth-in-Mileage Act to protect CA consumers against mileage fraud. It says a CA seller must certify the mileage reported is the actual mileage.To have your odometer checked in San Diego, CA, stop by Pacific Highway Auto Repair: Pacific Highway Auto Repair4306 Pacific HighwaySan Diego, CA 92110   If it isn't, the seller must say why; for example, maybe the odometer is past its mechanical limits. Some older odometers only go to 99,999 and then start over at 0. Or, the odometer has been tampered with, broken or replaced.If the seller tells you the mileage isn't accurate, there's not much chance of putting a good number to it. And there's the unscrupulous seller who claims the reading is true, but it isn't. What can San Diego vehicle owners do?You can go to www.CarFax.com, where, for a small fee, they'll ... read more

Here is a questions for San Diego drivers: What is a cabin air filter?Is it: A filter for a house in the middle of the woods? A fresh, piney scent? A filter for the passenger compartment of your car? Clever you, it's 3.A cabin air filter cleans the outside air before it comes into the passenger compartment. It filters out dust, pollen, spores, bacteria, pollutants, sparrows, exhaust gas and odors.These high tech filters can block particles larger than 3 microns. By contrast, a grain of sand is about 200 microns.Now not all vehicles in the San Diego area have cabin filters. They are fairly new on the scene in CA. About 40 percent of new vehicles come with cabin air filters, but the number is growing every year.Cabin air filters can make for a very nice driving environment for San Diego. Your car can be a haven during CA allergy season with very little dust and pollen getting into the cabin. However, like all filters, your cabin air filter eventually ge ... read more

Today we're going to talk about on-board diagnostics and the questions we hear from folks around San Diego, CA, who need answers about diagnostic services. They want to know what diagnostics are, what's involved and what the benefits are. They really want to understand the value of diagnostic scans by a trained technician in San Diego.These are valid concerns. If you don't understand something it's really hard to know its value. Let's start with some history.Since 1996, all cars and light trucks in San Diego, CA, have been required to use a standardized diagnostic system to help repair technicians determine what's wrong with your vehicle. The diagnostic system works with the vehicle's Engine Control Module – the computer that controls many engine functions.The computer monitors dozens of components and processes. Depending on what the sensors read, the computer will make adjustments to compensate for conditions and minor problems. When there is a condition that it can't adjust fo ... read more

Safe CA travel starts with preventive maintenance and good vehicle care at Pacific Highway Auto Repair. But there are other things San Diego residents can do to prepare for emergencies on the road. Here's some auto advice that can help you plan for emergencies, and just may save your life — or someone else's.First, San Diego auto owners should consider keeping an auto emergency kit in their vehicle. The kit should contain items that will allow you to deal with common emergencies on the road.Some items you should carry in your vehicle include jumper cables (or a booster box), flares, a flashlight and some basic hand tools. Other useful items include gloves, two quarts of oil, some antifreeze, water and everything you need to change a tire. You might also consider a can of tire inflator, which is a great temporary fix for minor flats.But taking care of ... read more