Chesapeake Auto Repair

Why A Trip Inspection Is A Good Idea   At West Service Center, Inc. we get a lot of Chesapeake motorists asking about car trip preparation. That’s a big deal. You could be driving through mountains and deserts in some pretty lonely areas outside of Chesapeake so it’s important to know that the car is up to the task and won’t leave you stranded. Smart Chesapeake car owners plan ahead for a major road trip – there are a lot of things to get ready. Where should you start? You could start with the tires. Look them over for tread wear and check to see that they are properly inflated. Take a quick test drive around Chesapeake to see if you can feel any vibrations: are the wheels in balance? Is the car tracking straight? Is the alignment ok? Come to West Service Center, Inc. for a peace-of-mind trip inspection. The next thing is a full service oil change to make sure all of your critical fluids are topped off and you ... read more

Cooling System Components Today we want to talk about a key system in our cars – the cooling system. It’s one of those things that Chesapeake car owners don’t give much thought to until it fails and then they’re stranded by the side of a road in Chesapeake. Cooling systems fail more often than any other mechanical system – usually because of neglect. Don’t you hate it when something breaks, and you could have done something to prevent it? The good news is that if Chesapeake drivers take care of their cooling systems they can keep working for the life of their car. Here at AutoNetTV and West Service Center, Inc. in Chesapeake, we emphasize essential preventive maintenance services like replacing your coolant according to the factory schedule. But the various parts that make up the cooling system need attention too. The major components of the cooling system are the water pu ... read more

Straight And True In Chesapeake: Wheel Alignment Your browser does not support video Most Chesapeake folks worry about running out of gas or having a breakdown on the side of the road. That is why we practice preventive maintenance on our vehicles — that and to keep our repair bills down. But one important part of preventive maintenance that may get overlooked by Chesapeake auto owners is a periodic alignment inspection. Poor alignment causes tires to wear rapidly, unevenly or both. This means they will have to be replaced early, and new tires are more expensive than an alignment check in Chesapeake. Bad alignment can also cause damage to suspension and steering systems, which can be expensive to repair in Chesapeake. Tire wear on misaligned wheels can also lead to blowouts, which are dangerous, can lead to serious accidents, and can seriously damage your van. Also, poor alignment itself can be the cause of an accident, since t ... read more

Shake It Up in Chesapeake!: Why Wheel Balancing Your browser does not support video Our vehicles are not massage chairs. While we may enjoy a good vibration in an overstuffed recliner, us Chesapeake drivers generally want as smooth a ride as possible in our vehicles. One way to achieve this is to keep a vehicle’s wheels in balance. When a tire is mounted onto a wheel, it is usually out of balance. This means that as the wheel spins, there is a slight wobble to the path of the tire. For best handling performance and safety on the road, Chesapeake motorists want to minimize this wobble as much as possible. So we balance our tires. To balance a tire, your honest West Service Center, Inc. service specialist spins it on a machine or drum to determine where it is off-balance. He then attaches weights that counter-balance the uneven weight. Most Chesapeake car owners are surprised at how much balancing improves the smoothness of their ride. High-quality tires g ... read more

Smart Chesapeake Drivers Protect Against Overheating Your browser does not support video Engines get hot when they run. This heat can build up and damage vital engine parts, so engines need a cooling system to keep them running. Cooling system failure is the most common mechanical failure in vehicles. This is unfortunate, because these failures are usually easy for Chesapeake drivers to prevent. The radiator is the best-known and most recognizable part of the cooling system. Hoses filled with coolant (also known as antifreeze) connect the radiator to the engine. The coolant draws heat from the engine, and then flows to the radiator. Air passing through cooling fins on the radiator cools the coolant. The coolant then cycles back into the engine to start the process over again. The most critical component of the cooling system, however, is the coolant itself. A mixture of water and coolant/antifreeze helps keep it both from freezing and from boiling away. Either can result in serious ... read more